CHAPTER 2
[p. 308] CHAPTER 2
Verses 1, 2 are the third general truth. In these two verses John sets forth the means whereby we can remain in communion with Him who is light. He consequently presents the advocacy of Jesus. Although in our present state we are not altogether beyond sin, for it is still in our nature and, alas! shews itself too often in our conduct, yet grace provides the means for maintaining us in communion with God or for restoring us when it is disturbed. It reconciles our weakness with the perfect position in which we are set to enjoy fellowship with God. Jesus Christ the righteous intercedes for us.
Verse 1. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.” The intercession of Christ is looked at more particularly in this connection, as the result of that grace which lifts us up when we have fallen, although that intercession also serves to keep us from falling. Has sin shewn itself in our walk? Far from undergoing the misfortune of remaining under the effect of our sin, we experience through the intercession of Jesus that gracious help, which sets us again before God, perhaps broken-hearted, still before God to whom we confess our sin. Our confession of sin is made to God, not to Jesus in order that He may intercede. His intercession in our behalf always goes on; it precedes us in our return to God. Therefore John does not say, If any man repent, we have an advocate; but he says, “If any man sin,” for repentance in us in itself the result of the intercession of Jesus.
The forgiveness of God restores our soul to the enjoyment of His communion. This effect of the grace of God to us answers to the sprinkling of water upon defiled persons under the law. We have been sprinkled by blood once, and it is on that account that the sprinkling of water can avail to cleanse us. “An advocate” is a defender, one who takes up our cause, and exercises for us the office of protector. The care of the Roman patricians for their clients would give an idea of this office. By granting us a defender God has shewn that He cannot pass over sin with indifference. His fellowship and sin cannot go together.
“With the Father.” John does not say with God, because he is treating of our communion, and not of the mediation which maintains us in the presence of God. This latter subject belongs more especially to the Epistle to the Hebrews. “Jesus Christ the righteous.” The basis of our standing before God is not altered by our fall. Righteousness abides before God, the righteous One is there for us. But there is more.
Verse 2. “He is the propitiation for our sins.” Thus all that is necessary, as an answer to God for us sinners, is found in Jesus. He, who in His own Person is righteousness itself and who, when here below, made propitiation for our sins, is in the presence of God; and He intervenes for us by an intercession founded upon righteousness and propitiation, this double basis of our salvation. Otherwise it would be impossible for God to look upon a creature who has sinned. The words, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world,” appear to be spoken to souls who have not yet peace. Are they addressed to Christians? Yes, it is to Christians that John writes these things; only in speaking thus he has no particular state of soul in view. John gives us in this Epistle an exposé of great principles which he lays down absolutely, leaving aside all details of application. Doubtless experience brings in various modifications; still they in no wise affect the original force of these principles. For instance, I say, Our meeting room is open to every one, anybody may enter it. But here is a man who cannot enter because he is lame. Will the exception to be made in his case alter what I have said? No. So is it also with divine things. If we only possessed the great principles of the truth of God in the measure of their application to man, we should never really possess them at all. It is indispensable to discern this absolute way of setting forth the truth of God in order to understand the Epistle of John. “Not for ours only.” Ours are the sins of us, Jews. Such I believe to be the sense of this word “ours,” according to a passage in his third Epistle (verse 8), in which John identifies himself with the Jews.
This verse 2 concludes the exposition of the general truths which constitute the Epistle. In what follows we shall find a development of experimental proofs of these truths, with a view to shew what are the evidences of the reality of divine life in the saints. Two proofs are adduced, namely, love and righteousness. But before considering these, John presents another practical feature, namely, obedience, which also proceeds from the divine life in us, and which is necessary to our intercourse with God.
Verses 3, 4. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” If purity is required from man, when it is a question of the nature of the God he is in communion with, obedience marks our position in the presence of His sovereign majesty. The submission of man is due to God because He is sovereign. The grace, which has brought us back to Him and made us happy, has, at the same time, set us in a state of dependence upon Him, which dependence is expressed by obedience. There are certain commandments to be kept, and our obedience to them testifies that we know God. Jesus, in whom is seen the perfect Man, walked in entire dependence upon God. His life was not only activity in good, but above all things was characterised by obedience; He was subject to another, even His Father. God alone does what is good without obeying.
“His commandments” are not the tables of the law, but the various communications by which the Lord has shewn the perfection of His divine Person. The words, the precepts, and commandments which emanated from His mouth, were the expression of the life manifested by Him here below, and they become the light which now directs that life in us. The law says, “This do and thou shalt live.” On this footing no one has obeyed: but Christ, who was the life, obeyed. Being in Christ through grace we inherit this position; we receive from Him a life freely given, which places us and leads us in the path of obedience. Christ who obeyed is our life. What He was upon earth directs His life in us. His commandments are based upon the life which He has given us.
Verses 5, 6. “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.”+ There is something further than keeping His commandments, there is also keeping His word, and the divine communications in the latter case go beyond the former. Having spoken of the blessing which accompanies obedience to the Lord’s commandments, John next shews the extent of the blessing when it is a question of answering to greater communications. By His word God leads us into the thoughts of His love. And as in Jesus, the impulses of the heart were in harmony with the thoughts of the Father, so also in our case, through the life which He has given us, we find ourselves so very near to God that we know His will and His good pleasure. Blessed fruits of the divine sap circulate in us. Sweet and glorious blessing, in which is unfolded for the redeemed of the Lord the greatness of their joy in the knowledge of God!
+Here we notice another example of those absolute principles which are found in the Epistle of John, “In him verily is the love of God perfected.” Perhaps there is no one in the state of soul indicated by the words, “keepeth his word;” nevertheless the principle remains: “the love of God perfected in us” is what corresponds to such a state.
“[p. 311] He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” It does not say, ought to be what he was, but “ought to walk even as he walked.” We could not be what Jesus was, but He has left us an example and we follow in His steps.
This verse presents a peculiarity which is also found in other passages of the Epistle. “Abideth in him” means “abideth in God,” “walk even as he walked” means “as Christ walked.” John uses the words, “he,” “him,” without much attention to the reciprocity of terms. He so sees in Christ the expression of God Himself, for Christ is God manifest in the flesh, that he can use the same word for both without confusion.
Abide in him — God. As is the case with visible things that our impressions are formed by the circumstances in which we are found, so is it in spiritual matters, as to our abiding in God. For instance, if we inhabit a damp house, we soon feel it; but if in an agreeable residence, we feel it also. We are in God even as the chick is in its egg. These pictures but feebly set forth our grand privilege of abiding in God. Yes; He is our hiding-place, and there we taste the joys of divine affections.
Verses 7, 8. We have already seen something about the commandments of Christ; here are some further unfoldings given in view of seducers. The commandments which we receive from him is old and new at the same: old, because it is the “life which was with the Father,” “that which was from the beginning”; new, because the life, which was in Christ, has been communicated to us in time, “which thing is true in him and in you.” In this old and new commandment we have the foundation and development of all that is good. It is not addressed to us as from without by a Christ witnessing for God on the earth, but it is the action of a new life which he has put within us; it is a commandment hanging upon the union of life, sentiments, and habits, manifested in Jesus, and common to the family of God. Yet it is a commandment having for us all the authority of divine will; we are to be filled with the will of God. “The true light now shineth.” The gospel reveals God; the law and the ordinances, and the whole of that system in which God remained concealed, have been eclipsed by its light.
[p. 312] As we have already noticed, above and beyond all its other effects, the divine life in man stamps upon him a character of obedience. But love and righteousness are the proper activity of that life which is the nature of God Himself. The life was manifested in Jesus in both those characters, and they are reproduced in us. The presence or absence of these features marks the two families, that of God, and that of the adversary.+
Verses 9-11. The love of the brethren. This love is the proof that we possess divine life. It dwells in light. There is no agreement between the light and sentiments opposed to this love.
Verses 12-27. These verses form a parenthesis in which John addresses communications to the saints, suited to the various degrees of the development of life in them. In this address John sees the saints divided into three classes, and he designates them as fathers, young men, and little children.
Verse 12. Before touching upon these three classes, the apostle puts forth a communication addressed to them all: “I write unto you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.” Evidently John is writing, on behalf of God, to persons that are accepted in grace. Unless man has entered into this condition of grace, God has no relationship with him. We also gather from this that the forgiveness of sins is the portion of the Christian, independently of all progress in spiritual life.
“CHILDREN” (teknia) is an endearing term used by John to the saints; spoken also by our Lord when He said, “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.” Mark 10: 24. This expression runs through the whole Epistle. But in verses 13 and 18, where the moral classes are referred to, the words “little children” are represented by the word paidia which occurs only in these two verses. John speaks twice to each of the three classes.
+Far from being an occasion of doubt for the saints, these characteristic features are, on the contrary, a reason for confidence. John used them, firstly, to reassure the simple, in whom some had endeavoured to instil doubts, secondly, to help to the discovery of seducers and to convict them of falsehood. For instance, a man makes a great display of knowledge, but he lacks the love of the brethren. By this we know that he is in darkness, and we avoid him.
[p. 313] Verse 13. In the first instance he briefly states what belongs to each of them. Verses 14-27: Here he enters into developments.
“FATHERS.” By this designation John points out that state of soul in which Christ is everything. Christ is known as He is, as He was manifested from the beginning, and in Him a blessed portion is possessed. It is the fruit of Christian experience. The time comes when the deceptions of life have vanished, and when the world has nothing attractive to the eye. The knowledge of Him, who is the same yesterday, today, and for ever, fills and possesses the soul. To such John writes the same thing twice, “Fathers, I have written to you, because ye have known him that is from the beginning,” verse 13, 14. There is nothing else to say to those to whom Christ is everything. The conflicts that the young man sustains result in bringing him also into this state of soul when Christ will be everything to him.
“YOUNG MEN.” This is the stage in which the spiritual life puts forth its energy against the world. For them a struggle has commenced, and conflicts are sustained, but they will be followed by the soul’s rest in Christ. John says to them, “Ye have overcome the wicked one. Ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you.” The secret of their strength was in their immediate dependence upon Him who is strong, and the word was the instrument by which this strength was exercised. But we see (verse 15-17), it will not do to lay down the weapons before the battle is over. The apostle adds, “Love not the world ... all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” When mentioning the elements of the world, John says, “is not of the Father”; he could have equally said, “is not of Christ”; but he says “of the Father,” in order to go back to the source of all. Christ is of the Father, the world is not.
“LITTLE CHILDREN.” It is the earliest state, infancy of Christian life. At this first stage of spiritual life the Father is known, the Spirit of adoption has been received, and there is consciousness of being a child of God — “One God, the Father,” 1 Corinthians 8: 6. Such is the first ray of light received by faith after reconciliation with God. In verse 13 John says to these little children, “Ye have known the Father.” But in verses 18-27 he puts them on their guard against the antichrists.
[p. 314] It would not be judged wise, in our days, to be speaking of the antichrists to babes in the faith. Later on, one might think, would be a better time to speak to them of prophecy and of the antichrists. Certainly, if it were only a question of theories, and indeed, in that case, better never to speak of them at all. But the word of God is practical, in prophecy as in everything else. It treats of the antichrists as a matter affecting the walk of the saints. The antichrists have come! let the saints discern them and avoid them.
Verse 18. “As ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last time.” The existence of antichrists marks the last days of Christianity and proves their commencement in John’s time.
On the subject of the Antichrist, the apostle adds in verse 22, “that he denieth that Jesus is the Christ ... denieth the Father and the Son.” These are two aspects of apostasy in which we see Antichrist; first, uniting with Jewish unbelief, secondly, rejecting Christianity. The word gives the Antichrist an essentially religious character; the testimony of the prophets agrees with the New Testament on this point. It is also important to note this word in verse 23, “Whosoever denieth the Son hath not the Father,” for many who reject Christ pretend not to reject the Father.
Verses 20, 21. It is touching to see the way in which John proceeds in endeavouring to shelter the babes in the faith from the danger of the seducers. Their weak condition claimed this aid; but, in rendering it, John’s first care is to remind them of what they are through grace: You have been anointed by the Holy Ghost, you know the truth.
Verse 24. More than this, he reminds them of the first truths of the gospel, and urges them to hold to them as to a sheet-anchor. “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.”
[p. 315] Verse 27. And again, whilst teaching them he adds, “But the anointing which ye have received of him, abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you.” As a servant of God, and being also led to it by Christian affection, he bestows his care on them; still the saints, yea even babes in the faith, are responsible to keep themselves from evil, seeing they are sealed of the Holy Ghost, and John desires not to weaken that responsibility. “As the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”+
“Ye shall abide in it” would be as correct, and indeed more grammatical; still I believe we should read “in him.”
Verse 28. John resumes the thread interrupted from verse 12, and brings us again to the experimental proofs of divine life in us. It yet remains to speak of righteousness as a proof of this life, and then to present further unfoldings upon these proofs combined. Verse 28 serves as a connecting link. “And now, children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” To abide in Christ is to be continually drawing one’s strength from Him, depending upon Him, and remaining faithful to him. See John 15. “That ... we may not be ashamed.” It is we, the apostles. This interpretation of the passage is justified by a quotation from the second Epistle (verse 8), “Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” The apostles laboured to maintain the work they had wrought, and of which they would reap the fruits in the day of Christ. This thought of the result of their labours in the glory was familiar to the apostle. Paul says: “That I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain,” Philippians 2: 16.
Verse 29 and chapter 3: 1-9 present righteousness. “Ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” John reasons thus, As the fruits of life are there, necessarily the life must be there also.
+John goes farther in his second Epistle; he there exhorts not to receive the bearers of false doctrine. He still refers to the same class of individuals, that is, those who denied Christ come in flesh. He describes them as not abiding in the doctrine of Christ. This is the evil the saints had to contend with. There might be erroneous elements mixed with the faith of some persons, and whilst being a cause for vigilance and care on the part of those who are with them, this need not hinder their walking together. But if anyone sins against “the doctrine of Christ,” that is to say, against the doctrine which concerns Christ Himself, and which is the basis of the faith, he is not to be received.