THE PERSON OF CHRIST AND ETERNAL LIFE (1)
[p. 411] THE PERSON OF CHRIST AND ETERNAL LIFE (1)
1 John 1: 1 - 10; 1 John 2: 1 - 29
JT The gospel of John has been much before the brethren of late, and it has occurred to me that we should look at the first epistle of John at this time, with a view to apprehending the distinction that is to be made between the gospel of John and the three epistles. In the gospel of John the Spirit of God begins with the Person of Christ, as it is said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. Whereas, in John’s epistle, it is “That which was from the beginning”. It is not ‘He who’, but “That which”; that is to say, it is a thing or system which the Lord has established, and set up here on earth at the present time with a view to testimony, with a view to the saints walking in the light as God is in the light. “That which was from the beginning” refers to the beginning of Christ’s service and ministry here, and then it states “that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life”; and then, “(and the life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us): that which we have seen and heard we report to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we to you that your joy may be full”. So that the Spirit of God is here bringing before us what the Lord Jesus set up as having died and risen and having been glorified, and having sent down the Spirit. That is to say, it is a system of things unto which we are brought as believers,
[p. 412] and the great theme which is specially stressed in this system is eternal life.
WmH Would what came out in Christ be carried through, and form part of the system in the power of the Spirit?
JT That is the idea; carried through, and it is carried through now. It has been carried through from the outset, from Pentecost, and still holds, the Spirit of God being here. He is here taking care of the divine interests, and of our interests too, and to bring us into the substance of eternal life and other such things. Although we are in the closing period of the dispensation, the Spirit of God is here. He has remained here since He came down at Pentecost, especially, in view of this epistle, to maintain the saints in the thought of life, as it is said, “the life has been manifested”. “That which was from the beginning ... which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life”; that is to say, the theme is “the word of life”.
Rem We have had several crises in the testimony concerning the truth of eternal life. Do you think the errors came in through lack of understanding of the epistle we have before us?
JT I would say that; especially what occurred in 1889, or thereabouts, in the controversy on eternal life. There were those who would insist that the idea of eternal life was a person. That brought in an error, which they gave up some time after, but they brought in an error there, and the effect of it remains, I fear. It is for us now to become clear as to the substance of this epistle.
HB You spoke of divine interests and our interests. Could you help as to distinguishing the two?
JT Well, christianity is God’s interest; He has brought it in. The gospel shows how it was brought [p. 413] in by a Person; that is to say, the Lord designated as “the Word”. The Lord Jesus was the expression of the mind of God; He conveyed the mind of God; and all that He conveyed was unfolded in that gospel, and now the question is whether we can see that it is God’s interest, and that God’s interest is bound up in that testimony. It is for us to see and hold that it is our testimony too; it is our interest too. That is, every believer, every one who has the Spirit, is bound up with it and has eternal life according to the gospel of John. The point in this epistle is not simply that we have it, but that we know that we have it. We shall see that later, that we know that we have it, and that we are bound up with it.
AR Would you say what the force of “the eternal life, which was with the Father” is? What would be conveyed in that?
JT I think it is the life that was with the Father consequent on Jesus having become Man.
AR Would it refer to the life that He moved in here, in communion with the Father?
JT That is what I understand. That is just what the truth is. The Lord having become Man, He was with the Father, and therefore the testimony is bound up between the Father and the Son, and the Spirit.
JC-S In the opening of the gospel, John traces back the Word into eternity to identify Him as God, but “with the Father” is what He is in manhood, is it not?
JT That is right. This epistle commences with “That which was from the beginning”, whereas in the first chapter of John’s gospel it is “In the beginning was the Word”-”was the Word”. That is, He did not begin then; He was there. Whereas here “from the beginning” refers to Christ in humanity, and the idea of eternal life is bound up with [p. 414] it.
AR Would John 1: 14 have a bearing on this? It says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.
JT Quite so. It became something that it had not been before. The Word became something and that was flesh; that is to say, manhood or humanity.
JC-S Is the title “Word” descriptive of what He was here in time?
JT Yes; conveying the mind of God. It is, in that sense, a title of the Lord, and it belongs to Him. He is the Word. He expresses all that has been made known of God and all that can be made known of God. That is the full force of it.
Rem There are three expressions used here-”the word of life”, “the life”, and “eternal life”.
JT “The Word” is the expression of life. It is the word of life. It is not simply the Word by itself; Christ is the Word; but “the word of life” is the expression of the life. Then “the life” is the enjoyment or the thing to be enjoyed. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”, we are told in John’s gospel. Then “the eternal life” is, of course, simply stating that it is eternal life, that it is eternal. It is not a passing thought, it is an eternal thought.
WmH So that what was seen in Christ here, and manifested, was God’s purpose for men, lying outside the range of death altogether?
JT Just so. So that if we look at verse 4 of John 1, we shall see it, “In him was life”, referring to Christ, “and the life was the light of men”. And then the note there means that is not the light of angels, or of any other beings, but it is the light of men only. It is for men only.
JC-S Is this life connected with the promise of God? It is men that are in mind.
JT Well, quite so; the promise of life. We get that referred to in the Scriptures, that it was in God’s purpose, and it has taken form. It has taken form in Christ as Man, and it is one of the greatest subjects in the gospel of John, but it is unfolded fully, unfolded as in the possession now of believers, and characterising believers. It was a promise.
WmH It has now taken shape, has it? The promise has come into expression in the Person of Christ? And that has come within our range?
JT Quite so. And so the description here is to that end. “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard”; that is to say, the Lord Jesus was heard here in His testimony, and then “which we have seen with our eyes”. He was seen with the eyes of the apostles and others, and then it says, “which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life”. It is not only the life, but the word of it; that is to say, the word being the expression of it. Christ was the expression of it. Anyone, when He was here, might have met Him and seen what He was doing, so that this epistle is to bring out the real thought of life manifested or expressed in the Lord Jesus Christ and now imparted to us.
Ques What about this thought of handling?
JT Well, the Lord said in Luke, for instance, “Handle me and see”. The apostles and others had the opportunity of handling Him, which is a precious thought.
Rem It is not mystical.
JT Not mystical, exactly. It is a real Person here upon earth, One that could be seen and heard, you might say, at any time, while He was here.
JSE Is that the force of the word report?
JT Just so. Report is a means of testimony: “We report to you”.
Ques Do we have the same thought in Philippians: “holding forth the word of life”?
[p. 416] JT I would think so, holding it forth. That means that it was to be seen in Paul and the twelve, and others who carried on the testimony. It began in Peter, of course, peculiarly, on the day of Pentecost. That was a particular report that was to be seen and heard, and there were three thousand persons converted through that report.
FJF So would it include the Lord’s life here before His death and after?
JT Quite so. The word says, “Speak ... all the words of this life”, Acts 5: 20. Words convey the details of the life, and how real it was. And it is still real, for the Spirit of God makes it real now in the saints, and that is what we get as we look into this epistle. The saints are brought into this life and are to have the characteristics of it, the Spirit of God making it all living in us. It is not a myth or a fancy, it is real life, first seen in the Lord Jesus and now seen down here in the saints in the power of the Spirit of God.
AR Would you say the apostles had a special place in this, “that which we have heard, which we have seen”?
JT I think they had, and they had a certain fellowship, as it says here, “that which we have seen and heard we report to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ”. That is to say, the twelve apostles had a special fellowship with the Father and the Son; they had a special fellowship. There is no such fellowship now, because it was the fellowship of the apostles. The fellowship that we have is “with us”, as John says here, “that ye also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we to you that your joy may be full”.
[p. 417] And then it says, in verse 6, “[p. 421] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practise the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”. That is to say, we have fellowship with one another now, but the twelve had fellowship with the Father and the Son as well. That is a very important point that is noted in verse 3, “that ye also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ”. There was that fellowship then, but the fellowship which Paul speaks of and which exists now is with one another. That is, as we are told elsewhere, the “fellowship of the Spirit”.
Ques In the case of the apostles, was it the fellowship of inauguration?
JT Exactly, that is right.
JC-S What they had access to in regard of the thought of life in Christ enters into the report. Is that the basis of the fellowship really, which we come into with one another?
JT I will read it again, “That which was from the beginning”, that is the great theme, “that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life; (and the life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report”) — that is to say, the twelve bore witness and reported the thing to the disciples and to others.
JC-S So that the report really enters into our own souls and gives us the light of this position.
JT Quite so. We are brought into it; we are brought into the life that the Lord Jesus had in Himself here. We are brought into that. It was the [p. 418] light of men, but now it can be said that we are brought into it; men are brought into it. It is the testimony of the gospel really.
Rem And therefore the necessity for the blood, the blood of Jesus Christ?
JT That is the basis, to maintain us right in our consciences, “the blood of Jesus Christ ... cleanses us from all sin”. We are thus maintained in practical righteousness on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ, which effected redemption.
RH In connection with the handling, it is after He arose from the dead, in Luke. Then in Acts, Peter stresses it in saying that they had seen Him and eaten with Him after He arose from the dead. What would be the significance of that?
JT That is all very practical as a testimony. Peter renders that testimony in the book of Acts. It is a practical testimony, that the Lord ate and drank with them. He was with them for forty days after He rose from the dead, and He ate and drank with the disciples during those forty days. It is all an incontestable testimony for anyone who had ears to hear and eyes to see; and that testimony remains now. That kind of life is available to us, in that we may eat and drink and yet we have an inward life which is called eternal life.
Ques Is the word ‘eternal’ essential to give character to the life, because of the present conditions where we are surrounded with what is passing?
JT Do you mean what is referred to in verse 8 of chapter 2? “Again, I write a new commandment to you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines”.
Ques Yes. That is the character of it, but I wanted to ask if this life continues in eternity?
JT I think the word ‘eternal’ would mean it does. Is that your thought?
[p. 419] Rem Yes. It is enjoyed now, when the word, ‘eternal’ attached to life gives a peculiar character to it, but the same thing will go on.
JT Exactly.
Ques Does it suggest that the reality of this, in the power of the Spirit, who abides with us, carries us right over into eternal life? “Another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever”.
JT Well, it is suggested. The Spirit is abiding with us, which is a greater thought, really, than eternal life, while at the same time they synchronise; but the Spirit is in us and maintains us in life; “the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8: 10), but that life remains eternally; it is called eternal life here indeed. That is the point of it. The great point in this epistle is the life. In fact, in the last chapter John says, referring to Christ, that “He is the true God, and eternal life”. It shows how the full thought is expressed in Him, and we are brought into it.
CAI Is this involved in what Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 4, “that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body”?
JT Well, the idea is the same, although there are, of course, varieties. If we get two statements conveying the same idea, then we have to compare them and see whether there is any variety to be noticed, I think “the life also of Jesus” is to be noticed. It is not just the idea of eternal life; it is what He was down here.
WmH You referred to the Lord being with the disciples during the forty days. Would that suggest a circle of things outside the range of nature and of death, a heavenly order of things?
JT Quite so. So you can see, for instance, how the Lord went in with the two with whom He had travelled to Emmaus. As they constrained Him He went in, and He tarried with them, but He vanished [p. 420] as He broke the bread, showing how it was outside of mere nature.
SG The apostles’ fellowship was with the Father and the Son, and ours is with the apostles, I would like to ask whether it can be said that our fellowship is with the Holy Spirit.
JT I think so. We have the very word as to the Spirit, the “fellowship of the Spirit”; we are brought into that. The Spirit is a divine Person, as Christ is, and as the Father is.
FJF So is the thought that the eternal life is a character of life that will never be displaced?
JT Just so. It goes on; the word ‘eternal’ means that.
JC-S Is the intention of this epistle to set us up in our affections in a circle that lies outside of death and where Christ gives character to the life of it?
JT Quite so. We are brought into it, so that we are enjoined to lay hold of it: “Lay hold of eternal life”, 1 Timothy 6: 12. All this, of course, depends not only on Christ but on the Spirit as well. The Spirit is here to maintain us in it. He is the Spirit of life.
JC-S And said to be “springing up into eternal life”?
JT Just so. Very good. “Springing up into eternal life”.
CFI Why does John introduce these tests? “If we say that we have fellowship with him”, and “if we say that we have no sin”. Is it to stress the practical side of things, that it might not only be in theory but in reality?
JT That is right. If we say it, then there must be something corresponding with that. If you will read the passage you will see the full force of it, and we will all get the benefit of it.
CFI Verse 6: “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practise the truth”. Verse 8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”. Verse 10: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us”.
JT The contrast has to be noted in each case, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practise the truth”. That is the dark contrast, and then in verse 8, “If we say that we have no sin” (well, that is a lie) “we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”. That is not simply something that might be a lie, but it characterises the person who is speaking. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”. It is not simply that I have told a lie, but the truth is not in me, I am not a christian at all. That is what is meant, showing how severe the teaching of this epistle is. It is abstract in general, but the abstract is as strong as the concrete. It means a person that is outside of christianity altogether, he is not a christian at all.
Ques Many have a difficulty in apprehending this term ‘abstract’. Could you say a little more as to the bearing of it. It is an idea used especially by John, is it not?
JT It is particularly so in this epistle, I would say. If one had time one could run through it and show how frequently the abstract idea recurs. It tends to strengthen us as believers in the reality of things, and then to condemn us if we are not in it.
Ques Is it an aspect that we need the Spirit for, in a peculiar way, to help our minds?
JT Just so. So that you might know a person all his life, and all your life, and then there may be some discrepancy attributed to him. Well, you say,
[p. 422] I have known that man so many years and I know he is a genuine christian. That means that, in the abstract of your mind, you know that man is a christian, even although he may be defective. Whereas if you have to say I never knew that man to act as a christian at all, I do not believe he is a christian, that is the negative side of it.
FW-n Does what is manifested come in along with what is abstract in John’s epistle?
JT Well, it does. The abstract idea runs through it, and I have no doubt we shall be helped as we proceed. The wise thing is for us to go along now on the surface of the truth and gradually we come into the reality of it, the abstract idea of it. So that we have, we might say, come now to the end of the first chapter.
AR Before leaving the chapter, I wondered if you would say a word as to walking in the light. It says, “But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another”.
JT The word ‘walk’ would be in the sense of movement, by profession. If you are walking in the light, the thing is shining, and anyone and everyone who knows you can see that you are walking in the light. You are not walking in darkness.
DJM It says, “He that practises the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God”, John 3: 21.
JT Just so, “Wrought in God”. That is a characteristic word of the gospel, but this epistle carries the thing further, as to walking in the light.
WmH Would all these tests show the reality of the eternal life, that things are not taken for granted merely? Was not the difficulty in the past that eternal life was claimed apart from a moral state and practical walk?
JT Just so. That is what came into one’s mind in proposing the epistle, so that the dear brethren [p. 423] who are here, and the brethren generally, as the truth is spread abroad, may be real in the thing that we profess. We attend meetings and read Scripture, and read the books, and speak to one another, but the thing is to be real in all that we are doing. So that everyone can see we are real, and this epistle is to bring that about, and we shall see it as we proceed. I think we might go on now to chapter 2, where in verse 1 we have the expression, “My children”. That is not a question of God’s children, it is “my children”-that is to say, the apostle in writing has the moral right, being an apostle, to call the saints his children. That is another thing to be noted, the moral right that a man like John has to speak of the saints as his children.
JSE Does that put the stamp upon him as a father in this letter?
JT We come to that presently. This question of moral right is important. We have not apostles, of course, now, but we have men that have certain moral rights because they have gone on with God and God is with them. We are thus characterised as of God in having a certain moral right in dealing with the Lord’s people, as having an influence over them, and the like. There are those who have the place of eldership or fathers, and I think that is important because we must not despise them. Such men are to be honoured and maintained as much as possible, because of the testimony.
WmH So Paul refers, in the close of the epistle to the Corinthians, to Stephanas, and he says, “that ye should also be subject to such, and to every one joined in the work and labouring”. Would that bear on the thought of fatherhood?
JT Very good. So in stressing the thing Paul says, “For if ye should have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers”. Paul could say that. He was a father.
[p. 424] Rem Would you say a word about the expression in verse 1 of chapter 2, “In order that ye may not sin”. I was thinking of the thought of a preventive against sin. Often we have it in our minds that it is impossible to walk in that way, but do not the words, “that ye may not sin”, contemplate a certain sinless walk?
JT I should think so.
Rem The possibility of it, that is what I am raising.
JT The continuance of it too, as we shall see in the epistle. The person that is so regarded continues in the thing; “they shall never perish”, to use the language of the gospel. Young people need to be sure of that, to get assurance as to these things; and walking in the light gives assurance.
FJF Is that the same as “Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”, Matthew 5: 48?
JT Quite so. That is to bring out the truth in Matthew, as to the idea of perfection, and that the Father is the pattern of perfection. If we want to know how to be perfect as christians, as Paul said, “That we may present every man perfect in Christ”, if we want to lay hold of that and enter into it, then the Father is the pattern of that. It is a question of walking in the light as He is in the light, and then we have fellowship with one another.
RMcK Is joy a consequence of walking in this way? He says, “These things write we to you that your joy may be full”.
JT It shows that John had in mind that christianity was a real thing, that the Lord Himself was in it. The Lord spoke of the joy that He had, “my joy”, He said, and we as believers are to have our joy full. Perhaps we would all have to admit that we know very little of joy; but here John says, “That your joy may be full”. There is no discrepancy [p. 425] in it, and no weakness about it. So the reality of christianity is the point in this epistle.
WmH If sin does come in, it says, “we have a patron with the Father”. Is the idea that we have means of dealing with it, so that we should not drop out?
JT Here it is not the Spirit as the Paraclete, but Christ as the Paraclete. That is to say, the Paraclete is with the Father, and so we can count on being supported. Perhaps the brethren have not followed the idea of the Paraclete; there are two mentioned. The Lord says, I will send another one. The first one is Christ Himself; He was the Paraclete, and He has gone to heaven, and He is there now, in heaven, for us, to look after our affairs there. The word ‘patron’ is used here, but the word is the same as Paraclete. On the other hand, we have the Spirit here on earth, and the same word is attributable to Him. He looks after our interests here on earth, our spiritual interests particularly.
JC-S How completely we are taken care of!
JT Quite so. That is just what one thinks, and what one had in one’s mind, that the dear brethren might come to the reality of things. We have everything that is needed to carry us through to the glory of God, everything that is needed is provided for us. We have a Paraclete in heaven and a Paraclete on earth, and then, moreover, the saints too are helpers, because they have fellowship one with another. That is a great help to us.
AR What would you say is the service of the Patron on high? How does He serve us if we sin?
JT I think He would bring it to bear upon us in our consciences. It is an unseen service that He carries on. If something happens to us He touches our consciences, so that we may judge ourselves, in all such things as that. Our Paraclete looks after us, but it is in the heavenly side of it. The Spirit of [p. 426] God does the same thing here on earth, as in the assembly. How wonderfully well off we are, therefore!
WmH The Lord looked at Peter, did He not, and brought about repentance?
JT Exactly. The Lord looked at him at the right time.
TT Do you get an idea of it with Samuel, after the people had sinned in asking a king? “Far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you”, 1 Samuel 12: 23.
JT Just so. He was a paraclete for them, as it were, standing by them; and he prayed, too. God thundered on them, showing that God answered the intercession of Samuel so that they might judge themselves. What one is constantly occupied with now, in proposing this epistle, is that the dear brethren might be real; that we all might be real, not artificial, but go on and enjoy fellowship with one another.
HKR Would you open up a little more what the thought of a paraclete is; what we are considering now, and then the Paraclete in John 14. There is a note in chapter 2 of John’s epistle, “Christ manages all our affairs for us above; the Holy Spirit below, I use ‘patron’ in the sense rather of the Roman patron, who maintained the interests of his clients in every way. So Christ on high; the Spirit here for saints”. In John 14: 16 the same word is used, and the footnote says, “One who carries on the cause of any one and helps him. This Christ did on earth; this (l John 2: 1) He does now in heaven, and the Holy Spirit on earth ‘manages our cause, our affairs, for us’. If ‘solicitor’ were not too common, it just answers the sense”.
JT So that these passages being read, the brethren ought all to get help on these points. Then we go on to the second verse, “He is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world”. That is another thing, that Christ is not simply the Paraclete, but the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but for the whole world. It shows the breadth of the redemptive work of Christ.
HW Is that what John the baptist had in mind when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”?
JT Very good. It is just possible, when it says, “he is the propitiation for our sins”, that the ‘our’ may refer to the Jews, but it is probably also christians simply, but then the whole world is included in the breadth of it. The whole world is within the range of it, and that is the basis really for the gospel.
FJF Is that why the blood of the sin offering was carried into the sanctuary? I do not know that I could say very much, but draw attention to what is before God, which is great enough to cleanse the whole world, if they would only accept the Lord Jesus Christ.
JT Quite so, and that is to be compared with the blood on the door-posts of the Israelites. It is just to cover the man that is inside the door-posts, but the blood in the sanctuary is to cover the whole world, showing the breadth of it.
WmH So it is the divine side, as meeting all the claims of God’s throne?
JT Just so. Now verse 3 says, “And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him verily the love of God is perfected”. So that we have contrasts here, but they are very real contrasts; so that it goes on to say, “Hereby we know that we are in him”. That is to say, the epistle brings out the truth of how we may know things, so that we [p. 428] may have the consciousness of things. We shall see more of it as we proceed. So it says further, “He that says he abides in him ought, even as he walked, himself also so to walk”. So that abiding in Him is, I suppose, an astronomical thought, like a heavenly body abiding in the sun. A believer is like that, he is in Christ, but then there is a corresponding conduct, and that is that he ought to walk even as He walked, so that the test of everything is Christ.
JC-S So we must substantiate the idea in ourselves?
JT Quite so.
Rem We are warranted in comparing what a person says with his conduct, to see whether it is according to this standard.
JT Now, we have another thought in verse 7, “Beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which ye have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye heard”. That would be the Lord’s own testimony; that is the old commandment. “Again, I write a new commandment to you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in the darkness until now. He that loves his brother abides in light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes”. It shows that when darkness is brought in it is the abstract thought again, but then the point that might be alluded to first of all is, “Again, I write a new commandment to you, which thing is true in him and in you”. That is to say, it was true in Christ when He was here, and now that the Spirit has come down, and the Spirit is in us, it is true in us too. What is true in Christ as here is true in us [p. 429] too. The new commandment is true in us. The old commandment is true in Him; it is what He was here; but the new commandment is what we are, because of the Spirit come down, and redemption accomplished, so that the true light is there in the believer.
WmH Why does he use the expression commandment in referring to what was here in Christ, and now in the saints by the Spirit?
JT I think it is the idea of what is imperative. It must be, and, of course, it was absolutely so in Christ, but now it must be in us too. The point in the epistle is that things must be, and that is where the abstract is to be understood.
CFI Does that involve the work of God in the saints?
JT It does, indeed. There could be nothing without that, and that is what we should see, I believe, as we proceed. The saints are workers; we are brought into workmanship, so that we are doing things as well as Christ. That is the idea of this epistle, so that things are real, and every one is a worker, as it were, each one helping the other.
JC-S “True in him and in you”, would cover the thought of eternal life, too.
JT Quite so. The new commandment implies that. What is true in Christ is true in us, showing how the truth, as in the saints now, corresponds with what Christ was here when He was on earth. It now corresponds in us; it is what He was when He was here. It makes the thing all real, because christianity is a real thing and goes on into eternity.
HKR Would that link on with John 8, where Jesus replied, “I am ... altogether that which I also say to you”?
JT Very good, exactly agreeing with it. If we say anything, we ought to agree with what we [p. 430] say.
HB I would like to ask as to the brother here. It says, “He that loves his brother”. Could you help us as to that?
JT Well, the brother is the professing christian. He is viewed as a professing christian if he believes the truth of the gospel at all. If he is a professing christian he has the classification of a brother, but he might prove to be unreal, and that is the point here. If he does not love his brother, he is unreal; he is in darkness, showing that it is all abstract. It is not an individual item that is in mind, but rather what is characteristic.
JC-S There is no neutral course with John, is there?
JT Just so; no neutral course. He is real or he is not real.
DJM It says, “the true light already shines”. Would that include what is seen in the saints?
JT Quite so, “The true light already shines”. Christians are really the true light, you might say, in that sense. It is a very remarkable thing to be noted.
Ques Does this shining manifest itself in loving the brethren?
JT That is the idea; verses 10 and 11 say, “He that loves his brother abides in light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hates his brother is in the darkness”. It is not simply that he has done something wrong at some time, but he is in the dark; it is the abstract idea. “And walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes”. These are most serious things and yet we are apt to fall into them.
The next great point, and it is a great point, is the question of the gradations we have here of the family of God. The first is general, “I write to you, children, because your sins are forgiven”. That applies to all [p. 431] of us. But then the next is, “I write to you, fathers”. That does not apply to all of us, because it refers to persons that “have known him that is from the beginning”. That is, a father knows Christ as from the beginning, not simply as what He is in heaven now, but as “from the beginning”. Then, “I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome”. That is, there is strength in the young men, and it says, “ye have overcome the wicked one”. And then, “I write to you, little children, because ye have known the Father”. They know the Father in the light of His being Father. The little children have the light of the Father. And then again, we have the past tense. Verses 12 and 13 refer to the present, but the past tense is used in verse 14. “I have written to you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world”. Notice it is all to young men, showing that the young men are in mind specially: “Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing” (that is a thing that we have already noticed), “and its lust, but he that does the will of God abides for eternity”. Then the next thing is to the “little children” in verse 18. We have “children”, which is a general thought, covering all christians, but verse 18 is to “little children”. John says, “Little children, it is the last hour, and, according as ye have heard that antichrist comes, even now there have come many antichrists, whence we know that it is the last hour. They went out from among us, but they were not of us”; that is, they are not real christians, “for if they had been of us, they would have surely remained with us, but that they [p. 432] might be made manifest that none are of us”. So that we can see how we may be shut out altogether, in the abstract sense, in this verse. Then it goes on. “And ye have the unction from the holy one, and ye know all things”: the little children have means of knowing all things; the word ‘unction’ means that. It is a reference to the Spirit, but it is a peculiar word that is only mentioned here.
RH Did I understand you to say, in relation to verse 13, that the knowledge involves more than what Christ is now in heaven? “Ye have known him that is from the beginning”.
JT It includes what He is now, but it is “from the beginning”. That is, the whole walk of Christ here, the gospels are the record of it from the beginning.
Rem Do you mean, from the incarnation?
JT Yes. That is what is in mind.
JC-S Everything for christianity dates from that point, does it?
JT That is right. It dates from that point.
CAI What is the special thought in the use of the word unction in regard to the Holy Spirit?
JT It is a peculiar word. It refers to knowledge that the christian has acquired; the little children have it. It is attributable to them, in an abstract sense. Let us look at it again, “Ye have the unction from the holy one, and ye know all things. I have not written to you because ye do not know the truth, but because ye know it”. That is a remarkable thing; it can only be abstract, because they know it, the little children know it. “Because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son”. This is all to the little children, the young christians. “He is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son”. Well, why should the word ‘antichrist’ be brought in here? Surely it is because young people, especially as going to school and the like, are exposed to that sort of thing, to great people, to people of great distinction in the world, who are not christians, persons who deny the Father and the Son, and the young people are exposed to that. Parents therefore are to be watchful, and look after their children and see the books they read, and forbid the bad books.
DJM Have the “young men” overcome such? Would “the wicked one” be antichristian teaching?
JT That is right. They have overcome the wicked one, but the little children are in danger of the antichrist. It is another idea; the reference really is to young people, or school children; they are exposed to people who have distinction in this world. They are not to follow them, nor to pay any attention to them. Children are to have the unction; that is to say, the Spirit of God giving us light about everything; and parents are to see to that. They baptise their children to that very end, that they may be in the light and be saved from antichrist.
Ques Is that why the word ‘holy’ is stressed from the beginning, “ye have the unction from the holy one”?
JT Very good. The Lord Jesus is called “the holy one” in John 6. Peter says, “We have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”.
Ques Does this word ‘unction’ suggest that the Spirit is something special to the young people in the way of help, in view of their stage of growth?
JT Well, I thought of that, and it is young people, and especially because the antichrists are brought in, who may refer to people that have distinction and may be written up in the papers and the like, or be the subject of novels and all that [p. 434] sort of thing. Young people are exposed to that, and their parents ought to watch it, so as to save them from antichrist.
Ques Would you encourage them to speak to the Spirit Himself, in view of this statement?
JT I certainly would, if they have the Spirit. If young people want to come into fellowship, we should always find out and make sure they have the Spirit. It is not simply that they are baptised, but that they have the Spirit.
WmH Would the thought of unction lie largely in sensibilities, or would it go further in the way of an intelligent conception of the truth?
JT I think it is an intelligent thing in the mind of the young people. If we are christians, we have the mind of Christ, in the abstract, anyway. But then the thing is to follow that up, foster it, and to read what is good. As the word is, “be followers of that which is good”, 1 Peter 3: 13. Parents should see to it that the good things are in the way of the children, even as Elisha walked through the house when that little boy died. Although under his father’s influence, yet he could not save him, and Elisha looked around to see if everything was all right in the house. What were the children reading? That may be the cause of the moral death of the child; very often it is.
Ques Is that why the last hour is stressed in relation to the little children?
JT I think it is. The Lord is looking after the little children, because He needs them to carry on the truth, and the little children are to be saved.
TT He refers to unction again in verse 27. In the first instance, verse 20, it is “from the holy one, and ye know all things”; and in verse 27 it is, that the unction “abides in you” and then “teaches you”.
JT Notice the word “yourselves” there. It is stressed by being in italics, “yourselves”. Let us see what the note says about that: ‘Personal pronouns, used as the subject of a verb, are normally emphatic in Greek, ... there is some distinctive emphasis here’, that is to say, this word yourselves is emphatic, and, I would say, it refers not simply to the little children, but to all the saints. In verse 26, we have “These things have I written to you concerning those who lead you astray: and yourselves, the unction which ye have received from him abides in you, and ye have not need that any one should teach you”. Now, that is important, that the christian has in the unction the means of acquiring instruction by himself; “but as the same unction teaches you as to all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him”. That is a great general truth for the saints, and it secures us; it protects us. We have it in ourselves to protect ourselves in the sense of intelligence, according to this unction.
SG You said that any books of an antichristian character should be forbidden. What if the school authorities command, in the schools, that such should be read?
JT Well, we cannot control the authorities. Although they may be ordained of God, yet they may not be christians, and, of course, that is where the influence of the parent comes in. He should see to it, that even if the teacher does not teach the truth to the young, he should do it at home. He should see that things are done at home.