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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - 1 John 5:9 - 5:9
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1Jn 5:9. Εἰ, if) From that which is undeniable, and yet of smaller consequence, he draws an inference to that which is greater.-τῶν ἀνθρώπων, of men) in the case of any business whatever, Joh 8:17; and in administering the very testimony of the spirit, and the water, and the blood. For although they do that by the Divine institution and command, yet they themselves continue men Joh 5:34; Joh 3:31.-ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ Θεοῦ, the witness of God) the Father: whose Son is Jesus. See the end of this ver. But, together with the testimony of the Father, that of the Son and of the Spirit is pointed out as divine and heavenly, because it is opposed to the testimony of men, in the plural. The testimony of the Father is, as it were, the basis of the testimony of the Word and the Holy Spirit, just as the testimony of the Spirit is, as it were, the basis of the testimony of the water and the blood.-μείζων ἐστὶν, is greater) [and therefore much more worthy of acceptation.-V. g.] Joh 5:36.
The sum of the things which we have spoken is this: The Greek copies which contain the Epistles, including those of St John, are neither of such number, nor of such antiquity, that they ought to prevent the reception of the verse respecting the Three which bear witness in heaven, since it stands altogether upon a peculiar footing. This verse rests upon the authority of the Latin translator, and that almost alone; but he is an authority of the greatest antiquity and genuineness: and he is followed from the first by many fathers, through a continued series of ages, in Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Italy, accompanied with an appeal to the reading of the Arians, which concurs with it. In fine, the context itself confirms this verse as the centre and sum of the whole Epistle.-αὓτη ἐστὶν, this is) Is altogether engaged in [altogether turns upon] this.