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COMMENTARY
ON
THE NEW TESTAMENT
HANDBOOK
TO
THE GENERAL EPISTLES
OF
JAMES AND JOHN
BY
JOH . ED. HUTHER. TH.D.,
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL
COMMENTARY
ON
THE NEW TESTAMENT
HANDBOOK
TO
THE GENERAL EPISTLES
OF
JAMES AND JOHN
BY
JOH . ED. HUTHER. TH.D.,
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL
COMMENTARY
ON
THE NEW TESTAMENT
HANDBOOK
TO
THE GENERAL EPISTLES
OF
JAMES AND JOHN
BY
JOH . ED. HUTHER. TH.D.,
PASTOR AT WITTENFÖRDEN, SCHWERIN.
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET
MDCCCLXXXII.
THE TRANSLATION OF
THE EPISTLE OF JAMES
HAS BEEN EXECUTED BY
PATON J. GLOAG, D.D.
THE EPISTLES OF JOHN
BY
REV. CLARKE H. IRWIN, M.A.
PREFACE
With regard to the question whether the author of this Epistle, the brother of the Lord, is or is not identical with the Apostle James, I have not been able to change my earlier convictions. If in more recent times the opposite view has been occasionally maintained, this is either in the way of simple assertion, or on grounds which proceed from unjustified suppositions. This present edition will show that I have exercised as impartial a criticism as possible with regard to my own views, as well as with regard to the views of others.
The quotations from Rauch and Gunkel refer to their reviews of this commentary published before the second edition; the one is found in No. 20 of the Theol. Literaturblatt of the allgem. Kirchenzeitung of the year 1858; and the other in the Göttingen gel. Anz., Parts 109–112 of the year 1859. I have occasionally quoted Cremer’s biblischtheol. Wörterbuch des neutest. Gräcität. The more I know of the value of this work, the more I regret that it does not answer to its title, inasmuch as those words are only treated which the author considers to be the expressions of spiritual, moral, and religious life. A distinction is here made which can only with difficulty be maintained. I have quoted Winer’s Grammar, not only according to the sixth, but also according to the seventh edition, edited by Lünemann.
I again close this preface with the hope that my labour may help to make the truly apostolic spirit of the Epistle of James more valued, and to render its ethical teaching more useful to the church.
J. ED. HUTHER.
WITTENFÖRDEN, Nov. 1869.INTRODUCTION
SEC. 1.—CONTENTS AND DESIGN OF THE EPISTLE
The entire development of the argument of the Epistle is based upon the single fundamental conviction of the antagonism subsisting between the “world” and “believers.” Whilst the former are under the power and dominion of the devil, the latter are in fellowship with God. Those who belong to the world are the children of the devil, the others are the children of God. The objective basis of believers’ life-fellowship with God is the mission of the Son of God, originating in His love, for the reconciliation of the world, or the incarnation of the Son of God (the Eternal Life which was with God from eternity), and His self-sacrifice unto death; its subjective basis is faith in this fact of the divine love. Whosoever believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, belongs no more to the world, but has been born of divine seed, a child of God. The Christian must therefore, above all things, be on his guard against the false doctrine which, making a distinction between Jesus and the Son of God (or Christ), denies the manifestation of the Son of God in the flesh,—and, consequently, the fact of the revelation of divine love,—and thereby abolishes the ground of the life-fellowship with God.
In the communion which the believer, anointed with the Holy Ghost, enjoys with God in Christ, he possesses not only true knowledge, but also righteousness. Whilst the world is dominated by darkness, and those who belong to it know not whither they go, believers walk in the light. Enlightened by the Holy Ghost, they know God in the truth of His being, and are able to distinguish between truth and falsehood. At the same time their life is in sharpest contrast to sin. The latter is so opposed to their nature, that, as those who are born of God, they do not, nay, cannot sin, but, on the contrary, in harmony with the pattern of Christ, do righteousness; whereas those who belong to the world, as children of the devil, commit sin, which is the principle of their life. It is true the Christian is conscious that he also still has sin; but inasmuch as he does not deny, but, on the contrary, confesses it openly, the blood of Christ cleanses him; and, further, in the consciousness that Christ, the Righteous One, is his Paraclete with the Father, he also purifies himself, as Christ is pure.
The essence of the believer’s righteousness is love to God, which manifests itself in obedience to His commandments, the sum of which is love to the brethren.
Whilst the world, following the example of Cain, who hated and slew his brother on account of his righteous life, hates the children of God, and in the spirit of hatred incurs the guilt of murder, the believer, imitating the pattern of Christ, feels himself bound, not in word only, but in deed as well, to love his brother, and to give his life for him if necessary. In love like this he possesses evidence of his divine adoption, and therein eternal life. Whilst the world continues in death, he has passed out of death into life; and in this new life he is free from fear and full of joyful confidence. He knows that his prayers are heard of God, and looks forward with confidence to the day of judgment, when he shall not be put to shame, but shall be like God, inasmuch as he shall see Him as He is.
The period still continues during which the world manifests its antagonism to the believer, who is also tempted by the devil; but in his faith, which is the victory over the world, he has vanquished these enemies, and the devil can accomplish nothing against him. Moreover, the world has already begun to vanish; it is the last time, as the appearance of Antichrist clearly proves—soon Christ shall appear, and with Him the perfecting of His own.
2. Line of Argument.
At the outset we have an introduction, in which the apostle announces the appearing of that Eternal Life which was with the Father to be the theme of his apostolic message, and indicates the perfecting of his readers’ joy, in their communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, as the end aimed at in his Epistle, chap. 1Jn_1:1-4. The letter itself he begins with the thought that God is Light (1Jn_1:5), from which he infers that if a man asserts that he has fellowship with God, whilst walking in darkness, it is a lie (1Jn_1:6); and, on the other hand, that the fellowship of Christians with each other, and purification through the blood of Christ, are conditioned by a walk in the light (1Jn_1:7). In connection with the purification mentioned, he urges that whosoever claims to be without sin deceives himself, and makes God a liar, whereas in case of an honest confession of sin God manifests His faithfulness and justice by forgiving the sin and cleansing from it (1Jn_1:8-10); and with this consciousness, in case he sin, the Christian may comfort himself, since he has Jesus Christ the Righteous, who is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, as his Paraclete with the Father (1Jn_2:1-2). In 1Jn_2:3 the apostle returns again to the starting-point in his argument, by showing that (just as fellowship with God can only be enjoyed whilst walking in the light) the knowledge of God can only exist in obedience to His commandments, and the being in Him in following after Christ (1Jn_2:3-6). The command involved in this for the readers, says the apostle, is the old one which they had heard from the beginning, and which he now once more impresses on them because the darkness is already beginning to vanish. He then describes (1Jn_2:7-8) walking in the light as walking in brotherly love, whereas the man who hates his brother is in darkness (1Jn_2:9-11); and turns directly to his readers, whom he addresses as true Christians who have obtained forgiveness, known the Father, and conquered the evil one (1Jn_2:12-14), in order to warn them against love of the world and seduction by false teachers. The exhortation: “love not the world,” he bases on a reference to the incompatibility of love of the world with love of God, and on the passing away of the world and its lust (1Jn_2:15-17). The necessity for this exhortation the apostle discovers in the fact that it is the last time, as the appearance of the antichrists shows (1Jn_2:18). The line of thought thus passes on to the consideration of these antichrists. The apostle mentions, first of all, their relation to the Christian church. “They have,” he says, “gone out from us, but they were not of us;” and he then describes them, after the interjectory remark that his readers, as the anointed of the Holy One, know the truth, as those who deny that Jesus is the Christ (i.e. as deniers of the identity of Jesus and Christ), whereby they deny the Father as well as the Son (1Jn_2:19-23). After an exhortation to his readers to abide by what they had heard from the beginning, whereby they should continue in the Son and in the Father, and enjoy everlasting life, he expresses his confidence towards them that the unction they had received remains in them, that therefore they require no human teacher; and exhorts them to abide in Christ in order that they may not be put to shame at His coming (1Jn_2:24-28).
In like manner as the apostle, in chap. 1Jn_1:5, inferred from the light-nature of God that only the person who walks in light can have fellowship with Him, so now he argues from the righteousness of God, that only the person who practises righteousness is born of Him (1Jn_2:29). But since Christians are the children of God, and as such entertain the hope of one day being like Him, therefore this hope is, as it were, an incentive to them to purify themselves even as Christ is pure, and consequently to avoid sin, which is disobedience to the law; and this is all the more since Christ has appeared for the very purpose of taking away sin, and is Himself free from it. From the sinlessness of Christ it follows that whosoever is in Him does not sin; but, on the contrary, whosoever sinneth hath not truly known Him (1Jn_3:1-6). The apostle, having pointed out that he alone is righteous according to the pattern of Christ who doeth righteousness (1Jn_3:7), sharply contrasts those who commit sin, as children of the devil, with those who are born of God, and therefore cannot sin, because the divine seed remaineth in them (1Jn_3:8-10), and then indicates, as the righteousness which the children of God practise, that brotherly love which he describes as the theme of the message which Christians had heard from the beginning (1Jn_3:10-11). Warningly does the apostle point to the world, which, following the type of Cain, hates the children of God, and is in death; whereas the believer shows by love that he has passed from death unto life (1Jn_3:12-15). The pattern of Christian love is Christ; as He gave His life for us, so also must the Christian give his life for the brethren; nor may he content himself with a mere apparent love, but must love in deed and in truth (1Jn_3:16-18). Love like this bears its own blessing with it; he who practises it knows that he is of the truth, and, whilst he overcomes thereby the accusation of his own heart, he has confidence towards God in the consciousness that God hears his prayers because he keeps the commandments of God (1Jn_3:19-22). With the foregoing the apostle then immediately connects the idea that God’s commandment embraces a twofold element, viz.—(1) that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ; and (2) that we love one another (1Jn_3:23); and then proceeds, after remarking that whosoever obeys the commandments of God stands in communion with Him (he in God, and God in him), and is conscious of this fellowship through the Spirit given him of God (1Jn_3:24), to a further reference to the false teachers, which he commences with the warning: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” He gives the characteristic mark of the Spirit that is of God, and also of the spirit of Antichrist, assures the believers of victory over false teachers, and presents the difference between them and the true apostolic teachers: “They are of the world, wherefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them; we are of God, whosoever knoweth God heareth us” (1Jn_4:1-6).
Without introducing any ideas to mark the transition thereto, the apostle now utters the exhortation: “Let us love one another,” which he establishes by saying that love is of God, or—as he also says—that God is love. God has proved His love by sending His Son to be a propitiation for our sins; but if God has loved us so much, we ought also to love one another. When we do this, then God is in us, and lets us know that He is by His Spirit (1Jn_4:7-13). Having pointed out that the manifestation of the love of God is the substance of apostolic testimony, and faith therein the condition of fellowship with God, the apostle once more utters the thought that God is love, in order to urge that communion with Him can consist only in love, and that this love manifests itself as perfect by our having confidence on the day of judgment, since love drives out all fear (1Jn_4:16-18). But if the love of God compels us to love Him in return, we must remember that we really love God only in case we love the brethren; for the man who does not love the person whom he sees, cannot possibly love God whom he does not see (1Jn_4:19-21). That the believer loves the brethren, the apostle then infers from the fact that he is born of God; for if, as such, he loves God who has begotten Himself, he must also necessarily love those who are begotten of God, i.e. his own brethren (1Jn_5:1); and he is conscious of this love in that he loves God and keeps His commandments. After remarking that love to God consists in keeping His commandments, and that God’s commandments are not hard to the believer, because being born of God he conquers the world by faith (1Jn_5:3-5), the apostle proceeds to refer to the divine evidence of the belief that Jesus is the Son of God. He describes the latter as having come by water and blood, and in proof of this appeals to the testimony of the Spirit. This testimony is all the stronger inasmuch as it is a threefold one, viz.—that of the Spirit, the water, and the blood. If human evidence is accepted, much more ought the witness of God to be received. To the believer, however, this witness is not merely an external, but also, at the same time, an inward thing, viz.—the eternal life which has been given him in the Son of God (1Jn_5:6-12). As already previously, so also here again, the apostle sets forth, as a main element in the believer’s eternal life, his confidence that God hears his prayers, and couples with this the exhortation to make intercession for the brother who may chance to sin. At the same time, however, he distinguishes between the case of the man who sins unto death and the man who does not, and explains that his precept anent intercession only refers to those who do not sin unto death (1Jn_5:13-17).
In bringing his Epistle to a close, the apostle once more announces, in three propositions, its leading thoughts, viz.—that he who is born of God does not commit sin; that they, the Christians, are born of God, whilst the world, on the other hand, belongs to the evil one; and that they have received, through the Son of God, the faculty to recognise Him that is true as the substance of their Christian consciousness. After the remark, that being in Christ we are in Him that is true, and that He is the Son of God and eternal life, the Epistle closes with the exhortation: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
Concerning the various theories as to the construction of the Epistle, compare especially Erdmann, Primae Joannis ep. argumentum, etc., I. 1855; Lücke’s Kommentar, § 4, 3d ed. 1856; and Luthardt’s Programm: de primae Jo. ep. compositione, 1860. Pre-Reformation commentators hardly troubled themselves about the construction of the Epistle at all. After the Reformation, the theory which first prevailed was that a systematic, logically arranged sequence of ideas of any kind is entirely absent from the work (Calvin: sparsim docendo et exhortando varius est). After the time of Matth. Flaccius, some expositors assumed that it was made up of a number of isolated aphorisms, only loosely jointed together, and in which various subjects were discussed; though others (Calvin, Hunnius), notwithstanding, laboured to show a close sequence of ideas in accordance with a dogmatic plan. The most ingenious attempt of this kind was that made by Bengel, who, basing his argument upon the passage in 1Jn_5:7 (Receptus), traced the construction of the Epistle to the dogma of the Trinity; a view adopted also by Sander. The right point of view from which to gain an insight into the structure of the Epistle was first discovered by Joach. Operinus in his work, Johannis ap. paraenesis ad primos christianos de constanter tenenda communione cum patre ac filio ejus Jesu Christi, etc., Götting. 1741, in which he shows that the purpose which John himself has announced in the preface is the same by which he was led in the composition of the Epistle throughout. Nearly all modern expositors, with the exception of a few of the earlier ones, have followed in the path opened up for them by Operinus. But with regard to the coupling of the ideas, unanimity has not been attained.
Whilst Lücke, in dividing the argument into eight groups of ideas, approaches at least the aphoristic method, the other modern commentators have laboured to prove a more stringent arrangement of the thoughts conveyed in the book. It is plain, however, on closer study of the work, that none of these attempts has really succeeded. The Epistle has indeed been divided into different sections, and to each section a separate superscription been given, expressive of the main idea which informs the entire argument of that particular portion; but, on the one hand, the same ideas are found repeating themselves in the various sections, and, on the other, the leading thought suggested for a particular section does not invariably so inform that portion, that it might serve as the point of departure for studying its details. In the first edition of this commentary it is asserted—following the view of de Wette—that the Epistle from 1Jn_1:5 till 5 1Jn_5:17, may be divided into three groups of ideas, distinguishable from each other by the fact that at the outset of each, as it were, a chord is struck which, more or less, gives tone to the melody throughout the entire part which it marks. As keynotes for the three sections suggested, the three truths are indicated—1st, God is light, 1Jn_1:5; 1 John 2 d, Christ (or God) is righteous, 1Jn_2:28; 1 John , 3 d, God is love. But that these keynotes actually sound throughout the whole of the parts they are respectively supposed to lead, is not, and cannot be proved.
REMARK.
That the theories respecting the argument suggested by other commentators, ancient as well as modern, are insufficient, has been shown by Luthardt in the work already quoted; the same remark, however, applies also to the construction which he himself—following in the lead of Hofmann (Schriftbew. 2d ed. II. 2, p. 353 ff.)—has proposed, and which divides the Epistle into the following five parts:—1Jn_1:5 to 1Jn_2:11; 1Jn_2:12-27; 1Jn_2:28 to 1Jn_3:24 a; 1Jn_3:24 b–4:21; 1Jn_5:1-21. For, when he thus defines the contents of the third part: salutis futurae spes christiana quantum afferat ad vitam sancte agendam, exponitur, it is manifestly inappropriate, since the apostle throughout the entire section only refers to the Christian hope in 1Jn_2:2, from which it is plain that this is not the informing main idea of it. Again, when he represents the fourth part as treating of the Holy Ghost, his view is indeed so far correct, that, especially in the beginning, the discourse does turn upon the Spirit of God; but from 1Jn_4:7 onwards the development of the argument proceeds independently, without any reference to the Spirit, and only in 1Jn_2:13—and even then merely in passing—is there any mention of Him made whatever. Much more decidedly does the apostle refer to Him in 1Jn_5:6 ff., which passage, however, according to Luthardt, belongs not to the fourth, but to the fifth part, in which the subject treated of is faith. But even this definition is doubtful, since faith is discussed not only in 1Jn_5:1 ff., but also, and very distinctly, long previously, in 1Jn_3:23 and 1Jn_4:13-16. Braune hardly attempts a disposition of the Epistle at all. It is true he divides it into four parts, namely
Introduction, 1Jn_1:1-4; first main division, 1Jn_1:5 to 1Jn_2:28; second main division, 1Jn_2:29 to 1Jn_5:11; conclusion, 1Jn_5:12-21. He also suggests leading chief topics for the two main divisions (viz. for the first, God is light; for the second, Whosoever is born of the righteous God doeth righteousness). But he only indicates as leading main topics the ideas which the apostle expresses in 1Jn_1:5 and 1Jn_2:29, that is, at the beginning of the passages which Braune has marked as the chief sections, without showing how these thoughts inform the various groups of ideas which follow them. He contents himself with pointing out the simple sequence of the ideas as they follow each other in the development of the argument.
In order to understand the construction of the Epistle, the following three points are especially to be observed:—1st, The apostle’s object is to preserve the readers in the fellowship of God, that their joy may be perfect. 2d, That the apostle, in order to achieve his end, unfolds especially the ideas that fellowship with God is only possible in the case of one whose life, rooted in faith in Jesus Christ, and harmonizing in holiness with the nature of God, is in love, and that the Christian is not only bound to such a life, but also in virtue of his divine birth (which has placed him in a relation of absolute antagonism to the world, which is ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ ) is impelled by an inward necessity to lead it. 3d, That the apostle developes these ideas under the conviction that the antichristian lie is present in the world, and also that the second advent of Christ is rapidly approaching. Keeping these elements in view, it depends upon the identification of the various points in the unfolding of the argument in the Epistle when the latter takes such a turn that a new feature may be said to enter and to inform the discourse which follows. Nearly all commentators are agreed, and rightly, that the verses from 1Jn_1:5 to 1Jn_2:11 form one self-contained group of ideas. The informing and ruling idea of this passage, however, is not a distinct and specific doctrinal proposition, intended to be explained in its several parts, but rather the antithesis to that indifferentism which ignores the antagonism between fellowship with God and a life in sin, in opposition to which the apostle urges that only the man who walks in light—or who keeps the divine commandments and loves his brother—is in communion with God, and knows Him. The close relation in which these propositions stand to each other is shown also outwardly by the phrases: ἐὰν εἴπωμεν κ . τ . λ ., chap. 1Jn_1:6; 1Jn_1:8; 1Jn_1:10, and ὁ λέγων κ . τ . λ ., 1Jn_2:4; 1Jn_2:6; 1Jn_2:8, which are only found here, and is proved by the fact that 1Jn_2:10-11 manifestly refers backwards to 1Jn_1:5-6.
The argument takes a new turn, as most commentators also have noticed, with 1Jn_2:12, in which the apostle, after reminding his readers of their happy experiences in salvation, and indicating these as the ground of his writing to them, in direct exhortation warns them against the love of the world. With this warning is coupled the reference to the antichrists which has impelled the apostle to exhort his readers to abide by what they had heard from the beginning, because thus alone can they abide in the Son and in the Father, and enjoy everlasting life, so that they may not be put to shame on the day of judgment. The last turn in the argument shows how closely the apostle has kept in view, throughout this exhortation, the intention of the entire Epistle (1Jn_1:4). Moreover, the fact that the ἀντίχριστοι —as the apostle himself asserts subsequently—are ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου , justifies our joining together in one whole the warning reference to the antichrists, and that against the love of the world.
In the foregoing the apostle has indeed shown that if Christians are to glory in their communion with God they must walk in the light (that is, in obedience towards God, and in love towards the brethren), abstain from fellowship with the world, and faithfully abide by the Word of God; but he has not yet shown how they stand, in accordance with their nature, in antagonism to sin, and therefore also to the world. To this proof he proceeds in 1Jn_2:29, from which onwards he explains in detail how Christians as such are born of God, and therefore the children of God, who necessarily sanctify themselves in the hope of the future glory, do righteousness and abstain from sin, nay, cannot sin, because the divine seed remains in them; whilst, on the other hand, those who commit sin, and therefore belong to the world, are the children of the devil. This explanation the apostle gives from 1Jn_2:29 to 1Jn_3:10, where, with the words καὶ ὃς μὴ ἀγαπῶν κ . τ . λ ., he begins to discourse about brotherly love. But that a new section, properly speaking, does not open herewith, notwithstanding that the conception of the divine birth recedes into the background, appears not only from the nature of the connection with the foregoing, but also from the fact that the apostle at the outset holds fast to the contrast which he had so sharply defined at the close of the preceding—directing the attention of his readers to Cain, who was ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ , as the representative of the world. The immediate transition from the conception of the δικαιοσύνη to that of the ἀγάπη cannot excite surprise if we consider that to the mind of the apostle the latter was not something added to the former, but is the δικαιοσύνη itself in its practical manifestation. The propositions which treat of love, and in which the line of argument is so plainly defined by the intention of the work, hang so closely together down to 1Jn_3:22, that although one new element after another is introduced, still it is impossible to make a new section until, in 1Jn_3:23, to the conception of brotherly love there is added that of faith in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God. This, however, dare all the less be overlooked, since in the whole discussion hitherto the element of faith, so weighty for the purpose of the work, has nowhere been exhaustively considered, nor even the word πιστεύειν been once introduced. It is true the apostle seems immediately afterwards to pass on to something else, since in 1Jn_4:1-6 he discourses of the difference between the antichristian spirit and the Spirit of God, and in 1Jn_4:7-21 of the love of the brethren; nevertheless, on closer examination it is manifest that in these sections the reference to faith is maintained throughout. In the section 1Jn_4:1-6, namely, the ὁμολογεῖν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν κ . τ . λ . is given as the characteristic of the Spirit of God. This ὁμολογεῖν , however, is nothing else than the belief εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τ . υἱοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰ . Χριστοῦ , expressing itself in words. That the apostle, while he would exhort his readers to hold fast their faith, first of all calls on them to try the spirits, need not surprise us when we think of the danger threatened to believers by the false teachers that had arisen. It may appear more strange that in 1Jn_4:7, with the exhortation ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους , there is a transition to a train of thought that treats of love; but it is to be observed, not only that in 1Jn_3:23 ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους is closely connected with πιστεύσωμεν κ . τ . λ ., but also that the further statements about love serve exactly to explain its connection with faith. The thought of the apostle is this: He only lives in God who loves God: God can only be loved because He is love; God has revealed Himself as love by the sending of His Son to be a propitiation for sin, therefore love to God is conditioned by faith in this act of the divine love. But while the believing Christian, who as such is born of God, now loves God, his love extends also to his brethren who, as he is, are born of God. In the development of these ideas, not only do the preceding statements of the apostle about brotherly love obtain their special confirmation, but the necessity of faith for fellowship with God is also set forth, so that the apostle in what follows, after referring to the world-overcoming power of faith, can proceed to treat of the divine evidences for faith, and emphasize the fact that the believer has eternal life, and therein possesses παῤῥησία πρὸς τὸν Θεόν . The ideas from 1Jn_3:23 to 1Jn_5:17 are so grouped into a whole, as indeed may be perceived in them, that 1Jn_5:13 ( οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ) plainly refers backwards to 1Jn_3:23, in addition to which it is to be observed that the concluding thought here bears the same reference to the purpose stated in 1Jn_1:4 as the concluding thought of the preceding group.
From this explanation it is clear that, if we lay aside the preface, 1Jn_1:1-4, and the conclusion, 1Jn_5:18-21, three points are to be noticed in the Epistle, at which the development of ideas takes such a direction that a newly-introduced point of view dominates what follows, and that the Epistle therefore divides itself into four leading sections, namely—1Jn_1:5 to 1Jn_2:11; 1Jn_2:12-28; 1Jn_2:29 to 1Jn_3:22, and 1Jn_3:23 to 1Jn_5:17. In order to fulfil in his readers the purpose of his writing, the apostle in the first section attacks the moral indifference which endangers them; in the second he warns them of love of the world and of Antichrist; in the third he shows that only a righteous life of brotherly love corresponds to the nature of the Christian; and in the fourth he points them to faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as that which is testified by God to be the basis of Christian life.[1]
[1] We may also unite the first and second sections more closely in one whole; for the former contains the premises for the warning uttered in the latter. In the threefold division which then arises, the conclusion of each part points to the joy of which the Christian partakes in fellowship with God.
3. Motive.
From chap. 1Jn_2:18 ff. and 1Jn_4:1 ff. it is to be understood that the appearance of the false teachers, spoken of by him as ἀντίχριστοι , furnished the special motive for the production of this Epistle. These are neither different false teachers (according to Storr, Sabians and Docetans; according to Sander, Ebionites and Docetans), nor even “true Jews as deniers of the Messiahship of Jesus” (Löftler, Dissert, hist. exeg. Joannis Ep. I. gnosticos impugnari negans, 1784, and Commt. theol., ed. Velthusen, vol. I.), nor “practical false teachers, proceeding from heathenism” (Baumgarten-Crusius), nor “such men as partly had suffered shipwreck of their faith, and partly did not practise worthily the Christian belief in their lives” (Bleek); but Docetans, and indeed such Docetans as denied the identity of Jesus and Christ, and so adhered to that false doctrine which Irenaeus ascribes to Cerinthus in the words: Cerinthus … subjecit, Jesum … fuisse … Joseph et Mariae filium … post baptismum descendisse in cum … Christum, … in fine autem revolasse iterum Christum de Jesu. Not only the passages named, but also 1Jn_5:5-6, 1Jn_1:3, 1Jn_3:23, 1Jn_4:15, point to this form of Docetism only (so also Braune). Without foundation is the view of several commentators (Sander, Lücke, Ewald, also Thiersch, Hilgenfeld, who, however, is not definitely decided, and others), that the polemical purpose of the apostle was equally, or even alone, directed against the stricter Docetism which ascribed to Christ only an apparent body, on behalf of which appeal is erroneously made to 1Jn_1:1; 1Jn_4:2; 2Jn_1:7.
That the former Docetans had a distinct antinomian direction, or in their darkness of knowledge in regard to duty felt themselves elevated to a moral course of life (Hilgenfeld, Thiersch, Guericke, Ewald, etc.), cannot be inferred from the moral exhortations of the apostle (comp. Brückner); it is much rather to be observed, that nowhere in these exhortations does the apostle refer to the antichristians, and that where he does mention them he nowhere characterizes them as Antinomians.[2]
[2] In opposition to the view that the passage, 1Jn_3:4, bears evidence for the Antinomianism of the false doctrine, Neander (Gesch. d. Pflanzung der Kirche durch d. Ap. p. 377) rightly remarks that the apostle against Antinomians would have had to say: Whosoever transgresseth the law committeth sin, for transgression of the law is sin.
According to Lücke and Erdmann, the Epistle was occasioned not only by the appearance of the antichristians, but also by the critical state of the churches to which it is addressed (which Erdmann describes as a state of moral depravity). But although some of it, especially the antithetical import of the section, 1Jn_1:5 to 1Jn_2:11, indicates that in the case of many indifference to holiness of life was not wanting, yet nowhere do we find any blame expressed in regard to the moral condition of the churches on the whole. The apostle does not exhort his readers to return to the moral earnestness originally displayed by the Christians, but to perseverance in that which they are and have.
While the mass of ancient writers regarded this composition as a letter, Heidegger first speaks of it in his Enchiridion bibl. 1681, p. 986, as: brevis quaedam christianae doctrinae epitome et evangelii a Joanne scripti succinctum quoddam enchiridion. Similarly Michaelis judges, who understands it as a “treatise,” and indeed as the second part of the Gospel; so also Berger (Versuch ciner moralischen Einl. ins N. T.) and Storr (Ueber den Zweck der evangel. Gesch. u. Briefe Johannis), only that the former speaks of it as the practical, the latter as the polemical part of the Gospel. Even Bengel (Gnomon, 2d ed.) thinks it is to be called rather a libellus than a letter; his reason is, that a letter ad absentes mittitur, Joannes autem apud eos, quibus scribebat, eodem tempore fuisse videtur. Reuss (die Gesch. der heil. Schriften N. T. p. 217) expresses himself similarly, when he would prefer to call it “a homiletical essay, at the most a pastoral, the readers of which are present,” rather than an epistle. But, in opposition to these views, the work proves itself by the form of its contents to be a real epistle. The author shows himself throughout in the most lively interchange of thought with his readers; and even though not infrequently the objective development of thought predominates, as is peculiar to a treatise,—which, however, is found no less in other Epistles of the N. T.,—yet the language always returns involuntarily to the form of an address, in which is specially to be observed “the oft-recurring distinctive epistolary formula: ταῦτα γράφομεν , or γράφω , or even ἔγραψα ὑμῖν —in contrast particularly with the formula in the more general historical writing, the Fourth Gospel: ταῦτα γέγραπται without ὑμῖν , Joh_20:31; comp. Joh_19:35 and Joh_21:24” (Lücke). Düsterdieck rightly remarks that “the epistolary nature expresses itself in the whole import and progress of the work,” inasmuch as in it “there dominates that easy naturalness and freedom in the composition and presentation, which corresponds with the immediate practical interest, and with the practical purpose of an epistle” (comp. Bleek, Einl. in d. N. T. p. 589, and Braune, Einl. § 5).
The absence of a blessing or a doxology at the close occurs also in the Epistle of James, and there is nothing strange in it; but it is rather striking that the epistolary introduction is also wanting to the work, as the author neither mentions himself nor the readers to whom he is writing; in the Epistle to the Hebrews, however, such an introduction is also omitted. We must explain this want in this way, that, on the one hand, the apostle presupposed that the readers would recognise him as the author of the Epistle without his naming himself in it, and, on the other, that he did not intend it for a single church or for a limited circle of churches.[3] The description of this work as a second part of the Gospel is so much the more arbitrary, as each of those works forms in itself a completed whole.
The view of some critics and commentators (Augusti, who calls the Epistle a summary of the Gospel; Hug, Frommann in the Studien und Kritiken, 1840, Heft 4; Thiersch in Versuch zur Herstellung des hist. Stdpktes. p. 78, and die Kirche im apostol. Zeitalter, p. 266; Ebrard in Kritik der evangel. Geschichte, p. 148, and in his Commentary), that the Epistle is a companion-work of the Gospel, is opposed by the contents of the Epistle, which follow an individual aim, as well as by the complete absence of a distinctly indicated reference to the written Gospel.[4] In opposition to Reuss, according to whose view the Epistle “was destined to bring home to the readers of the Gospel the practical side of the Gnosis there laid down,” it is to be observed that neither is the practical side wanting in the Gospel, nor the Gnosis in the Epistle.
[3] In opposition to Ebrard, who, admitting the epistolary character of the work, thinks that this want may be easily explained if the epistle “had no individual aim in itself, but depended on something else,” inasmuch as “by its form it bears the nature of a sort of preface or of an epistola dedicatoria,” it is to be remarked that the Epistle, from its whole character, cannot be at all compared to a preface, and that in an epistola dedicatoria this want would be just as striking as in any other epistle.
[4] Ebrard derives the proof for his opinion from 1Jn_1:1-4 and from 1Jn_2:12-14, referring ἀπαγγέλλομεν in the former passage, and the thrice-repeated ἔγραψα in the latter, to the writing of the Gospel. That this is without adequate ground, comp. the commentary on these; but even if this reference were correct, yet the description of the Epistle as a “sort of dedicatory epistle” would still remain unjustified, for its purpose is clearly quite other than to dedicate the Gospel to its readers. We would then have to call every epistle, in which reference is made to another work, a dedicatory epistle. Even the designation “companion-work” is unsatisfactory, because it does not at all appropriately state the true character of the Epistle in accordance with its actual contents.
2. The Character.
The same peculiarity of conception, development of thought, and form of expression, which characterizes the Gospel of John, penetrates the Epistle also, and distinguishes it from all other Epistles of the N. T. There dominates in it the same spiritual tendency, and the same preference for the concrete and abstract ideas: ὃ ἦν κ . τ . λ ., φῶς , ζωή , ζωὴ αἰώνιος , ἱλασμός ; ποιεῖν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν , π . τὴν ἀνομίαν , π . τὴν δικαιοσύνην ; εἶναι ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας etc.; the same combination of antitheses: φῶς … σκοτία ; ἀλήθεια … ψεῦδος ; ἀγαπᾶν … μισεῖν ; ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρός … ἡ ἀγ . τοῦ κόσμου ; ποιεῖν τὴν δικαιοσύνην … π . τὴν ἀμαρτίαν ; τὰ τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ … τὰ τ . τοῦ διαβόλου ; τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας … τ . πν . τῆς πλάνης ; ἁμαρτία οὐ πρὸς θάνατον … ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον ; ζωή … θάνατος , etc.; the same continuation of the thought by the resumption of an idea that has preceded, and the accompanying and correspondingly unusual application of the relative pronoun; the same juxtaposition of the positive and negative expression of a thought. Both works, as Ebrard brings out, bear the same impress, not only in style and construction, but also in the sphere of ideas and in the dogmatic views; comp. also Ewald, Dic Joh. Schriften, I. p. 429 ff.
With regard to the Epistle specially, here, in contrast to the dialectical development of thought, which is characteristic of the Pauline Epistles particularly, the individual propositions follow one another in gnomon fashion,[5] and unitedly form groups of ideas, which are sometimes strung together without any mark of the transition.[6] Even the proof of an idea takes place in the simplest manner by reference to a truth self-evident to the Christian consciousness. By the peculiar manner of connection of the ideas arises the appearance of rather frequent repetition of the same thoughts; but on closer observation it is evident that even where the negative expression follows the positive, or vice, versâ, generally both expressions do not say the same thing, but that in the second a new element is taken up, a new direction is prepared for. Characteristic is the simplicity and plainness of statement. Whether the apostle states divine truths by themselves, whether he discourses in exhortation or in warning to his readers, his language always retains the same calmness and precision. He nowhere shows a disposition excited by passion. Everywhere the stillness of a heart reposing in happy peace is mirrored, and having this he is sure that the simple utterance of the truth is enough to procure for his discourse an entrance into the minds of his readers. At the same time, a firm, manly tone pervades the Epistle, in contrast with every weak fanaticism of sentiment, which is so little characteristic of the apostle, that he, along with the internal character of life, constantly urges that the reality of it is proved by action. It is also worthy of notice that, on the one hand, he speaks to his readers as a father to his children, but, on the other hand, does not ignore the fact that they are no longer minors, to whom he has some new information to give, but are quite like himself, and are, like himself, in possession of all the truth which he utters, of all the life which he is anxious, not to produce in them for the first time, but only to maintain in them. Against the reproach that the Epistle bears “the clearest traces of the feebleness of old age” (S. G. Lange), or that—as Baur says—“it is wanting in the fresh colour of direct life,” that “the tenderness and fervour of John’s manner of conception and representation have relaxed far too much into a tone of childlike feebleness, which loses itself in indefiniteness, falls into continual repetitions, and is lacking in logical force,” it must be maintained that the Epistle bears the impress of directness, freshness, definiteness, and vigorous clearness in no degree less than the Gospel of John.[7]
[5] Comp. on this, Ewald, D. Joh. Schriften, I. p. 441.
[6] Düsterdieck finds the peculiarity of the manner of development and statement of thought in the Epistle in this, “that the ideas move, combine, and circle round certain leading propositions as points of support and connection.” But it might be more appropriate to perceive it in this, that the apostle by single leading thoughts strikes as it were chords, which he allows to sound for a while in the thoughts deduced for them, until a new chord results, which leads to a new strain.
[7] Hilgenfeld rightly states, in opposition to Baur, that the Epistle belongs to the most beautiful writings of the N. T., that it is specially rich and original “exactly in what relates to the subjective, inner life of Christianity;” “that the fresh, vivid, attractive character of the Epistle consists exactly in this, that it conducts us with such a predilection into the inner experience of genuine Christian life.”
In the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, it is true, the Epistle is not considered in a definite way, but the passage found in Polycarp, cap. vii.: πᾶς γὰρ ὃς ἂν μὴ ὁμολογῇ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθέναι , ἀντίχριστός ἐστιν , etc., may be recognised as a “natural use of 1Jn_4:2-3” (Düsterdieck), by deduction from particular resemblances to some expression or other of the Epistle;[8] and Eusebius (H. E. iii. 39) states of Papias: κέχρηται δʼ ὁ αὐτὸς μαρτυρίαις ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰωάννου προτέρας ἐ