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1Jn_3:16. Whilst he who belongs to the world hates his brother and is therefore an ἀνθρωποκτόνος , Christians, on the contrary, are by the example of Christ to lay down their life for their brethren.
ἐν τούτῳ refers to the following ὅτι .
ἐγνώκαμεν τὴν ἀγάπην ] “we have known the love, i.e. the character or the nature of the love” (Bengel, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Lücke, Sander); some commentators (Carpzov, Paulus, etc.) erroneously supply with τὴν ἀγάπην as a more particular definition: τοῦ Χριστοῦ ; others (Grotius, Spener, etc.): τοῦ Θεοῦ . In Christ’s self-devotion to death, love itself became concrete. Without adequate reason Ebrard supplies with ἐν τούτῳ an οὖσαν , so that ἐν τούτῳ forms the predicate of τὴν ἀγάπην ; thus: “we have known love as consisting in this;” and ἐγνώκαμεν is only used as an accessory.
ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ] i.e. Christ; comp. 1Jn_3:7, chap. 1Jn_2:6. “He, says the apostle, without mentioning him by name, for He is to every believer the well-known,” Rickli.
The phrase: τὴν ψυχὴν τιθέναι , besides here and frequently in the Gospel of John, never appears elsewhere either in the N. T. or in the classics. Meyer on Joh_10:11 explains it by the “representation of the sacrificial death as a ransom paid: to lay down, to pay; according to the classical usage of τιθέναι , according to which it is used of payment; “Hengstenberg (on the same passage) explains it by Isa_53:10; but it is unsuitable to supply the idea “ransom” or “an offering for sin,” for the τιθέναι τὴν ψυχήν is not merely ascribed to Christ, but is also made the duty of Christians; besides, in that case ὑπέρ could not be wanting, as is the case in the Gospel of Joh_10:17-18. The derivation of it from the Hebrew ùÒÄéí ðÆôÆùÑ áÌÀëÇó (Ebrard) is equally unsuitable, because “here the áÌÀëÇó is essential” (Meyer). According to Joh_13:4, τίθημι may in this phrase also be interpreted = deponere (so most commentators), which is so much the more appropriate as in John 10. ἵνα πάλιν λάβω αὐτήν is conjoined with τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν μου , just as in Joh_13:12 it runs: καὶ ἔλαβεν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ; “comp. animam ponere in Propert. II. 10, 43, and animam deponere in Corn. Nep. vita Hannib. I. 3” (Brückner). Perhaps τίθημι might also be taken in the meaning of “to give up” (Il. xxiii. 704: θεῖναι εἰς μέσσον , τιθέναι εἰς τὸ κοινόν , in Pape see τίθημι ).
ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν is: “for our good” i.e. to save us from destruction; for the idea, comp. chap. 1Jn_2:2.
καὶ ἡμεῖς κ . τ . λ .] comp. chap. 1Jn_2:6. By this the climax is stated (Joh_15:13); but even every self-denying sacrifice for our brethren belongs to the τιθέναι τὴν ψυχήν , to which we are bound by the example of Christ by virtue of our fellowship with Him.
The reading θεῖναι is just as conformable to the N. T. usus loquendi as the Rec. τιθέναι , for ὀφείλειν is sometimes connected with the pres. inf., and sometimes with the aor. inf. For the idea, comp. Rom_16:4.[228]
[228] The thought of this verse is, according to Ebrard, the surest proof that John in this section is not treating of the “general and vague (!) idea of brotherly love,” but of “the relation of the τέκνα Θεοῦ to those who are not τέκνα Θεοῦ ,” because the apostle cannot possibly “limit the duty of loving sacrifice of life to the relationship of the regenerate to one another.” But (1) the idea of Christian brotherly love is very far from being a vague idea; (2) when Christians are exhorted so to love one another as to lay down their lives for one another, that is not a limitation of the commandment of love; (3) those who are not τέκνα Θεοῦ , and are therefore τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου , John cannot possibly call ἀδελφοί without any further statement; (4) the whole section is an explication of ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους , ver. 11; but by ἀλλήλους cannot be understood the children of God and the children of the devil in their relation to one another; comp. besides, 1Jn_4:2-11.