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1Jn_3:5 contains a new proof of the incompatibility of the Christian life with sin; this exists in Christ, to whose example the apostle has already pointed in 1Jn_3:3. Of Christ John states two things, while he appeals to the consciousness of his readers ( οἴδατε ; the same is the case with the reading of à : οἴδαμεν )—(1) that His manifestation ( ἐφανερώθη , an expression which refers to the previously unrevealed existence of Christ in heaven) had this purpose: ἵνα τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἄρῃ ; and (2) that He is without sin.
τὰς ἁμαρτίας αἴρειν may, of course, mean in itself “to bear our sins,” i.e. as the atoning sacrifice, in order thereby to procure their forgiveness, but here it means “to take away, to remove our sins;” for even although the Hebrew expression ðÈùÒÈà òÈåÉï signifies both, yet the LXX. translates this in the second sense only by αἴρειν , but in the first sense by φέρειν (comp. Meyer on Joh_1:29, and my comm. on 1Pe_2:24); moreover, αἴρειν with John constantly means “to take away;” comp. Joh_11:48, Joh_15:2, Joh_17:15, Joh_19:31; Joh_19:38; and the context is also decisive in favour of this meaning, for even though in the thought that Christ bore our sins, inasmuch as He suffered for them, there lies a mighty impulse to avoid sins, yet the antagonism of the Christian life to sin appears more directly and more strongly if the taking away of sins is described as the purpose of the manifestation of Christ. Köstlin (p. 180) rightly says: “the expression signifies to take away the sins themselves, but not their guilt or their punishment, for it is added: καὶ ἁμ . ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν , and in 1Jn_3:8 : ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου .” This interpretation in Calvin, Luther, Russmeyer, Paulus, Baumgarten-Crusius, Neander, Frommann (p. 449), Düsterdieck, Myrberg, Ebrard, Braune, etc., contrary to which Lücke, de Wette, Erdmann, etc., explain αἴρειν = “to bear;” Lücke: “the object of the manifestation of Christ is the bearing of sins as a holy offering in His death;” while others, as Bede (“tollit et dimittendo quae facta sunt et adjuvando ne fiant et perducendo ad vitam, ubi fieri omnino non possint”), Socinus, a Lapide, Spener, Sander, Besser (also Lücke in his 1st ed.[204]), combine both meanings. Weiss, it is true, interprets ΑἼΡΕΙΝ correctly, but thinks that the plural ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς “can only signify actually existing sins” which Christ takes away, “inasmuch as His blood cleanses us from their guilt;” but in the whole context the subject is not the guilt of sins, but the sins themselves. The plural, however, by no means renders that interpretation compulsory.
The pronoun ἡμῶν after ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς (see the critical notes) is regarded by Lücke and de Wette as genuine; Lücke: “because John would otherwise have written ΤῊΝ ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑΝ ;” de Wette: “because its omission appears to be occasioned by the interpretation of ΑἼΡΕΙΝ = to remove;” Düsterdieck remarks against ἡμῶν , that in the whole section 1Jn_3:4-10 there is no direct application expressed; from internal grounds it cannot be decided, inasmuch as ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤ . ἩΜῶΝ can be taken quite as generally as the simple ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς . In regard to the plural ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς , Düsterdieck rightly says that “thereby the form of representation is made so much the more vivid, as the whole mass of all individual sins is taken into view.” It is to be observed that John does not regard Christ, according to the Pelagian mode of thought, only as the motive for the free self-determination of man, but as the active living cause of sanctification determining the will of man. It is His crucifixion especially from which proceeds, not only the forgiveness of sins, but also (in and with this) the new life, in which the believer purifies himself ( ἁγνίζει ), even as He is pure ( ἉΓΝΌς ).
The second thing which John states of Christ is: ΚΑῚ ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑ ἘΝ ΑὐΤῷ ΟὐΚ ἜΣΤΙ . The meaning of these words is not that in those who are in Christ there is no sin (Calvin, Paulus), but that Christ Himself is without sin; comp. 1Jn_3:3; 1Jn_2:29. This clause is not meant to confirm the preceding one (a Lapide: ideo Christus potens fuit tollere peccatum, quia carebat omni peccato, imo potestate peccandi; so also Oecumenius, Lorinus, Baumgarten-Crusius, Sander, Neander); but it is co-ordinate with it (Lücke, de Wette-Brückner, Düsterdieck, Braune), in order to serve as a basis for the following statement.
The present ἘΣΤΊ is not used instead of the preterite (Grotius), nor is it to be explained in this way, with Winer (p. 239, VII. 251), that “the sinlessness of Jesus is considered as still present in faith;” but it rather denotes, as in 1Jn_3:3, the character of Christ in its eternal existence.
[204] “ Αἴρειν τ . ἁμ . ἡμῶν corresponds to the καθαρίζειν ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμ ., 1Jn_1:7, and signifies the whole extent of the redemptive activity of Christ, His office of taking away sin, both in the ideal sense by the act of forgiving sin, and also in the real sense by the act of sanctifying the saved.”