mh_parser/vol_split/62 - 1John/Chapter 4.xml

<div2 id="iJo.v" n="v" next="iJo.vi" prev="iJo.iv" progress="91.24%" title="Chapter IV">
<h2 id="iJo.v-p0.1">F I R S T   J O H N.</h2>
<h3 id="iJo.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="iJo.v-p1">In this chapter the apostle exhorts to try spirits
(<scripRef id="iJo.v-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.1" parsed="|1John|4|1|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:1">ver. 1</scripRef>), gives a note to
try by (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.2-1John.4.3" parsed="|1John|4|2|4|3" passage="1Jo 4:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>), shows
who are of the world and who of God (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.4-1John.4.6" parsed="|1John|4|4|4|6" passage="1Jo 4:4-6">ver. 4-6</scripRef>), urges Christian love by divers
considerations (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.7-1John.4.16" parsed="|1John|4|7|4|16" passage="1Jo 4:7-16">ver.
7-16</scripRef>), describes our love to God, and the effect of it,
<scripRef id="iJo.v-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.17-1John.4.21" parsed="|1John|4|17|4|21" passage="1Jo 4:17-21">ver. 17-21</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="iJo.v-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:1John.4" parsed="|1John|4|0|0|0" passage="1Jo 4" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="iJo.v-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.1-1John.4.3" parsed="|1John|4|1|4|3" passage="1Jo 4:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.4.1-1John.4.3">
<h4 id="iJo.v-p1.8">Concerning Antichrist. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.v-p1.9">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.v-p2">1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world.   2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is of God:   3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that
<i>spirit</i> of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should
come; and even now already is it in the world.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p3">The apostle, having said that God's
dwelling in and with us may be known by <i>the Spirit that he hath
given us,</i> intimates that that Spirit may be discerned and
distinguished from other spirits that appear in the world; and so
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p4">I. He calls the disciples, to whom he
writes, to caution and scrutiny about the spirits and spiritual
professors that had now risen. 1. To caution: "<i>Beloved, believe
not every spirit;</i> regard not, trust not, follow not, every
pretender to the Spirit of God, or every professor of vision, or
inspiration, or revelation from God." Truth is the foundation of
simulation and counterfeits; there had been real communications
from the divine Spirit, and therefore others pretended thereto. God
will take the way of his own wisdom and goodness, though it may be
liable to abuse; he has sent inspired teachers to the world, and
given us a supernatural revelation, though others may be so evil
and so impudent as to pretend the same; every pretender to the
divine Spirit, or to inspiration, and extraordinary illumination
thereby, is not to be believed. Time was when the spiritual man
(the man of the Spirit, who made a great noise about, and boast of,
the Spirit) was mad, <scripRef id="iJo.v-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.7" parsed="|Hos|9|7|0|0" passage="Ho 9:7">Hos. ix.
7</scripRef>. 2. To scrutiny, to examination of the claims that are
laid to the Spirit: <i>But try the spirits, whether they be of
God,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.1" parsed="|1John|4|1|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. God
has given of his Spirit in these latter ages of the world, but not
to all who profess to come furnished therewith; to the disciples is
allowed a judgment of discretion, in reference to the spirits that
would be believed and trusted in the affairs of religion. A reason
is given for this trial: <i>Because many false prophets have gone
out into the world,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.1" parsed="|1John|4|1|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>. There being much about the time of our Saviour's
appearance in the world a general expectation among the Jews of a
Redeemer to Israel, and the humiliation, spiritual reformation, and
sufferings of the Saviour being taken as a prejudice against him,
others were induced to set up as prophets and messiahs to Israel,
according to the Saviour's prediction, <scripRef id="iJo.v-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.23-Matt.24.24" parsed="|Matt|24|23|24|24" passage="Mt 24:23,24">Matt. xxiv. 23, 24</scripRef>. It should not seem
strange to us that false teachers set themselves up in the church:
it was so in the apostles' times; fatal is the spirit of delusion,
sad that men should vaunt themselves for prophets and inspired
preachers that are by no means so!</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p5">II. He gives a test whereby the disciples
may try these pretending spirits. These spirits set up for
prophets, doctors, or dictators in religion, and so they were to be
tried by their doctrine; and the test whereby in that day, or in
that part of the world where the apostle now resided (for in
various seasons, and in various churches, tests were different),
must be this: <i>Hereby know you the Spirit of God, Every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh</i> (or
<i>that confesseth Jesus Christ that came in the flesh), is of
God,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.2" parsed="|1John|4|2|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Jesus
Christ is to be confessed as the Son of God, the eternal life and
Word, that was with the Father from the beginning; as the Son of
God that came into, and came in, our human mortal nature, and
therein suffered and died at Jerusalem. He who confesses and
preaches this, by a mind supernaturally instructed and enlightened
therein, does it by the Spirit of God, or God is the author of that
illumination. On the contrary, "<i>Every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh</i> (or <i>Jesus Christ
that came in the flesh) is not of God,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.3" parsed="|1John|4|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. God has given so much testimony
to Jesus Christ, who was lately here in the world, and in <i>the
flesh</i> (or in a fleshly body like ours), though now in heaven,
that you may be assured that any impulse or pretended inspiration
that contradicts this is far from being from heaven and of God."
The sum of revealed religion is comprehended in the doctrine
concerning Christ, his person and office. We see then the
aggravation of a systematic opposition to him and it. <i>And this
is that spirit of antichrist whereof you have heard that it should
come, and even now already is it in the world,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.3" parsed="|1John|4|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. It was foreknown by God
that antichrists would arise, and antichristian spirits oppose his
Spirit and his truth; it was foreknown also that one eminent
antichrist would arise, and make a long and fatal war against the
Christ of God, and his institution, and honour, and kingdom in the
world. This great antichrist would have his way prepared, and his
rise facilitated, by other less antichrists, and the spirit of
error working and disposing men's minds for him: the antichristian
spirit began betimes, even in the apostles' days. Dreadful and
unsearchable is the judgment of God, that persons should be given
over to an antichristian spirit, and to such darkness and delusion
as to set themselves against the Son of God and all the testimony
that the Father hath given to the Son! But we have been forewarned
that such opposition would arise; we should therefore cease to be
offended, and the more we see the word of Christ fulfilled the more
confirmed we should be in the truth of it.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iJo.v-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.4-1John.4.6" parsed="|1John|4|4|4|6" passage="1Jo 4:4-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.4.4-1John.4.6">
<h4 id="iJo.v-p5.5">Danger of Antichristian
Spirit. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.v-p5.6">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.v-p6">4 Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that
is in the world.   5 They are of the world: therefore speak
they of the world, and the world heareth them.   6 We are of
God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of
error.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p7">In these verses the apostle encourages the
disciples against the fear and danger of this seducing
antichristian spirit, and that by such methods as these:—1. He
assures them of a more divine principle in them: "<i>You are of
God, little children,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.4" parsed="|1John|4|4|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. <i>You are God's little children. We are of God,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.v-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.6" parsed="|1John|4|6|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. <i>We are born
of God,</i> taught of God, anointed of God, and so secured against
infectious fatal delusions. God has his chosen, who shall not be
mortally seduced." 2. He gives them hope of victory: "<i>And have
overcome them,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.4" parsed="|1John|4|4|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. You have hitherto overcome these deceivers and their
temptations, and there is good ground of hope that you will do so
still, and that upon these two accounts:"—(1.) "There is a strong
preserver within you: <i>Because greater is he that is in you than
he that is in the world,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.4" parsed="|1John|4|4|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. The Spirit of God dwells in you, and that Spirit is
more mighty than men of devils." It is a great happiness to be
under the influence of the Holy Ghost. (2.) "You are not of the
same temper with these deceivers. The Spirit of God hath framed
your mind for God and heaven; <i>but they are of the world.</i> The
spirit that prevails in them leads them to this world; their heart
is addicted thereto; they study the pomp, the pleasure, and
interest of the world: <i>and therefore speak they of the
world;</i> they profess a worldly messiah and saviour; they project
a worldly kingdom and dominion; the possessions and treasures of
the world would they engross to themselves, forgetting that the
true Redeemer's <i>kingdom is not of this world.</i> This worldly
design procures them proselytes: <i>The world heareth them,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.v-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.5" parsed="|1John|4|5|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. They are
followed by such as themselves: the world will love its own, and
its own will love it. But those are in a fair way to conquer
pernicious seductions who have conquered the love of this seducing
world." Then, 3. He represents to them that though their company
might be the smaller, yet it was the better; they had more divine
and holy knowledge: "<i>He that knoweth God heareth us.</i> He who
knows the purity and holiness of God, the love and grace of God,
the truth and faithfulness of God, the ancient word and prophecies
of God, the signals and testimonials of God, must know that he is
with us; and he who knows this will attend to us, and abide with
us." He that is well furnished with natural religion will the more
faithfully cleave to Christianity. <i>He that knoweth God</i> (in
his natural and moral excellences, revelations, and works)
<i>heareth us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.6" parsed="|1John|4|6|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. As, on the contrary, "<i>He that is not of God
heareth not us.</i> He who knows not God regards not us. He that is
not <i>born of God</i> (walking according to his natural
disposition) walks not with us. The further any are from God (as
appears in all ages) the further they are from Christ and his
faithful servants; and the more addicted persons are to this world
the more remote they are from the spirit of Christianity. Thus you
have a distinction between us and others: <i>Hereby know we the
Spirit of truth and the spirit of error,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.6" parsed="|1John|4|6|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. This doctrine concerning the
Saviour's person leading you from the world to God is a signature
of <i>the Spirit of truth,</i> in opposition to <i>the spirit of
error.</i> The more pure and holy any doctrine is the more likely
is it to be of God."</p>
</div><scripCom id="iJo.v-p7.8" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.7-1John.4.13" parsed="|1John|4|7|4|13" passage="1Jo 4:7-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.4.7-1John.4.13">
<h4 id="iJo.v-p7.9">Brotherly Love. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.v-p7.10">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.v-p8">7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is
of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
  8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
  9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because
that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through him.   10 Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son <i>to be</i> the
propitiation for our sins.   11 Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another.   12 No man hath seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his
love is perfected in us.   13 Hereby know we that we dwell in
him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p9">As <i>the Spirit of truth</i> is known by
doctrine (thus spirits are to be tried), it is known by love
likewise; and so here follows a strong fervent exhortation to holy
Christian love: <i>Beloved, let us love one another,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.7" parsed="|1John|4|7|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The apostle would unite
them in his love, that he might unite them in love to each other:
"<i>Beloved,</i> I beseech you, by the love I bear to you, that you
put on unfeigned mutual love." This exhortation is pressed and
urged with variety of argument: as,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p10">I. From the high and heavenly descent of
love: <i>For love is of God.</i> He is the fountain, author,
parent, and commander of love; it is the sum of his law and gospel:
<i>And every one that loveth</i> (whose spirit is framed to
judicious holy love) <i>is born of God,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.7" parsed="|1John|4|7|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The Spirit of God is the Spirit
of love. The new nature in the children of God is the offspring of
his love: and the temper and complexion of it is love. <i>The fruit
of the Spirit is love,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Gal.5.22" parsed="|Gal|5|22|0|0" passage="Ga 5:22">Gal. v.
22</scripRef>. Love comes down from heaven.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p11">II. Love argues a true and just
apprehension of the divine nature: <i>He that loveth knoweth
God,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.7" parsed="|1John|4|7|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. <i>He
that loveth not knoweth not God,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.8" parsed="|1John|4|8|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. What attribute of the divine
Majesty so clearly shines in all the world as his communicative
goodness, which is love. The wisdom, the greatness, the harmony,
and usefulness of the vast creation, which so fully demonstrate his
being, do at the same time show and prove his love; and natural
reason, inferring and collecting the nature and excellence of the
most absolute perfect being, must collect and find that he is most
highly good: and <i>he that loveth not</i> (is not quickened by the
knowledge he hath of God to the affection and practice of love)
<i>knoweth not God;</i> it is a convictive evidence that the sound
and due knowledge of God dwells not in such a soul; his love must
needs shine among his primary brightest perfections; <i>for God is
love</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.8" parsed="|1John|4|8|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), his
nature and essence are love, his will and works are primarily love.
Not that this is the only conception we ought to have of him; we
have found that he <i>is light as well as love</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.5" parsed="|1John|1|5|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:5"><i>ch.</i> i. 5</scripRef>), and God is
principally love to himself, and he has such perfections as arise
from the necessary love he must bear to his necessary existence,
excellence, and glory; but love is natural and essential to the
divine Majesty: <i>God is love.</i> This is argued from the display
and demonstration that he hath given of it; as, 1. That he hath
loved us, such as we are: <i>In this was manifest the love of God
towards us</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.9" parsed="|1John|4|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>), towards us mortals, us ungrateful rebels. <i>God
commandeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.8" parsed="|Rom|5|8|0|0" passage="Ro 5:8">Rom. v.
8</scripRef>. Strange that God should love impure, vain, vile, dust
and ashes! 2. That he has loved us at such a rate, at such an
incomparable value as he has given for us; he has given his own,
only-beloved, blessed Son for us: <i>Because that God sent his
only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
him,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.9" parsed="|1John|4|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. This
person is in some peculiar distinguishing way the Son of God; he is
the only-begotten. Should we suppose him begotten as a creature or
created being, he is not the only-begotten. Should we suppose him a
natural necessary eradication from the Father's glory or glorious
essence, or substance, he must be the only-begotten: and then it
will be a mystery and miracle of divine love that such a Son should
be sent into our world for us! It may well be said, <i>So</i>
(wonderfully, so amazingly, so incredibly) <i>God loved the
world.</i> 3. That God loved us first, and in the circumstances in
which we lay: <i>Herein is love</i> (unusual unprecedented love),
<i>not that we loved God, but that he loved us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.10" parsed="|1John|4|10|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. He loved us, when we
had no love for him, when we lay in our guilt, misery, and blood,
when we were undeserving, ill-deserving, polluted, and unclean, and
wanted to be washed from our sins in sacred blood. 4. That he gave
us his Son for such service and such an end. (1.) For such service,
<i>to be the propitiation for our sins;</i> consequently to die for
us, to die under the law and curse of God, to <i>bear our sins in
his own body,</i> to be crucified, to be wounded in his soul, and
pierced in his side, to be dead and buried for us (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.9" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.10" parsed="|1John|4|10|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>); and then, (2.) For
such an end, for such a good and beneficial end to us—<i>that we
might live through him</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p11.10" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.9" parsed="|1John|4|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>), might live for ever through him, might live in
heaven, live with God, and live in eternal glory and blessedness
with him and through him: O what love is here! Then,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p12">III. Divine love to the brethren should
constrain ours: <i>Beloved</i> (I would adjure you by your interest
in my love to remember), <i>if God so loved us, we ought also to
love one another,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.11" parsed="|1John|4|11|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>. This should be an invincible argument. The example
of God should press us. <i>We should be followers</i> (or
imitators) <i>of him, as his dear children.</i> The objects of the
divine love should be the objects of ours. Shall we refuse to love
those whom the eternal God hath loved? We should be admirers of his
love, and lovers of his love (of the benevolence and complacency
that are in him), and consequently lovers of those whom he loves.
The general love of God to the world should induce a universal love
among mankind. <i>That you may be the children of your Father who
is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.v-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.45" parsed="|Matt|5|45|0|0" passage="Mt 5:45">Matt. v. 45</scripRef>. The peculiar
love of God to the church and to the saints should be productive of
a peculiar love there: <i>If God so loved us, we ought</i> surely
(in some measure suitably thereto) <i>to love one another.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p13">IV. The Christian love is an assurance of
the divine inhabitation: <i>If we love one another, God dwelleth in
us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.12" parsed="|1John|4|12|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Now
God dwelleth in us, not by any visible presence, or immediate
appearance to the eye (<i>no man hath seen God at any time,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.v-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.12" parsed="|1John|4|12|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), but by his
Spirit (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.13" parsed="|1John|4|13|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); or,
"<i>No man hath seen God at any time;</i> he does not here present
himself to our eye or to our immediate intuition, and so he does
not in this way demand and exact our love; but he demands and
expects it in that way in which he has thought meet to deserve and
claim it, and that is in the illustration that he has given of
himself and of his love (and thereupon of his loveliness too) in
the catholic church, and particularly in the brethren, the members
of that church. In them, and in his appearance for them and with
them, is God to be loved; and thus, <i>if we love one another, God
dwelleth in us.</i> The sacred lovers of the brethren are the
temples of God; the divine Majesty has a peculiar residence
there."</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p14">V. Herein the divine love attains a
considerable end and accomplishment in us: "<i>And his love is
perfected in us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.12" parsed="|1John|4|12|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>. It has obtained its completion in and upon us. God's
love is not perfected in him, but in and with us. His love could
not be designed to be ineffectual and fruitless upon us; when its
proper genuine end and issue are attained and produced thereby, it
may be said to be perfected; so faith is perfected by its works,
and love perfected by its operations. When the divine love has
wrought us to the same image, to the love of God, and thereupon to
the love of the brethren, the children of God, for his sake, it is
therein and so far perfected and completed, though this love of
ours is not at present perfect, nor the ultimate end of the divine
love to us." How ambitious should we be of this fraternal Christian
love, when God reckons his own love to us perfected thereby! To
this the apostle, having mentioned the high favour of God's
dwelling in us, subjoins the note and character thereof: <i>Hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given
us of his Spirit,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.13" parsed="|1John|4|13|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. Certainly this mutual inhabitation is something more
noble and great than we are well acquainted with or can declare.
One would think that to speak of God dwelling in us, and we in him,
were to use words too high for mortals, had not God gone before us
therein. What this indwelling imports has been briefly explained on
<scripRef id="iJo.v-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.24" parsed="|1John|3|24|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:24"><i>ch.</i> iii. 24</scripRef>. What it
fully is must be left to the revelation of the blessed world. But
this mutual inhabitation we know, says the apostle, <i>because he
hath given us of his spirit;</i> he has lodged the image and fruit
of his Spirit in our hearts (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.13" parsed="|1John|4|13|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>), and <i>the Spirit that he hath given us</i> appears
to be his, or of him, since it is <i>the Spirit of power,</i> of
zeal and magnanimity for God, <i>of love</i> to God and man, <i>and
of a sound mind,</i> of an understanding well instructed in the
affairs of God and religion, and his kingdom among men, <scripRef id="iJo.v-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.1.7" parsed="|2Tim|1|7|0|0" passage="2Ti 1:7">2 Tim. i. 7</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iJo.v-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.14-1John.4.16" parsed="|1John|4|14|4|16" passage="1Jo 4:14-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.4.14-1John.4.16">
<h4 id="iJo.v-p14.7">The Divine Love. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.v-p14.8">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.v-p15">14 And we have seen and do testify that the
Father sent the Son <i>to be</i> the Saviour of the world.  
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God.   16 And we have known and
believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p16">Since faith in Christ works love to God,
and love to God must kindle love to the brethren, the apostle here
confirms the prime article of the Christian faith as the foundation
of such love. Here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p17">I. He proclaims the fundamental article of
the Christian religion, which is so representative of the love of
God: <i>And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the
Son to be the Saviour of the world,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.14" parsed="|1John|4|14|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. We here see, 1. The Lord
Jesus's relation to God; he is Son to the Father, such a Son as no
one else is, and so as to be God with the Father. 2. His relation
and office towards us—<i>the Saviour of the world;</i> he saves us
by his death, example, intercession, Spirit, and power against the
enemies of our salvation. 3. The ground on which he became so—by
the mission of him: <i>The Father sent the Son,</i> he decreed and
willed his coming hither, in and with the consent of the Son. 4.
The apostle's assurance of this—he and his brethren had seen it;
they had seen the Son of God in his human nature, in his holy
converse and works, in his transfiguration on the mount, and in his
death, resurrection from the dead, and royal ascent to heaven; they
had so seen him as to be satisfied that he was the <i>only-begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth.</i> 5. The apostle's
attestation of this, in pursuance of such evidence: "<i>We have
seen and do testify.</i> The weight of this truth obliges us to
testify it; the salvation of the world lies upon it. The evidence
of the truth warrants us to testify it; our eyes, and ears, and
hands, have been witnesses of it." Thereupon,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p18">II. The apostle states the excellency, or
the excellent privilege attending the due acknowledgment of this
truth: <i>Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.15" parsed="|1John|4|15|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. This confession seems to
include faith in the heart as the foundation of it, acknowledgment
with the mouth to the glory of God and Christ, and profession in
the life and conduct, in opposition to the flatteries or frowns of
the world. Thus <i>no man says that Jesus is the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost,</i> by the external attestation and internal operation
of the Holy Ghost, <scripRef id="iJo.v-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.3" parsed="|1Cor|12|3|0|0" passage="1Co 12:3">1 Cor. xii.
3</scripRef>. And so he who thus confesses Christ, and God in him,
is enriched with or possessed by the Spirit of God, and has a
complacential knowledge of God and much holy enjoyment of him.
Then,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p19">III. The apostle applies this in order to
the excitation of holy love. God's love is thus seen and exerted in
Christ Jesus; <i>and</i> thus <i>have we known and believed the
love that God hath to us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.16" parsed="|1John|4|16|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. The Christian revelation is,
what should endear it to us, the revelation of the divine love; the
articles of our revealed faith are but so many articles relating to
the divine love. The history of the Lord Christ is the history of
God's love to us; all his transactions in and with his Son were but
testifications of his love to us, and means to advance us to the
love of God: <i>God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
himself,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.19" parsed="|2Cor|5|19|0|0" passage="2Co 5:19">2 Cor. v. 19</scripRef>.
Hence we may learn,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p20">1. That <i>God is love</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.16" parsed="|1John|4|16|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>); he is essential
boundless love; he has incomparable incomprehensible love for us of
this world, which he has demonstrated in the mission and mediation
of his beloved Son. It is the great objection and prejudice against
the Christian revelation that the love of God should be so strange
and unaccountable as to give his own eternal Son for us; it is the
prejudice of many against the eternity and the deity of the Son
that so great a person should be given for us. It is, I confess,
mysterious and unsearchable; but there are <i>unsearchable riches
in Christ.</i> It is a pity that the vastness of the divine love
should be made a prejudice against the revelation and the belief of
it. But what will not God do when he designs to demonstrate the
height of any perfection of his? When he would show somewhat of his
power and wisdom, he makes such a world as this; when he would show
more of his grandeur and glory, he makes heaven for the ministering
spirits that are before the throne. What will he not do then when
he designs to demonstrate his love, and to demonstrate his highest
love, or that he himself is love, or that love is one of the most
bright, dear, transcendent, operative excellencies of his unbounded
nature; and to demonstrate this not only to us, but to the angelic
world, and to the principalities and powers above, and this not for
our surprise for a while, but for the admiration, and praise, and
adoration, and felicity, of our most exalted powers to all
eternity? What will not God then do? Surely then it will look more
agreeable to the design, and grandeur, and pregnancy of his love
(if I may so call it) to give an eternal Son for us, than to make a
Son on purpose for our relief. In such a dispensation as that of
giving a natural, essential, eternal Son for us and to us, he will
commend his love to us indeed; and what will not the God of love do
when he designs to commend his love, and to commend it in the view
of heaven, and earth, and hell, and when he will commend himself
and recommend himself to us, and to our highest conviction, and
also affection, as love itself? And what if it should appear at
last (which I shall only offer to the consideration of the
judicious) that the divine love, and particularly God's love in
Christ, should be the foundation of the glories of heaven, in the
present enjoyment of those ministering spirits that comported with
it, and of the salvation of this world, and of the torments of
hell? This last will seem most strange. But what if therein it
should appear not only that God is love to himself, in vindicating
his own law, and government, and love, and glory, but that the
damned ones are made so, or are so punished, (1.) Because they
despised the love of God already manifested and exhibited. (2.)
Because they refused to be beloved in what was further proposed and
promised. (3.) Because they made themselves unmeet to be the
objects of divine complacency and delight? If the conscience of the
damned should accuse them of these things, and especially of
rejecting the highest instance of divine love, and if the far
greatest part of the intelligent creation should be everlastingly
blessed through the highest instance of the divine love, then may
it well be inscribed upon the whole creation of God, <i>God is
love.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p21">2. That hereupon <i>he that dwelleth in
love dwelleth in God, and God in him,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.16" parsed="|1John|4|16|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. There is great communion
between the God of love and the loving soul; that is, him who loves
the creation of God, according to its different relation to God,
and reception from him and interest in him. He that dwells in
sacred love has <i>the love God shed abroad upon his heart,</i> has
the impress of God upon his spirit, the Spirit of God sanctifying
and sealing him, lives in the meditation, views, and tastes of the
divine love, and will ere long go to dwell with God for ever.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iJo.v-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.17-1John.4.21" parsed="|1John|4|17|4|21" passage="1Jo 4:17-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.4.17-1John.4.21">
<h4 id="iJo.v-p21.3">The Divine Love. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.v-p21.4">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.v-p22">17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may
have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we
in this world.   18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love
casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not
made perfect in love.   19 We love him, because he first loved
us.   20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he
is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?   21 And this
commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his
brother also.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p23">The apostle, having thus excited and
enforced sacred love from the great pattern and motive of it, the
love that is and dwells in God himself, proceeds to recommend it
further by other considerations; and he recommends it in both the
branches of it, both as love to God, and love to our brother or
Christian neighbour.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p24">I. As love to God, to the <i>primum
amabile—the first and chief of all amiable beings and objects,</i>
who has the confluence of all beauty, excellence, and loveliness,
in himself, and confers on all other beings whatever renders them
good and amiable. Love to God seems here to be recommended on these
accounts:—1. It will give us peace and satisfaction of spirit in
the day when it will be most needed, or when it will be the
greatest pleasure and blessing imaginable: <i>Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.17" parsed="|1John|4|17|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. There must be
a day of universal judgment. Happy they who shall have holy
fiducial boldness before the Judge at that day, who shall be able
to lift up their heads, and to look him in the face, as knowing he
is their friend and advocate! Happy they who have holy boldness and
assurance in the prospect of that day, who look and wait for it,
and for the Judge's appearance! So do, and so may do, the lovers of
God. Their love to God assures them of God's love to them, and
consequently of the friendship of the Son of God; the more we love
our friend, especially when we are sure that he knows it, the more
we can trust his love. As God is good and loving, and faithful to
his promise, so we can easily be persuaded of his love, and the
happy fruits of his love, when we can say, <i>Thou that knowest all
things knowest that we love thee. And hope maketh not ashamed;</i>
our hope, conceived by the consideration of God's love, will not
disappoint us, <i>because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given to us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.5" parsed="|Rom|5|5|0|0" passage="Ro 5:5">Rom. v. 5</scripRef>. Possibly here by the love of
God may be meant our <i>love to God,</i> which is <i>shed abroad
upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost;</i> this is the foundation of
our hope, or of our assurance that our hope will hold good at last.
Or, if by the love of God be meant the sense and apprehension of
his love to us, yet this must suppose or include us as lovers of
him in this case; and indeed the sense and evidence of his love to
us do shed abroad upon our hearts love to him; and thereupon we
have confidence towards him and peace and joy in him. He will give
the crown of righteousness to all that love his appearing. And we
have this boldness towards Christ because of our conformity to him:
<i>Because as he is so are we in this world,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.17" parsed="|1John|4|17|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Love hath conformed us to him;
as he was the great lover of God and man, he has taught us in our
measure to be so too, and he will not deny his own image. Love
teaches us to conform in sufferings too; we suffer for him and with
him, and therefore cannot but hope and trust that we shall also be
glorified together with him, <scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.12" parsed="|2Tim|2|12|0|0" passage="2Ti 2:12">2 Tim.
ii. 12</scripRef>. 2. It prevents or removes the uncomfortable
result and fruit of servile fear: <i>There is no fear in love</i>
(<scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.18" parsed="|1John|4|18|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); so far as
love prevails, fear ceases. We must here distinguish, I judge,
between fear and being afraid; or, in this case, between the fear
of God and being afraid of him. The fear of God is often mentioned
and commanded as the substance of religion (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.6" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.17 Bible:Rev.14.7" parsed="|1Pet|2|17|0|0;|Rev|14|7|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:17,Re 14:7">1 Pet. ii. 17; Rev. xiv. 7</scripRef>); and so
it imports the high regard and veneration we have for God and his
authority and government. Such fear is constant with love, yea,
with perfect love, as being in the angels themselves. But then
there is a being afraid of God, which arises from a sense of guilt,
and a view of his vindictive perfections; in the view of them, God
is represented as a consuming fire; and so fear here may be
rendered <i>dread; There is no dread in love.</i> Love considers
its object as good and excellent, and therefore amiable, and worthy
to be beloved. Love considers God as most eminently good, and most
eminently loving us in Christ, and so puts off dread, and puts on
joy in him; and, as love grows, joy grows too; so that <i>perfect
love casteth out fear</i> or dread. Those who perfectly love God
are, from his nature, and counsel, and covenant, perfectly assured
of his love, and consequently are perfectly free from any dismal
dreadful suspicions of his punitive power and justice, as armed
against them; they well know that God loves them, and they
thereupon triumph in his love. That <i>perfect love casteth out
fear</i> the apostle thus sensibly argues: that which casteth out
torment casteth out fear or dread: <i>Because fear hath torment</i>
(<scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.7" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.18" parsed="|1John|4|18|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>)—fear is
known to be a disquieting torturing passion, especially such a fear
as is the dread of an almighty avenging God; but perfect love
casteth out torment, for it teaches the mind a perfect acquiescence
and complacency in the beloved, and therefore <i>perfect love
casteth out fear.</i> Or, which is here equivalent, <i>he that
feareth is not made perfect in love</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.8" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.18" parsed="|1John|4|18|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); it is a sign that our love is
far from being perfect, since our doubts, and fears, and dismal
apprehensions of God, are so many. Let us long for, and hasten to,
the world of perfect love, where our serenity and joy in God will
be as perfect as our love! 3. From the source and rise of it, which
is the antecedent love of God: <i>We love him, because he first
loved us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.9" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.19" parsed="|1John|4|19|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
His love is the incentive, the motive, and moral cause of ours. We
cannot but love so good a God, who was first in the act and work of
love, who loved us when we were both unloving and unlovely, who
loved us at so great a rate, who has been seeking and soliciting
our love at the expense of his Son's blood; and has condescended to
beseech us to be reconciled unto him. Let heaven and earth stand
amazed at such love! His love is the productive cause of ours:
<i>Of his own will</i> (of his own free loving will) <i>begat he
us. To those that love him all things work together for good, to
those who are the called according to his purpose.</i> Those
<i>that love God are the called</i> thereto <i>according to his
purpose</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.10" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.28" parsed="|Rom|8|28|0|0" passage="Ro 8:28">Rom. viii. 28</scripRef>);
according to whose purpose they are called is sufficiently
intimated in the following clauses: <i>whom he did predestinate</i>
(or antecedently purpose, to the image of his Son) <i>those he also
called,</i> effectually recovered thereto. The divine love stamped
love upon our souls; may the Lord still and further direct our
hearts into the love of God! <scripRef id="iJo.v-p24.11" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.5" parsed="|2Thess|3|5|0|0" passage="2Th 3:5">2 Thess.
iii. 5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.v-p25">II. As love to our brother and neighbour in
Christ; such love is argued and urged on these accounts:—1. As
suitable and consonant to our Christian profession. In the
profession of Christianity we profess to love God as the root of
religion: "<i>If then a man say,</i> or profess as much as thereby
to say, <i>I love God,</i> I am a lover of his name, and house, and
worship, <i>and</i> yet <i>hate his brother,</i> whom he should
love for God's sake, <i>he is a liar</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.v-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.20" parsed="|1John|4|20|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), he therein gives his
profession the lie." That such a one loves not God the apostle
proves by the usual facility of loving what is seen rather than
what is unseen: <i>For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath
seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.20" parsed="|1John|4|20|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. The eye is wont to
affect the heart; things unseen less catch the mind, and thereby
the heart. The incomprehensibleness of God very much arises from
his invisibility; the member of Christ has much of God visible in
him. How then shall the hater of a visible image of God pretend to
love the unseen original, the invisible God himself? 2. As suitable
to the express law of God, and the just reason of it: <i>And this
commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his
brother also,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.v-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.21" parsed="|1John|4|21|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>. As God has communicated his image in nature and in
grace, so he would have our love to be suitably diffused. We must
love God originally and supremely, and others in him, on the
account of their derivation and reception from him, and of his
interest in them. Now, our Christian brethren having a new nature
and excellent privileges derived from God, and God having his
interest in them as well as in us, it cannot but be a natural
suitable obligation <i>that he who loves God should love his
brother also.</i></p>
</div></div2>