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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>F I R S T J O H N.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter the apostle exhorts to try spirits
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:1">ver. 1</A>),
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gives a note to try by
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:2,3">ver. 2, 3</A>),
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shows who are of the world and who of God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:4-6">ver. 4-6</A>),
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urges Christian love by divers considerations
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:7-16">ver. 7-16</A>),
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describes our love to God, and the effect of it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:17-21">ver. 17-21</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Concerning Antichrist.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 80.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
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whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out
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into the world.
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2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
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confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
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3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is
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come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that <I>spirit</I> of
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antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even
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now already is it in the world.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle, having said that God's dwelling in and with us may be
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known by <I>the Spirit that he hath given us,</I> intimates that that
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Spirit may be discerned and distinguished from other spirits that
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appear in the world; and so here,</P>
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<P>
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I. He calls the disciples, to whom he writes, to caution and scrutiny
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about the spirits and spiritual professors that had now risen.
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1. To caution: "<I>Beloved, believe not every spirit;</I> regard not,
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trust not, follow not, every pretender to the Spirit of God, or every
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professor of vision, or inspiration, or revelation from God." Truth is
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the foundation of simulation and counterfeits; there had been real
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communications from the divine Spirit, and therefore others pretended
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thereto. God will take the way of his own wisdom and goodness, though
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it may be liable to abuse; he has sent inspired teachers to the world,
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and given us a supernatural revelation, though others may be so evil
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and so impudent as to pretend the same; every pretender to the divine
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Spirit, or to inspiration, and extraordinary illumination thereby, is
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not to be believed. Time was when the spiritual man (the man of the
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Spirit, who made a great noise about, and boast of, the Spirit) was
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mad,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:7">Hos. ix. 7</A>.
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2. To scrutiny, to examination of the claims that are laid to the
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Spirit: <I>But try the spirits, whether they be of God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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God has given of his Spirit in these latter ages of the world, but not
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to all who profess to come furnished therewith; to the disciples is
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allowed a judgment of discretion, in reference to the spirits that
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would be believed and trusted in the affairs of religion. A reason is
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given for this trial: <I>Because many false prophets have gone out into
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the world,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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There being much about the time of our Saviour's appearance in the
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world a general expectation among the Jews of a Redeemer to Israel, and
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the humiliation, spiritual reformation, and sufferings of the Saviour
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being taken as a prejudice against him, others were induced to set up
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as prophets and messiahs to Israel, according to the Saviour's
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prediction,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:23,24">Matt. xxiv. 23, 24</A>.
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It should not seem strange to us that false teachers set themselves up
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in the church: it was so in the apostles' times; fatal is the spirit of
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delusion, sad that men should vaunt themselves for prophets and
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inspired preachers that are by no means so!</P>
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<P>
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II. He gives a test whereby the disciples may try these pretending
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spirits. These spirits set up for prophets, doctors, or dictators in
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religion, and so they were to be tried by their doctrine; and the test
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whereby in that day, or in that part of the world where the apostle now
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resided (for in various seasons, and in various churches, tests were
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different), must be this: <I>Hereby know you the Spirit of God, Every
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spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh</I> (or
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<I>that confesseth Jesus Christ that came in the flesh), is of God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Jesus Christ is to be confessed as the Son of God, the eternal life and
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Word, that was with the Father from the beginning; as the Son of God
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that came into, and came in, our human mortal nature, and therein
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suffered and died at Jerusalem. He who confesses and preaches this, by
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a mind supernaturally instructed and enlightened therein, does it by
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the Spirit of God, or God is the author of that illumination. On the
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contrary, "<I>Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has
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come in the flesh</I> (or <I>Jesus Christ that came in the flesh) is
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not of God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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God has given so much testimony to Jesus Christ, who was lately here in
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the world, and in <I>the flesh</I> (or in a fleshly body like ours),
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though now in heaven, that you may be assured that any impulse or
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pretended inspiration that contradicts this is far from being from
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heaven and of God." The sum of revealed religion is comprehended in the
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doctrine concerning Christ, his person and office. We see then the
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aggravation of a systematic opposition to him and it. <I>And this is
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that spirit of antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come,
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and even now already is it in the world,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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It was foreknown by God that antichrists would arise, and antichristian
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spirits oppose his Spirit and his truth; it was foreknown also that one
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eminent antichrist would arise, and make a long and fatal war against
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the Christ of God, and his institution, and honour, and kingdom in the
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world. This great antichrist would have his way prepared, and his rise
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facilitated, by other less antichrists, and the spirit of error working
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and disposing men's minds for him: the antichristian spirit began
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betimes, even in the apostles' days. Dreadful and unsearchable is the
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judgment of God, that persons should be given over to an antichristian
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spirit, and to such darkness and delusion as to set themselves against
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the Son of God and all the testimony that the Father hath given to the
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Son! But we have been forewarned that such opposition would arise; we
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should therefore cease to be offended, and the more we see the word of
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Christ fulfilled the more confirmed we should be in the truth of
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it.</P>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Danger of Antichristian Spirit.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 80.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:
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because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
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world.
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5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and
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the world heareth them.
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6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not
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of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and
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the spirit of error.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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In these verses the apostle encourages the disciples against the fear
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and danger of this seducing antichristian spirit, and that by such
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methods as these:--
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1. He assures them of a more divine principle in them: "<I>You are of
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God, little children,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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<I>You are God's little children. We are of God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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<I>We are born of God,</I> taught of God, anointed of God, and so
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secured against infectious fatal delusions. God has his chosen, who
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shall not be mortally seduced."
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2. He gives them hope of victory: "<I>And have overcome them,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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You have hitherto overcome these deceivers and their temptations, and
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there is good ground of hope that you will do so still, and that upon
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these two accounts:"--
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(1.) "There is a strong preserver within you: <I>Because greater is he
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that is in you than he that is in the world,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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The Spirit of God dwells in you, and that Spirit is more mighty than
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men of devils." It is a great happiness to be under the influence of
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the Holy Ghost.
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(2.) "You are not of the same temper with these deceivers. The Spirit
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of God hath framed your mind for God and heaven; <I>but they are of the
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world.</I> The spirit that prevails in them leads them to this world;
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their heart is addicted thereto; they study the pomp, the pleasure, and
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interest of the world: <I>and therefore speak they of the world;</I>
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they profess a worldly messiah and saviour; they project a worldly
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kingdom and dominion; the possessions and treasures of the world would
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they engross to themselves, forgetting that the true Redeemer's
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<I>kingdom is not of this world.</I> This worldly design procures them
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proselytes: <I>The world heareth them,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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They are followed by such as themselves: the world will love its own,
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and its own will love it. But those are in a fair way to conquer
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pernicious seductions who have conquered the love of this seducing
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world." Then,
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3. He represents to them that though their company might be the
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smaller, yet it was the better; they had more divine and holy
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knowledge: "<I>He that knoweth God heareth us.</I> He who knows the
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purity and holiness of God, the love and grace of God, the truth and
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faithfulness of God, the ancient word and prophecies of God, the
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signals and testimonials of God, must know that he is with us; and he
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who knows this will attend to us, and abide with us." He that is well
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furnished with natural religion will the more faithfully cleave to
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Christianity. <I>He that knoweth God</I> (in his natural and moral
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excellences, revelations, and works) <I>heareth us,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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As, on the contrary, "<I>He that is not of God heareth not us.</I> He
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who knows not God regards not us. He that is not <I>born of God</I>
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(walking according to his natural disposition) walks not with us. The
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further any are from God (as appears in all ages) the further they are
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from Christ and his faithful servants; and the more addicted persons
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are to this world the more remote they are from the spirit of
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Christianity. Thus you have a distinction between us and others:
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<I>Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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This doctrine concerning the Saviour's person leading you from the
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world to God is a signature of <I>the Spirit of truth,</I> in
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opposition to <I>the spirit of error.</I> The more pure and holy any
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doctrine is the more likely is it to be of God."</P>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Jo4_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Brotherly Love.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 80.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and
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every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
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8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
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9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because
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that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might
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live through him.
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10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
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and sent his Son <I>to be</I> the propitiation for our sins.
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11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one
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another.
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12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another,
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God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
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13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because
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he hath given us of his Spirit.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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As <I>the Spirit of truth</I> is known by doctrine (thus spirits are to
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be tried), it is known by love likewise; and so here follows a strong
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fervent exhortation to holy Christian love: <I>Beloved, let us love one
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another,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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The apostle would unite them in his love, that he might unite them in
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love to each other: "<I>Beloved,</I> I beseech you, by the love I bear
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to you, that you put on unfeigned mutual love." This exhortation is
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pressed and urged with variety of argument: as,</P>
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<P>
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I. From the high and heavenly descent of love: <I>For love is of
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God.</I> He is the fountain, author, parent, and commander of love; it
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is the sum of his law and gospel: <I>And every one that loveth</I>
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(whose spirit is framed to judicious holy love) <I>is born of God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. The new nature in the children
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of God is the offspring of his love: and the temper and complexion of
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it is love. <I>The fruit of the Spirit is love,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+5:22">Gal. v. 22</A>.
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Love comes down from heaven.</P>
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<P>
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II. Love argues a true and just apprehension of the divine nature:
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<I>He that loveth knoweth God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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<I>He that loveth not knoweth not God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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What attribute of the divine Majesty so clearly shines in all the world
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as his communicative goodness, which is love. The wisdom, the
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greatness, the harmony, and usefulness of the vast creation, which so
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fully demonstrate his being, do at the same time show and prove his
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love; and natural reason, inferring and collecting the nature and
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excellence of the most absolute perfect being, must collect and find
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that he is most highly good: and <I>he that loveth not</I> (is not
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quickened by the knowledge he hath of God to the affection and practice
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of love) <I>knoweth not God;</I> it is a convictive evidence that the
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sound and due knowledge of God dwells not in such a soul; his love must
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needs shine among his primary brightest perfections; <I>for God is
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love</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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his nature and essence are love, his will and works are primarily love.
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Not that this is the only conception we ought to have of him; we have
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found that he <I>is light as well as love</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+1:5"><I>ch.</I> i. 5</A>),
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and God is principally love to himself, and he has such perfections as
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arise from the necessary love he must bear to his necessary existence,
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excellence, and glory; but love is natural and essential to the divine
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|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:8">Rom. v. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>);
|
|
|
|
and then,
|
|
|
|
(2.) For such an end, for such a good and beneficial end to us--<I>that
|
|
we might live through him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:45">Matt. v. 45</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
IV. The Christian love is an assurance of the divine inhabitation:
|
|
<I>If we love one another, God dwelleth in us,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
but by his Spirit
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
V. Herein the divine love attains a considerable end and accomplishment
|
|
in us: "<I>And his love is perfected in us,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+3:24"><I>ch.</I> iii. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+1:7">2 Tim. i. 7</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_16"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Divine Love.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 80.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+12:3">1 Cor. xii. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:19">2 Cor. v. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Hence we may learn,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. That <I>God is love</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
2. That hereupon <I>he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God
|
|
in him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Jo4_21"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Divine Love.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 80.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
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their friend and advocate! Happy they who have holy boldness and
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assurance in the prospect of that day, who look and wait for it, and
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for the Judge's appearance! So do, and so may do, the lovers of God.
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Their love to God assures them of God's love to them, and consequently
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of the friendship of the Son of God; the more we love our friend,
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especially when we are sure that he knows it, the more we can trust his
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love. As God is good and loving, and faithful to his promise, so we can
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easily be persuaded of his love, and the happy fruits of his love, when
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we can say, <I>Thou that knowest all things knowest that we love thee.
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And hope maketh not ashamed;</I> our hope, conceived by the
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consideration of God's love, will not disappoint us, <I>because the
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love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that is
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given to us,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:5">Rom. v. 5</A>.
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Possibly here by the love of God may be meant our <I>love to God,</I>
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which is <I>shed abroad upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost;</I> this is
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the foundation of our hope, or of our assurance that our hope will hold
|
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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
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|
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
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crown of righteousness to all that love his appearing. And we have this
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|
boldness towards Christ because of our conformity to him: <I>Because as
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|
he is so are we in this world,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
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Love hath conformed us to him; as he was the great lover of God and
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|
man, he has taught us in our measure to be so too, and he will not deny
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|
his own image. Love teaches us to conform in sufferings too; we suffer
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|
for him and with him, and therefore cannot but hope and trust that we
|
|
shall also be glorified together with him,
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|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+2:12">2 Tim. ii. 12</A>.
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2. It prevents or removes the uncomfortable result and fruit of servile
|
|
fear: <I>There is no fear in love</I>
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|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
|
|
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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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:17,Re+14:7">1 Pet. ii. 17; Rev. xiv. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>)
|
|
|
|
--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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:28">Rom. viii. 28</A>);
|
|
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+3:5">2 Thess. iii. 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
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