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

<div2 id="iJo.ii" n="ii" next="iJo.iii" prev="iJo.i" progress="89.44%" title="Chapter I">
<h2 id="iJo.ii-p0.1">F I R S T   J O H N.</h2>
<h3 id="iJo.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="iJo.ii-p1">Evidence given concerning Christ's person and
excellency, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.1-1John.1.2" parsed="|1John|1|1|1|2" passage="1Jo 1:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. The
knowledge thereof gives us communion with God and Christ (<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.3" parsed="|1John|1|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:3">ver. 3</scripRef>), and joy, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.4" parsed="|1John|1|4|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:4">ver. 4</scripRef>. A description of God, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.5" parsed="|1John|1|5|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:5">ver. 5</scripRef>. How we are thereupon to walk,
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.6" parsed="|1John|1|6|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:6">ver. 6</scripRef>. The benefit of such
walking, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.7" parsed="|1John|1|7|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:7">ver. 7</scripRef>. The way to
forgiveness, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.9" parsed="|1John|1|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:9">ver. 9</scripRef>. The
evil of denying our sin, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.8-1John.1.10" parsed="|1John|1|8|1|10" passage="1Jo 1:8-10">ver.
8-10</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="iJo.ii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:1John.1" parsed="|1John|1|0|0|0" passage="1Jo 1" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="iJo.ii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.1-1John.1.4" parsed="|1John|1|1|1|4" passage="1Jo 1:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.1.1-1John.1.4">
<h4 id="iJo.ii-p1.11">The Apostolic Testimony. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.ii-p1.12">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.ii-p2">1 That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;   2
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen <i>it,</i> and bear
witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the
Father, and was manifested unto us;)   3 That which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have
fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship <i>is</i> with the
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.   4 And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p3">The apostle omits his name and character
(as also the author to the Hebrews does) either out of humility, or
as being willing that the Christian reader should be swayed by the
light and weight of the things written rather than by the name that
might recommend them. And so he begins,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p4">I. With an account or character of the
Mediator's person. He is the great subject of the gospel, the
foundation and object of our faith and hope, the bond and cement
that unite us unto God. He should be well known; and he is
represented here, 1. <i>As the Word of life,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.1" parsed="|1John|1|1|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. In the gospel these two are
disjoined, and he is called first <i>the Word,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:John.1.1" parsed="|John|1|1|0|0" passage="Joh 1:1">John i. 1</scripRef>, and afterwards <i>Life,</i>
intimating, withal, that he is <i>intellectual life. In him was
life, and that life was</i> (efficiently and objectively) <i>the
light of men,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:John.1.4" parsed="|John|1|4|0|0" passage="Joh 1:4">John i. 4</scripRef>.
Here both are conjoined: <i>The Word of life,</i> the vital Word.
In that he is the Word, it is intimated that he is the Word of some
person or other; and that is God, even the Father. <i>He is the
Word of God,</i> and so he is intimated to issue from the Father,
as truly (though not in the same manner) as a word (or speech,
which is a train of words) from a speaker. But he is not a mere
vocal word, a bare <b><i>logos prophorikos,</i></b> but a vital
one: <i>the Word of life,</i> the living word; and thereupon, 1.
<i>As eternal life.</i> His duration shows his excellency. He was
from eternity; and so is, in scripture-account, necessary,
essential, uncreated life. That the apostle speaks of his eternity,
<i>à parte ante</i> (as they say) and as <i>from everlasting,</i>
seems evident in that he speaks of him as he was in and from the
beginning; when he was then with the Father, before his
manifestation to us, yea, before the making of all things that were
make; as <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:John.1.2-John.1.3" parsed="|John|1|2|1|3" passage="Joh 1:2,3">John i. 2, 3</scripRef>. So
that he is the eternal, vital, intellectual Word of the eternal
living Father. 3. <i>As life manifested</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.2" parsed="|1John|1|2|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), manifested in the flesh,
manifested to us. The eternal life would assume mortality, would
put on flesh and blood (in the entire human nature), and so dwell
among us and converse with us, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:John.1.14" parsed="|John|1|14|0|0" passage="Joh 1:14">John i.
14</scripRef>. Here were condescension and kindness indeed, that
eternal life (a person of eternal essential life) should come to
visit mortals, and to procure eternal life for them, and then
confer it on them!</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p5">II. With the evidences and convictive
assurances that the apostle and his brethren had of the Mediator's
presence and converse in this world. There were sufficient
demonstrations of the reality of his abode here, and of the
excellency and dignity of his person in the way of his
manifestation. <i>The life, the word of life, the eternal life,</i>
as such, could not be seen and felt; but the life manifested might
be, and was so. The life was clothed with flesh, put on the state
and habit of abased human nature, and as such gave sensible proof
of its existence and transactions here. The divine life, or Word
incarnate, presented and evinced itself to the very senses of the
apostles. As, 1. To their ears: <i>That which we have heard,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.1 Bible:1John.1.3" parsed="|1John|1|1|0|0;|1John|1|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:1,3"><i>v.</i> 1, 3</scripRef>. The life
assumed a mouth and tongue, that he might utter words of life. The
apostles not only heard of him, but they heard him himself. Above
three years might they attend his ministry, be auditors of his
public sermons and private expositions (for he expounded them in
his house), and be charmed with the words of him who spoke as never
man spoke before or since. The divine word would employ the ear,
and the ear should be devoted to the word of life. And it was meet
that those who were to be his representatives and imitators to the
world should be personally acquainted with his ministrations. 2. To
their eyes: <i>That which we have seen with our eyes,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.1-1John.1.3" parsed="|1John|1|1|1|3" passage="1Jo 1:1-3"><i>v.</i> 1-3</scripRef>. The Word would become
visible, would not only be heard, but seen, seen publicly,
privately, at a distance and at nearest approach, which may be
intimated in the expression, <i>with our eyes</i>—with all the use
and exercise that we could make of our eyes. We saw him in his life
and ministry, saw him in his transfiguration on the mount, hanging,
bleeding, dying, and dead, upon the cross, and we saw him after his
return from the grave and resurrection from the dead. His apostles
must be eye-witnesses as well as ear-witnesses of him.
<i>Wherefore, of these men that have accompanied with us all the
time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from
the baptism of John, must one be ordained to be a witness with us
of his resurrection,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.21-Acts.1.22" parsed="|Acts|1|21|1|22" passage="Ac 1:21,22">Acts i. 21,
22</scripRef>. <i>And we were eye-witnesses of his majesty,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.16" parsed="|2Pet|1|16|0|0" passage="2Pe 1:16">2 Pet. i. 16</scripRef>. 3. To their
internal sense, to the eyes of their mind; for so (possibly) may
the next clause be interpreted: <i>Which we have looked upon.</i>
This may be distinguished from the foregoing perception, <i>seeing
with the eyes;</i> and may be the same with what the apostle says
in his gospel (<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.14" parsed="|1John|1|14|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:14"><i>ch.</i> i.
14</scripRef>), <i>And we beheld</i>—<b><i>etheasametha,</i></b>
<i>his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.</i>
The word is not applied to the immediate object of the eye, but to
that which was rationally collected from what they saw. "What we
have well discerned, contemplated, and viewed, what we have well
known of this Word of life, we report to you." The senses are to be
the informers of the mind. 4. To their hands and sense of feeling:
<i>And our hands have handled</i> (touched and felt) <i>of the Word
of life.</i> This surely refers to the full conviction our Lord
afforded his apostles of the truth, reality, solidity, and
organization of his body, after his resurrection from the dead.
When he showed them his hands and his side, it is probable that he
gave them leave to touch him; at least, he knew of Thomas's
unbelief, and his professed resolution too not to believe, till he
had found and felt the places and signatures of the wounds by which
he died. Accordingly at the next congress he called Thomas, in the
presence of the rest, to satisfy the very curiosity of his
unbelief. And probably others of them did so too. <i>Our hands have
handled of the Word of life.</i> The invisible life and Word was no
despiser of the testimony of sense. Sense, in its place and sphere,
is a means that God has appointed, and the Lord Christ has
employed, for our information. Our Lord took care to satisfy (as
far as might be) all the senses of his apostles, that they might be
the more authentic witnesses of him to the world. Those that apply
all this to the hearing of the gospel lose the variety of
sensations here mentioned, and the propriety of the expressions, as
well as the reason of their inculcation and repetition here:
<i>That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.3" parsed="|1John|1|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. The apostles
could not be deceived in such long and various exercise of their
sense. Sense must minister to reason and judgment; and reason and
judgment must minister to the reception of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his gospel. The rejection of the Christian revelation is at
last resolved into the rejection of sense itself. <i>He upbraided
them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they
believed not those who had seen him after he had risen,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Mark.16.14" parsed="|Mark|16|14|0|0" passage="Mk 16:14">Mark xvi. 14</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p6">III. With a solemn assertion and
attestation of these grounds and evidences of the Christian truth
and doctrine. The apostles publish these assurances for our
satisfaction: <i>We bear witness, and show unto you,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.2" parsed="|1John|1|2|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. <i>That which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.3" parsed="|1John|1|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. It became the apostles to open to
the disciples the evidence by which they were led, the reasons by
which they were constrained to proclaim and propagate the Christian
doctrine in the world. Wisdom and integrity obliged them to
demonstrate that it was not either private fancy or a
cunningly-devised fable that they presented to the world. Evident
truth would open their mouths, and force a public profession. <i>We
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.20" parsed="|Acts|4|20|0|0" passage="Ac 4:20">Acts iv. 20</scripRef>. It concerned
the disciples to be well assured of the truth of the institution
they had embraced. They should see the evidences of their holy
religion. It fears not the light, nor the most judicious
examination. It is able to afford rational conviction and solid
persuasion of mind and conscience. <i>I would that you knew what
great conflict</i> (or concern of mind) <i>I have for you, and for
those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh, that their hearts might be knit together in love, and unto
all riches of full assurance of understanding, to the
acknowledgment of the mystery of God, even of the Father, and of
Christ,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.1-Col.2.2" parsed="|Col|2|1|2|2" passage="Col 2:1,2">Col. ii. 1,
2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p7">IV. With the reason of the apostle's
exhibiting and asserting this summary of sacred faith, and this
breviate of evidence attending it. This reason is twofold:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p8">1. That the believers of it may be advanced
to the same happiness with them (with the apostles themselves):
<i>That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you
may have fellowship with us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.3" parsed="|1John|1|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. The apostle means not personal
fellowship nor consociation in the same church-administrations, but
such as is consistent with personal distance from each other. It is
communion with heaven, and in blessings that come thence and tend
thither. "This we declare and testify, that you may share with us
in our privileges and happiness." Gospel spirits (or those that are
made happy by gospel grace) would fain have others happy too. We
see, also, there is a fellowship or communion that runs through the
whole church of God. There may be some personal distinctions and
peculiarities, but there is a communion (or common participation of
privilege and dignity) belonging to all saints, from the highest
apostle to the lowest believer. As there is the same precious
faith, there are the same precious promises dignifying and crowning
that faith and the same precious blessings and glories enriching
and filling those promises. Now that believers may be ambitious of
this communion, that they may be instigated to retain and hold fast
the faith that is the means of such communion, that the apostles
also may manifest their love to the disciples in assisting them to
the same communion with themselves, they indicate what it is and
where it is: <i>And truly our fellowship</i> (or communion) <i>is
with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.</i> We have communion
with the Father, and with the Son of the Father (as <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:2John.1.3" parsed="|2John|1|3|0|0" passage="2Jo 1:3">2 John 3</scripRef>, he is most emphatically
styled) in our happy relation to them, in our receiving heavenly
blessings from them, and in our spiritual converse with them. We
have now such supernatural conversation with God and the Lord
Christ as is an earnest and foretaste of our everlasting abode with
them, and enjoyment of them, in the heavenly glory. See to what the
gospel revelation tends—to advance us far above sin and earth and
to carry us to blessed communion with the Father and the Son. See
for what end the eternal life was made flesh—that he might advance
us to eternal life in communion with the Father and himself. See
how far those live beneath the dignity, use, and end of the
Christian faith and institution, who have not spiritual blessed
communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p9">2. That believers may be enlarged and
advanced in holy joy: <i>And these things write we unto you that
your joy may be full,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.4" parsed="|1John|1|4|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. The gospel dispensation is not properly a
dispensation of fear, sorrow, and dread, but of peace and joy.
Terror and astonishment may well attend mount Sinai, but exultation
and joy mount Zion, where appears <i>the eternal Word, the eternal
life,</i> manifested in our flesh. The mystery of the Christian
religion is directly calculated for the joy of mortals. It should
be joy to us that the eternal Son should come to seek and save us,
that he has made a full atonement for our sins, that he has
conquered sin and death and hell, that he lives as our Intercessor
and Advocate with the Father, and that he will come again to
perfect and glorify his persevering believers. And therefore those
live beneath the use and end of the Christian revelation who are
not filled with spiritual joy. Believers should rejoice in their
happy relation to God, as his sons and heirs, his beloved and
adopted,—in their happy relation to the Son of the Father, as
being members of his beloved body, and coheirs with himself,—in
the pardon of their sins, the sanctification of their natures, the
adoption of their persons, and the prospect of grace and glory that
will be revealed at the return of their Lord and head from heaven.
Were they confirmed in their holy faith, how would they rejoice!
<i>The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.52" parsed="|Acts|13|52|0|0" passage="Ac 13:52">Acts xiii. 52</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iJo.ii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.5-1John.1.7" parsed="|1John|1|5|1|7" passage="1Jo 1:5-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.1.5-1John.1.7">
<h4 id="iJo.ii-p9.4">The Apostolic Testimony. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.ii-p9.5">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.ii-p10">5 This then is the message which we have heard
of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all.   6 If we say that we have fellowship with
him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:   7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p11">The apostle, having declared the truth and
dignity of the author of the gospel, brings a message or report
from him, from which a just conclusion is to be drawn for the
consideration and conviction of the professors of religion, or
professed entertainers of this glorious gospel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p12">I. Here is the message or report that the
apostle avers to come from the Lord Jesus: <i>This then is the
message which we have heard of him</i> (<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.5" parsed="|1John|1|5|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), of his Son Jesus Christ. As he
was the immediate sender of the apostles, so he is the principal
person spoken of in the preceding context, and the next antecedent
also to whom the pronoun <i>him</i> can relate. The apostles and
apostolical ministers are the messengers of the Lord Jesus; it is
their honour, the chief they pretend to, to bring his mind and
messages to the world and to the churches. This is the wisdom and
present dispensation of the Lord Jesus, to send his messages to us
by persons like ourselves. He that put on human nature will honour
earthen vessels. It was the ambition of the apostles to be found
faithful, and faithfully to deliver the errands and messages they
had received. What was communicated to them they were solicitous to
impart: <i>This then is the message which we have heard of him, and
declare unto you.</i> A message from the Word of life, from the
eternal Word, we should gladly receive: and the present one is this
(relating to the nature of God whom we are to serve, and with whom
we should covet all indulged communion)—<i>That God is light, and
in him is no darkness at all,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.5" parsed="|1John|1|5|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. This report asserts the
excellency of the divine nature. He is all that beauty and
perfection that can be represented to us by light. He is a
self-active uncompounded spirituality, purity, wisdom, holiness,
and glory. And then the absoluteness and fulness of that excellency
and perfection. There is no defect or imperfection, no mixture of
any thing alien or contrary to absolute excellency, no mutability
nor capacity of any decay in him: <i>In him is no darkness at
all,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.5" parsed="|1John|1|5|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Or
this report may more immediately relate to what is usually called
the moral perfection of the divine nature, what we are to imitate,
or what is more directly to influence us in our gospel work. And so
it will comprehend the holiness of God, the absolute purity of his
nature and will, his penetrative knowledge (particularly of
hearts), his jealousy and injustice, which burn a a most bright and
vehement flame. It is meet that to this dark world the great God
should be represented as pure and perfect light. It is the Lord
Jesus that best of all opens to us the name and nature of the
unsearchable God: <i>The only-begotten, who is in the bosom of the
Father, the same hath declared him.</i> It is the prerogative of
the Christian revelation to bring us the most noble, the most
august and agreeable account of the blessed God, such as is most
suitable to the light of reason and what is demonstrable thereby,
most suitable to the magnificence of his works round about us, and
to the nature and office of him that is the supreme administrator,
governor, and judge of the world. What more (relating to and
comprehensive of all such perfection) could be included in one word
than in this, <i>God is light, and in him is no darkness at
all?</i> Then,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p13">II. There is a just conclusion to be drawn
from this message and report, and that for the consideration and
conviction of professors of religion, or professed entertainers of
this gospel. This conclusion issues into two branches:—1. For the
conviction of such professors as have no true fellowship with God:
<i>If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we
lie, and do not the truth.</i> It is known that to walk, in
scripture account, is to order and frame the course and actions of
the moral life, that is, of the life so far as it is capable of
subjection to the divine law. <i>To walk in darkness</i> is to live
and act according to such ignorance, error, and erroneous practice,
as are contrary to the fundamental dictates of our holy religion.
Now there may be those who may pretend to great attainments and
enjoyments in religion; they may profess to have communion with
God; and yet their lives may be irreligious, immoral, and impure.
To such the apostle would not fear to give the lie: <i>They lie,
and do not the truth.</i> They belie God; for he holds no heavenly
fellowship or intercourse with unholy souls. What communion hath
light with darkness? They belie themselves, or lie concerning
themselves; for they have no such communications from God nor
accesses to him. There is no truth in their profession nor in their
practice, or their practice gives their profession and pretences
the lie, and demonstrates the folly and falsehood of them. 2. For
the conviction and consequent satisfaction of those that are near
to God: <i>But, if we walk in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.</i> As the blessed God is the eternal boundless
light, and the Mediator is, from him, the light of the world, so
the Christian institution is the great luminary that appears in our
sphere, and shines here below. A conformity to this in spirit and
practice demonstrates fellowship or communion with God. Those that
so walk show that they know God, that they have received of the
Spirit of God, and that the divine impress or image is stamped upon
their souls. <i>Then we have fellowship one with another,</i> they
with us and we with them, and both with God, in his blessed or
beatific communications to us. And this is one of those beatific
communications to us—that his Son's blood or death is applied or
imputed to us: <i>The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.</i> The eternal life, the eternal Son, hath put on
flesh and blood, and so became Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ hath shed
his blood for us, or died to wash us from our sins in his own
blood. His blood applied to us discharges us from the guilt of all
sin, both original and actual, inherent and committed: and so far
we stand righteous in his sight; and not only so, but his blood
procures for us those sacred influences by which sin is to be
subdued more and more, till it is quite abolished, <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.13-Gal.3.14" parsed="|Gal|3|13|3|14" passage="Ga 3:13,14">Gal. iii. 13, 14</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iJo.ii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.8-1John.1.10" parsed="|1John|1|8|1|10" passage="1Jo 1:8-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1John.1.8-1John.1.10">
<h4 id="iJo.ii-p13.3">Confession and Forgiveness. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iJo.ii-p13.4">a.
d.</span> 80.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iJo.ii-p14">8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.   9 If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us <i>our</i> sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.   10 If we say that we
have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p15">Here, I. The apostle, having supposed that
even those of this heavenly communion have yet their sin, proceeds
here to justify that supposition, and this he does by showing the
dreadful consequences of denying it, and that in two particulars:—
1. <i>If we say, We have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.8" parsed="|1John|1|8|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. We must beware of deceiving ourselves in denying or
excusing our sins. The more we see them the more we shall esteem
and value the remedy. <i>If we deny them, the truth is not in
us,</i> either the truth that is contrary to such denial (we lie in
denying our sin), or the truth of religion, is not in us. The
Christian religion is the religion of sinners, of such as have
sinned, and in whom sin in some measure still dwells. The Christian
life is a life of continued repentance, humiliation for and
mortification of sin, of continual faith in, thankfulness for, and
love to the Redeemer, and hopeful joyful expectation of a day of
glorious redemption, in which the believer shall be fully and
finally acquitted, and sin abolished for ever. 2. <i>If we say, We
have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us,</i>
<scripRef id="iJo.ii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.10" parsed="|1John|1|10|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. The denial of
our sin not only deceives ourselves, but reflects dishonour upon
God. It challenges his veracity. He has abundantly testified of,
and testified against, the sin of the world. <i>And the Lord said
in his heart</i> (determined thus with himself), <i>I will not
again curse the ground</i> (as he had then lately done) <i>for
man's sake; for</i> (or, with the learned bishop Patrick,
<i>though) the imagination of man's heart is evil from his
youth,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.21" parsed="|Gen|8|21|0|0" passage="Ge 8:21">Gen. viii. 21</scripRef>.
But God has given his testimony to the continued sin and sinfulness
of the world, by providing a sufficient effectual sacrifice for
sin, that will be needed in all ages, and to the continued
sinfulness of believers themselves by requiring them continually to
confess their sins, and apply themselves by faith to the blood of
that sacrifice. And therefore, if we say either that we have not
sinned or do not yet sin, <i>the word of God is not in us,</i>
neither in our minds, as to the acquaintance we should have with
it, nor in our hearts, as to the practical influence it should have
upon us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iJo.ii-p16">II. The apostle then instructs the believer
in the way to the continued pardon of his sin. Here we have, 1. His
duty in order thereto: <i>If we confess our sins,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.9" parsed="|1John|1|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Penitent confession and
acknowledgment of sin are the believer's business, and the means of
his deliverance from his guilt. And, 2. His encouragement thereto,
and assurance of the happy issue. This is the veracity,
righteousness, and clemency of God, to whom he makes such
confession: <i>He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.9" parsed="|1John|1|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. God is faithful to his covenant
and word, wherein he has promised forgiveness to penitent believing
confessors. He is just to himself and his glory who has provided
such a sacrifice, by which his righteousness is declared in the
justification of sinners. He is just to his Son who has not only
sent him for such service, but promised to him that those who come
through him shall be forgiven on his account. <i>By his
knowledge</i> (by the believing apprehension of him) <i>shall my
righteous servant justify many,</i> <scripRef id="iJo.ii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.11" parsed="|Isa|53|11|0|0" passage="Isa 53:11">Isa. liii. 11</scripRef>. He is clement and gracious
also, and so will forgive, to the contrite confessor, all his sins,
cleanse him from the guilt of all unrighteousness, and in due time
deliver him from the power and practice of it.</p>
</div></div2>