Chapter 1

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the First (Catholic) Epistle of St John

1 Exposition of the First (Catholic) Epistle of St John — Chapter One

¹ Argument. Since it is John himself, the very one who wrote the Gospel, who also sends this Epistle, calling to remembrance those who have already believed in the Lord. And first of all, just as in the Gospel, so too in this Epistle, he treats of the theology of the Word, demonstrating that He is forever in God, and teaching that the Father is light, that by this very thing we may also know the Word to be the radiance [1] of Him. And in setting forth this theology he explains that the mystery that concerns us is not something newly arisen, but is from the beginning and forever, and has now been made manifest in the Lord, who is eternal life and true God. He also sets down the cause of His coming and appearing, saying that this was for the dissolving of the works of the devil, and that we might be set free from death, and that we might know the Father and the Son Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. He writes therefore to every age — to little children, to young men, to the aged — that God has been made known, and that the working of the devil has now at last been overcome, death being abolished. Then for the remainder, throughout the whole Epistle, he teaches concerning love, wishing us to love one another, and demonstrating that we ought to love one another, since Christ also loved us. He sets forth, then, the distinction between fear and love, between the children of God and the children of the devil, and concerning sin that is unto death and sin that is not unto death, and the distinction of spirits. And further he distinguishes which spirit is from God and which is of error; and when we are known as children of God, and when as children of the devil; and concerning what kind of sin we ought to pray on behalf of those who sin, and concerning what kind we ought not to pray; and that he who does not love his neighbor is not worthy of the calling, nor can he be called Christ’s. He shows also the unity of the Son with the Father, and that he who denies the Son does not have the Father either. And in this Epistle he draws a distinction, saying: This too is proper to the antichrist, namely to say that the Son is not Himself the Christ Jesus — so that it may be plain that the liar declares himself to be the Christ on the supposition that the Other does not exist. Throughout the whole Epistle he exhorts those who believe in the Lord not to lose heart if they are hated in the world, but rather to rejoice, because the hatred of the world shows that those who believe have passed over from the world itself, and now belong to the heavenly commonwealth. And at the end of the Epistle he again calls to remembrance “that the Son of God is eternal life,” true God,[2] and that we should serve Him, and that we should “keep ourselves from idols.”[3]

² Chapter-headings. 1. The evangelical theology concerning Christ. In which there is treatment of confession and of taking heed not to sin. That keeping of the commandments of God confirms knowledge.
2. Concerning love, without which there is impiety. In which there is exhortation concerning the grace belonging to each according to his age, and concerning the turning away from love toward the world.
3. Concerning false brethren who deny God; and that piety toward Christ is confession of the Father, for the glorifying of the Father is theology of the Son. In which there is treatment of the divine and spiritual gift in sanctification, in hope, unto knowledge of God. That everyone who is in Christ is apart from sin, for he who sins is of the devil.
4. Concerning love toward one’s neighbor, and a disposition ready to share. In which there is treatment of a good conscience in the faith of Jesus Christ. Concerning the discernment of spirits through confession of the Lord’s incarnation.
5. Concerning brotherly love unto godliness.
6. Concerning the theology of the Son in the glory of the Father; and concerning the victory over the evil one through faith in Jesus Christ unto life.
7. Concerning the relief of a sinning brother through prayer; and concerning not sinning. In which there is treatment of abstinence from demonic worship.

³ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. This is directed both against the Jews and against the Greeks, who slander the mystery that concerns us as though it were newly arisen. He shows, therefore, that this also is ancient; for it is from the beginning, and together with the very beginning that can be conceived — a beginning that is above not only the Law but also the visible creation itself.[4] For the creation had a beginning, whereas this was even before that beginning. For of the things of the Greeks, which are of yesterday and the day before, what could one even say? — things which, applauded amid licentiousness, came late into existence, when impurity already had its place among men, of which this is both the lesson and the memorial, and the down-flowing from that which is better in us toward the night that has been poured out. Presenting, then, the grandeur of the mystery that concerns us by means of its antiquity in these respects, he adds that this is also life — and a life not measured by any temporal interval, but subsisting in itself (enhypostatic), as being forever toward the Father; just as he also says in the Gospel: “And the Word,” he says, was toward God.[5] This word “was” does not present a temporal existence, but the essence of a thing subsisting in itself, and the beginning and foundation of all things that have received being, and that apart from which these things could not subsist. For each of the generated things [6] is said to be something — for instance, to be an angel, to be heaven, to be the sun, and all the rest; but the Son alone is the One who absolutely is,[7] by partaking of whom [8] all things come into existence. Wherefore Paul also says: For in Him we live, and move, and are.[9] When one has first received the hearing of this by way of introductory instruction, he comes to the point of seeing Him — not bodily, but with understanding, and not with the bodily eyes, but with the eyes of the mind. “Handle” [10] has been said also concerning the Word of life, who said: I am the life.[11] And so it will be said likewise concerning the Word who is in the beginning, that we have heard of Him through the Law and the prophets, that He would come. This One, when He had come visibly in a body, we saw and handled; for no one has ever seen God naked. For not at random did we give our assent to the One who appeared, but after a handling — as has already been said, that is, after an inquiry both legal and prophetic concerning Him — we believed in the Word who appeared in the flesh; not that we beheld or handled that which He was (for who shall declare His generation?),[12] but that which He had become, whether by intellectual contacts or also by sensible ones; as also Thomas did after the resurrection. [13] For He was one and indivisible, the same both seen and unseen, both grasped and not encompassed, both untouchable and palpable, both speaking after the manner of men and, as God, working the wonders. And this we say on account of the utmost unity of the Word with the flesh.

⁴ That which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life. And the life was made manifest, and we have seen, and we bear witness, and we declare unto you the eternal life, which was toward the Father, and was made manifest to us. This is equivalent to: That which we have seen, we beheld with our own eyes, and we marveled. For “to behold” is taken in the sense of “to marvel” and “to look with amazement.” And “we handled” is equivalent to “we searched out.” The sequence runs thus: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard and seen, and beheld with our eyes, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life — which life was made manifest, which also we have seen and bear witness and declare unto you; I mean the eternal life, which is toward the Father and was made manifest to us. That, therefore, which we have seen, this also we declare unto you. Here is the apodosis, in the words “That, therefore, which we have seen.” Yet he did not frame his proclamation as we would have, first because of his use of compressed speech, and then also because he despised the Greek babbling, and showed that our salvation lies not in words but in deeds; and besides this, because he was making us more attentive, lest, finding the matter at hand ready to our grasp on the spot, we should grow slack. And furthermore, in treating of theology, he wished by obscurity to hide things too high for profane ears, and not to make them safely public to such ears.[14] For to cast the holy things to the dogs, and to throw the pearls before the swine, is not the part of a sober mind. [15]

⁵ That which we have seen and heard, we also declare unto you. What is this? That, being eternal life, He was made manifest to us, and we became beholders of Him, both before the cross and after the resurrection. For the same One was both nailed to the cross in the flesh, and rose again in that same flesh. And what gain, he says, do we bring you from this proclamation? This: that, just as we take you as partakers, through the word, of the things we have seen and heard, so also we have you as partakers both of the Father and of His Son Jesus Christ. And having obtained this, we should be filled with joy, as being joined to God.

⁶ That you also may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you, that your joy may be made full. For when we have you in fellowship, we possess in fullest measure our own grace,[16] which the rejoicing sower will bestow upon the reapers in the receiving of their wage, these also rejoicing because they enjoy the fruit of their labors.

⁷ And this is the proclamation which we have heard from Him, and announce unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. He takes up the discourse again, making clear what the message is that he has heard, and says that it is this: that God is light, and in Him is no darkness. And where did he hear this? From Christ Himself, who said: “I am the light of the world,” and, “I have come as light into the world.”[17] Light, then, He is, and in Him is no darkness — an intelligible light, rousing the eyes of the soul to the apprehension of Him, and turning them away from all these material things, and urging the desire onward toward Him alone with a love-impassioned longing. By “darkness” he means either ignorance or sin. For in God neither ignorance is seen nor sin; for these belong to matter and to the disposition that is ours. But if it is somewhere said, “He made darkness His hiding-place,”[18] — yet he said He made, not There is darkness, as he said There is light. For that which is set in place is other than the one who sets it. The darkness here, then, signifies our ignorance of God that lies in incomprehensibility. And this belongs to us, not to God. For something that is not inherent in someone is set in place, and not for its own sake, but for the sake of one of those who are about Him. And that he calls sin also “darkness” is plain from the things said by him in the Gospel. For he says: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not”[19] — by “darkness” indicating our sin-prone substance, which, because of its proneness to slip, yields to our envious demon who calls us forth to sin. The light, therefore, having come to be in our substance — a substance so easily overpowered — became to the one who assails it utterly impregnable. For “He did no sin,” and what follows. [20] Since, then, he says, we take you as partakers of God, who is light, and in such a light no darkness could subsist, as has been shown — let us also, who are partakers of the light, not admit darkness within ourselves, lest we pay the penalty of falsehood, and along with the falsehood be torn away from the fellowship of the light. So that, by holding fast to the fellowship of one another (and plainly also to the fellowship between us and the light), we render ourselves uncaptured by sin. But how, he says, shall this be for us who were formerly entangled in many sins? For no one who is truthful and has resolved to speak the truth would dare to say that he is sinless. If, then, anyone is gripped by this fear,[21] let him take courage, he says; for by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, poured out for us, he who has embraced fellowship with Him has been cleansed. And observe that, because of the utmost union, he calls “Son of the Father” even that which He took from us, of which beyond all doubt the blood is, and not the blood of the Godhead. How, then, is Nestorius not a babbler and impious, dividing the flesh of the Son, and not enduring to call His Mother Theotokos? [22] And it should be known that the whole sense of the saying is a refutation of the blasphemy of the Jews. For they kept asserting concerning Christ that “We know that He is a sinner.”[23] He says, therefore, that if we do the works of light, we are partakers of Him; but if we do them not, we are made strangers to Him. How, then, is He not truly light, and did no sin at all, even if by you He was reckoned among the lawless? [24] If, then, he says, we who said, “His blood be upon us and upon our children,”[25] should shamelessly say, “We have not sinned,” we deceive ourselves — that is, we lead ourselves astray — as though the crucifying of Christ were no sin. Wherefore he did not say “We lie,” but “We deceive ourselves”; for error lies outside the truth. But if we acknowledge the sin and confess it, He will forgive us.

⁸ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. He takes up the discourse again, employing it more earnestly, so that, by the unremitting application of his reproofs, he may both fix their attention on the magnitude of the charge and summon them to confession. And how great is the good that is born of confession, he made plain when he said: “Declare your sins first, that you may be justified.”[26] And this too is a custom of the teacher of the disciple here present,[27] to say the same things many times — first more moderately, then more fully — wishing to make the knowledge clearer. He has called God “faithful” in the sense of “true.” For “faithful” is said not only of one who is trusted, but also of one who inspires trust; who, from His own truthful character, has it also to impart this to others. In this way, then, God is “faithful”; and “just,” in that He does not push away those who come to Him, whatever sins they may have committed. He forgives sins, therefore, beyond all doubt, to those who through repentance run to holy baptism, whether they have offended against Him [28] or against others. If, then, we confess, he says, we shall also obtain the corresponding pardon; but if, acting shamelessly, we say that we have not sinned, we shall work a twofold evil, both proving ourselves liars and blaspheming against God. For He Himself says through the prophet: “They rendered me evil for good”;[29] and again through Himself: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?”[30] And if, while these things stand thus, we ourselves say that we have not sinned, we deny His word, which is spirit and life. For “the words,” He says, “that I speak are spirit and life.”[31]

2 Chapter 2 — Exposition of the second chapter

¹ My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.[32][33] Knowing the unsteadiness and the proneness to fault in our nature, and that, since we always have dwelling alongside us both an inclination toward what is worse and the envious demon who lies in wait against our salvation, it is inevitable that those who do not live watchfully should sin—even those already made intimate with God through confession—he adds these words: that even if, after the remission, we should stumble, we should not despair of ourselves. For by turning back we may yet again obtain salvation through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. For He, interceding with the Father on our behalf, will make propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. And he said this because he was writing to Jews; and so that he might not confine the things of repentance to those alone, but might extend it also to the nations; or because the promise belonged not only to those of that time, but to all who should come after. And he calls Him an Advocate as calling upon the Father, that is, exhorting Him, on our behalf. But these things are said in a more human and more economic manner [34] —like the saying, “The Son can do nothing of Himself”;[35] for He says these things lest He should seem to be set against God. Since that the Son also has authority to forgive sins, He showed in the case of the paralytic.[36] And indeed, by giving to the disciples this power to forgive sins, He made it plain that He bestows this as one having sovereign mastery in Himself. But, as we have said, the Apostle now says this in an economic manner, or else to present the oneness of nature (connaturality) and equal power of the Son with the Father, and that whatever one of the three sanctifying hypostases does is common also to the rest. [37]

² And by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commandments. It is the custom of this blessed man to use words of the same form in one and the same place, just as also: “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not”[38].[39] So then here also he employs “to have known” in this manner of like-sounding senses. For “to know” is said both of being acquainted with something and of being wholly commingled with someone; in which latter sense is the saying, “The Lord knew those who are His”;[40] and the saying, “Him who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf”.[41]

³ He who says, “I have known Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and in him the truth is not. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. And from the contrary he establishes the same point, using the demonstration in a more abundant way.

⁴ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, just as He walked. By works, he says, perfect love is shown. Yet since it is possible for some to make commandments upright and exact while remaining themselves the more sluggish in disposition—which is far from God—for this reason he says that he who has been made intimate with God should live worthily, according to his intimacy with God.

⁵ Beloved, I write to you no new commandment, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. He turns next to the love that is toward one’s neighbor, and says that the commingling with God—that is, love for Him[42]—is first known from love toward one’s neighbor. For it is not possible that one enlightened by the knowledge of God, and filled with His love, should have the darkness that comes from hatred of his brother. For light and darkness are, in one and the same subject and concerning the same thing, things that cannot coexist. So that he who is enlightened by love toward God, and has God, has also the light toward his brother, which is kindled from love of the brother. But he who says indeed that he loves God, while hating his brother, dwells in perpetual darkness, ever blind in his cognitive eyes, inasmuch as he has lost the light of the commingling both toward God and toward his brother. And he no longer knows what use to make of himself.

⁶ Again, a new commandment I write to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shines. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in the darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling-block in him. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Since the Epistle is catholic and common to all alike, both Jews and Greeks, with respect to the Jews there is good reason to say that he writes to them no new commandment concerning love, but an old one. For indeed in the tablets of Moses it is written, “You shall love—after God—also your neighbor as yourself”.[43] But with respect to the Greeks, what could one say about an old commandment, since this is nowhere to be found among them? We say, then, that to these also the law concerning love toward neighbors has been written. And how? Written in the tablet of the heart by natural notions. And that the notions sown within us are called a natural law, Paul is sufficient to confirm the statement, saying, “But I see another law warring against the law of my mind, the one that is in me”.[44] A law, then—that is, an old commandment—the Greeks also received, nature legislating that they be gentle toward one another and toward all that is akin to them, inasmuch as man is also a herd-dwelling animal, which could not exist apart from love. Moreover, the old histories record many men who died for one another [45] —which our Savior declares to be the mark of the greater love, saying, “Greater love than this has no one, than that a man lay down his life for his friends”.[46] Thus, since love toward neighbors is a commandment laid down for both Jews and Greeks, he says that, in addition to the old commandment which you heard concerning love of neighbor, I still write to you also a new commandment—the one that has the truth in the God who has made you His own through fellowship with Him, and in you who have entered into fellowship with Him. For since He says, “I have come as light into the world”,[47] and “the true light,” according to His word, already shines, and in the light there is no darkness,[48] let the light of love henceforth shine forth—the light of disposition and unfeigned—and let the ⟨darkness⟩ [49] of hatred be put away. The word “is passing away” has its meaning also in the blessed Paul, when ⟨he says, “The fashion of this world is passing away.”⟩ [50]

⁷ I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. Since he had said, “A new commandment I write to you,” he indicates also the disposition of those who would receive the Epistle. And he indicates it by means of an advancement and progress corresponding to bodily growth. For he knew that not all would receive the word with equal honor, nor with equal earnestness, but some more as beginners, like children—to whom he also pledges forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ; and others as having advanced to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,[51] and so as to be able even to beget others as children—to whom he testifies that they also have the knowledge of Him who is from the beginning. And who is this, if not the Word of God, who was also in the beginning with God?[52] And others as young men, to whom, as being youthful and full of vigor, he testifies the victory over the passions of dishonor. Then again, by another approach, he takes up the same point, fitting his teacherly discourse to the measure of the spiritual age. Since therefore, he says, I thus know that you will receive what is written by me according to the differences of your ages, it is necessary that I too measure out my teaching to the disposition of your age: and to those of you who, as little children, have come to know the Father (and he means God) to speak in one way; but to those who are as fathers, who have more than the little children in respect of knowledge—namely, that they have known Him not as Father only, but, beyond this, have learned [53] in knowledge and come to know His existence as from the beginning and without end (for He was from the beginning)—to these it is fitting to render a more perfect discourse concerning God. And to the young men, being strong and apt for wrestling and contests, to whom he says belongs also the renown that comes from victory, he shows that there is need of words that are noble and more befitting a general.

⁸ I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.[54] — Little children: as having sinned through the unripeness and want of discernment of infancy. Wherefore they are also accounted worthy of pardon, he says, when it has come to pass for you to have known that “the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works”.[55] — Fathers: as having taken up, through their advance in age, the knowledge of Him who is from the beginning. Young men: those who are experienced, by reason of their being in their prime, and who readily carry off the prize against their adversaries.

⁹ I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the Evil One. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the Evil One. The aforementioned names he fitted, from the standpoint of age, to his moral discourse; but the present ones he takes up from the standpoint of disposition, administering his admonition without omission.

¹⁰ Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Having thus apportioned his discourse to the ages of the spirit, he next brings forward the word of exhortation, and says: “Do not love the world.” These things he says as to little children; for children are always frightened [56] about the seeming-sweet thing. Then, having stated the cause of why one ought not to love the world and the things in the world, he next brings his teaching to bear upon the fathers and the young men; for such men are of a more perfect condition. And lest you suppose that “world” signifies the system composed of heaven and earth, he goes on to explain what the world is and what the things in the world are. And by “world” he means the rabble crowd, which does not even have the love of the Father in itself. And what are the things in the world? The things accomplished according to the evil desire of the flesh, which, being worked through the senses, stir up desire. For through the eyes, the most sovereign of the senses, it lays hold of the rest as well. And about desire every evil is seen to gather—adultery, drinking-bouts, unseemly passions, murders: some through covetousness, others through the wish to do away with adversaries. Deceits too are these, that we may make subject to our deceit everything that stands in the way; and, in a word, all things hateful to God are accomplished in us through fleshly desire.

¹¹ For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and the desire of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. We have already said that he calls the rabble crowd “the world,” wherefore the Lord also says to His disciples, “You are not of the world, even as I am not of the world”.[57] And of this world the father is the devil—of the worldly love of pleasure, I mean, and of its confusion. Wherefore the Lord also says concerning His disciples to the Father, “I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one”[58] —that is, from the world, which He says elsewhere also lies in the evil one.[59] At the same time, if the evil one is set against the good Father, and he who is a slave to the desires of the world is not from the Father but from the world, it is plain that he who is not from the Father but from the world is from the devil; as also in the Gospels He says to the Jews, “You are from your father the devil”[60] —that is, from the fleshly pursuits, of which the devil is both sower and gardener. And these worldly desires, he says, do not have what is abiding and standing fast; but the things according to the will of God are enduring and everlasting. And it is not the part of sober men to run past the things that stand fast and to cling to the things that pass into nothing—doing the same as one who builds [61] a house upon phantoms.

¹² Little children, it is the last hour; and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come to be; whence we know that it is the last hour. The saying, “It is the last hour,” is taken in this way, without harshness: Since it is a catholic Epistle, suited to every man, and since the appointed boundary of life is not one and the same for all, and the proper end is uncertain to each—he reasonably set each man before his own end, so that, as though the last hour of life were at hand for each, watchfulness might follow; and so a blameless life and purity of deeds might forever be the citizenship of Christians. Otherwise: there is no room for the man who, out of melancholy, would mock at these things. For since every matter is divided into three—first, and middle, and last—it is in no way unfitting that all that comes from the middle onward be called “last.” So that if the Lord came at the middle of the ten-thousand-year span (for His coming upon earth occurred at nearly the five-thousand-five-hundredth year, i.e. its midpoint), no one could find fault if all that follows from this point, as from the middle, be called “last.” Since therefore the ten-thousand-year span has passed beyond its midpoint from the coming of the Lord, all that follows from this might well be called “last.” This indeed is most true, and according to the golden John [62] as well.

¹³ They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but that they might be made manifest that not all are of us. Having spoken concerning the antichrists, he brings in also from whom they came, and says, “From us.” And he brings this in without making any distinction for the clarity of the statement. I mean, it is as though, having asked himself, “And whence are these antichrists?” he thus says, “From us.” So then, though he ought to have done it in this way, he did not so handle it, displaying by the very confusedness of the statement the distastefulness of their case. But why are the antichrists from the disciples of the Lord? So that they might be able to bring credibility to those who are led astray, as being from the disciples and acting, in the message of the preaching, according to the mind of the teacher, and not at all carried in a wholly contrary direction to the preaching. For this reason he says, “From us.” And the “went out” means that, having become disciples, they departed from the truth and devised blasphemies of their own. For they were not of us—that is, of the portion of those being saved. For if this had been so, they would have remained with their own. But now, he says, they have done this so that they might be made manifest—that is, become evident—that they are wholly estranged from us. For there are some among these who are also not of us, to whom plainly those who went out from us have joined themselves. On whose account, he says, I have said also, “Not all are of us.”

¹⁴ And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar, if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Father and in the Son. And this is the promise which He Himself promised us, the eternal life. Having said the things prepared beforehand, lest anyone should suppose that he assigns the knowledge of these things to himself alone, and through them vaunts himself over the other faithful as being the only one who knows it, he reasonably brings in, “And you have an anointing”—as if he were saying: But why do I go through these things to you as to those who are ignorant of them? And there is among you no ignorance of these matters. For you received from holy baptism the sacred anointing, and through it the divine Spirit. And since you know this, that I wrote these things to you not as to those who are ignorant but as to those who know—the last time, the rush of antichrists, the fact that all are full of falsehood. Because, then, falsehood has multiplied, for this reason I say, he says, that the antichrists also have become many. For if Christ is truth, whom you also, having known, have the truth in yourselves, then surely the liar, being contrary to the truth—that is, to Christ—is an antichrist. And who is the liar? He who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This Simon the all-defiled babbled,[63] that Jesus was one and Christ another: Jesus being the one from the holy Mary, and Christ the one who came down from heaven upon the Jordan. He, then, who is associated with this falsehood, this man, he says, is an antichrist. But also he who denies the Father and the Son—this man too, he says, is a liar and an antichrist. For there were others again, sectaries (from whom the accursed Valentinus was spawned),[64] who said that there was another, unnameable Father besides the one called the Father of Christ. And these same men also deny the Son, by calling Him a mere man and not God by nature, as being God from God. Wherefore he goes on: “Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either”—just as the Jews, who deny the Son while pretending to know the Father. But let these men know that they have not yet known the Father either. For if they had known Him, they would have known the Son also, since He is the Father of an only-begotten Son. And the followers of Simon prated the same thing. Those men, then, were thus. But as for you, the things you heard from the beginning—that is, Christ confessed as God [65] —keep with yourselves. For this he means by “Let it abide in you.” For if this abides in you, which you heard from the beginning, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father—that is, you will be partakers of Him. For this is the promise which says, “As I am in You, Father”;[66] and again, “That they may have eternal life: You, the only true God, and Him whom You sent”.[67]

¹⁵ These things I have written to you concerning those who lead you astray. Having completed his discourse concerning the things aforementioned,[68] he adds also the discourse concerning those who lead them astray—that is, on account of the heresies that have flooded in. Then again he brings in what we said also before this, securing for them the freedom from harshness: that “You too have the anointing which you received”; and what is this? It has already been explained that he means the Holy Spirit; and this Spirit which you received, since you hold it firm with yourselves, you have no need that anyone teach you; but as that same Spirit teaches you concerning all things, even as it also taught you, you will abide in it. For what it taught you is true and no lie.

¹⁶ And as for you, let the anointing which you received from Him abide in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and it is true and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will abide in Him. The sense in order is thus: The anointing which you received from Him, since it abides in you, you have no need that anyone teach you; but even as it taught you, you must abide in Him.

¹⁷ And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He is made manifest we may have boldness, and not be put to shame before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, know that everyone who does righteousness has been begotten of Him.

3 Chapter 3 — Exposition of the third chapter

¹ See what manner of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God — and we are. Having spoken of the onslaught of the antichrists and all their perverse teaching, and having sufficiently established his readers to hold unshakably to the things in which they had been instructed, he goes on now to set before them as well the reward laid up for these things, strengthening them, as it were, by the splendor of the prizes; and he says, “Abide in Him.” For what reason? “That we may have boldness in Him when He is made manifest.” For what is more glorious, or more to be desired, than boldness — when, in the presence of Him to whom we are about to display our labors in this life, we do so with boldness, in no way put to shame at His coming? [69] And since it is likely that some would ask what they must accomplish in order to become well-pleasing to Him, he teaches this also, saying: “If you have known Him, that He is righteous, you surely know this too, that everyone who does righteousness has been begotten of Him.” For the righteous one begets the righteous. [70] And how great this is toward your boasting and boldness no one is ignorant — nor yet of the love and kindness of Him who bestows it upon you, how great and of what sort it is. For you know that He has granted you both to become and to be reckoned His children. And if this is unclear to those in the world — I mean, that you are sons of God — do not marvel at it. For the world does not know you for this very reason, that neither did it know Him who adopted you; and by “world” he means the common rabble. Then, since he has built up the matter of the adoption, he speaks upon this still more plainly of the glory and boldness laid up for those who have been adopted.

² Beloved, now we are children of God. For this reason the world does not know you, because it did not know Him. — By “world” he means the common and swinish rabble, which is roused only toward this passion-ridden life, as a swine toward the mire.

³ Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been made manifest what we shall be. But we know that, if He is made manifest, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure. It is as though he were saying: You have surely come to know through what has gone before that we have been taken up to be sons of God. And if this has not yet been made manifest, do not be troubled;[71] for what is now unclear will become manifest when He is revealed. For appearing like Him, we shall display the splendor of the adoption; for sons are altogether like the father. But having boldness toward Him as sons, we shall see Him as He is — not according to His nature (for this is impossible for a created nature), but how? Pure, being pure; righteous, being righteous; for like things will cleave to the like. For this reason a little further back he said [72] that we are like Him, not according to nature. For otherwise he would have said, not “like,” but “the same.” But now, since this latter is not to be, he said like, that is, according to the quality of the glory. And it must be observed that above he did not say, “Everyone who has done righteousness,” nor “who will do it,” but “who does it.” For the active virtues have their being in the doing; once they have ceased, or are still to come, they do not even have being.

⁴ Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness also, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was made manifest in order to take away our sins; and in Him there is no sin. Having built up his discourse on righteousness through what precedes, from the goods that belong to righteousness, now he advances his demonstration from the contrary as well and from the things inherent in it, saying: “Everyone who commits sin.” He means something like this: You who have been adopted, work righteousness, and do not render yourselves idle in it. For just as, in the matter of sin, it is not the one who has sinned, nor the one who will sin, that is the sinner or the lawless one, but the one who is held fast by evil and is active in it — so too the righteous man is not the one who is inactive, but the one who is active. Yet by no means, he says, may you have any room for sinning; for since Christ has come for the abolition of sin, inasmuch as He had no share in sin, neither does it remain for you any longer to sin, you who have come to be in Him and have been confirmed in faith toward Him — which he signifies by the words “Everyone who abides in Him.” And it should be known that sin is the falling away from the good, while lawlessness is the transgression concerning the positive law. And each of these has this as its origin: the one, the falling away from the good; the other, the transgression concerning the positive law. But these coincide in the same point; for the one who sins has failed of the goal that is according to his nature and within his nature (for the goal for human nature is to live according to reason, far removed from unreason), and likewise the one who acts lawlessly transgresses concerning the law given within his nature, being carried away without self-control.

⁵ Everyone who abides in Him does not sin. That is, the one who unremittingly pursues the virtues and never leaves off their practice.

⁶ And everyone who sins has not seen Him, neither has he known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. Having said that He was made manifest, and the cause for which He was made manifest — namely, that, as one who had committed no sin, He might take away our sin, that is, do away with it — he adds: “Everyone who sins has not seen Him.” For if you, he says, who upon His being made manifest have seen Him, and have received as a sign of having seen Him the fact that you are not easily mastered by sin, as being perfectly established in Him — then surely those who sin have not seen Him, and therefore neither have they known Him. By “having seen” he does not mean the mere contact of bare sight, nor that they were active toward the object of knowledge by some ready-made fancy, but that they made their approach to Him with a certain discernment and understanding, as we have said above. And having said this, he proceeds in a confirming manner: “Let no one deceive you.” For it is no otherwise than thus: he who does righteousness has known the Righteous One and is righteous as He also is — that is, God; just as, conversely, he who commits sin is from the sinful one, who is the devil, who sins from the beginning. Therefore also God, caring for His own creature, being righteousness and sanctification, was made manifest — that is, appeared in the world — in order to do away with the works of the devil.

⁷ He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God made manifest, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Since the devil, having been turned aside [73] into sinning, everyone who sins takes his name from him. For he takes the lead within the one who sins by the prompting of wicked thoughts, as in the case of Judas. But someone will say: How does the devil come to be in those who sin, when they have sinned before him, in giving him a place? To which it must be answered that to commit sin is the same as to sin by giving a place to the devil; for the one who sins gives him a place, being led under by desire together with receiving him, accomplishing the sin in deed. For this is what “to commit” it signifies. And it is well said, “He who commits,” but not “He who has committed,” since the one who has repented is no longer of the devil, but only the one who is still working it. For in this way too the one who commits sin is a slave of sin, but not the one who has committed it. For everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

⁸ Everyone who has been begotten of God does not commit sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are made manifest. Everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, neither he who does not love his brother. Since everyone who commits sin is of the devil, in the very act of sinning, and is called a son of the devil — as the blessed Paul says to Elymas, “Son of the devil, will you not cease to pervert the ways of the Lord?”[74][75] — it is plain that the one begotten of God, as a son of God, does not sin, because the seed of God Himself is in him, that is, the Spirit which we received through the grace of which we were deemed worthy; and this, abiding in us, makes our mind unsusceptible to sin. Or it is Christ Himself who, dwelling in the faithful, makes them sons of God — just as Christ Himself is a son of Abraham in the seed of Abraham; and in the seed of Abraham, that is, in Christ, the nations are blessed. Chrysostom. As often as we sin, we are begotten of the devil; and again of God, as often as we accomplish virtue. “Because His seed abides in him.” By “seed” he means the Spirit, which we receive through baptism; and this, abiding in us, makes the mind unsusceptible to sin. But unless one is begotten of God, he does not receive the Holy Spirit. Another. The seed is divine — it is Christ, who, dwelling in the faithful, makes them become sons of God. Thus in the seed of Abraham, which again is Christ, all the nations are blessed. Otherwise: By “seed” he means the original lineage of the founding ancestor, which springs from an abundance of virtues; this ancestor, having as it were channeled to his clan the gift of praiseworthy things, in which he himself was illustrious, grants to these and to his own successors to take pride in them — provided especially that they keep the paternal advantages unblotted, advantages which procure no ordinary renown; even as the Jews too, though emptily, nonetheless said to Christ, “We are the seed of Abraham.”[76]

⁹ For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the Evil One and slew his brother. And for what cause did he slay him? Because his own works were wicked, but those of his brother were righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death into life, because we love the brethren. How great the evil of hating one’s brother is, he confirms by an example. For see, he says, how Cain, having himself hated his brother, killed him, and that though he was his own brother — but since he had the works of his father, the devil, which were wicked, whereas Abel, doing righteous deeds, was named a son of God. And the devil is set against God, and wicked works against good ones. For this reason Cain too, being set against his brother, killed him. Such is the course of the argument according to its natural sequence. The blessed John, however, altered the order, being ever governed by what was most pressing. For it pressed upon him, since he had made mention of the devil and of those who are adopted by him through wicked action, to put forward as an example the one who from the beginning of the world, through wicked works, ran off to become a child of the Evil One. And having done with Cain, and with the things which those who emulate him stand to inherit, he runs back again to love.

¹⁰ He who does not love his brother abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and we know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. In this we know love, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the goods of this world, and beholds his brother having need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor with the tongue, but in deed and in truth.[77] Having done with Cain and with the wicked works that pertain to him, he runs back again to love, and says that love persuaded the Lord to lay down His life for us, and that from this example we too ought to lay down our life for the brethren. And since this is a rare thing and found in but few, he begins, as though to shame them, to make his exhortation to brotherly love from the more moderate cases, ordering his discourse somewhat thus: Why do I speak of laying down one’s life for one’s brother, where we see men not even supplying the brethren’s need of necessities? And I do not mean those who are scant of livelihood, but even those who possess the wealth of a whole world’s substance. Let them therefore be ashamed; for if over these small things they have shut up their bowels of compassion and shown themselves unworthy of the love of God, what would they have displayed regarding the greater thing — to die for one’s brother? Then he brings to bear yet another thing to shame them — those who accept love in word and display it with the tongue alone.

¹¹ Let us not love in word and with the tongue, but in deed and in truth.

¹² And in this we know that we are of the truth. — And from this — in what? In not loving one’s brother in word, but in deed and in truth. And what do we know? That we are of the truth. How so? For he who confesses one thing but does another, not having his action in agreement with his word, is a liar and not truthful.

¹³ And before Him we shall assure our hearts. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have boldness toward God. And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.[78] This he says: that through being truthful — and we shall be truthful when our deeds advance in keeping with our words — we shall assure our conscience. For this is what he means by “heart.” And how shall we assure it? By setting this before ourselves, that we make our words as under God for a witness. For this is what “before” signifies. For if, he says, we do not do thus, but our conscience — that is, our heart — condemns us, we do not escape notice in our sinning. For if we do not escape the notice of our own conscience, small as it is, as belonging to a small creature, in our sinning, much more shall we not escape the notice of the boundless God who is present everywhere. The discourse, then, is of this kind: Little children, let us not lie to one another in loving with the tongue alone, but let us display love in deed as well; for in this we shall know that we are of the truth, that is, of God. And whatever we say, let us say it as in the sight of God; and no one — not even were he more shameless than all the demons — would bring himself to lie with God for a witness. For if we do not act thus, but, while we say that we love, our heart condemns us of falsehood, we sin. How? By supposing that we escape the notice of God who is present everywhere. Thus, then, beloved, he says, having so prepared ourselves, uncondemned before our own selves — in being truthful, that is to say, toward one another — we shall come to have boldness toward God; and from this boldness, whatever we ask we shall surely receive from Him. For what reason?

¹⁴ Because we keep His commandments. For the greatest thing for summoning the one petitioned to obedience is the ready compliance on the part of those who petition, when it is rendered without ambiguity toward Him to whom the petition is made. Since, then, we too keep His commandments and do the things pleasing to Him, let us be confident that we shall not fail of our petitions, since the exact disposition on both sides loves to give in return, without delay, to the one who comes to the need of the other. [79] And which commandment of His have we kept? The one that says, “Have love among one another.”

¹⁵ And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. — The word “this” is to be understood as giving a reason: that we have, he says, a commandment to love one another by faith in the name of Jesus Christ His Son; and if we have done this, from it we know that the grace which is of His Spirit has been firmly established in us. Wherefore His commandment is to believe — since this is what He has given us. And it should be known that in many places of Scripture there stands the phrase “to believe in the name of our Lord.” And what does this signify? Nothing else at all than His will, His glory, His renown. The glory and renown, as in the verse, “How wondrous is Your name in all the earth”;[80] and the will, as here, and as in the verse, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”,[81] in the sense of “in His will.” And what is the will of the Lord Jesus? To baptize all the nations into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. [82]

¹⁶ And let us love one another, even as He gave us commandment. And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him; and by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He gave us. That is to say: he means that we are to love one another with a true disposition. And where is this commanded? In the place where He says, “As you wish that men should do to you, do you likewise to them.”[83] If, then, we love our neighbors, truly and without guile to be disposed toward us, then in the very same way we ought surely also to be disposed toward them. But if this is a commandment of the Lord, much more, when we abide in Him, will He also offer Himself to us; for He cannot deny Himself — that is, He cannot have given His commandments to us upon empty terms, but rather He first confirms these things in Himself. [84] And if this is so, then surely, if we do the things He commands, we too shall have Him obedient to us in whatever we ask of Him, and His gift will be sure to us. The whole sense is thus: That we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another truly, as is His commandment. For he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And from this we know that He abides in us — from the Spirit, that is, the gift, which He gave us. For while this remains inviolate, we have it beyond dispute that His gift cannot be taken away. And how shall it be inviolate? In our doing no harm to ourselves through neglect of the things He commanded us concerning love.

4 Chapter 4 — Exposition of the fourth chapter

¹ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this is the Spirit of God known: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh is of God. Having gone through his discourse concerning love toward one’s neighbor, and having declared this to be the mark of the abiding of the Spirit, which we received, he now adds also a discrimination between those who are truly brethren and one’s neighbors, so that, while keeping this love, we may not, on account of the commandment concerning love, fall in with false brethren and false apostles and false prophets [85] — thereby procuring for ourselves the greatest harm. For if we attach ourselves to those of like ways, we shall first of all harm ourselves, sharing the word of the faith unreservedly with the impious and setting holy things before dogs;[86] and then we shall harm also those who look to us. For our love toward them will persuade many to take them as teachers and to believe unguardedly the things spoken by them, being stolen away from their fellowship with us. And what is the mark of these men, but this? “Every spirit” — that is, every dignity of prophecy or of apostleship — “which confesses the Lord Jesus to have come in the flesh, is of God”; but that which does not confess this is not of God, but its dignity is from the antichrist, “of whom you have heard.” When? In what he said a little before, that “there are many antichrists in the world”[87] — that is, the forerunners of the antichrist. And he says that the confession of Christ’s coming in the flesh is made not by the tongue but by works, as the blessed Paul says: “Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be made manifest in your body”[88][89] He, therefore, who has Jesus working in him, and has died to the world and no longer lives to the world but to Christ, and carries Him about not only in the flesh of Christ but also in his own flesh — this man is of God. But he who lives not to Christ but to himself and to the world — that is, to the pleasures of the world — such a one is not of God. Wherefore Paul again says: “For where there are strifes and divisions among you, are you not carnal and walking according to man?”[90] And he who walks according to man does not have the Spirit of Christ; and he who does not have the Spirit of Christ — that is, he who does not live according to Christ — this man is not Christ’s. [91]

² And every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that of the antichrist, of whom you have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world. — He said, he says, that the antichrist is in the world, not bodily, but by reason of the false prophets and false apostles and heretics who prepare the way for his coming. And this antichrist will be a man who carries Satan about within him, exalting himself above every god or object of worship [92][93] that is named. Wherefore he will also set at naught the worship of the idols (whom he signified by “those called gods”; and by “object of worship” he signified Christianity), and will undertake to declare himself alone to be god.

³ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are of the world; therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. Having, through the things set forth beforehand, made known the prophets and apostles of the Lord, he adds: But you, being of God, little children, have overcome them — that is, the false prophets. How? Because the God who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, according to whom the false prophets chose to live. Then to these things he adds yet another mark of the false prophets, one which especially grieved also the simpler among the faithful. For it was likely that some of these were even distressed, seeing those men eagerly sought after by the many, while they themselves were despised. And he says: Do not be grieved if you are despised by many, while those men are received by these; for like runs to like. “They are of the world, and speaking of the world” — that is, teaching according to the carnal desires — they have these men as their hearers, the perverse hearkening to the perverse. But we, inasmuch as we are of God and estranged from the desires of the world, are rendered unacceptable to them. But that man hears us who lives soberly and on that account acknowledges God, ready to lend his ear; which Christ also says: “He who has ears”[94][95] …prepared, bearing witness to that man, and the ears…

⁴ By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; and everyone who loves has been begotten of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God, because God is love. In this was the love of God made manifest in us, that God has sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Having distinguished, by the things he has already said, those to whom one must hold fast and those to whom one must not, he goes on to add, as a seal upon what has been said, that by this we know those who have the Spirit of truth and the deceiving spirit, that of false prophecy; and after this he takes up again the discourse concerning love. For having shown whom one must love — namely, those of like character — he holds thereafter to his first points, saying that both love is of God, and that the one who loves is begotten of God, and — and he alone who loves — knows God;[96] while the one who does not have love is ignorant also of God. But how is it that he who does not love has not known God? He establishes this thus: God is love. From what is this plain? He sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that He might furnish us with true life, and that we might live through Him. For just as He is called goodness, because through goodness He gave subsistence to the intelligible world and to the sensible; so also, through His love toward us, by giving His only-begotten Son into the world, He showed by this too that He is love. Wherefore he himself adds: “In this is love” [that is, in this it is shown that God is love]. Then, exalting the goodness of God’s love, he says: Not because we loved Him did God do this, in giving His own Son for us, but rather, taking the initiative of His benefaction toward us through love, He sent His Son; and not only did He send Him, but also that He might make propitiation for our sins through His own blood. If, then, says he, God so loved us, even though we share nothing with Him in nature, how much more ought we also to love our kinsmen, and, having come to know the good that comes from love, to minister this also to others. For just as it is a reproach to him who does not choose what is to be chosen, so it procures praise for those who love the ones worthy of love, because they are beloved. And being so disposed, we have both: that we are beloved, because we are loved by God and received by Him; and that we are loving, through our love toward our neighbors.

⁵ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever beheld God. For if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. — We have said before this that it is the custom of this blessed one to take up the same matters concerning the same subjects. Employing his discourse in this same manner now also, he says: “No one has ever beheld God.” For since, in making his discourse concerning the love of the brethren, he had brought forward God as an example, who gave His only-begotten Son unto death because of His love for us — it would follow that someone might say: And how do you say this concerning things unseen? Concurring, then, with those who so speak, he himself also says that no one indeed has ever beheld God — this I myself affirm too; “but from our love toward one another,” he says, “we know that God is in us.”[97] And he says this well; for many of the things unseen by us we apprehend from His workings. Indeed, just as no one has ever seen the soul, yet from its workings and movements it is perceived that it is in us and dwells within us, so also we know His love toward us as though through a certain movement and working. And if this is not outside what is reasonable, neither does this divine man show, contrary to reason, that God is, and is in us, from His working. And what is the working? Our pure love toward our neighbors. This is the mark both of our abiding in Him and of His abiding in us, and that, he says, He has given us this of His Spirit; for the pure One lends things pure and undefiled. Since, then, through pure love we have fellowship with Him, from this we too, he says — we who have beheld Him according to the flesh — have known and bear witness that the Father has sent Him to be the Savior of the world. But besides our knowledge, He Himself also expounded it, bringing us more perfectly into such knowledge: at one time saying, “I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world”[98] — this concerning the sending down from heaven of His only-begotten Son into the world for the sake of love toward us. And again, through other words, more plainly: “For God so loved the world,” he says, “that He gave His only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish”;[99] and, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”[100] We have, therefore, both from the eyewitness sight itself, he says, and from the exposition of the Only-begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, as is said in the Gospels,[101] and from the working through our love toward one another, that God is in us, and has given us of His Spirit, and that we have fellowship with Him.

⁶ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love which God has in us. God is love; and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. — This refers back to what was said a little before, namely, that “every spirit that confesses the Lord Jesus as having come in the flesh.” For since he had sufficiently shown that they are both children of God and that God abides in them — and he showed this through their love toward one another, that the Holy Spirit was given to them — he brings the discourse back again to those points, and says: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him; just as he said above, that “every spirit confessing Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh is of God.” But the discourse disclosed yet another thing: that those who confess these things and have the Spirit — that is, God — abiding in themselves, themselves also abide in God. And how is this? Through their love toward one another. And having made mention of love, he adds also all the things concerning love which he has said, furnishing much confirmation to his discourse concerning love.

⁷ In this is love perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because, even as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. — God is light, and His saints are light in the world, according to the Gospel,[102] and there is in them no fear of punishment, because they abound in the love of God. I wish, he says, that you be perfected in love, that we may have boldness toward God in the day of judgment; because He Himself also is the one who judges, according to His own declaration, that “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.”[103] And that the boldness will be toward Him who became man for us, he made clear through what follows, saying that “even as He is, so also are we in this world” — meaning this: It having been shown beforehand that God is in us and we in Him, we bear witness, he says, to the perfection of love in ourselves as well. As, therefore, He was without blemish and pure in the world (wherefore He also said: “The ruler of this world is coming, and in Me he will find nothing”[104] ), so also shall we be in God, and God in us. If, then, this is so, He is the guide and bestower of purity to us; and so we also carry Him about in this world purely and cleanly, always bearing about His dying in the body. [88] And living thus, we shall have boldness toward Him, and shall then be free of all fear. For, being perfected in love through good works, we shall be far from fear. And to these things he adds, as a confirmation, that “perfect love casts out fear.” But what kind of fear? He himself says: the fear that pertains to punishment. For it is possible for some even to love through fear of being punished; but this fear is not perfecting — that is, it does not belong to perfect love. Having said these things concerning perfect love, he also shows constrainingly that we ought to love God, because He Himself, he says, first loved us. And we ought — toward Him who takes the initiative of good toward us — to press the more earnestly to the requital of this. But certain ones have inquired: How is it that, when David says, “Fear the Lord, all you His saints, for there is no want to those who fear Him”[105],[106] how is it that now this one says, “Perfect love casts out fear”? For surely the saints of God, to whom fearing is enjoined, are not perfected in love? We say, then, that fear is twofold: the one preliminary, which has punishment as its companion, and which arises because of the dreadful things he has done — the one who approaches God being afraid, and on this account approaching, that he may not be punished; and this is the preliminary fear. But the perfecting fear is freed from such dread, wherefore it is also called “pure, and enduring unto ages of ages”[107].[108] What, then, and on what account, is the perfecting fear? It is that, because of one’s being taken up perfectly into love, one is anxious lest he fall short of Him in any of those things which it is fitting for one who loves exceedingly to perform. [109]

⁸ Because fear has punishment. And he who fears has not been perfected in love. We love Him, because He first loved us. — Here he calls fear the preliminary one. He, then, who genuinely loves God does the things pleasing to God not on account of the threat of punishments, but by the allurement of virtue and by his love toward God — securing himself, moreover, by the genuine fear[110], which is the desire of the good. Or again, the fear that does anything for the sake of not falling into punishment is the same as the former; wherefore he adds: “Fear has punishment.”

⁹ If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? — Having shown constrainingly that love must be transmissive — both from God toward us, and from us toward Him — and having added this again, that, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another; and once more bringing the discourse back to this, he says: Since it lies upon us as a debt to love our brother, from the example of God’s love toward us — which, by rendering and repaying it back to God in turn, we shall be fulfilling the debt — it is necessary, he says, to love one’s brother without postponement, as the most perfect mark of love toward God. For if not this, neither would our love toward God be preserved, since the debt toward one another, which we have received from our love toward God, would be falling away. And he adds also this most evident argument for the refutation of those who attempt to adulterate divine love, saying something of this kind: Love is in every case constituted out of mutual familiarity, and familiarity has as its consequence the seeing of one’s brother, and by this especially being bound together unto love of him; for sight is a thing that draws toward love. And if this is so, the one who counts as nothing what draws all the more toward love, and does not love his brother whom he has seen — how, while claiming to love God whom he has not seen, when he is neither familiar with Him nor apprehensible by any single sense, would he be detected as speaking truly? If, then, someone should shamelessly say, he says, that he loves God but hates his brother, not only does he adulterate divine love, but he is found besides to be a transgressor of His commandment, which says, “By this shall all know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”[111] He, therefore, who loves God and strongly maintains that he is His disciple, loves also his brother according to His commandment.

¹⁰ And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

5 Chapter 5 — Exposition of the fifth chapter

¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God; and everyone who loves Him who begot loves also Him who has been begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do His commandments. This too confirms what was said above, since we have received a commandment from the Master to love one another, then surely, if we believe that our Master Jesus is the Christ—who is Christ in this, that He is both God and man—let us keep His commandments as well, as the commandments of a master and of God. And believing in God, that we are His, we are called His sons, as it has also been said in the Gospels: As many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God[112] —that is, as many as believed in Him, these also were made His children. And if we have been begotten of Him, then assuredly we shall also render that which is due to Him who begot us. What is this? To love Him who begot us. And since this is so—since all we who have believed have been begotten of Him; and if we have been begotten of Him, we are bound to love one another, both as brothers and as those begotten of Him—he adds the proof of this, namely that “he who loves Him who begot loves also Him who has been begotten of Him”. Then again he says that love toward the brethren, that is, toward the children of God, confirms the love toward Him who begot them. For above he said: He who loves God loves also his brother; but now he says that he who loves the children of God loves God also. And he makes love toward one’s brother the proof of love toward God.

² For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. This is to be understood thus: For this is love, that we keep His commandments; for everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world. The phrase “they are not burdensome” has been inserted parenthetically. [113]

³ And His commandments are not burdensome, because everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. Since he had set forth the keeping of the commandments as the whole proof of love toward God, and since it seemed to some that the commandments of God were burdensome, for this reason he says: And His commandments are not burdensome. For what is burdensome in loving one’s brother? Or in visiting him in prison—what is burdensome in that? For he does not say to set free the one in prison, which is a hard thing, but only to visit him; nor to rid the sick man of his disease, but only to visit him; nor does he command us to set a costly table before the hungry, or to give the naked a garment elaborately wrought, but to supply the necessary need that the hungry and naked man seeks. Having spoken thus of this matter, he brings forward yet another inducement to love. What is it? Victory. For he says: Through love toward your brother, establishing yourselves as children of God, you have already, as a consequence of this good work, the further reward of overcoming the world. For that which has been begotten of God overcomes the world. Then he sets forth both the victory and that through which the victory comes, saying that faith is both—plainly the faith toward God, which, being itself begotten of God, has overcome all unbelief and driven it away; and neither Jew, nor Greek, nor heretic can prevail against it. And since faith does not overcome bare and by itself, but together with the one who possesses it, for this reason he adds: And who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? And—

⁴ Who is this Jesus? Jesus the Christ, who came by water and blood.

⁵ And who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus the Christ. Since he had made mention of the begetting that is of God, and of victory—having said that everything begotten of God overcomes the world, and that this is brought about all at once through holy baptism—for this reason he says that this is He who came by water and blood, Jesus the Christ, regenerating us and making us sons of God. For this too is understood as following upon the discourse, namely: And everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world. And how was it begotten? By water, he says, and blood. For Jesus Christ, who came, regenerates by water and blood. And he adds further, taking up the discourse again, declaring that He regenerates not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood. For he wishes first to show forth the manifestation of Christ, who adopts us as sons: that the man assumed in Him, having first been adopted as a son by God[114], in this way, through His own adoption, bestowed upon us also this same dignity—a dignity that was manifested at three seasons at the baptism in the Jordan, when from above the Father testified that He who was baptized was His beloved Son. And who was this? He who went down into the water, that is, the man taken up together with God the Word, the visible one united to the hidden One; for it was to this one that the testimony had to be borne. By the water, then—that is, in the baptism that is by water—Jesus was manifested as Son of God through the Father’s testimony. By the blood, when, being about to be crucified, He said: “Glorify Me, Thou, Father”; and a voice came: “I have both glorified, and will glorify again”[115] —which voice those who heard it took to be thunder. And by the Spirit, when, as God, He rose from the dead. For this belongs to God alone: to raise Himself. And that by “the voice of the Spirit” God is signified, the word “Spirit” itself, here used, suffices to show. [116] Therefore, three things bearing witness to the adoption of Jesus—the baptism, the cross, the resurrection—the Lord’s adoption is beyond dispute; and through this adoption He has bestowed upon us also, being as we are the firstfruits of the whole human lump, the gift of being sons of God. And these three are unto the one Christ. For this is what he signifies by saying: “The three are one”—that is, unto the one testimony concerning Christ. [117] It should be known that some of the Fathers understood the Spirit not with reference to the resurrection of Christ, but with reference to the Father, when He cried out in the Jordan: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”[118] —seeing that God too is Spirit, as we have said before. Having said these things, he adds a proof of what has been said, arguing from the lesser thus: If we accept the testimony of men about anything whatever, would we not much more justly accept the greater testimony that is from God? For is not this testimony concerning His Son, that is, concerning Christ, from God Himself? He, then, who believes in the Son of God, that He is God, as Son of God, has the testimony in Him—that is, in himself—namely, that he too, by believing, has been adopted as a son, through Jesus who was adopted as a son by God. But he who does not believe is guilty of two evils: of unbelief, making God a liar, and also of robbing himself of adoption, and thereby of eternal life as well—the life that Christ Himself also has in Himself, as it is written also in the Gospel: “In Him was life”.[119] So that he who has the Son through baptism has also the life; “for as many of us as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”.[120] But whoever does not have the Son of God through baptism does not have the life either, and has been put to death. For He takes us up dead in our trespasses and raises us through holy baptism. How? Because he who has been buried together with Christ through the immersion in baptism is dead to the world—that is, to worldly desires—and no longer lives in himself, but lives to Christ.

⁶ Not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Christ is the truth. For there are three that bear witness: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood. — The word “came” is to be supplied, so that the sense may be: He came not in the water only—that is, He furnished the proof by water.

⁷ And the three are unto the one. If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony of God, which He has testified concerning His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning His Son. And this is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. And the three are unto the one—that is, unto the testimony concerning Christ, both that He was adopted as a son by God the Father, and that what He Himself possessed He imparted to us: His name. [121]

⁸ These things I have written to you who believe, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. And this is the boldness that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.[122] These things he gathers up, as in an epilogue, and says: I have written to you as heirs of eternal life; for these things would not be written to those who do not live in hope of eternal life, since one ought not “to give holy things to dogs”, nor “to cast the precious pearls before swine”.[123] And he repeats, as we have said, reminding them of what was spoken: first, that one must “believe without wavering” in the name of the Son of God—that is, in the worship of God that was delivered to us by Him (for this is what “the name of the Son of God” signifies, as we have said); then, that the sign of this unwavering faith is nothing else than the boldness which, through faultless faith, we find toward Him, as we have said above; and that, again, the sign of such boldness he has laid down to be the not failing of all that is asked by us. But since not all obtain all the things they ask, nor are heard in what they ask, he adds the words “according to His will”; for he who asks contrary to the will of the Master will not even be heard, just as it was with the blessed James—since he too says: “You ask, and you do not receive, because,” he says, “you ask amiss”.[124] And turning this same sign into a clearer mark of recognition, he says: And if we know that He hears us in everything that we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him; meaning something like this: If we ask according to His will, He hears us; and if He hears us in what we ask, we know that we are making our petitions according to His will, and that we have within ourselves the petitions that we have asked. And these are His kingdom and His righteousness, which He Himself also commanded us in the Gospels to ask. [125]

⁹ If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and He will give him life—life, that is, to those who sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death; I do not say that he should make request concerning that one. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death. Having said the things we have set forth, he now expressly sets forth one of the things which he wishes us to ask among those that are according to the will of God. And since he is, through almost the whole Epistle, abundant in extolling love toward one’s brother, and in teaching that God wills this—that love toward one’s brother be kept unadulterated—he now says that this is one of His wills, and the most excellent: If anyone sees his brother sinning not unto death, let him ask, and He will give him life. And what will He give? Eternal life. To whom? To those who do not sin unto death. For he makes the division as it were from the genus of sin taken simply, and says: All unrighteousness is sin, both that which is unto death and that which is not unto death. But concerning that which is unto death, he says, let him not make request, that is, let him not ask; for he will not be heard, because he asks amiss—speaking of the one who shows no turning back. For this alone is a sin unto death: the one that has no regard to repentance, with which Judas too, falling sick, was brought down to eternal death. But those also who bear grudges sin unto death. For Solomon says: “The ways of the grudge-bearers are unto death”.[126] For neither do these repent and turn back, holding fast to their grudges and keeping up their anger “against their neighbor”, but they sin in a way that admits of no change of mind.

¹⁰ We know that everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin; but he who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, that we may know the true God; and we are in the True One, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and the eternal life. Having fixed our attention upon what the sin unto death is, and what the sin not unto death is, he goes on to indicate also whose it is to sin unto death, and says that he who has been adopted as a son by God would never fall sick of sin, whether unto death or not unto death. For once he has given himself over to Christ, who dwells in him through the adoption, he remains untouched by sin. Yet, lest anyone suppose that such a one has been wholly transformed in his nature, so as to be henceforth incapable of being captured by sin, he adds the words “He keeps himself”—the meaning being that, if he does not keep himself and guard himself from the evil one, he will most certainly fall into sin. It is not by nature, then, that he advances into sinlessness, he says, but out of the great bounty of God, who, by adopting us as sons, has counted us worthy of this grace, so that, by guarding and keeping the gift that has been given us by Him, we may have also the not sinning. For otherwise, he says—the world lying in the evil one (and by “world” he means those who have not, through righteous works, transferred themselves into the adoption of God)—nothing would have hindered us from being numbered together with those who are perishing; “inasmuch as the mind of man is bent diligently upon evil things from his youth”,[127] as God declared at the time of the flood. But since, he says, the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding to know Him as the true God, and to be in His true Son Jesus Christ Himself, we have known, through this great bounty, that He is the true God and the eternal life ⟨…⟩ from the evil one and from his stumbling-blocks. [128]

¹¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. Some have inquired: For what reason, if these things were written to perfect believers, does he charge them to keep themselves from idols? We say, then, that since he was writing these things to the whole Church—which was not wholly made up of an approved people, but there was in it also someone of more sluggish disposition—it is to such as these that he addresses the charge, having regard to their proneness to stumble.

¹² The end of the Catholic Epistle of John. It was written from Ephesus: two hundred sixty-four stichoi.[129]