Chapter 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]