Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/742

708 JOHN [EPISTLES. strongly anti-Docetic tone which is said to distinguish the epistle from the gospel. Such differences, however, are in part more apparent than real (they are certainly not contradictions), and in part maybe naturally explained by the changed circumstances in which the two writings were composed and the different aims proposed in them. On this point see Westcott, p. Ixxxviii., and Reuss, Intro duction, p. 358 sq. Date. The date of the epistle must remain in uncer tainty; but it is generally viewed as later in composition than the gospel. " The phrases in the gospel," writes Professor Westcott, " have a definite historic connexion ; they belong to circumstances which explain them. The phrases in the epistle are in part generalizations and in part interpretations of the earlier language in view of Christ s completed work, and of the experience of the Christian church." The same writer assigns on good grounds to the gospel as well as to the epistle a date subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem. In this view (a-^drr] wpa, ch. ii. 18, must be understood of the approach of the second advent of Christ. Occasion and Contents. Mr Browning has in his Death in the Desert caught the true occasion of the apostle s letter : it was written in view of the time when There is left on earth No one alive who knew (consider this), Saw with his eyes and handled with his hands That which was from the first, the Word of Life; How will it be when none more saith I saw ? " It is the testimony of the last surviving eyewitness of the Lord, far removed from the scenes and words which he attests, giving, in view of rising error, Gnostic and Docetic, the apostolic judgment on questions of the day, and founding the truth of Christian doctrine on a recognition of the historical Christ. The subject and character of the epistle answer these conditions. The direct testimony to the real existence of Jesus Christ in the flesh, the declaration of spiritual tests (as in ch. i. 6, ii. 29, iii. 19, and in many other passages) which gives an introspective element to the epistle, and, lastly, the impressive re-delivery of familiar truths not freshly defined but exhibited in different mutual relations, are characteristic of an address given by an aged teacher to a generation of men who had not seen the Lord, from whom therefore objective proof had been withdrawn, and who in consequence would desire some clear testimony of the facts about Jesus, and some definite tests of comm.uniou with God and of the reality of their spiritual condition. It is an address to the instructed. Much therefore is taken for granted ; many elementary principles and truths of the Christian life are left unnoticed ; and religious terms fre quent in other parts of the New Testament are absent from this epistle. The apostle writes " because they have known Him that was from the beginning" (ii. 13), and his aim is a deepening of the spiritual life and a confirmation of faith. After an introduction, giving his credentials as a witness and stating his aim, the apostle delivers his message to the _ church, "God is light" (i. 5). This thought is the subject of the epistle ; it is illustrated by the opposite of light darkness, and by analogous pairs of opposites, in which the principal theme is exhibited in different aspects : these are righteousness and sin, truth and falsehood, love and hate, God and the world, life and death. To those ideas, which are in truth varied expressions of one and the same idea, the apostle turns and returns, not repeating himself, but on each reiteration of the truth adding some fresh thought and deeper truth. Through these opposites runs another thought judgment or deci sion, which is viewed not as a future but as an ever- present fact in the Christian life. After the delivery of his message (dyyeAm) the apostle proceeds to set forth some effects of the "light," fellow ship with one another, confession of sin, forgiveness of sin (i. 5-10). This suggests one aspect of the object of the " message," freedom from sin, the test of which, i.e., in other words, the test of knowing God, is observance of His commandments, which are summed up in love (dyaTn?) (ii. 1-11). Here the apostle reminds his readers why he sends the message ; it is because (on) they to whom it comes are Christians, whose sins have been forgiven, who have known Christ, who have conquered Satan ; it comes to all, to little children, to young men, to the aged (ii. 12-14). Therefore let them not love the world nor the things of the world (ii. 15-17). Hence the thought of the end of the world and the signs thereof. Of these one is the Antichrist. There are now many Antichrists even in the nominal church. But there is a test of the truo Chris tian, to have the Father, the Son, the unction (^ptV/xa) of the Holy Spirit, and the truth (ii. 18-28). A new section begins with the thought of sonship of God. The test of sonship is doing righteousness because God is righteous. Sonship is a proof of the Father s love, and the condition of it is likeness to the Father (ii. 28-iii. 9). The connexion is then traced between righteousness and love (10-13), between love and life, and hate and death (14, 15). This suggests the range of love, self- sacrifice even to death (16-18). Truth (suggested by reality of love) is shown to be tested by keeping the com mandments, the first of which is love (19-23), the result is the indwelling of Christ which the Spirit testifies (24). The mention of the Spirit leads the apostle s thoughts once more, as in ch. ii. 18 sq., to the distinction between true spirits and false. The test is the same, the acknow ledgment that Christ has come in the flesh (iv. 1-G). The thought of the true Christian as distinguished from the false again suggests mutual love, which springs from God s love to us manifested by the mission of Christ. Mutual love is a proof of the indwelling Christ (7-13). Here the apostle pauses to bear impressive witness to the mission of Christ and the love of God (14-16), and then resumes the subject of love. A result of perfect love is confidence in the day of judgment. But absence of brotherly love means want of love to God (17-21). For the test of brotherly love is love to God, which consists in keeping His commandments through the faith in Jesus Christ that overcomes the world (v. 1-5). Jesus Christ then is the object of faith. Faith brings its own evidence, and its evidence is that God gave eternal life (6-12). To effect the knowledge of this (the possession of eternal life), and the belief in the Son of God, were the apostle s objects in writing. Such knowledge and belief bring assurance, from which results certainty of answer to prayer. The instance given is intercessory prayer (13-17). In con clusion the apostle recapitulates some of the leading truths dwelt upon in the epistle. From this brief summary it will be seen that the sections are sometimes linked together by a manifest chain of reasoning, and that sometimes the concluding word in one paragraph suggests the fresh train of thought in the next. Some expositors detect a more logical sequence in the epistle. But the varying results of their expositions go to prove the improbability that the apostle had in view any such sys- l ematic arrangement. See, however, Diisterdieck, whose scheme is mainly followed by Alford, and Davidson, Intro duction to the Study of the New Testament. Where Written and to Whom Addressed. The epistle was probably written at Ephesus, where the most ancient tradition places the closing scenes of St John s life, and addressed to the church of Ephesus, or as an encyclical letter to the churches of Asia. In sonr.e Latin MSS., how-