ii. 29-v. 12. GOD IS LOVE.
c. ii. 29-iii. 24.The Evidence of Sonship: Deeds of Righteousness before God.
- The Children of God and the Children of the Devil (ii. 29-iii. 12).
- Love and Hate: Life and Death (iii. 13-24).
The third chapter should begin with the last verse of the second, which speaks of being begotten of God. Then naturally the author describes the present character and future position of the children of God when their real glory, now unappreciated by the world, shall be outwardly manifested.
1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: and [such] we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not
1. "Behold." This is not a mere interjection of surprise, but a verb in the plural number calling on all to gaze upon something actually visible now to eyes anointed by the Holy Spirit, and destined to be transcendently glorious hereafter.
"What manner of love." Love is the very essence of Christianity distinguishing it from all false religions. Its origin is not earthly, but heavenly. It is a spark dropped from the skies, not to consume sinners, but to illumine and purify believers.
"The Father." This title and its correlative, child or son, always in the New Testament denotes a spiritual relation. To treat the Fatherhood of God as natural, including all men, irrespective of character, is the fundamental error of the so-called liberalism which in modern times wears the mark of Christianity. See John i. 12, 13.
"Hath given to us." Subjective love cannot be given, but it bestows such gifts as shall awaken responsive love in the heart of its object. The gift of God's only begotten Son is designed to produce this effect in every sinner who hears and believes the gospel. True believers are thus inspired with a love which is like the love of God, and by its transforming power they are enabled to claim the title of children of God, because they have become like Him in moral character. In Hebrew phrase a wise man is a son of wisdom and a godlike man is a son of God.
The pronouns "we" and "us" throughout this Epistle refer to believers. "That we (literally, in order that we) should be called." Adoption into the family of God, not only nominal, but real, is the purpose of that love which manifests itself in the unspeakable gift of His Son.
"Called." Divinely acknowledged.
"The children of God." The A. V. erroneously has "sons." Community of nature is denoted by "children," and privilege and maturity are implied in "sons" The only place in John's writings where "son" is used of man's relation to God is Rev. xxi. 7. "Son" is a favorite word with Paul.
"And such we are." Two precious Greek words, καὶ ἐσμέν (kai esmen), have been recovered by sacred scholarship since the A. V. was made in 1611 A. D. The author seems to have inserted these words parenthetically as his own personal testimony to a realized fact corresponding to the reputed historic position of members of Christ's church.
"Therefore the world knoweth us not." For the good reason that it was so spiritually blind as totally to fail to recognize God revealed in Jesus Christ, and to crucify Him between two thieves.
"The world" is recognized as the power hostile to God and to all who bear His image. The believer in Christ is the object of two opposite forces, the one drawing toward sin and perdition and the other toward holiness and heaven. The result is determined by his persistent choice.
His preference of things not seen to things seen, of grace over gold, of self-denial instead of self-indulgence, is to the world an insoluble mystery, because the spring of action cannot be understood.
"Him." God in Christ is the person totally unknown to the world. Says Augustine, "By loving the pleasures of sin men ignore God; by loving what the fever craves men damage the reputation of the physician." Unbelief counteracts the remedies of the Great Physician.
2. "It is not yet made manifest" . . . " if he shall be manifested." The chief difficulty is in the last clause. It may be rendered "if it shall be manifested," having for its subject the impersonal "it," as in the first clause. But this interpretation, though it seems to be natural, obscures the meaning by making the certainty that we shall be like Him dependent on its manifestation to our minds. But this certainty is absolute, and conditioned upon no such future contingency; we know that we who perseveringly believe shall be like Him when He appears. This knowledge that we shall be like Christ cannot be said to depend upon the manifestation of what we shall be. Our exegesis is confirmed by the rendering of the same phrase in ii. 28, "if he shall be manifested;" a personal subject is also used in iii. 8.
"Because we shall see." Here "because" is ambiguous. "The likeness to God may be either (1) the necessary condition, or (2) the actual consequence of the Divine Vision. The argument may be: We shall see God, and, therefore, since this is possible, we must be like Him; or, We shall see God, and in that presence we shall reflect His glory, and be transformed into His likeness." (Bishop Westcott.)
If in the light of the beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," we accept the first exegesis, the likeness is the condition of the vision. If the second exegesis had been the idea in the mind of John, the expression would have been "we shall become like Him" instead of "shall be like Him." "We see that which we have the sympathetic power of seeing." Says Augustine, "The entire life of a good Christian is holy desire. But what you desire you do not yet see; but by desiring you will be rendered capacious, so that when He comes you will be filled with what you see. . . . God by deferring enlarges desire, by desiring He extends the mind, by extending He makes its receptivity larger. This is our whole life that we may be educated by desiring." Hence John in this verse appears to mark a state which co-exists with the Divine manifestation at the first, and does not follow from it. There are texts (2 Cor. iii. 18, v. 4) which teach the transfiguring virtue of the inner revelation of God in Christ by the Holy Ghost. The chief element of the vision of God is knowledge, real, intuitive and continuous, a preparation and incentive to joyful service. "His servants render religious service to Him and they shall see His face and His name shall be in their foreheads." (Rev. xxii. 4.)
Beware of the doctrine of the possibility of acquiring moral purity after the second coming of Christ. Holiness is never in the Holy Scriptures an object of hope, for the good reason that its present possession by the believer is always assumed.
The schoolmen discussed the question whether the human intellect will ever become able to see God in essence. We believe that we will always see Him only in His glorified Son. Augustine thus portrays this Divine vision:
"Therefore we are about to gaze upon a certain vision . . . transcending all terrestrial beauties of gold., of silver, of groves and plains, of the sea and of the air, the beauty of the sun and moon and stars, the beauty of the angels, surpassing all things, because all things are beautiful on account of this vision itself. What therefore shall we be when we see this? What has been promised to us? Like Him shall we be, because we shall see Him as He is. The tongue has spoken in what manner it could; let the rest be pondered in the heart."
3. "Every one that hath this hope on Him." The practical lesson of the Divine vision and its antecedent condition of likeness to Him is the motive to perseverance in holy living. Sin weaves a film over the spiritual eye. Sanctification removes that film, and persistence in that faith which retains the indwelling Sanctifier keeps it from returning to darken the soul. Thus faith requires constant personal effort directed to this definite point, "purifieth himself." This can be done by the believer only indirectly, since purification is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is ours constantly to fulfil the conditions on which He sanctifies entirely and abides permanently. Says Augustine, "Who but God purifies us? But God does not purify thee against thy will. Therefore, so far as you adjust your will to God you purify yourself. . . . Because in that matter you do something by your own voluntary act, on this account this something is ascribed to yourself." The practice of ceremonial purification which was required before appearing in God's presence in the temple (John xi. 55) explains this form of expression. See Heb. x. 19-22. "He of whom it is said that he purifies himself not only keeps himself actually 'pure,' but disciplines and trains himself that he may move more surely among the defilements of the world." (I Tim. v. 22; 1 Pet. iii. 2.) (Bishop Westcott.)
"Even as that one (Christ) is pure." The pronoun "that one" in this Epistle refers to Jesus as a man, and the Greek word for "pure" applies only to a virtue attained by human discipline. It is chosen here to emphasize the reference to the Lord's life on the earth. In iv. 17, "as he is so are we in this world," the likeness of Christians to Christ is to His character as it is at present and eternally, and not only to its historical manifestation.
No comments:
Post a Comment