Many antichrists are A. M. cir. 4073. I. JOHN. lust thereof: but he that doeth gone out into the world. 19 'They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would 18 Little children, it is the no doubt have continued with ever. A. M. cir. 4973. A. D. cir. 69. Othone, Vitel, et Vespasiano. last time and as ye have heard that anti-us: but they went out, that they might be christ shall come, d even now are there many made manifest that they were not all of us. antichrists; whereby we know that it is the 20 But ye have an unction from the Holy last time. One, and ye know all things. a John xxi. 5.-b Hebr. i. 2.- c2 Thess. ii. 3, &c. 2 Pet. ii. 1. Ch. iv. 3.- d Matt. xxiv. 5, 24. 2 John 7. e 1 Tim. iv. 1. 2 Tim. iii. 1.- f Deut. xiii. 13. Ps. xli. 9. Acts xx. 30.- -8 Matt. xxiv. 24. John vi. 37. x. 28, 29. Pride of life] Hunting after honours, titles, and pedigrees; boasting of ancestry, family connexions, great offices, honourable acquaintance, and the like. Is not of the Father] Nothing of these inordinate attachments either comes from or leads to God. They are of this world; here they begin, flourish, and end. They deprave the mind, divert it from divine pursuits, and render it utterly incapable of spiritual enjoyments. Verse 17. The world passeth away] All these things are continually fading and perishing; and the very state in which they are possessed is changing perpetually; and the earth and its works will be shortly burnt up. And the lust thereof] The men of this world, their vain pursuits, and delusive pleasures, are passing away in their successive generations, and their very memory perishes; but he that doeth the will of God-that seeks the pleasure, profit, and honour that come from above, shall abide for ever, always happy through time and eternity, because God, the unchangeable source of felicity, is his portion. k h1 Cor. xi. 19.-2 Cor. i. 21. Hebr. 2 Tim. ii. 19.1. 9. Ver. 27.-k Mark i. 24. Acts iii. 14. John x. 4, 5. xiv. 26. xvi. 13. Ver. 27. before us was written while Jerusalem yet stood. See what is said in the preface on this head. Antichrist shall come] Who is this Avrixpire, Antichrist? Is he the emperor Domitian, the Grottics, Nicolaitans, Nazareans, Cerinthians, Romisi Pontiffs, &c., &c.? Ans. Any person, thing, doctras system of religion, polity, &c., which is opposed t Christ, and to the spirit and spread of his gospel, is Antichrist. We need not look for this imaginary being in any of the above exclusively. Even Pr testantism may have its antichrist as well as Popery Every man who opposes the spirit of the gospel, a every teacher and writer who endeavours to lowe the gospel standard to the spirit and taste of t world, is a genuine antichrist, no matter where a among whom he is found. The heresies which sprang up in the days of St. John were the antichrist of that time. As there has been a succession of oppositis to Christianity in its spirit and spread through ever age since its promulgation in the world, so there has been a succession of antichrists. We may bring t matter much lower; every enemy of Christ, every one who opposes his reign in the world, in others, or i himself, is an antichrist; and consequently e wicked man is an antichrist. But the name has been generally applied to whatever person or thing apsi Verse 18. Little children, it is the last time] This place is variously understood. This is the last dispensation of grace and mercy to mankind; the present age is the conclusion of the Jewish state, asmatically opposes Christ and his religion. the temple and holy city are shortly to be destroyed. But as there are many who suppose that this epistle was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, consequently the words cannot, on that supposition, refer to this. Others think that oxarn pa should be translated, a most difficult, perilous, and wretched time; a time in which all kinds of vices, heresies, and pollutions shall have their full reign; that time which our Lord predicted, Matt. vii. 15, when he said, Beware of false prophets. And xxiv. 11, 12: Many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And verse 24: There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders.. And verse 25: Behold, I have told you before. Now the apostle may allude to these predictions of our Lord; but all these refer to a time antecedent to the destruction of Jerusalem. I am Many antichrists] Many false prophets, false Me! siahs, heretics, and corrupters of the truth. Whereby we know that it is the last time.] That tar which our Lord has predicted, and of which he i warned us. therefore inclined to think, whatever may be here the precise meaning of the last time, that the epistle Verse 19. They went out from us] These heretics had belonged to our Christian assemblies, they p fessed Christianity, and do so still; but we aposti did not commission them to preach to you, for they have disgraced the divine doctrine with the most po nicious opinions; they have given up or explained away its most essential principles; they have mingled the rest with heathenish rites and Jewish gloss While, therefore, we acknowledge that they once be longed to us, we assert that they are not of us. They are not Christians; we abhor their conduct and their creed. We never sent them to teach. They were not of us] For a considerable time before they left our assemblies they gave proofs tha they had departed from the faith; for if they h n of us-if they had been apostles, and continued the firm belief of the Christian doctrines, they uld not have departed from us to form a sect of mselves. the Father and the Son. Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. b Whosoever denieth the A. M. cir. 4073. A. D. cir. 69. Impp. Galba, Othone, Vitel. et Vespasiano. 23 Son, the same hath not the Father: but he © John xiv. 7, 9, 10. Ch. iv. 15. с doubt its accuracy. The adjective navra, which we translate all things, is most probably the accusative case singular, having av@pwrov, man, or some such substantive, understood. The verse therefore should That they were not all of us.] They were not ex-be translated: Ye have an ointment from the Holy One, led from the Christian church; they were not t out by us; but they separated from it and us. ne of them had been inspired as we apostles were, ugh they pretended to a very high teaching; but ir separating from us manifested that they were taught, as we were, by the Spirit of God. These e teachers probably drew many sincere souls y with them; and to this it is probable the stle alludes when he says, they were not ALL of Some were; others were not. 'erse 20. But ye have an unction] The word pa signifies, not an unction, but an ointment, the y thing itself by which anointing is effected; and t was properly rendered in our former translations. bably this is an allusion to the holy anointing oil he law, and to Ps. xlv. 7: God hath anointed thee the oil of gladness-he hath given thee the itude of the Spirit, which none of thy fellows e of the prophets, ever received in such abunce. By this it is evident that not only the gifts of Spirit, but the Holy Spirit himself, is intended. s Spirit dwelt at that time in a peculiar manner in church, to teach apostles, teachers, and all the nitive believers, every thing requisite for their ation; and to make them the instruments of ding down to posterity that glorious system of th which is contained in the New Testament. As was used among the Asiatics for the inauguration persons into important offices, and this oil was nowledged to be an emblem of the gifts and ces of the Holy Spirit, without which the duties those offices could not be discharged; so it is put e for the Spirit himself, who presided in the church, d from which all gifts and graces flowed. The opa, chrism or ointment here mentioned is also allusion to the holy anointing ointment prescribed God himself, Exod. xxx. 23-25, which was comused of fine myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, ssia lignea, and olive oil. This was an emblem of e gifts and graces of the divine Spirit. See the tes on the above place. And for the reason of this mointing see the note on Exod. xxix. 7. Ye know all things.] Every truth of God necessary your salvation and the salvation of man in general, nd have no need of that knowledge of which the nostics boast. But although the above is the sense in which this rse is generally understood, yet there is reason to and ye know or discern EVERY MAN. This interpretation appears to be confirmed by Twv πλavwvτwv in ver. 26, those who are deceiving or misleading you; and in the same sense should яаvтwv, ver. 27, be understood: But as the same anointing teacheth you Tavτwv, not of all things, but of ALL Men. It is plain, from the whole tenour of the epistle, that St. John is guarding the Christians against seducers and deceivers, who were even then disturbing and striving to corrupt the church. In consequence of this he desires them to try the spirits whether they were of God, chap. iv. 1. But how were they to try them? Principally by that anointing—that spiritual light and discernment, which they had received from God; and also by comparing the doctrine of these men with what they had heard from the beginning. The anointing here mentioned seems to mean the spirit of illumination, or great knowledge and discernment in spiritual things. By this they could readily distinguish the false apostles from the true. Verse 21. I have not written, &c.] It is not because ye are ignorant of these things that I write to you, but because you know them, and can by these judge of the doctrines of those false teachers, and clearly perceive that they are liars; for they contradict the truth which ye have already received, and consequently their doctrine is a lie, and no lie can be of the truth, i. e. consistent with Christianity. Verse 22. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?] Here we see some of the false doctrines which were then propagated in the world. There were certain persons who, while they acknowledged Jesus to be a divine teacher, denied him to be the Christ, i. e. the MESSIAH. He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.] He is antichrist who denies the supernatural and miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, who denies Jesus to be the Son of God, and who denies God to be the Father of the Lord Jesus; thus he denies the Father and the Son. The Jews in general, and the Gnostics in particular, denied the miraculous conception of Jesus; with both he was accounted no more than a common man, the son of Joseph and Mary. But the Gnostics held that a divine person, Æon, or angelical being, dwelt in him; but all things else relative to his miraculous generation and divinity they rejected. These were antichrists, who denied Jesus to be the Christ. с in the doctrine of Christ. A. M. cir. 4073, A. D. cir. 69. Impp. Galba, Othone, Vitel. et Vespasiano. of him abideth in you, and 'ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in 1 him. 28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have i 25 And this is the promise that he hath confidence, and not be ashamed before him promised us, even eternal life. at his coming. 26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 29 If ye know that he is righteous," ye know that "every one that doeth righteousness 27 But the anointing which ye have received is born of him. 22 John 6.- b John xiv. 23. Ch. i. 3.- c John xvii. 3. Ch. i. 2. v. 11. d Ch. iii. 7. 2 John 7.- e Ver. 20. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. Hebr. viii. 10, 11.- -- John xiv. 26. Verse 23. Whosoever denieth the Son] He who denies Jesus to be the Son of God, and consequently the Christ or Messiah, he hath not the Father-he can have no birth from above, he cannot be enrolled among the children of God, because none can be a child of God but by faith in Christ Jesus. He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.] This clause is printed by our translators in italics to show it to be of doubtful authority, as it was probably wanting in the chief of those MSS. which they consulted, as it was in Coverdale's Bible, printed 1535; Tindall's Text, printed 1548; and in all the early printed editions (which I have seen) previously to 1566; the Bible of Richard Cardmarden, printed in English at Rouen, where this clause is inserted in a different letter between brackets. But that the clause is genuine, and should be restored to the text without any mark of spuriousness, as I have done in the text of this work, is evident from the authorities by which it is supported. It is found in ABC, and in between twenty and thirty others of the best authority; as also in both the Syriac, Erpen's Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, and Vulgate. It is also quoted as a part of the text by Origen, Meletius, Athanasius, both the Cyrils, Theophylact, Vigilius of Tapsum, Pelagius, Cerealis, Cassian; and in substance by Euthalius, Epiphanius, Cyprian, Hilary, Faustinus, Lucifer of Cagliari, Augustine, and Bede. It is wanting in the Arabic, in the Polyglot, in a MS. in the Harleian library, and in some few others. It is doubtless genuine, and Griesbach has with propriety restored it to the text, from which it never should have been separated. Verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you] Continue in the doctrines concerning the incarnation, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of the Lord Jesus, which you have heard preached from the beginning by us his apostles. Ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.] Ye who are preachers shall not only be acknowledged as ministers of the church of Christ, but be genuine children of God, by faith in the Son xvi. 13. Ver. 20.- h Or, it.—i Ch. iii. 2.— Ch. iv. 17. Acts xxii. 14.- —— Or, know ye. Ch. iii,7, 10, of his love; and ye all, thus continuing, shall have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. Verse 25. This is the promise] God has promise! eternal life to all who believe on Christ Jesus. Se they who receive his doctrine, and continue in com munion with the Father and the Son, shall have this eternal life. Verse 26. These things have I written] Either meaning the whole epistle, or what is contained in the preceding verses, from the beginning of the 18. to the end of the 25th. That is, the deceivers that were among them, Them that seduce you.] Περι των πλανώντων ύμε who were labouring to pervert the followers of Chi Verse 27. But the anointing which ye have rectitel That ointment, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, mentioned ver. 20, where see the note. Ye need not that any man teach you] The Gnosti, who pretended to the highest illumination, call bring no proof that they were divinely taught, a had they any thing in their teaching worthy te acceptance of the meanest Christian; therefore they had no need of that, nor of any other teaching but that which the same anointing teacheth, the same Spirit from whom they had already received the E of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ Whatever that taught, they needed; and whatev those taught whose teaching was according to this Spirit, they needed. St. John does not say that these who had once received the teaching of the divine Spirit had no farther need of the ministry of the gospel; no, but he says they had no need of suc teaching as their false teachers proposed to the. nor of any other teaching that was different from th anointing, i. e. the teaching of the Spirit of God. No man, howsoever holy, wise, or pure, can ever be in such a state as to have no need of the gospel ministry; they who think so give the highest proof that they have never yet learned of Christ or his Spirit. And is truth] Because it is the Spirit of truth, John xvi. 13. Of the titles CHAP. II. given to Christians. And is no lie] It has nothing like the fables of the | priesthood—an holy nation—a peculiar people, 1 Pet. ii. Gnostics. It can neither deceive, nor be deceived. 9; the following observations may be of use. Verse 28. And now, little children] Teкvia, Beloved children, abide in him-in Christ Jesus. Let his word and Spirit continually abide in you, and have communion with the Father and the Son. That, when he shall appear] To judge the world, we may have confidence, apóηoiav, freedom of speech, liberty of access, boldness, from a conviction that our cause is good, and that we have had proper ground for exultation; and not be ashamed-confounded, when it appears that those who were brought to Christ Jesus have apostatized, and are no longer found in the congregation of the saints, and consequently are not our crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. Abide in him, that this may not be the case. Verse 29. If ye know that he is righteous] That God is a holy God, ye know also, that every one who doeth righteousness—who lives a holy life, following the commandments of God, is born of him, BEGOTTEN of him-is made a partaker of the divine nature, without which he could neither have a holy heart, nor live a holy life. This verse properly belongs to the following chapter, and should not be separated from it. The subject is the same, and does not stand in any strict relation to that with which the 28th verse concludes. The titles bestowed on Christians in the New Testament have been misunderstood by many. What elongs, strictly speaking, to the PURE and HOLY, is ften applied to those who, though bound by their PRO'ESSION to be such, were very far from it. This has been strongly denied by writers who should have known better. Dr. Taylor has handled this point well in his Key to the Apostolic Writings, from which have given a copious extract in my preface to the Epistle to the Romans, from the conviction that the ubject had been most dangerously misapprehended; ind that several of the worst heresies which disgrace eligion had sprung from this misapprehension. With some, Dr. Taylor's being an Arian was sufficient o invalidate any testimony he might offer; but it s no discovery of Dr. Taylor; it is what every attenive, unprejudiced reader finds on reading the Old l'estament in connexion with the New. Perhaps the estimony of a judicious Calvinist may be better eceived, not that this truth needs the testimony of ither, because it every where speaks for itself, but because those who have too little grace, sense, and candour to search for themselves, may be pleased hat Dr. Macknight saves them the trouble. After having remarked that the words born of him, { avrov yeyevvntai, should be translated hath been EGOTTEN of him, which is the literal signification of he word, from yɛvvaw, genero, gigno, I beget (BORN f God being no where found in the scripture), he Joes on to say: "To understand the import of the high titles which in the New Testament are given to the disciples of Christ, viz.: the begotten of God, as here; children of God, as in the next chapter; heirs of God, Rom. viii. 17; elect of God-adopted of God-saints-a royal "1. These high titles were anciently given to the Israelites as a nation, because they were separated from mankind to be God's visible church, for the purpose of preserving the knowledge and worship of him in the world, as the only true God. "This appears from God's own words, Exod. xix. 3, &c.: Tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. Deut. xiv. 1, &c.: Ye are the children of the Lord your God-for thou art an holy people to the Lord thy God. In particular, the title of God's son, even his first-born, was given to the whole Israelitish nation by God himself, Exod. iv. 22, chiefly because they were the descendants of Isaac, who was supernaturally begotten by Abraham, through the power which accompanied the promise, Gen. xviii. 10: Lo, Sarah shall have a son. So St. Paul informs us, Rom. ix. 7: Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children (namely of God); but in Isaac shall a seed be to thee-the chil dren of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of promise are counted for the seed. The apostle's meaning is, that Ishmael and his posterity, whom Abraham procreated by his own natural strength, being children of the flesh, were not children of God; that is, they were not made the visible church and people of God. But Isaac and his descendants, whom Abraham procreated through the strength which accompanied the promise, being more properly procreated by GoD than by Abraham, were the children of God, i. e. were made the visible church and people of God, because by their supernatural generation and title to inherit Canaan, they were a fit image to represent the catholic invisible church of God, consisting of believers of all ages and nations, who, being regenerated by the Spirit of God, are the true children of God, and heirs of the heavenly country of which Canaan was a type. "2. As the promise, Lo, Sarah shall have a son, which was given to Abraham when he was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety, implied that that son was to be supernaturally procreated; so the promise given to Abraham, Gen. xvii. 5, A father of many nations have I constituted thee, implied that the many nations of believers who, by this promise, were given to Abraham for a seed, were to be generated by the operation of the Spirit of God, producing in them faith and obedience, similar to those for which Abraham was constituted the father of all believers. This higher generation, by which believers have the moral image of God communicated to them, is well described, John i. 12: As many as received him, to them gave he power to be called the sons of God, even to them who believe on his name; oi eyevvn@noav, who were BEGOTTEN, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That is Men become the true sons of God, not by their being naturally descended God's great love I. JOHN. to mankind. from this or that father, nor by their being called the | individuals likewise, on account of their faith and sons of God by men like themselves, but by God's holiness. When given to whole churches, these titles bestowing on them that high appellation on account imported nothing more than that the society to which of their faith and holiness" (which were produced in they were given was a church of Christ (i. e. prothem by their regeneration through the Spirit of God). fessed Christianity), and that the individuals of which "3. If the Israelites, of whom the ancient visible that society was composed were entitled to all the church and people of God were composed, were all privileges belonging to the visible church of God. But called the sons of God because Isaac, from whom when appropriated to individuals, these titles imthey were descended, was supernaturally begotten plied that the persons to whom they were given by the power of God; certainly the believers of all were really partakers of the nature of God; and that ages and nations, of whom the visible church is com- they were the objects of his paternal love, and heirs posed, may with much greater propriety be called of his glory. the sons of God, since they are begotten of God, and possess his moral nature. "4. Thus it appears that the high titles above mentioned, namely, the sons of God, the children of God, the elect of God, the adoption of sons, the election, saints, holy nation, royal priesthood, peculiar people, were anciently given to the Israelites AS A NATION, merely on account of their being the visible church and people of God, without any regard to the personal character of the individuals of whom that nation was composed. It appears, also, that under the gospel the same high titles were bestowed on whole churches, merely on account of their profession of Christianity, without any regard to the personal character of the individuals who composed these churches. But these high titles, with some others of greater importance, such as the begotten of God, the heirs of God, the adoption, were given in an appropriated sense to "Wherefore, in reading the scriptures, by attending to the different foundations of these titles, and by considering whether they are applied to churches or individuals, we shall easily understand their true import. Thus, when St. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says, 1 Thess. i. 4, Knowing, brethren, belwed of God, your election, he could not mean their election to eternal life, since many of them were living dis orderly, 2 Thess. iii. 11, but their election to be the visible church of God under the gospel; whereas when John, in the verse before us, says, Every who doeth righteousness hath been begotten of God, by restricting the title to a specific character he teaches us that the persons of whom he speaks an the sons of God in the highest sense, and heirs eternal glory." How forcible are right words! Set also the introduction to the Epistle to the Romans. CHAPTER III. The extraordinary love of God towards mankind, and the effects of it, 1-3. Sin is the transgression of the law, and Christ was manifested to take away our sins, 4-6. The children of God are known by the holiness of their lives, the children of the devil by the sinfulness of theirs, 7-10. We should love one another, for he that hateth his brother is a murderer; as Christ laid down his life for us, so we should lay down our lives for the brethren, 11-16. Charity is a fruit of brotherly love; our love should be active, not professional merely, 17, 18. How we may know that we are of the truth, 19–21. They whose ways please God, have an answer to all their prayers, 22. The necessity of keeping the commandment of Christ, that he may dwell in us and we in him by his Spirit, 23, 24. AD. 4633 BEHOLD, what manner of God! therefore the world know cir. 69. Impp. Galba, Othone, Vitel. et Vespasiano. a John i. 12. love the Father hath be-eth us not, b because it knew b John xv. 18, 19. xvi. 3. xvii. 25. NOTES ON CHAP. III. Verse 1. Behold, what manner of love] Whole volumes might be written upon this and the two following verses, without exhausting the extraordinary subject contained in them, viz., the love of God to man. The apostle himself, though evidently filled C now are we the A. M. cir. 46% c Isai, lvi. 5. Rom. viii. 15. Gal. iii. 26. iv, 6. Ch. v. 1. with God, and walking in the fulness of his light does not attempt to describe it; he calls on the world and the church to behold it, to look upon it, to cmtemplate it, and wonder at it. What manner of love.—Пorañŋv aya#ny' What grest love, both as to quantity and quality; for these ideas are included in the original term. The length, the |