him, both before his resurrection and after it; so that from hence we may remark, that God has given us the highest and fullest assurances that can be desired, of his Son's manifestation in our flesh, and appearing in our nature; he was heard and seen, looked upon and handled by those that conversed with him, which are evident demonstrations of the truth of the human nature as sumed by him. Observe farther, That our apostle takes notice of Christ's divine nature, as well as asserts the reality of his human nature he styles him the Word, the word of life, and the word which was from the beginning in the beginning when all things received their being, then the Word was, and did actually subsist, even from all eternity: Learn hence, That Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, not only antecedent to his incarnation, but even before all time, and the beginning of all things, had an actual being and subsistence. Prov. viii. 23. I was set up from everlasting, then was I by him as one brought up with him: thus was this Jesus, in whom we trust, both God and man, having two distinct natures in one person. : 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us ;) As if the apostle had said, Christ Jesus, that eternal life which was with the Father from eternity, as being his eternal Son, was in the fulness of time manifested in the flesh, and we his apostles saw him in his assumed human nature, and do now testify, publish, and declare him unto you; he was pleased to subject himself to the notice of our senses; and what we have heard, seen, and felt, and has been manifested unto us, that we do with all integrity declare and manifest unto others." Note here, 1. The title given to Christ, he is life, eternal life, he is so in himself, and he is the fountain of life to us; we now live by him a life of justification, we derive from him a life of holiness and sanctification, and we hope to live with him a life of glorification. Note, 2. This eternal life was from all eternity with the Father, and distinct from him; he was with the Father, not as an instrument but as an agent, in making of the world, Heb. i. 2, 3. and as his Father's delight, Prov. viii. 31. Note, 3. This eternal life which from the beginning was with the Father, in the fulness of time was manifested to the sons of men; manifested, not as he was to the prophets, by faith, so they rejoiced to see him, John viii. nor in the similitude and likeness of flesh, so he sometimes manifested himself to the patriarchs, Gen. xviii. but manifested in the flesh to his apostles, who eat and drank, discoursed and conversed, with him. Note, 3. That what the apostles saw of Christ they made manifest to others; they had themselves sufficient satisfaction of the verity of Christ's human nature, and of the certainty of his doctrine, and therefore with mighty assurance they declare it unto others, and the reason of that declaration follows in the next verse. 3 That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. As if he had said, "We declare that unto you of Christ which we ourselves have seen and heard, and what we had by sight and hearing you are to receive from our testimony; and our design and end herein is sincerely this, that you may have fellowship and be of one communion with us, and not of false teachers, and by virtue of your communion with us may partake of the same faith and grace, and all spiritual benefits and privileges, which Christ has purchased for us; and you will have no cause to repent of your coming into our communion and fellowship; for verily we, and all that have sincerely embraced the doctrine of the gospel with us, have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, and with each other." Learn hence, That believers have communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and one with another. Quest. What doth this communion include? Answ. 1. Real union; believers are united to God and Christ morally, conjugally, mystically. 2. Reciprocal community; a community of enjoy. ments, the Lord is theirs, and they are his; a community of affection, there is mutual love, mutual delight, mutual desires, and mutual hatred; a community of interests, they have the same designs and ends, the same enemies and friends; a community of privileges, the Lord visits them, and they visit him; the Lord walks with them, and they with him; the Lord observes them, and they observe him; they impart the seerets of their hearts to him, and he imparts the secrets of his word and of his providence to them, Gen. xviii. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do? Quest. 2. What are the benefits and advantages of this communion? Answ. It affords the highest honour, the sweetest pleasure, and the chiefest happiness; it is heaven on this side heaven; our happiness and theirs differs only in degree, not essen. tially, but gradually. Blessed privilege! 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. Observe here, The great end for which the apostles penned and wrote the doctrine of the gospel, namely, that their joy may be full who do believe it and obey it. The joy which good men experience in the word of God is a solid joy, a substantial joy, a full joy, a lasting joy. Worldly joy is nauseating, but not satisfying; glutting, but not filling. But that joy that is found in the holy scriptures, in the word and promise of God, is better experienced than expressed. Christianity doth not extirpate our joy, but regulate and refine it; it shows us the proper object of our joy, what to rejoice in, and the manner how, that we may not sin in rejoicing. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in bim is no darkness at all. That is, "This is the sum and substance of the gospel of Christ's doctrine, and our message, to teach us to know what God is, namely, light, that is, a being of infinite knowledge, wisdom, and purity; and that there is no darkness in him, no darkness of error, no darkness of ignorance, no darkness of falsehood, impurity, and sin, found with him, or can be pleasing to him. Note here, 1. The gospel is a message, a special and gracious message, sent by God to a lost world. The ministers of the gospel are messengers sent of God to make known this message; and if so, then they must receive their mission from God, then their message depends not upon their own but God's authority; then their people are to receive it, not as the message and word of man, but, as it is indeed, the word of God. This is the message that we have heard, and declare unto you. Observe, 2. The metaphor which St. John makes choice of, to set forth the nature of God by. He describes him, 1. Affirmatively, God is Light, his nature and attributes are (though darkly and imperfectly) resembled by it: the light, as it was the first of all creatures, shadows forth the eternity of God's being, who is the first and the last; light, of all bodies, as the most immaterial and uncompounded, denoting the spirituality and simplicity of God's nature. Is the light diffusive, and cannot but impart itself for the benefit of others? so is God communicative of his goodness to all persons, shining upon the just and upon the unjust. But according to the apostle's intendment here, light is of a pure and undefiled nature, it is a bright and spotless splendour; though it shines upon a dunghill, it contracts no pollutions : this represents the perfect purity and unspotted holiness of God. 2. Negatively, In him is no darkness at all; that is, God is so pure, that not the least impurity can cleave unto him; so holy, that no sin can be found in him, and, consequently, no darkness of sin or impurity can proceed from him. Learn we then, always to entertain high and holy thoughts of God, and to conceive of him as a being that hates sin, and all the works and workers of darkness, Psal. v. 4. Thou art not a God, that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee; sinners shall not stand in thy sight; thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another : : Observe here, 1. What great plainness of speech St. John uses with and towards such persons as call themselves christians, and pretend to fellowship with God, but yet hold communion with sin he says, they lie. O how well does fervour, vehe. mency, and impartiality, become the ministers of Christ in reproving sin! Health is found in those smart wounds which ministerial reproof makes. Observe, 2. St. John speaks in the first, not in the second, person plural; if we say, not if you; if we apostles and ministers, as well as if you disciples and members of Christ, be guilty of this hypocrisy, we lie, and do not the truth; he does not say, and speak not the truth; but do it not: there is a two 756 fold lie, the lie of the lip, and the lie of the life, and the latter is the louder of the two; they lie, because they do not truth. The sum is, that a profession of piety and religion, accompanied with sin and unsuitable walking, is odious hypocrisy, abhorred by God and man. Observe, 3. The practice of the sincere and serious christian, he walks in the light; that is, in the clear know ledge of the gospel, and in the exemplary and exact performance of his duty. Walking implies motion, it is a voluntary motion, an uniform and even motion, a progressive motion, a constant motion. To talk of religion is easy, but to walk wisely before God and man in the practice of our whole duty, requires diligence and circumspection. Observe, 4. The pattern after which the christian walks, and that is God: he walks in the light, as he is in the light: God is in the light, that is, all his actions are exactly pure and holy, and our walking must, for the quality of it, be holy, though for equality it cannot be so holy as God is holy. Ob. serve, 5. A double privilege secured to such as walk in communion with God: we have fellowship one with another; justification by Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Note, 1. Such as walk in the light have a certain fellowship and communion with God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, and they with him, and likewise an intimate fellowship and communion one with another. Oh! how great is our dignity! how gracious Christ's indignation! how high are we exalted! how low is he abased! The second privilege follows! -And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Note here, 1. The pollution and uncleanness of sin implied and supposed in the word cleansing; sin is the great pollution and defilement of the soul, an universal pollution, an abiding pollution, a mortal pollution, and yet an insensible pollution. Note, 2. The remedy which the wisdom of God has provided against this malady, the soul's pollution by sin; and that is the blood of his Son; this cleanseth meritoriously, called therefore the blood of God, as being the blood of him that is truly and really God. Note, 3. The extent of the efficacy and virtue of this blood. 1. In regard of the universality of the disease, it cleanseth from all sin. 2. In regard to the permanency of the remedy, which is expressed in the present tense, it cleanseth: implying that this blood doth never lose its efficacy; it cleanseth still no less than it did the first moment it was shed: nay, it cleansed virtually before it was shed; all the patriarchs and prophets were justified and saved by faith in his blood, who was the lamb slain from the beginning of the world, in the decree and purpose of God. Eternal thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose blood cleanseth from the guilt and filth of all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say; we apostles, we cannot say we are free from sin; much less can the proud Gnostics say so, who suppose and assert themselves to be in a state of perfection. And observe, he doth not say, If we say we had no sin, we deceive ourselves; but, that if now we say we have none: intimating, that christians, as well after as before conversion, continue sinful persons; a perfect freedom from all sin being altogether unattainable in this life,not only by ordinary christians, but by the most eminent saints. The church of Rome will have it that this is, magis humiliter quam veraciter dictum, rather spoken humbly than truly; but the apostle doth not say humility is not in us; but the truth is not in us: he saith not, we extol ourselves, and there is no lowliness in us; but, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us; no truth of knowledge in our understandings, no real holiness in our hearts. Who can say, he has made his heart clean ? We can neither ascribe what purity we have to ourselves, nor yet attribute perfection to our purity; and if so, how should we long for the day of redemption, when no sin shall affect us, no sorrow afflict us; when we shall be clothed with unspotted purity, perfect felicity, and that to all eternity. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Behold here, 1. A double blessing promised and insured, namely, justification and sanctification, forgiveness of sin, and cleansing from it, yea, from all iniquity; when God pardons sin, no sin is left unpardoned; the sea can as casily drown a thousand men as a single man; God's act of pardoning grace is free and full. Observe, 2. The certainty of the mercy promised, God is faithful and just to forgive; not merciful and gracious, though so he is in himself, but faithful with respect to his promises to us, and just with respect to the satisfaction given by Christ for us. Almighty God in pardoning sin performs an act of strict justice with respect to Christ, as well as an act of grace and mercy in regard of us; he is faithful and just, as well as gracious and merciful. Observe, 3. The indispensable duty required on our part, and that is confession of sin, If we confess. Now confession of sin is a penitent sinner's voluntary accusing himself to God, and condemning himself before God, with hatred of, shame and sorrow for, and a full resolution against, his sin, together with an earnest desire of, and some good hope in, divine mercy. Observe, 4. What relation confession stands in to remission, not as a meritorious cause: satisfaction, not confession, merits pardon; but it is an exclusive condition, there is no remission without confession; God will not pardon without it and it is an inclusive condition; God will, certainly will, forgive them that confess there is not only a possibility or probability, but an infallible certainty, of obtaining remission upon confession. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Note here, The impiety and blasphemy of those who affirm themselves to be in a state of sinless perfection; they do not only lie themselves, but interpretatively, and as much as in them is, they make God a liar, by contradicting what he has asserted in his word, that all are sinners: so that upon the whole it appears, that to affirm we have no sin, is the highest pride, the greatest deceit, the loudest lie, the profanest blasphemy; it is to make the God of truth a liar, and to turn the truth of God into a lie, which evidences that his word is not in us. CHAP. II. MY little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Observe here, The compellation. First, My little children. The apostle calls the christians to whom he wrote, Children, little children; his little children. He calls them Children, because converted to christianity; little children, because young and tender christians, of a low stature in religion, and far short of manly perfections; and his little children, to denote that spiritual relation which was between him and them, and that endeared affection which he bare towards them. St. John, by a loving compellation, makes way for a faithful admonition, which follows in the next words: These things I write, that ye sin not. This must be understood in a qualified sense, thus: 1. Sin not, that is, as the wicked sin; take heed of scandalous enormities, though you cannot shake off daily infirmities. 2. Sin not, as in the same kind that others sin, so neither in the same manner that you yourselves before sinned; sin not with that fulness of deliberation, with that freedom of consent, sin not with that strength of resolution, with that frequency of action, with which you sinned before you were called to christianity. 3. Sin not: that is, as far as human nature will admit, abstain from all sin; let it be your care, prayer, study, endeavour, to keep yourselves from every evil thing. Thus Zachary and Elisabeth were blameless, Luke, i. 6, that is, they lived in no sin known to the world, or known to themselves; so it is said of Job, ch. i. ult. he sinned not, that is, had no sin prevailing in him; no sin indulged by him. Observe, 3. As the cautionary direction, sin not: so the comfortable conclusion, but if any man sin, that is, through infirmity and weakness, through the policy of the templer, or by the surprise of a temptation, we have an advocate, a mediator, and an intercessor in heaven, who is absolutely sinless, even Jesus Christ the righteous. It is a metaphor taken from courts of judicature, where are the guilty person, the accuser, the judge, and the advocate: thus here heaven is the court, man is the guilty per son, Satan the accuser, God the judge, Christ the advocate. The proper office of an advocate is, not to deny the fact, or disown the guilt, but to offer something to the judge, whereby the law may be satisfied, and upon which the judge may, without any unrighteousness, discharge the accused. Observe, 4. An invaluable privilege here discovered, that Christ our advocate became a propitiation for us, and for the whole race of mankind, for all that lived before us, or shall live after us, for Jews and Gentiles: there is a virtual sufficiency in the death of Christ for all persons, and an actual efficacy as to all believers. Learn hence, That our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering death upon the cross for our redemption, did by that one oblation of himself once offered, make a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world. The original word propitiation, signifies a propitiatory covering, an allusion to the mercy-seat that covered the ark, in which the law was. In allusion to which, Christ is here called our propitiatory covering, because he hides our sins, the transgressions of the law, from his Father's sight. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him. Observe here, 1. That a christian may be assured of his salvation: to know that we know, is to be assured that we know; not only to have the vital, but the fiducial, act of faith. Some christians can say, "We know that we know him." Observe, 2. The nature of true christian knowledge discovered; it as an obedient knowledge: it is not sufficient to profess that we know Christ, except we yield sincere obedience to him; for this is a certain mark and proof that we know Christ effectually, if we love him and keep his commandments. The true knowledge of God consists in keeping of the word of God, the whole word of God, and because it is his. Observe, 3. That to say we know God, when we do not keep his commandments, and to say we keep his commandments, when we do not know him, is a lie. Sad will their condition be who perish for want of the knowledge of God, but much sadder theirs, who perish in the neglect or abuse of that knowledge. Observe, 4. That a conscientious care and constant endeavour to observe the word, and keep the law of God is a certain mark and evidence that he that doth it has the love of God perfected in him and towards him: whosoever keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. 6 He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Observe here, 1. An high and honourable privilege supposed to be claimed, and that is union with Christ, and abiding in him: He that saith he abideth in him. The abiding in Christ is a great privilege, and the true and real christian doth truly and really abide in Christ. Observe, 2. A great and important duty belonging to all those that do abide in Christ, and that is to walk as Christ walked; to set his example daily before them, and to be continu ally correcting and reforming of their lives by that glorious pattern. Every christian is bound to an imitation of Christ, under penalty of forfeiting his claim to Christ; for no claim to Christ is or can be valid without a careful imitation of him. The temper of our minds and the actions of our lives, must be a lively transcript of the mind and life of the holy and innocent Jesus ; we must be like him, or we can never love him, nor hope another day to live with him. 7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you; which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. Our apostle here exhorts christians to the great duty of brotherly love, assuring them, that it was no new commandment which he enjoined them, but that which they were taught, not only in and by the Old Testament, but at the first preaching of the gospel amongst them; and in these respects the command of love might be called, an old commandment, it being a branch of the law of nature, and a known precept of the Jewish religion; although in other respects it might be called a new commandment, be cause urged from a new motive, and en |