1 John 1

Notes

Ver. 1-3. It is not upon slender and doubtful grounds, but on the most full assurance from hearing, seeing, and handling him, both before his death and after his resurrection, and upon the most remarkable spiritual experience of his power, glory, and grace, as well as by the infallible inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that we have preached unto you Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who has all life originally in himself, and has, when manifested in our nature, secured life for us, and for ever bestows it upon us, in order that ye might have partnership and communion with us, as one spiritual and holy body, in all the gracious promises, ordinances, influences, blessings, and privileges which belong to the gospel state, in which we have communion with the Father in all the blessings of his love, communicated to us through faith in Christ, his eternal and dear Son, in all his righteousness and all the blessings of his sacrifice, and so also with the Holy Ghost in all his graces and comforts, as the earnest of our eternal and immediate fellowship with God in heaven. 4. And these great things I write unto you that ye may have a fulness of solid satisfaction and joy in this delightful and holy fellowship with God. 5. Now, as the knowledge of what God is, and who shall inherit this grand promise of eternal life, is necessary to your having comfortable fellowship with him, know that Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit have taught us, that we might publish it unto you, that God is an absolutely perfect Spirit, infinite in wisdom, purity, blessedness, and glory, without the least mixture of anything defective or sinful. 6. It is therefore plain that all pretences to hold comfortable fellowship with him, or hopes of the eternal enjoyment of him, while we indulge ourselves in ignorance, error, or any sinful practices, are but an evidence of our hypocrisy, give the lie to our Christian profession, and are a practical contradiction to the nature and will of God, and to the whole tenor and design of the gospel, and even to the very nature and truth of things. 7. But if, as children of the light, we, according to our profession, habitually, delightfully, and progressively think, speak, and act under the direction and influence of his Spirit, in the ways of truth and holiness, according to the rule of gospel revelation, and after the pattern of God himself in knowledge, wisdom, holiness, and comfort, then we, as well as our fellow-Christians, share in a joint interest, communication, intimacy, and intercourse with him; and the foundation of this fellowship is, that the infinitely precious atoning blood of Jesus Christ, our anointed Saviour, his eternal and eminently beloved Son, is continually efficacious for cleansing us from the guilt, condemnation, and power of all our sins, and at last from all the inbeing and effects of it. 8. If any of us who pretend to be cleansed by the blood of Christ are so ignorant, proud, and vain as to imagine that, in this present state of weakness and mortality, we are perfectly purified from all the inclinations and workings of sin, we certainly deceive our own souls; and neither the truth of God's Word, which declares the contrary, nor any true light of knowledge, grace, or holiness, is found in us. 9. But if, under an humbling sense of our sinful imperfections and works, we sincerely confess them to the Lord, with faith in Christ's propitiatory sacrifice for the forgiveness of them, and with penitential shame, contrition, and abhorrence of them, and full purpose of heart by his grace to forsake them, he, in the faithful accomplishment of his promises, and in justice to the merit of his Son, will, for his sake, freely and fully forgive us all our sins, original and actual, and cleanse us from all the reigning power and defilement thereof, that we may be fitted for communion with him in this world and in that which is to come. 10. If we pretend that we have not transgressed the law of God, so as to need pardon by the blood, and sanctification by the Spirit of Christ, we deny the truth of what he has testified concerning every man in his Word, and thereby show that the truth of the gospel, which supposes us sinners, and leads us to Christ for salvation from sin, has no place in us.

Ver. 1. From the beginning. The difference between ἐν ἀρχῇ (Jn. 1. 1, 'in the beginning' of creation, and consequently before creation—from eternity) and ἀπ' ἀρχῆς (1 Jn. 1. 1) is obvious. And though some eminent expositors would render ἀπ' ἀρχῆς 'from eternity,' yet as it is connected, not with Λόγον τῆς ζωῆς, but with ὃ ἦν ('what occurred'), that interpretation is inadmissible, and the meaning must be 'from the beginning' (of the preaching of the gospel). See Jn. 15. 27; 1 Jn. 2. 7, 24; 3. 11; 2 Jn. 5, where this view is rendered certain by analogy. C.

Ver. 5. The first division of the epistle begins here, and its principal subject or theme is mentioned at the outset—God is light. This theme is developed in its nature and effects in regard to God's people. Light is a noble emblem of God. 'It unites in itself purity and clearness, and beauty and glory, as no other material object does; it is the condition of all material life and growth and joy.' P.—God is light, not to the bodily, but to the intellectual eye (2 Co. 4. 6)—the spirit. Now, light is defined by Paul, 'whatsoever maketh manifest,' Ep. 5. 13. 'Light' is therefore a just definition of 'God,' inasmuch as both good and evil, even all things within these limits of human knowledge, are 'made (more or less) manifest' just in proportion as men see more or less of God. C.

Ver. 6. Darkness. Theoretical or practical ignorance of the real difference between good and evil, Mi. 6. 8. C.

Ver. 7. If we walk, &c. 'If we (on earth) walk in the light (of Jesus the incarnate Word, Jn. 1 7-9) as he (our Father in heaven) is (dwelling and manifested) in the light.'—One with another. God with us in giving the light of his Son; we with God, as walking and rejoicing in that light. C.

Reflections.—It is delightful when ministers preach Christ from experimental knowledge of him. But incontestable is the evidence we have of the gospel revelation concerning him and his benefits, and glorious is the fellowship which believers are thereby led into with him and his Father.—There is an absolute necessity of justification through his blood, and of holiness in heart and life, in order to have delightful fellowship with an infinitely high and holy Jehovah. And absurd is it to pretend that we either are or have been without sin in this world, or that we have fellowship with God, while we indulge ourselves in any sin. It is a great comfort, under all our felt and detested pollutions, that Jesus' blood is sufficient to cleanse us, and God, as faithful to his promise and just to his Son, must pardon and sanctify us. What an encouragement is this to gospel repentance, cordial confession, and earnest reformation!