will be raised, at the appearing of Christ to judge the world. They shall be like Christ, because they shall see him as he is, and shall live with him for ever, ver. 2.—Now, this being the greatest honour and felicity of which mankind are capable, every one who hath the hope of seeing Christ, and of becoming like him, and of living with him for ever, is careful to purify himself from evil affections and wicked actions, as Christ is pure, that he may be qualified to associate with Christ, ver. 3.-This naturally led the apostle to condemn a second time, the impious doctrine of the Nicolaitans and Simonians, who affirmed, that every action being free to those who have the knowledge of God, such will not be punished for their actions, however vicious they may have been. See chap. i. 8. note. For, in opposition to these heretics, the apostle declared, that whoever worketh sin shall certainly be punished; because sin being a transgression of the law of God, without doubt God will support the authority of his law, by punishing severely the transgressors of it, ver. 4.-Besides, that he will punish obstinate sinners, God hath shewed by sending his Son to take away the punishment of sin from those only who repent. For since the Son of God was free from sin himself, he would not die to procure for his disciples a liberty of sinning, ver. 5.-From this it follows, that whosoever abideth in the fellowship of Christ, and is the object of his love, doth not sin habitually. Whosoever sinneth habitually, though he may have seen Christ in the flesh, hath not seen him in his true character, neither hath known his will, ver. 6.-Wherefore, my beloved children, let no teacher deceive you, by affirming that the speculative belief of the gospel, will make you righteous in the sight of God. He alone who habitually worketh righteousness, is righteous in the sight of God, and will be accepted with him; even as Christ himself was righteous, by keeping his Father's commandments, and abode in his love, ver. 7.-He who worketh sin, instead of being a child of God, is a child of the devil: For the devil hath sinned from the beginning of the world. Now the evil nature of sin, and its hatefulness to God, may be known from this, that the Son of God was manifested in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil; namely sin, and all the miseries which flow from sin, ver. 8..

Having described the character of the children of the devil, together with the evil nature of their works, the apostle explained the character of the children of God, and taught the faithful

how to distinguish them from the children of the devil. Whosoever is begotten of God doth not sin habitually, because God's seed, the doctrine of the gospel, abideth and operateth in him constantly. Such a person cannot sin habitually, for this very reason that he is begotten of God, ver. 9.-By this sure mark, therefore, the children of God, and the children of the devil are distinguished. Whosoever doth not practise righteousness habitually is not begotten of God, neither he who doth not love his brother so as both to do him good, and to abstain from injuring him, ver. 10. And to impress them strongly with a sense of the obligation which lay on them, as the disciples of Christ, thus to love their brethren, John put them in mind, that the message which the apostles brought from Christ, and delivered to them from the very first, was, that they should love one another, ver. 11.-and not behave like persons begotten of the wicked one, as Cain was, who slew his brother from envy and hatred, because his own works were evil, and his brother's good, ver. 12.-Having this example of the hatred which the wicked bear to the righteous, recorded in the scripture, the faithful were not to wonder that the wicked hated them. It hath been the lot of the righteous from the beginning of the world, to be hated and persecuted of the wicked, ver. 13-But to animate them to bear these evils courageously, he told them, if they loved their brethren, they might know certainly that they had passed from death to life; they were sure of eternal happiness hereafter. Whereas the person who loveth not his brother, remaineth under the condemnation of death, ver. 14.-because every one who hateth his brother, is a man-slayer, like Cain; and unless he repenteth, he is incapable of eternal life, ver. 15.— Farther, to prevent them from thinking that the only operation of love, is to restrain one from injuring his brother, the apostle told them, that as by this we have known the great love of Christ to us, that he laid down his life for us, we ought to shew our love to our brethren, by laying down our lives for them when called in providence to do so, ver. 16.-Whosoever, therefore, hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother in necessitous circumstances, and yet doth not give him somewhat to relieve him, such a hard-hearted person hath no love to God, ver. 17.From this consideration, the apostle affectionately exhorted his disciples, not to put off their needy brethren with good words only, but to shew the reality of their love to them, by relieving

their necessities, and even by doing them acts of beneficence, as occasions required, ver. 18.-For by such a conduct alone they would know themselves to be of the fellowship of the true God, and would have confidence in his presence, as his acceptable worshippers, ver. 19.-But if our own conscience condemneth us, as wanting in love both to God and man, because we refuse to relieve our needy brethren in their distress, certainly God, who is a more perfect and impartial Judge than our conscience, and knoweth all things, will much more condemn us, ver. 20.Whereas, if our conscience doth not condemn us as deficient in love to our needy brethren, we may have confidence with God that we are accepted of him, and are the objects of his love, ver.

OLD TRANSLATION. CHAP. III. 1 Behold

what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

2 Beloved, now we are the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know

that, when he shall appear,

we shall be like him; for

we shall see him as he is.

Ver. 1.-1. Behold how great love. Пoranny, signifies both, how great, and of what kind. Accordingly Estius translates it here, Quantum et qualem. 2. That we should be called the children of God. Since God effectually makes us what he calls us, by calling believers his children, he certainly maketh them his children, and entitleth them to all the honours and privileges of his children.-The apostle having declared in the last verse of the preceding chapter, that all who work righteousness are the begotten sons of God, he naturally thought of the great honours and advantages which belong to the begotten, or true sons of God. But, being dazzled with the grandeur of his own conceptions, and unable to express them in their whole extent, he cries out, Behold how great love the Father hath bestowed on us, that

21. And whatever we ask, agreeably to his will, we shall receive; because by relieving our brethren in their straits, we keep his commandments, and do those things which are pleasing to him, ver. 22.-For, this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of Jesus Christ as his Son, and that we should love one another, as he gave commandment to us by his Son, ver. 23. Now, he who keepeth God's commandments, abideth in his fellowship, and God abideth in him, as the principle of his spiritual life and strength. And, by this we know that God abideth in us, even by the gifts of the Spirit which he hath given us, ver. 24.

NEW TRANSLATION. CHAP. III. 1 Behold how great love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God!2 For this reason the world doth not know us, because (oux ɛyywą 2 aorist.) it doth not know him.

2 Beloved, now we are the children of God; (xa, 205.) but it doth not yet appear what we shall be. However we know that (Eav, 124.) when he1 shall appear, we shall be like? him; for we shall see him as he is. 3

COMMENTARY.

CHAP. III. 1 Behold how great love the Father hath bestowed on us Jews and Gentiles, who work righteousness, chap. ii. 29. that we should be declared the children of God! Those who pretend to be the sons of the heathen gods, are readily acknowledged as such by idolaters. But for this reason, the idolatrous world doth not acknowledge us as the sons of the true God, because it doth not acknowledge him.

2 Beloved, though despised and persecuted by the world, even now we are the children of God. But it doth not yet appear how glorious, both in body and mind, we the children of God shall be. However we know, that when Christ shall appear to judge the world, ch. ii. 28. we shall become like him, (Philip. iii. 21.) for we shall see him as he is, and be for ever with him.

we should be called the children of God! One particular, however, he mentions in the following verse, which may serve to give us some notion of the felicity of the children of God; namely, that when Christ shall appear to reward every one according to his works, the children of God shall be like kim.

3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifeth himself, even as he is pure.

4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law for sin is the transgression of the law.

3

Και πας ὁ ἔχων την ελπιδα ταύτην επ' αυτῷ, ây. νίζει ἑαυτον, καθώς εκείνος άγνος εςι.

4 Πας ὁ ποιων τὴν ἁμαρ τιαν, και την ανομίαν ποιει· και η αμαρτια εςιν ἡ ανομιά.

Ver. 2.-1. We know that (Eav pavegar, the subjunctive for the future) when he shall appear. I have followed our English translators in supplying the pronoun He before the words, shall appear, to prevent the reader from taking pavega impersonally, as Benson hath done, who translates the clause when it shall appear.—In this passage, the apostle evidently speaks of Christ's appearing to judge the world. For no where in scripture, is God said to appear, so as to be the object of men's sight. John iv. 12. No one hath seen God at any time. I am therefore of opinion, that the nominative to paregwer is ipsos, when Christ shall appear.

2. We shall be like him; namely both in body and mind. For, Philip iii. 21. He will refashion our humbled body, in order that it may become of like form with his glorious body. And with respect to our mind, we shall be made like him in holiness, by seeing him as he is. We shall be like him in happiness also, for according to the measure of our capacity we shall partake of all the ineffable felicity which he possesseth. In this perfection of body, and mind, and happiness, consisteth the true import of the phrase, joint-heirs with Christ.—Like him, doth not import equality, but similarity to Christ.

3. For we shall see him as he is: We shall behold him in the glory which he now enjoyeth with the Father, and shall abide with him through all eternity. For the apostle doth not speak of a transient sight of Christ, but alludes to Christ's words which he hath recorded in his gospel, John xvif. 24. Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.-' -That the apostle is speaking of an abiding sight of Christ, is plain, because a transient view would not be a reason for our being like him. Whereas if we are to live for ever with Christ, our bodies must be fashioned like to his; since corruptible bodies, cannot inherit or enjoy the kingdom of God. And with respect to our minds, the seeing of Christ as he is, cannot be supposed effectual for making us like him, unless it is an abiding sight, which by fostering in our minds strong desires, and exciting us to continued endeavours, to become like Christ in his moral excellencies, will assuredly produce that happy effect.-At the judgment, the wicked are to have a transient sight of Christ as he is, but they will not thereby be made like him, either in body or mind.