GREEK. LATIN.
Παιδια, εσχατη ωρα Filioli, novissima
εστιν· και καθως ηκουσατε hora est: et sicut audistis
ὁτι ὁ αντιχριστος quia antichristus
ερχεται, και νυν αντιχριστοι venit, nunc autem antichristi
πολλοι γεγονασιν· multi facti sunt,
ὁθεν γινωσκομεν unde scimus quia
ὁτι εσχατη ὡρα εστιν. novissima hora est.
Εξ ἡμων εξηλθαν, αλλ' Ex nobis prodierunt,
ουκ ησαν εξ ἡμων. ει sed non erant ex nobis,
γαρ εξ ἡμων ησαν, nam si fuissent ex
μεμενηκεισαν αν μεθ' nobis, permansissent
ἡμων· αλλ' ἱνα φανερωθωσιν utique nobiscum; sed
ὁτι ουκ εισιν ut manifesti sint quoniam
παντες εξ ἡμων. Και non sunt omnes
ὑμεις χρισμα εχετε απο ex nobis. Sed vos
του αγιου, και οιδατε unctionem habetis a
παντα. ουκ εγραψα Sancto, et nostis omnia.
ὑμιν, ὁτι ουκ οιδατε Non scripsi vobis quasi
την αληθειαν, αλλ' ὁτι ignorantibus veritatem,
οιδατε αυτην, και ὁτι sed quasi scientibus
παν ψευδος εκ της eam, et quoniam omne
αληθειας ουκ εστιν. Τις mendacium ex veritate
εστιν ὁ ψευστης, ει non est. Quis est mendax,
μη ὁ αρνουμενος ὁτι nisi qui negat
Ιησους ουκ εστιν ὁ quoniam Iesus non est
Χριστος; ουτος εστιν Christus? Hic est
ὁ αντιχριστος, ὁ αρνουμενος antichristus, qui negat
τον πατερα και Patrem et Filium.
τον υιον. πας ὁ αρνουμενος Omnis qui negat Filium
τον υιον, ουδε nec Patrem habet: qui
τον πατερα εχει. ὁ confitetur Filium, et
ὁμολογων τον υιον και Patrem habet. Vos
τον πατερα εχει. Ὑμεις quod audistis ab initio,
ὁ ηκουσατε απ' αρχης, in vobis permaneat.
εν ὑμιν μενετω. εαν Si in vobis permanserit
εν ὑμιν μεινη ὁ απ' quod ab initio audistis,
αρχης ηκουσατε, και ὑμεις et vos in Filio et Patre
εν τω υιω και εν τω manebitis. Et hæc est
πατρι μενειτε. και αυτη promissio quam ipse
εστιν ἡ επαγγελια, ἡν pollicitus est vobis,
αυτος επηγγειλατο ἡμιν, vitam æternam. Hæc
την ζωην την αιωνιον. scripsi vobis de his qui
ταυτα εγραψα ὑμιν περι seducunt vos. Et vos
των πλανωντων ὑμας. unctionem quam accepistis
Και ὑμεις το χρισμα ab eo, maneat in
ὁ ελαβατε απ' αυτου, vobis; et non necesse
μενει εν ὑμιν, και ου habetis ut aliquis
χρειαν εχετε ἱνα τις doceat vos, sed sicut
διδασκη ὑμας· αλλ' ὡς unctio eius docet vos
το αυτου χρισμα διδασκει de omnibus, et verum
ὑμας περι παντων, και est, et non est mendacium,
αληθες εστιν, και ουκ et sicut docuit
εστιν ψευδος· και καθως vos manete in eo. Et
εδιδαξεν ὑμας, μενειτε nunc, filioli, manete in
εν αυτω. Και νυν, eo, ut cum apparuerit
τεκνια, μενετε εν αυτω· habemus fiduciam, et
ἱνα ὁταν φανερωθη, non confundamur ab eo
σχωμεν παρρησιαν, και in adventu eius.
μη αισχυνθωμεν απ'
αυτου, εν τη παρουσια
αυτου.
AUTHORISED VERSION. REVISED VERSION.
Little children, it is Little children, it is
the last time: and as the last hour: and as
ye have heard that ye heard that antichrist
antichrist shall come, cometh, even now have
even now there are there arisen many
many antichrists; antichrists; whereby
whereby we know that we know that it is the
it is the last time. last hour. They went
They went out from us, out from us, but they
but they were not of were not of us; for if
us; for if they had they had been of us,
been of us, they would they would have continued
_no doubt_ have continued with us: but
with us: but _they went out_, that they
_they went out_, that might be made manifest
they might be made manifest how that they are
that they were not not of us. And ye
all of us. But ye have have an anointing from
an unction from the the Holy One, and ye
Holy One, and ye know know all things. I
all things. I have not have not written unto
written unto you because you because ye know
ye know not the not the truth, but because
truth, but because ye ye know it, and
know it, and that no because no lie is of the
lie is of the truth. truth. Who is the liar
Who is a liar but he but he that denieth
that denieth that Jesus that Jesus is the
is the Christ? He is Christ? This is the
antichrist, that denieth antichrist, _even_ he that
the Father and the Son. denieth the Father and
Whosoever denieth the the Son. Whosoever
Son, the same hath not denieth the Son, the
the Father: [_but_] same hath not the
_he that acknowledgeth the Father: he that confesseth
Son hath the Father the Son hath
also_. Let that therefore the Father also. As
abide in you, for you, let that abide
which ye have heard in you which ye heard
from the beginning. from the beginning.
If that which ye have If that which ye heard
heard from the beginning from the beginning
shall remain in abide in you, ye also
you, ye also shall continue shall abide in the Son,
in the Son, and and in the Father.
in the Father. And And this is the promise
this is the promise that which He promised us,
He hath promised us, _even_ the life eternal.
_even_ eternal life. These things have I
These _things_ have I written unto you concerning
written unto you concerning them that
them that seduce you. would lead you astray.
But the anointing And as for you, the
which ye have received anointing which ye received
of Him abideth in you, of Him abideth
and ye need not that in you, and ye need
any man teach you: not that any one teach
but as the same anointing you; but as His anointing
teacheth you of all teacheth you concerning
things, and is truth, all things, and
and is no lie, and even is true, and is no lie,
as it hath taught you, and even as it taught
ye shall abide in Him. you, ye abide in Him.
And now, little children, And now, _my_ little
abide in Him; children, abide in Him;
that, when He shall that, if He shall be
appear, we may have manifested, we may
confidence, and not be have boldness, and not
ashamed before Him be ashamed before Him
at His coming. at His coming.
ANOTHER VERSION.
Little children, it is
a last hour; and as ye
heard that antichrist
cometh, so now many
antichrists are in existence;
whereby we
know that it is a last
hour. They went out
from us, but they were
not of us; for if they
had been of us they
would have continued
with us: but that they
might be made manifest
how that all are not
of us, _they all went out_.
But ye have unction
from the Holy One, and
ye know all things. I
have not written unto
you _this_--"ye know
not the truth"--but
_this_--"ye
know it," and
_this_--"every lie is not
from the truth." Who
is the liar but he that
denieth that Jesus is
the Christ? The antichrist
is this, he that
denieth the Father and
the Son. Whosoever
denieth the Son the
same hath not the
Father; he that confesseth
the Son also
hath the Father. As
for you--that which ye
heard from the beginning
let it abide in you.
If that abide in you
which from the beginning
ye heard, ye also
shall abide in the Son
and in the Father. And
this is the promise
which He promised us,
the life, the eternal
_life_. These things have
I written unto you
concerning those that
would mislead you.
And as for you--the
anointing which ye
received from Him
abideth in you, and ye
have no need that any
be teaching you: but
as His unction is teaching
you continually
concerning all things,
and is true, and is not
a lie, and as it taught
you, so shall ye abide
in Him. And now,
children, abide in Him,
that if He shall be
manifested we may
have boldness and not
shrink in shame from
Him in His coming.
DISCOURSE VIII.
_KNOWING ALL THINGS._
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all
things."--1 JOHN ii. 20.
There is little of the form of logical argument to which Western
readers are habituated in the writings of St. John, steeped as his
mind was in Hebraic influences. The inferential "therefore" is not to
be found in this Epistle.[213] Yet the diligent reader or expositor
finds it more difficult to detach any single sentence, without loss to
the general meaning, than in any other writing of the New Testament.
The sentence may look almost as if its letters were graven brief and
large upon a block of marble, and stood out in oracular isolation--but
upon reverent study it will be found that the seemingly lapidary
inscription is one of a series with each of which it is indissolubly
connected--sometimes limited, sometimes enlarged, always coloured and
influenced by that which precedes and follows.
It is peculiarly needful to bear this observation in mind in considering
fully the almost startling principle stated in the verse which is
prefixed to this discourse. A kind of spiritual omniscience appears to
be attributed to believers. Catechisms, confessions, creeds, teachers,
preachers, seem to be superseded by a stroke of the Apostle's pen, by
what we are half tempted to consider as a magnificent exaggeration. The
text sounds as if it outstripped even the fulfilment of the promise of
the new covenant contained in Jeremiah's prophecy--"they shall teach no
more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the
greatest of them."[214]
The passages just before and after St. John's splendid
annunciation[215] in our text are occupied with the subject of
Antichrist, here first mentioned in Scripture. In this section of our
Epistle Antichrist is (1) _revealed_, and (2) _refuted_.
(1) Antichrist is revealed by the very crisis which the Church was then
traversing. From this especially, from the transitory character of a
world drifting by them in unceasing mutation, the Apostle is led to
consider this as one of those crisis-hours of the Church's history, each
of which may be _the_ last hour, and which is assuredly--in the language
of primitive Christianity--_a_ last hour. The Apostle therefore exclaims
with fatherly affection--"Little children, it is a last hour."[216]
Deep in the heart of the Apostolic Church, because it came from those
who had received it from Christ, there was one awful anticipation. St.
John in this passage gives it a name. He remembers Who had told the Jews
that "if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."[217]
He can announce to them that "as ye have heard this Antichrist cometh,
even so now" (precisely as ye have heard) "many antichrists have come
into existence and are around you, whereby we know that it is a last
hour." The _name_ Antichrist occurs only in these Epistles, and seems
purposely intended to denote both one who occupies the place of Christ,
and one who is against Christ. In "the Antichrist" the antichristian
principle is personally concentrated. The conception of
representative-men is one which has become familiar to modern students
of the philosophy of history. Such representative-men, at once the
products of the past, moulders of the present, and creative of the
future, sum up in themselves tendencies and principles good and evil,
and project them in a form equally compacted and intensified into the
coming generations. Shadows and anticipations of Antichrist the holiest
of the Church's sons have sometimes seen, even in the high places of the
Church. But it is evident that as yet the Antichrist has not come. For
wherever St. John mentions this fearful impersonation of evil, he
connects the manifestation of his influence with absolute denial of the
true Manhood, of the Messiahship, of the everlasting sonship of Jesus,
of the Father, Who is His and our Father.[218] In negation of the
Personality of God, in the substitution of a glittering but unreal idea
of human goodness and active philanthropy for the historical Christ, we
of this age may not improbably hear his advancing footsteps, and foresee
the advent of a day when antichristianity shall find its great
representative-man.
(2) Antichrist is also refuted by a principle common to the life of
Christians and by its result.
The principle by which he is refuted is a gift of insight lodged in
the Church at large, and partaken of by all faithful souls.
A hint of a solemn crisis had been conveyed to the Christians of Asia
Minor by secessions from the great Christian community. "They went out
from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they
would have continued with us (which they did not, but went out) that
they might be made manifest that not all are of us."[219] Not only
this. "Yea further, ye yourselves have a hallowing oil from Him who is
hallowed, a chrism from the Christ, an unction from the Holy One,
even from the Son of God." Chrism (as we are reminded by the most
accurate of scholars) is always the _material_ with which anointing is
performed, never the _act_ of anointing; it points to the unction of
prophets, priests and kings under the Old Testament, in whose
sacrifices and mystic language oil symbolises the Holy Spirit as the
spirit of joy and freedom. Quite possibly there may be some allusion
to a literal use of oil in Baptism and Confirmation, which began at a
very early period;[220] though it is equally possible that the
material may have arisen from the spiritual, and not in the reverse
order. But beyond all question the real predominant reference is to
the Holy Ghost. In the chrism here mentioned there is a feature
characteristic of St. John's style. For there is first a faint
prelusive note which (as we find in several other important
subjects[221]) is faintly struck and seems to die away, but is
afterwards taken up, and more fully brought out. The full distinct
mention of the Holy Spirit comes like a burst of the music of the
"Veni Creator," carrying on the fainter prelude when it might seem to
have been almost lost. The first reverential, almost timid hint, is
succeeded by another, brief but significant--almost dogmatically
expressive of the relation of the Holy Spirit to Christ as _His_
Chrism, "the Chrism of Him."[222] We shall presently have a direct
mention of the Holy Ghost. "Hereby we know that He abideth in us,
from the Spirit which He gave us."[223]
Antichrist is refuted by a result of this great principle of the life
of the Holy Spirit in the living Church. "Ye have" chrism from the
Christ; Antichrist shall not lay his unhallowing disanointing hand
upon you. As a result of this, "ye know all things."[224]
How are we to understand this startling expression?
If we receive any teachers as messengers commissioned by God, it is
evident that their message must be communicated to us through the
medium of human language. They come to us with minds that have been in
contact with a _Mind_ of infinite knowledge, and deliver utterances of
universal import. They are therefore under an obligation to use
language which is capable of being misunderstood by some persons. Our
Lord and His Apostles so spoke at times. Two very different classes of
men constantly misinterpret words like those of our text. The
rationalist does so with a sinister smile; the fanatic with a cry of
hysterical triumph. The first may point his epigram with effective
reference to the exaggerated promise which is belied by the ignorance
of so many ardent believers; the second may advance his absurd claim
to personal infallibility in all things spiritual. Yet an Apostle
calmly says--"ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all
things." This, however, is but another asterisk directing the eye to
the Master's promise in the Gospel, which is at once the warrant and
the explanation of the utterance here. "The Holy Ghost, whom the
Father will send in My name, He shall _teach you all things_, and
bring all things to your remembrance, _whatsoever I have said unto
you_."[225] The express limitation of the Saviour's promise is the
implied limitation of St. John's statement. "The Holy Ghost has been
sent, according to this unfailing pledge. He teaches you (and, if He
teaches, you know) all things which Christ has said, as far as their
substance is written down in a true record--all things of the new
creation spoken by our Lord, preserved by the help of the Spirit in
the memories of chosen witnesses with unfading freshness, by the same
Spirit unfolded and interpreted to you."
We should observe in what spirit and to whom St. John speaks.
He does not speak in the strain which would be adopted by a missionary
in addressing men lately brought out of heathenism into the fold of
Christ. He does not like a modern preacher or tract-writer at once
divide his observations into two parts, one for the converted, one for
the unconverted; all are his "dear ones" as beloved, his "sons" as
brought into close spiritual relationship with himself. He classes
them simply as young and old, with their respective graces of strength
and knowledge. All are looked upon as "abiding"; almost the one
exhortation is to abide unto the end in a condition upon which all
have already entered, and in which some have long continued. We feel
throughout the calmness and assurance of a spiritual teacher writing
to Christian men who had either been born in the atmosphere of
Christian tradition, or had lived in it for many years. They are again
and again appealed to on the ground of a common Christian
confidence--"we know." They have all the articles of the Christian
creed, the great inheritance of a faithful summary of the words and
works of Christ. The Gospel which Paul at first preached in Asia Minor
was the starting point of the truth which remained among them,
illustrated, expanded, applied, but absolutely unaltered.[226] What
the Christians whom St. John has in view really want is the revival of
familiar truths, not the impartation of new. No spiritual voyage or
discovery is needed; they have only to explore well-known regions. The
memory and the affections must be stimulated. The truths which have
become "cramped and bed-ridden" in the dormitory of the soul must
acquire elasticity from exercise. The accumulation of ashes must be
blown away, and the spark of fire beneath fanned into flame. This
capacity of revival, of expansion, of quickened life, of developed
truth, is in the unction common to the faithful, in the latent
possibilities of the new birth. The same verse to which we have before
referred as the best interpreter of this should be consulted
again.[227] There is an instructive distinction between the
tenses--"as His unction _is teaching_"--"as it _taught_ you."[228] The
teaching was once for all, the creed definite and fixed, the body of
truth a sum-total looked upon as one. "The unction _taught_." Once for
all the Holy Spirit made known the Incarnation and stamped the
recorded words of Christ with His seal. But there are depths of
thought about His person which need to be reverently explored. There
is an energy in His work which was not exhausted in the few years of
its doing, and which is not imprisoned within the brief chronicle in
which it is written. There is a spirit and a life in His words. In one
aspect they have the strength of the tornado, which advances in a
narrow line; but every foot of the column, as if armed with a tooth of
steel, grinds and cuts into pieces all which resists it. Those words
have also depths of tenderness, depths of wisdom, into which eighteen
centuries have looked down and never yet seen the last of their
meaning. Advancing time does but broaden the interpretation of the
wisdom and the sympathy of those words. Applications of their
significance are being discovered by Christian souls in forms as new
and manifold as the claims of human need. The Church collectively is
like one sanctified mind meditating incessantly upon the Incarnation;
attaining more and more to an understanding of that character as it
widens in a circle of glory round the form of its historical
manifestation--considering how those words may be applied not only to
self but to humanity. The new wants of each successive generation
bring new help out of that inexhaustible store. The Church may have
"decided opinions"; but she has not the "deep slumber" which is said
to accompany them. How can _she_ be fast asleep who is ever learning
from a teacher Who is always supplying her with fresh and varied
lessons? The Church must be ever learning, because the anointing
which "taught" once for all is also ever "teaching."
This profound saying is therefore chiefly true of Christians as a
whole. Yet each individual believer may surely have a part in it.
"There is a teacher in the heart who has also a chair in heaven." "The
Holy Spirit who dwells in the justified soul," says a pious writer,
"is a great director." May we not add that He is a great catechist? In
difficulties, whether worldly, intellectual, or spiritual, thousands
for a time helpless and ignorant, in presence of difficulties through
which they could not make their way, have found with surprise how true
in the sequel our text has become to them.
For we all know how different things, persons, truths, ideas may
become, as they are seen at different times and in different lights,
as they are seen in relation to God and truth or outside that
relation. The bread in Holy Communion is unchanged in _substance_; but
some new and glorious relation is superadded to it. It is devoted by
its consecration to the noblest _use_ manward and Godward, so that St.
Paul speaks of it with hushed reverence as "_The Body_."[229] It seems
to be a part of the same law that some one--once perhaps frivolous,
common-place, sinful--is taken into the hand of the great High Priest,
broken with sorrow and penitence, and blessed; and thereafter he is at
once personally the same, and yet another higher and better by that
awful consecration to another use. So again with some truth of creed
or catechism which we have fallen into the fallacy of supposing that
we know because it is familiar. It may be a truth that is sweet or
one that is tremendous. It awaits its consecration, its blessing, its
transformation into a something which in itself is the same yet which
is other to us. That is to say, the familiar truth is old, in itself,
in substance and expression. It needs no other, and can have no better
formula. To change the formula would be to alter the truth; but to us
it is taught newly with a fuller and nobler exposition by the unction
which is "ever teaching," whereby we "know all things."
NOTES.
Ch. ii. 18-28.
Ver. 18. A _last hour_,] εσχατη ὡρα. "Hour" is used in all St. John's
writings of a definite point of time, which is also providentially
fixed. (Cf. John xvii. 1; Apoc. iii. 3.) In something of this elevated
signification Shakespeare appears to employ the word in _The Tempest_
in relation to his own life:
_Prospero._ "How's the day?"
_Ariel._ "On the _sixth hour_; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease."
Each decade of years is here looked upon as a providentially fixed
duration of time. The poet intended to retire from the work of
imaginative poetry when his life should draw on towards sixty years of
age.
Ver. 19. "It doth not appear, nor is it probable, that these
antichrists, when gone out from the Apostles, did still pretend to the
orthodox faith; and therefore no need for the Apostle to make any
provision against it. Nay, it is plainly intimated by the following
discourse, that these antichrists being gone forth, did set themselves
expressly, directly, against the orthodox, denying that Jesus, whom
they did profess, to be the Christ; and therefore the design of this
clause is most rationally conceived to be the prevention of that
scandal which their horrid apostasy might give to weak Christians; nor
could anything more effectually prevent or remove it, than to let them
know that these antichristian apostates were never true stars in the
firmament of the Church, but only blazing comets, as their falling
away did evidently demonstrate."--_Dean Hardy_, 309.
Ver. 19. To use the words of a once famous controversial divine, they
may be said to be "of the Church presumptively in their own, and
others' opinion, but not really." (_Spalat., lib._ vii., 10, cf. on
the whole subject, _St. Aug. Lib. de Bono. Persev._, viii.)
"Let no one count that the good can go forth from the Church; the wind
cannot carry away the wheat, nor the storm overthrow the solidly
rooted tree. The light chaff is tossed by the wind, the weak trees go
down before the blast. 'They went out from us, but they were not of
us.'"--_S. Cyp., B. de Simplic._
Ver. 24. _Ye shall abide in the Son, and in the Father._] "If it be
asked why the Son is put before the Father, the answer is well
returned. Because the Apostle had just before inveighed against those
who, though they pretended to acknowledge the Father, yet deny the
Son. Though withal there may besides be a double reason assigned: the
one to insinuate that the Son is not less than the Father, but that
they are equal in essence and dignity. Upon this account most probable
it is that the apostolical benediction beginneth with 'The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ,' and then followeth 'the love of God the
Father.' The other, because, as Beda well glosseth, No man cometh in,
or continueth in, the Father but by the Son, who saith of Himself, 'I
am the way, the truth, and the life.'
"To draw it up, lo, here _Eximia laus doctrinæ_, an high commendation
of evangelical doctrine, that it leads up to Christ, and by Him to the
Father. The water riseth as high as the spring from whence it floweth.
No wonder if the gospel, which cometh from God through Christ, lead us
back again through Christ to God; and as by hearing and believing this
doctrine we are united to, so by adhering to, and persevering in it,
we continue in, the Son and the Father. Suitable to this is that
promise of our blessed Saviour, John xiv. 23, 'If any man love Me he
will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to
him and make our abode with him.'"--_Dean Hardy_, 350.
Ver. 27. The connection of the whole section is well traced by the old
divine, whose commentary closes a little below.
"If you compare these three with the eight foregoing verses, you shall
find them to be a summary repetition of what is there more largely
delivered. There are three hinges upon which the precedent discourse
turneth, namely, the peril of antichristian doctrine, the benefit of
the Spirit's unction, the duty of perseverance in the Christian faith;
and these three are inculcated in these verses. Indeed, where the
danger is very great, the admonition cannot be too frequent. When the
benefit is of singular advantage, it would be often considered, and a
duty which must be performed cannot be too much pressed. No wonder if
St. John proposed them in this gemination to our second thoughts. And
yet it is not a naked repetition neither, but such as hath a variation
and amplification in every particular. The duty is reinforced at the
eight-and-twentieth verse, but in another phrase, of 'abiding in
Christ,' and with a new motive, drawn from the second coming of
Christ. The benefit is reiterated, and much amplified, in the
seven-and-twentieth verse, as to its excellency and energy. Finally,
the danger is repeated, but with another description of those by whom
they were in danger; whilst as before he had called them antichrists
for their enmity against Christ, so here, for their malignity against
Christians, he calleth them seducers: 'These things have I written to
you concerning them that seduce you,' etc."--_Dean Hardy_, 357.
FOOTNOTES:
[213] The ουν in ver. 24 is not recognised by the R. V. nor adopted in
Professor Westcott's text. One uncial (A), however, inserts it in 1
John iv. 19. It occurs in 3 John 8. This inferential particle is found
with unusual frequency in St. John's Gospel. It does not seem
satisfactory to account for this by calling it "one of the beginnings
of modern Greek." (B. de Xivrey.) By St. John as an _historian_, the
frequent _therefore_ is the spontaneous recognition of a Divine logic
of events; of the necessary yet natural sequence of every incident in
the life of the "Word made Flesh." The ουν expresses something more
than continuity of narrative. It indicates a connection of events so
interlinked that each springs from, and is joined with, the preceding,
as if it were a conclusion which followed from the premiss of the
Divine argument. Now a mind which views _history_ in this light is
just the mind which will be _dogmatic_ in theology. The inspired
dogmatic theologian will necessarily write in a style different from
that of the theologian of the Schools. The style of the former will be
_oracular_; that of the latter will be _scholastic, i.e._,
inferential, a concatenation of syllogisms. The syllogistic ουν is
then naturally absent from St. John's Epistles. The one undoubted
exception is 3 John 8, where a practical inference is drawn from an
historical statement in ver. 7. The writer may be allowed to refer to
_The Speaker's Commentary_, iv., 381.
[214] Jer. xxxi. 34.
[215] Vers. 18, 22.
[216] The last hour is not a date arbitrarily chosen and written down
as a man might mark a day for an engagement in a calendar. It is
determined by history--by the sum-total of the product of the actions
of men who are not the slaves of fatality, who possess free-will, and
are not forced to act in a particular way. It is supposed to derogate
from the Divine mission of the Apostles if we admit that they might be
mistaken as to the chronology of the closing hour of time. But to know
that supreme instant would involve a knowledge of the whole plan of
God and the whole predetermining motives in the appointment of that
day, _i.e._, it would constructively involve _omniscience_. Cf. Mark
xiii. 32, and our Lord's profound saying, Acts i. 7.
[217] John v. 43.
[218] 1 John ii. 22, iv. 2, 3; 2 John 7-9.
[219] Ver. 19.
[220] Bingham's _Antiquities_, i., 462-524, 565.
[221] For other instances of this characteristic, see a subject
_introduced_ ii. 29, _expanded_ iii. 9--another subject _introduced_
iii. 21, _expanded_ v. 14.
[222] το αυτου χρισμα, ver. 27, _not_ το αυτο ("the same anointing," A.
V.) "This most unusual order throws a strong emphasis on the pronoun."
(Prof. Westcott.) The writer thankfully quotes this as it seems to him
to bring out the dogmatic significance of the word, emphasised as it is
by this unusual order--the chrism, the Spirit of _Him_.
[223] 1 John iii. 24.
[224] The reading of the A. V. is received into Tischendorf's text and
adopted by the R. V. Another reading omits και and substitutes παντες
for παντα so that the passage would run thus, "Ye have an unction from
the Holy One. Ye all know (I have not written unto you because ye know
not) the truth." As far as the difficulty of παντα is concerned,
nothing is gained by the change, as the statement recurs in a slightly
varied form in ver. 27.
[225] John xiv. 26.
[226] "Let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning," 1
John ii. 24. Cf. "Testifying that this is the true grace of God
wherein ye stand," 1 Pet. v. 12. "Even as our beloved brother Paul has
written unto you," 2 Pet. iii. 15. St. Paul has thus the attestation
of St. John as well as of St. Peter.
[227] Ver. 27
[228] διδασκει--εδιδαξεν.
[229] 1 Cor. xi. 29.