1 John 1:5 Komentář

Evidence given concerning Christ's person and excellency (Jo1 1:1, Jo1 1:2). The knowledge thereof gives us communion with God and Christ (Jo1 1:3), and joy (Jo1 1:4). A description of God (Jo1 1:5). How we are thereupon to walk (Jo1 1:6). The benefit of such walking (Jo1 1:7). The way to forgiveness (Jo1 1:9). The evil of denying our sin (Jo1 1:8-10).

The apostle, having declared the truth and dignity of the author of the gospel, brings a message or report from him, from which a just conclusion is to be drawn for the consideration and conviction of the professors of religion, or professed entertainers of this glorious gospel. I. Here is the message or report that the apostle avers to come from the Lord Jesus: This then is the message which we have heard of him (Jo1 1:5), of his Son Jesus Christ. As he was the immediate sender of the apostles, so he is the principal person spoken of in the preceding context, and the next antecedent also to whom the pronoun him can relate. The apostles and apostolical ministers are the messengers of the Lord Jesus; it is their honour, the chief they pretend to, to bring his mind and messages to the world and to the churches. This is the wisdom and present dispensation of the Lord Jesus, to send his messages to us by persons like ourselves. He that put on human nature will honour earthen vessels. It was the ambition of the apostles to be found faithful, and faithfully to deliver the errands and messages they had received. What was communicated to them they were solicitous to impart: This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you. A message from the Word of life, from the eternal Word, we should gladly receive: and the present one is this (relating to the nature of God whom we are to serve, and with whom we should covet all indulged communion) - That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, Jo1 1:5. This report asserts the excellency of the divine nature. He is all that beauty and perfection that can be represented to us by light. He is a self-active uncompounded spirituality, purity, wisdom, holiness, and glory. And then the absoluteness and fulness of that excellency and perfection. There is no defect or imperfection, no mixture of any thing alien or contrary to absolute excellency, no mutability nor capacity of any decay in him: In him is no darkness at all, Jo1 1:5. Or this report may more immediately relate to what is usually called the moral perfection of the divine nature, what we are to imitate, or what is more directly to influence us in our gospel work. And so it will comprehend the holiness of God, the absolute purity of his nature and will, his penetrative knowledge (particularly of hearts), his jealousy and injustice, which burn a a most bright and vehement flame. It is meet that to this dark world the great God should be represented as pure and perfect light. It is the Lord Jesus that best of all opens to us the name and nature of the unsearchable God: The only-begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, the same hath declared him. It is the prerogative of the Christian revelation to bring us the most noble, the most august and agreeable account of the blessed God, such as is most suitable to the light of reason and what is demonstrable thereby, most suitable to the magnificence of his works round about us, and to the nature and office of him that is the supreme administrator, governor, and judge of the world. What more (relating to and comprehensive of all such perfection) could be included in one word than in this, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all? Then, II. There is a just conclusion to be drawn from this message and report, and that for the consideration and conviction of professors of religion, or professed entertainers of this gospel. This conclusion issues into two branches: - 1. For the conviction of such professors as have no true fellowship with God: If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. It is known that to walk, in scripture account, is to order and frame the course and actions of the moral life, that is, of the life so far as it is capable of subjection to the divine law. To walk in darkness is to live and act according to such ignorance, error, and erroneous practice, as are contrary to the fundamental dictates of our holy religion. Now there may be those who may pretend to great attainments and enjoyments in religion; they may profess to have communion with God; and yet their lives may be irreligious, immoral, and impure. To such the apostle would not fear to give the lie: They lie, and do not the truth. They belie God; for he holds no heavenly fellowship or intercourse with unholy souls. What communion hath light with darkness? They belie themselves, or lie concerning themselves; for they have no such communications from God nor accesses to him. There is no truth in their profession nor in their practice, or their practice gives their profession and pretences the lie, and demonstrates the folly and falsehood of them. 2. For the conviction and consequent satisfaction of those that are near to God: But, if we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. As the blessed God is the eternal boundless light, and the Mediator is, from him, the light of the world, so the Christian institution is the great luminary that appears in our sphere, and shines here below. A conformity to this in spirit and practice demonstrates fellowship or communion with God. Those that so walk show that they know God, that they have received of the Spirit of God, and that the divine impress or image is stamped upon their souls. Then we have fellowship one with another, they with us and we with them, and both with God, in his blessed or beatific communications to us. And this is one of those beatific communications to us - that his Son's blood or death is applied or imputed to us: The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. The eternal life, the eternal Son, hath put on flesh and blood, and so became Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ hath shed his blood for us, or died to wash us from our sins in his own blood. His blood applied to us discharges us from the guilt of all sin, both original and actual, inherent and committed: and so far we stand righteous in his sight; and not only so, but his blood procures for us those sacred influences by which sin is to be subdued more and more, till it is quite abolished, Gal 3:13, Gal 3:14.

In this chapter the apostle gives a summary of the Gospel, and the evidence of it, and from thence presses to a holy life and conversation, The sum of the Gospel is Jesus Christ, who is described both as God and man; his deity is expressed by being that which was from the beginning, the Word of life, life, and eternal life; his humanity by being the life manifested in the flesh, of which the apostles had full evidence by the several senses of seeing, hearing, and handling, and so were capable of bearing witness to the truth thereof, Jo1 1:1. And the ends had in view in giving this summary, evidence, and testimony, were, that the saints wrote unto might have fellowship with the apostles, whose fellowship was with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, and that their joy on hearing these things might be full, Jo1 1:3. And the amount of the message declared by them was, that God is light, or a pure and holy Being, and that there is no darkness of sin, or unholiness in him; wherefore all such that pretend to communion with him, and live a sinful course of life, are liars; only such have fellowship with him, and with his Son, whose blood cleanses them from all sin, who live holy lives and conversations, Jo1 1:5, not, that it is to be expected that men should be clear of the being of sin in this life, only that they should, as often as they sin, be humbled for it, and confess it before God, who will forgive them, and cleanse them from all unrighteousness; but as for those who affirm they have no sin in them, or any done by them, they are self-deceivers, the truth of grace is not in them, nor the word of God, and they make him a liar, Jo1 1:8.

This then is the message,.... Of God by his Son the Word, or from Christ by his apostles. The Syriac version renders it, "this is the Gospel"; which is good news from a far country, a message sent from the King of kings to sinful men: or this is the annunciation, or declaration; that is, the thing declared, or showed. Some render it, "this is the promise", that whereas God is light, such who walk in the light shall have communion with him, and others shall not: which we have heard of him; of Christ, who has declared him, that he is light without any mixture of darkness; that is a pure Spirit, and must be worshipped in a spiritual way; and that only spiritual worshippers are such as he seeks, and admits to communion with him. Moreover, they might hear and learn this of Christ, by his telling them that he himself was light, who is the image of the invisible God, insomuch, that he that has seen the Son, has seen the Father also. Wherefore, if the one is light, the other must be likewise; nor is there any coming to the Father, and enjoying communion with him, but through Christ; all which our Lord told his disciples. The Ethiopic version reads, "which ye have heard", very wrongly; for the words regard the apostles, who made a faithful declaration of the message they heard, and had from Christ, which is as follows: and declare unto you that God is light; that is, God the Father, as distinguished from "him", Christ, of whom they had heard this message, and from Jesus Christ his Son, Jo1 1:7, what is declared of him, agreeably to the report of Christ, is, that he is "light"; that is, as light is opposed to the darkness of sin; he is pure and holy in his nature and works, and of such pure eyes as not to behold iniquity; and so perfectly holy, that angels cover their times before him, when they speak of his holiness: and as light is opposed to the darkness of ignorance, he is wise and knowing; he knows himself, his own nature, being, and perfections, his Son and Spirit, and their distinct modes of subsisting; he sees clearly all things in himself, all things he could do, or has determined shall be done; he has perfect knowledge of all creatures and things, and the darkness and the light are alike unto him, nor can the former hide from him: he is knowable, and to be discerned; he is clothed with light, and dwells in it; he may be known by the works of creation and providence; even the invisible things of him, his eternal power and Godhead, may be clearly seen and understood by them, and especially in his word, and most clearly in his Son; it is owing to the darkness of men, and not to any in and about God, who is light, that he is so little known as he is: and, like the light, he illuminates others; he is the Father of lights, the author and giver of all light; of the light of reason to men in general; and of grace here, and glory hereafter, to his own people, which are both signified by light; in whose light they see light; and he refreshes and delights their souls with the light of his countenance now, and with his glorious presence in the other world: and in him is no darkness at all; no darkness of sin; nothing is more contrary to him, or more distant from him: nor any darkness of error and ignorance; what is unknown to men, as the times and seasons; what angels were ignorant of, and even Christ, as man, as the day and hour of Jerusalem's destruction, were known to the Father; in him is no ignorance of anything whatever; nor is there any variableness or shadow of turning in him, as there is in the luminous body of the sun; but God is always the same pure and holy, wise and knowing Being. It is usual with the Cabalistic Jews (e), to call the supreme Being light the most simple light, hidden light, and infinite light, with respect to his nature, glory, and majesty, and with regard also to his grace and mercy, justice and judgment; though, as R. Sangart says (f), this is to be understood of him figuratively. (e) Lex. Cabalist, p. 63, 64. (f) Sepher Cosri, par. 2. sect. 2. fol. 61. 2.

"For God," he says, "is light." He does not express the divine essence, but wishing to declare the majesty of God, he has applied to the Divinity what is best and most excellent in the view of men. Thus also Paul, when he speaks of "light inaccessible." [1 Timothy 6:16] But John himself also in this same Epistle says, "God is love:" [1 John 4:16] pointing out the excellences of God, that He is kind and merciful; and because He is light, makes men righteous, according to the advancement of the soul, through charity. God, then, who is ineffable in respect of His substance, is light. "And in Him is no darkness at all," - that is, no passion, no keeping up of evil respecting any one, [He] destroys no one, but gives salvation to all. Light moreover signifies, either the precepts of the Law, or faith, or doctrine. Darkness is the opposite of these things. Not as if there were another way; since there is only one way according to the divine precepts. For the work of God is unity. Duality and all else that exists, except unity, arises from perversity of life.

Draw whatever (veil of) darkness you please over your deeds, "God is light." But some think as if God were under a necessity of bestowing even on the unworthy, what He has engaged (to give); and they turn His liberality into slavery.

Nay, but this whole world is the one house of all; in which world it is more the heathen, who is found in darkness, whom the grace of God enlightens, than the Christian, who is already in God's light. Finally, it is one "straying" which is ascribed to the ewe and the drachma: (and this is an evidence in my favour); for if the parables had been composed with a view to a Christian sinner, after the loss of his faith, a second loss and restoration of them would have been noted.

God is light, according to John. The only-begotten Son therefore is the brightness of that light, proceeding from God without separation, as brightness from light, and lightening the whole creation.

When John says that there is no darkness in the light of God, he proves that all the lights of others are stained by some blemish.

God is the light of purified minds, not of these bodily eyes. For then the mind will be able to see that light, which right now it is not yet able to do.

"God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all." Who would dare to say that there is darkness in God? Or what is the light? Or what darkness? Lest haply he speaks of such things as pertain to these eyes of ours. "God is light." Saith some man, "The sun also is light, and the moon also is light, and a candle is light." It ought to be something far greater than these, far more excellent, and far more surpassing. How much God is distant from the creature, how much the Maker from the making, how much Wisdom from that which is made by Wisdom, far beyond all things must this light needs be. And haply we shall be near to it, if we get to know what this light is, and apply ourselves unto it, that by it we may be enlightened; because in ourselves we are darkness, and only when enlightened by it can we become light, and not be put to confusion by it, being put to confusion by ourselves. Who is he that is put to confusion by himself? He that knows himself to be a sinner. Who is he that by it is not put to confusion? He who by it is enlightened. What is it to be enlightened by it? He that now sees himself to be darkened by sins, and desires to be enlightened by it, draws near to it: whence the Psalm saith, "Draw near unto Him, and be ye enlightened; and your faces shall not be ashamed." But thou shalt not be shamed by it, if, when it shall show thee to thyself that thou art foul, thine own foulness shall displease thee, that thou mayest perceive its beauty. This it is that He would teach.

John wrote that the proclamation, by which it was stated that God is light, with no shadows in him at all, was made by the Savior himself to his disciples. Now he is sharing it with his readers so that they too might believe the same thing about God.

And this is the promise that we have heard from Him; and we announce to you that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Having said this, John resumes the conversation, explaining what the announcement he heard is: and he says that this is that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. And where did John hear it? From Christ Himself, who said: "I am the light of the world (Jn. 8:12);" and: "I came as light into the world." (Jn. 13:46) Light therefore is, and darkness is not in it. Spiritual light, however, stirs the eyes of our soul to its reception, turning away from all these material things, and urging solely towards its desire with loving affection. However, darkness signifies either ignorance or sin. In God, indeed, neither ignorance nor sin can be found. For these refer to material things and the structure that is found among us. If it has been said elsewhere: "Darkness has been placed as a hiding place for Him," (Ps. 17:12) it was nonetheless said "has been placed;" not, however, "he is darkness," as it was said, "God is light." For it is one thing that is placed by Him who places. Here, then, darkness signifies ignorance, which consists in the fact that God cannot be comprehended: and this is ours, not God's. Therefore, something is placed among those things that do not belong to anyone, nor for his own sake, but for someone else that concerns him. That he also calls darkness sin is evident from what has been said by the same in the Gospel. For what does John say there? "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (Jn. 1:5);" by calling darkness our substance, which is subject to sins, in which he was made or by which he was assumed, he did not contract impurities from it: for he did no sin, etc.

What is this message? It is that eternal life has appeared to us. For the Father so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, and this is what we proclaim to you—that the Word of God who has come into the world and become a man is both God and light.

And this is the message which we have heard from him, etc. By this statement, blessed John both shows the excellence of divine purity, which we are also commanded to imitate, saying: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus XIX); and he refutes the insane doctrine of the Manicheans, who said that the nature of God was conquered and corrupted by the prince of darkness in war.

Let no one deceive you. God is light, and to those who have entered into union with him, he imparts of his own brightness to the extent that they have been purified.

The Apostle again returns to his former discourse and explains what Gospel he heard, namely the following: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him. From whom did he hear this? From Christ Himself, Who said: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12), and again: "I have come as a light into the world" (John 12:46). So then, He is light, and there is no darkness in Him, but a spiritual light that draws the eyes of the soul to behold Him, turning them away from everything material and arousing desire for Him alone with the most fervent love. By "darkness" he means either ignorance or sin; for in God there is neither ignorance nor sin, because ignorance and sin have their place in matter and in our disposition. And if it is said somewhere: "He made darkness His covering" (Ps. 18:12), it says that He "made" darkness, not that He "is" darkness, as it says He "is" light. For that which sets in place and that which is set in place are not the same thing. So here "darkness" signifies our ignorance about God, on account of His incomprehensibility, and this ignorance is ours, not God's. For sometimes something is attributed to one in whom it does not exist, not for his own sake, but for the sake of someone who has a relation to him. And that the Apostle calls sin darkness is evident from his Gospel saying: "and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" (John 1:5), where by darkness he means our sinful nature, which by its inclination toward falling yields to our envious adversary the devil, who drags us into sin. So then, the Light, having united Himself with our nature, which is so easily seized, became completely unseizable by the tempter. For "He committed no sin" (Isa. 53:9). So then, when we receive you as sharers in communion with God, Who is light, and in this light, as has been shown, there can be no darkness, then we too, as sharers of the light, must not admit darkness into ourselves, lest we suffer punishment for falsehood and together with falsehood be cut off from communion with the light. Therefore, holding to communion with one another, that is, with us and with the light, we must make ourselves unconquerable by sin. But how will this be, when we have already been mired in many sins before? For no one who loves truth and strives to be truthful will dare to say that he is without sin. So then, if anyone is seized by this fear, let him not despair: for whoever has entered into communion with His Son Jesus Christ has been cleansed by His Blood, shed for us. Note that on account of the most intimate union he calls Him the Son of the Father even according to what was assumed by Him from us; for blood, without doubt, belongs to our nature, not to God. And Nestorius is clearly insane and impious when he separates the flesh from the Son and does not allow His Mother to be called the Theotokos. One must also know that the entire thought of this passage overthrows the blasphemy of the Jews as well, who said: "We know that this Man is a sinner" (John 9:24). So then, he says, if we do the works of light, then we are in communion with Him, but if we do not do them, then we are strangers to Him. And how is He not the true light and completely sinless, when He "was numbered with the transgressors" for your sake (Isa. 53:12)? So then, if we, who once cried out: "His blood be on us and on our children" (Matt. 27:25), shamelessly say that we have not sinned, then we "deceive ourselves," as though crucifying Christ were no sin. The Apostle did not say: we lie, but: we deceive ourselves, because deception is outside of truth. But if we acknowledge our sin and confess it, He will forgive us.

The testimony of the apostle concerning the reality of the person and doctrine of Christ; and the end for which he bears this testimony, Jo1 1:1-4. God is light, and none can have fellowship with him who do not walk in the light; those who walk in the light are cleansed from all unrighteousness by the blood of Christ, Jo1 1:5-7. No man can say that he has not sinned; but God is faithful and just to cleanse from all unrighteousness them who confess their sins, Jo1 1:8-10.

This then is the message - This is the grand principle on which all depends, which we have heard of απ' αυτου, From him; for neither Moses nor the prophets ever gave that full instruction concerning God and communion with him which Jesus Christ has given, for the only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, has alone declared the fullness of the truth, and the extent of the blessings, which believers on him are to receive. See Joh 1:18. God is light - The source of wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness; and in him is no darkness at all - no ignorance, no imperfection, no sinfulness, no misery. And from him wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness are received by every believing soul. This is the grand message of the Gospel, the great principle on which the happiness of man depends. Light implies every essential excellence, especially wisdom, holiness, and happiness. Darkness implies all imperfection, and principally ignorance, sinfulness, and misery. Light is the purest, the most subtile, the most useful, and the most diffusive of all God's creatures; it is, therefore, a very proper emblem of the purity, perfection, and goodness of the Divine nature. God is to human soul, what the light is to the world; without the latter all would be dismal and uncomfortable, and terror and death would universally prevail: and without an indwelling God what is religion? Without his all-penetrating and diffusive light, what is the soul of man? Religion would be an empty science, a dead letter, a system unauthoritated and uninfluencing, and the soul a trackless wilderness, a howling waste, full of evil, of terror and dismay, and ever racked with realizing anticipations of future, successive, permanent, substantial, and endless misery. No wonder the apostle lays this down as a first and grand principle, stating it to be the essential message which he had received from Christ to deliver to the world.

THE WRITER'S AUTHORITY AS AN EYEWITNESS TO THE GOSPEL FACTS, HAVING SEEN, HEARD, AND HANDLED HIM WHO WAS FROM THE BEGINNING: HIS OBJECT IN WRITING: HIS MESSAGE. IF WE WOULD HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM, WE MUST WALK IN LIGHT, AS HE IS LIGHT. (Jo1 1:1-10) Instead of a formal, John adopts a virtual address (compare Jo1 1:4). To wish joy to the reader was the ancient customary address. The sentence begun in Jo1 1:1 is broken off by the parenthetic Jo1 1:2, and is resumed at Jo1 1:3 with the repetition of some words from Jo1 1:1. That which was--not "began to be," but was essentially (Greek, "een," not "egeneto") before He was manifested (Jo1 1:2); answering to "Him that is from the beginning" (Jo1 2:13); so John's Gospel, Joh 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word." Pro 8:23, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." we--apostles. heard . . . seen . . . looked upon . . . handled--a series rising in gradation. Seeing is a more convincing proof than hearing of; handling, than even seeing. "Have heard . . . have seen" (perfect tenses), as a possession still abiding with us; but in Greek (not as English Version "have," but simply) "looked upon" (not perfect tense, as of a continuing thing, but aorist, past time) while Christ the incarnate Word was still with us. "Seen," namely, His glory, as revealed in the Transfiguration and in His miracles; and His passion and death in a real body of flesh and blood. "Looked upon" as a wondrous spectacle steadfastly, deeply, contemplatively; so the Greek. Appropriate to John's contemplative character. hands . . . handled--Thomas and the other disciples on distinct occasions after the resurrection. John himself had leaned on Jesus' breast at the last supper. Contrast the wisest of the heathen feeling after (the same Greek as here; groping after WITH THE HANDS") if haply they might find God (see Act 17:27). This proves against Socinians he is here speaking of the personal incarnate Word, not of Christ's teaching from the beginning of His official life. of--"concerning"; following "heard." "Heard" is the verb most applying to the purpose of the Epistle, namely the truth which John had heard concerning the Word of life, that is, (Christ) the Word who is the life. "Heard," namely, from Christ Himself, including all Christ's teachings about Himself. Therefore he puts "of," or "concerning," before "the word of life," which is inapplicable to any of the verbs except "heard"; also "heard" is the only one of the verbs which he resumes at Jo1 1:5.

First division of the body of the Epistle (compare Introduction). declare--Greek, "announce"; report in turn; a different Greek word from Jo1 1:3. As the Son announced the message heard from the Father as His apostle, so the Son's apostles announce what they have heard from the Son. John nowhere uses the term "Gospel"; but the witness or testimony, the word, the truth, and here the message. God is light--What light is in the natural world, that God, the source of even material light, is in the spiritual, the fountain of wisdom, purity, beauty, joy, and glory. As all material life and growth depends on light, so all spiritual life and growth depends on GOD. As God here, so Christ, in Jo1 2:8, is called "the true light." no darkness at all--strong negation; Greek, "No, not even one speck of darkness"; no ignorance, error, untruthfulness, sin, or death. John heard this from Christ, not only in express words, but in His acted words, namely, His is whole manifestation in the flesh as "the brightness of the Father's glory." Christ Himself was the embodiment of "the message," representing fully in all His sayings, doings, and sufferings, Him who is LIGHT.