1. Johannes 4:20 Kommentar

In this chapter the apostle exhorts to try spirits (Jo1 4:1), gives a note to try by (Jo1 4:2, Jo1 4:3), shows who are of the world and who of God (Jo1 4:4-6), urges Christian love by divers considerations (Jo1 4:7-16), describes our love to God, and the effect of it (Jo1 4:17-21).

INTRODUCTION TO 1 JOHN 4 In this chapter the apostle cautions against seducing spirits; advises to try them, and gives rules by which they may be known, and by which they are distinguished from others; and then returns to his favourite subject, brotherly love. He exhorts the saints not to believe every man that came with a doctrine to them, but to try them, since there were many false teachers in the world; and gives a rule by which they may be tried and judged, as that whatever teacher owns Christ to be come in the flesh is of God, but he that does not is not of God, but is the spirit of antichrist that should come, and was in the world, Jo1 4:1, but, for the comfort of those to whom he writes, he observes, that they were of God, and had overcome these false teachers, through the mighty power of the divine Spirit in them, who is greater than Satan, and all his emissaries, Jo1 4:4. He distinguishes between seducing spirits, and faithful ministers of the word; the former are of the world, speak of worldly things, and worldly men hear them; but the latter are of God, and they that have any spiritual knowledge of God hear them; but such as are not of God do not heal them, by which may he known the spirit of truth from the spirit of error, Jo1 4:5. And then the apostle returns to his former exhortation to brotherly love, which he enforces by the following reasons, because it is of God, a fruit of his Spirit and grace, and because it is an evidence of being born of God, and of having a true knowledge of him; whereas he that is destitute of it does not know him, seeing God is love, Jo1 4:7, and having affirmed that God is love, he proves it, by the mission of his Son, to be a propitiation for the sins of such that did not love him, and that they might live through him; wherefore he argues, that if God had such a love to men, so undeserving of it, then the saints ought to love one another, Jo1 4:9. Other arguments follow, engaging to it, as that God is invisible; and if he is to be loved, then certainly his people, who are visible; and that such who love one another, God dwells in them, and his love is perfected in them; and that he dwells in them is known by the gift of his Spirit to them, Jo1 4:12, and that God the Father so loved the world, as to send his Son to be the Saviour of it, before asserted, is confirmed by the apostles, who were eyewitnesses of it; who also declare, that whoever confesses the sonship of Christ, God dwells in him, and he in God; and who had an assurance of the love of God to them, who is love itself; so that he that dwells in God, and God in him, dwells in love, Jo1 4:14. And great are the advantages arising from hence, for hereby the saints' love to God is made perfect; they have boldness in the day of judgment, since as he is, so are they in this world, and fear is cast out by it, Jo1 4:17, but lest too much should be thought to be ascribed to love, that is said to be owing to the love of God to them, which is prior to theirs to him, and the reason of it, Jo1 4:19. And the chapter is closed with observing the contradiction there is between a profession of love to God, and hatred of the brethren, seeing God, who is invisible, cannot be loved, if brethren that are seen are hated; and also the commandment, that he that loves God should love his brother also, Jo1 4:20.

And this commandment have we from him,.... Either "from God", as the Alexandrian copy and the Vulgate Latin version read; and that to love the brethren is a commandment of God, is clear from Jo1 3:23; or from Christ, for it is also a command of his, even his new commandment, which he has given, and his people have received from him: that he who loveth God, love his brother also; see Joh 13:34; which is an argument persuading to attend to the one as well as to the other; for the same command that requires the one, requires the other: and he that transgresses it in one case, is a transgressor of it, as well as in the other. Next: 1 John Chapter 5

Also in the same place: "If any one shall say that he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? "

He who does not love his brother is not in love, and he who is not in love is not in God, for God is love.

"If any man say, I love God." What God? wherefore love we? "Because He first loved us," and gave us to love. He loved us ungodly, to make us godly; loved us unrighteous, to make us righteous; loved us sick, to make us whole. Ask each several man; let him tell thee if he love God. He cries out, he confesses: I love, God knoweth. There is another question to be asked. "If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar." By what provest thou that he is a liar? Hear. "For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?"

What then? does he that loves a brother, love God also? He must of necessity love God, must of necessity love Him that is Love itself. Can one love his brother, and not love Love? of necessity he must love Love. What then? because he loves Love, does it follow that he loves God? Certainly it does follow. In loving Love, he loves God. Or hast thou forgotten what thou saidst a little while ago, "Love is God"? If "Love is God," whoso loveth Love, loveth God. Love then thy brother, and feel thyself assured. Thou canst not say, "I love my brother, but I do not love God." As thou liest, if thou sayest "I love God," when thou lovest not thy brother, so thou art deceived when thou sayest, I love my brother, if thou think that thou lovest not God. Of necessity must thou who lovest thy brother, love Love itself: but "Love is God:" therefore of necessity must he love God, whoso loveth his brother.

But if thou love not the brother whom thou seest, how canst thou love God whom thou seest not? Why does he not see God? Because he has not Love itself. That he does not see God, is, because he has not love: that he has not love, is, because he loves not his brother. The reason then why he does not see God, is, that he has not Love. For if he have Love, he sees God, for "Love is God:" and that eye is becoming more and more purged by love, to see that Unchangeable Substance, in the presence of which he shall always rejoice, which he shall enjoy to everlasting, when he is joined with the angels.

Only, let him run now, that he may at last have gladness in his own country. Let him not love his pilgrimage, not love the way: let all be bitter save Him that calleth us, until we hold Him fast, and say what is said in the Psalm: "Thou hast destroyed all that go a-whoring from Thee" -and who are they that go a-whoring? they that go away and love the world: but what shall thou do? he goes on and says:-"but for me it is good to cleave to God." All my good is, to cling unto God, freely. For if thou question him and say, For what dost thou cling to Him? and he should say, That He may give me-Give thee what? It is He that made the heaven, He that made the earth: what shall He give thee? Already thou are cleaving to Him: find something better, and He shall give it thee.

Why then is it first given to the disciples on earth, and afterward sent from heaven, unless because there are two precepts of charity, namely the love of God and the love of neighbor? The Spirit is given on earth so that the neighbor may be loved; the Spirit is given from heaven so that God may be loved. Therefore, just as there is one charity and two precepts, so there is one Spirit and two givings. First from the Lord standing on earth, afterward from heaven, because in the love of neighbor one learns how to arrive at the love of God. Hence the same John says: He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?

Hence it is that, as we have already said in another sermon, the same Spirit is read to have been given to the disciples twice: first by the Lord while dwelling on earth, afterward by the Lord presiding from heaven. On earth, indeed, he is given that neighbor may be loved; from heaven, truly, that God may be loved. But why first on earth, afterward from heaven, unless it is plainly given to understand that, according to John's voice, "He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?" Therefore let us love our neighbor, brothers; let us love him who is near us, that we may be able to arrive at the love of him who is above us.

We love him, because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. "If anyone says, 'I love God.'" Where John shows with compelling reasons that love is transmitted from God to us, and from us to God, he adds again that if God has loved us in this way, we also must love one another: now referring again to this matter, he says that because it is our duty to love our brother, we fulfill the obligation by referring to the example of God's love for us, which we also return to God: it is necessary, he says, to love our brother exceptionally, as the most perfect sign of love towards God. For if this is not the case, neither would our love towards God be preserved, since the obligation that exists between us is interceding, which we have contracted out of love towards God. "For he who does not love his brother." Moreover, he adds a most effective saying to convince those who attempt to corrupt divine love, saying: Love, in any case, consists of the habitual relations towards one another: relations, however, has the aspect of a brother, and from this, it is especially gathered to that love. If this is true, whoever does not act on what more strongly attracts to love, and does not love the brother whom he sees, how can he claim to love God whom he does not see, with whom he has neither conversed nor can be perceived in any sense, how will he be found to be truthful? Therefore, if anyone shamelessly says that he loves God, but hates his brother, is he not found not only to corrupt divine love but also to be a transgressor of His command? Of whom? Of Him who says: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn. 13:35) Therefore, whoever loves God, and claims to be His disciple, must also love his brother according to His command.

If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ etc. How do you prove that he is a liar? Listen:

For he who does not love his brother, etc. He who loves his brother loves God. It is necessary to love God in order to love love itself. For God is love. And lest anyone dare to say: "And what does it hinder to love God, even if I do not love my brother?" it is rightly added:

Above, the apostle insistently proved that love must be mutual, passing from God to us and from us to God; he added to this that if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. Now he again raises the discourse to the same point and says: since the duty lies upon us to love our brother, following the example of God's love for us, and by rendering love to God we fulfill this duty, we must certainly love our brother as the most perfect proof of love for God. For if this does not exist, then our love for God will not be preserved either, since the duty toward our neighbors — a duty flowing from the love of God — will have been violated. He adds an even stronger word for the reproach of those who wish to pervert divine love. The Apostle speaks as if to say: love is evidently formed through association with one another; and association presupposes that a person sees his brother and through interaction with him becomes even more attached to him by love, for seeing greatly draws one to love. If this is so, then he who makes nothing of that which draws far more to love, and does not love the brother whom he has seen, how can he be regarded as truthful when he says that he loves God, Whom he has not seen, Who is neither in association with him nor grasped by any sense? If anyone shamelessly says that he loves God but hates his brother, that person, perverting divine love, proves himself beyond this to be also a transgressor of His following commandment: "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35).

We must not believe every teacher who professes to have a Divine commission to preach, but try such, whether they be of God; and the more so because many false prophets are gone out into the world, Jo1 4:1. Those who deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh have the spirit of antichrist, Jo1 4:2, Jo1 4:3. The followers of God have been enabled to discern and overcome them, Jo1 4:4-6. The necessity of love to God and one another shown, from God's love to us, Jo1 4:7-11. Though no man hath seen God, yet every genuine Christian knows him by the spirit which God has given him, Jo1 4:12, Jo1 4:13. The apostles testified that God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world; and God dwelt in those who confessed this truth, Jo1 4:14, Jo1 4:15. God is love, Jo1 4:16. The nature and properties of perfect love, Jo1 4:17, Jo1 4:18. We love him because he first loved us, Jo1 4:19. The wickedness of pretending to love God while we hate one another, Jo1 4:20, Jo1 4:21.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother - This, as well as many other parts of this epistle, seems levelled against the Jews, who pretended much love to God while they hated the Gentiles; and even some of them who were brought into the Christian Church brought this leaven with them. It required a miracle to redeem St. Peter's mind from the influence of this principle. See Acts 10. Whom he hath seen - We may have our love excited towards our brother, 1. By a consideration of his excellences or amiable qualities. 2. By a view of his miseries and distresses. The first will excite a love of complacency and delight; the second, a love of compassion and pity. Whom he hath not seen? - If he love not his brother, it is a proof that the love of God is not in him; and if he have not the love of God, he cannot love God, for God can be loved only through the influence of his own love. See on Jo1 4:19 (note). The man who hates his fellow does not love God. He who does not love God has not the love of God in him, and he who has not the love of God in him can neither love God nor man.

TESTS OF FALSE PROPHETS. LOVE, THE TEST OF BIRTH FROM GOD, AND THE NECESSARY FRUIT OF KNOWING HIS GREAT LOVE IN CHRIST TO US. (1Jo. 4:1-21) Beloved--the affectionate address wherewith he calls their attention, as to an important subject. every spirit--which presents itself in the person of a prophet. The Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error, speak by men's spirits as their organs. There is but one Spirit of truth, and one spirit of Antichrist. try--by the tests (Jo1 4:2-3). All believers are to do so: not merely ecclesiastics. Even an angel's message should be tested by the word of God: much more men's teachings, however holy the teachers may seem. because, &c.--the reason why we must "try," or test the spirits. many false prophets--not "prophets" in the sense "foretellers," but organs of the spirit that inspires them, teaching accordingly either truth or error: "many Antichrists." are gone out--as if from God. into the world--said alike of good and bad prophets (Jo2 1:7). The world is easily seduced (Jo1 4:4-5).

loveth not . . . brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen--It is easier for us, influenced as we are here by sense, to direct love towards one within the range of our senses than towards One unseen, appreciable only by faith. "Nature is prior to grace; and we by nature love things seen, before we love things unseen" [ESTIUS]. The eyes are our leaders in love. "Seeing is an incentive to love" [Å“CUMENIUS]. If we do not love the brethren, the visible representatives of God, how can we love God, the invisible One, whose children they are? The true ideal of man, lost in Adam, is realized in Christ, in whom God is revealed as He is, and man as he ought to be. Thus, by faith in Christ, we learn to love both the true God, and the true man, and so to love the brethren as bearing His image. hath seen--and continually sees.

But I cannot dismiss this subject without calling your attention to the practical measures which flowed immediately from these gatherings for worship. The collection of alms to be distributed to the orphan and the prisoner, to the sick and the stranger, is regarded by Justin as an inseparable part of divine service. His narrative seems to put in a working shape the Apostle's maxim, "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (1 John 4:20) Without practical benevolence there can be no true worship. "He prayeth best who loveth best."