The Epistle of John has a peculiar character. It is eternal life manifested
in Jesus, and imparted to us- the life which was with the Father, and which
is in the Son. It is in this life that believers enjoy the communion of the
Father, that they are in relationship with the Father by the Spirit of
adoption, and that they have fellowship with the Father and the Son. God's
own character is that which tests it; because it proceeds from Himself.
The first chapter establishes these two latter points: namely, communion
with the Father and the Son, and that this communion must be according to
the essential character of God. The name of Father is that which gives
character to the second chapter. Afterwards it is that which God is, which
tests the reality of imparted life.
The Epistles of Paul, although speaking of this life, are in general
occupied with setting before Christians the truth respecting the means of
standing in the presence of God justified and accepted. The Epistle of
John, that is to say, his First, shews us the life that comes from God by
Jesus Christ. John sets God before us, the Father revealed in the Son, and
eternal life in Him. Paul sets us before God accepted in Christ. I speak of
what characterises them. Each respectively touches on the other point.
Now, this life is so precious, manifested as it is in the Person of Jesus,
that the epistle now before us has in this respect quite a peculiar charm.
When I, too, turn my eyes to Jesus, when I contemplate all His obedience,
His purity, His grace, His tenderness, His patience, His devotedness, His
holiness, His love, His entire freedom from all self-seeking, I can say,
That is my life.
This is immeasurable grace. It may be that it is obscured in me; but it is
none the less true, that that is my life. Oh how do I enjoy it thus seen!
How I bless God for it! What rest to the soul! What pure joy to the heart!
At the same time Jesus Himself is the object of my affections; and all my
affections are formed on that holy object.[see note #1]
But we must turn to our epistle. There were many pretensions to new light,
to clearer views. It was said that Christianity was very good as an
elementary thing; but that it was grown old, and that there was a new light
which went far beyond that twilight truth.
The Person of our Lord, the true manifestation of the divine life itself,
dissipated all those proud pretensions, those exaltations of the human mind
under the influence of the enemy, which did but obscure the truth, and lead
the mind of men back into the darkness whence they themselves proceeded.
That which was from the beginning (of Christianity that is, in the Person
of Christ), that which they heard, had seen with their own eyes, had
contemplated, had touched with their own hands, of the Word of life-that
was it which the apostle declared. For the life itself had been manifested.
That life which was with the Father had been manifested to the disciples.
Could there be anything more perfect, more excellent, any development more
admirable in the eyes of God, than Christ Himself, than that Life which was
with the Father, manifested in all its perfection in the Person of the Son
? As soon as the Person of the Son is the object of our faith, we feel that
perfection must have been at the beginning.
The Person then of the Son, the eternal life manifested in the flesh, is
our subject in this epistle.
Grace is consequently to be remarked here in that which regards life; while
Paul presents it in connection with justification. The law promised life
upon obedience; but life came in the Person of Jesus, in all its own divine
perfection, in its human manifestations. Oh how precious is the truth that
this life, such as it was with the Father, such as it was in Jesus, is
given to us! In what relationships it sets us, by the power of the Holy
Ghost, with the Father and with the Son Himself! And this is what the
Spirit here first sets before us. And observe, how it is all grace here.
Farther on, indeed, He tests all pretensions to the possession of
fellowship with God, by displaying God's own character; a character from
which He can never deviate. But, before entering on this, He presents the
Saviour Himself, and communion with the Father and the Son by this means,
without question and without modification. This is our position and our
eternal joy.
The apostle had seen that life, had touched it with his own hands; and he
wrote to others, proclaiming this, in order that they also should have
communion with Him in the knowledge of the life which had been thus
manifested.[see note #2] Now, inasmuch as that life was
the Son, it could not be known without knowing the Son, that is, that which
He was, entering into His thoughts, His feelings: otherwise He is not
really known. It was thus they had communion with Him -with the Son.
Precious fact! to enter into the thoughts (all the thoughts), and into the
feelings, of the Son of God come down in grace: to do this in fellowship
with Him, that is to say, not only knowing them, but sharing these thoughts
and feelings with Him. In effect, it is the life.
But we cannot have the Son without having the Father. He who had seen Him
had seen the Father; and consequently he who had communion with the Son had
communion with the Father; for their thoughts and feelings were all one. He
is in the Father, and the Father in Him. We have fellowship therefore with
the Father. And this is true also, when we look at it in another aspect. We
know that the Father has entire delight in the Son. Now He has given us, by
revealing the Son, to take our delight in Him also, feeble as we are. I
know, when I am delighting in Jesus-in His obedience, His love to His
Father, to us, His single eye and purely devoted heart -I have the same
feelings, the same thoughts, as the Father Himself. In that the Father
delights, cannot but delight, in Him in whom I now delight, I have
communion with the Father. So with the Son in the knowledge of the Father.
All this flows, whether in the one or the other point of view, from the
Person of the Son. Herein our joy is full. What can we have more than the
Father and the Son ? What more perfect happiness than community of
thoughts, feelings, joys, and communion, with the Father and the Son,
deriving all our joy from themselves? And if it seem difficult to believe,
let us remember that, in truth, it cannot be otherwise: for, in the life of
Christ, the Holy Ghost is the source of my thoughts, feelings, communion,
and He cannot give thoughts different from those of the Father and the Son.
They must be in their nature the same. To say that they are adoring
thoughts is in the very nature of things, and only makes them more
precious. To say that they are feeble and often hindered, while the Father
and the Son are divine and perfect, is, if true, to say the Father and the
Son are God, are divine, and we feeble creatures. That surely none will
deny. But if the blessed Spirit be the source, they must be the same as to
nature and fact.
This is our christian position then, here below in time, through the
knowledge of the Son of God; as the apostle says, " These things write we
unto you, that your joy may be full."
But He who was the life which came from the Father, has brought us the
knowledge of God.
[see note #3] The apostle had heard from His lips that which God was -knowledge of
priceless
value, but which searches the heart. And this also the apostle, on the
Lord's part, announces to believers. This then is the message which they
had heard from Him, namely, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness.
With regard to Christ, He spoke that which He knew, and bore testimony to
that which He had seen. No one had been in heaven, save He who came down
from thence. No one had seen God. The Only-begotten, who is in the bosom of
the Father, He had declared Him. No one had seen the Father, save He who
was of God; He had seen the Father. Thus He could, of His own and perfect
knowledge, reveal Him.[see note #4]
Now God was light, perfect purity, which makes manifest at the same time
all that is pure, and all that is not so. To have communion with light, one
must oneself be light, be of its nature, and fit to be seen in the perfect
light. It can only be linked with that which is of itself. If there is
anything else that mingles with it, light is no longer light. It is
absolute in its nature, so as to exclude all that is not itself.
Therefore, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
we lie, and do not practise truth: our life is a perpetual lie.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we (believers) have
communion with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from
all sin. These are the great principles, the great features of christian
position. We are in the presence of God without a veil. It is a real thing,
a matter of life and of walk. It is not the same thing as walking according
to the light; but it is in the light. That is to say, that this walk is
before the eyes of God, enlightened by the full revelation of what He is.
It is not that there is no sin in us; but walking in the light, the will
and the conscience being in the light as God is in it, everything is judged
that does not answer to it. We live and walk morally in the sense that God
is present, and as knowing Him. We walk thus in the light. The moral rule
of our will is God Himself, God known. The thoughts that sway the heart
come from Himself and are formed upon the revelation of Himself. The
apostle puts these things always in an abstract way: thus he says, "he
cannot sin, because he is born of God;" and that maintains the moral rule
of this life; it is its nature; it is the truth, inasmuch as the man is
born of God. We cannot have any other measure of it: any other would be
false. It does not follow, alas! that we are always consistent; but we are
inconsistent if we are not in this state; we are not walking according to
the nature that we possess; we are out of our true condition according to
that nature.
Moreover, walking in the light, as God is in the light, believers have
communion with each other. The world is selfish. The flesh, the passions,
seek their own gratification; but, if I walk in the light, self has no
place there. I can enjoy the light, and all I seek in it, with another, and
there is no jealousy. If another possess a carnal thing, I am deprived of
it. In the light we have fellow-possession of that which He gives us, and
we enjoy it the more by sharing it together. This is a touchstone to all
that is of the flesh. As much as one is in the light, so much will we have
fellow-enjoyment with another who is in it. The apostle, as we have said,
states this in an abstract and absolute way. This is the truest way to know
the thing itself. The rest is only a question of realisation.
In the third place, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
To walk in the light as God is in it, to have fellowship with one another,
to be cleansed from all sin by the blood; these are the three parts of
christian position. We feel the need there is of the last; for while
walking in the light as God is in the light, with (blessed be God) a
perfect revelation to us of Himself with a nature that knows Him, that is
capable of seeing Him spiritually, as the eye is made to appreciate light
(for we participate in the divine nature), we cannot say that we have no
sin. The light itself would contradict us. But we can say that the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses us perfectly from all sin [see note #5] Through the Spirit we
enjoy the
light together: it is the common joy of our hearts before God, and well
pleasing to Him; a testimony to our common participation in the divine
nature, which is love also. And our conscience is no hindrance, because we
know the value of the blood. We have no conscience of sin upon us before
God, though we know it is in us; but we have the conscience of being clean
from it by the blood. But the same light which shews us this, prevents our
saying (if we are in it) that we have no sin in us; we should deceive
ourselves if we said so; and the truth would not be in us; for if the truth
were in us, if that revelation of the divine nature, which is light, Christ
our life, were in us, the sin that is in us would be judged by the light
itself. If it be not judged, this light-the truth which speaks of things as
they are-is not in us.
