Bible online. Interpretation of the New Testament by Theophylact of Bulgaria, 1st Epistle of John

traditional translation

traditional translation

Why does the translation have three options?

The differences, first of all, lie in the degree of accessibility of the text for the inexperienced reader. The traditional translation (TP) preserves the formal features of the original whenever possible, leaving the necessary explanations for comments, and the public translation (OP) clarifies more in the translation text itself. The first is aimed more at a person with a higher humanitarian education, the second - at a person with a secondary or higher technical education.

The basic one is the TP, and it is done in two versions: one from the most widespread critical text in scientific circles (Nestle-Aland 28), the other from the Byzantine, close to the textual base of the Synodal translation and the most widespread among Orthodox Greeks (Antoniadis 1904-1912 with typos corrected). His priorities: maintaining cultural and historical distance without artificial archaization, preserving traditional terminology, literary style without mannerism and pretentiousness.

The OP, in essence, is a minor revision of the traditional one in order to make it more understandable for a reader who does not have serious knowledge about the Bible and its world.

">?

1 What was originally - we heard it, saw it with our own eyes, observed it and touched it with our own hands, and therefore we proclaim the Word of Life. 2 This Life has been revealed, we have seen it, and we bear witness to it. We proclaim to you the eternal Life that was with the Father and appeared to us - 3 we have seen it and heard it, and we proclaim it to you, so that you too may become involved in it with us. And we are involved in the Father and at the same time in His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we write to you about this, so that your joy may be complete.

1 What was from the very beginning - we heard it, saw it with our own eyes, observed it and touched it with our own hands, and therefore we proclaim the Word of Life. 2 This Life has been revealed to us, we have seen it, and we bear witness to it. We proclaim to you the eternal Life that was with the Father and appeared to us - 3 we have seen it and heard it, and we proclaim it to you, so that you too may become involved in it with us. And we are involved in the Father and at the same time in His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we write to you about this, so that your joy may be complete.

Christ

5 This is the message we heard from Him and now convey to you: God is light and in Him there is no darkness. 6 And if we say that we are partakers of Him, but walk in darkness, we will be found to be liars who do not tell the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light (as He walks in the light), then we also share in one another the blood of His Son Jesus * cleanses us from all sin. 8 But if we say that there is no sin in us, we deceive ourselves and there is no truth in us. 9 But if we admit our sins, He is faithful and righteous, He can forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 But if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and we do not have His word.

5 This is the message we heard from Him and now convey to you: God is light and in Him there is no darkness. 6 And if we say that we are partakers of Him, but we ourselves walk in darkness, it will turn out that we are lying and not creating the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light (as He walks in the light), then we are partakers of one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin. 8 But if we say that there is no sin in us, we deceive ourselves and there is no truth in us. 9 But if we admit our sins, He can forgive them and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, for He is faithful and righteous. 10 But if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and we do not have His word.

Contents: ; ; ; ; ; .

Preface

This message of the Apostle John is of a special nature. It speaks of the eternal life revealed in Jesus and given to us - the life that was with the Father and that is in the Son. It is while in this life that believers enjoy fellowship with the Father, are in connection with the Father through the Spirit of adoption, in relationship with the Father and the Son. Divine character is what tests this relationship, because this communication comes from God himself.

Two points are confirmed in the first chapter, namely communication with the Father and the Son and the fact that this communication must correspond to the essence of the character of God. The defining moment of the second chapter is the name of the Father. Subsequently, it is precisely what God is that tests the truth of the life transmitted to us.

If we talk about the letters of the Apostle Paul, although they talk about eternal life, they mainly present to Christians the truth regarding those means that help to stand before the face of God accepted and justified by him. The first letter of John tells us about the life that comes from God through Jesus Christ. John presents to us God the Father revealed in the Son, and eternal life in him. Paul presents us before God as adopted children through Christ. I'm talking about what characterizes them. Each author touches on different points accordingly.

So the eternal life revealed in the person of Jesus is so precious that the message presented to us in this respect has a special charm. And I, too, when I turn my gaze to Jesus, when I contemplate all his humility, his purity, his mercy, tenderness, patience, his devotion, holiness, his love, the complete absence of selfishness and self-interest, I can say that this is my life. This is immeasurable grace. It is possible that this life is hidden in me, but nevertheless it is true that this is my life. Oh, how I rejoice when I see her! How I bless God for this! Oh, what peace of mind! what pure joy of the heart! And at the same time Jesus himself becomes the object of my affections, and all my love is formed on the basis of this holy object. And this is extremely important from a moral point of view, because the reason for my joy, my delight lies precisely in him, and not in myself.

1John 1

Let's return to our message. There were many claims for a new world, for clearer views. It was said that Christianity was very good in its original form, but it grew and a new light appeared, going much further than that gloomy truth.

The person of our Lord, the true manifestation of the divine life itself, has dispelled all these proud pretensions, this exaltation of human reason, under the influence of the devil, who cannot but obscure the truth and leads men back into the darkness from which they themselves came.

The Apostle John speaks of what was from the beginning (that is, of Christianity in the person of Christ): “What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at, and what our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life—for life has appeared.” The life that the Father had appeared to the disciples. Could there be anything more perfect, more beautiful, more wonderfully developed in the eyes of God than Christ himself, than that life that was with the Father and appeared in all its perfection in the person of the Son? Once the person of the Son becomes the object of our faith, we will feel the perfection that was from the beginning.

After all, the person of the Son, eternal life revealed in the flesh, is the topic we are considering in this letter.

The Promise of the Law and the Life of Grace—The Savior is Presented Before the Essence of God is Revealed

Therefore grace is here manifested in that which pertains to life, whereas Paul presents it in connection with justification. The law promised life for obedience, but life was revealed in the person of Jesus, in all its divine perfection, in its human manifestations. Oh, how precious is the truth that this life which was with the Father, which was in Jesus, is now given to us! What a relationship it places us in with the Father and the Son himself by the power of the Holy Spirit! This is what the Spirit is demonstrating to us here. And notice that everything here is from grace. Let us further note that He makes every pretension to be friendly with God, demonstrating the character inherent in God, which He will never change. But before proceeding to this, He introduces the Savior himself, and thereby offers communion with the Father and the Son without doubt and without any change. This is our position and our eternal joy.

The apostle saw that life, touching it with his own hands, and he wrote to others, declaring it, so that they too might have fellowship with him, recognizing the life that was thus revealed. So, since this life was the Son, it could not be known without knowing the Son, that is, who He was, without delving into his thoughts, his feelings; otherwise he cannot be truly known. This was the only way they could have fellowship with him - with the Son. How wonderful it is to delve into the thoughts and feelings of the Son of God, who descended from the heavens of grace! And do this through communication with him - in other words, not only know them, but also share these feelings and thoughts with him. As a result, this is life.

This life has been revealed. Therefore, we no longer need to seek it, groping after it in darkness, searching at random for the obscurities or doubts of our hearts to find it, laboring under the burden of the law to obtain it. We contemplate it, it was revealed in Jesus Christ. Everyone who has Christ has it.

You cannot have fellowship with the Son without having fellowship with the Father. He who saw the Son also saw the Father, and therefore, everyone who has communion with the Son also has communion with the Father, for their thoughts and feelings coincide. The Son abides in the Father, and the Father in him. Therefore we have fellowship with the Father. And this is true when we look at it from a different perspective. We know that the Father has complete joy in the Son. Now He, having revealed the Son, allows us to rejoice in him, no matter how insignificant we may be. I know that when I rejoice and admire Jesus, his humility, his love for his Father and for us, his pure eye and pure devoted heart, I experience the same feelings as the Father himself, the same thoughts in my head that and from him. Rejoicing in Jesus now, like the Father, I have fellowship with the Father. Therefore I am with the Son and know the Father. All this, from one point of view or another, follows from the person of the Son. In this we have complete joy. What could be more for us than the Father and the Son? What will give more complete happiness than the unity of thoughts, feelings and joys with the Father and the Son, than communication with them, than the opportunity to draw complete joy from this? And if this seems difficult to believe, then let us remember that it really cannot be otherwise, for in the life of Christ the Holy Spirit is the source of my thoughts, feelings, my communication, and the Holy Spirit cannot inspire other thoughts than those that belong to the Father and Son. They are one in nature. To call them delightful thoughts is something that goes without saying and makes them even more valuable. If the blessed Spirit is the source of thought, people will think like him.

He who was life and came from the Father brought us the knowledge of God. The apostle heard from the lips of Jesus about the nature of God. This knowledge is a priceless gift, which, however, tests the soul. And this, too, the apostle announces to the believers, as if on behalf of the Lord. It was from him that they learned that God is light and there is no darkness in him. As for Christ, He said what He knew and testified to what He saw. No one was in heaven except him who came down from heaven. “No one has ever seen God; The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed.” No one saw the Father except he who was from God: He saw the Father. Therefore He could, thanks to His perfect knowledge, reveal it. God is light, perfect purity, which at the same time points to everything that is pure and everything that is not at all. To have communion with light, you must be light yourself, have the nature inherent in it, and be prepared to reveal yourself in perfect light. Light can only be associated with what comes from it. If something else is mixed into it, then light ceases to be light. He is perfect by nature, so that he excludes everything foreign to him.

We find that when the letter of John speaks of grace to us, the author speaks of the Father and the Son, but when it speaks of the nature of God or our responsibility, the apostle speaks of God. John 3 and 1 John. 4 could be an exception, but is not. It is about God as such, not about personal activity and relationships in grace.

Everyone who saw him saw the Father, but here the apostle is talking about communicating information about him, about discovering his nature. Therefore, “if we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not act in the truth,” and our life becomes a complete lie.

But “if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” These are great principles, significant features of the position of Christians. We are in the face of God, and there is no longer a veil between him and us. This is a real circumstance, a matter of life and walking. This is not the same thing as walking according to the light, but it is walking in the light. In other words, it is walking before the eyes of God, illuminated by the full revelation of the essence of God. This does not mean that there is no sin in us, but, walking in the light, we have a will and consciousness illuminated by the light of God, and that which does not correspond to this light is subject to condemnation. We live and act essentially with the feeling that God is constantly present with us and that we know him. Thus we walk in the light. The moral principle of our will is God himself, the known God. The thoughts that influence the soul come from him and are formed on the basis of his revelation. The apostle always expresses this in an abstract form, so he declares: “And he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” And this affirms the moral principle of such a life. This is its essence, this is the truth, since man is born of God. We cannot have any other criterion, and any other would be false. Alas, as it follows from this, we do not always answer him. We do not meet this criterion if we are not in that state, if we are not walking according to the nature that God has placed in us, if we are not in that true state that corresponds to the divine nature.

Moreover, by walking in the light as He is in the light, believers have fellowship with one another. The outer world is selfish: the flesh and passions seek reward for themselves, but if I walk in the light, then there is no place for selfishness. I can enjoy the light, and everything that I seek in it, I seek in communication with others, and therefore there is no place for envy and jealousy. If another has carnal passions, then I am devoid of them. In the light we have together what He gives us, and we enjoy it even more when we share it with each other. And this is the touchstone for everything carnal. Since we are in the light, we rejoice in fellowship with everyone who is in it. The Apostle John, as we have already said, states this in a generalized and categorical form. This is the surest way to find out the very essence of the matter. Everything else is just a matter of implementation.

By the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are cleansed from all sin. To walk in the light as God is in it, to have fellowship with one another, and to be cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ are the three essential points which characterize the position of a Christian. We feel the need for the latter. Walking in the light, as God is in the light, having (blessed be God!) a perfect revelation of himself, given to us by nature, which knows him, thus being able to see him spiritually, even as the eye was created to appreciate the light (for we also share the divine nature), we cannot say that we have no sin. The light itself would object to us. But we can say that the blood of Jesus Christ completely cleanses us from all sin.

It does not say “cleansed” or “will cleanse.” This does not indicate time, but the potency of the blood. I could just as easily say that some medicine cures a fever. This speaks of effectiveness.

Through the Spirit we rejoice in the light together; this is the common joy of our hearts before God, and this pleases him, this is evidence of our common participation in the divine nature, which is also love. And our conscience is not a hindrance to this, since we know the price of blood. We do not feel sin on ourselves before God, although we know that it is in us, but we feel that we have been cleansed from it by blood. However, the same light that shows us this warns us (if we are in it) from declaring that we have no sin at all. We deceive ourselves if we say this, and the truth is not in us, for if the truth were in us, if that revelation of the divine nature, which is light, the revelation of Christ - our life, were in us, then the sin that abides in us, would be condemned by the world itself. And if he is not condemned, then this light - the truth that reveals everything as it is - is not in us.

If, on the one hand, we have already committed some sin and, being condemned by the light, confessed our sin (in such a way that there is no more self-will and pride is broken in us), “then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And further: “If we say that we have not sinned, then [this testifies not only that there is no truth in us, but also that we] represent Him [God] as a liar, and His word is not in us,” for He affirms that all have sinned. There are three points: we lie, the truth is not in us, we represent God as a liar. We are talking about that communication with God in the light, which in practical everyday Christian life inseparably connects forgiveness and the real feeling of it through faith and purity of heart.

Speaking about sin, the apostle says in the present tense: “We say.” When he talks about sin, he uses the past tense. It is not based on the fact that we are going to continue to sin. Doubts arise whether he is talking about the first appeal to the Lord or about subsequent sins. To this I answer: he speaks in an abstract and absolute sense; Confession brings forgiveness through grace. If we are talking about our first appeal to God, then this is forgiveness, and this is said in the full and absolute sense. I have been forgiven by God and He no longer remembers my sins. If we are talking about subsequent sin, then the regenerated soul always acknowledges sins, and then forgiveness is considered as the management of God and as the real state of the connection of my soul with him. Note that the Apostle John, as everywhere else, speaks regardless of anything, he speaks in principle.

Thus we see the position of the Christian (v. 7) and three points that contradict the truth in three different ways, i.e. communication with God in life. The Apostle wrote about what has to do with communion with the Father and the Son, so that the joy of Christians could be complete.

1John 2

Having a revelation of the essence of God, which the apostle received from him who was life sent from heaven, John writes a letter so that Christians will not sin. However, to say this is to assume that they are capable of committing sin. One cannot think that they will certainly sin, for the presence of sin in the flesh in no way obliges us to live according to the flesh. But if sin does take place, grace will take precautions so that it can act and so that we do not fall under condemnation and are not again under the law.

We have an advocate with the Father who intercedes for us in heaven. Now it is no longer in order to achieve justice, not in order to wash away our sins. All this has already been done. Divine truth has placed us in the light, just as God himself is in the light. However, communication with God is interrupted as soon as frivolity appears in our hearts, for it is of the flesh, and the flesh has no communication with God. If communication is broken, if we have sinned (not when we have repented, for it is his intercession that leads to repentance), Christ intercedes for us. The truth is always present - our truth is “Jesus Christ the righteous.” Therefore, neither the truth nor the value of the atoning sacrifice for sin changes, grace operates (we can say that it acts necessarily) by the power of that righteousness and that blood, which act before God through the intercession of Christ, who never forgets us, to bring us back to fellowship through repentance. Therefore, while still on earth, before Peter committed sin, Jesus prayed for him. At some point, He looks at Peter, and he repents of what he has done and sobs bitterly. After this, the Lord does everything necessary to make Peter condemn the very root of sin, but all this happens through grace.

The same is true in our case. Divine truth abides - it is the unchanging basis of our relationship with God, strengthened on the blood of Christ. When fellowship, which can only exist in light, is interrupted, the intercession of Christ, through the power of his blood (for the atoning sacrifice for sin was also offered), regenerates the soul, that it may again enjoy fellowship with God, according to the light into which truth has brought it. This atoning sacrifice for sin was made for the sake of the whole world, and not only for the sake of the Jews alone, not only for the sake of one in general, but for the sake of the whole world, and God with his inherent spiritual nature was completely glorified by the death of Christ.

Here we are talking about communication, and therefore, we are talking about a possible fall from grace. In Hebrews we saw that it is access to God and we are made “perfect forever,” and the priesthood is for mercy and help, not for sins, except in the great act of atonement.

Thus we have considered three main points (or, if you wish, two main points and a third, namely, defense, which is complementary to the first two), forming the introduction to the teaching of the epistle. All the rest is a tentative application of what is contained in the part already considered: first, life was given in communion with the Father and the Son; secondly, the essence of God in light, which reveals the falsity of any claim to communicate with light when life passes in darkness; thirdly, the vision that sin is in us, that we can sin, although purified before God and can enjoy the light, having the intercession that Jesus Christ, the righteous, can always show before God on the basis of the truth that is always present with him , and the blood he shed for our sins to restore our fellowship, which we lost through our criminal negligence.

The Spirit now proceeds to set forth the characteristics of the divine life in which we are sanctified to the obedience of Jesus Christ. In other words, we must be obedient and follow the same principles that Jesus followed, for whom the will of his Father was the incentive and rule of action. It is the submission of a life in which doing the will of God was food and drink, but not under the authority of the law, in order to obtain life. The life of Jesus Christ was a life of obedience, and in it He fully enjoyed the love of His Father, being tried in all situations and enduring all trials with dignity. His words, his commandments were the expression of that life; they are a guide to the same life in us and must manifest its influence on us, the influence of the one who pronounced them.

The law promised life to those who obeyed it. Christ himself is life. This life was given to us - believers. That is why these words, which are the expression of that life in its perfection in Jesus, guide us and guide us according to that perfection. In addition, this life has an influence on us, which is expressed through the commandments. Therefore, we must obey and do as He did. Here are two basic guidelines for action. It is not enough to just behave well - we must obey, because there is authority over us. This is the essential principle of righteous living. On the other hand, the obedience of a Christian, as Christ himself proves, is not what we often think. We call an obedient child who, having his own will, nevertheless obeys his parents as soon as they begin, demonstrating their power over him, to prevent him from exercising his will. However, Christ was never obedient in this way. He came to do the will of God. Obedience was his form of being. The will of his Father was the impulse, and together with love, which was always inseparable from it, it was the sole motive of his every act and every impulse. Such obedience is called, strictly speaking, Christian. This is a new life that joyfully fulfills the will of Christ, recognizing his complete power over oneself. We consider ourselves dead to everything else, we live for God and do not belong to ourselves. We know only Christ as we live his life, for the flesh does not know him and cannot understand his life.

Now that life is obedience, anyone who says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. It is not said here that “he deceives himself,” for it is quite possible that he is not deceived, as happens in another case when someone imagines communication, because the will is at work here, and the person knows this if he confesses. But the confession here is false, and the man is a liar, and the truth that is in the knowledge of Jesus and which he confesses is not in him.

There are two points to make at this point. Firstly, the fact is that the apostle always sees things as they are in themselves in an abstract concept, without all those deviations that are caused by other things among which the first ones find themselves or with which they are connected. Secondly, the conclusions that the apostle makes are not formal reasoning, the meaning of which, accordingly, lies on the surface of the fact itself. He rests on a great spiritual principle, so that no one can see the meaning of his arguments without knowing the fact itself, the extent of the principle, and, in particular, what the life of God is in its essence, in its character and in its manifestation. But without it, we will not be able to understand anything about it. And, indeed, the authority of the apostle and the authority of the Word must convince us that this is so, and that is sufficient. However, the connecting links of his sermon will not be understood if one does not have that life that interprets his words and is itself interpreted by what the apostle says.

I return to the text: “Whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.” This is how we realize that we know him. “His Word” has a much broader meaning than “His commandments.” In other words, while both of these concepts imply submission, the word is something less external. “His commandments” here represent the details of the divine life. “His Word” contains its full expression: the spirit of that life. This is a universal and absolute truth: life is the divine life revealed in Jesus and communicated to us. Have we seen it in Christ? Do we doubt that this is love and that the love of God was manifested in this? After all, if I keep his word, if the goal and means of that life expressed by this word are understood and achieved in this way, then the love of God is perfect in me. The Apostle John, as we have already seen, always speaks abstractly. If at any given moment I really do not keep that word, then in that sense I am not aware of his love and the beautiful fellowship with God is broken, for his word expresses his essence and I keep it. This is spiritual communication with his nature in its entirety, communication with nature in which I participate. Therefore I know that He is perfect love, and I am filled with it, and it shows in my actions, for that word is the perfect expression of Himself.

In essence, these concepts are not much different, which is confirmed by verse 7, which reads: “The ancient commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.” We can say that the commandment is the word of Christ, and this is the perfect truth. But I doubt whether it can be said that the word is a commandment. And this makes us feel some difference. The contrast between verses 4 and 5 is remarkable, and the whole point here is that a man either has, according to the Word, the divine life, knowing and fully realizing what he has, or he does not have it. “Whoever says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him,” for only what “His word” reveals is true. And if we live as a creature whose expression is the word of Christ, and therefore know him through the word, then we submit to that word. On the other hand, possessing this life, being participants in this divine nature, we have the love of God in us, we have the commandment of Christ, his word, the perfect love of God, we act like Christ, and the life of Christ is transmitted to us in such a way that his commandment actually remains in it is in us, and we walk in the light, loving our neighbors. How abundant is the purpose of blessings! The privileges here spoken of are: knowing Christ, being in him, being in the light. The proof of justification for the first privilege is submission. After all, if we abide in Christ (and we know this by keeping his word), then we are obliged to act as He does. That this last claim is true is proved by love to our brethren. Secondly, it is our duty to maintain our walk at the height of Christ's walk. But just walking is not proof of our staying in him and our observance of his word. Notice that it is not said, “We know that we believe,” for that is not what is meant here, but, “We know that we are in Him.”

Let me add that the apostle never uses these proofs because they are too common to be doubted. Verses 12 and 13 clearly confirm that John speaks of those to whom he is speaking as having been finally forgiven, having the Spirit of adoption, otherwise he would not have written to them. He considers everyone, even the smallest and weakest, as such. Others have tried to cast them into doubt, but the apostle urges that their hearts should be sure before God, that they should not give in to any doubt, for they have the whole Christ, and are perfect Christians, having eternal life. Only in this way, having this, can they remain firmly convinced, even if they are dissuaded, that they have received eternal life. They received forgiveness and became sons. If others began to cast them into doubt, they, as the apostle writes, would have no reason to doubt.

I have no doubt that this is the true meaning of what is said in John. 8:25: “He was from the beginning, just as I told you.” What he said fully expressed his nature. Who He was is conveyed by His words. So this is the life that was handed down to us, but it was the love of God among men and in man. And this life is our life, and the word of Christ is given to us to know it, and if we keep it, then love will appear in us in all its depth.

Therefore, in this way we know that we are in him, for we know what he is in the unity of his nature. Now, if we say that we abide in him, it is evident from what we now see in the instruction given to us by the apostle, that we ought to do as he did. Our actions are actually an expression of our life, and that life is Christ known through his Word. And since it is known through His Word, we who have this life accept the spiritual responsibility to follow it, in other words, to do as He did. For that word is the expression of his life.

Obedience, precisely as obedience, is thus rather a moral characteristic feature of the life of Christ in us. However, this is proof of what in Christendom is inseparable from the life of Christ in us: we abide in him. We know that we not only know it, but we also abide in it. Enjoying the perfect love of God in the path of obedience makes us aware, through the Holy Spirit, that we are in it. However, if I am in him, then I cannot be exactly the same as He was, for He was completely sinless. But I must do as He did. Therefore, I know that I am in it. But if I admit that I am in him, then my soul and heart are completely there, and I must act as He did. The principles that form the way of our life are: obedience as the main one, keeping his word so that the perfect love of God may remain in me, and also knowing that I am in him.

Verses 7 and 8 present two forms of the rule of this life - two forms which, moreover, correspond to the two principles of which we have just spoken. The Apostle John writes not a new commandment, but an ancient commandment: the word of Christ from the beginning. If it were not so, if it were new in this sense, then it would be much worse for the one who puts it forward, for it would no longer be an expression of the perfect life of Christ himself, but would be something else, perhaps a falsification of that what Christ spoke about. This coincides with the first principle, that is, it refers to the obedient fulfillment of the commandments, the commandments of Christ. What He said was an expression of what He was. He could command that they love one another as He loved them (compare with the Beatitudes).

The new commandment is “the true light is already shining.” In some other sense it was a new commandment, for (by the power of the Spirit of Christ united with him and drawing our life from him) the Spirit of God demonstrated the result of this life, revealing a new image of the glorified Christ. And now this was not only a commandment, but, as something true in Christ, it was contained in his own as partakers of his nature, abiding in him, and He in them.

Through this revelation and through the presence of the Holy Spirit, “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” There will be no other light in heaven, and only then will this light appear to everyone in cloudless glory.

There is still a lot of darkness in the world, but as for the light, it really is already shining.

The life spoken of in John. 1, 4, is now presented as the light of men (v. 9), only brighter still, with the belief that Christ is gone, but his light shines very brightly through the torn veil. We have already discussed the claims to know it, to abide in it. Now we have a right to abide in the light, and to abide in it before the Spirit of God touches in detail this life in proof of its existence for the soul, in answer to the seducers who seek to intimidate Christians with new statements that Christians do not really possess the life of the Father and Son. The true light is already shining. And this light is God, his divine nature. And as such, light is a means of judging the seducers themselves, bringing to light another quality associated with our being in the light, that is, with God fully revealed. Christ was the light in this world. And we are appointed to be light, and in this we are born of God. And he who has such a nature loves his brother, for is not God love? Didn't Christ love us and not hesitate to call us brothers? Can I have his life and his nature if I do not love my brothers? No. Then I am in darkness and have no light in my path. He who loves his brother is in the light, the nature of God is working in him, and he is in a bright spiritual knowledge of this life, in the presence of God and in communion with God. If someone hates his brother, then it is clear that he does not dwell in the divine light. Having feelings corresponding to a nature contrary to God, can he pretend to be in the light?

Moreover, there can be no doubt about who loves, for he walks in divine light. There is nothing in him that would cause another to doubt him, for the revelation in grace of the nature of God will certainly not do that which is contrary to God; This is precisely what is revealed in the one who loves his brother.

The reader here may compare this for his own edification with what is said in Eph. 4, 1-5.12, where these two names of God, used only to reveal his nature, are also used to show the way of Christians and their true essence. Only according to this the Holy Spirit reveals through the mouth of Paul the will and work of God in Christ. John shows more of the divine nature.

From 1 John. 1.1 - 2.11 ends with the introduction of the first part of this message. Here, first, the privileged position of Christians is narrated, our true position is spoken of, and we are warned against a possible fall. Then, beginning with the second verse of chapter 2, the idea is confirmed that Christians occupy a truly privileged position, having, according to the narrative, the following privileges: obedience, brotherly love, knowledge of Christ, abiding in Christ, enjoying the perfect love of God, abiding in that , who are in the light, the formation of conditions, which is confirmed in this way.

Having established the two great principles, obedience and love, as evidence of the possession of the divine nature of Christ, known as life, and our continuance in him, the apostle now addresses himself personally to Christians and shows, on the basis of revealed grace, their position in relation to three different degrees of maturity. Let us now consider this introductory but very important address of the apostle.

He begins with a call to all the Christians he addresses, calling them “children.” This is what the elderly apostle calls them, showing love for them. And since he urged them not to sin in verse 1, he now turns also to tell them that their sins are forgiven for the sake of the name of Jesus. This was the secure position in which all Christians were, and it was given by God to them all, together with faith, that they might glorify him. The apostle does not allow them to doubt that they are forgiven. He writes to them because that is who they are.

Next we find three categories of Christians: fathers, youths and youths (children). The Apostle twice addresses each category of Christians: fathers, youths and youths. He addresses the fathers in the first part of verse 14; to the young men - starting from the second part and until the end of the 17th verse; to children - starting from verse 18 and including verse 27. In verse 28 the apostle again addresses all Christians, calling them “children.”

The fathers in Christ are distinguished by the fact that they “knew the One without beginning” - the One who existed from the beginning, that is, Christ. And that's all the apostle had to say about them. Everything follows from this. John only repeats the same thing when, changing his form of expression, he again turns to these three categories of Christians. The fathers knew Christ. This is the sum total of all Christian experience. The flesh is condemned, recognized, no matter how far it penetrates and mixes with Christ in our feelings. She is recognized experimentally as unfit, and as a result of the tests Christ remains alone, free from all impurities. The fathers learned to distinguish what has only the appearance of goodness. They are not busy with experiments; that would mean for them to be busy with themselves, with their soul. All this is a passed stage. Christ alone remains our part, not being mixed with anything else; it was He who gave himself to us. Moreover, He is known much better, they knew through experience and in detail what He is, they knew him in the joy of communicating with him, in the awareness of their weakness, they knew his devotion, the generosity of his mercy, his ability to understand their needs, they knew him love, the revelation of his fullness, so now they can say, “I know who I believe in.” They are characterized by affection for him. These are the “fathers” in Christ.

The second category of Christians is represented by “young men.” They are distinguished by spiritual strength in the fight against Satan, i.e. energy of faith. They defeated the evil one. And the apostle speaks of their character of being in Christ. They fight and the power of Christ is demonstrated in them.

The third category of Christians is represented by “youths.” They know the Father. We see here that the Spirit of adoption and freedom characterizes the smallest children as believers in Christ, that is, it shows that faith is not the result of development. We have it because we are Christians, and it is always the hallmark of new believers. On the contrary, something else distinguishes those who lose it.

Addressing the young men, the apostle develops his thought and, in addition, warns them. He says: “You are strong, and the word of God abides in you.” This is an important characteristic. The Word is the revelation of God, and, applying Christ to the heart so that we thus have the incentives to form and guide the soul, it bears witness from the state of the soul and the confessions that have divine power in us. This is the sword of the Spirit in our clash with the world. We ourselves are shaped by what we witness in our dealings with this world, and this in us corresponds to the power of God's Word. The evil one is thus defeated, for he can only kindle worldly passions in us, while the word of God, abiding in us, keeps us in a completely different sphere of thought, in which a different nature is formed and strengthened through divine communication. Young men have a craving for everything worldly, they are characterized by youthful ardor, the strength of their age, and deviation away from the true path. The young man must beware of all this, completely separating himself from this world and everything that is inherent in the world, because everyone who loves this world is deprived of the love of the Father, for everything that is inherent in this world is not from the Father. The Father has his own world, the center and glory of which is Christ. The lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, worldly pride - all this is from the world and characterizes it. Indeed, only this is inherent in the world, and nothing else, only this moves it. All this is not from the Father.

The Father is the source of everything that corresponds to his soul - every grace, every spiritual gift, glory, heavenly holiness, everything that was revealed in Christ Jesus. And this is coming: the whole world of coming glory, of which Christ is the center. And all this had only the cross as its destiny on earth. However, the apostle here speaks of the source of worldly things, indicating that the Father is not the source of them.

But this world passes, and everyone who fulfills the will of God, everyone who, passing through this world, chooses as his guide not worldly passions, but the will of God - the will that corresponds to his essence and expresses it - such a person will remain forever, according to that nature and the will that he follows.

We see that this world and the Father with all that is from it, the flesh and the Spirit, the devil and the Son, are opposed to each other. All that has been said, the principles operating in us and characterizing our existence and our condition, and the conflicting principles of good and evil opposing each other, have no uncertainty (we thank God for this!) regarding the outcome of the struggle, for the weakness of the dying Christ is stronger than the forces of Satan . Satan is powerless against everything that is perfect. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.

Addressing the youths, the apostle speaks mainly about the dangers to which they are exposed from seducers. He warns them with tender love while reminding them that all sources of spirituality and power have been discovered and belong to them. We are talking about the “end time,” not about the last days, but about a time that has the character of completion, belonging to the sphere of God’s relationship with this world. The Antichrist must come, and many antichrists have already appeared; This is precisely what indicates the advent of the “end times.” This is not just a sin, not just a violation of the law. But Christ had already come, and now that He had left the earth and was hidden from the world, there was obvious opposition to the special revelation that was given to people. This was not just doubt or unbelief out of ignorance, but it took the form of outright self-will directed against Jesus. Jesus' opponents may have believed everything the Jews believed, since it had already been revealed to the world, but as for the testimony of God given through Jesus Christ, they were hostile to it. They did not recognize Jesus as the Christ; they rejected the Father and the Son. All this, as a creed, bears the true character of the Antichrist. He may believe, or pretend to believe, that Christ is to come, and yet pretend to be him. Antichrist does not accept Christianity in two aspects: on the one hand, in the person of Jesus, the fulfillment of the promises promised to the Jews is provided, and on the other, the eternal heavenly blessings revealed in the revelation of the Father through the Son. The Antichrist is primarily characterized by the fact that he denies the Father and the Son. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is indeed Jewish unbelief, which forms the character of the Antichrist. What gives the character of the Antichrist is the denial of the basis of Christianity. He is a liar because he denies that Jesus is the Christ. Therefore, this denial is the work of the father of lies. But the unfaithful Jews themselves did a lot in this regard even without the Antichrist. It is characteristic of the Antichrist to reject the Father and the Son.

But there is something more. Antichrists came from Christians. Christian apostasy has already taken place. It cannot be assumed that these were true Christians, but apostates were among the Christians and came from them (how instructive this message is for our contemporaries!). Thus it was revealed that they were not the true flock of Christ. All this tended to shake the children's faith in Christ. The apostle tries to strengthen their faith. There were two means of strengthening their faith, which gave the apostle confidence. First, Christians had the anointing of the Holy One; secondly, what was from the beginning was the touchstone for any new teaching, and they already owned what was from the beginning.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in them, their anointing and spiritual knowledge and the truth that they accepted from the beginning, that is, the full revelation of Christ, was a reliable defense against deceivers and deceptions. It is possible to overcome every heresy, every error and corruption, having the first and divine revelation of the truth, if the anointing from the Holy One abides in us to condemn all this. Even the youngest Christians have this anointing, and they should be encouraged to exercise it, as the apostle here tenderly warned them about.

The essence of the Antichrist is that he rejects the Father and the Son. Unbelief again appeared in its Jewish form, for the Jews recognized the Messiah (Christ), but denied that Jesus is the Christ. Our sure protection against these deceptions is the anointing from the Holy One, but in a special way connected with the holiness of God, which allows us to clearly see the truth (another characteristic of the Spirit), and, secondly, what abides in us and what we have heard from started. This is obviously what we read in Scripture. Note that “evolution” is not something we have from the beginning. By its very name it fundamentally contradicts the defense that the apostle reminds us of. What the congregation preaches as the development of truth whenever it accepts it is not what was heard from the beginning.

There is another point to be noted here which the apostle points out in this chapter. People have a tendency to represent God in some obscure way as the Father, claiming to have him without the Son, Jesus Christ. However, this cannot be, for anyone who does not receive the Son does not have the Father. After all, it was through him that the Father was revealed to us, in him the Father was known to us.

If the truth that we have acquired from the beginning abides in us, it means that we abide in the Son and in the Father, for this truth is revealed by the Son and is his revelation, who himself is the truth. It is living truth if it abides in us. Thus, by possessing it, we possess the Son, and in the Son also the Father. We abide in it, and through this we have eternal life.

So, the Apostle John has the happy confidence that the anointing that Christians received from him abides in them, and therefore they do not need anyone to teach them, since this very anointing teaches them everything. This anointing is true and not false, for the Holy Spirit himself works in the Word, which is the revelation of the truth about Jesus himself, and there is no lie in it. Therefore the children must abide in it according to what the Word has taught them.

Note also that the result of learning to discern the truth by the anointing from above is twofold. Christians knew that the truth is not false, for it is from God, but everything that does not relate to it is a lie. They knew that this anointing, which taught them everything, was true and that there was no lie in it. This anointing taught them all things, in other words, all the truth as the truth of God. Therefore, what was not true was a lie, and there was no lie in this anointing. In the same way, the sheep hear the voice of the good shepherd; if someone else calls them, then it is not his voice, and this is enough for them to get scared and run away, because the other voice is unfamiliar to them.

Verse 28 concludes the series of appeals to three categories of Christians. The Apostle again addresses all Christians (v. 29). It seems to me that this verse echoes chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians.

Having finished his address to those who were all together in communion with the Father, the apostle turns to the most important principles of the divine life, the divine nature as revealed in Christ, in order to test those who pretend to share in it. He does this not to make believers doubt, but to discard all that is false. In his repeated address in verse 28, the apostle spoke about the appearance of Jesus. This represents the Lord as fully revealed and provides an opportunity to test the claims of those who call themselves by his name. There are two proofs having to do with the divine life, and a third which is additional as a privilege: righteousness or obedience, love and the Holy Spirit.

Further, I will note the amazing way in which God and Christ are spoken of here as one essence or person: not as in the doctrine of two natures, but Christ occupies the thoughts of the apostle, and he speaks of him in one sentence as about God and at the same time as about man . Look at verse 28: “He will appear.” Verse 29 says that “everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” This means that we are children of God. But the world did not know him. Now this is Christ dwelling on earth. In ch. 3:2 says that “we are now the children of God,” but the same verse says that when He appears, we “will be like Him.” But what is even more beautiful is that the apostle identifies us with him, calling us “children” because we are related to him. The world doesn't know us because it didn't know him. We know that we will be like him when He appears. We are given the same place here and there!

There is no righteousness in the flesh. If it is really found in someone, then this person is born of him, he borrows his nature from God in Christ. We may notice that such righteousness was demonstrated in Jesus; we know that He is righteous because we know that “everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” It is the same nature revealed through the same fruits.

1John 3

So to say that we are born of him is to say that we are children of God. What love the Father has given us that we can be called his children! Therefore the world does not know us, for it did not know him. The Apostle again speaks here of his coming and how it will affect us. We are children of God, this is our real, secure and known position, because we are born of God. What we will be has not yet been revealed. But we know that, being in a relationship through Jesus with the Father, having him as our life, we will become like the Lord when He appears. For it is we who are destined to see him as he now is, being with his Father, from whom proceeds the life manifested in him and given to us, and we will appear in the same glory.

John usually uses the word “children” rather than “sons” because this word more clearly conveys the idea that we are from the same family. We are like Christ in this world, and we will be like that when He appears.

Having the hope of seeing Him as He is, knowing that I will be perfect like Him when He appears, I strive to be like Him now, as far as possible, since I already have this life and He is in me and is mine life.

This is the measure of our practical purification. We are not so pure as He is pure, but we take Christ as He appears in heaven as the pattern and standard of our purification; we are being purified to be as perfect as Him when He appears. Before contrasting the principles of the divine life with the devil, the apostle presents to our attention the true standard of purity (a little later he will present to us the criterion of love) for children, since they are participants in his nature and have the same relationship with God.

“And everyone who has this hope in Him...” Two points need to be made here. First, “hope in Him” is a hope that has Christ as its end. Secondly, it is surprising to see how at first glance the apostle confuses the words “God” and “Christ” in his epistle: he uses the word “His” both to designate Christ and when he speaks of God. We can clearly see the principle of this at the end of the fifth chapter: “And that we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” In these few words we have the key to understanding the message. Christ is life. It is clearly the Son, but it is also God himself revealed and the perfection of the divine nature which is the source of life for us as that life was revealed in Christ as man. Thus I can speak of God and say, “Born of him”; but it is in Jesus that God was revealed, and from him I borrow life, therefore “Jesus Christ” and “God” alternate mutually. Therefore it is said about Christ: “He will appear” (chap. 2, 28). Christ is righteous, and everyone who does righteousness is born of him. However, in ch. 3:1 speaks of those born of God, the “children of God,” but the world did not know him, and here it speaks of Christ dwelling on earth. “When it is revealed” is again about Christ, and we purify ourselves “as He is pure.” There are many other examples.

It is said about the believer: “He purifies himself.” This indicates that he is not as pure as Christ. Accordingly, it is not said that he is pure, as Christ is pure (for then there would be no sin in us), but the believer purifies himself in order to be pure, like Christ who is in heaven, in order to have the same life that he has Christ himself.

Having demonstrated the positive side of Christian purity, the apostle continues to talk about it from a different angle: as one of the characteristic proofs of the life of God in the soul of man.

He who commits a sin (does not break the law, but) also commits lawlessness. To Rome. 2:12 this word is used in contrast to the term “breaking the law” or “sinning under the authority of the law.” That is, this Greek word, usually used to mean what is translated as “breaking the law,” is here used to mean “sinning without the law” as opposed to “sinning under the authority of the law and being punished by the law.” I do not hesitate to say that this change regarding the definition of sin is a very serious thing.

A person behaves unrestrainedly, disobeying the rules of the law. He does not curb his whims, for sin is an action without regard to the law or other authority, a willful action. Christ came to do the will of his Father, not his own. But Christ appeared to take away our sins from us, and there is no sin in him, therefore anyone who commits sin opposes the purpose of Christ's appearing; it opposes that nature in which we, since Christ is our life, have a part. Therefore, everyone who abides in Christ commits no sin, and everyone who commits sin “has neither seen Him nor known Him.” So we see that everything depends on participation in the life and nature of Christ. So let's not deceive ourselves! Everyone who does righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous, for by participating in the life of Christ, a person is revealed to God in all the perfection of him who is the head and source of such life. Thus, we are like Christ before God, because He Himself truly is our life. It is not our active life that is the measure of our acceptance, but Christ. For Christ is our life, and if we are accepted by God according to his excellence, it is only because we are participants in his life.

Note that condemnation is more than denial. Anyone who commits sin is from the devil and has the same nature with him, for “from the beginning the devil sinned,” and his true character is similar to the devil’s. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. How can one who shares the character of this enemy of God, the enemy of human souls, be with Christ?

On the other hand, everyone born of God commits no sin. And it's clear why. He becomes a partaker of the divine nature, inherits his life from him, the beginning of divine life is in him, the seed of God abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. This new nature has no sin in it to commit sin. How can it be that the divine nature sins?

Having thus defined these two families - the family of God and the family of the devil - the apostle adds one more sign, the absence of which indicates that a person is not from God. He has already spoken about truth, now he adds brotherly love to it. For Christ himself told the disciples about it, commanding them to love one another. In verse 12 the apostle shows that hatred of a brother is caused by the fact that the deeds of one are righteous, and the deeds of the other are evil. Moreover, we should not be surprised that the world hates us, for we know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. If this love is the essential proof that we are regenerated, then it is only natural that this love should not be found in worldly people. However, the fact is that anyone who does not love his brother (sad thought!) remains in death. In addition to what has been said, “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer... no murderer has eternal life.” The absence of the divine nature is death. Moreover, the old man acts in contradiction to the divine nature, he hates and acts in the spirit of death, and therefore he is a murderer.

Further, as in the case of truth and purity, we have Christ as the standard of this love. We know this love in this: Christ laid down his life for us, and we should lay down our lives for our brothers. Further, if our brother suffers need while we have plenty in this world, and we do not help him in need, then does that divine love that made Christ lay down his life for us abide in us? It is by this real and effective love that we know that we are in truth and that our soul is calm and confident before the face of God. For if we have nothing on our conscience, then we are confident of his presence, but if our heart condemns us, then God knows even more.

If we love our neighbors in his sight and do what is pleasing in his sight, then whatever we ask, we will receive from him. For, acting with such confidence before his face, we entrust the soul and its desires to this blessed influence, being instructed by the joy of communication with him in the light of his face. It is God who quickens the heart. This life and this divine nature spoken of in the epistle are in full activity and are illuminated and moved by that divine presence in which they take pleasure. Thus, our requests are fulfilled only if desires arise when this life and our thoughts are filled with the presence of God and communication with his nature. And He gives from His strength for the fulfillment of these desires, the source of which is He himself - desires that are formed in the soul by His own revelation.

So everyone who keeps his commandment abides in him, and he abides in obedience to him. The question arises: is God or Christ meant here? The Apostle John, as we have already seen, interchanges them in his reasoning. In other words, the Holy Spirit unites them in our consciousness. We are in him who is righteous, that is, in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is Christ who represents God to men in human life, and to the believer He is the communication of divine life, so that God also dwells in him. Christ communicates this through a revelation divinely beautiful and perfect, revealing that nature which the believer shares in the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling him, so that this love is equally manifested and brings joy to all.

But what a wonderful grace it is to have a life and a nature by which we are enabled to possess the very God who dwells in us, and by which, because this life and nature is in Christ, we actually enjoy fellowship with God, this nearness to God! He who has the Son has life, but God also abides in him as a part, and also as the source of this life, and he who has the Son also has the Father.

What wonderful links of vital and living joy received through the communication of the divine nature of him who is its source, and all this according to its perfection in Christ! This is what a Christian is by grace. And therefore a Christian is also obedient because this life in the man Christ (and thus it became ours) was the very submission and example of man’s true relationship with God.

Righteousness in practice is evidence that we are born of him who by nature is the source of that righteousness. In the midst of worldly hatred, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. So, having a good conscience, we have boldness towards God, and we will receive from him everything we ask if we are submissive to him and do what is pleasing in his sight. In doing this, we abide in him and He in us.

Here abiding in it is spoken of first of all, because it is the practical fulfillment of the submission of the soul. After all, his presence in us is spoken of separately; it is known by the Spirit given to us to keep us from the wrong path that we can take under the influence of evil forces. In ch. 4:7 the apostle returns to this again, speaking of the love of God.

So here is a third proof of Christian privilege. The Spirit which He has given us is proof that He Himself abides in us; this is a manifestation of the presence of God in us. Here the apostle does not add that we also abide in him, because we are talking about the manifestation of the presence of God. This is indicated by the presence of the Spirit. However, in staying in it there is, as we will see later, enjoyment of its essence and, accordingly, spiritual communication with its nature. As we have already seen, everyone who is obedient has this. This speaks of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. But the presence of God in us by grace and through the power of the Spirit also involves communion with the divine nature. And we abide in him, from whom we borrow this grace and all the spiritual forms of this nature, we borrow in communication with him and in practical life. The apostle speaks about this in the 12th 16th verses of the 4th chapter.

Effective righteousness or obedience, brotherly love, the manifestation of the Spirit of God - all these are evidence of our connection with God. He who obediently fulfills the commandments of the Lord and demonstrates righteousness actually abides in him, and He in him. The Holy Spirit given to us is evidence that He dwells in us.

1John 4

So, in order to use the last proof, foresight and caution were required, for even in the time of the apostles there were already many false prophets who pretended to have communication with the Holy Spirit and crept into the society of Christians. It was necessary, therefore, to teach Christians the precautions to be taken by showing them the exact mark of the true Spirit of God. The first sign was the confession of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. It is not merely a confession that He came, but that He came in the flesh. Secondly, the one who truly knows God listened to the apostles. Thus, what the apostles wrote became a touchstone for those who aspired to become preachers in the congregation. The whole Word of God is like this, and this is certain, but I will limit myself here to what is said in this passage. Indeed, the teaching of the apostles is the touchstone for every other teaching - I mean what they themselves directly teach. If someone tells me that others must interpret or develop doctrine in order to have truth and confidence in the faith, then I will answer: “You are not from God, because he who is from God listens to the apostles, and you want me to I didn’t listen to them, and no matter what you give as an excuse, you will not be able to confuse me.” The spirit that denies Jesus who came in the flesh is the spirit of the Antichrist. Not listening to the apostles is the initial form of evil. True Christians have overcome the spirit of error by the Spirit of God who dwells in them.

The three tests of true Christianity are now clearly set forth, and the apostle continues his exhortations by speaking of our full and intimate connection with God, who is love, affirming that participation in the nature in which love comes from God, whereby we are partakers of his nature, and everyone who loves others is born of God and knows him (for this is through faith) as having received part of his nature. He who does not love has not known God. We must have a nature that loves in order to know what love is. After all, he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Such a person has no feelings connected with the nature of God; how then should he know it? And without this, a person can know and understand God no more than an animal understands a person.

The reader must pay special attention to the special prerogative which flows from the whole teaching set forth in this epistle. The eternal life that the Father had was revealed and given to us. Thus we are participants in the divine nature. The love inherent in this nature works in us under the influence of the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby we have fellowship with God, who is the source of this love; we abide in him, and He in us. The first is the affirmation of truth in us. Feelings of this nature prove that He abides in us and that if we love so much, then God himself abides in us. But He is limitless, and the soul rests in Him. At the same time, we know that we abide in him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. However, this passage, so rich in blessings, demands that we strictly follow it.

The apostle begins with the truth that love from God is his essence. He is its source. Therefore, he who loves is born of God, is a participant in his nature. He knows God who knows what love is, and God is its fullness. This teaching makes everything dependent on our participation in the divine nature.

On the one hand, it can lead to mysticism if we focus our attention only on our love for God and on the love in us, which is the essence of God, as if it were said that love is God, and not God is love if we let us try to seek the divine nature in ourselves or doubt about others, since we will not find those fruits of the divine nature in us that we desire to find. As a result, the one who does not love (and this, as always, is expressed abstractly in John) does not know God, for God is love. Possession of the divine nature is necessary for understanding the essence of this nature and for knowing who is its perfection.

But if I strive to know it and receive or give proof of it, then this is not the presence in us of that nature when the Spirit of God directs the thoughts of believers with a specific purpose. The Apostle says that God is love, and this love towards us was manifested in the fact that He sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we could receive life through him. The proof of this is not the life in us, but the fact that God gave his only begotten Son so that through this we might have life and, moreover, our sins might be forgiven. Praise be to God! We have come to know this love, and the proof of this is not the fruits of its influence on us, but its perfection in God and even its manifestation towards us, which has nothing to do with ourselves. The manifestation of this perfect love is a circumstance beyond our control. We use it because we share in the divine nature and know this love through the infinite gift of the Son of God. The manifestation and proof of this love lies precisely in this.

It is amazing to see how the Holy Spirit, in a message that is essentially connected with the life of Christ and its fruits in us, gives proof and full characterization of love in something that does not concern us at all. Nothing could be more perfect than the way in which the love of God is here represented from the time of our transgressions until we “have boldness in the day of judgment.” God has provided for everything: love for us while we were still sinners (vv. 9, 10), when we became saints (v. 12), when we will be perfect in the position in which we will find ourselves on the day of judgment (v. 17). In the first of these verses the love of God is demonstrated in the gift of Christ. First, thanks to him we have gained life, but before we were dead; secondly, our sins have been atoned for, but before we were sinners. Our position has been considered in all respects. In the following verses indicated, the great principle of grace is presented, and what the love of God is and how to know it, and this is clearly expressed in words of infinite importance for revealing the very essence of Christianity. “This is love, that we did not love God [for this is the principle of the law], but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” It was through this that we learned what love is. It was perfect in him when we had no love for him, perfect in him because He showed it to us when we were in sins, and “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The apostle undoubtedly asserts that only the lover knows God. This is what proves the privilege of having love. However, in order to know love, we must not look for it in ourselves, but look for its manifestation in God. He gives loving life and propitiation for our sins.

Now let's talk about having the love of God and its privileges. If God loved us so much (this is what He takes as a basis), then we should love each other. “No one has ever seen God,” but if “we love each other, then God abides in us.” The presence of God and his abiding in us lifts us in his majestic nature above all obstacles and circumstances, drawing us to those who are of him. It is God, by virtue of his nature, who is the source of thoughts and feelings that spread among those who have this nature. It's clear. How does it happen that I have the same thoughts, the same feelings and sympathies as those people whom I have never seen? Why am I closely connected with them and have so much more in common with them than with my childhood friends? Yes, because both in them and in me there is a common source of thoughts and feelings that is not inherent in the world. And this is God. God dwells in them and in me. What happiness! what a connection! Doesn't He fill our souls with Himself? Is it not He who makes his presence felt in love? This is certainly true. And since He thus dwells in us as the blessed source of our thoughts, can there be fear, or alienation, or uncertainty in relation to Him? Not at all. His love is perfect in us. We know His manifestation of love in our soul. The enjoyment of divine love abiding in our souls is the second important point in this wonderful passage.

Until this moment, the Apostle John did not say that “we abide in Him and He in us.” He declares it now. But if we have brotherly love, then God also abides in us. When this manifests itself, we experience the presence of God within us as perfect love. It fills the soul and thus manifests itself in us. And this feeling is the result of the presence of his Spirit in us as the source, the force of life and the divine nature. It says here that He did not give us “His Spirit” (proof that He abides in us), but “of His Spirit.” And we, through his presence in us, enjoy divine love, thanks to this Spirit, and thus we know not only about his presence in us, but also about the presence of the Spirit, acting in that nature that is in us from God, and giving us to understand that we dwell in Him, for He is that immensity and that perfection that is now in us.

The soul is calmed by this, rejoices in it and avoids everything that is not connected with it, feeling in itself that perfect love in which (thus being in it) a person finds himself. By the Spirit we abide in God; He gives us the feeling that He dwells in us. Therefore, we, tasting and feeling this divine love, can understand what is inaccessible to the Jews with all their limitations, namely, that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Next we will see another feature of this.

If we compare Ch. 4, 12 c John. 1:18, this will help us better understand the purpose of the teaching of the Apostle John. The same difficulty, or, if you like, the same truth is presented in both cases. “No one has ever seen God.” How is this explained?

In John. 1:18 God was revealed by the “Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.” He who is in the most perfect intimacy with him, in the most absolute kinship with God and tastes the love of the Father - this eternal and perfect one, who knew the love of the Father as his only begotten Son, He revealed God to people as He knew Him. Notice that it does not say “was in the bosom,” but “he who was in the bosom.” Scripture never says that the Son left the bosom of the Father, but it says: “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.” Knowing God in this way, He reveals him to people on earth.

What answer is given in our message to this difficulty? “If we love one another, then God abides in us, and His love is perfect in us.” Through the transmission of the divine nature to us and thanks to the indwelling of God in us, we rejoice in him in our souls as he was revealed by his only begotten Son. His love is perfect in us, known to our soul as revealed by Jesus. God, revealed by the Son, dwells in us. What a wonderful idea! This is the answer to the fact that “no one has ever seen God,” and equally to the fact that the only begotten Son revealed him and that he abides in us. What light this sheds on the words - “what is true both in Him and in you”! For it is because Christ has become our life that we can thus rejoice in God and his presence in us under the influence of the Holy Spirit. From this we see what follows from verse 14. And this shows us, in the highest sense, the difference between the gospel of John and the first epistle of John.

Even in what Christ says about himself, we see the difference between God abiding in us and us abiding in God. Christ always abides in the Father, and the Father in him. However, Jesus says, “The Father who abides in Me is the One who creates.” Hearing the words of Christ, the disciples should believe in him and in the Father, but in what they heard they should rather see evidence that the Father abides in him and that those who saw him saw the Father. But on that day when the Comforter appears, they will know that Jesus abided in his Father, the divine abided with the Father.

The Apostle does not say that we abide in God or in the Father, but that “we abide in Him,” and we know this because “He has given us of His Spirit.” The only expression in Scripture that somewhat resembles this is the phrase: “To the church of Thessalonica in God the Father,” but that was an address to a large congregation, which has a slightly different meaning.

We have already noticed that in Chap. 3:24 He says: “We know that He abides in us by the Spirit which He gave us.” Here the apostle adds that we know that we abide in God, because it is not a manifestation of him as a proof, but communication with God himself. We know that we are in him, and this is always, like a precious truth, an unchangeable fact, felt when his love acts in the soul. Therefore, having this very activity in mind, the apostle immediately adds: “And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” This testified to everyone the love that the apostle, like all believers, enjoyed in his soul. It is important to note that this passage first refers to God being in us, then to the consequence (since He is infinite) that we are in him, and finally to realizing the first truth in experiencing the reality of life.

We may observe here, that as the abiding of God in us is a doctrine of doctrine, and is true of every true Christian, our abiding in him, though caused by it, is nevertheless connected with our condition. This is confirmed by the following verses: “And whoever keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him” (chap. 3, 24) and “...he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (chap. 4 , 16).

Loving one another is indeed taken as proof that God is in us and his love is perfect in us; this distinguishes his presence in us from the presence of Christ in us (John 1:18). But it is through this love that we know that we are in him, and He is in us. In any case, this knowledge is transmitted through the Spirit. Verse 15 states a universal fact, verse 16 reveals all the way down to the source of this love. We learned and believed in the love that God has for us. His nature is manifested in this (for we rejoice in God). God is love, and everyone who abides in love abides in God and God in him. There is nothing like it anywhere. If we draw from his nature, then we also draw from his love, and everyone who abides in his love abides in God, who is the fullness of it. Note, however, that the confirmation of what He is entails a persistent confirmation of His personal being - He dwells in us.

And here comes a principle of deep importance. Perhaps it should be said that this abiding of God in us and our abiding in him depends to a large extent on spirituality, for the apostle did indeed speak of the highest joy. And although the degree to which we comprehend all this indicates spirituality, yet this very existence in itself is part of every Christian. This is our position because Christ is our life and because the Holy Spirit has been given to us. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” How great is the grace of the gospel! How delightful is our position, because we occupy it by abiding in Jesus! It is very important to confirm that the joy of the humiliated is the lot of every Christian.

The apostle explains this high position by the possession of a divine nature - a state inherent in Christianity. A Christian is one who is a participant in the divine nature and in whom the Spirit dwells. However, knowledge of our situation does not follow from consideration of a given truth (although it depends on its truth), but, as we have already seen, from the love of God. And the apostle continues: “And we knew the love that God has for us, and we believed in it.” This is the source of our knowledge and joy in these privileges, so pleasant and so wonderfully sublime, yet so simple and so real to the heart when they are known.

We have known love - the love with which God loves us - and believed in it. Precious knowledge! Having found it, we came to know God, for this is how He revealed himself. Therefore we can say: “God is love.” And nothing more than that. He is love itself. He is love in its entirety. He is not holiness, but a saint, but He is love. He is not righteousness, but righteous. Righteousness and holiness presuppose a reference to another. Thus, evil is known, the denial of evil and condemnation. Love, although shown towards others, is what He represents. Another name that God goes by is light. We are said to be “light in the Lord,” because we are partakers of the divine nature, not of love, which, although divine in nature, is nevertheless independent in grace. Therefore we cannot be called love.

After all, being in love, I abide in him, but I am not capable of this until He abides in me, and He does this. Here the apostle first says that we abide in him, because God himself is before us as the love in which we abide. Therefore, when I think about this love, I say that I abide in it, because I recognize it with my soul through the Spirit. At the same time, this love is an effective and powerful principle in us; this is God himself. Such is the joy of our situation - the situation of every Christian.

Verses 14 and 16 reveal the double effect of God's love.

First, the evidence that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world. This is outside the scope of the promises given to the Jews (as elsewhere in John's gospel); this work is the result of what God himself is. Accordingly, everyone who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God enjoys the fullness of the blessed fruits of love.

Secondly, the Christian himself believes in this love, and he enjoys it in all its fullness. There is only this formulation of the expression of our glorious destiny: the confession of Jesus as the Son of God is here in the first place a proof that God abides in us, although another part of this truth equally affirms that whoever confesses it also abides in God.

Speaking about our participation in communication with God as believers in his love, we can say that everyone who abides in love also abides in God, for as a result it comes to the heart. Here is another part of the truth revealed which is equally true: God abides in him equally.

I spoke about the awareness of this abiding in God, because this is the only way to know it. But it is important to remember that the apostle preaches this as a truth that applies to every believer. Believers may justify themselves by saying that they do not meet these standards, which are too high for them, but this fact rejects such an excuse. This communication is overlooked. However, God abides in everyone who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God and He is in God. What an encouragement this is for the timid believer! and what a reproach this is for a carefree Christian!

The apostle again speaks of our relational position, considering God outside ourselves as the one before whom we must appear and with whom we must always deal. This is the third great testimony and image of love in which it is perfect. It shows, as I have already said, that God thinks about all of us, from our sinful state until the day of judgment.

In this regard, love is perfect in us (so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment), and just as He is, so are we in this world. And, indeed, what else can give us more complete confidence in that day than that we will become like Jesus himself and be like the judge? The one who will judge by truth is our truth. We abide in him, in that righteousness by which he will judge. In terms of court, we are similar to him (that is, we are the same judges). And this can truly give us a perfect world. But notice that this will be so not only on the day of judgment (we have boldness for this), but we are like this in this world. Not as He was, but in this world we are as He is now, and we already have a certain position, and this position is according to the nature and will of God in that day. It is identified with it in our way of life.

So, in love there is no fear, but there is confidence. If I am sure that a person loves me, then I am not afraid of him. If I wish to be only the object of his love, then I may fear that I am not such and may even be afraid of him. However, this fear will always tend to destroy my love for him and my desire to be loved by him. These two concepts are incompatible - there is no fear in love. After all, perfect love casts out fear, for fear torments us and torment prevents us from enjoying love. Therefore, those who are afraid do not know perfect love. So what does the apostle mean by perfect love? This is exactly what God is, this is what He fully revealed in Christ, allowing us to know it and enjoy it through his presence in us, so that we might abide in him. The indisputable proof of its complete perfection is that we are like Christ. This love is manifested towards us, it has reached perfection in us and makes us perfect. But what we rejoice in is God, who is love, and we rejoice that He abides in us, so that love and confidence are present in our souls, and we have peace. What I know about God is that He is love, and love for me, and He is nothing else, but only love for me, and therefore there is no fear.

It is surprising to see that the apostle does not say that we should love Him because He first loved us, but that we love Him. We cannot know and enjoy self-love without loving ourselves. The feeling of love for us is always love. You can never know and appreciate it if you don’t love it yourself. My feeling of love in others is love for him. We must love our brothers, because their love for us is not the source of love, although it can nourish it in this way. But we love God because He loved us first.

If we, so to speak, go deep into the history of these affections, if we try to separate out what is united in joy, because the divine nature in us, which is love, enjoys love in its perfection in God (his love is poured out abundantly into the soul through his presence), if we wish to accurately define the connection in which our souls find themselves with God through love, we will receive the following answer: “We love him because he first loved us.” This is grace, and it must be grace, because it is God who must be glorified.

It is appropriate to note the sequence of verses in this remarkable passage.

Verses 7-10. We have a nature from God, and therefore we love. We are born of him and we know him. But the manifestation of love for us in Christ Jesus is the proof of this love, and it is through this that we learn about it.

Verses 11-16. We enjoy it by being in it. This is truly living in the love of God through the presence of his Spirit in us. This is the enjoyment of that love through communication, thanks to which God dwells in us, and we in him.

Verse 17. This love is made perfect in us; the perfection of this love is seen from the point of view that it gives us boldness in the day of judgment, because in this world we act like Christ.

Verses 18,19. Love reaches perfection in us. Love for sinners, fellowship, perfection before God give us the spiritual and specific elements of this love, representing this love in our relationship with God.

In the first passage where the apostle speaks of the manifestation of this love, he does not go beyond the statement that everyone who loves is born of God. The nature of God (who is love) resides in us; everyone who loves has known him, for he is born of him, that is, he has his nature and is aware of its essence.

This is exactly how God is in relation to the sinner, in which the nature of his love is manifested. Subsequently, what we learn as sinners we enjoy as saints. God's perfect love fills the soul abundantly, and we abide in him. As was already the case with Jesus in this world and as is happening to him now, fear has no place in those for whom this love of God is their abode and peace.

Verse 20. Testing our love for God, which is the result of his love for us. If we say that we love God and do not love our brothers, then we are lying, for if the divine nature, so close to us (dwelling in our brothers), and the appreciation of Christ given to it, have not awakened in us our spiritual affections, then can He, who is so far away, do this? He also commanded us that he who loves God should also love his brother. And this is where obedience manifests itself.

1John 5

Love for our brothers proves the truth of our love for God. And this love must be universal: it must be manifested in relation to all Christians, for “everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begat him loves him also who is born of Him.” And if birth from him is a motivating force, then we will love all those born from him.

However, the danger lies elsewhere. It may be that we love brothers because they are pleasant to us, their company pleases us, it does not offend our conscience. Therefore, we are given a counterargument: “We learn that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments.” I will not love the brothers as children of God until I love the God of whom they are born. I may love them separately as companions, or I may love some of them, but not as children of God, unless I love God himself. If God himself does not occupy his proper place in my soul, then what is called love for brothers excludes God, and this happens in a much more complete and subtle way, because our connection with them carries within it the secret name of brotherly love.

Now there is a criterion even for this love of God, namely, obedience to his commandments. If I, along with my brothers, are disobedient to the Father, then obviously I love my brothers not because they are his children. If this were because I loved the Father, and because they were his children, then I would clearly want them to obey him. After all, disobeying God together with the children of God and at the same time feigning brotherly love does not mean loving them as children of God. If I really loved them like that, then I would love the Father too and would not dare, disobeying him, to talk about the fact that I loved them because they are from him.

If I also loved them because they were his children, then I would love all of them, because the same reason obliges me to love them all. True brotherly love is distinguished, firstly, by the universal nature of this love in relation to all the children of God, and secondly, by its manifestation in true submission to his will. Everything that is not characterized by these signs is just carnal ostentatious spirituality, putting on a mask with the name and appearance of brotherly love. I probably don't love the Father if I tell his children to disobey him.

Thus, there is an obstacle to this obedience, and that obstacle is this world. The world has its own orders, which are very far from obeying God. If we are occupied only with thoughts of God and doing his will, the world soon begins to show hostility towards us. It also entices the soul of a person with its comfort and pleasure, causing it to act according to the flesh. In short, this world and the commandments of God are in opposition to each other, but the commandments of God are not a burden to those who are born of it, for everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. He has that nature and is armed with those principles that overcome all the difficulties that this world throws at him. His nature is the divine nature, for he is born of God; he is guided by the principles of faith. His nature is insensitive to all the lures that this world offers to the carnal, and the reason for this is that he is completely separated from this world; his soul does not depend on him and is controlled by completely different thoughts. Faith guides his steps, and faith does not notice this world and what it promises. Faith confesses that Jesus, whom this world has rejected, is the Son of God, and therefore this world has lost all power over the soul of the believer. Her affections and her trust are fixed on the crucified Jesus, and she acknowledges him as the Son of God. Therefore, the believer, having separated himself from the world, has the boldness to be submissive to God; he fulfills the will of God, which always remains.

In a few words the apostle sums up the testimony of God concerning the eternal life which He has given us.

This life lies not in the first Adam, but in the second - in the Son of God. Man born from Adam does not possess it, he has not acquired it. He really had to find this life by obeying the law, which can be summed up by the following phrase: “Do this and you will live.” But people were unable and unwilling to do this.

God gives man eternal life, and this life is in his Son. “He who has the Son (of God) has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

So what is the evidence of the gift of eternal life? There are three of them on earth: spirit, water and blood. “This is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood and the Spirit, not by water only, but by water and blood, and the Spirit bears witness of Him, because the Spirit is truth.” They testify that God has given us eternal life and that this life is in his Son. But where does this water and this blood come from? They flow from the pierced side of Jesus. This is the death sentence pronounced upon the flesh and carried out upon it, the sentence upon all that is in the old man, the sentence pronounced upon the first Adam. It is not that the sin of the first Adam was in the flesh of Christ, but Jesus died in it as a sin offering. “For if He died, He died once to sin.” Sin in the flesh was condemned in the death of Christ in the flesh. And there was no other way. The flesh could not be changed or brought under the law. The life of the first Adam was nothing more than sin, based on self-will; he could not be subject to the law. Our cleansing (as the old man) could only happen through death. The one who died is justified from sin. Therefore, we are baptized to take part in the death of Jesus. It is as if we were crucified together with Christ, and yet we live, but it is not us, but Christ who lives in us. By participating in the life of the risen Christ, we consider ourselves to have died with him; for why live this new life, this life of the second Adam, if we can live before the face of God the life of the first Adam? No. Living in Christ, we have by faith approved the death sentence pronounced by God on the first Adam, and this is Christian cleansing, the death of the old man, because we have become partakers of life in Christ Jesus. “We died” - crucified with him. We need to be completely cleansed before God. We have it because what was unclean no longer exists. And that which exists as born of God is completely pure.

He came by water, the water that flowed from the pierced side of the dead Christ - what a strong proof that it is useless to seek life in the first Adam. For the Christ who came in the name of man and took upon himself his burden, the Christ who appeared in the flesh, had to die, otherwise he would have to remain alone in his purity. Life is to be found in the Son of God who rose from the dead. Purification is achieved by death.

But Christ came not only by water, but also by blood. Such atonement for our sins was necessary as a moral cleansing of our souls. We have it in the blood of the slain Christ. Only death could atone for sins and erase them. And Jesus died for us. The believer is no longer guilty before God. Christ put himself in his place. This is life in heaven, and we were resurrected with him, God forgave us all our sins. Redemption is achieved by death.

The third witness is the Spirit. He is placed first among the witnesses on earth, since He is the only one who testifies, having authority, giving us the opportunity to recognize the other two witnesses. Finally, if we talk about the historical order, for this is what the order was, then death came first, and only after it the Holy Spirit. Even in the order of events, the reception of the Holy Spirit took place after the death of Christ (see Dap. 2, 38).

As a result, it is the testimony of the Spirit and its presence in us that allows us to appreciate the meaning of water and blood. We would never have understood the practical significance of the death of Christ if the Holy Spirit had not become the opening power for the new man to comprehend its importance and effectiveness. Thus, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven from the resurrected and ascended Christ. Therefore we know that eternal life is given to us in the Son of God.

The evidence of the three witnesses converges on one truth, namely, that grace (God himself) has given us eternal life and that this life is in the Son. A person has nothing to do with this, except perhaps his sins. This life is a gift from God. And the life that He gives is in the Son. This testimony is the testimony of God. What a blessing it is to have such a testimony, and to have it from God himself and through perfect grace!

So, we see here three things: cleansing, redemption and the presence of the Holy Spirit - as witnesses that eternal life is given to us in the Son, who was killed for people while among them on earth. He could not help but die for a person in the state he was in. Life was not in people, but in himself.

This concludes the teaching of this message. The apostle wrote all this so that those who believe in the Son might know that they have eternal life. He does not provide a means of testing this, lest it cause believers to doubt whether they really have eternal life. However, he allows them to see seducers who seek to turn them away from the true path, as if devoid of something more important, and who claim that they have some kind of higher light. John points out signs of life to believers to convince them; he reveals to them the superiority of this life and their position as having it; and all this so that they may understand that God has given it to them and that they should in no case be shaken in their thoughts.

Then the apostle speaks of the real confidence in God which follows from all this, the confidence which arises in connection with all our desires on earth, all that our souls would ask of God.

We know that God always listens to what we ask according to his will. Precious privilege! A Christian himself would not wish for something that would contradict his will. His ears are always open, He is always attentive to it. God always hears. He is not like a man who is often so immersed in his own worries that he cannot listen, or so careless that he does not want to. God always hears us, and, of course, He has power over everything. The attention He pays to us is proof of His good will. Therefore we receive what we ask of him. He accepts our requests. What a sweet connection! What a great privilege! And this is also what we can afford when we show mercy to others.

If some brother sins and God punishes him, then we can pray for that brother and God will give him life. Punishment leads to mortification of the flesh. We pray for the sinner, and he is healed. Otherwise the disease takes its toll. Any untruth is a sin, but there is also a sin that leads to death. It doesn’t seem to me that this is some kind of special sin, but any sin that is of a similar nature awakens indignation in a Christian instead of mercy. Thus, Ananias and Sapphira committed the sin of death. They lied, but the lie, in the circumstances, inspired more disgust than compassion. We can easily distinguish this sin in other cases.

This is all about sin and its punishment. But a positive side also opened before us. As those born of God, we do not sin at all, we keep ourselves and “the evil one does not touch” us. He cannot seduce a new person. The enemy has no means of attracting to himself the attention of the divine nature in us, which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is occupied only with the divine and heavenly, or with doing the will of God. Therefore, our destiny is to live like this, for the new man is busy with the affairs of God and the Spirit.

The apostle ends his epistle with a precise definition of two things: our nature and our way of being as Christians, and also what has been communicated to us to generate and nourish faith in us.

We know that we are from God, and we know this not by vague ideas, but by contrast with everything that is not ours. This is a principle of great importance, and makes the position of the Christian exceptional in its very nature. It is not just good, or bad, or better, but it is from God. And anything that is not from God (in other words, that is not born of him) cannot have such a character and occupy such a position. The whole world lies in evil.

The Christian has confidence in these two things by virtue of his nature, which is able to discern and know what is of God, and thereby condemn everything that is contrary to it. These two opposites are not just good and evil, but what comes from God and what comes from the devil. This is what goes to their core.

Regarding the purpose of the new nature, we know that the Son of God is coming. This is an extremely important truth. The point is not simply that there is good and there is evil, but that the Son of God himself came into this world of suffering to give purpose to our souls. However, there is something more important than this. He made us understand that in the midst of all the lies of the world, of which Satan is the prince, we can know him, who is true, for He is the truth. This wonderful privilege changes our situation entirely. The power of this world, with which Satan blinds us, has been completely broken, and the true light has been revealed to us, and in this light we see and know him, who is the truth, who in himself is perfection. Thanks to him, everything can be clearly examined and everything can be judged from a position of truth. But that is not all. We abide in this truth as partakers of his nature, and while abiding in him we can enjoy the source of truth. As I have already noted, this passage is a kind of key to our true knowledge of God, allowing us to abide in him. It speaks of God as we know him, in whom we abide, explaining that it is in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord that we abide. It is here, judging by the text, that it speaks of truth, and not of love. Now it is in Jesus that we abide. It is in this way, precisely in this way, that we are connected with the perfections of God.

We may again notice that it is the way in which God and Christ are united in the apostle's thoughts that gives its character to the whole epistle. It is because of this that the apostle so often repeats the word “He” when we should understand “Christ,” although a little earlier the apostle spoke about God. For example, in ch. 5:20 says: “That we may know the true God, and that we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

Look at the divine connections we have in our situation! We are in him, who is the true God; this is the nature of the one in whom we dwell. So, as for this nature, it is God himself; as for the person and manner of being in him, we are talking about his Son Jesus Christ. It is in the person of the Son, the Son of man, that we truly abide, but He is the true God, the real God.

And that's not all, for we have life in him. He also is eternal life, so in him we have it. We have come to know the true God, we have eternal life.

Everything that is outside of God is considered an idol. May God save us from idols, and may He teach us with His grace how to be saved from them! This gives the Spirit of God an opportunity in the next two short messages to speak about the truth.

1:1-4 John begins his letter by summing up the most important events of his life and ministry. The main thing for him is that he was honored to be an eyewitness of the Word of eternal life in the person of Jesus Christ. John was chosen by God to become one of the witnesses of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, to see, hear and touch Him, the eternal Son of God, whose unity with the Father can now be proclaimed to other people. The Good News that the Father is one with the Son was the essence of the apostolic preaching; This is what is written about in the First Epistle of John.

1:1 from the start. See In. 1.1 (verse consonant with Gen. 1.1). Such parallelism emphasizes that the incarnation of the Word is an event on a par with the creation of the world.

heard... seen... looked at... touched. These words are eyewitness testimony to the reality of the human nature of Christ, against which, in fact, the arguments of the Docetists were directed. The apostle exposes their false teaching below (2:22; 4:2,3).

about the Word of life. John preaches first of all about Jesus, embodied in the Word of God (John 1:1,14), and about eternal life given to us in Jesus and witnessed by the apostles.

1:5-10 Like the Gospel of John, 1 begins with a contrast between “light” and “darkness.”

1:5 God is light. With this definition of God, John emphasizes the absolute holiness of God.

1:7 Blood of Jesus Christ. As stated in Heb. 9:22, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Christ's shedding of His blood was a voluntary substitutionary sacrifice, invaluable to the elect; only such a sacrifice in the eyes of God could be a worthy payment for sin (Heb. 9:12-15).

1:9 If we confess our sins. God's forgiveness is granted to those who realize their need for it, and it is granted not on the basis of any merits of the applicant, but solely by the grace of God. God accepts us as righteous for the sake of the righteousness of Christ.

Now, regarding the first (a), main meaning of the term Logos, it must be said that both on the basis of the philological direct meaning of this term, and on the basis of the entire teaching of the Gospel of John about the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, this meaning - “Word” - is the only acceptable one in the present case . But understanding this name in this way as applied to Christ, we must remember that the evangelist, of course, called Christ the “Word” not in the simple (grammatical) meaning of this term; he understood the “Word” not as a simple combination of voice sounds, but in the higher (logical) sense ), as an expression of the deepest being of God. Just as in the word of Christ Himself His inner essence was revealed, so in the Eternal Word - the Logos - the inner essence of the Divinity was always revealed. there is Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is the Word, therefore, the “Word” was always with God. The existence of the Logos in itself “is by no means due to the fact that He is the Revelation of God the Father to the world, i.e. is not at all conditioned by the existence of the world; on the contrary, the existence of the world depends on the fact that the Logos becomes for the world the revelation of God the Father, but must necessarily be thought of as given in the very existence of God the Father” (Znamensky, p. 9).

The Fathers of the Church for the most part explained the meaning of calling Christ “the Word” by comparing Christ the Word with the “word” of man. They said that just as thought and word are different from each other, so is the “Word” - Christ was always a separate Person from the Father. Then they pointed out that the word is born by thought and is born, moreover, not through cutting off or expiration, but in such a way that the thought or mind remains in its own composition, so Christ is the Son of God, from whose birth no change occurred in the essence of the Father. Further, the Fathers of the Church, taking into account that the word, being different from thought in the way of being, always remains one with thought in the content or essence of being, deduced from here that the Son is one in essence with God the Father and by virtue of this unity in essence is neither is not separated from the Father for one minute. Thus, considering the term “Word” as a designation of the Son of God, the Fathers of the Church found in this term an indication of the eternity of the Son of God, His personality and consubstantiality with the Father, as well as His dispassionate birth from the Father. But in addition, bearing in mind that this term can also mean a spoken word, and not just something existing in thought (internal), the Church Fathers understood this term as applied to Christ and as a designation of the fact that the Son reveals to the world the Father that He is revelation of the Father to the world. The first understanding can be called metaphysical, and the second – historical.

Among the newest theologians of the critical school, the view has become established that the term Logos in John has only the meaning of a so-called “historical predicate”, and does not essentially define the Person of Christ the Savior. The evangelist seemed to want to say with this term that Christ is the revelation of God to the world. Thus, according to Tsang, Logos is a name that belongs to no one else but the historical Christ; it is the same predicate or definition of Christ as the definitions “light”, “truth” and “life” that follow in the prologue. Christ was not the Logos before the incarnation, but became such only after the incarnation. This view of Zahn is approached by the opinion of Luthardt, according to which Christ is called by John the Logos in the only sense that in Him the entire totality of divine revelations found its completion. Finally, according to Goffman, in John the Logos should be understood as the apostolic word or preaching about Christ. Of the Russian scientists, Prince took the side of these researchers. S.N. Trubetskoy, in his dissertation on Logos (Moscow, 1900).

But against such an understanding of the term in question in John is the extremely clear indication of the evangelist himself, found in the 14th verse of the prologue: "And the Word became flesh". That which at a certain time took on flesh obviously must have existed before that time, without flesh. It is clear that the evangelist believed in the pre-existence of Christ as the Son of God, as the Eternal Word of God. Then the entire content of the Gospel of John loudly cries out against such a narrow understanding of the German exegetes. In the speeches of the Lord, which John cites, everywhere there appears confidence in the eternal existence of Christ, in His consubstantiality with the Father. But it is precisely these same ideas that are included in the content of the concept of “Word” or Logos under consideration. And why would the evangelist attach such solemnity to his prologue if it spoke of Christ only as the Revelation of the invisible God? After all, such revelations took place in the history of the economy of our salvation and in the Old Testament (for example, the appearance of the Angel of Jehovah), and yet with his prologue John wants to open, so to speak, a completely new era in the history of salvation...

It should also be noted that when we insist that in John the term Logos means “Word” and not “reason,” we do not thereby deny that the Word is at the same time the Supreme Reason. And the human word does not exist apart from the thought it serves as an expression. In the same way, all the New Testament testimonies about the Son of God as the Truth and the Source of all truth leave no doubt that the Word of God is also the absolute “Mind of God” (see Znamensky, p. 175).

About where John got this definition - Logos, see below, in the explanation of the 18th verse of the prologue.

. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"In the beginning was the Word". With these words the evangelist denotes the eternity of the Word. Already the expression “in the beginning” (ἐν ἀρχῇ) clearly indicates that the existence of the Logos is completely removed from the subordination of time, as the form of any created being, that the Logos existed “before all things conceivable and before the ages” (St. John Chrysostom). This idea about the eternity of the Word is expressed even more strongly by adding to the expression “in the beginning” the verb “was” (-ἦν). The verb “to be” (εἶναι), firstly, is a designation of personal and independent being, as opposed to the verb “to become” (γίνεσθαι), which denotes the appearance of something at a certain time. Secondly, the verb “to be” is used here in the past imperfect tense, which indicates that the Logos was already at the time when created being was just about to begin.

"And the Word was with God". Here the evangelist says that the Logos was an independent person. This is clearly indicated by the expression he used “it was to God” - it would be better and more accurate to translate the Greek expression πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. John wants to say by this that the Logos stood in a certain relationship with God the Father as a separate independent personality. He is not separated from God the Father (which would be the case if the word τὸν Θεόν had the preposition παρά - “near”), but does not merge with Him (which would be indicated by the preposition ἐν - “in”), but resides in the personal and internal relation to the Father - inseparable and unmerged. And in this relationship the Logos always remained with the Father, as the verb “to be” taken here again in the past imperfect tense shows. As for the question of why here John calls God the Father simply God, this question can be answered this way: the word “God” is generally used to designate God the Father in the New Testament, and then John (as Loisy says) could not yet use it here the words “Father,” since he had not yet spoken of the Word as “Son.”

"And the Word was God". With these words John designates the divinity of the Word. The Word is not only divine (θεῖος), but is the true God. Since in the Greek text the word “God” (Θεός) is used about the Word without an article, while about God the Father it is used here with an article, some theologians (in ancient times, for example, Origen) saw in this an indication that The Word is lower in dignity than God the Father. But the correctness of such a conclusion is contradicted by the fact that in the New Testament the expression Θεός without an article is sometimes used about God the Father (;). And then in the present case, the expression Θεός together with the verb ἦν constitutes the predicate of the expression ὁ λόγος and, as a general rule, should stand without an article.

. It was in the beginning with God.

“It was with God in the beginning”. In order to prevent anyone from considering the Divinity of the Logos to be less than the Divinity of the Father, the Evangelist says that He is “in the beginning,” i.e. before all time, or, in other words, eternally stood in relation to the Father as a completely independent person, in no way different by nature from God the Father. This is how the evangelist summarizes everything he said about the Word in verse 1. At the same time, this verse serves as a transition to the following image of the revelation of the Logos in the world.

. Everything came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being that came into being.

"Everything" happened "Through Him, and without Him, nothing came into being" happened. Here, first positively and then negatively, the idea is expressed that the Logos was revealed in the world primarily as its Creator. He created everything (πάντα), i.e. every created being, without any limitation. But some, both ancient and modern, theologians saw in the expression “through Him” a derogation of the dignity of the Logos, finding that this expression indicates in the Logos only the instrument that was used to create the world, and not the First Cause. Such reasoning, however, cannot be considered sound, since in the New Testament the preposition “through” (διά) is sometimes used to describe the activity of God the Father in relation to the world (;). The Evangelist obviously wanted to use this expression to note the difference that exists between the Father and the Son, not wanting “that anyone would consider the Son unborn” (St. John Chrysostom), i.e. and personally no different from the Father. It should be noted that the evangelist about the origin of all created things uses a verb that means “to begin to exist” (γίνεσθαι) and, therefore, recognizes the Logos not only as the organizer of the world from ready-made matter, but also in the literal sense as the Creator of the world from nothing.

. In Him was life, and life was the light of men.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”. The life that was in the Logos is life in the broadest sense of the word (why in the Greek text there is the word ζωή - “life”, without an article). All areas of existence have drawn from the Logos the forces necessary for every created being to reveal their abilities. The Logos, one might say, was “life” itself, i.e. A Divine Being, for life is in God.

In particular, in relation to people, this animating action of the Logos was manifested in the enlightenment of people: this life (here the word ζωή is already placed with an article as a concept known from the first half of the verse) gave humanity the light of true knowledge of God and directed people on the path of a godly life: life was light for people. Just as no life in the world would be possible without material light, so without the enlightening action of the Logos it would not be possible for people to take at least a few steps forward along the path to moral self-improvement. The Logos enlightened both the chosen people of God with direct revelations and manifestations of God, and the best people from the pagan world, testifying to the truth in their minds and consciences.

. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it”. Since the last position of the previous verse might seem to readers to disagree with reality: the situation of the pagan world, and even the Jewish one, seemed to them as a state of extreme moral decline and hardening in sin, and therefore the evangelist considers it necessary to assure them that the light is the Logos, indeed , has always shone and continues to shine (φαίνει, present tense to denote constancy of activity) even in the darkness of human ignorance and all corruption (“darkness” is σκοτία and means a state of fall and resistance to the will of God, cf. ; ).

"Darkness did not embrace him". The meaning of the Russian translation is this: darkness failed to drown out, extinguish the action in the people of the Logos. In this sense, many ancient fathers and teachers of the Church, as well as many of the newest exegetes, interpreted this expression. And this interpretation seems completely correct if we pay attention to the parallel passage in the Gospel of John: “Walk while there is light, lest darkness overtake you”(). The same verb is used here (καταλαμβάνειν) to denote the concept of “embrace”, and there is absolutely no reason to interpret this verb differently than our Russian translation interprets. Some (for example, Znamensky, pp. 46–47) fear that such a translation will have to admit that John admitted the idea “of some kind of struggle between the very principles of light and darkness and, therefore, thought of them as real entities. Meanwhile, reality in the metaphysical sense can only be possessed by personal bearers of a known principle, and not by the principle itself.”

But such reasoning is not thorough. The idea of ​​the struggle between light and darkness, one might say, is the main idea of ​​John’s worldview and is strongly present in all his writings. Moreover, John, of course, speaking about the efforts of darkness to extinguish the light, was thinking about individuals in whom light or darkness found the most powerful expression. Thus, accepting the old translation, we paint for ourselves a majestic and terrible picture of the struggle of all dark forces against the divine enlightening action of the Logos, a struggle that was waged for several millennia and which ended extremely unsuccessfully for darkness: the divine beacon still shines for all those sailing through the dangerous the sea of ​​life and keeps their ship away from dangerous rocks.

. There was a man sent from God; his name is John.

So far John has spoken of the Logos in His state before the incarnation. Now he needs to begin to depict His activity in human flesh or, what is the same, to begin his gospel narrative. He does this, starting from the same place where Mark began his Gospel, namely, with the testimony of the prophet and forerunner John about Christ.

“Was”, more precisely: “came out” or “appeared” (ἐγένετο – cf.), "a man sent from God". The evangelist here, of course, means that God’s decision about the coming of John the Baptist was expressed in the book of the prophet Malachi (according to the Hebrew Bible). The evangelist also names the name of this messenger of God, as if wanting to show that his great mission is indicated in the name of John (from Hebrew - “the grace of God”).

. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that through him all might believe.

The purpose of John's speech was to be a witness and precisely "to bear witness to the Light," those. about the Logos or Christ (cf. verse 5), to convince everyone to go to this Light, as to the real light of life. Through his testimony, everyone - both Jews and pagans - had to believe in Christ as the Savior of the world (cf.).

. He was not light, but was sent to testify to the Light.

Since many looked at John as Christ (cf. verse 20), the evangelist says with special emphasis once again that John was not “light,” i.e. Christ, or the Messiah, but came only to testify about the Light, or the Messiah.

. There was the true Light, which enlightens every person coming into the world.

"There Was the True Light". Most ancient interpreters saw an indication of the state of the Logos before the incarnation and translate this expression as follows: “the true Light existed from eternity (ἦν).” Thus, here we find the opposition of the eternal existence of the Logos to the temporary and transitory existence of the Forerunner. Many new interpreters, on the contrary, see in the expression under consideration an indication that the Logos, the true Light, had already come to earth when the Forerunner began to testify about Him. They give the translation of our passage as follows: “The true Light has already come” or, according to another translation, “has already emerged from the state of concealment” (in which His life passed until the age of 30). With this translation, the Greek verb ἦν is given the meaning not of an independent predicate, but of a simple connective relating to the last expression of the verse ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον .

Our interpreters (including Znamensky) adhere to the first opinion, finding the second combination of expressions “too artificial.” But it seems to us that with the second interpretation we avoid the interruption in the flow of thoughts that necessarily results from the assumption of the first translation. In fact, if we find here an indication of the existence of Light before the incarnation, this will mean that the evangelist unnecessarily returned to his discussion about the Logos, which he had already completed when he began to talk about the appearance of the Forerunner (verse 6). Meanwhile, in the second translation, the sequence of thoughts is completely preserved: John came; he was sent to testify to the true Light; this true Light had already appeared in the world at that time, and that is why John wanted to testify about It.

Next, if in the expression ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον see the application to the expression τὸν ἄνθρωπον, then this expression will be completely superfluous, it will not add anything to the concept of “man” (ὁ ἄνθρωπος). Finally, if some people find it unnatural to separate the verb connective ἦν from the predicate ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον , then those who doubt can point to other similar combinations in the Gospel of John (). And among the weather forecasters, a similar expression ἐρχόμενος denotes the Messiah, i.e. Logos in a state of incarnation (; ).

In what sense did the evangelist call Christ “the true Light”? The word ἀληθινός - “true” can mean: valid, reliable, sincere, true to oneself, fair, but here the most appropriate is the special meaning of this adjective: fully realizing the idea underlying the existence of this or that object, fully corresponding to its name. So we use this expression when we say: true freedom, true hero. If John says about God that He is Θεός ἀληθινός, then by this he wants to indicate that He is the only one to whom this name “God” befits. (cf. ; ). When he uses the adjective ἀληθής about God, he thereby indicates the truth of God’s promises, God’s faithfulness to His words (). Thus, by calling Christ here the true Light (ἀληθινόν), John wants to say by this that any other light - whether it be sensory light, light for our eyes, or spiritual light, which some of the best representatives of humanity tried to spread in the world, even those sent from God, like John the Baptist, could not come any closer in dignity to Christ, who alone corresponded to the concept that we have of light.

. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him.

Identifying in his presentation the Logos, which is also called Light and Life, and the Man - Jesus, John speaks here and further about the light as a man ("He" - αὐτόν "did not know": αὐτόν - masculine gender). The Messiah was already in the world when John the Baptist began to testify about Him, and he was also there after, when this God-sent witness had already fallen silent forever, and it was natural to think that the world that He had once created would recognize in Him its Creator. But this, to our surprise, did not happen: the world did not recognize Him and did not accept Him. The evangelist does not speak about the reason for such a strange phenomenon.

. He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him.

Even more mysterious was the attitude towards the Messiah - the incarnate Logos - of that people about whom the Messiah could say: “These are My people” (cf.). The Jews, these people closest to the Messiah, did not accept Him (παρέλαβον - indicates that they should accept Christ for permanent residence, cf.).

. And to those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the power to become children of God,

However, there were people from both Jews and pagans (the expression ὅσοι, in Russian - “those who” denotes believers without distinction of origin) who accepted Him for the One He declared Himself to be. The evangelist calls these who accepted Christ believers in His “name,” i.e. in His power as the Son of God (cf.). To those who accepted Him, Christ gave “power” (ἐξουσίαν), i.e. not only the right, but also the ability, the power to become children of God (the Russian translation here incorrectly uses the verb “to be”; the verb here γενέσθαι means precisely “to become”, “to become”). Thus, Christians become real children of God gradually, through an intensified struggle against the remnants of sinful inclinations. They can always “be called” children of God ().

. who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Here the evangelist defines more precisely what it means to be a child of God. To be a child of God means to be in incomparably closer communion with God than children are in with their parents. Spiritual birth from God gives a person, of course, incomparably greater strength for life than ordinary parents pass on to their children, being themselves weak (this is indicated by the expressions “flesh” and “husband”, cf. ;).

Here we cannot fail to note the attempt to establish a new reading of this verse made by Tsang. Finding it incomprehensible that the evangelist here explains in such detail what it means to be born of God, Tsang suggests that in its original form this verse read like this: “Who (ὅς instead of οἵ) was born neither of blood, nor of the will of a man, but of God "(ἐγεννήθη instead of ἐγεννήθησαν). Thus, according to Zahn, we are talking about the seedless birth of Christ - a thought so clearly expressed by Saints Matthew and Luke. Tsang also finds confirmation of his reading in some of the writings of the holy fathers. He even claims that the reading he suggests was dominant in the West from the 2nd to the 4th century. But no matter how successful such a correction of the text may seem, nevertheless, the concordant testimony of all the ancient codes of the New Testament makes it impossible for us to accept Tzan's reading.

. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

Here begins the third part of the prologue, in which the evangelist more precisely defines the coming of the Logos as the incarnation and depicts the fullness of salvation that the incarnate Logos brought with Him.

"And the word became flesh". Continuing his speech about the Logos and His appearance in the world, the evangelist says that the Logos became flesh, i.e. a person (the expression “flesh” usually in the Holy Scriptures means a person in the full sense of the word - with body and soul; cf. Is. 40, etc.). At the same time, however, the evangelist does not make the slightest hint that with His incarnation the Word would suffer any diminution in His Divine nature. The disparagement concerned only the “form” of existence, not the “essence.” The Logos, as it was, remained God with all the divine properties, and the divine and human natures remained in Him unmerged and inseparable.

"And he dwelt among us". Having assumed human flesh, the Logos “dwelled,” i.e. lived and converted among the apostles, to whom the evangelist counts himself. By saying that the Logos “dwelt” (ἐσκήνωσε) with the apostles, the evangelist wants to say that in this way God’s promise to dwell with people was fulfilled (, 43, etc.).

"And we have seen His glory". More precisely: we contemplated, looked with surprise, awe (ἐθεασάμεθα) at ​​His glory, i.e. the incarnate Logos. His glory was revealed mainly in His miracles, for example in the Transfiguration, which only the three apostles, including John, were worthy of seeing, as well as in His teaching and even in His very humiliation.

"Glory as the only begotten from the Father", i.e. such glory as He should have had as the only Son of God, having an incomparably greater portion than the other children of God, who became so by grace. The expression “from the Father” (παρὰ πατρός) cannot refer to the word “Only Begotten” (then instead of the preposition παρ the preposition ἐκ would be put). This expression defines the “glory” that the Logos had: this glory was received by Him from the Father.

"Full of grace and truth". These words should appear at the very end of the verse, as in the Greek and Slavic texts. In the Greek text, the word “full” (πλήρης) does not agree with the nearest noun “glory”, and also does not agree with the pronoun “His”. Nevertheless, it is most natural to attribute this expression to the pronoun “His”, and from a grammatical point of view such an agreement will not seem surprising, since among the Greeks (around the time of R. X.) the word πλήρης was often used as an indeclinable (Goltsman, p. 45 ). Thus, the Logos is here called “full of grace,” i.e. divine love and mercy for people, “and truth,” which was manifested in His teaching and life, in which there was nothing merely apparent, but everything was real, so that the word was always in agreement with the deed.

. John testifies of Him and, exclaiming, says: This was He of whom I said that He who came after me stood before me, because He was before me.

“John testifies of Him...” The evangelist interrupts his memories of the manifestations of the glory of the incarnate Logos by citing the testimony of Christ, which was given by the Forerunner. It is very likely that among those for whom he intended his Gospel there were many who greatly revered the Baptist and to whom his testimony of Christ was of great importance. The evangelist, as it were, now hears the loud voice of the Baptist (the verb κέκραγεν here has the meaning of the present tense), because he, the evangelist wants to say, was completely convinced of the divine greatness of Christ.

“This was the One...”. With the word “This,” the Baptist pointed his disciples to Jesus Christ who had approached them (cf. verse 29) and identified Him with that Person about whom he had previously spoken to them those words that he now repeats here: "Coming After Me" etc.

“He who followed me stood before me”. With these words, the Baptist wants to say that Christ first walked behind him, and then, and precisely now, he is already walking ahead of him, so to speak, overtaking the Baptist. On what the Baptist currently based his idea of ​​Jesus is not visible: there could still be no talk of any successes of Jesus at that time (cf.). But the Baptist recognizes this anticipation of him by Jesus as quite natural in view of the fact that He was before him. The last words clearly have the meaning of defining the eternity of Christ. The Baptist, undoubtedly in a state of prophetic rapture, announces to his disciples the great mystery of the pre-existence of Christ. Christ was, i.e. existed earlier than the Baptist, although he was born later than him. He existed, therefore, in another world (cf.). This idea of ​​the eternal existence of Christ is expressed in the Greek text by the use of the positive degree πρῶτός μου instead of the comparative πρότερός μου, which would be natural to expect here.

. And from His fullness we have all received and grace upon grace,

“And out of His fullness we have all received”. Here the evangelist again continues his speech about Christ. Now, however, he refers not only to what the apostles alone contemplated (cf. verse 14), but says that all who believe in Christ received “from the fullness,” i.e. from the extraordinary abundance of spiritual benefits that Christ, as full of grace and truth, could bestow. The evangelist does not say what the apostles and other believers actually accepted, hastening rather to point to the highest of gifts - “grace” ( χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος ). Some (for example, Prof. Muretov) expression "grace upon grace" are replaced by the expression “grace for grace,” believing that the evangelist here means that Christ is for our grace, i.e. love for people, responds on His part with grace or love (Spirit. Read. 1903, p. 670). But we cannot agree with such a translation because the love of believers for Christ can hardly be put on the same level as the love of Christ for believers (cf.). Moreover, the word “grace” is not used in the New Testament to denote the believer’s relationship to Christ. It would be more correct to see here an indication of the replacement of some gifts of grace with others, higher and higher (ἀντί here means “instead”). Christ, at the very calling of the disciples, promised them that they would be worthy to see more from Him than what they had just seen (verse 50). Following this, this promise soon began to be fulfilled () and, finally, the believers received from Christ the highest gift of grace - the Holy Spirit.

. for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The evangelist here confirms the idea that believers receive grace from Christ by indicating that grace and truth actually came and appeared from Christ. And how important these gifts are is clear from the fact that the most outstanding man of the Old Testament, Moses, gave people only the law from God. This law presented only demands to man, but did not give him the strength to fulfill these demands, since he could not destroy in them the hereditary tendency to sin. Moreover, Moses was only a servant, a passive instrument in the hands of Jehovah, as the expression used about him shows: "the law was given through Moses", while about the New Testament it is said that it originated (ἐγένετο) through Christ as from its ruler (Blessed Theophylact).

. No one has ever seen God; The Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed.

Against such exaltation of Christ before Moses, the Jews could say: “But Moses was worthy to see God!” (cf.). To this supposed objection, the evangelist notes that in fact none of the people, not even Moses, saw God: people were sometimes honored to see the glory of God under some kind of covering, but no one contemplated this glory in an inviolable form (cf.), and the evangelist recognizes this as possible for believers only in the future life (; cf.). Only the Only Begotten Son, eternally - both before and after the incarnation - abiding in the bosom of the Father - He saw and sees God in His greatness and therefore at a certain certain time revealed Him to the world, that is, on the one hand, showed God to people as their loving Father and revealed His attitude towards God; on the other hand, He carried out in His activity God’s intentions regarding the salvation of people and through this, of course, explained them even more.

It should be noted that in many of the most ancient codes of the New Testament, instead of the expression "Only Begotten Son" stands the expression “The Only Begotten God.” But the difference in readings does not change the essence of the matter: from both one and the other reading it is clearly evident that the evangelist wanted to express the idea of ​​​​the Divinity of Christ. As for our reading, which is taken from the Codex Alexandria, it is more consistent with the context of the speech and the word “Son” is best consistent with the expression “Only Begotten.”

Where did John the Theologian borrow his teaching about the Logos? It is most common in the West to attribute the origin of John's teaching on the Logos to the influence of Judeo-Alexandrian philosophy, in which there was also the idea of ​​the Logos as a mediator between the world and God. The main exponent of this idea is considered by the newest scientists to be the Alexandrian Jew Philo (died in 41 AD). But we cannot agree with such an assumption, because the Logos of Philo is not at all the same as the Logos of John. According to Philo, the Logos is nothing more than the world soul, the world mind operating in matter, and for John the Logos is a personality, the living historical face of Christ. Philo calls the Logos the second God, the totality of divine powers and the mind of God. One can even say that Philo Himself in His ideal relation to the world has a Logos, while in John the Logos is nowhere identified with God the Father and stands in an eternally personal relation to God the Father. Then, according to Philo, the Logos is not the creator of the world out of nothing, but only the world-former, the servant of God, and according to John, it is the Creator of the world, the true God. According to Philo, the Logos is not eternal - he is a created being, but according to the teachings of John, he is eternal. The goal that, according to Philo, the Logos has - the reconciliation of the world with God - cannot be achieved, since the world, due to its inevitable connection with matter, which is evil, cannot approach God. That is why Philo could not even imagine that the Logos would take on human flesh, whereas the idea of ​​the Incarnation is the essence of John’s teaching about the Logos. Thus, we can only talk about the external similarity between the doctrine of the Logos of John and Philo, but the internal meaning, apparently, of the theses common to John and Philo is completely different for both. Even the form of teaching is different for both: for Philo it is scientific and dialectical, but for John it is visual and simple.

Other exegetes believe that John, in his teaching about the Logos, relies on the ancient Jewish teaching about “Memra” - the supreme being in whom He is revealed and through which He enters into communication with the Jewish people and with other people. This being is personal, almost the same as the Angel of Jehovah, but, in any case, not God or even the Messiah. From this it is clear that there is not even an external similarity between the Logos of John and “Memra,” which is why some exegetes directly turned to the Old Testament in order to find the source of John’s teaching about the Logos. Here they find a direct, in their opinion, precedent for the teaching of John in those places where the personality and activity of the Angel of Jehovah is depicted. This Angel really acts and speaks like God Himself (;) and is even called the Lord (). But nevertheless, the Angel of the Lord is nowhere called the creator of the world, and he is still only a mediator between God and the chosen people.

Finally, some of the exegetes see the dependence of John’s teaching about the Logos on the teaching of some Old Testament books about the creative word of the Lord () and about the Wisdom of God (). But against such an assumption is the fact that in the places indicated by the defenders of such an opinion, the feature of the hypostatic peculiarity of the Divine Word appears too little in appearance. This even has to be said about the main support of this opinion - about a passage from the book of the Wisdom of Solomon ().

In view of the unsatisfactory nature of any assumptions about John’s borrowing of his doctrine of the Logos from any Jewish or, especially, from a pagan source, it is quite fair to conclude that he learned this teaching from direct revelation, which he received in his frequent conversations with Christ. He himself testifies that he received the truth from the fullness of the incarnate Logos. “Only the incarnate Logos himself, through His life, deeds and teaching, could provide the apostles with the key to understanding the mysteries of Old Testament logology. Only Christ’s discovered idea of ​​the Logos gave them the opportunity to correctly understand the Old Testament traces of the idea of ​​the Logos” (Prof. M. Muretov in “Orthodox Review”, 1882, vol. 2, p. 721). The very name “Logos” could also have been received by John in a direct revelation that happened to him on Fr. Patmos ().

. And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him: who are you?

"And this is the testimony of John". In verses 6–8 and 15, the evangelist has already said that John testified about Christ. He now talks about how he testified for Christ before the Jews (verses 19-28), the people and the disciples (verses 29-34), and finally only before his two disciples (verses 35-36).

"Jews". This word here means the Jewish people or the actual representation of the entire Jewish people - the great Jewish Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. In fact, only the chairman of the Sanhedrin, the high priest, could send priests and Levites to John as an official deputation, which was supposed to interrogate John. The Levites were attached to the priests as guards accompanying them; they performed police duties under the Sanhedrin (cf. and the following; etc.). Since the path from Jerusalem to Jericho and, consequently, to the Jordan, where John baptized, was unsafe (), it was not superfluous for the priests to take guards with them. But, besides this, the guards were taken in order to give the embassy a strictly official character.

"Who are you?" This question assumes that there were rumors about John at that time, in which his importance was too exaggerated. As can be seen from the Gospel of Luke, the people began to view John as the Messiah ().

. He declared, and did not deny, and declared that I am not the Christ.

John understood the question put to him precisely in the sense that those who asked would have nothing against it if he recognized himself as the Messiah. That is why he denies the dignity of the Messiah with particular force: “he declared and did not deny”, says the evangelist. But one can hardly think that the priests would have recognized John as the real Messiah. They, of course, knew that the Messiah should be born in the descendants of David, and not of Aaron, from whom the Baptist came. More likely is the assumption of Chrysostom and other ancient commentators that the priests, having extracted from John a confession that he was the Messiah, would have arrested him for appropriating a dignity that did not belong to him.

. And they asked him: what then? are you Elijah? He said no. Prophet? He answered: no.

The second question of the Jews was asked to John due to the fact that the Jews were expecting Elijah the prophet () before the coming of the Messiah. Since John, in his fiery zeal for God, resembled Elijah (cf.), the Jews ask him if he is Elijah who came from heaven? John was not such an Elijah, although he was sent "in the spirit and power of Elijah"(), which is why he gave a negative answer to the question of the priests and Levites. John responded in exactly the same way to the third question of the Jewish delegation, whether he was a prophet. The Jews asked him this question because they expected that the prophet Jeremiah or any other of the great Old Testament prophets would appear before the coming of the Messiah (cf.). It is clear that John could only answer such a question in the negative.

. They said to him: who are you? so that we can give an answer to those who sent us: what do you say about yourself?

. He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: straighten the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.

When the deputation demanded a final answer from the Baptist about his identity, John answered them that he was that desert voice who, according to the prophecy of Isaiah (), should call people to prepare the way for the coming Lord. For explanations of these words, see the comments to.

. And those who were sent were from the Pharisees;

According to the usual interpretation, the conversation between those sent from the Sanhedrin and the Baptist continues here. But we cannot agree with this interpretation for the following reasons:

1) it would be strange if the evangelist, having already given a description of the deputation, now only pointed out that it all consisted of Pharisees;

2) it is incredible that the Sanhedrin, in which the bishops belonging to the Sadducean party (about the Jewish parties, see comments to etc.) occupied a leading position (), would entrust the investigation into the case of John to the Pharisees, who differed from the Sadducees in their views on the Messiah;

3) it is unlikely that between the priests and Levites there were many Pharisees, who almost always grouped only around the rabbis;

4) while the last question of the deputation from the Sanhedrin testifies to its complete indifference to the work of John (see verse 22), these Pharisees are very interested in the baptism that John performed;

5) according to the best codes, the word ἀπεσταλμένοι is without the article ὁ, due to which this place cannot be translated as in Russian: “And those who were sent were from the Pharisees”, but it should be translated as follows: “and the Pharisees were sent,” or: “and some of the Pharisees were (more) sent.”

Thus, here the evangelist reports on a private request made to the Baptist by the Pharisees, who also appeared on behalf of their party from Jerusalem. This request followed when the official deputation had just left, which, however, the evangelist did not consider necessary to mention, just as he does not mention, for example, Nicodemus’s departure from Christ ().

. And they asked him: why are you baptizing if you are neither Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet?

The Pharisees want to know the meaning of John's baptism. He obviously invites everyone to something new with this baptism - what is this new? Does the activity of the Baptist have any relation to the Kingdom of the Messiah, which everyone then expected? This is the meaning of the Pharisees' question.

. John answered and said to them, “I baptize with water; but there is Someone standing among you whom you do not know.

John answers the Pharisees that his baptism does not have the same meaning as the baptism that the Pharisees imagined would be performed by the Messiah or one of the prophets. He, John, baptizes only in water, obviously contrasting in thought with his baptism the baptism with the Holy Spirit that the Messiah will perform (). No, as John says, you should not direct all your attention to me, but to Him who is already among you unknown to you, that is, of course, to the Messiah for whom you are waiting.

. He is the one who comes after me, but who stands in front of me. I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals.

(See verse 15).

"Untie the belt"- cm. .

. This took place in Bethabara by the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Instead of the name “Bethavara” (crossing place), in most ancient codes there is the name “Bethany”. This Bethany should be understood as a place after that, i.e. on the eastern side of the Jordan (in the Russian text inaccurately - “near the Jordan”). Tzan identifies him with Betonim, mentioned in the book of Joshua (). This place is located 10 kilometers from Jordan. The Baptist probably had his stay here, when many disciples gathered around him, who could not stay in the desert all the time in the heat and cold, without shelter. From here the Baptist could go daily to the Jordan and preach there.

. The next day John sees Jesus coming to him and says: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the world.

The next morning, after a conversation with a deputation from the Sanhedrin and with the Pharisees, John, probably in the same place near the Jordan River, seeing Jesus approaching him, testified about Him aloud in front of everyone around him as the Lamb who takes away the world. Why Jesus went to John at this time is unknown. The Baptist called Christ the Lamb (ὁ ἀμνός) of God in the sense that He Himself chose and prepared Him to be slaughtered as a sacrifice for the sins of people, just as the Jews, when leaving Egypt, prepared lambs, whose blood was supposed to save their homes from the terrible judgment of God ( ). God had long ago chosen this Lamb (;) and now gave Him to people - to all people without exception. One can hardly see in the words of the Baptist a relation to the Sufferer depicted by the prophet Isaiah (), as some ancient and modern exegetes believe. In the same chapter of the book of Isaiah, the Messiah is not directly called the Lamb, but is only compared to him and is the bearer not of our sins, but of illnesses and sorrows.

"Who takes away the world"- more precisely: he takes the world with him. The Baptist does not indicate the time when this Lamb will take away the sins of the world. The present tense of the verb αἴρω means, so to speak, an action not limited by a certain time: Christ “every day takes upon Himself our sins, some through Baptism, others through repentance” (Blessed Theophylact).

. This is the one of whom I said: A man comes after me, who stood before me, because He was before me.

Repeating his testimony about the superiority of Christ before him, the Baptist, John calls Christ “husband,” probably meaning that He is the true Husband or Groom of the Church, while John himself is only a friend of the groom (cf.).

. I didn't know Him; but for this reason he came to baptize in water, so that He might be revealed to Israel.

. And John testified, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and remaining on Him.”

. I didn't know Him; but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me: On whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

. And I saw and testified that this is the Son of God.

The listeners surrounding the Baptist could ask themselves: why does he speak with such confidence about the appearance of Christ? How does he know the task that lies with Christ? John, understanding the naturalness of such bewilderment, says that he also did not know Christ before, i.e. was not aware of His high destiny, but sent him to perform baptism so that he would reveal and indicate the Messiah to the people, having previously recognized Him himself. And the Baptist recognized the Messiah by a special sign indicated to him in revelation by God. This sign is the descent and stay over the head of the Messiah of the Spirit, which was supposed to descend from heaven in the form of a dove. John saw such a sign over the head of Christ and realized that He was the Messiah.

Thus, from these words of the Baptist it is clearly seen that John at first did not know that Christ was the Messiah whom everyone was then expecting. It is very likely that he did not know Christ at all, since he spent his entire life in the Judean desert, far from Nazareth, where Christ had previously resided. Only after the revelation given to him and especially after the baptism of Christ, John began to testify about Christ as the Son of God (according to some codes as “the chosen one of God,” but Tischendorf and other critics reject the latter reading). The fact that the Baptist, speaking of Christ as the Son of God, meant here the unity of Christ as the Son with God the Father in essence, and not only by the grace that rested on Him, is clearly seen from the fact that the Baptist repeatedly recognized the eternal existence of Christ (see verses 15, 27, 30).

Explanation of expressions: "Spirit like a dove", And: "baptizing with the Holy Spirit", see in the comments to.

. The next day John and two of his disciples stood again.

. And when he saw Jesus coming, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.

. Hearing these words from him, both disciples followed Jesus.

Here is the third testimony of the Baptist about Christ, which was delivered the next day after the Baptist testified about Christ before the people and his disciples. In front of his two disciples, who this time were with John, the Baptist briefly repeats what he said the day before about Christ, when Christ passed by the place where John stood. John “fixed his gaze” on Jesus (ἐμβλέψας, in Russian inaccurately - “seeing”), who at that time was walking at some distance, as if examining the area (περιπατοῦντι, inaccurately in Russian - “walking”). The two disciples who heard John's testimony this time were: Andrew (see verse 40) and, of course, John the Theologian, who usually does not call himself by name out of a sense of humility (cf. 18, etc.). The repetition of the testimony about Christ made such an impression on them that they followed Christ.

. Jesus turned and saw them coming and said to them, “What do you need?” They said to Him: Rabbi - what does it mean: teacher - where do you live?

. He says to them: go and see. They went and saw where He lived; and they stayed with Him that day. It was about ten o'clock.

. One of the two who heard from John about Jesus and followed Him was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.

Both disciples silently followed Jesus, not daring to start a conversation with Him themselves. Then He, turning to them, begins the conversation with a question: “What do you need?” The disciples, wanting to talk with Christ about everything that particularly interested them, ask Him where He is staying (μένειν does not mean “to live in one’s own house,” but “to stay as a guest in someone else’s house,” especially “to stay overnight” ; cf. ; ). It can be assumed that such a residence for Christ at that time was some village on the western side of the Jordan, where there were generally more settlements than on the eastern bank.

It was about the 10th hour when two disciples came to the house where Jesus was staying. Since John, undoubtedly, counts according to the Jewish reckoning, which in his time was common to the entire East (cf.), the tenth hour, obviously, was equal to our fourth hour in the afternoon. The disciples, therefore, stayed with Christ for the rest of that day and all night. At least, the evangelist does not say anything about them leaving by nightfall (John Chrysostom, Theodoret and Cyril, as well as Augustine). Since the first disciple of Christ was named exactly by the name of Andrei, from ancient times she adopted the name “First-Called” for him.

. He first finds his brother Simon and says to him: we have found the Messiah, which means: Christ;

. and brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of Jonah; you will be called Cephas, which means stone (Peter).

Having left the house where Jesus was staying, Andrew was the first to accidentally meet his brother, Simon, who, apparently, was going to the Jordan to listen to the Baptist. Andrei joyfully informs his brother that this Messiah has appeared, whom the Jews had been waiting for so long. The addition that Andrei found his brother “first” suggests that the other disciple found his brother, Jacob, a little later. When Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, Christ fixed his gaze on Peter (here again the same verb is used as in verse 36) and told him that he knew who he was (instead of “Jonin”, almost all Western codes read “John” ", see, for example, Tischendorf). At the same time, Christ foretells to Peter that in time - the time is not precisely indicated - “to be called”, i.e. according to the use of the verb “to be called” in the Hebrew language, he will become a person of the highest degree firm and energetic (cf.). This, indeed, is the meaning of the Greek word πέτρος, which conveys the Aramaic name “Kephas” given by Christ to Peter (more precisely, “Keifa”, corresponding to the Hebrew word “keph” - rock, stone), and over time Peter became such among the believers. Christ, therefore, in the present case did not change Simon’s name and did not command him to change it over time: He thereby predicted only a great future for Simon. That is why Simon, out of reverence for the Lord, took the new name Peter, and did not abandon his former one, calling himself Simon Peter until the end of his life.

. The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and he found Philip and said to him: follow me.

From here to the end of the chapter the calling of Philip and Nathanael is discussed. Christ calls Philip to follow Him with only two words: ἀκολούθει μοι (follow Me, that is, be My disciple - cf. ;). It must be remembered, however, that the calling of Philip, like the other disciples, this time was not yet their calling to constantly follow Christ, or even less a calling to apostolic service. After that first calling, the disciples still went home and at times went about their own business (cf.). Some time had to pass before Christ's disciples were able to become His constant companions and take upon themselves the heavy burden of apostolic service.

. Philip was from Bethsaida, from the same city as Andrew and Peter.

Mentioning that Philip came from the same city, Bethsaida, where Andrei and Peter came from, the evangelist, of course, wants to say that Andrei and his brother told their fellow countryman Philip about Christ, which is why he did not show any bewilderment when Christ called him follow yourself. Bethsaida, the birthplace of Andrew and Peter (they lived not in Bethsaida, but in Capernaum, see Mark 1ff.), was a city on the northeastern shore of the Sea of ​​Gennesaret, settled by the tetrarch Philip and named by him in honor of Augustus’ daughter Julia. Near this city, closer to the sea, there was a village also called Bethsaida (“house of fishing”; about Bethsaida, see also the commentary on).

"Son of Joseph". This is what Philip calls Christ because he did not yet know the secret of the origin of Christ.

. But Nathanael said to him: Can anything good come from Nazareth? Philip says to him: come and see.

Nazareth (see) obviously enjoyed a bad reputation among the Galileans, if Nathanael speaks so poorly of him. That is why it seems incredible to Nathanael that the Messiah would come from such a city, which enjoys an unenviable reputation.

. Jesus, seeing Nathanael coming to Him, said of him: Behold, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile.

When, at the invitation of Philip, Nathanael went to Christ, Christ told His disciples about him that Nathanael was a real Israeli, without any falsehood. There are Israelis who do not deserve to bear the sacred name of Israel, who are full of all sorts of vices in their souls (cf.), but Nathanael is not like that.

. Nathanael says to Him: Why do You know me? Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Nathanael, having heard the kind review made about him by Christ, asks Christ in surprise why He knows him, knows his character? In response to this, Christ points to His supernatural knowledge, reminding Nathanael of some incident from his life, which only Nathanael knew about. But this incident, apparently, was of such a kind that Nathanael’s truly Israeli dignity was expressed in it.

. Nathanael answered Him: Rabbi! You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel.

All of Nathanael's doubts disappeared after this, and he expressed his firm faith in Christ as the Son of God and King of Israel. However, some exegetes interpret the name “Son of God”, used by Nathanael, in the sense of designating the Messianic dignity of Christ - nothing more, considering it synonymous with the next name “King of Israel”. Perhaps this interpretation is supported by the fact that Nathanael did not yet know about the origin of Christ from God and subsequently (see, for example, Christ’s farewell conversation with his disciples) did not show sufficient confidence in the Divinity of Christ. But there can be no doubt that here Nathanael used the title “Son of God” in the proper sense of the word. If he meant the Messiah by the Son of God, he should have put in front the more usual name of the Messiah - “King of Israel.” Moreover, he calls Christ the Son of God in a special, exclusive sense, as evidenced by the article ὁ placed before the word υἱός. It now became quite clear to him what John the Baptist had previously spoken about Christ (verse 34). Finally, Nathanael could be convinced that Christ is a Being of a higher, divine nature by recalling the words of the 2nd Psalm, which depicts “today,” i.e. eternally giving birth to the Son, how the Son differs from all people ().

. Jesus answered and said to him, “You believe because I said to you: I saw you under the fig tree; you will see more of this.

For such a willingness to believe, Christ promises Nathanael and, of course, together with him, the other disciples to show even greater miracles. At the same time, Christ obviously accepts Nathanael as one of his followers.

. And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, from now on you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

The picture of the future that Christ paints here is undoubtedly related to the picture of Jacob's dream (). Both there and here the Angels are first “ascending” and then “descending”. There is no doubt that Christ and the evangelist himself, who cited these words of Christ about the Angels, recognized that Angels are indeed the executors of God’s commandments relating to people (cf. Ps. 102 et seq.;). But what time did Christ have in mind when he predicted that His disciples would see the open heaven and the angels descending and ascending? We do not see from John’s further narrative that Christ’s disciples ever saw Angels. And Christ says that “from now on” (ἀπ´ ἄρτι must, according to the context of the speech, be recognized as a genuine expression, although it is not found in many codes) will see these Angels. Obviously, this ascent and descent of the Angels must be understood in a figurative sense, and the very vision of the Angels by the disciples must have been accomplished in the spirit. The Lord deigned to express with these wonderful words that from now on He will be the focus of free communication and continuous unity between God and man, that in Him there will be a place of meeting and reconciliation between heaven and earth. From now on, continuous connections will be established between heaven and earth through these blessed spirits called Angels (Trench).

According to Tsang, Christ here calls Himself “Son of Man” in the same sense in which this name is used by Him in the speeches contained in the synoptic Gospels, and there, according to the same scientist, it denotes the true humanity of Christ, shows in Him the most ideal person (see, 12 and especially). But we cannot agree with this interpretation. The Lord here, in verse 51, obviously identifies Himself (the Son of Man) with Jehovah, Who appeared in a dream to Jacob, sitting at the top of the stairs along which the Angels ascended to Him. The fact that He had a basis for this can be seen from the 31st chapter of the book of Genesis, where it is said that not God, but the Angel of God () appeared to Jacob in Bethel. The Angel of God and Jehovah should be understood as the Only Begotten Son of God, Who appeared to the patriarchs of the Old Testament. So, Christ predicts here that the Angels, both in the Old Testament, served Him (Jacob’s vision), and now in the New Testament they will serve Him as the Messiah or, what is the same, the Son of Man (cf.), of course, in the work of His dispensation among the people of His Messianic Kingdom. “Do you see,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “how Christ little by little raises Nathanael from the ground and inspires him not to imagine Him as a simple man?.. With such words the Lord inspired to recognize Him as the Lord of the Angels. As to the true Son of the King, these royal servants ascended and descended to Christ, such as: during the suffering, during the resurrection and ascension, and even before that they came and served Him - when they preached about His birth, when they exclaimed: “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth”, adds the addition of “life” (vol. I, pp. 15 – 20). But everything that Tolstoy says in support of his translation completely misrepresents the entire content of the prologue, and, one might say, here Tolstoy achieves some kind of orgy of allegorization, reminiscent of those highly arbitrary interpretations of the Holy Scriptures that are found in the old Jewish rabbis...

Wed. . The expression ἀπ´ ἀρχῆς is used there, which has the same meaning as the expression ἐν ἀρχῇ. But the latter further emphasizes the difference between the Logos and created beings not only in time, but also in the nature of being... It is impossible to compare (like Godet) the expression ἐν ἀρχῇ in John with the expression ἐν ἀρχῇ in Moses () - it is impossible, because in Moses it is indicated on the initial moment of created existence...

In some codices, the words of verse 3 "what happened" (ὃ γέγονεν) refer to verse 4. But we cannot agree with such a reading, since it does not produce a sufficiently clear thought from the 4th verse... In fact, if we read the 4th verse like this: “what happened was life in Him” , i.e. had the source of its life in Him, then such a thought will turn out to be incompatible with the following expression: and life was the light of men, for here we are talking about created life, which could not be called “light for people” (Keil, p. 75 note).

Goltsman (p. 37) finds it possible to compare the teaching of the Logos of John the Theologian with the teaching of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus.

It can also be translated: “destroys, suppresses,” as in 1 Samuel. 25according to the translation of the Seventy (Fcine Theologie d. N. Testam. 1910, p. 683).

. About what happened from the beginning, what we heard, what we saw with our own eyes.

He speaks this to both Jews and pagans, who denigrate the sacrament of our salvation as something later. The Apostle shows that it is also ancient, for it is from the beginning and contemporary with the beginning represented in the mind, or that it is ancient not only of the law, but also of the visible creation itself, for it had a beginning, and it was before the very beginning. For what can anyone say about the pagan sacraments that appeared yesterday and the day before? They, accompanied by debauchery, occurred late, when impurity already lived in people, for which debauchery serves as a kind of top and monument, and through which we reached from a good state to the darkest night. Presenting the greatness of our sacrament in its comparative antiquity, the apostle adds that it is also Life - Life, not measured by time, but original, as always existing with the Father, as the Gospel says: "And the Word was with God"(). The word “was” does not mean temporary existence, but the original existence of a known object, the beginning and foundation of everything that has received existence, without which the latter could not have come into existence. Although it is said about every created being that it exists, for example, there is an angel, there is heaven, there is the sun, and so on; but actually and completely there is only One Son, with whose participation everything comes into being. Therefore Paul also says: “In Him we live, and move, and have our being”(). Whoever has previously heard about this from the initial teaching proceeds to seeing Him, not bodily, but rationally, and not with bodily eyes, but with the mind. “They touched” is said about the Word of Life, who said: “I am life” (). Perhaps this is also said about the Word who was in the beginning, because we heard from the law and the prophets that It would come. When It came clearly with the flesh, we saw It and touched It. For God, as He is in Himself, "no one has ever seen"(). And we joined the Word that appeared, not lightly, but, as has already been said, after touching, that is, after searching in the law and the prophets, we believed the Word that appeared in the flesh. What we saw and touched was not what It “was” (for “Who will explain His generation?”()), but what It “became” was felt both by mental touch and at the same time by sensory touch, as, for example, Thomas did after the resurrection. For He was One and indivisible, One and the same - visible and invisible, encompassing and immense, inviolable and tangible, speaking as a man, and working miracles as God. This is how we speak about the Word because of the closest unity of God with the flesh.

What our hands have looked at and touched, about the Word of life,

. For life has appeared, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you this eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us.

"Considered"- the same thing that they saw with their own eyes and were surprised; for θεάσασθαι comes from θαυμάζειν and means: to look with surprise. “Touched” is the same as what was explored. The connection of the speech is this: what was from the beginning, what we heard, and saw, and beheld with our eyes, and what our hands touched about the Word of life, which was revealed, and which we saw, and testify, and proclaim to you, that is, eternal life, which is with the Father and has appeared to us; Therefore, what we have seen we proclaim to you,

The Apostle did not proclaim as we do, firstly, for the sake of brevity of speech, then out of disrespect for Hellenic idle talk, further, to show that our salvation is not in words, but in deeds, finally, to make us more attentive, so that we, finding what is offered is convenient and, as if by itself, did not dissipate. Moreover, the Theologian wanted to cover with obscurity what is above unclean hearing and with which it is unsafe to make it public; “For to give what is holy to dogs, and to cast pearls before swine”() does not agree with common sense.

. We report to you what we have seen and heard.

What exactly? The fact that Life, being eternal, appeared to us, and we were eyewitnesses of it both before the cross and after the resurrection. For one and the same was nailed by flesh to the cross and was resurrected by the same flesh. What benefit does he say to you that we proclaim this to you? The one that, just as through the word we accept you as fellow members of what we have seen and heard, so we have you as fellow members of both the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and having received this, we, as those who cling to God, can be filled with joy.

. So that you too may have fellowship with us: and our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And we write this to you so that your joy may be complete.

For when we are in communion with you, we experience the greatest pleasure, similar to that which a rejoicing sower gives to the reapers when distributing wages, when they also rejoice that others enjoy their labors.

. And this is the gospel that we have heard from Him and proclaim to you: there is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not act in the truth;

. if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

The Apostle again returns to his previous speech, and explains what kind of gospel he heard, namely the following: there is light, and in Him there is no darkness. From whom did he hear this? From Christ Himself, Who said: “I am the light of the world” (), and also: "I have come into the world as light"(). So, He is light, and there is no darkness in Him, but a spiritual light, attracting the eyes of the soul to see Him, and turning away from everything material and arousing the desire for Him alone with the strongest love. By “darkness” one means either ignorance or sin; for in God there is neither ignorance nor sin, because ignorance both take place in matter and in our disposition. If it says nowhere: “He made darkness His covering”(); it is said that he “made” darkness, and not “is” darkness, as it is said that “there is light.” For he who posits and what is posited are not the same thing. So, here “darkness” means our ignorance of God, due to His incomprehensibility, and this ignorance is ours, not God’s. For someone is given something that is not in him, not for himself, but for someone related 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 does not overcome it”(), where he calls darkness our sinful nature, which, in its tendency to fall, is inferior to our envious devil, who leads us to sin. So, the light, united with our very perceptible being, became completely elusive to the tempter. For "He committed no sin"(). So, when we accept you into fellowship with God, who is light, and in this light, as shown, there can be no darkness; then we, as communicants of the light, must not accept darkness into ourselves, so as not to be punished for lying and, along with the lie, not to be rejected from communion with the light. Therefore, by maintaining fellowship with each other, that is, with us and with the light, we must make ourselves invincible from sin. But how will this be when we have already been mired in many sins? For no one who loves the truth and tries to be true will dare to say that he is sinless. So, if anyone is overcome by this fear, let him not lose heart: for whoever has entered into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ has been cleansed by His Blood, shed for us. Note that because of the closest unity he calls Him the Son of the Father and because of what He received from us; for blood undoubtedly belongs to our nature, and not to God. And Nestorius is obviously insane and wicked when he separates the flesh from the Son and does not allow His Mother to be called the Theotokos. You also need to know that the whole idea of ​​this saying also subverts the blasphemy of the Jews who said: “we know that Man is a sinner”(). So, he says, if we do works of light, then we are in communion with Him, and if we do not do them, then we are alien to Him. And how is He not the true light and not completely sinless, when "he was counted among the villains" for you ()? So, if we, who once shouted: “His blood be on us and on our children”(), let us shamelessly say that we have not sinned; then we "we deceive ourselves" as if crucifying Christ was not a sin. The Apostle did not say: we lie, but: we deceive ourselves, because deception is outside the truth. If we recognize and confess, He will forgive us.

. If we confess our sins, then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

. If we say that we have not sinned, then we represent Him as a liar, and His word is not in us.

The Apostle repeats his speech several times in order, through abundant and frequent denunciations, to present to them the full gravity of the crime and to incline them to confession. How great a benefit is born from confession is evident from the following words: “tell me” your sins, "to justify"(); and that for a beginning student the teacher often repeats the same thing, first briefly, then more extensively, in order to convey the clearest knowledge, this is an ordinary thing. God, says the apostle, is “faithful.” This is the same as true; for the word “faithful” is used not only about someone to whom something is entrusted, but also about someone who is himself very faithful, who, by his own faithfulness, can make others so. In this sense, He is faithful, and He is “righteous” in the sense that He does not drive away those who come to Him, no matter how sinful they may be (). So, to those who through repentance resort to holy baptism, He undoubtedly forgives their sins, even if they have sinned against Him and against others. If, he says, we confess, we will receive the forgiveness corresponding to the confession. If we shamelessly say that we have not sinned, then we will commit a double evil: we will show ourselves as liars and blaspheme against God. For He says through the prophet: “They repay Me evil for good”(), and Himself personally: “If I said something bad, show me what is bad; What if it’s good that you beat Me?”(). If at the same time we say that we have not sinned, then we reject His words, which are spirit and life; for it is said: “The words that I speak to you are spirit and life.” ().