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Ver. 8. A new commandment] [See Trapp on “Joh 13:34”] “A new commandment” it is called, saith a late learned interpreter, 1. Because it was renewed by the Lord after it had been as it were antiquated, and almost extinguished. 2. Because it was commanded to such men as were new or renewed. 3. Because it was an excellent commandment.
Ver. 9. And hateth, his brother] As Paul presseth faith, and Peter hope, so John love, those three cardinal virtues, 1 Corinthians 13:13. [See Trapp on “1Jo 2:5”] Is in darkness] Yea, in the prince of darkness, who acteth and agitateth him, as he did Cain. Holy Greenham often prayed, that he might keep up his young zeal with his old discretion.
Ver. 10. None occasion, &c.] Gr. σκανδαλον, No scandal, i.e. no occasion of spiritual falling, whereby a man is made any manner of way worse, and backwarder in goodness. Quod fieri potest vel dicto, vel facto, sive exemplo in moribus, saith learned Lyserus, which may be done by word, deed, or evil example.
Ver. 11. He that hateth, &c.] There is a passion of hatred (saith a famous divine). This is a kind of averseness and rising of the heart against a man, when one sees him so that he cannot away with him, nor speak to nor look courteously or peaceably upon him, &c. 2. A habit of hatred, when the heart is so settled in this alienation and estrangement, that it grows to wish and seek his hurt. This is manslaughter, 1 John 3:5.
Ver. 12. I write unto you, little children] A Christian hath his degrees of growth; childhood, 1 Corinthians 3:1,2; youth or well grown age, when he is past the spoon, as here; old age, Acts 21:16. Because your sins are forgiven you] Though perhaps you as yet know it not, through weakness of faith and strength of corruption.
Ver. 13. Him that is from the beginning] The Ancient of days. Old men love to speak of ancient things. These are ancient things, 1 Chronicles 4:22. You know him with a knowledge of acquaintance; you have had much familiarity and intercourse with him, you are not far from knowing even as also you are known, 1 Corinthians 13:12. To this pitch of perfection all God’s people must aspire, as all men do follow after old age. Because ye have overcome the wicked one] “The glory of young men is their strength,” Proverbs 20:29. The Hebrew word there rendered young men, signifieth choice men, sc. for military employments; neither can they better show their valour than by resisting the devil, that he may flee from them. Weak grace may evidence pardon of sin; but it is strong grace that can overcome the temptations of Satan. Because ye have known the Father] We say, He is a wise child that knows his father (and the Greeks have a proverb to the same purpose, Hom. Od.); but God hath no child so young that more or less knoweth him not. The bastardly brood of Rome are all for their mother.
Ver. 14. Because ye have known him] The same again as 1 John 2:13, which to a carnal heart may seem superfluous. Et certe si humano ingenio conscripti essent libri illi, quos pro sacris (ira ut verissime sunt) agnoscimus et veneramur, bonum alicubi dormitasse Homerum disceremus, said one. But far be it from us to reprehend what we cannot comprehend.
Ver. 15. Love not the world] You fathers, and you young and strong men, let me caution you (before I speak again to the little children, 1 John 2:18), to beware of worldliness. A man may be very mortified, and yet very apt to dote on the world. If any man love the world] Have it he may, and use it too, as the traveller useth his staff (which either he keeps or casts away, as it furthers or hinders his journey), but love it he must not, unless he will renounce the love of God. [See Trapp on “Mt 6:24”] [See Trapp on “Col 3:2”] Aristotle in his Politics teacheth, by the example of Thales, that philosophers may be rich; but he excellently addeth αλλα ου τουτο εστι περι ου σπουδαζουσι, howbeit this is not their chief study; it is but a by-business with them. (Polit. i., cap. ul t.) The love of the Father is not in him] The sunbeams extinguish the fire; so doth the love of the world the love of God. But some not so much as roving at God, make the world their standing mark.
Ver. 16. The lust of the flesh, the lust of, &c.] That is, pleasure, profit, preferment; the worldling’s trinity, as one saith. Compare herewith Christ’s threefold temptation, Luke 4:3-9, and St James’s character of worldly wisdom, James 3:15. [See Trapp on “Jas 3:15”] It is his pleasure, his profit, and his honour (saith a divine) that is the natural man’s trinity, and his carnal self that is these in unity. And to the same purpose the Christian poet, “ Ambitiosus honos, et opes, et foeda voluptas, Haec tria pro trino numine mundus habet.” But is of the world] Base and bootless. Nec verum, nec vestrum. To know the vanity of the world (as of a mist) you must go a little from it.
Ver. 17. And the world passeth away] As the stream of a swift river passeth by the side of a city. Animantis cuiusque vita in fuga est, Life itself wears out in the wearing, as a garment; all things below are mutable and momentary. Wilt thou set thy heart upon what is not? saith Solomon. And the lust thereof] So that although thou wert sure to hold all these things of the world, yet they may be suddenly lost to thee, because thou canst not make thine heart delight in the same things still. Not the world only, but the lust thereof, passeth away; there is a cur se of unsatisfiableness lies upon the creature, απαντων η πλησμονη, saith the orator; There is a satiety of all things. The world’s comforts are sweeter in the ambition than in the fruition; for after a little while we loathe what we lusted after, as Amnon did Tamar. Men first itch, and then scratch, and then smart. Dolor est etiam ipsa voluptas. Even sorrow itself is enjoyable. Crueiger used often to say, “ Omnia praetereunt, praeter amare Deum. ” They pass by all things except to love God.
Ver. 18. Little children] Children may easily be deceived, and made to take a sheep counter for an angel, because broader and brighter; so young Christians are soon seduced; hence they are cautioned. [See Trapp on “1Jo 1:5”]
Ver. 19. But they were not of us] No more were our Anti-trinitarians, Arians, Anti-scripturists, ever of our Church, otherwise than as wens and botches, whatever our adversaries aver and cavil. So of old, because the Waldenses and Manichees lived in the same places, and were both held heretics, the Papists maliciously gave out that the Waldenses (those ancient Protestants) were defiled with the errors of the Manichees and Catharists, which yet they ever abhorred.
Ver. 20. But ye have an unction] That oil of gladness, the Holy Ghost. In derision thereof, Domitian, the tyrant, cast St John into a caldron of boiling oil, but he by a miracle came forth unhurt. Ye know all things] Not all things knowable, but all things needful to be known.
Ver. 21. Because ye know not, &c.] Because ye are utterly ignorant; for God hath no blind children, but they all know him from the least to the greatest. Howbeit, the angels know not so much, but they would know more, Ephesians 3:10. Should not we?
Ver. 22. That denieth that Jesus] Papists deny him as a King, in setting up the pope; as a Priest, in setting up the mass; as a Prophet, in piecing their human traditions to the Holy Scriptures.
Ver. 23. The same hath not the Father] [See Trapp on “Joh 5:23”] Mahomet speaks very honourably of Christ, but denies his Divinity, and that he was crucified. He acknowledged that he was the word and power of God, and that all that believe in him shall be saved, &c.
Ver. 24. Let that therefore abide] Persevere and hold fast the faith of the gospel without wavering in it, Ephesians 4:14, or starting from it, 2 Peter 2:20. Be as the centre, or as Mount Sion, stedfast and unmovable. Stand fast; for ye are sure to be shaken: the tree must be shaken, that rotten fruit may fall off.
Ver. 25. Even eternal life] Hold therefore the doctrine of faith sound and entire by the hand of faith, that ye may receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Ver. 26. That seduce you] That carry you into byways, highways to hell.
Ver. 27. But the anointing] See 1 John 2:20. It was an aggravation of the fall of Saul, 2 Samuel 1:21, as “though he had not been anointed”; so for the saints to fall from their own stedfastness.
Ver. 28. Little children, abide in him] q.d. Your enemies are many and crafty; therefore keep home, keep home; this shall be no grief unto you, nor offence of heart, as she said, 1 Samuel 25:31.
Ver. 29. Is born of him] And exactly resembles him, as a child doth his father. See 1 Peter 1:17. [See Trapp on “Mt 5:9”]