HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  2.16 Flesh is not sexuality, but human self-seeking; see Gal 5.14–17, 24; Eph 2.3; 1 Pet 2.11. Desire of the eyes, perhaps what attracts the senses. Riches. See 3.17.

  2.17 Passing away. See v. 8. Paul expresses the same sense that the times are dramatically changing. See 1 Cor 7.31. Live, or “abide.”

  2.18–27 The opponents and their “deceitful” ideas about Christ. Note references to anointing near the beginning and end (vv. 20, 27).

  2.18 Many early Christians believed that they lived in the last hour and expected an enemy of God (2 Thess 2.3–12) or false messiahs (Mk 13.5–6, 21–22) before the end. 1 John applies such ideas about an enemy from outside Christianity, an antichrist (“counter-Messiah” only in 1 Jn 2.18, 22; 4.3; 2 Jn 7), to the many opponents within.

  2.19 They, the author’s opponents; us, the community, led by the author, with which the opponents broke fellowship.

  2.20 Anointed here and anointing in v. 27 probably refer to the Holy Spirit (see 2 Cor 1.21–22; Isa 61.1 may be in mind), who teaches…all things (v. 27; Jn 14.26). Holy One, probably God, but perhaps Jesus.

  2.21 Know the truth. See Jn 8.32; 2 Jn 1.

  2.22 The opponents perhaps denied that the human Jesus was identical with the divine Christ, God’s Son; see 4.2–3, 15; 5.5–12; 2 Jn 7.

  2.23 Confesses. See 4.2–3, 15; Jn 9.22; 12.42. Has the Father. See 2 Jn 9. Response to Jesus determines one’s relationship to God in the Gospel of John also; see Jn 5.23; 14.9; 15.23.

  2.24 From the beginning. See note on 1.1. Abide in you. See note on 2.6.

  2.25 Eternal life. See 1.2.

  2.26 Deceive. See 3.7; 2 Jn 7.

  2.27 Anointing, teaches…all things. See note on 2.20.

  2.28–3.10 The focus shifts from the opponents to the readers with an emphasis on revelation. When Jesus comes and is revealed, those who abide in him will also be revealed; indeed, because he was already revealed to destroy sin, God’s children are already revealed by their love. See 1.2; 2.28; 3.2, 5, 8, 10.

  2.28–29 At some point the referent of he and him shifts from Jesus to God.

  2.28 Confidence. See note on 4.17. Shame…at his coming envisions a last judgment as depicted in Mt 25.31–46.

  2.29 Both God and Jesus are called righteous (1.9; 2.1; 3.7); on doing right, see note on 3.10. Born of him. See 3.9–10; 4.7; 5.1, 18; Jn 1.12–13; 3.3–8.

  1 John 3

  4Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. 7Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them;b they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. 10The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.c

  Love One Another

  11For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters,d that the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15All who hate a brother or sistere are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. 16We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sisterf in need and yet refuses help? 18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

  23And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

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  a Or it

  b Or because the children of God abide in him

  c Gk his brother

  d Gk brothers

  e Gk his brother

  f Gk brother

  3.1 Children of God. See 3.10; Jn 1.12–13. Know. See 4.7; Jn 8.19; 14.7; 15.21; 16.3.

  3.2 Like him, probably like Jesus; see note on 4.17. See. See 3.6; Jn 14.19; 16.16; 17.24; for notions of eschatological transformation, see also 2 Cor 3.18.

  3.3 On imitating Jesus, see note on 1.7; see also the imitation of God in Lev 11.45; 19.2; 20.26. Pure here means free from sin, the topic of 3.4–10.

  3.5 He, Jesus. Take away sins. See 2.2; 4.10; Jn 1.29. No sin. See 2 Cor 5.21; Heb 4.15.

  3.6–10 The author here insists that no one who abides in him sins; see also 5.18; but cf. 1.8–2.2; 5.16–17. Perhaps 1 John’s opponents claimed sinlessness in principle, while 1 John insists on seeking it in practice and warns here against persisting in sin. See also note on 2.6.

  3.6 Known him. See 2.3–4; 4.7–8; also Jn 14.7–9, 17.

  3.8 Child of the devil. See Jn 8.44.

  3.9 Seed, perhaps the Spirit (see 2.27; 3.24; 4.13; Jn 3.5–8; 14.16–17).

  3.10 The intent is probably to identify doing what is right with loving one’s brothers and sisters, the subject of the next section. From God. See note on 4.1–6.

  3.11–17 Love and giving up one’s life are contrasted with hatred and taking life.

  3.11 Message. See 1.5. From the beginning. See note on 1.1. Love one another. See 2.10; 3.18, 23; 4.7–12; 4.20–5.2; Jn 13.34–35; 15.12–17; 2 Jn 5.

  3.12 Some ancient Jewish traditions held that the father of Cain (Gen 4.1–16) was the devil. The evil one. See 2.13–14; 3.8, 10; 5.18–19; Jn 8.44. On evil and righteous deeds, see 2.29; 3.7, 10; Jn 3.19–21.

  3.13 On the world’s hatred, see Jn 15.18–19; 17.14.

  3.14 Passed from death to life. See Jn 5.24. Whoever…death. See 2.9, 11.

  3.15 Murderers. See v. 12; Mt 5.21–22; Rom 1.29–32; Rev 21.8; 22.14–15.

  3.16 See 4.9; Jn 15.12–13. On imitating Jesus, see note on 1.7.

  3.17 See Jas 2.15–16. Language about love becomes concrete in the admonition to aid those in need. God’s love. See note on 2.5. Abide. See note on 2.6. Goods. The same Greek word is translated riches in 2.16. Refuses help, lit. “closes the heart.”

  3.18–24 Deeds of love give assurance of a relationship with God; see 4.17–18.

  3.19–20 The author probably means to reassure readers that, despite awareness of sin, God knows that they are of the truth because of their acts of love.

  3.21 Boldness, better “frankness of speech,” a quality of the prayer of God’s people. Cf. Heb 4.16.

  3.22 Whatever we ask. See 5.14–15; Jn 14.13–14; 15.7, 16; 16.23–27; Mt 7.7–8; Mk 11.24. Do what pleases him. See Jn 8.29.

  3.23 His Son Jesus Christ. See 2.22. Love one another. See note on 3.11.

  3.24 See 4.13–16. Abide. See note on 2.6. Spirit. See Jn 14.15–17, 25–26; 16.7–15.

  1 John 4

  Testing the Spirits

  1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God
, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesusa is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

  God Is Love

  7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

  13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

  God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19We loveb because he first loved us. 20Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters,c are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sisterd whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisterse also.

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  a Other ancient authorities read does away with Jesus (Gk dissolves Jesus)

  b Other ancient authorities add him; others add God

  c Gk brothers

  d Gk brother

  e Gk brothers

  4.1–6 These verses treat the opponents and their ideas about Jesus, with much attention to what is from God and what is from the world (see 2.16; 3.9–10; 4.7; 5.1, 4, 19; Jn 1.13; 7.17; 8.23, 42, 47; 15.19; 17.14–16; 18.36; 3 Jn 11).

  4.1 Test the spirits, i.e., test people who claim to speak under the influence of God’s Spirit (see 3.24) but may be false prophets; see also Deut 13.1–5; 18.20–22; Mt 7.15–23; 1 Cor 12.3.

  4.2–3 On the antichrist and not confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, see 2 Jn 7; see also note on 1 Jn 2.18.

  4.4 Conquered. See note on 2.13. One who is in the world. See 5.19; Jn 14.30.

  4.6 Knows God. See note on 3.6. Listens to us. See Jn 8.42–47; 10.25–27; 18.37. Spirit of truth, a term used only here and in Jn 14.17; 15.26; 16.13 in the NT (see also 1 Jn 5.6), but also found in ancient Jewish writings. Spirit of error, or spirit of “deception.” See Mt 24.11, 24; Mk 13.5–6, 21–22; 2 Thess 2.11; 1 Tim 4.1; Rev 12.9.

  4.7–18 God’s love for us and our love for one another.

  4.7 Born of God and knows God. See 2.3, 29; 3.6–10.

  4.9 See 3.16; also Jn 3.16.

  4.10 Atoning sacrifice for our sins. See note on 2.2.

  4.11 On imitating God, see note on 1.7.

  4.12 No one has ever seen God. See Jn 1.18; 3.13; 6.46; 3 Jn 11. God lives in us. See note on 2.6. His love is perfected. See 2.5; 4.17–18.

  4.13–16 A summary of everything since 3.23.

  4.14 Seen and…testify. See 1.1–2. Savior of the world. See Jn 3.17; 4.42; 12.47.

  4.15 See 2.22–24; 3.23–24; 5.5, 10, 20.

  4.16 For us, or “in us” or “among us.” God is love. This phrase, and the following language of “abiding” summarizes the core of the Johannine message.

  4.17 Boldness, rendered confidence in 2.28. Cf. also 3.21. He, i.e., Jesus; see 2.6; 3.2–3, 7, 16.

  4.18 Fear, i.e., of judgment.

  4.19–5.5 Our love for God and one another is linked with right belief in Jesus by means of God’s commandment (see 3.23).

  4.19 We love, or “Let us love.”

  4.20 See 1.6; 2.4, 9; also 3.15–17. Whom they have not seen. See 4.12.

  4.21 See Mk 12.29–31.

  1 John 5

  Faith Conquers the World

  1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christa has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

  Testimony concerning the Son of God

  6This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. 7There are three that testify:b 8the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 9If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. 10Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in Godc have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

  Epilogue

  13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

  14And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. 16If you see your brother or sisterd committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and Gode will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

  18We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 19We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. 20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;f and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

  21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.g

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  a Or the Messiah

  b A few other authorities read (with variations)7There are three that testify in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8And there are three that testify on earth:

  c Other ancient authorities read in the Son

  d Gk your brother

  e Gk he

  f Other ancient authorities read know the true God

  g Other ancient authorities add Amen

  5.1 This verse looks back to 4.21 but also forward to 5.5. Believes that Jesus is the Christ (see also believes…Son of God, v. 5). See Jn 20.31; also 1 Jn 2.22–23; 4.2–3, 15. Born of God. See note on 2.29.

  5.3 Love…commandments. See Jn 14.15, 21–24, 31; 15.10; 2 Jn 6; also 1 Jn 2.3–5.

  5.4 Conquers the world, as Jesus did (Jn 16.33); see also 1 Jn 2.13–14; 4.4.

  5.6–12 God testifies to Jesus the Son; see also Jn 5.31–40; 8.17–18; 15.26–27.

  5.6 Water only may refer to Jesus’ baptism (Jn 1.31–34) and blood to his crucifixion (
see Jn 19.34–35). The Spirit is the truth. See note on 4.6.

  5.7–8 Only a very few late manuscripts contain the trinitarian addition (known as the Johannine Comma) to v. 7 (see text note a). Three. See Deut 19.15.

  5.9 On testimony, human and divine, see Jn 5.31–40; 8.18.

  5.10 See Jn 3.18, 33. Made him a liar. See 1.10.

  5.11 Eternal life. See Jn 3.16; 5.26; 11.25–26; 14.6.

  5.12 See 2.23; Jn 3.36; 2 Jn 9.

  5.13–21 After a concluding summary similar to Jn 20.31, these verses give a variety of final exhortations.

  5.13 I write. See note on 1.4. Believe in the name of the Son. See 3.23; Jn 1.12; 20.31.

  5.14 In him, or “toward him.”

  5.16 Mortal sin, one that leads to death; 3.14 may suggest that this sin is failure to love. This is not the same as the sin mentioned in Mk 3.29. On whether or not Christians can sin, see note on 3.6–10. Do not…pray. See also 1 Sam 2.25; Jer 7.16; 11.14; Jn 17.9.

  5.18–20 Three statements, each introduced by we know, contrast those who are of God with the forces of evil.

  5.18 Do not sin. See 3.8–9; cf. 5.16–17. The one who was born of God is probably Jesus, but this could refer to Christians protecting themselves. Protects them. See Jn 17.11–12, 15. Evil one. See note on 3.12.

  5.19 God’s children, or “from God.” See 4.4, 6. World. See 2.15–17; 5.4–5.

  5.20 Son of God. See v. 5. Know him who is true…the true God and eternal life. This probably means the Father rather than Jesus (see Jn 17.3; but note that Jesus is identified with life in 1 Jn 1.2; Jn 1.3–4; 11.25; 14.6).

  5.21 Idols are the opposite of the true God and eternal life (v. 20; see Jer 10.9–10; 1 Thess 1.9; see also Acts 14.15; Rom 1.25; 2 Cor 6.16) and so stand for the teaching that 1 John opposes.