Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 John 3:18
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
18. My little children, let us not love in word ] S. John, as in 1Jn 2:28, 1Jn 3:13, 1Jn 4:1; 1Jn 4:7, hastens on to a practical application of what he has been stating as the principles of Christian Ethics; and in each case he prefaces his gentle exhortation with a word of tender address. ‘Dear children, do not think that I am giving you a series of philosophical truisms; I am telling of the principles which must govern your conduct and mine, if we are children of the God who is Light and Love.’
let us not love in word, neither in tongue ] Or, as R. V., neither with the tongue. This is more accurate, for in the Greek ‘word’ has no article and ‘tongue’ has: both are datives of the instrument, and the article marks the tongue as the special instrument of the hypocritical love. Is there any difference between loving in word and loving with the tongue? And is there any difference between loving in deed and loving in truth? The answer must be the same to both questions. The oppositions between ‘word’ and ‘deed’ and between ‘tongue’ and ‘truth’ are so exact as to lead us to believe that there is a difference. To love in word is to have that affection which is genuine as far as it goes, but which is so weak that it never gets further than affectionate words: such love is opposed, not to truth, but to loving acts. To love with the tongue is to profess an affection which one does not feel, which is sheer hypocrisy: it is opposed, not to deeds, but to truth. It may shew itself also in hypocritical acts, done (as Bede points out) not with the wish to do good, but to win praise, or to injure others.
in deed and in truth ] Omit the second ‘in’: the preposition is not repeated in the Greek. Tyndale and the Rhemish Version have no second ‘in’. Comp. Jas 2:15; Rom 12:9. What follows, though intimately connected with the first part of the section (see next note), almost amounts to a fresh departure. The subject of love and its opposite is transformed into the security and serenity of conscience which genuine and active love is able to produce.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue – By mere profession; by merely sayinG that we love each other. See 1Pe 1:22.
But in deed and in truth – In such acts as shall show that our professed love is sincere and real. Let us do the deed of love, whether anything is said about it or not. See the notes at Mat 6:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. My little children] , My beloved children, let us not love in word-in merely allowing the general doctrine of love to God and man to be just and right;
Neither in tongue] In making professions of love, and of a charitable and humane disposition, and resting there; but in deed– by humane and merciful acts;
And in truth.] Feeling the disposition of which we speak. There is a good saying in Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 145, 4, on this point: “If love consisted in word only, then love ceaseth as soon as the word is pronounced. Such was the love between Balak and Balaam. But if love consisteth not in word, it cannot be dissolved; such was the love of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs which were before them.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
q.d. It is a vain thing to make verbal pretences of love, without any real proof of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. When the venerable Johncould no longer walk to the meetings of the Church but was bornethither by his disciples, he always uttered the same address to theChurch; he reminded them of that one commandment which he hadreceived from Christ Himself, as comprising all the rest, and formingthe distinction of the new covenant, “My little children, loveone another.” When the brethren present, wearied of hearing thesame thing so often, asked why he always repeated the same thing, hereplied, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and if thisone thing be attained, it is enough” [JEROME].
in wordGreek,“with word . . . with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue,…. Which though it holds good of love to God, and to Jesus Christ, yet here is to be understood of love to the brethren, as the context shows; and so the Syriac version reads, “let us not love one another in word”, c. that is, without the heart, or with a double heart speaking one thing with the lip, and designing another thing in the heart; speaking peaceably with the mouth, and with the heart laying wait; or we should not love in this manner “only”; and so the Arabic version of De Dieu adds. It is very lawful, and right to express our love to one another, and to all men in words, to give good words, and use courteous language, and speak in a kind, tender, and affectionate manner, and especially to persons in distress; but this should not be all, it will be of no avail to say to such, be warmed and filled, and give them nothing but these good words, nothing to warm and fill them with; see Jas 2:15;
but in deed and in truth; for true love is a laborious and operative grace, hence we read of the work and labour of love; it shows itself by the saints serving one another, in spirituals; as by bearing one another’s burdens, forbearing with, and forgiving one another, praying for each other, and building up one another on their most holy faith; exhorting each other to the duties of religion, and not suffering sins upon one another, but admonish in love, and restore with meekness; and in temporals, distributing to the necessities of the saints, ministering: to them of their worldly substance, and supplying their daily wants: and this is loving “in deed”, or “in work”; this is actual love, love in fact, and what is apparent and evident: and it is “in truth”, when it is in reality, and not in show only; and when it is cordially and heartily done, with cheerfulness, and without grudging.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In word, neither with the tongue ( ). Either instrumental or locative makes sense. What John means is “not merely by word or by the tongue.” He does not condemn kind words which are comforting and cheering, but warm words should be accompanied by warm deeds to make real “in deed and in truth” ( ). Here is a case where actions do speak louder than mere words.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “My little children” “Immature ones” physically, emotionally, or spiritually. (Greek teknia).
2) “Let us not love in Word, neither in tongue, Verbal, tongue or hot-air love is so cheap. This does not mean that love may not be verbally expressed, but verbally expressed without evidentiary works, it appears to be vain.
3) “But in deed and in truth.” Paul defined the areas of love’s actions and deeds. 1Co 13:1-8; 1Co 13:13; Rom 12:9-21.
WRECKERS AND BUILDERS
I watched them tearing a building down —-A gang of men in a big town. With a heave ho and a lusty yell They swung a beam and the sidewalk fell. I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled? The kind you would hire if you wanted to build?
He laughed and said, “Why, no indeed, Just labor, common labor, is all I need. They can easily wreck in a day or two What builders have taken years to do.” I asked myself as I went my way Which of these roles have I played today?”
As a builder who works with care Measuring life by ruling square? Shaping my deeds by the vertical plane, Or..am I the wrecker who lost the town Beset with the labor of tearing down?
Selected
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. Let us not love in word There is a concession in this first clause; for we cannot love in tongue only; but as many falsely pretend this, the Apostle concedes, according to what is often done, the name of the thing to their dissimulation, though, in the second clause, he reproves their vanity, when he denies that there is reality except in the deed. For thus ought the words to be explained, — Let us not profess by the tongue that we love, but prove it by the deed; for this is the only true way of shewing love. (81)
(81) Beza and others regard “only,” or “merely,” as understood in the first clause, according to a mode of speaking which often occurs in Scripture, as “Labor not,” etc., (Joh 6:27.)
“
My dear children, let us love, not only by word, or with the tongue, but by work and in truth.”
That is, let us not love only by making in words fair promises, or by expressing sympathy with the tongue, but by giving effect to our sympathy by works, and by making our word true, by fulfilling it. Here we find the same arrangement as in many other instances; the “word” has its correspondence in “truth;” and “tongue in “work.”
It is justly observed by Macknight, that “the Apostle cannot be supposed to forbid our using affectionate speeches to our brethren in distress But he forbiddeth us to content ourselves with these.” — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE GOSPEL OF LOVE APPLIED
1Jn 3:18.
I TALKED to the people who gathered in this house on last Sabbath morning, about The Length, Breadth and Depth of Divine Love, and to the congregation of last Sabbath evening about The Center and Circumference of Human Love, (p. 131 ff.) and yet this theme is not exhausted. A young Irishman stood in Farwell Hall in Chicago, years since, and for six consecutive nights presented the same unchanged and inexhaustible theme, The Love of God, and so for the third time I bring this subject of Love.
I consider I have preached on this subject hundreds of times already. Every sermon ought to present some phase of this inspiring theme and every Gospel sermon does. There is no warning given, but it is given in love; there is no exhortation made, but it has as its object some work of love; there is no duty urged, but some mission of love is the point of the preachers words.
Some people are too obtuse to see that your Gospel is a Gospel of Love unless you select a text that has the Word in it, and employ phrases that introduce the term at regular intervals of speech.
But the fact remains that every sermon that helps men to honor God is a presentation of some phase of love for God is love?, and His Book is Loves Gospel.
Tonight my theme is
THE GOSPEL OF LOVE APPLIED
We wouldnt give much for any Gospel that you cant apply. Every mans preaching may be judged in a great measure by the character of his converts. If they prove to be men of spiritual mind and power, it is probable that the preacher, under whom they were reached, converted and developed, preached a good Gospel. So after we say, God is love and His Gospel is The Gospel of Love, one thing more should be added: It is a Gospel that men can employ in life and apply to character at every turn. That is the intention of our text, My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in Truth.
Let us define love! There are some things that love is not. Love is not mere gush. There are a good many people in the world who dont understand that fact. They count the most flimsy flatterer their friend and lover. The tenderest word, even though it is spoken so often that it ought to disgust, is ever gobbled as greedily as if it were as fresh as a boiled live-lobster. When will we learn that the language of genuine love doesnt flow like a waterspout in a rain storm, but is more often timed, slow of utterance, and even stammers despite the desire to speak smoothly?
Every man to his taste, we have been accustomed to say, and I suppose we ought to add, Every woman to her taste also. But in our judgment that young girl is exercising poor taste who speedily bestows her affection upon the fellow who comes with unblushing face and rattles off the tale of his love as a sophomore delivers his oration at college.
We wonder if girls ever stop to analyze this sensation of love? Why is it that you blush and stammer when you are addressed on that subject by one for whom you really care? You have been accustomed to think that his coolness and your excitement, his readiness of speech and your stuttering reply, was to be explained on the ground of difference of sex. But often that is a mistake! The female flirt doesnt blush and her wit never fails her in the hour of her need. The reason is, her words were born in her brain and without ever descending to her heart, slid off her tongue. That is the reason why young men are so often accomplished in courting. They know no such thing as love for the girl to whom they have raved, and when their feet touch the pavement in front of your door, they will laugh at the blushes and stuttering of your sincere response. In a sermon which Tom Dixion preached in New York he referred to absence of love and the torrent of gush as illustrated in Lord Bulwers life. In his love letters to Lady Bulwer, she was addressed as his dearest and kindest and most beautiful poodle; his darling, his angel, his life. But in the home she found him rushing upon her with a carving knife and threatening to slice her into sandwiches, and when her screams brought him to his senses a little, he dropped the knife and satisfied his thirst for Wood by biting a piece out of her face, and so illustrated the fitness of his epistolary nom-de-plume, for he was accustomed to sign himself, Oo own puppy. So love is not compassed by ready speech, Let us not love in word, the Apostle says. He means to add but in deed and in Truth, The man whose words are too smooth when discussing this most sacred subject, is to be suspected of hypocrisy and fraud. I remember a case in which a man came before the Church for the purpose of professing Christ and receiving baptism. When asked about his love for Christ, he was not content to answer simply, but taking up the theme, he rattled away for two minutes with the choicest words and most elegant utterance, and when he had finished the preacher questioned, Is the love sincere? That is always the question when men gush. I have listened to the stammering of children and the stuttering of full-grown men and women, who when they came to tell of their faith to Gods people, were so confused they scarce knew what escaped them; and yet, I had never a doubt of their affection for Christ, for their emotion told the sweet tale better than language could. Love is not gush!
The tongue can never tell the whole story of love. Life alone can relate it, every book, chapter, verse and word.
Even though men are not dealing in sickly sentiment, but in all soberness, it takes life to prove love. The tongue can only profess. It cannot illustrate and prove.
A woman seldom knows him whom she has married. Before the altar of wedding was approached, and months before her orange blossoms bloomed, he had told her of his love, but for all that, it takes a summer and winter of married life, yea, many summers and winters, to prove his protestations.
So when a man confesses himself in love with Christ and His Church, I never bank heavily upon him until he does those things constantly that witness the sincerity of his claim. If then we are asked what love is, we answer: It is not language, it is life. The purer, brighter and better the life, the more it is made up of the stuff men call love.
Love has power to prove itself.
Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in Truth.
Notice, in deed is not one word and so an emphatic particle. There are two words and they express exactly the Apostles idea of love. Not in word, mere profession, but in deed or act. Love is sure to prove itself in deed, yes, in deeds.
Some writer says, Paul gives love the pre-eminence among Christian graces and that rightly, too.
Knowledge of the needs of the unfortunate does not induce you to supply them, but love does.
Knowledge of the Truth does not induce you to obey it, but love does; knowledge does not make you bear all things; hope all things; endure all things, but love does as every mother can testify.
I talked to you last Sunday night about some characteristics of true love. But there are others that I wish to mention.
Paul says, Charity (love) hopeth all things. I think that is the truth. Genuine love is not easily discouraged. If it were, the most of us would either be single still, or else married to another than our present life partner. For what person ever made love to another who was worth having, but they found a good many obstacles to overcome before loves dream was consummated.
You remember the story of Jacob and Rachel. Seven long years was the price to be paid for her hand, and yet Jacob staggered not. It is even said, Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. When those seven years were out, Laban lied out of his bargain and added seven more to the service, and yet Jacob lived in hope and served with him yet seven other years. It is difficult to discourage the man or woman in whose heart love to God lives. Though, like Job of old, they lose wealth, family, health, everything, they despair not, but with serene confidence cry, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.
That is love in truth. Despite all discouragement love lives to hope. You have heard of that drunkards daughter, who though so shamefully treated, remained with the beastly parent in hope. One day, upon waking out of a drunken slumber he found the child preparing his breakfast and singing half merrily as went about her work. In a tone more tender than she was accustomed to hear, the half-sobered father said, Millie, what makes you stay with me?
She answered, Because you are my father and I love you.
You love me? replied the wretched man, You love me?
He looked at his bloated limbs, his soiled and ragged clothes.
Love me! he murmured, Millie, what makes you love me? I am a miserable drunkard. Everybody else despises me! Why dont you?
Father, said the girl, her eyes fast filling, my mother taught me to love you, and every night I seem to see her angel form at my bedside, and I hear her say, Millie, dont leave your father; he will get away from that rum fiend some of these days! And then how happy you will be! and I have stayed with you in hope. Ah, truly love hopeth all things.
But Paul also said, Love beareth all things, * * endureth all things.
Find out what men will do, bear and endure for those whom they profess to love and you can just about take the exact measure of their affection.
Young women often believe in the professed love of young men who wont give up drink or gambling for the sake of their love. They know the young men keep up these ruinous habits and others, and yet they are silly enough to believe in their love. But the after years of bitterness will teach them their irremediable blunder.
What love cant accomplish in the way of reforming men, you need not hope to effect by any sort, or combination, of domestic attractions. One kiss from little Emma Moody reformed and saved a noted criminal, and if all the pure affection you have poured out toward a wayward man, does not evoke deeds of manliness in response, you are silly indeed to give him your hand in marriage. When people love you, they will not feed their own appetites at your bitter cost.
Dr. P. S. Henson said he was never so hopeful that his son Paul would prove a man, as he was when, under the first inspiration of young love, Paul washed his face clean as a new penny, combed his own hair, brushed the dust out of his clothes, and brightened himself up generally.
But love will do more than behave. Love will bear and endure. Love delights to sacrifice on the altar of its object. A man may think he loves his wife, when he gets her food and drink enough to save her from hunger. But the wife and the world will not believe in that love until they see him sacrifice for her comfort, and forget self and ease, in the effort to increase her happiness and joy. A man may think he loves his country in days of peace, but he who stands in the forefront of battle and gives his life-blood to save the flag, has made the best possible profession of patriotism.
It is recorded in Roman history to eternal credit of Marcus Curtius patriotism, that when the oracles declared that the gaping earthquake would not close its destroying mouth until it had swallowed a life, Marcus, from love of his people and land, cast himself in and so stopped the devastating gap.
A man may think that he loves Christ, but if every call to Christian service chills his ardor, and every appeal for money to charitable ends makes him uncomfortable and half-mad, God and the angels will scarce believe his profession.
One July at Round Lake a contribution was asked for the cause of missions in the Name of Christ, and Miss Shepherd of New York, a girl of twenty-two summers, then came forward and took every shining ring from her fingers and laid them down as her gift. To that offering she added $250 in money, and then without ostentation walked away and waited to see others follow her noble example, until $5,000 was lying on that table in one heap. That was the beginning of big gifts in the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
Love delights to make sacrifice for its beloved. How people can think they love Christ when their seats at the theater cost them ten times what they contribute to their own church and their pin money is many a multiple of their gifts to missions, we cant understand.
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in Truth.
We often meet people who tell of their love for Christ, but who excuse themselves from profession, service and sacrifice, because they say they are so constituted or situated that they cant openly honor Him as they would. But charity (love) never faileth.
Beecher says, Looking over the dead on a battlefield, it was easy to see why that young man, and he a recruit, fought so valiantly. Hidden under his vest was a sweet face done up in gold; and so through loves heroism, he fought with double strokes and danger, mounting higher, till he found honor in death.
So if you carry the talisman of Christ in your heart, it will give you strength and courage in every conflict, and at death open to you the gates of Glory.
Do we love? Oh, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in Truth. And hereby we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Jn. 3:18. In word.Profession, mere boasting. True love finds expression in service. St. John hints that there is some danger of this conventionality amongst his friends, and earnestly exhorts them to genuineness.
1Jn. 3:20. Heart condemn.There are always sensitive souls, who are much too ready to think evil of themselves, and distress themselves with their evil-thinking. Better never attempt to appraise our own spiritual life and progress; leave it with God, and bend all attention on further progressing.
1Jn. 3:22. Whatsoever we ask.Not whatsoever anybody asks. The promise is limited to those who are in the full privilege, power, and holiness of sonship. We receive because we are the Fathers children.
1Jn. 3:23. His commandment.One but inclusive, so as to appear as two. Believe.Not by a mere act of faith, but by a continuous daily trusting, which kept up vital relations. Love one another.The certain outward sign of our loving and trusting Christ.
1Jn. 3:24. Dwelleth in Him.Better use St. Johns favourite word abideth. Spirit.Which St. Paul represents as the earnest and the seal. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Jn. 3:18-24
Assuring our Hearts.Christian assurance, the confidence that we have passed from death unto life, the restfulness of knowing that we are reconciled to God, and are in a gracious standing with Him, is not only desirable, it is even necessary, if we are to live earnest Christian lives, free from the fret and worry of a continual uncertainty. It is not a point we should long to know; it ought not to cost us anxious thought. It should be a settled thing; the evidences should be clear and sufficient. It should keep a settled thing, for the evidences should be maintained, and should be effectively persuasive upon us day by day. And it must be fully understood that assurance is attainable. It is often sought in wrong ways, through some particular setting of belief, on some minor point of Christian truth, or through some definite phase of religious feeling. St. John delivers us from these mistaken ideas when he sets before us the true grounds on which our hearts may be assured before God.
I. We know that we have passed from death unto life, if we are living a life of active charity and service to others. Then there must have come a change over us; we must be other than our old selves. Everybody looks after his own interests first. Everybody except the man with the new life in Christ; and he looks after Christs interests first, other peoples interests next, and his own interests last. He is not his own. To Him to live is Christ. Or to put it in another form, the service of brotherhood is the satisfying proof of the sonship.
II. We know, by our inner life of soul-culture. If our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God. It is true that the witness of our heart is not always reliable, and we sometimes have to appeal to God against our own hearts. We often have to when by our hearts we mean only our feelings. But understand that our soul-culture is meant, the growth, under all holy influences, of the spiritual life that has been quickened, and then we may see that our hearts can bring us assurance. Their growth in trust, joy, love, hope, says continually that we must be standing in the full saving relations.
III. We know, through our experiences of answer to prayer. The psalmist persuaded himself that he must be standing in the love of God, for he says, This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. This is a way of regarding our answers to prayer, of which sufficient is not made. We think too much of what we get in such answers. We think too little of what is involved in our being answered at all. Our Lord Jesus said to His Father, I know that Thou hearest Me always. His assurance rested on His being in such full acceptance with the Father. And if God hears us always, we also may be quite sure that we stand in full acceptance with Him.
IV. We know, by the sense we have of Gods relationship to us. He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, and we feel His Fatherhood. We abide in Him, as sons do in the father. He abides in us, as fathers do in their sons. The supreme fact concerning us is, that we are sons of God. And the assurance that we are is found in our peculiar and characteristic apprehension of God.
V. We know, by the inward impulse of the Spirit. Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He gave us. God is never anywhere as an inactive Being. The quiescent Brahm is mans conception, not Gods revelation, of Himself. Wherever He is, He is active. If He is in the soul of man, if He is in our soul, then He is active; and the movings and the impulses of the Spirit are His activity; and through those impulses we are assured that He is abiding in us. Assurances based on such grounds as these are altogether healthy, ennobling, and inspiring; and thus we may all assure our hearts.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Jn. 3:18. Profession and Practice.My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth. St. John is so full of the family feeling, and uses so constantly the family figures, that we are tempted to think he must have been a family man, centre of a happy family circle. It may, however, only be that he was saturated with the idea of Christs Sonship, and that gave tone and colour to every setting of truth and persuasion of duty. The term little children here is used in a general sense of the believers, but it suggests the simplicity, humility, and receptiveness which ought to be their characteristics. In the teaching of this text, as in so many other cases, St. John shows how he had been influenced by the teachings of his Divine Master, and did but reproduce them, bearing a certain impress from his own thought and experience. The best illustrations of our text, and of the duty enjoined in it, may be gained by showing how much our Lord made of doing His willnot knowing it merely, not talking about it only, but really doing it in the energetic endeavour of a life of service and charity.
I. The connection of doing with knowing is characteristic of Christs teachings.We find it constantly made the topic of His parables. In that of the ten talents, the Master is represented as expecting, and properly expecting, that the servants who know His will shall be doing, and multiply their talent-trusts by wise trading. In that of the husbandman, we find the Lord of the vineyard sending yearly for his proportion of the fruits of the husbandmans toils. In that of the sower and the seed, the farmer looks for a return of his labour and expenditure, hoping to reap thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold of what the soil has done. The barren fig tree is represented as reasonably cut down, because it did nothing in response to all the efforts made to urge it to well-doing. In the parable of the judgment, the Divine approval is given to those who did something, who did visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction; and the Divine indignation rests on those who knew, who could, yet who did nothing that was merciful and unselfish. Our Lord even exhibits this necessity for doing in His own life and conduct. Anticipating the life, as a twelve-year-old boy, He said, Wist ye not that I must be about My Fathers business? Of Him it could be said, He went about doing good. At Jacobs well, though weary with His journey, He roused Himself to talk to the Samaritan woman, when the opportunity for doing His Fathers will was presented to Him. He could not be satisfied with only talking about the Father, though that was so often the duty of the hour. He could say, My meat and My drink is to do the will of My Father. And at the close of His life, He could cherish no nobler thought of the life He had lived than this, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. His direct teachings bore on the same subjectthe supreme importance of doing as well as knowing, doing as well as feeling. He that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine. He that doeth the will of God the same is My brother, and and sister, and mother. Yea, blessed are they that hear the word, and do it. Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? He told us that we can always judge things and persons by their fruitsthat is, by what they do. He likened His disciples to salt, which does something, savours and seasons; to a light, which does something, shines in the room, and enables those present to see their work; to a city set on a hill, which does something, acts as a beacon to guide pilgrims on their journey across the broad plain. As if to leave a last impression on those disciples, our Lord rose from His place at the last meal with them, took a towel, girded Himself, and reaching the ewer and basin, did the servants work, pouring water over the feet of those disciples, and wiping them with the towel wherewith He was girded. And then, returning to His seat, He solemnly said, Know ye what I have done unto you? Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one anothers feet. For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you. If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. Our Lord showed no sort of fear that doing would nourish a legal spirit, or tempt men to make their good works a ground of acceptance with God. His earnestness shows His sense of our graver danger. We are all much more likely to satisfy ourselves with professions, and to become only good-looking, leafy fig trees, on which, when He draweth nigh in His hunger, He can find no figs. Our peril is, that we may be induced to sever asunder what God has joined together, knowing and doing, and so be like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. Doing put in place of Christ is always wrong. Doing for Christs sake is always right.
II. The connection of doing with knowing which both Christ and His apostles taught, is still absolutely necessary.
1. It is needed to satisfy us, and others, of the reality of our piety. For that piety is like a seed; and if it be not a worthless seed, if there be any real germ of life in that seed, it will do something; it will crack the soil; it will send a green blade forth; it will show itself to the light. A seed that does nothing is worth nothing. A Christian who does nothing is worth nothing before God or men. Indeed, nobody can see anything that is gained by his calling himself a Christian. Let us be quite sure of this, and let us keep the thought ever present before usmen expect to see our religion influencing our conduct. We expect this in others, and are hard upon them if we cannot find their piety in their every-day relations. We may well be reminded, that the people about us are looking at our doings, and will speak dishonouring things of our Lord Christ, if they cannot see His spirit in all our relationships. Solemnly let us say to one anotherNo creed, however correct it may be, will ever make up, before God, or before men, for unsubdued tempers, unrestrained habits, tyranny at home, offences given abroad, self-indulgences, or neglect of the sick whom we might visit, the poor whom we might feed, or the naked whom we might clothe. Search and see what personal satisfactions you can gain as you compare your knowing with your doing, your profession with your practice. Inquire and see whether there is abroad, among those whom you have to do with day by day, an impression which leads them to say concerning you, Well reported of for good works. Would the widows and the poor folk come about your house, if you lay dead, showing the coats and garments which you made, as they came crowding round the house of Dorcas, that early Christian woman, who was full of good works and alms-deeds that she did?
2. It is necessary in order to prove the truth of Christianity itself. This system of religion makes marvellous pretensions. It is the last and highest revelation of God to men: it is the supreme remedy for the deepest human sorrows. It is Gods own sunshine to bring spring-time life to an earth lying cold and dead in the long winter of sin. But how shall it support the pretensions? Only by living examples of its poweronly as the men and women who profess to have received the life in Christ do something. Experiment tests everything. Constantly fresh experiments are needed. Select a few professsing Christians. See what they are doing. Do not fear to apply the testjudge Christianity by its fruits. In every age it has stood this test. When all the great arguments and evidences have wearied us, we may saySee what Christianity has done. The spirit-possessed, the blind, the lame, the drunkard, the strong-tempered, the selfish, all have been changed; and the charity of the world is to-day in the hands of those who are constrained by the love of Christ. If you would prove to all around you the truth of Christianity, use argument and evidence with all wisdom, as far as ever you can; but this, above everything else, we would say to youShow men what it can do. Men may resist eloquence; they may even refute reasoning; they may deny your evidences; but they cannot resist the power of goodness. It is like leaven, and, unbeknown, it leavens. It is like the morning light. It peeps above the eastern ridge, flinging great lines of glory up the sky. The night darkness does not like it, but it must feel it. That darkness will have to fly; for the morning light will grow in power until it makes the shadowless noonday.
1Jn. 3:22-23. Keeping Gods Commandments.This position taken by St. John is but putting in Christian form the universal condition on which Divine favour must rest. It is declared in the most general way that the Lord is far from the wicked, but He heareth the prayer of the righteous (Pro. 15:29). And in his gospel St. John represents the people as arguing about Christ on the basis of commonly received principles and opinions: We know that God heareth not sinners: but if a man be a worshipper of God, and do His will [keep His commandments], him He heareth (Joh. 9:31).
I. Keeping commandments may be regarded as acts of obedience. It is seldom seen with sufficient clearness that moral training, for the child or the child-nation, must necessarily begin with formal acts of obedience. The child must do what it is told to do. Israel must obey the elaborate ten laws of Sinai in the actual details of every-day life and relationship. And even Christian life properly begins in formal acts of obedience.
II. Keeping commandments may be regarded as the expression of sonship.The true child in a home never tries to obey; he obeys without trying, because obedience is the natural and proper spirit of sonship. Some alien force must be influencing a child if he does not obey. Let a man be born of God, his new life will certainly express itself in keeping Gods commandments.
III. Keeping commandments may be tested by the obedience of two commandments (1Jn. 3:23).
1. Our belief in the Son-name of Jesus. There is no point of persuasion if St. John is assumed to be referring to saving faith in Christ, or to faith in Him as Messiah. It must never be lost from view that he is writing to professing Christians, to those who have the life in Christ. He is writing to them about the higher life. What Christians are called by God to do is to believe in the Sonship of Christ, in Him as the Son of God, and in all that such belief involves concerning the actual Fatherly relations of God. If this be the test commandment, how sinful is the hesitation of Christians to receive the full revelation of the Sonship!
2. Our love for those who are our brothers because they are with us sons, through the Son-name of Jesus.
1Jn. 3:24. The Spirits Inward Witness.And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He gave us. There are two witnesses to our standing before God, to our son-ship in Christ with the eternal Father. There is the witness of our own spirit, and there is the witness of the Holy Ghost; but the testimony of the Holy Ghost is an inward witness, given through the spirit of the man.
I. The witness of our own spirit to our having the Father, and being sons.It may be asked, Whence comes the assurance of our sonship to our human parents? Whence that spirit of restfulness and satisfaction in our relationship which we felt so strongly when we dwelt at home, and which we have even now, though far away from home, or though even the old home has been broken up, and those who made it so dear have passed away? There is a witness of our own spirit. That spirit tells us it holds cherished memories of home life and joys. Our spirit reminds us that, when utterly helpless, a mothers bosom was our resting-place; broken rest was thought but little of by her; daily trouble seemed no weight to her, for the greatness of the mother-love she bore us. Our spirit tells us that the love which testified itself in such ways then has been a growing love, ever finding new, tender, and wonderful ways of expression. The testimony of our own spirit about the past is one great assurance of our sonship. But the inward witness tells of more than this; it speaks of our own views, ideas, affections, and emotions. Our spirit bids us see, that towards our father we feel a kind of respect and reverence, and towards our mother we have affections and emotions, which we need some new, and almost heaven-born, word to express. Our spirit testifies to a deference to their opinion, a desire to please them, a willingness to obey them, and a confidence in them, which is the most certain inward witness of our sonship. We are quite satisfied and happy; it is the testimony of our own spirit that we are the children of these parents, and that we are preserving our relationship. So we might ask, What is our assurance that we are children of this beloved England? Do we need to appeal to Magna Charta? or must we anxiously collect and examine the birth, marriage, and death certificates of our ancestry? Surely not. We are abundantly satisfied with the testimony of our own spirit that we have the English thought, and the English ways and habits; and that, in the temper of the child, we are obeying Englands laws, and glorying in her dignities and privileges. This seems to be very plain. And in this way there is a testimony of our own spirit to the reality of sonship with God. Inquire of your own spirit. Is there not cherished in it a memory, a thoughtcherished in its very holiest placeof the wonderful love of God in Christ to you: a memory of a great gift, the offering of saving love and pity, once made for you? Does not your spirit tell you it has a most hallowed, inner shrine, and in that shrine you keep the memory of that ever-blessed One, whose beautiful life of heavenly, divine charities closed so sadly, so shamefully, in a death that won life and heaven for you? Does not your spirit tell how that shrine has been opened in the hours of silent meditation, and sweetest odours of infinite love have streamed forth, making fragrant all the temple of your soul? Does not your spirit tell that the memory and the thought of Christ exercise continual power upon you, swaying your nature as with the might of some great principle? If then your spirit has such things as these to tell you, may you not be sure that this is like the childs memory of parental love?it is the pledge of your sonship; it is the witness of your own spirit that you are the child of God. But beyond this witness of a cherished memory, our spirit gives testimony to our sonship with God in our views, feelings, dispositions, and in the spirit and conduct of our life. Our spirit renders witness to us of the reality of the great spiritual change that has been wrought in us. Our hearts will tell us whether we are the same now that we were some ten or twenty years ago, or it may be even a few months since. As we set our old life, in its principle and in its spirit, over against our present life, in its principle and in its spirit, we are sensible of a most decided contrast, which cannot possibly be explained by the mere fact of our having grown older. As we compare the things which we loved and sought in those old days with the things we are loving and seeking now, we sayOur present life is not indeed what we would have it to be; still it is different, most manifestly different. We were sometime darkness, now are we light in the Lord. Our own spirit testifies within us to the change. Our own spirit witnesses also to a new view of God, and of the relation in which we stand to Him. Our own spirit witnesses to our thinking differently now of goodness and of holiness. Goodness was the highest conception we once could reach, and we meant by it, ordering our life within certain prescribed limits. That has given place to a conception of the claims of holiness; by which we mean a life in conformity with the will of Goda life informed and possessed with the spirit of allegiance, devotion, and love to Him.
II. The witness of the Holy Spirit to our sonship with God.That Spirit works through the testimony that is given by our spirit. The Holy Ghost does not give oral testimony; He does not speak even by a still small voice, caught only by the attentive ear. He does not come with observation, in extraordinary and overwhelming manifestation. He comes as a silent, secret, inward, Divine force of life, strengthening and renewing those who are good and pure in heart and purpose; He comes purifying, perfecting, guiding the witness of our own spirit. In two ways we may recognise the concurring witness of the Holy Spirit and our spirit. We, with our whole powers of spirit, seek to know the mind and will of God, as they have been revealed to us in His word. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to gain true apprehensions, and to lay personal hold of the truths and promises it contains. He leads into all truth. And we, with our whole power of spirit, seek to cherish all godly emotions, and, in bringing forth good fruit, to live the godly life. It is the Holy Spirit who quickens those emotions, and all the fruits we can produce are but varieties of the love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and patience, which we know are the immediate fruits of the Spirit. We might with truth say, I live, yet not I, the Holy Ghost liveth in me. It is the recognition of this inner life, the consciousness of this Divine indwelling, which brings rest and peace, and the impulse to nobler things, to the Christian.
CHAPTER 4
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
18. The man who thus withholds the alms may have a theory of benevolence in his head, and in word, and in tongue; but there is none in heart or hand.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Little children, let us not love in word, nor with the tongue, but in deed and truth.’
John then follows his specific example with a general plea. It is not only in charitable giving that we should love. Our love, if true, should not be just something we talk about but something we live out practically in every aspect of our lives. Glib words are easy, saying that we love costs nothing, but practical living is the test. It proves whether love is really true or not, indeed whether it is in accordance with the truth. Therefore, he says, let us make sure that it is by loving in what we do and in truth, by loving what God loves.
‘Little children.’ The love of the Apostle constantly shines through. He writes, not judgmentally, but from loving concern. And yet that gives even greater force to his words. If he could be lenient he would be.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Jn 3:18. Let us not love in word, &c. All hypocritical pretences to love, where there is none in the heart, are very justly condemned and abhorred; but rough language, and an open profession of hatred or dislike, though sincere, are also abominable in the sightof God. St. John recommends sincerity, and does not prohibit our professing love to our fellow-christians, or speaking to them in kind and obliging words; but he does not forget to put us in mind, that much more is required of us. Some are for connecting this with 1Jn 3:16 others with 1Jn 3:17. It is most likely that St. John designed to connect it with both, and to intimate that kind words, and professions of love, are not all that are required of us; we must willingly lay down our lives, when the good of the Christian church so requires; and much more ought we cheerfullyto relieve our fellow-christians in indigent circumstances;for by such willing sufferings, and generous beneficent actions, we shall plainly manifest that we love not in word and in tongue only, but in deed and in truth.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Jn 3:18 . True love proves itself by deed. The exhortation contained in this verse is, on the one hand, a deduction from the foregoing (especially from 1Jn 3:16-17 ); but, on the other hand, it forms the basis of the further development.
] Impressive address before the exhortation.
] i.e. “let us not so love that the proof of our love is the outward word or the tongue;” is epexegetically added, in order to mark the externality of the love indicated by , inasmuch as it points out that by here only the outward word is meant; it is erroneous to regard as a climax in so far as “one may love with words (without deeds), but in such a way that the words are nevertheless really and sincerely meant” (Ebrard), for John would not in the very least consider as truly and sincerely meant words of love which remain without corresponding deed. The article serves “to vivify the expression” (Lcke): the tongue as the particular member for expression of the word. It is unnecessary, nay, “contrary to the text” (Dsterdieck), with Beza, Lange, Sander, etc., to supply “ ” with . . .; for . . . in itself expresses the mere apparent love.
] Instead of the Rec. , we must read ; according to de Wette, the two readings are synonymous; according to Lcke, . . has more of “adverbial nature” than ; “in the apostle is considering more the way in which love expresses itself, in . . he is considering more the form and fashion of it;” the preposition suggested itself to the apostle because the work , as being the realization of love, stands in an inner relationship to it, “is the element in which love moves” (Dsterdieck). [231] and are frequently in the N. T. connected with one another, so Luk 24:19 ; Act 7:22 , and many other passages; in order to bring out the insufficiency of in 1Co 4:19-20 , 1Th 1:5 , is contrasted with it. By the apostle does not mean to add a second element of love, but to characterize the as the true love (so also Myrberg); a love which does not show itself is only an apparent love. [232] The relationship of ( ) to is just the same as that of to . The two words of each clause express together one idea, and these two ideas are contrasted with one another, so that it is not to be asked whether corresponds with , and with , or with , and with (against Dsterdieck and Braune). With the thought of this verse compare especially Jas 2:15-16 ; only here the thought is more comprehensive than there. [233]
[231] Braune: “It is to be observed that the first pair in the dative only states the means by which love operates; the preposition states the clement in which it moves.”
[232] Comp. Joh 4:24 , where also “ ” is added to , not to bring out a second element of true worship (contrary to Meyer on this passage), but to describe the as true worship in contrast to every apparent worship.
[233] Wolf quotes the corresponding statement of Picke, Avoth , chap. 1 John 5 : omnis dilectio, quae dependet a verbo, verbo cessante, ipsa quoque cessat: at quae non dependet a verbo, nunquam cessat. In Theognis 979 it is put thus: , .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
Ver. 18. Let us not love in word ] Words are light and cheap; and there is a great deal of mouth mercy abroad. Julian the Apostate is not presently a friend to Basil, though he write unto him, , , Thou art my friend and beloved brother. The Roman legions loved Otho the emperor, saith Dio the historian, and gave him all respect, , , not from the teeth outward but from the heart root. See Trapp on “ Jam 2:14 “ See Trapp on “ Jam 2:15 “ See Trapp on “ Jam 2:16 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18 .] Exhortation to true brotherly love : following naturally on the example of the want of it given in the last verse. Little children, let us not love with word nor yet with tongue, but (let us love) in deed and truth (there is some little difficulty in assigning these words their several places in the contrast. We may notice first, that the two former, and , are simple datives of the instrument, whereas the two latter are introduced by the preposition , denoting the element in which. The true account of the arrangement seems to be, that the usual contrast of and is more sharply defined by the epexegetic and : giving, by making the mere bodily member the instrument, more precisely the idea of absence of truth than even , and ( ) more definitely the idea of its presence than even . Similar contrasts are adduced by the Commentators from the classics: especially from Theognis; e. g. 973 f., , : 63, : 96, . , . As connected with the exhortation in this verse, I may cite the tradition reported by Jerome in his Commentary on Gal 6:10 , vol. vii. p. 528 f.: “Beatus Joannes Evangelista cum Ephesi moraretur usque ad extremam senectutem, et vix inter discipulorum manus ad ecclesiam deferretur, nec posset in plura vocem verba contexere, nihil aliud per singulas solebat proferre collectas, nisi hoc: ‘Filioli, diligite alterutrum.’ Tandem discipuli et fratres qui aderant, tdio affecti, quod eadem semper audirent, dixerunt: Magister, quare semper hoc loqueris? Qui respondit dignam Joanne sententiam: Quia prceptum Domini est, et si solum fiat, sufficit”).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Jn 3:18 . Observe the transition from instrumental dative to preposition : “not with word and the tongue but in the midst of deed and truth” not in empty air but amid tangible realities. Cf. Bunyan, Good News : “Practical love is best. Many love Christ with nothing but the lick of the tongue.” Sheridan, Sch. for Scand. v. i.: “He appears to have as much speculative benevolence as any private gentleman in the kingdom, though he is seldom so sensual as to indulge himself in the exercise of it”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
in, in. No preposition. Dative case.
word. App-121.
neither. Greek. mede.
in. Greek. en, with texts.
truth. See 1Jn 1:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] Exhortation to true brotherly love: following naturally on the example of the want of it given in the last verse. Little children, let us not love with word nor yet with tongue, but (let us love) in deed and truth (there is some little difficulty in assigning these words their several places in the contrast. We may notice first, that the two former, and , are simple datives of the instrument, whereas the two latter are introduced by the preposition , denoting the element in which. The true account of the arrangement seems to be, that the usual contrast of and is more sharply defined by the epexegetic and : giving, by making the mere bodily member the instrument, more precisely the idea of absence of truth than even , and () more definitely the idea of its presence than even . Similar contrasts are adduced by the Commentators from the classics: especially from Theognis; e. g. 973 f., , : 63, : 96, . , . As connected with the exhortation in this verse, I may cite the tradition reported by Jerome in his Commentary on Gal 6:10, vol. vii. p. 528 f.: Beatus Joannes Evangelista cum Ephesi moraretur usque ad extremam senectutem, et vix inter discipulorum manus ad ecclesiam deferretur, nec posset in plura vocem verba contexere, nihil aliud per singulas solebat proferre collectas, nisi hoc: Filioli, diligite alterutrum. Tandem discipuli et fratres qui aderant, tdio affecti, quod eadem semper audirent, dixerunt: Magister, quare semper hoc loqueris? Qui respondit dignam Joanne sententiam: Quia prceptum Domini est, et si solum fiat, sufficit).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Jn 3:18. ) in idle word: it is opposed to in deed.-) by a pretending tongue: it is opposed to in truth.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
My: 1Jo 2:1
let: Exo 33:21, Mat 25:41-45, Rom 12:9, 1Co 13:4-7, Gal 5:13, Gal 6:1, Gal 6:2, Eph 4:1-3, Eph 4:15, 1Th 1:3, Jam 2:15, Jam 2:16, 1Pe 1:22
Reciprocal: Deu 10:19 – General Jdg 19:20 – let all thy wants Rth 2:16 – General 2Ch 28:15 – clothed Job 31:19 – General Pro 3:9 – General Pro 19:7 – yet Isa 32:17 – quietness Isa 58:7 – to deal Eze 33:31 – for with Luk 7:5 – and Luk 7:47 – she Luk 10:27 – and thy Joh 14:21 – that hath Joh 19:27 – took Act 9:39 – and showing Act 16:34 – when Rom 15:18 – by word 1Co 5:8 – but 2Co 6:6 – love 2Co 6:13 – I speak Phi 4:8 – are true Col 3:17 – in word 2Th 2:17 – in Heb 6:10 – work Heb 10:24 – love Jam 3:17 – hypocrisy 1Pe 3:8 – love as brethren 1Jo 4:21 – General 2Jo 1:1 – whom 3Jo 1:1 – whom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Jn 3:18. This verse means for our love to go farther than words; to be proven by our actions. It is a summing up of the preceding verse.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Having laid down several motives to brotherly love before, by way of excitation, as an help to their affections, he comes now to propound some directions to them as an help to their endeavours.
And the first is this, to take special care that their love be sincere, and not hypocritical. Let us not love in word, that is, in word only, but in deed, and in truth. As if he had said, “Let our deeds speak the truth of our love; sincere love is fruitful; true affection will put forth itself into action; it doth not rest at the tongue’s end, but will be seen at the finger’s end, rendering us laborious in works and offices of friendship; as faith, so love without works is dead; and as faith is justified by works, so is our love also.
Observe next, The encouragement which our apostle gives to the exercise of this true love, hereby we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him: That is, “By such efficacy and real fruits of our love we shall know that we are true Christians, who live by, and walk according to the rule of the gospel, which is emphatically stiled the truth, and shall have the assured testimony of our consciences, that we are sincere in the sight of God.”
Learn hence, 1. That the love of Christians one to another ought not to be verbal, or in word only, but in deed, and in truth.
2. That the sincerity of our love to our brethren is the security of our consciences and estates before God. A Christian may be assured of his good estate, and may build his assurance upon the sincerity of his love to God and Christians.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
1Jn 3:18-20. My beloved children, let us not love merely in word or in tongue Contenting ourselves with complimental expressions of regard, or with giving our Christian brethren nothing but fair speeches; but in deed and in truth Let our actions approve the sincerity of our professions, and, by relieving them in their necessities and straits, let us show that we sincerely love them. And hereby , in this, by being compassionate, kind, and bountiful, according to our ability; we know We have a satisfactory evidence by this real, operative love; that we are of the truth That we have true faith, and are the genuine disciples of Christ and children of God; and shall assure our hearts before him Shall enjoy an assurance of his favour, and the testimony of a good conscience toward God. The heart, in St. Johns language, is the conscience. The word conscience is not used in his writings. For if we have not this testimony; if in any thing our heart Our conscience, condemn us, much more does God, who is greater than our heart An infinitely more holy and impartial Judge; and knoweth all things So that there is no hope of hiding it from him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 18
Not–in word, neither in tongue, not in empty professions.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
3:18 {18} My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
(18) Christian charity stands not in word but in deed, and proceeds from a sincere affection.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The evidence of genuine love is not verbal professions but vital performances, deeds rather than words (cf. 1Co 13:1; Jas 2:15-16).
"The major concern of this passage is to encourage obedient and active love from all those who claimed allegiance to the Johannine church." [Note: Smalley, p. 199.]