31 - 1Jn 2:24
Ὑμεῖς οὖν ὃ ἠκούσατε ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς, ἐν ὑμῖν μενέτω· ἐὰν ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ ὃ ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς ἠκούσατε, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν τῷ υἱῷ καὶ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ μενεῖτε.
Thus has the apostle exhibited to the church the activity of the antichrists; he has further appealed to their own knowledge of the truth, to the intent that he might win from themselves the confession that by any degree of departure from the truth they would be drawn into the antichrist fellowship. It remains now that he should draw the practical conclusion from these premisses: therefore guard yourselves against every declension from the truth; or, in its positive form, hold fast that fellowship in which ye now safely stand in despite of all the μεθοδείαςτοῦπονηροῦ [“schemes of the evil one”]. The apostle begins by an asyndeton,—for the οὖν [“therefore”] of the Textus Receptus must be struck out,—and yet with specific notification of the antithesis, by means of the absolute ὑμεῖς [“you”] that stands first. True, that in the last words there is contained no express antithesis to the ὑμεῖς [“you”]; but the antithesis is in the sense, inasmuch as the whole of the previous discussion treated of the nature of Antichrist. Accordingly, the ὑμεῖς [“you”] is not to be referred to the ἠκούσατε [“you heard”], for then the hearing of the readers would seem to be placed in an inscrutable contrast with the hearing of others; but it must be referred to the μένειν [“to abide”] of the main sentence, so that it is in reality parallel with or equivalent to its ἐνὑμῖν [“in you”]. That which they had heard they should hold fast: the object is given in a general manner, but its concrete meaning is preserved to it by the connection, according to which the doctrine that Jesus is the Christ is meant. The expression occurred before in 1Jn 2:7; but, instead of the general o here, the object there was the λόγος [“word”], the entire message of Christ: here His person is in view, there it was His work of love; but both are only diverse sides of the same matter. His whole work was the commentary on His person; His person was the text of his whole work. But in this connection we should expect that an earnest and express exhortation would follow to keep themselves from the antichrists, or, putting it positively, to abide in the truth. And this abiding in the truth is undoubtedly the prevailing motive in all the verses that follow; yet the form of commandment is almost altogether absent. More than that: human energy generally is kept as much as possible in the background. At the outset, indeed, the μενέτω [“I abide”] has the imperative form; but the contents of the commandment in a very marked manner restrict human activity. That which they had heard, which had therefore come into them from without, that should abide in them: not, that should they suffer it to abide in them, in which case the Christians themselves would be the subjects of the action. This turn of the thought—which is all the more evidently intentional, as the preliminary ὑμεῖς [“you”] itself suggested that the church’s own activity was coming—is intended obviously to refer the μένειν [“to abide”] to the meaning and substance of the announcement: it was not that the church must abide in the word which they had heard, but that word abide in them. The same word which had made them Christians should keep them such; the self-activity of the brethren recedes entirely into the rear; it has nothing to do but to avoid hindering the power of the truth. Essentially, therefore, it is just as when the Apostle Paul exhorts the Thessalonians, τὸ πνεῦμα μὴ σβέννυτε [“do not quench the Spirit” cf. 1Th 5:19]; only a negative activity, a suffering themselves to be kept, was needful on their side. Similarly, in the second half of the verse the abiding in God is represented, not as a commandment, but as the inevitable and natural result of the preceding; and, finally, in 1Jn 2:27 the very necessity of any command is expressly precluded.
Now all this coincides most graciously with the set and posture of the whole section. Not only the Christian estate of the church in general, but also specifically the abiding of the word of God in it (1Jn 2:14), forms the fundamental presupposition of it throughout; indeed, their νικᾶντὸνπονηρόν [“victory over the evil one”] was expressly declared to be the result of their abiding. Thus the apostle’s exhortation is of a more negative kind: disturb not this energy of the truth, guard against all interruptions of it; all else will this word, implanted in you, itself accomplish. If this continues in them, the result will be—according to the second half of the verse—that they will continue in the Son and in the Father, This double relation, the μένεινἐναὐτῷ [“abide in him”] and the μένειν [“abide”] of the word of God ἐνὑμῖν [“in you”], occurs also in the Gospel: compare Joh 15:7, ἐὰν μείνητε ἐν ἐμοὶ, καὶ τὰ ῥήματά μου ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃκ.τ.λ. [“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, etc.”]. And as the word of Christ is not viewed here as a dead letter, but as the bearer and instrument of His Spirit, as pervaded and filled by Him, these expressions are parallel also with Joh 15:4-5, where to the μείνατεἐνἐμοὶ [“abide in me”] corresponds the κἀγώἐνὑμῖν [“and I in you”].
Now, that these counterpart expressions are in fact two various sides of the same thing, and that at their basis lies a real and not merely dialectical distinction, is shown at once by the causal relation in which one is here placed to the other. But it is rather hard to define the distinction sharply, because in the Gospel our abiding in God is ever exhibited as prius, while in this passage the order is reversed. Let us try to mark the relation of the two expressions discussed by another view, seemingly wide apart from this, which, however, only brings before us the figure of which this is the reality. Through all the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments there runs this double aspect of the matter, that we on the one hand are the temple of God in which He dwells, and that, on the other hand, we dwell in God Himself as our temple. In the latter case, God is, or His temple, which comes into consideration as the sphere of His revelation of His nature, is, the place where we find rest and peace, and security and life: thus is expressed all that we possess in God; He is here the giver, and we the receivers; He is active, and we are passive. When, inversely, we are regarded as the temple in which God dwells, we are considered ourselves as the objects in which God works and as the organs of His will; thus is expressed, by what seems a paradox, what He has in us; we in this case are the active. Precisely thus is it in the terms of our passage, which are only the pure spiritual expression of the figurative statements just examined. If we abide in God, He is the proper and essential subject, we are parts of His I: out of His fulness we receive all, having absolutely no independent life. If He abides in us, we are ourselves the proper and real subject, He becomes a part of our I, insomuch as in our actions His will comes into effect. This will make it plain why in our text the former of these two comes first. The beginning of the relation does not lie with us, but with God; the word of Christ, and through that word His Spirit, becomes a living power in us, μένειἐνὑμῖν [“abide in you”]; and the more perfectly the entire Christ enters into us, the more perfectly and the more inwardly we are wedded to Him on our part, and enter into Him essentially: μένομενἐναὐτῷ [“abiding in him”]. Such is the actual historical process; we may, however, with propriety invert the order with Joh 15:4 ff.: there, forsooth, the disciples are regarded as already standing in the fellowship of Christ; the words καθαροί ἐστε διὰ τὸν λόγον μου [“you are clean on account of my word” cf. Joh 15:3], just as in this passage, specify the indwelling of the λόγος [“word”] in them as the first stage of their religion; but then comes in the μένεινἐναὐτῷ [“abide in him”] as the result, and through this result again the abiding of Christ in the disciples is nourished and strengthened. It is a permanent and continuous reciprocation: the abiding of Christ in men furthers their abiding in Him; this again facilitates the former; and so it goes on. Did they indeed but let the great message of salvation, that Jesus is the Christ, and with that message the ruling of Christ Himself in our hearts, have its full living development as a power! ἐὰν ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ ὃ ἠκούσατε [“if what you have heard abides in you”]: then, indeed, would they be secure against any contamination of the antichrist spirit; yea, more than that, fellowship with God would become more continuous and perfect, and that as fellowship with the Son and the Father. In the twenty-second verse the Father was first, here it is the Son. That is not an accidental or indifferent circumstance. The Father preceded before, because the apostle there had the last consummation in his eye, and would place it before the readers as the goal from which the antichrist lie would lead them astray, and to which fidelity would surely attain. Here the Son precedes, because already in Him is the means and the only means for attaining that end.