33 - 1Jn 2:26-27
Ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν περὶ τῶν πλανώντων ὑμᾶς·Καὶ ὑμεῖς τὸ χρίσμα ὃ ἐλάβετε ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἐν ὑμῖν μένει, καὶ οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε ἵνα τὶς διδάσκῃ ὑμᾶς· ἀλλ᾽ ὡς τὸ αὐτὸ χρίσμα διδάσκει ὑμᾶς περὶ πάντων, καὶ ἀληθές ἐστι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι ψεῦδος, καὶ καθὼς ἐδίδαξεν ὑμᾶς, μενεῖτε ἐν αὐτῷ· The very fact that the apostle, in 1Jn 2:25, has come round to the selfsame point from which he started, shows that the previous discussion has now attained its close. More particularly: since the discourse does not return to the starting-point of the last section (from 1Jn 2:13c onwards), but to the beginning of the whole letter (compare only with the ζωὴαἰώνιος [“eternal life”] of 1Jn 2:25 the mention of it in 1Jn 1:2, with the μένεινἐναὐτῷ [“abide in him”] the κοινωνίαμετ᾽αὐτοῦ [“fellowship with him”], 1Jn 1:3), it follows that the development since 1Jn 1:5 has now come to its end. But, like the two former sections of the whole first part now reaching its close, this third section also has a summary recapitulation, 1Jn 2:26-27. Up to this point (ταῦτα [“these things”]) the apostle has written to the churches concerning the antichrists. Ταῦτα [“these things”] does not refer to the brevity of the discussion (“only so much”), nor to the specific matter of it (“this and no other that might be added”); but it places what goes before in contrast with what follows—with what the apostle has it in his purpose yet to write. As the section 1Jn 2:3-11[N] treats of brotherly love, although the matter is first of all quite generally of keeping the divine commandments, so the topic of this section has been the antichrist nature, although first of all (1Jn 2:15-17) the discourse was of the κόσμος [“world”] in general, whose full form is anti-Christianity. But the antichrists came into consideration as πλανώντεςὑμᾶς [“leading you astray”]: they have aimed to make the church wander from the truth, and then to lead them to wander back to the world. This was the practical starting-point of the whole discussion. Against this practice of seduction the church had, as we have seen in the previous exposition, a defence in the χρίσμα [“anointing”]: hence this, then, is particularly taken up again in the recapitulation. Even in the form it assumes, the resumé is faithful to itself: here also we have the ὑμεῖς [“you”] placed significantly first; here also, moreover, there is a marked absence of any injunction as such. The holy anointing oil which they had received, which separated them from the world, is within them a permanent power,—for ἀμεταμέλητα τὰ χαρίσματα καὶ ἡ κλῆσις τοῦ Θεοῦ [“the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” cf. Rom 11:29] ,—and makes every exhortation, even every apostolical exhortation, superfluous. And so had the Lord promised to His disciples that the Paraclete should lead them into all truth. To establish the undeceivableness of this heavenly instruction is the object of the second clause in our verse. This second clause, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς τὸ αὐτὸ χρίσμα διδάσκει ὑμᾶς περὶ πάντων, καὶ ἀληθές ἐστι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι ψεῦδος [“but as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie”], is related to the third just as a general proposition as a whole is to its particular concrete application. Not only does the περὶ πάντων [“about all things”] give the former its general colouring, and the μένεινἐναὐτῷ [“abide in him”] give the latter its specific colouring, but the present διδάσκει [“he teaches”] also shows that in the second clause a general proposition is before us, whilst ἐδίδαξεν [“it has taught”] in the third makes prominent one definite historical single fact out of the general domain of that clause. And thus it is established that the words καὶ καθὼς ἐδίδαξεν ὑμᾶς [“and just as it has taught”] are not merely a resumption of the ἀλλ᾽ ὡςκ.τ.λ. [“but as, etc.”],—that thus koI καὶ ἀληθές ἐστικ.τ.λ. [“and is true, etc.”] is not a parenthesis, but a conclusion to the proposition with ὡς [“as”]. Certainly it is extremely difficult to accept the redoubled καί [“and”] as meaning, “not only but also;” for that anything is true and not false is after all essentially no more than one attribute which is only viewed on two different sides, while “not only but also” presupposes two different ideas. But such a view as this of the former καί [“and”] is not imperative; rather is the former to be translated by “also:” the congruence between the declaration of the χρίσμα [“anointing”] and the real bearing of the matter, between the διδάσκειν [“teaching”] and the ἀληθέςεἶναι [“is true”], was thereby to be marked. The following καὶ οὐκ ἔστι ψεῦδος [“and is not a lie”] is genuinely Johannaean: it is a peculiarity of this apostle to place every idea in full prominence through setting by the side of it its antithesis. This διδάσκειν [“teaching”] of the χρίσμα [“anointing”] is true, and there is no lie in it; and thus the ἐστι [“to be”], in virtue of its deep emphasis, becomes equivalent to an ἐνεστι [“in essence”].
Thus, then, the apostle in the first of the three clauses of 1Jn 2:28 has summed up and resumed the whole fact that the χρίσμα [“anointing”] gave full instruction to the church; in the second, he has declared that this instruction was simply and purely true; in the third, he then draws the practical conclusion that the church should stand firmly by the substance of the teaching here in question, and here treated of (this is the meaning of the aorist ἐδίδαξεν [“it has taught”]. The μενεῖτε[V-FAI-2P][“you will abide”] of the Textus Receptus would indeed admirably suit the tone of the whole section, in which the apostle less commands the μένειν[V-PAN] [“to abide”] than points to it as an internal necessity; but the imperative μένετε[V-PAM-2P] [“abide”] has too strong authentication from external evidence to be rejectedtn; and it is in itself easily to be understood that, at the conclusion of the whole discussion, the imperative, everywhere latent in the preceding words, should for once come out into clear expression.
Let us throw a glance back along the course of the first part, now concluded, of the whole Epistle. It is completed in three sections, of which each again contains three sub-sections, two giving instruction, and one exhortation or recapitulation. The first section deduces from the idea of the φῶςεἶναι [“being light”] of God the nature of our fellowship with Him, and as viewed under two aspects: that of ἐνφωτίπεριπατεῖν [“walk in the light”], and that of ὁμολογεῖν τὰςἁμαρτίας [“to confess of sin”]. The second section discusses, on the same basis, the nature of our fellowship with the brethren, and that also under two aspects: as obedience to the ἐντολαὶ Θεοῦ [“commandments of God”], and as imitation of the converse and walk of Christ. The third section points to the enmity which exists between the kingdom of God and this world: here, again, first as against the world in general, and then as against its antichrist development in particular; but both in order to enforce the obligation of breaking off from the world negatively, or positively of abiding in God. That the two former sections of the whole discussion have their basis in Θεὸςφῶς [“God is light”], and are evolved from this, has been shown in the proper place. But it is true also of the third section, only that it takes up the negative side of 1Jn 1:5[N]: καὶ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεμία [“and in him there is no darkness at all”]. This thorough and pervasive antithesis between them, such as forbids the very slightest contact, is the theme of the whole discussion in 1Jn 2:13-27. κόσμος [“world”] and ἀντίχριστος [“antichrist”] are only terms, interchangeable for the σκοτία [“darkness”].
Textual Note tnμένετε[V-PAM-2P] א A B C P Ψ 5 33 81 323 614 630 945 1241 1243 1448 1505 1611 1735 1739 1852 2138 2298 2344 2464 2805 Syrp,h Arm Eth Beza WH Treg ‖ μενεῖτε[V-FAI-2P] K L 049 056 0142 6 18 307 424 Copticsa mss ps-oec Ï TR HF RP.