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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
F I R S T J O H N.
CHAP. V.
In this chapter the apostle asserts,
I. The dignity of believers,
II. Their obligation to love, and the trial of it,
III. Their victory,
IV. The credibility and confirmation of their faith,
V. The advantage of their faith in eternal life,
VI. The audience of their prayers, unless for those who have sinned
unto death,
VII. The preservation from sin and Satan,
VIII. Their happy distinction from the world,
IX. Their true knowledge of God
(ver. 20),
upon which they must depart from idols,
| Love and Faith. | A. D. 80. |
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1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God:
and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is
begotten of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we
love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:
and his commandments are not grievous.
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God?
I. The apostle having, in the conclusion of the last chapter, as was
there observed, urged Christian love upon those two accounts, as
suitable to Christian profession and as suitable to the divine command,
here adds a third: Such love is suitable, and indeed demanded, by their
eminent relation; our Christian brethren or fellow-believers are nearly
related to God; they are his children: Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God,
v. 1.
Here the Christian brother is,
1. Described by his faith; he that believeth that Jesus is the
Christ–that he is Messiah the prince, that he is the Son of God by
nature and office, that he is the chief of all the anointed world,
chief of all the priests, prophets, or kings, who were ever anointed by
God or for him, that he is perfectly prepared and furnished for the
whole work of the eternal salvation-accordingly yields himself up to
his care and direction; and then he is,
2. Dignified by his descent: He is born of God,
v. 1.
This principle of faith, and the new nature that attends it or from
which it springs, are ingenerated by the Spirit of God; and so sonship
and adoption are not now appropriated to the seed of Abraham
according to the flesh, not to the ancient Israel of God; all
believers, though by nature sinners of the Gentiles, are spiritually
descended from God, and accordingly are to be beloved; as it is added:
Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is
begotten of him,
v. 1.
It seems but natural that he who loves the Father should love the
children also, and that in some proportion to their resemblance to
their Father and to the Father’s love to them; and so we must first and
principally love the Son of the Father, as he is most
emphatically styled,
the only (necessarily) begotten, and the Son of his
love, and then those that are voluntarily begotten, and renewed
by the Spirit of grace.
II. The apostle shows,
1. How we may discern the truth, or the true evangelical nature of our
love to the regenerate. The ground of it must be our love to God, whose
they are: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we
love God,
v. 2.
Our love to them appears to be sound and genuine when we love them not
merely upon any secular account, as because they are rich, or learned,
or kind to us, or of our denomination among religious parties; but
because they are God’s children, his regenerating grace appears in
them, his image and superscription are upon them, and so in them God
himself is loved. Thus we see what that love to the brethren is that is
so pressed in this epistle; it is love to them as the children of God
and the adopted brethren of the Lord Jesus.
2. How we may learn the truth of our love to God–it appears in our
holy obedience: When we love God, and keep his commandments,
v. 2.
Then we truly, and in gospel account, love God, when we keep his
commandments: For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments; and the keeping of his commandments requires a spirit
inclined thereto and delighting herein; and so his commandments are
not grievous,
v. 3.
Or, This is the love of God, that, as thereby we are determined
to obedience, and to keep the commandments of God, so his commandments
are thereby made easy and pleasant to us. The lover of God says, “O
how I love thy law! I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou
shalt enlarge my heart
(Ps. cxix. 32),
when thou shalt enlarge it either with love or with thy Spirit, the
spring of love.”
3. What is and ought to be the result and effect of regeneration–an
intellectual spiritual conquest of this world: For whatsoever
is born of God, or, as in some copies, whosoever is born of
God, overcometh the world,
v. 4.
He that is born of God is born for God, and consequently for
another world. He has a temper and disposition that tend to a higher
and better world; and he is furnished with such arms, or such a weapon,
whereby he can repel and conquer this; as it is added, And this is
the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,
v. 4.
Faith is the cause of victory, the means, the instrument, the spiritual
armour and artillery by which we overcome; for,
(1.) In and by faith we cleave to Christ, in contempt of, and
opposition to, the world.
(2.) Faith works in and by love to God and Christ, and so withdraws us
from the love of the world.
(3.) Faith sanctifies the heart, and purifies it from those sensual
lusts by which the world obtains such sway and dominion over souls.
(4.) It receives and derives strength from the object of it, the Son of
God, for conquering the frowns and flatteries of the world.
(5.) It obtains by gospel promise a right to the indwelling Spirit of
grace, that is greater than he who dwells in the world.
(6.) It sees an invisible world at hand, with which this world is not
worthy to be compared, and into which it tells the soul in which it
resides it must be continually prepared to enter; and thereupon,
III. The apostle concludes that it is the real Christian that is the
true conqueror of the world: Who is he then that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
v. 5.
It is the world that lies in our way to heaven, and is the great
impediment to our entrance there. But he who believes that Jesus is the
Son of God believes therein that Jesus Came from God to be the Saviour
of the world, and powerfully to conduct us from the world to heaven,
and to God, who is fully to be enjoyed there. And he who so believes
must needs by this faith overcome the world. For,
1. He must be well satisfied that this world is a vehement enemy to his
soul, to his holiness, his salvation, and his blessedness. For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world,
ch. ii. 16.
2. He sees it must be a great part of the Saviour’s work, and of his
own salvation, to be redeemed and rescued from this malignant world.
Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
present evil world,
Gal. i. 4.
3. He sees in and by the life and conduct of the Lord Jesus on earth
that this world is to be renounced and overcome.
4. He perceives that the Lord Jesus conquered the world, not for
himself only, but for his followers; and they must study to be
partakers of his victory. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world.
5. He is taught and influenced by the Lord Jesus’s death to be
mortified and crucified to the world. God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is
crucified to me, and I unto the world,
Gal. vi. 14.
6. He is begotten by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to
the lively hope of a blessed world above,
7. He knows that the Saviour has gone to heaven, and is there preparing
a place for his serious believers,
8. He knows that his Saviour will come again thence, and will put an
end to this world, and judge the inhabitants of it, and receive his
believers to his presence and glory,
9. He is possessed with a spirit and disposition that cannot be
satisfied with this world, that look beyond it, and are still tending,
striving, and pressing, towards the world in heaven. In this we
groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven,
2 Cor. v. 2.
So that it is the Christian religion that affords its proselytes a
universal empire. It is the Christian revelation that is the great
means of conquering the world, and gaining another that is most pure
and peaceful, blessed and eternal. It is there, in that revelation,
that we see what are the occasion and ground of the quarrel and contest
between the holy God and this rebellious world. It is there that we
meet with sacred doctrine (both speculative and practical), quite
contrary to the tenour, temper, and tendency of this world. It is by
that doctrine that a spirit is communicated and diffused which is
superior and adverse to the spirit of the world. It is there we see
that the Saviour himself was not of this world that his kingdom was not
and is not so, that it must be separated from the world and gathered
out of it for heaven and for God. There we see that the Saviour designs
not this world for the inheritance and portion of his saved company. As
he has gone to heaven himself, so he assures them he goes to prepare
for their residence there, as designing they should always dwell with
him, and allowing them to believe that if in this life, and this world
only, they had hope in him, they should at last be but miserable. It is
there that the eternal blessed world is most clearly revealed and
proposed to our affection and pursuit. It is there that we are
furnished with the best arms and artillery against the assaults and
attempts of the world. It is there that we are taught how the world may
be out-shot in its own bow, or its artillery turned against itself; and
its oppositions, encounters, and persecutions, be made serviceable to
our conquest of the world, and to our motion and ascent to the higher
heavenly world: and there we are encouraged by a whole army and cloud
of holy soldiers, who have in their several ages, posts, and stations,
overcome the world, and won the crown. It is the real Christian that is
the proper hero, who vanquishes the world and rejoices in a universal
victory. Nor does he (for he is far superior to the Grecian monarch)
mourn that there is not another world to be subdued, but lays hold on
the eternal world of life, and in a sacred sense takes the kingdom of
heaven by violence too. Who in all the world but the believer on Jesus
Christ can thus overcome the world?
| The Witnesses in Heaven and on Earth. | A. D. 80. |
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6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ;
not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit
that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit,
and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified
of his Son.
The faith of the Christian believer (or the believer in Christ) being
thus mighty and victorious, it had need to be well founded, to be
furnished with unquestionable celestial evidence concerning the divine
mission, authority, and office of the Lord Jesus; and it is so; he
brings his credentials along with him, and he brings them in a way by
which he came and in the witness that attends him.
I. In the way and manner by which he came; not barely by which he came
into the world, but by and with which he came, and appeared, and acted,
as a Saviour in the world: This is he that came by water and
blood. He came to save us from our sins, to give us eternal life,
and bring us to God; and, that he might the more assuredly do this,
he came by, or with, water and blood. Even Jesus Christ;
Jesus Christ, I say, did so; and none but he. And I say it again, not
by or with water only, but by and with water and blood,
v. 6.
Jesus Christ came with water and blood, as the notes and
signatures of the true effectual Saviour of the world; and he came by
water and blood as the means by which he would heal and save us. That
he must and did thus come in his saving office may appear by our
remembering these things:–
1. We are inwardly and outwardly defiled.
(1.) Inwardly, by the power and pollution off sin and in our nature.
For our cleansing from this we need spiritual water; such as can reach
the soul and the powers of it. Accordingly, there is in and by Christ
Jesus the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. And this was intimated to the apostles by our Lord, when he
washed their feet, and said to Peter, who refused to be washed,
Except I wash thee, thou hast no part in me.
(2.) We are defiled outwardly, by the guilt and condemning power of sin
upon our persons. By this we are separated from God, and banished from
his favourable, gracious, beatific presence for ever. From this we must
be purged by atoning blood. It is the law or determination in the court
of heaven that without shedding of blood there shall be no
remission,
Heb. ix. 22.
The Saviour from sin therefore must come with blood.
2. Both these ways of cleansing were represented in the old ceremonial
institutions of God. Persons and things must be purified by water and
blood. There were divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed till
the time of reformation,
Heb. ix. 10.
The ashes of a heifer, mixed with water, sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh,
Heb. ix. 13; Num. xix. 9.
And likewise almost all things are, by the law, purged with
blood,
Heb. ix. 22.
As those show us our double defilement, so they indicate the Saviour’s
two-fold purgation.
3. At and upon the death of Jesus Christ, his side being pierced with a
soldier’s spear, out of the wound there immediately issued water and
blood. This the beloved apostle saw, and he seems to have been affected
with the sight; he alone records it, and seems to reckon himself
obliged to record it, and seems to reckon himself obliged to record it,
as containing something mysterious in it: And he that saw it bore
record, and his record is true. And he knoweth, being an
eye-witness, that he saith true, that you might believe, and
that you might believe this particularly, that out of his pierced side
forthwith there came water and blood,
John xix. 34, 35.
Now this water and blood are comprehensive of all that is necessary and
effectual to our salvation. By the water our souls are washed and
purified for heaven and the region of saints in light. By the blood God
is glorified, his law is honoured, and his vindictive excellences are
illustrated and displayed. Whom God hath set forth, or purposed,
or proposed, a propitiation through faith in his blood, or a
propitiation in or by his blood through faith, to declare his
righteousness, that he may be just, and the justifier of him that
believeth in Jesus,
Rom. iii. 25, 26.
By the blood we are justified, reconciled, and presented righteous to
God. By the blood, the curse of the law being satisfied, and purifying
Spirit is obtained for the internal ablution of our natures. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, that the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit, the promised Spirit, through faith,
Gal. iii. 13,
&c. The water, as well as the blood, issued out of the side of the
sacrificed Redeemer. The water and the blood then comprehend all
things that can be requisite to our salvation. They will consecrate and
sanctify to that purpose all that God shall appoint or make use of in
order to that great end. He loved the church, and gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
Eph. v. 25-27.
He who comes by water and blood is an accurate perfect Saviour. And
this is he who comes by water and blood, even Jesus Christ! Thus we see
in what way and manner, or, if you please, with what utensils, he
comes. But we see his credentials also,
II. In the witness that attends him, and that is, the divine Spirit,
that Spirit to whom the perfecting of the works of God is usually
attributed: And it is the Spirit that beareth witness,
v. 6.
It was meet that the commissioned Saviour of the world should have a
constant agent to support his work, and testify of him to the world. It
was meet that a divine power should attend him, his gospel, and
servants; and notify to the world upon what errand and office they
came, and by what authority they were sent: this was done in and by the
Spirit of God, according to the Saviour’s own prediction, “He shall
glorify me, even when I shall be rejected and crucified by men,
for he shall receive or take of mine. He shall not
receive my immediate office; he shall not die and rise again for you;
but he shall receive of mine, shall proceed on the foundation I
have laid, shall take up my institution, and truth, and cause, and
shall further show it unto you, and by you to the world,”
And then the apostle adds the commendation or the acceptableness of
this witness: Because the Spirit is truth,
v. 6.
He is the Spirit of God, and cannot lie. There is a copy that would
afford us a very suitable reading thus: because, or that,
Christ is the truth. And so it indicates the matter of the
Spirit’s testimony, the thing which he attests, and that is, the truth
of Christ: And it is the Spirit that beareth witness that Christ is
the truth; and consequently that Christianity, or the Christian
religion, is the truth of the day, the truth of God. But it is meet
that one or two copies should alter the text; and our present reading
is very agreeable, and so we retain it. The Spirit is truth. He
is indeed the Spirit of truth,
And that the Spirit is truth, and a witness worthy of all acceptation,
appears in that he is a heavenly witness, or one of the witnesses that
in and from heaven bore testimony concerning the truth and authority of
Christ. Because (or for) there are three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are
one. And so
most appositely occurs, as a proof of the authenticity of the Spirit’s
testimony; he must needs be true, or even truth itself, if he be not
only a witness in heaven, but even one (not in testimony only,
for so an angel may be, but in being and essence) with the Father
and the Word. But here,
1. We are stopped in our course by the contest there is about the
genuineness of
v. 7.
It is alleged that many old Greek manuscripts have it not. We shall not
here enter into the controversy. It should seem that the critics are
not agreed what manuscripts have it and what not; nor do they
sufficiently inform us of the integrity and value of the manuscripts
they peruse. Some may be so faulty, as I have an old printed Greek
Testament so full of errata, that one would think no critic
would establish a various lection thereupon. But let the judicious
collators of copies manage that business. There are some rational
surmises that seem to support the present text and reading. As,
(1.) If we admit
v. 8,
in the room of
v. 7,
it looks too like a tautology and repetition of what was included in
v. 6,
This is he that came by water and blood, not by water only, but by
water and blood; and it is the Spirit that beareth witness. For there
are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood.
This does not assign near so noble an introduction of these three
witnesses as our present reading does.
(2.) It is observed that many copies read that distinctive clause,
upon the earth: There are three that bear record upon the earth.
Now this bears a visible opposition to some witness or witnesses
elsewhere, and therefore we are told, by the adversaries of the text,
that this clause must be supposed to be omitted in most books that want
v. 7.
But it should for the same reason be so in all. Take we
v. 6,
This is he that came by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that
beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. It would not now
naturally and properly be added, For there are three that bear
record on earth, unless we should suppose that the apostle would
tell us that all the witnesses are such as are on earth, when yet he
would assure us that one is infallibly true, or even truth itself.
(3.) It is observed that there is a variety of reading even in the
Greek text, as in
v. 7.
Some copies read hen eisi—are one; others (at
least the Complutensian) eis to hen eisin—are
to one, or agree in one; and in
(in that part that it is supposed should be admitted), instead of the
common en te ge—in earth, the Complutensian reads
epi tes ges—upon earth, which seems to show that
that edition depended upon some Greek authority, and not merely, as
some would have us believe, upon the authority either of the vulgar
Latin or of Thomas Aquinas, though his testimony may be added
thereto.
(4.) The
is very agreeable to the style and the theology of our apostle; as,
[1.] He delights in the title the Father, whether he indicates
thereby God only, or a divine person distinguished from the Son. I
and the Father are one. And Yet I am not alone; because
the Father is with me. I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another comforter. If any man love the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. Grace be with you, and peace from God
the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Father,
2 John 3.
Then,
[2.] The name the Word is known to be almost (if not quite)
peculiar to this apostle. Had the text been devised by another, it had
been more easy and obvious, from the form of baptism, and the common
language of the church, to have used the name Son instead of
that of the Word. As it is observed that Tertullian and Cyprian
use that name, even when they refer to this verse; or it is made an
objection against their referring to this verse, because they speak of
the Son, not the Word; and yet Cyprian’s expression seems to be very
clear by the citation of Facundus himself. Quod Johannis apostoli
testimonium beatus Cyprianus, Carthaginensis antistes et martyr, in
epistolâ sive libro, quem de Trinitate scripsit, de Patre, Filio,
et Spiritu sancto dictum intelligit; ait enim, Dicit Dominus, Ego et
Pater unum sumus; et iterum de Patre, Filio, et Spiritu sancto scriptum
est, Et hi tres unum sunt.–Blessed Cyprian, the Carthaginian bishop
and martyr, in the epistle or book he wrote concerning the Trinity,
considered the testimony of the apostle John as relating to the Father,
the Son, and Holy Spirit; for he says, the Lord says, I and the Father
are one; and again, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit it is
written, And these three are one. Now it is nowhere written that
these are one, but in
v. 7.
It is probable than that St. Cyprian, either depending on his memory,
or rather intending things more than words, persons more than names, or
calling persons by their names more usual in the church (both in
popular and polemic discourses), called the second by the name of the
Son rather than of the Word. If any man can admit
Facundus’s fancy, that Cyprian meant that the Spirit, the water, and
the blood, were indeed the Father, Word, and Spirit, that John said
were one, he may enjoy his opinion to himself. For,
First, He must suppose that Cyprian not only changed all the
names, but the apostle’s order too. For the blood (the Son), which
Cyprian puts second, the apostle puts last. And,
Secondly, He must suppose that Cyprian thought that by the blood
which issued out of the side of the Son the apostle intended the Son
himself, who might as well have been denoted by the water,–that by the
water, which also issued from the side of the Son, the apostle intended
the person of the Holy Ghost,–that by the Spirit, which in
is said to be truth, and in the gospel is called the Spirit of truth,
the apostle meant the person of the Father, though he is nowhere else
so called when joined with the Son and the Holy Ghost. We require good
proof that the Carthaginian father could so understand the
apostle. He who so understands him must believe too that the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, are said to be three witnesses on earth.
Thirdly, Facundus acknowledges that Cyprian says that of his
three it is written, Et hi tres unum sunt–and these three are
one. Now these are the words, not of
v. 8,
but of
v. 7.
They are not used concerning the three on earth, the Spirit, the water,
and the blood; but the three in heaven, the Father, and the Word, and
the Holy Ghost. So we are told that the author of the book De
baptismo hæreticorum, allowed to be contemporary with
Cyprian, cites John’s words, agreeably to the Greek manuscripts and the
ancient versions, thus: Ait enim Johannes de Domino nostro in
epistolâ nos docens, Hic es qui venit per aquam et sanguinem,
Jesus Christus, non in aquâ tantùm, sed in aquâ et
sanguine; et Spiritus est qui testimonium perhibet, quia Spiritus est
veritas; quia tres testimonium perhibent, Spiritus et aqua et sanguis,
et isti tres in unum sunt–For John, in his epistle, says concerning
our Lord, This is he, Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood, not in
water only, but in water and blood; and it is the Spirit that bears
witness, because the Spirit is truth; for there are three that bear
witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree in
one. If all the Greek manuscripts and ancient versions say
concerning the Spirit, the water, and the blood, that in unum
sunt–they agree in one, then it was not of them that Cyprian
spoke, whatever variety there might be in the copies in his time, when
he said it is written, unum sunt–they are one. And therefore
Cyprian’s words seem still to be a firm testimony to
v. 7,
and an intimation likewise that a forger of the text would have
scarcely so exactly hit upon the apostolical name for the second
witness in heaven, the Word. Them,
[3.] As only this apostle records the history of the water and blood
flowing out of the Saviour’s side, so it is he only, or he principally,
who registers to us the Saviour’s promise and prediction of the Holy
spirit’s coming to glorify him, and to testify of him, and to convince
the world of its own unbelief and of his righteousness, as in his
gospel,
ch. xiv. 16, 17, 26; xv. 26; xvi. 7-15.
It is most suitable then to the diction and to the gospel of this
apostle thus to mention the Holy Ghost as a witness for Jesus Christ.
Then,
(5.) It was far more easy for a transcriber, by turning away his eye,
or by the obscurity of the copy, it being obliterated or defaced on the
top or bottom of a page, or worn away in such materials as the ancients
had to write upon, to lose and omit the passage, than for an
interpolator to devise and insert it. He must be very bold and impudent
who could hope to escape detection and shame; and profane too, who
durst venture to make an addition to a supposed sacred book. And,
(6.) It can scarcely be supposed that, when the apostle is representing
the Christian’s faith in overcoming the world, and the foundation it
relies upon in adhering to Jesus Christ, and the various testimony that
was attended him, especially when we consider that he meant to infer,
as he does
(v. 9),
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for
this (which he had rehearsed before) is the witness of God which
he hath testified of his Son. Now in the three witnesses on earth
there is neither all the witness of God, nor indeed any witness who is
truly and immediately God. The antitrinitarian opposers of the text
will deny that either the Spirit, or the water, or the blood, is God
himself; but, upon our present reading, here is a noble enumeration of
the several witnesses and testimonies supporting the truth of the Lord
Jesus and the divinity of his institution. Here is the most excellent
abridgment or breviate of the motives to faith in Christ, of the
credentials the Saviour brings with him, and of the evidences of our
Christianity, that is to be found, I think, in the book of God, upon
which single account, even waiving the doctrine of the divine Trinity,
the text is worthy of all acceptation.
2. Having these rational grounds on out side, we proceed. The apostle,
having told us that the Spirit that bears witness to Christ is truth,
shows us that he is so, by assuring us that he is in heaven, and that
there are others also who cannot but be true, or truth itself,
concurring in testimony with him: For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one,
v. 7.
(1.) Here is a trinity of heavenly witnesses, such as have testified
and vouched to the world the veracity and authority of the Lord Jesus
in his office and claims, where,
[1.] The first that occurs in order is the Father; he set his
seal to the commission of the Lord Christ all the while he was here;
more especially,
First, In proclaiming him at his baptism,
Secondly, In confirming his character at the transfiguration,
Thirdly, In accompanying him with miraculous power and works:
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; but if I do,
though you believe not me, believe the works, that you may know and
believe that the Father is in me, and I in him,
John x. 37, 38.
Fourthly, In avouching at his death,
Fifthly, In raising him from the dead, and receiving him up to
his glory: He shall convince the world-of righteousness, because I
go to my Father, and you see me no more,
John xvi. 10, and Rom. i. 4.
[2.] The second witness in the Word, a mysterious name, importing the
highest nature that belongs to the Saviour of Jesus Christ, wherein he
existed before the world was, whereby he made the world, and whereby he
was truly God with the Father. He must bear witness to the human
nature, or to the man Christ Jesus, in and by whom he redeemed and
saved us; and he bore witness,
First, By the mighty works that he wrought.
My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Secondly, In conferring a glory upon him at his transfiguration.
And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the
Father,
John i. 14.
Thirdly, In raising him from the dead.
Destroy this temple, and in three days will I raise it up.
[3.] The third witness is the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit, and
august, venerable name, the possessor, proprietor, and author of
holiness. True and faithful must he be to whom the Spirit of holiness
sets his seal and solemn testimony. So he did to the Lord Jesus, the
head of the Christian world; and that in such instances as these:–
First, In the miraculous production of his immaculate human
nature in the virgin’s womb. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee,
Luke i. 35,
&c.
Secondly, In the visible descent upon him at his baptism.
The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape,
Luke iii. 22,
&c.
Thirdly, In an effectual conquest of the spirits of hell and
darkness. If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the
kingdom of God has come unto you,
Matt. xii. 28.
Fourthly, In the visible potent descent upon the apostles, to
furnish them with gifts and powers to preach him and his gospel to the
world after he himself had gone to heaven,
&c.
Fifthly, In supporting the name, gospel, and interest of Christ,
by miraculous gifts and operations by and upon the disciples, and in
the churches, for two hundred years
concerning which see Dr. Whitby’s excellent discourse in the preface to
the second volume of his Commentary on the New Testament. These
are witnesses in heaven; and they bear record from heaven; and they are
one, it should seem, not only in testimony (for that is implied in
their being three witnesses to one and the same thing), but upon a
higher account, as they are in heaven; they are one in their heavenly
being and essence; and, if one with the Father, they must be one
God.
(2.) To these there is opposed, though with them joined, a trinity of
witnesses on earth, such as continue here below: And there are three
that bear witness on earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood; and
these three agree in one,
v. 8.
[1.] Of these witnesses the first is the spirit. This must be
distinguished from the person of the Holy Ghost, who is in heaven. We
must say then, with the Saviour (according to what is reported by this
apostle), that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,
John iii. 6.
The disciples of the Saviour are, as well as others, born after the
flesh. They come into the world endued with a corrupt carnal
disposition, which is enmity to God. This disposition must be mortified
and abolished. A new nature must be communicated. Old lusts and
corruptions must be eradicated, and the true disciple become a new
creature. The regeneration or renovation of souls is a testimony to the
Saviour. It is his actual though initial salvation. It is a testimony
on earth, because it continues with the church here, and is not
performed in that conspicuous astonishing manner in which signs from
heaven are accomplished. To this Spirit belong not only the
regeneration and conversion of the church, but its progressive
sanctification, victory over the world, her peace, and love, and joy,
and all that grace by which she is made meet for the inheritance of the
saints in light.
[2.] The second is the water. This was before considered as a
means of salvation, now as a testimony to the Saviour himself, and
intimates his purity and purifying power. And so it seems to
comprehend,
First, The purity of his own nature and conduct in the world.
He was holy, harmless, and undefiled.
Secondly, The testimony of John’s baptism, who bore witness of him,
prepared a people for him, and referred them to him,
Thirdly, The purity of his own doctrine, by which souls are
purified and washed. Now you are clean through the word that I have
spoken unto you,
John xv. 3.
Fourthly, The actual and active purity and holiness of his
disciples. His body is the holy catholic church. Seeing you have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit,
1 Pet. i. 22.
And this signed and sealed by,
Fifthly, The baptism that he has appointed for the initiation or
introduction of his disciples, in which he signally (or by that sign)
says, Except I wash thee, thou hast no part in me. Not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
towards God,
1 Pet. iii. 21.
[3.] The third witness is the blood; this he shed, and this was our
ransom. This testifies for Jesus Christ,
First, In that it sealed up and finished the sacrifices of the
Old Testament, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
Secondly, In that it confirmed his own predictions, and the truth
of all his ministry and doctrine,
Thirdly, In that it showed unparalleled love to God, in that he
would die a sacrifice to his honour and glory, in making atonement for
the sins of the world,
Fourthly, In that it demonstrated unspeakable love to us; and
none will deceive those whom they entirely love,
Fifthly, In that it demonstrated the disinterestedness of the
Lord Jesus as to any secular interest and advantage. No impostor and
deceiver ever proposes to himself contempt and a violent cruel death,
Sixthly, In that it lays obligation on his disciple to suffer
and die for him. No deceiver would invite proselytes to his side and
interest at the rate that the Lord Jesus did. You shall be hated of
all men for my sake. They shall put you out of their synagogues; and
the time comes that whosoever kills you will think that he doeth God
service,
John xvi. 2.
He frequently calls his servants to a conformity with him in
sufferings: Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp,
bearing his reproach,
Heb. xiii. 13.
This shows that neither he nor his kingdom is of this world.
Seventhly, The benefits accruing and procured by his blood (well
understood) must immediately demonstrate that he is indeed the Saviour
of the world. And then,
Eighthly, These are signified and sealed in the institution of
his own supper: This is my blood of the New Testament (which
ratifies the New Testament), which is shed for many, for the
remission of sins,
Matt. xxvi. 28.
Such are the witnesses on earth. Such is the various testimony given to
the author of our religion. No wonder if the rejector of all this
evidence he judged as a blasphemer of the Spirit of God, and be left to
perish without remedy in his sins. These three witnesses (being more
different than the three former) are not so properly said to be one
as to be for one, to be for one and the same purpose and
cause, or to agree in one, in one and the same thing among
themselves, and in the same testimony with those who bear record from
heaven.
III. The apostle justly concludes, If we receive the witness of men,
the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God, that he
hath testified of his Son,
v. 9.
Here we have,
1. A supposition well founded upon the premises. Here is the witness
of God, the witness whereby God hath testified of his Son, which
surely must intimate some immediate irrefragable testimony, and that of
the Father concerning his Son; he has by himself proclaimed and
avouched him to the world.
2. The authority and acceptableness of his testimony; and that argued
from the less to the greater: If we receive the witness of men
(and such testimony is and must be admitted in all judicatories and in
all nations), the witness of God is greater. It is truth itself,
of highest authority and most unquestionable infallibility. And then
there is,
3. The application of the rule to the present case: For this is the
witness, and here is the witness of God even of the Father,
as well as of the Word and Spirit, which he hath testified of,
and wherein he hath attested, his Son. God, that cannot lie,
hath given sufficient assurance to the world that Jesus Christ is his
Son, the Son of his love, and Son by office, to reconcile and recover
the world unto himself; he testified therefore the truth and divine
origin of the Christian religion, and that it is the sure appointed way
and means of bringing us to God.
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10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because
he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal
life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
In those words we may observe,
I. The privilege and stability of the real Christian: He that
believeth on the Son of God, hath been prevailed with unfeignedly
to cleave to him for salvation, hath the witness in himself,
v. 10.
He hath not only the outward evidence that others have, but he hath in
his own heart a testimony for Jesus Christ. He can allege what Christ
and the truth of Christ have done for his soul and what he has seen and
found in him. As,
1. He has deeply seen his sin, and guilt, and misery, and his abundant
need of such a Saviour.
2. He has seen the excellency, beauty, and office of the Son of God,
and the incomparable suitableness of such a Saviour to all his
spiritual wants and sorrowful circumstances.
3. He sees and admires the wisdom and love of God in preparing and
sending such a Saviour to deliver him from sin and hell, and to raise
him to pardon, peace, and communion with God.
4. He has found and felt the power of the word and doctrine of Christ,
wounding, humbling, healing, quickening, and comforting his soul.
5. He finds that the revelation of Christ, as it is the greatest
discovery and demonstration of the love of God, so it is the most apt
and powerful means of kindling, fomenting, and inflaming love to the
holy blessed God.
6. He is born of God by the truth of Christ, as
v. 1.
He has a new heart and nature, a new love, disposition, and delight,
and is not the man that formerly he was.
7. He finds yet such a conflict with himself, with sin, with the flesh,
the world, and invisible wicked powers, as is described and provided
for in the doctrine of Christ.
8. He finds such prospects and such strength afforded him by the faith
of Christ, that he can despise and overcome the world, and travel on
towards a better.
9. He finds what interest the Mediator has in heaven, by the audiency
and prevalency of those prayers that are sent thither in his name,
according to his will, and through his intercession.
10. He is begotten again to a lively hope, to a holy confidence in God,
in his good-will and love, to a pleasant victory over terrors of
conscience, dread of death and hell, to a comfortable prospect of life
and immortality, being enriched with the earnest of the Spirit and
sealed to the day of redemption. Such assurance has the gospel
believer; he has a witness in himself. Christ is formed in him, and he
is growing up to the fulness and perfection, or perfect image of
Christ, in heaven.
II. The aggravation of the unbeliever’s sin, the sin of unbelief: He
that believeth not God hath made him a liar. He does, in effect,
give God the lie, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son,
v. 10.
He must believe that God did not send his Son into the world, when he
has given us such manifold evidence that he did, or that Jesus Christ
was not the Son of God, when all that evidence relates to and
terminates upon him, or that he sent his Son to deceive the world and
to lead it into error and misery, or that he permits men to devise a
religion which, in all the parts of it, is a pure, holy, heavenly,
undefiled institution, and so worthy to be embraced by the reason of
mankind, and yet is but a delusion and a lie, and then lends them his
Spirit and power to recommend and obtrude it upon the world, which is
to make God the Father, the author and abettor, of the lie.
III. The matter, the substance, or contents of all this divine
testimony concerning Jesus Christ: And this is the record, that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son,
v. 11.
This is the sum of the gospel. This is the sum and epitome of the whole
record given us by all the aforesaid six witnesses.
1. That God hath given to us eternal life. He has designed it
for us in his eternal purpose. He has prepared all the means that are
necessary to bring us to it. He has made it over to us by his covenant
and promise. And he actually confers a right and title thereto on all
who believe on and actually embrace the Son of God. Then,
2. This life is in the Son. The Son is life; eternal life in his
own essence and person,
He is eternal life to us, the spring of our spiritual and glorious
life,
From him life is communicated to us, both here in heaven. And thereupon
it must follow,
(1.) He that hath the Son hath life,
v. 12.
He that is united to the Son is united to life. He who hath a title to
the Son hath a title to life, to eternal life. Such honour hath the
Father put upon the Son: such honour must we put upon him too. We must
come and kiss the Son, and we shall have life.
(2.) He that hath not the Son of God hath not life,
v. 12.
He continues under the condemnation of the law
(John iii. 36);
he refuses the Son, who is life itself, who is the procurer of life,
and the way to it; he provokes God to deliver him over to endless death
for making him a liar, since he believes not this record that God hath
given concerning his Son.
IV. The end and reason of the apostle’s preaching this to believers.
1. For their satisfaction and comfort: These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know
that you have eternal life,
v. 13.
Upon all this evidence, and these witnesses, it is but just and meet
that there should be those who believe on the name of the Son of God.
God increase their number! How much testimony from heaven has the world
to answer for! And to three witnesses in heaven must the world be
accountable. These believers have eternal life. They have it in the
covenant of the gospel, in the beginning and first-fruits of it within
them, and in their Lord and head in heaven. These believers may come to
know that they have eternal life, and should be quickened, encouraged,
and comforted, in the prospect of it: and they should value the
scriptures, which are so much written for their consolation and
salvation.
2. For their confirmation and progress in their holy faith: And that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God
(v. 13),
may go on believing. Believers must persevere, or they do nothing. To
withdraw from believing on the name of the Son of God is to renounce
eternal life, and draw back unto perdition. Therefore the evidences of
religion and the advantage of faith are to be presented to believers,
in order to hearten and encourage them to persevere to the end.
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14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we
ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto
death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin
not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he
shall pray for it.
17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto
death.
Here we have,
I. A privilege belonging to faith in Christ, namely, audience in
prayer: This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask
any thing according to his will, he heareth us,
v. 14.
The Lord Christ emboldens us to come to God in all circumstances, with
all our supplications and requests. Through him our petitions are
admitted and accepted of God. The matter of our prayer must be
agreeable to the declared will of God. It is not fit that we should ask
what is contrary either to his majesty and glory or to our own good,
who are his and dependent on him. And then we may have confidence that
the prayer of faith shall be heard in heaven.
II. The advantage accruing to us by such privilege: If we know that
he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions
that we desired of him,
v. 15.
Great are the deliverances, mercies, and blessings, which the holy
petitioner needs. To know that his petitions are heard or accepted is
as good as to know that they are answered; and therefore that he is so
pitied, pardoned, or counselled, sanctified, assisted, and saved (or
shall be so) as he is allowed to ask of God.
III. Direction in prayer in reference to the sins of others: If any
man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask,
and he shall give him life for those that sin not unto death. There is
a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it,
v. 16.
Here we may observe,
1. We ought to pray for others as well as for ourselves; for our
brethren of mankind, that they may be enlightened, converted, and
saved; for our brethren in the Christian profession, that they may be
sincere, that their sins may be pardoned, and that they may be
delivered from evils and the chastisements of God, and preserved in
Christ Jesus.
2. There is a great distinction in the heinousness and guilt of sin:
There is a sin unto death
(v. 16),
and there is a sin not unto death,
v. 17.
(1.) There is a sin unto death. All sin, as to the merit and
legal sentence of it, is unto death. The wages of sin is death;
and cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are
written in the book of the law, to do them,
Gal. iii. 10.
But there is a sin unto death in opposition to such sin as is here said
not to be unto death. There is therefore,
(2.) A sin not unto death. This surely must include all such sin
as by divine or human constitution may consist with life; in the human
constitution with temporal or corporal life, in the divine constitution
with corporal or with spiritual evangelical life.
[1.] There are sins which, by human righteous constitution, are not
unto death; as divers pieces of injustice, which may be compensated
without the death of the delinquent. In opposition to this there are
sins which, by righteous constitution, are to death, or to a legal
forfeiture of life; such as we call capital crimes.
[2.] Then there are sins which, by divine constitution, are unto death;
and that either death corporal or spiritual and evangelical.
First, Such as are, or may be, to death corporal. Such may the
sins be either of gross hypocrites, as Ananias and Sapphira, or, for
aught we know, of sincere Christian brethren, as when the apostle says
of the offending members of the church of Corinth, For this cause
many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep,
1 Cor. xi. 30.
There may be sin unto corporal death among those who may not be
condemned with the world. Such sin, I said, is, or may be, to corporal
death. The divine penal constitution in the gospel does not positively
and peremptorily threaten death to the more visible sins of the members
of Christ, but only some gospel-chastisement; for whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth,
Heb. xii. 6.
There is room left for divine wisdom or goodness, or even gospel
severity, to determine how far the chastisement or the scourge shall
proceed. And we cannot say but that sometimes it may (in
terrorem–for warning to others) proceed even to death. Then,
Secondly, There are sins which, by divine constitution, are unto
death spiritual and evangelical, that is, are inconsistent with
spiritual and evangelical life, with spiritual life in the soul and
with an evangelical right to life above. Such are total impenitence and
unbelief for the present. Final impenitence and unbelief are infallibly
to death eternal, as also a blaspheming of the Spirit of God in the
testimony that he has given to Christ and his gospel, and a total
apostasy from the light and convictive evidence of the truth of the
Christian religion. These are sins involving the guilt of everlasting
death. Then comes,
IV. The application of the direction for prayer according to the
different sorts of sin thus distinguished. The prayer is supposed to be
for life: He shall ask, and he (God) shall give them
life. Life is to be asked of God. He is the God of life; he gives
it when and to whom he pleases, and takes it away either by his
constitution or providence, or both, as he thinks meet. In the case of
a brother’s sin, which is not (in the manner already mentioned) unto
death, we may in faith and hope pray for him; and particularly for the
life of soul and body. But, in case of the sin unto death in the
forementioned ways, we have no allowance to pray. Perhaps the apostle’s
expression, I do not say, He shall pray for it, may intend no
more than, “I have no promise for you in that case; no foundation for
the prayer of faith.”
1. The laws of punitive justice must be executed, for the common safety
and benefit of mankind: and even an offending brother in such a case
must be resigned to public justice (which in the foundation of it is
divine), and at the same time also to the mercy of God.
2. The removal of evangelical penalties (as they may be called), or the
prevention of death (which may seem to be so consequential upon, or
inflicted for, some particular sin), can be prayed for only
conditionally or provisionally, that is, with proviso that it consist
with the wisdom, will, and glory of God that they should be removed,
and particularly such death prevented.
3. We cannot pray that the sins of the impenitent and unbelieving
should, while they are such, be forgiven them, or that any mercy of
life or soul, that suppose the forgiveness of sin, should be granted to
them, while they continue such. But we may pray for their repentance
(supposing them but in the common case of the impenitent world), for
their being enriched with faith in Christ, and thereupon for all other
saving mercies.
4. In case it should appear that any have committed the irremissible
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and the total apostasy from the
illuminating convictive powers of the Christian religion, it should
seem that they are not to be prayed for at all. For what remains but
a certain fearful expectation of judgment, to consume such
adversaries?
Heb. x. 27.
And these last seem to be the sins chiefly intended by the apostle by
the name of sins unto death. Then,
5. The apostle seems to argue that there is sin that is not unto death;
thus, All unrighteousness is sin
(v. 17);
but, were all unrighteousness unto death (since we have all some
unrighteousness towards God or man, or both, in omitting and neglecting
something that is their due), then we were all peremptorily bound over
to death, and, since it is not so (the Christian brethren, generally
speaking, having right to life), there must be sin that is not to
death. Though there is no venial sin (in the common acceptation), there
is pardoned sin, sin that does not involve a plenary obligation to
eternal death. If it were not so, there could be no justification nor
continuance of the justified state. The gospel constitution or covenant
abbreviates, abridges, or rescinds the guilt of sin.
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18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he
that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not.
19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth
in wickedness.
20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us
an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are
in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the
true God, and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Here we have,
I. A recapitulation of the privileges and advantages of sound Christian
believers.
1. They are secured against sin, against the fulness of its dominion or
the fulness of its guilt: We know that whosoever is born of God
(and the believer in Christ is born of God,
v. 1)
sinneth not
(v. 18),
sinneth not with that fulness of heart and spirit that the
unregenerate do (as was said
and consequently not with that fulness of guilt that attends the sins
of others; and so he is secured against that sin which is unavoidably
unto death, or which infallibly binds the sinner over unto the wages of
eternal death; the new nature, and the inhabitation of the divine
Spirit thereby, prevent the admission of such unpardonable sin.
2. They are fortified against the devil’s destructive attempts: He
that is begotten of God keepeth himself, that is, is enabled to
guard himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not
(v. 18),
that is, that the wicked one may not touch him, namely, to death. It
seems not to be barely a narration of the duty or the practice of the
regenerate; but an indication of their power by virtue of their
regeneration. They are thereby prepared and principled against the
fatal touches, the sting, of the wicked one; he touches not their
souls, to infuse his venom there a he does in others, or to expel that
regenerative principle which is an antidote to his poison, or to induce
them to that sin which by the gospel constitution conveys an
indissoluble obligation to eternal death. He may prevail too far with
them, to draw them to some acts of sin; but it seems to be the design
of the apostle to assert that their regeneration secures them from such
assaults of the devil as will bring them into the same case and actual
condemnation with the devil.
3. They are on God’s side and interest, in opposition to the state of
the world: And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth
in wickedness,
v. 19.
Mankind are divided into two great parties of dominions, that which
belongs to God and that which belongs to wickedness or to the wicked
one. The Christian believers belong to God. They are of God, and from
him, and to him, and for him. They succeed into the right and room of
the ancient Israel of God, of whom it is said, The Lord’s people is
his portion, his estate in this world; Jacob is the lot of his
inheritance, the dividend that has fallen to him by the lot of his
own determination
while, on the contrary, the whole world, the rest, being by far
the major part, lieth in wickedness, in the jaws in the bowels
of the wicked one. There are, indeed, were we to consider the
individuals, many wicked ones, many wicked spirits, in the heavenly or
the ethereal places; but they are united in wicked nature, policy, and
principle, and they are united also in one head. There is the prince of
the devils and of the diabolical kingdom. There is a head of the
malignity and of the malignant world; and he has such sway here that he
is called the god of this world. Strange that such a knowing
spirit should be so implacably incensed against the Almighty and all
his interests, when he cannot but know that it must end in his own
overthrow and everlasting damnation! How tremendous is the judgment of
God upon that wicked one! May the God of the Christian world
continually demolish his dominion in this world, and translate souls
into the kingdom of his dear Son!
4. They are enlightened in the knowledge of the true eternal God:
“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given as an
understanding, that we may know him that is true,
v. 20.
The Son of God has come into our world, and we have seen him, and know
him by all the evidence that has already been asserted; he has revealed
unto us the true God (as
and he has opened our minds too to understand that revelation, given us
an internal light in our understandings, whereby we may discern the
glories of the true God; and we are assured that it is the true God
that he hath discovered to us. He is infinitely superior in purity,
power, and perfection, to all the gods of the Gentiles. He has all the
excellences, beauties, and riches, of the living and true God. It is
the same God that, according to Moses’s account, made the heavens and
the earth, the same who took our fathers and patriarchs into peculiar
covenant with himself, the same who brought our ancestors out of Egypt,
who gave us the fiery law upon mount Sinai, who gave us his holy
oracles, promised the call and conversion of the Gentiles. By his
counsels and works, by his love and grace, by his terrors and
judgments, we know that he, and he alone, in the fulness of his being,
is the living and true God.” It is a great happiness to know the true
God, to know him in Christ; it is eternal lie,
It is the glory of the Christian revelation that it gives the best
account of the true God, and administers the best eye-salve for our
discerning the living and true God.
5. They have a happy union with God and his Son: “And we are in him
that is true, even (or and) in his Son Jesus Christ,
v. 20.
The Son leads us to the Father, and we are in both, in the love and
favour of both, in covenant and federal alliance with both, in
spiritual conjunction with both by the inhabitation and operation of
their Spirit: and, that you may know how great a dignity and felicity
this is, you must remember that this true one is the true God and
eternal life” or rather (as it should seem a more natural
construction), “This same Son of God is himself also the true God
and eternal life”
and here,
ch. i. 2),
“so that in union with either, much more with both, we are united to
the true God and eternal life.” Then we have,
II. The apostle’s concluding monition: “Little children” (dear
children, as it has been interpreted), “keep yourselves from
idols,
v. 21.
Since you know the true God, and are in him, let your light and love
guard you against all that is advanced in opposition to him, or
competition with him. Flee from the false gods of the heathen world.
They are not comparable to the God whose you are and whom you serve.
Adore not your God by statues and images, which share in his worship.
Your God is an incomprehensible Spirit, and is disgraced by such sordid
representations. Hold no communion with your heathen neighbours in
their idolatrous worship. Your God is jealous, and would have you come
out, and be separated from among them; mortify the flesh, and be
crucified to the world, that they may not usurp the throne of dominion
in the heart, which is due only to God. The God whom you have known is
he who made you, who redeemed you by his Son, who has sent his gospel
to you, who has pardoned your sins, begotten you unto himself by his
Spirit, and given you eternal life. Cleave to him in faith, and love,
and constant obedience, in opposition to all things that would alienate
your mind and heart from God. To this living and true God be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.“
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