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Scott's Reference Library
1 John 1:1 through 1 John 2:2 (NIV)
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we
proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and
testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the
Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,
so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete.
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in
him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we
make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
1 John 2
1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody
does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the
Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 1-4
That essential Good, that uncreated Excellence, which had been from the
beginning, from eternity, as equal with the Father, and which at length appeared
in human nature for the salvation of sinners, was the great subject concerning
which the apostle wrote to his brethren. The apostles had seen Him while they
witnessed his wisdom and holiness, his miracles, and love and mercy, during some
years, till they saw him crucified for sinners, and afterwards risen from the
dead. They touched him, so as to have full proof of his resurrection. This
Divine Person, the Word of life, the Word of God, appeared in human nature, that
he might be the Author and Giver of eternal life to mankind, through the
redemption of his blood, and the influence of his new-creating Spirit. The
apostles declared what they had seen and heard, that believers might share their
comforts and everlasting advantages. They had free access to God the Father.
They had a happy experience of the truth in their souls, and showed its
excellence in their lives. This communion of believers with the Father and the
Son, is begun and kept up by the influences of the Holy Spirit. The benefits
Christ bestows, are not like the scanty possessions of the world, causing
jealousies in others; but the joy and happiness of communion with God is
all-sufficient, so that any number may partake of it; and all who are warranted
to say, that truly their fellowship is with the Father, will desire to lead
others to partake of the same blessedness.
VERSES 5-10
A message from the Lord Jesus, the Word of life, the eternal Word, we should all
gladly receive. The great God should be represented to this dark world, as pure
and perfect light. As this is the nature of God, his doctrines and precepts must
be such. And as his perfect happiness cannot be separated from his perfect
holiness, so our happiness will be in proportion to our being made holy. To walk
in darkness, is to live and act against religion. God holds no heavenly
fellowship or intercourse with unholy souls. There is no truth in their
profession; their practice shows its folly and falsehood. The eternal Life, the
eternal Son, put on flesh and blood, and died to wash us from our sins in his
own blood, and procures for us the sacred influences by which sin is to be
subdued more and more, till it is quite done away. While the necessity of a holy
walk is insisted upon, as the effect and evidence of the knowledge of God in
Christ Jesus, the opposite error of self-righteous pride is guarded against with
equal care. All who walk near to God, in holiness and righteousness, are
sensible that their best days and duties are mixed with sin. God has given
testimony to the sinfulness of the world, by providing a sufficient, effectual
Sacrifice for sin, needed in all ages; and the sinfulness of believers
themselves is shown, by requiring them continually to confess their sins, and to
apply by faith to the blood of that Sacrifice. Let us plead guilty before God,
be humble, and willing to know the worst of our case. Let us honestly confess
all our sins in their full extent, relying wholly on his mercy and truth through
the righteousness of Christ, for a free and full forgiveness, and our
deliverance from the power and practice of sin.
VERSES 1-2
When have an Advocate with the Father; one who has undertaken, and is fully
able, to plead in behalf of every one who applies for pardon and salvation in
his name, depending on his pleading for them. He is “Jesus,” the Saviour, and
“Christ,” the Messiah, the Anointed. He alone is “the Righteous One,” who
received his nature pure from sin, and as our Surety perfectly obeyed the law of
God, and so fulfilled all righteousness. All men, in every land, and through
successive generations, are invited to come to God through this all-sufficient
atonement, and by this new and living way. The gospel, when rightly understood
and received, sets the heart against all sin, and stops the allowed practice of
it; at the same time it gives blessed relief to the wounded consciences of those
who have sinned.