Глава II

Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1–2). Knowing Him and communicating with Him as light in the active fulfillment of the commandments of God, especially the commandments of love (3-11). The universality and accessibility of salvation in Christ (12–14). Love of the world, hostile to communication with God (15–16). Signs of the onset of the last world era (17–19). The true teaching of Christ as opposed to the anti-Christian one (20–27). 1 John 2:1. My children! I write this to you so that you will not sin; and if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 1 John 2:2. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. Wanting to prevent the possibility of reinterpretation of the teaching set forth in 1:5-10, St. John the Theologian, with fatherly touching, expressively reminds readers that what he wrote in these verses cannot at all serve as a justification for a light attitude towards sin and its many different manifestations, on the contrary: the purpose of what is said there is to turn away readers and Christians in general from sin: “I write these things to you, so that you do not sin.” But at the same time, for people of a particularly sensitive conscience, who sincerely seek freedom from sin and true Christian perfection, but are deeply aware of the sinfulness of human nature, the Apostle also adds encouragement in faith in the all-powerful intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great and eternal Advocate (aduocatum) for humanity before God the Father (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5). “The Apostle, knowing that our nature is fickle and sinful, that we always carry an attraction to evil within ourselves, that the envious devil hinders our salvation with his forges, that therefore those who have already been reconciled with God through confession, if they live carelessly, will not escape sin, now inspires that if we fell after the forgiveness of sins, we should not despair. For if we turn, we can again receive salvation through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He, interceding for us before the Father, will make atonement for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. The Apostle said this because he was writing to the Jews, he said it in order to show that the benefit of repentance is not limited to them alone, but also extends to the pagans, or that this promise applies not only to contemporaries, but to all people of subsequent centuries. He calls Jesus Christ the Intercessor for us, begging or persuading the Father with a special purpose, namely, to imagine that the Son has one nature and one power with the Father, and that the action of One of the three most holy Persons is common to other persons” (Blessed Theophylact). 1 John 2:3. And we know that we have come to know Him by keeping His commandments. 1 John 2:4. He who says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and there is no truth in him; 1 John 2:5. and whoever keeps His word, in him is truly the love of God perfected: by this we know that we are in Him. 1 John 2:6. He who says he abides in Him must do as He did. Having expressed the main dogma of the Christian faith about Christ as the Redeemer and Intercessor of humanity and the whole world, the Apostle now indicates the indispensable condition under which the Savior’s intercession will be effective and saving for us, namely: keeping His commandments, the active implementation of His covenants, and not just intellectual knowledge of Him. Having, apparently, in mind some false teachers who boasted of their Christian knowledge, but did nothing to put this knowledge into practice (vv. 4-6), the Apostle insists with all his strength that a person’s correct attitude towards God and the purity of his knowledge itself are revealed only from the corresponding life behavior of a person. Our keeping God's commandments (vv. 3-5) is the best evidence that we know God. At the same time, the vital connection between God-consciousness and keeping the commandments is true Christian love. “Perfect love, he says, is proven by deeds. But how does it happen that someone else (apparently) observes the commandments correctly and accurately, but his inner disposition is unclean, which is why he is far from God; then the Apostle says that he who has been assigned to God must live as closeness to God requires... And to the contrary he confirms the same, using the most complete evidence” (Blessed Theophilus). The constant model of life behavior should be Christ the Savior, who carried out the will of God in its entirety (Article 6. See 1 Pet 2:21; John 8:29, 17:4). 1 John 2:7. Beloved! I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an ancient commandment which you had from the beginning. The ancient commandment is the word that you have heard from the beginning. 1 John 2:8. But at the same time I write to you a new commandment, which is true both in Him and in you: because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Having taught the readers the instruction to keep the commandments (vv. 3-5), especially the commandment of love, and pointing to the highest example of love and in general Christian perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 6), the Apostle, as if warning the readers possible indication of the difficulty of fulfilling this covenant and this imitation, now testifies that the demand he puts forward is not something new, but constitutes an ancient one (Lev. 19:18), although at the same time a new one commandment. “Since this epistle is a Council letter, written generally to everyone, to Jews and pagans, then in relation to the Jews we can say that the Apostle writes to them the commandment about love is not new, but ancient. For on the tablets of Moses it was written: “Love your neighbor after God as yourself” (Lev.19:18)... The law about loving your neighbors was also written among the pagans. How so? It is written on the tablets of their hearts with natural thoughts... So, the pagans also accepted the ancient law or commandment, since nature itself commands us to be meek towards each other, as a result of which man is a sociable animal, and this is impossible without love. In ancient stories there are even recorded many such people who died for others, and this is a sign of the highest love, as our Savior explained, saying: “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) (Blessed Theophilus). However, Christian love for neighbors is neither a natural love, inherent in the human soul by nature, love for mankind, which is also possible among pagans, nor a prescription aimed at limiting the passion for vindictiveness, as in the Law of Moses, but something far superior to both, like the free love of Christians among themselves in the name of Christ, like love based on a completely new, hitherto unknown foundation. Thus, “love for one’s neighbors is an ancient commandment and at the same time a new one”: it is an ancient commandment, because it was communicated in the Old Testament revelation, but it is also a new commandment, for it was fulfilled in its entirety only by Jesus Christ, and is carried out, following His example, in believers, in whose lives the darkness has already passed and the true light of the knowledge of God begins to shine (vv. 7-8) (Prof. Archpriest D. I. Bogdashevsky, Ts. soch., p. 12). 1 John 2:9. He who says that he is in the light, but hates his brother, is still in darkness. 1 John 2:10. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no temptation in him. 1 John 2:11. But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Once it has been established that the true light of knowledge of God and Christian love is already shining on earth and that the gradual realization of the Christian ideal is obligatory for all Christians under the new conditions of life in Christ, then it is easy to determine who belongs to this area of ​​light and who to the opposite area of ​​darkness. An indisputable sign by which one can distinguish the sons of light from the sons of darkness is brotherly love for others in Christ (v. 9, cf. John 13:34–35): the presence of this love in a person proves his actual belonging to the realm of light (v. 10), and its absence in a person who even calls himself a son of light is a sure sign that he is not a Christian, a son of darkness (v. 9–11). “Closeness or love for God is first of all recognized through love for one’s neighbor. For it is impossible for one illuminated by the knowledge of God and filled with love for Him to have darkness of hatred towards his brother; because light and darkness cannot be together at the same time in the same object. Therefore, illuminated by love for God and having God, he also has a light in relation to his brother, which is kindled from love for his brother. And whoever says that he loves God, meanwhile hates his brother, is in constant darkness, his rational eyes are always darkened, because he has lost the light of communication with God and with his brother. He no longer knows what can be useful for himself” (Blessed Theophilus). It is noteworthy that the Apostle here (vv. 9 and 11) and in other places of the epistle contrasts the concept of love not with a lack of love, but with outright hatred, that is, he takes diametrically opposed concepts and places them in a mutually exclusive relationship. Although in life there are infinitely many degrees and shades of love and dislike, the Apostle considers everything from an absolute point of view, from the point of view of principle and final results: for him, therefore, there are only two kingdoms or directions - the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness; on one side is God, on the other is the world; there is life, here is death (cf. 1 John 3:14); there is love and all the means to salvation, here there is hatred and the complete impossibility of salvation. From here flows the purity, depth and strength of the Christian ethics of the Apostle. 1 John 2:12. I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake. 1 John 2:13. I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Jehovah from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, youths, because you have come to know the Father. 1 John 2:14. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have come to know the Beginningless One. I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Having brought to the readers' attention the teaching about walking in the light and the essence of Divine service and about love as the main condition of the latter (1 John 1-2:8), and further intending (from v. 15) to give instructions on how Christians should relate to the world, the Apostle prefaces this last warning with a strong and persistent appeal to Christians of different ages. Address: “children”, τεκνία (v. 12) and “children” παιδία (v. 14) are not the names of children in the proper sense, but the fatherly appeal of the elder Apostle to all Christian readers without distinction of age, as shown by the use of τεκνία in 1 John 2:1, 28, 3:7, 18, 4:4, 5:21; and παιδία in 1 John 2:18. Other names: “fathers”, “youths” denote more degrees of spiritual perfection and qualities than natural ages, although the latter cannot be completely excluded (the word νεανίσκοι is not used to designate only spiritual maturity), because it is possible for the natural age to coincide with the spiritual. The Apostle addressed different ages or classes of readers in two parallel rows, with the first row of appeals united by the verb γράφω, I write, in the present. vr., and the addresses of the second row are connected by the same verb in the aorist form. Distinguishing in Christian society between individual members of unequal age, spiritual and natural, the Apostle assimilates to all of them the high spiritual advantages and benefits they received in Christianity - in order to turn them away from attachment to the world (v. 15). Namely, “addressing first of all the Christians of the community (τεκνία), the Apostle says that he writes to them because their sins have been forgiven them (1 John 2:12). But forgiveness of sins presupposes the knowledge of Him through whom this highest good has been given to us - the knowledge of the Savior Jesus Christ. Although knowledge of this kind, like the forgiveness of sins, belongs to all Christians, it primarily distinguishes the “fathers.” “I am writing to you, fathers,” says the Apostle, “that you will know the One without beginning.” Forgiveness of sins presupposes, further, the struggle with sin and victory over it, and since this struggle was carried out relatively recently by young men, and, therefore, the latter must take special care not to lose what they have acquired, the Apostle John, turning to them, says: “I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one” (Prof. Archpriest D. I. Bogdashevsky, pp. 15–16). It is possible that here we mean “some particularly strong a clash with heretics, from which the Asia Minor church emerged victorious, thanks mainly to the energy of the younger generation” (Prof. N.I. Sagarda, p. 395) In his second address to the young men (v. 14), the Apostle explains that the power with which the young men defeated the evil one was not their own power of youthful fullness of life, but the Divine, spiritual power - the power of the word of God, the Gospel, abiding in them. 1 John 2:15. Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love in him. 1 John 2:16. For everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world. 1 John 2:17. And the world passes away, and its lusts, but he who does the will of God abides forever. Having pointed out in a deliberate two-fold appeal to Christians of different ages the high state of grace of Christians, the Apostle now more decisively expresses a warning against a world lying in evil and the deceptive blessings of the world. What is the world, ό κόσμος, against attachment to which the Apostle warns with particular insistence? “So that you do not understand by the world the totality of heaven and earth, the Apostle explains what the world is and what is in the world. And, firstly, by the world he means vicious people who do not have the Father’s love within them. Secondly, by being in the world he means that which is done through carnal lust, which, acting through the senses, arouses lust... in general, everything hostile to God...” (Blessed Theophilus). Thus, this is the world from which, according to the admonition of the Apostle James, a true Christian must protect himself undefiled (James 1:27); friendship with him is enmity against God (James 4:4). Two reasons are given by the Apostle to prove the necessity of a decisive and complete separation from the world: first, that the love of God is incompatible with the love of the world (v. 15) - is incompatible for the reason that the essence of the world, the inner life that animates it, is formed by the sinful, hostile lust of human nature perverted by sin (cf. Rom. 7:7 et seq.), branching into three main passions - the lust of the flesh or sensuality (cf. Rom. 8:7-8), the lust of the eyes and the pride of life - on which, like a lever, it turns the world lying in evil and from whose side the devil tempted the Lord Himself in the desert (Matthew 4:1–11, etc.); secondly, there is no need to love the world because it cannot provide us with that constant and unchangeable good for which we strive, since the world and its desires are something fluid, transitory, while he who does the will of God finds good that abides forever (v. 17). “The lusts of the world are short-lived and impermanent, but what is done according to the will of God is lasting and eternal.” (Theophilus.). 1 John 2:18. Children! lately. And as you have heard that the Antichrist will come, and now many antichrists have appeared, then we know from this that the last time. 1 John 2:19. They left us, but they were not ours: for if they were ours, they would have remained with us; but they came out, and through this it was revealed that they were not all ours. Having mentioned that the world is passing away and is approaching destruction (v. 17), the Apostle now points out the presence of signs that the approach of the “last time” (εσχάτη ώρα) of the world is near, that is, the nearness of the final era of the world and the second coming of the Lord (cf. James 5:3, 8; 1 Pet. 1:5, 4:7 and etc.). By this sign the Apostle calls the appearance of the Antichrist, about αντίχριστος, even many antichrists, αντίχριστοι, that is, false teachers who overthrow the teaching about Christ the Savior and together the whole work of Christ, 1 John 2:22–23, 4:3 ; 2 John 1:7. The Apostle testifies that believers have already heard about the coming of these Antichrists - of course, from the teachings and predictions of the Savior Himself (John 5:43; Matt. 24:24), and even more from the teaching of Apostle Paul about the “adversary”, ό αντικείμενος, 2 Thess. 2:2-10. . Introducing here a new name for the opponents of Christ and His teaching, the Apostle distinguishes between the Antichrist, who is identical with the “adversary” (2 Thessalonians 2), who will appear before the coming of the Lord at the final judgment, and the antichrists, that is, false teachers who began to appear even under the apostles, especially towards the end of the apostolic age (Simon the Magus, Cerinths, Nicolaitans, Docetes, etc.). All of them are representatives of the spirit of Antichrist (1 John 4:3), which is coming in the “last time” and whose actions (as a “beast”, θηρίον) the Apostle John depicts in detail in the Apocalypse (chap. XIII). Here the Apostle, warning believers against temptations from false teachers, notes that the false teachers formerly belonged to the church, but then separated from it, as having no internal connections with it. “Why are the Antichrists among the Lord’s disciples? In order to have the confidence of those who are being deceived, so that those who are being deceived would think that they, as one of the disciples, are preaching the teaching according to the thoughts of the Teacher, and not completely against His preaching. Therefore, he says, “he left us,” that is, although they were disciples, they fell behind the truth and invented their own blasphemies. “Don’t be mad from us,” that is, from some of those being saved. For otherwise they would have remained in union with their own” (Blessed Theophilus). 1 John 2:20. However, you have anointing from the Holy One and know everything. 1 John 2:21. I wrote to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, as well as the fact that every lie is not from the truth. The Apostle does not consider it necessary to provide detailed disclosure about antichrists or false teachers: as Christians, readers of the epistle have a clear consciousness of the truth from an infallible source - from the Divine gift of “anointing me from the Holy One” (χρίσμα από τοϋ Αγίου, i.e. Jesus Christ, cf. v. 27), teaching to all to believers the gifts of the Holy Spirit through a special visible work (2 Cor 1:21; Eph 4:30), complementary to baptism (Acts 8:14–17, 10:47–48). The Apostle writes not to teach new things, but to remind and confirm readers in what they knew from the first days of their Christian existence. “Anointing”, the grace of the Holy Spirit, given to a Christian after baptism, in confirmation, gives the Christian the right principle for recognizing Christian truth from its distortion; Of course, Christians, by virtue of the grace of anointing, are called “kings and priests to God” (Rev. 1:6), know “all things” (πάντα) not in an absolute, but in a limiting sense: they know the truth of the gospel of the Gospel, the truth of the work of salvation accomplished by Christ the Savior, the Son of God. 1 John 2:22. Who is a liar if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, rejecting the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:23. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; and he who confesses the Son also has the Father. Having mentioned in 1 John 2:18 the appearance of many antichrists or false teachers, the Apostle here indicates the essence of their destructive false teaching with all the consequences that flow from it. The essence of anti-Christian teaching, according to the Apostle, is the denial that Jesus is the Messiah - the Christ who came to save people. Any false teacher who denies this fundamental truth of Christianity is a liar (ψεύστης) in the primary sense, a true Antichrist, who, together with the non-recognition of the Son of God, deprives himself of all knowledge of God: “whoever denies the Son does not have the Father” (v. 23) - since only from the knowledge of the properties and actions of the Son can one know the properties and actions of God The Father, according to the word of the Lord Himself: “He who has seen Me in the form of the Father... I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:9, 10). Thus, it is indisputable that non-recognition of the Son closes the path to knowledge of the Father. “The Jews deny the Son and appropriate to themselves the knowledge of the Father. But let them know that they have not yet known the Father, for if they knew Him, they would also know the Son, because He is the Father and the Only Begotten Son” (Blessed Theophilus). But for salvation one needs not only faith in the Son of God and knowledge of Him, like the Father, but confession of Him, that is, witnessing in word and deed one’s faith in Him (Matthew 10:32–33; Rom 9–10; 1 Tim 6:12–13). 1 John 2:24. Therefore, whatever you heard from the beginning, let it remain in you; If that which you have heard from the beginning abide in you, then you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 1 John 2:25. The promise that He promised us is eternal life. The Apostle contrasts anti-Christian false teaching with the gospel gospel, heard by every believer at the beginning of Christian life. The Apostle urges Christians to invariably, without any changes or additions, preserve the accepted Christian truth, saying that under the condition of its abiding in them, their abiding in the Son and their eternal life will be realized - according to the promise of the Savior (see John 17:21, 23). “Keep to yourself what you have heard from the beginning, namely, that Christ is God, for this is what the words mean: let him abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abide in you, then you will also abide in the Son and in the Father, that is, you will be in communion with Him” (Blessed Theophilus). 1 John 2:26. This is what I wrote to you about those who deceive you. Having finished his speech about false teachers, the Apostle briefly outlines the content of the previous speech, and at the same time shows its purpose - to prevent the harmful influence of seducers on the readers of the message. 1 John 2:27. However, the anointing that you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; but just as this very anointing teaches you everything, and it is true and not false, whatever it has taught you, abide in it. 1 John 2:28. Therefore, children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Returning to the speech of 1 John 2:20, the Apostle now speaks in more detail about the life-giving and enlightening power of that gracious anointing, that message of grace of the Holy Spirit, which Christians received from the Son of God. “The words: “you do not need anyone to teach you” should not be understood in relation to each member of the Church separately, since there are also children in it who need to be taught, children both in age and knowledge, who require instruction, admonition, teaching... For all this, there are and should be in the Church fathers, teachers, educators, spiritual doctors. But in general, in essence, the Church of Christ has so much saving knowledge and so many saving means of knowledge of the faith that it may not have and does not have any need for any other teaching, or for any other teachers who would decide to teach anything else that does not agree with the apostolic teaching preserved in the Church” (Bishop Michael). Believers are taught by the Holy Spirit Himself, pouring out His gifts on them (John 15:15, 16:12–13). In essence, “anointing” is the creative action of the entire Holy Trinity, 2 Cor 1:21–22. In Art. 28 The Apostle indicates a new strong incentive for Christians to remain unwavering in the truth of the gospel gospel: in view of the proximity of “the last time” (cf. 1 John 2:18), Christians must always be ready to appear at the judgment seat of Christ - so that ... they may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Thus, “having spoken about the appearance of the Antichrists and that all their teaching is corrupt, and having sufficiently convinced (the believers) to immutably maintain the teaching by which they were proclaimed, the Apostle then mentions the reward assigned for this, so that by the grace of the reward, as it were, they could be strengthened even more... For what could be more glorious or desirable than boldness, that is, so that when we reveal our labors in this life, we can to do this with boldness, without being at all ashamed at His coming” (Theophilus). 1 John 2:29. If you know that He is righteous, know also that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. If hitherto in his explanation of Communion with God the Apostle proceeded from the concept that “God is light, and in Him there is not a single darkness” (1 John 1:5), then now, when revealing the same subject, he uses the concept of birth from God; therefore, if in the first two chapters of the epistle communication with God was presented as walking in the light, now it is considered as a grace-filled sonship of God, and this last concept is revealed by the Apostle, first from the side of its signs (1 John 2:9 - 3:24), and then from the side of its source (1 John 3:24 - 4:21). The first sign of the spiritual, grace-filled birth of a Christian from God is doing righteousness following the example of the righteous God and Christ (v. 29). “Others might ask: what should we do to become acceptable to Him? The Apostle teaches this too, saying: if you have known that He is righteous, then, without a doubt, you also know that he who does righteousness is born of Him, for the righteous begets the righteous. And how much honor and boldness this brings, each of you knows, as well as the magnitude of the love and goodness that He gives you” (Theophilus). You might be interested in: