BE DILIGENT (2 Peter iii. 14) 224

GROWTH (2 Peter iii. 18) 234

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

THE MESSAGE AND ITS PRACTICAL RESULTS (1 John i. 5-ii. 6) 247

WALKING IN THE LIGHT (1 John i. 7) 253

THE COMMANDMENT, OLD YET NEW (1 John ii. 7, 8) 261

YOUTHFUL STRENGTH (1 John ii. 14) 269

RIVER AND ROCK (1 John ii. 17) 279

THE LOVE THAT CALLS US SONS (1 John iii. 1) 289

THE UNREVEALED FUTURE OF THE SONS OF GOD (1 John iii. 2) 301

THE PURIFYING INFLUENCE OF HOPE (1 John iii. 3) 310

PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS (1 John iii. 7) 320

CHRIST'S MISSION THE REVELATION OF GOD'S LOVE (1 John iv. 10) 329

THE SERVANT AS HIS LORD (1 John iv. 17) 338

LOVE AND FEAR (1 John iv. 18) 347

THE RAY AND THE REFLECTION (1 John iv. 19) 355

I. PETER

SOJOURNERS OF THE DISPERSION

'Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers
scattered ...'--1 Peter i. 1.

The words rendered 'strangers scattered' are literally 'sojourners of
the Dispersion,' and are so rendered in the Revised Version. The
Dispersion was the recognised name for the Jews dwelling in Gentile
countries; as, for instance, it is employed in John's Gospel, when the
people in Jerusalem say, 'Whither will this man go that we shall not
find Him? Will he go to the Dispersion amongst the Greeks?' Obviously,
therefore the word here may refer to the scattered Jewish people, but
the question arises whether the letter corresponds to its apparent
address, or whether the language which is employed in it does not almost
oblige us to see here a reference, not to the Jew, but to the whole body
of Christian people, who, whatever may be their outward circumstances,
are, in the deepest sense, in the foundations of their life, if they be
Christ's, 'strangers of the Dispersion.'

Now if we look at the letter we find such words as these--'The times of
your ignorance'--'your vain manner of life handed down from your
fathers'--'in time past were not a people'--'the time past may suffice
to have wrought the will of the Gentiles'--all of which, as you see, can
only be accommodated to Jewish believers by a little gentle violence,
but a