that doeth lawlessness, doeth
also sin."

The main theme of the Epistle is not controversial. It is to show that
in faith and love is the guarantee of our fellowship with God and of
our salvation. Since this fellowship implies that He abides in us, it
may be recognized by His Spirit being in us (iii. 24). This Spirit is
distinguished from the spirit of error by the confession of Christ; so
to hear the apostle's teaching about Christ is a sign of the presence
of God within us. The moral and the religious life are summed up in
the words "God" and "Love," and those who love one another are born of
God. Love in action corresponds with a confession of the incarnation
in the intellect (iv. 7-12). It is wholly incompatible with sin (iii.
6), and is therefore righteous towards God and man. Every one who, as
a child of God, hopes to grow like God, purifies himself as Christ is
pure. He cannot love the world, which is a system of selfishness. St.
John speaks of the possibility of committing a "sin unto death." This
{260} is an old Jewish expression for a sin deserving natural death.
But the apostle lifts the phrase to a higher level and slightly alters
it. His words literally mean "a sin tending unto death." It is any
sin which by its very nature excludes a man from fellowship with
Christians. It is a sin which requires chastisement before
forgiveness, and St. John does not enjoin, though he does not forbid,
prayer for those whose sin makes them unable to share in the privileges
of the common life of the Church.

Behind the practical teaching of the Epistle lies that great conception
of the Father which the writer had gained from intercourse with the
only-begotten Son. God is _Love_ (iv. 8, 16), and has given us the
greatest of all gifts (iv. 9); God is _Light_ (i. 5), and dispels all
moral darkness (i. 6); God is _Life_ (v. 20), imparting His own
existence to man (iii. 9); God is _Father_ (ii. 1; iii. 1)--though our
relationship with Him is forfeited by sin, perfect and fearless
intimacy may be gained through Christ (iv. 15, 18).

ANALYSIS

A promise to impart knowledge of the incarnate Word; God is Light,
fellowship with God and forgiveness of sin (i.).

Christ our propitiation, love of our brother a necessary condition of
walking in the light, messages to children, fathers, young men, the
love of the world, Antichrist and the denial of Christ, abiding in the
Son and in the Father (ii.).

The love of God