Christ for the salvation of the
world_. With this truth he begins, and he affirms it authoritatively, as
one of the primitive apostolic witnesses: "That which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you." Chaps. 1:3; 4:6. He guards it also against
perversion, when he insists upon the reality of our Lord's incarnation:
"Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is
of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh, is not of God" (chap. 4:2, 3), words which are with good
reason understood as referring to a very ancient form of error, that of
the _Docet[oe]_, who maintained that the Son of God had not a real, but
only an apparent body. The reception through faith of this great truth,
that the Son of God has come in the flesh for man's salvation, brings us
into blissful union and communion with the Father and the Son, and thus
into the possession of sonship and eternal life. Chaps. 1:3; 3:1, 2;
4:15; 5:1, 13, 20. The rejection of this truth is the rejection of God's
own testimony concerning his Son (chaps. 2:22; 5:9, 10), and thus the
rejection of eternal life; for out of Christ, the Son of God, there is
no life (chap. 5:11, 12). But this reception of Christ is not a matter
of mere theoretic belief. It is a practical coming to the Father and the
Son, and a holy union with them. The proof of such union with God and
Christ is likeness to God and obedience to God's commandments. They who
profess to know God and to be in him, while they walk in darkness and
allow themselves in sin, are liars and the truth is not in them. Chaps.
1:5-7; 2:4-6; 3:5-10, 24; 5:4, 5, 18. The sum of all God's attributes is
love; and the sum of Christian character is love also. Chap. 4:16. But
there can be no true love towards God where there is none towards the
brethren; and such love must manifest itself "not in word, neither in
tongue; but in deed and in truth." Chaps. 3:11-18; 4:7-11, 20, 21; 5:1.
He that loves his brother abides in the light; but he that hates him
abides in darkness and death. Chaps. 2:9-11; 3:14, 15. All believers
have an abiding unction of the Spirit, which enables them to distinguish
between truth and falsehood, and keeps them from the seductions of the
many antichrists that are abroad. Chap. 2:18-27. Such true believers,
whose hearts are filled with love, are raised above fear, and have
confidence in prayer, and may look forward with joyful confidence to the
day of judg