■ by gether into a single, coherent fabric that it is difficult to unpick and dis entangle the threads. The previous paragraph, at the end of chapter 4, ended with a state ment of our duty, if we love God, to love our brother also. The author now elaborates the essential connec tion between these two loves and be tween them and both belief and obe dience. This compressed paragraph begins and ends with belief, but be tween these two termini he writes about love and obedience. The real link between the three tests is seen to be the new birth. Faith, love and obedience are the natural growth which follows a birth from above, just as in 4:13-16 faith and love were shown to be evidences of the mutual indwelling of God and His people. 1. Neither AV “is born of God” nor ESY, NEB “is a child of God” is a very satisfactory translation of ek ton theou gegennetai, whose per fect tense means literally “has been born (RV ‘begotten’) of God.” The combination of present tense (ho pisteuon, believeth) and perfect is important. It shows clearly that be lieving is the consequence, not the cause, of the new birth. Our pres ent, continuing activity of believing is the result, and therefore the evi dence, of our past experience of new birth by which we became and remain God’s children. Moreover, belief in Christ is congruous with birth of God just because Christ is Son of God (cf. verses 1 and 5). Clearly the sons of God will manifest the fact that they have been begotten of God by recognizing and believing in God’s eternal, only begotten Son. This new birth, which brings us into believing recognition of the eter- Lloyd T. Anderson Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church West Covina, California
StudioA in I John
I N o u r s t u d y of I John we have come to the last verse of chapter four and the first verses of chapter five. In verse 21 of chapter four the folly of the liar’s position is seen not only in its inherent inconsistency, but in the fact that love for God and for our brother form one single com mandment (cf. 3:23). “From him” seems to refer to Christ, as NEB makes explicit. Jesus Himself taught this twofold commandment. It was He who united Deuteronomy 6 :4 and Leviticus 19:18 and declared that all the law and the prophets depended upon them (Mt. 22:37-40). Man may not separate what Jesus has joined. Besides, if we love God, we shall keep His commandments (2:5, v. 3), and His commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. A combination of the three tests (v. 1-5). We have by now become familiar with the three tests which John applies, with repeated but va ried emphasis, to the professing Christian. In chapter 2 he describes all three tests in order, obedience (3-6), love (7-11) and belief (18-27). In chapter 3 he treats only obedience (2:28-3:10) and love (11-19), while in chapter 4 only belief (1-6) and love (7-12). In 4:13-21 he has com bined the doctrinal and social tests. Now, however, in the brief opening paragraph of chapter 5, we meet the three together again. The words “be lieve” and “faith” occur in verses 1, 4 and 5, “love” in verses 1, 2 and 3, and “obey” or “keep his command ments” in verses 2 and 3. What he is at pains to show is the essential unity of his threefold thesis. He has not chosen three tests arbitrarily or at random and stuck then together arti ficially. On the contrary, he shows that they are so closely woven to- 32
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