MHC:約翰一書 4

Chapter 4 Chapter Outline<ref>http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc6.iJo.v.html</ref>

F I R S T J O H N.

CHAP. IV. In this chapter the apostle exhorts to try spirits (ver. 1), gives a note to try by (ver. 2, 3), shows who are of the world and who of God (ver. 4-6), urges Christian love by divers considerations (ver. 7-16), describes our love to God, and the effect of it, ver. 17-21.

Believers cautioned against giving heed to every one that pretends to the Spirit. (1–6)

Brotherly love enforced. (7–21)

分工

MHC:約翰一書 4:1-3

Concerning Antichrist. (a. d. 80.) 1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. The apostle, having said that God's dwelling in and with us may be known by the Spirit that he hath given us, intimates that that Spirit may be discerned and distinguished from other spirits that appear in the world; and so here, I. He calls the disciples, to whom he writes, to caution and scrutiny about the spirits and spiritual professors that had now risen. 1. To caution: "Beloved, believe not every spirit; regard not, trust not, follow not, every pretender to the Spirit of God, or every professor of vision, or inspiration, or revelation from God." Truth is the foundation of simulation and counterfeits; there had been real communications from the divine Spirit, and therefore others pretended thereto.God will take the way of his own wisdom and goodness, though it may be liable to abuse; he has sent inspired teachers to the world, and given us a supernatural revelation, though others may be so evil and so impudent as to pretend the same; every pretender to the divine Spirit, or to inspiration, and extraordinary illumination thereby, is not to be believed. Time was when the spiritual man (the man of the Spirit, who made a great noise about, and boast of, the Spirit) was mad, Hos. ix. 7. 2. To scrutiny, to examination of the claims that are laid to the Spirit: But try the spirits, whether they be of God, v. 1. God has given of his Spirit in these latter ages of the world, but not to all who profess to come furnished therewith; to the disciples is allowed a judgment of discretion, in reference to the spirits that would be believed and trusted in the affairs of religion. A reason is given for this trial: Because many false prophets have gone out into the world, v. 1. There being much about the time of our Saviour's appearance in the world a general expectation among the Jews of a Redeemer to Israel, and the humiliation, spiritual reformation, and sufferings of the Saviour being taken as a prejudice against him, others were induced to set up as prophets and messiahs to Israel, according to the Saviour's prediction, Matt. xxiv. 23, 24. It should not seem strange to us that false teachers set themselves up in the church: it was so in the apostles' times; fatal is the spirit of delusion, sad that men should vaunt themselves for prophets and inspired preachers that are by no means so! II. He gives a test whereby the disciples may try these pretending spirits. These spirits set up for prophets, doctors, or dictators in religion, and so they were to be tried by their doctrine; and the test whereby in that day, or in that part of the world where the apostle now resided (for in various seasons, and in various churches, tests were different), must be this: Hereby know you the Spirit of God, Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (or that confesseth Jesus Christ that came in the flesh), is of God, v. 2. Jesus Christ is to be confessed as the Son of God, the eternal life and Word, that was with the Father from the beginning; as the Son of God that came into, and came in, our human mortal nature, and therein suffered and died at Jerusalem. He who confesses and preaches this, by a mind supernaturally instructed and enlightened therein, does it by the Spirit of God, or God is the author of that illumination. On the contrary, "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (or Jesus Christ that came in the flesh) is not of God, v. 3. God has given so much testimony to Jesus Christ, who was lately here in the world, and in the flesh (or in a fleshly body like ours), though now in heaven, that you may be assured that any impulse or pretended inspiration that contradicts this is far from being from heaven and of God." The sum of revealed religion is comprehended in the doctrine concerning Christ, his person and office.We see then the aggravation of a systematic opposition to him and it. And this is that spirit of antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world, v. 3. It was foreknown by God that antichrists would arise, and antichristian spirits oppose his Spirit and his truth; it was foreknown also that one eminent antichrist would arise, and make a long and fatal war against the Christ of God, and his institution, and honour, and kingdom in the world. This great antichrist would have his way prepared, and his rise facilitated, by other less antichrists, and the spirit of error working and disposing men's minds for him: the antichristian spirit began betimes, even in the apostles' days. Dreadful and unsearchable is the judgment of God, that persons should be given over to an antichristian spirit, and to such darkness and delusion as to set themselves against the Son of God and all the testimony that the Father hath given to the Son! But we have been forewarned that such opposition would arise; we should therefore cease to be offended, and the more we see the word of Christ fulfilled the more confirmed we should be in the truth of it.

論敵基督的。 4:1親愛的弟兄啊，一切的靈，你們不可都信，總要試驗那些靈是出於神的不是，因為世上有許多假先知已經出來了。4:2凡靈認耶穌基督是成了肉身來的，就是出於神的，從此你們可以認出神的靈來。4:3凡靈不認耶穌，就不是出於神，這是那敵基督的靈。你們從前聽見他要來，現在已經在世上了。 使徒約翰，已經說過通過神賜予我們的靈我們能夠得知神住在我們裏面且與我們同在，藉此暗示聖靈可以與世間的其它靈分辨區別出來。因而在此， 一、他號召他致信的信徒們要小心細察已經出現的靈和宗教教師。 1、要小心：「親愛的弟兄啊，一切的靈，你們不可都信；不要都認作都信賴都跟隨，一切偽裝成神的靈，或源於神的視覺、靈感或顯現的教師。」模仿和贗品的根基就是真理。本有從聖靈而來的真正交通，而其它的靈也就在此基礎上裝模作樣。神將顯出他自己的智慧和良善，儘管這可能遭濫用。他已經遣派了受聖靈的教師來到人世，已經賜予了超自然的顯露，儘管其它靈也許邪惡無恥地冒充同樣的。因此，每一個冒充聖靈，或靈感，及特別啟示的，都不能相信。受靈感的人（出於靈的人，喋喋不休，自吹自擂）發瘋的日子到了（何西阿書9:7）。 2、要細察，要審視他們所宣稱的關於聖靈的話：試驗這靈是否是出於神的（第1節）。神已經在世界的末時賜下了他的靈，但並非賜給所有那些宣稱自己是從神有備而來的，涉及到靈在宗教事務中該被信賴被信靠，受賜的信徒得接受謹慎的審判。使徒給出了一個試驗的理由：因為很多假先知已經來到了世間（第1節）。根據救主耶穌的預言，這將是一個非常時期，普世的期待救主顯世，猶太人以色列的救贖和屈辱、精神革新，以及耶穌基督的遭遇被看成對神不利的偏見，余者便受引誘假作以色列的先知和彌賽亞，參看馬太福音24:23-24.對我們來說，假教師在教會任職也就不顯得奇怪了：在使徒們的時代也曾有過這樣的；致命的是靈的受騙，可惡的人將吹噓自己是先知和受聖靈的傳道人，這樣的人絕對不是真的！ 二、約翰給出了一個試驗，信徒們可以試驗這些偽靈。這些裝扮為先知、神學家、或者宗教獨裁的，會因其學說受審訊；當那一天，或者在世界的那一處，也就是使徒現居處（因理由各異，教會有別，試驗也將各不相同），試驗必將是這樣的：凡靈認耶穌基督是成了肉身來的，就是出於神的，從此你們可以認出神的靈來（第2節）。要承認耶穌基督是神的兒子，永恆的生命和道，是從原初就與父同在的，以神子的身份道成肉身，並在耶路撒冷遇難而亡。那憑着心靈處超自然的啟示和教益對此承認並傳道的，就是信靠神的靈的，或者說神就是那啟發的創始人。相反，「不承認耶穌基督道成肉身的靈就不是出於神的（第3節）」。神已經賜下了諸多證據給耶穌基督，儘管他如今身處天堂，但不久前他還在人世，乃肉體之軀（跟我們一樣的肉身），如此你可以確信任何腦熱冒充，或假裝成與此相違的靈感的，都是與天堂和神背道而馳的。"在關於基督的教義里，對所顯示的宗教概言之即就是：基督的位格和使命。我們隨即可見徹底與基督對立的將日趨加重。這就是那敵基督的靈，你們早就聽說他會出現，現在真的出現了（第3節）。神早就預言敵基督的會起來，敵基督的靈反對神的靈和神的真理；早就預言有一個大敵基督的會起來，製造一場長久的決定性的抗戰，對抗神的基督、神在世間的制度、榮耀和國度。這位大敵基督的將由那些小敵基督的和謬妄的靈為其鋪路，為他的出現預備，為他處理人的心腦：甚至在師徒們的年代，敵基督的靈便一早就着手了。可怕又神秘的是神的審判，那些人將被交給一個敵基督的靈，交給無盡的黑暗和錯覺，以至於背叛神的子和父，以及父早已賜給子的全部證據！但我們已被提前警告，會出現這樣的對立，我們因此該停止惱怒。再者，越認識基督的道，服從得越根深蒂固，我們就越能住在基督的真理中。 --【譯】何葉 2012年3月10日 (六) 00:23 (CST)^-^~

MHC:約翰一書 4:4-6

Danger of Antichristian Spirit. (a. d. 80.) 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. In these verses the apostle encourages the disciples against the fear and danger of this seducing antichristian spirit, and that by such methods as these:— 1. He assures them of a more divine principle in them: "You are of God, little children, v. 4. You are God's little children. We are of God, v. 6. We are born of God, taught of God, anointed of God, and so secured against infectious fatal delusions. God has his chosen, who shall not be mortally seduced." 2. He gives them hope of victory: "And have overcome them, v. 4. You have hitherto overcome these deceivers and their temptations, and there is good ground of hope that you will do so still, and that upon these two accounts:" (1.) "There is a strong preserver within you: Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, v. 4. The Spirit of God dwells in you, and that Spirit is more mighty than men of devils." It is a great happiness to be under the influence of the Holy Ghost. (2.) "You are not of the same temper with these deceivers. The Spirit of God hath framed your mind for God and heaven; but they are of the world. The spirit that prevails in them leads them to this world; their heart is addicted thereto; they study the pomp, the pleasure, and interest of the world: and therefore speak they of the world; they profess a worldly messiah and saviour; they project a worldly kingdom and dominion; the possessions and treasures of the world would they engross to themselves, forgetting that the true Redeemer's kingdom is not of this world. This worldly design procures them proselytes: The world heareth them, v. 5. They are followed by such as themselves: the world will love its own, and its own will love it. But those are in a fair way to conquer pernicious seductions who have conquered the love of this seducing world." Then, 3. He represents to them that though their company might be the smaller, yet it was the better; they had more divine and holy knowledge: "He that knoweth God heareth us. He who knows the purity and holiness of God, the love and grace of God, the truth and faithfulness of God, the ancient word and prophecies of God, the signals and testimonials of God, must know that he is with us; and he who knows this will attend to us, and abide with us." He that is well furnished with natural religion will the more faithfully cleave to Christianity. He that knoweth God (in his natural and moral excellences, revelations, and works) heareth us, v. 6. As, on the contrary, "He that is not of God heareth not us. He who knows not God regards not us. He that is not born of God (walking according to his natural disposition) walks not with us. The further any are from God (as appears in all ages) the further they are from Christ and his faithful servants; and the more addicted persons are to this world the more remote they are from the spirit of Christianity. Thus you have a distinction between us and others: Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error, v. 6. This doctrine concerning the Saviour's person leading you from the world to God is a signature of the Spirit of truth, in opposition to the spirit of error. The more pure and holy any doctrine is the more likely is it to be of God."

論敵基督的靈之危害。 4:4 小子們哪，你們是屬　神的，並且勝了他們，因為那在你們裏面的，比那在世界上的更大。4:5 他們是屬世界的，所以論世界的事，世人也聽從他們。4:6 我們是屬　神的，認識　神的就聽從我們；不屬　神的，就不聽從我們。從此我們可以認出真理的靈和謬妄的靈來。 藉此我們可辨知真理的靈和謬誤的靈。在這幾節中使徒約翰鼓勵信徒們防備誘惑人的敵基督之靈所造成的的恐懼和危害，並藉如下辦法鼓勵： 1、他讓大家確保有更多的道義住在他們裏面：「小子們哪，你們是屬神的（第4節）。你們是神的小子。我們是屬神的（第6節）。我們是從神生的，受神教導，被神揀選，並因此受保護而免遭有感染力的危機重重的謬惑。神是有揀選的，被揀選之人就不會受凡間誘惑。」 2、他提供給大家勝利的希望：「你們已經勝了他們（第4節）。你們至今已勝了那些欺詐者及其引誘，因此有很好的理由期望你們依舊會勝利，根據以下兩點: （1）、「在你們裏面有一個強大的保護者：因為在你們裏面的，比在世界上的大（第4節）。神的靈住在你們裏面，那靈遠比魔鬼的走狗更神氣活現。」處在聖靈的權勢下是無與倫比的幸福哦.^-^~ （2）、「你們有着不同於欺詐者的心性。神的靈已為上帝和天國建構了你們的心腦，然而他們卻是屬世的。充斥在他們裏面的靈引導他們轉向世界，他們的心便沉迷於此，為着世間的浮華、享樂和利益處心積慮：因此說他們是屬世的，他們聲稱是物質世界的彌賽亞和救世主，謀劃着凡塵俗世的王國和領土，全神貫注於世間的財富珍寶，忘記了真正的救主的國度並非屬世的。這種世俗的佈局便導致了他們判教：世人聽從他們呢（第5節）。跟他們一樣的人便尾隨他們：世人只愛屬世的，屬世的便愛它。不過，那已征服了愛戀世之誘物的人，踏的便是勝了作惡之誘的正道。 接着，3、他向他們表示，儘管他們的群體也許較小，但卻是更好的，他們有更聖潔更神聖的認知：「他，知道神垂聽我們，懂得神的純淨聖潔、愛和恩典，真理和信實，以及神亙古的誡命和預言、訊息和印證的人，必然知道神與我們同在；而懂得這一點的人就會傾聽我們，並與我們同住。」用自然宗教很好武裝自己的人，將更加忠實地堅守基督教。認識神的（認識他天然的道德的卓越、顯現和做工）聽我們（第6節）。正如，相反地，「那不屬神的不聽我們。不認識神的也就不認識我們。不出於神的（不按神的天然安排行走的人）也不和我們同行。那些越多從神而來的（正如所有時代顯現出來的那樣）就越多來自於基督和其虔誠的僕人。而那些越沉迷於世的人就越偏離基督教的靈。因此，你們有着截然的區別分辨我們與其他：藉此我們知道真理的靈和謬誤的靈（第6節）。 此有關救主位格的教義，引導你們從塵世轉投向神，是真理的靈的一個鮮明標誌，與謬誤的靈顯然不同。任何教義，越純淨聖潔，那麼就越可能是屬神的。」 --【譯】何葉 2012年3月10日 (六) 01:34 (CST)^-^~

MHC:約翰一書 4:7-13

Brotherly Love. (a. d. 80.) 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. As the Spirit of truth is known by doctrine (thus spirits are to be tried), it is known by love likewise; and so here follows a strong fervent exhortation to holy Christian love: Beloved, let us love one another, v. 7. The apostle would unite them in his love, that he might unite them in love to each other: "Beloved, I beseech you, by the love I bear to you, that you put on unfeigned mutual love." This exhortation is pressed and urged with variety of argument: as, I. From the high and heavenly descent of love: For love is of God. He is the fountain, author, parent, and commander of love; it is the sum of his law and gospel: And every one that loveth (whose spirit is framed to judicious holy love) is born of God, v. 7. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. The new nature in the children of God is the offspring of his love: and the temper and complexion of it is love. The fruit of the Spirit is love, Gal. v. 22. Love comes down from heaven. II. Love argues a true and just apprehension of the divine nature: He that loveth knoweth God, v. 7. He that loveth not knoweth not God, v. 8. What attribute of the divine Majesty so clearly shines in all the world as his communicative goodness, which is love. The wisdom, the greatness, the harmony, and usefulness of the vast creation, which so fully demonstrate his being, do at the same time show and prove his love; and natural reason, inferring and collecting the nature and excellence of the most absolute perfect being, must collect and find that he is most highly good: and he that loveth not (is not quickened by the knowledge he hath of God to the affection and practice of love) knoweth not God; it is a convictive evidence that the sound and due knowledge of God dwells not in such a soul; his love must needs shine among his primary brightest perfections; for God is love (v. 8), his nature and essence are love, his will and works are primarily love.Not that this is the only conception we ought to have of him; we have found that he is light as well as love (ch. i. 5), and God is principally love to himself, and he has such perfections as arise from the necessary love he must bear to his necessary existence, excellence, and glory; but love is natural and essential to the divine Majesty: God is love. This is argued from the display and demonstration that he hath given of it; as, 1. That he hath loved us, such as we are: In this was manifest the love of God towards us (v. 9), towards us mortals, us ungrateful rebels. God commandeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Rom. v. 8. Strange that God should love impure, vain, vile, dust and ashes! 2. That he has loved us at such a rate, at such an incomparable value as he has given for us; he has given his own, only-beloved, blessed Son for us: Because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him, v. 9. This person is in some peculiar distinguishing way the Son of God; he is the only-begotten.Should we suppose him begotten as a creature or created being, he is not the only-begotten. Should we suppose him a natural necessary eradication from the Father's glory or glorious essence, or substance, he must be the only-begotten: and then it will be a mystery and miracle of divine love that such a Son should be sent into our world for us! It may well be said, So (wonderfully, so amazingly, so incredibly) God loved the world. 3. That God loved us first, and in the circumstances in which we lay: Herein is love (unusual unprecedented love), not that we loved God, but that he loved us, v. 10. He loved us, when we had no love for him, when we lay in our guilt, misery, and blood, when we were undeserving, ill-deserving, polluted, and unclean, and wanted to be washed from our sins in sacred blood. 4. That he gave us his Son for such service and such an end. (1.) For such service, to be the propitiation for our sins; consequently to die for us, to die under the law and curse of God, to bear our sins in his own body, to be crucified, to be wounded in his soul, and pierced in his side, to be dead and buried for us (v. 10); and then, (2.) For such an end, for such a good and beneficial end to us—that we might live through him (v. 9), might live for ever through him, might live in heaven, live with God, and live in eternal glory and blessedness with him and through him: O what love is here! Then, III. Divine love to the brethren should constrain ours: Beloved (I would adjure you by your interest in my love to remember), if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, v. 11. This should be an invincible argument. The example of God should press us. We should be followers (or imitators) of him, as his dear children. The objects of the divine love should be the objects of ours. Shall we refuse to love those whom the eternal God hath loved? We should be admirers of his love, and lovers of his love (of the benevolence and complacency that are in him), and consequently lovers of those whom he loves. The general love of God to the world should induce a universal love among mankind. That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust, Matt. v. 45. The peculiar love of God to the church and to the saints should be productive of a peculiar love there: If God so loved us, we ought surely (in some measure suitably thereto) to love one another. IV. The Christian love is an assurance of the divine inhabitation: If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, v. 12. Now God dwelleth in us, not by any visible presence, or immediate appearance to the eye (no man hath seen God at any time, v. 12), but by his Spirit (v. 13); or, "No man hath seen God at any time; he does not here present himself to our eye or to our immediate intuition, and so he does not in this way demand and exact our love; but he demands and expects it in that way in which he has thought meet to deserve and claim it, and that is in the illustration that he has given of himself and of his love (and thereupon of his loveliness too) in the catholic church, and particularly in the brethren, the members of that church. In them, and in his appearance for them and with them, is God to be loved; and thus, if we love one another, God dwelleth in us. The sacred lovers of the brethren are the temples of God; the divine Majesty has a peculiar residence there." V. Herein the divine love attains a considerable end and accomplishment in us: "And his love is perfected in us, v. 12. It has obtained its completion in and upon us. God's love is not perfected in him, but in and with us. His love could not be designed to be ineffectual and fruitless upon us; when its proper genuine end and issue are attained and produced thereby, it may be said to be perfected; so faith is perfected by its works, and love perfected by its operations. When the divine love has wrought us to the same image, to the love of God, and thereupon to the love of the brethren, the children of God, for his sake, it is therein and so far perfected and completed, though this love of ours is not at present perfect, nor the ultimate end of the divine love to us." How ambitious should we be of this fraternal Christian love, when God reckons his own love to us perfected thereby! To this the apostle, having mentioned the high favour of God's dwelling in us, subjoins the note and character thereof: Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit, v. 13.Certainly this mutual inhabitation is something more noble and great than we are well acquainted with or can declare. One would think that to speak of God dwelling in us, and we in him, were to use words too high for mortals, had not God gone before us therein. What this indwelling imports has been briefly explained on ch. iii. 24. What it fully is must be left to the revelation of the blessed world. But this mutual inhabitation we know, says the apostle, because he hath given us of his spirit; he has lodged the image and fruit of his Spirit in our hearts (v. 13), and the Spirit that he hath given us appears to be his, or of him, since it is the Spirit of power, of zeal and magnanimity for God, of love to God and man, and of a sound mind, of an understanding well instructed in the affairs of God and religion, and his kingdom among men, 2 Tim. i. 7.

論弟兄相愛。 4:7 親愛的弟兄啊，我們應當彼此相愛，因為愛是從　神來的。凡有愛心的，都是由　神而生，並且認識　神。4:8 沒有愛心的，就不認識　神，因為　神就是愛。4:9 神差他獨生子到世間來，使我們藉着他得生，　神愛我們的心在此就顯明了。4:10 不是我們愛　神，乃是　神愛我們，差他的兒子，為我們的罪作了挽回祭，這就是愛了。4:11 親愛的弟兄啊，　神既是這樣愛我們，我們也當彼此相愛。4:12 從來沒有人見過　神，我們若彼此相愛，　神就住在我們裏面，愛他的心在我們裏面得以完全了。4:13 　神將他的靈賜給我們，從此就知道我們是住在他裏面，他也住在我們裏面。 正如我們能藉着教義得知真理的靈（因此靈得受試驗），同樣我們也能藉着愛得知；於是乎在此便引出了對基督神聖之愛的深刻而熱烈的敦促：親愛的弟兄啊，我們應當彼此相愛（第7節）。使徒約翰總是把弟兄們綁在自己的愛中，也綁他們愛彼此：「親愛的弟兄啊，懇求你們，因着我對你們的深愛，你們要真切的愛彼此。」約翰用各種理由又力勸又鞭策：如， 一、因為愛是從高高在上的天國屈尊降下：因為愛是屬神的。他是根基、是創造主、是父、是愛的統帥；他的律法和真理如此歸納：凡有愛心的（其靈建構為明智聖潔之愛的）是由神生的（第7節）。神的靈是愛的靈。神的兒女所擁有的新性情就是神愛的子孫：其心境和秉性是愛。聖靈所結的果子是愛（加拉太書5:22）。愛來自天堂。 二、因為愛心彰顯着對神性情忠誠且公正的理解：凡有愛心的，就認識神（第7節）。沒有愛心的，就不認識神（第8節）。神的主權其屬性，一如神交通的良善，無比明淨地照耀着全人類，這就是愛心了。廣袤的宇宙中存在的智慧，偉大、和諧和效益，完完全全證明了神的存在，同時彰顯並見證了神的愛；理所當然地，對最絕對完美的人類本質和優秀進行推理收集，就能發現神是至善至美的:沒有愛心的（沒因識神而加速愛心之情與行的）不認識神；對神徹底且適宜的認識無疑地證明了不是住在乏愛的靈魂里；在最主要最鮮明的完美中，神的愛必定熠熠生輝；因為神就是愛（第8節），他的性情和本質就是愛，他的心願和做工原本就是愛。這不只是我們當對神持有的唯一的認知；我們深知神是光也是愛（第5節），神自己主要就是愛，祂的完美源自必不可少的愛，祂不得不承受着不可避免的存在、精益求精、還有榮耀，但愛終歸是神聖的上帝之實之本：神就是愛。根據神所賜下的顯示和明證，這一點就得到了彰顯。如 1.一如現今，神早已愛着我們：神愛我們的心在此就顯明了（第9節），愛我們這凡夫俗子、忘恩負義的叛逆者。惟有基督在我們還作罪人的時候為我們死，　神的愛就在此向我們顯明了（羅馬書5：8）。神竟然會愛骯髒無用低賤的塵土和灰燼，這是何等奇異啊！ 2.他以如此等級厚愛我們，為我們賜下無比的價值；為我們賜下他唯一的，心愛的聖子：因為神差他獨生子到世間來，使我們藉着他得生（第9節)。這人稱是不同於「神的兒子」的，指的是「獨子」。我們若認為他是作為被造之人出生，那麼他就不是獨子。我們若認為他是一個切實的必須出於父的榮耀或榮耀的主旨精髓，那麼他必是獨子：神竟為我們遣送如此之子進到塵世，神的愛該是何等奧秘何等神奇啊！所以我們說，（多麼美妙，多麼令人驚嘆，多麼難以置信）神愛世人。 3.神先愛我們，且不論我們處境如何：不是我們愛　神，乃是　神愛我們，差他的兒子，為我們的罪作了挽回祭，這就是愛(曠古空前的愛）了(第10節）。他愛我們，當我們還不愛祂的時候，當我們尚罩在我們的罪疚、苦難和血性中時，當我們還微不足道、死不足惜、污穢不堪、猥瑣不純，並想要在神聖的寶血里洗脫罪孽的時候。 4、祂給我們賜下聖子是為着以下的目的和宗旨。 （1）、目的是要為我們的罪做挽回祭。要為我們獻生，在神的律法和咒詛下受死，用他自己的身體承受我們的罪，被定十字架，在靈魂里負傷，肋旁被刺，為我們被埋葬（第10節）。接着， （2）、宗旨是為了我們獲得有效有益的結局——使我們藉着他得生（第9節），藉着他得永生，藉着他進天堂，藉着他和神同住，和他一起且藉着他住進永遠的榮耀和福氣里：天啦，這是何等的愛啊！接下來， 三、神聖的弟兄間的愛能促進我們的愛心：親愛的弟兄啊（我用我的愛心為了你們的益處懇求你們牢記），神既是這樣愛我們，我們也當彼此相愛（第11節）。這是無可辯駁的理由啊。神豎立的榜樣激勵着我們啊。作為神疼愛的兒女，我們當跟隨（效仿）他，愛其所愛啊！難道我們要拒絕愛永生之神的所愛嗎？我們該敬拜神的愛，讚賞神所愛之人（沐浴在神的恩惠和得神滿意之人），成為神所愛之人的情人愛人啊。神普世的愛勸導着人世間廣博的愛心。正如馬太福音5:45：「這樣，就可以作你們天父的兒子。因為他叫日頭照好人，也照歹人，降雨給義人，也給不義的人。」神對教會和聖徒奇特的愛會滿富成效地激起更多的愛：神既這般愛我們，我們必當（一定程度上相應地）彼此相愛。 四、基督的愛是神的愛住在我們裏面的確據：我們若彼此相愛，神就住在我們裏面（第12節）。神住在我們裏面，不是通過視覺的呈現，不是直接顯現給眼目（從來沒有人見過神（第12節）），而是藉着他的靈（第13節）；或者說，「從來沒有人見過神；神沒有親自呈現給我們的眼睛或者我們即時的感官，他不以這種方式盤查要求我們愛，但神要求並期待我們以祂認為祂理應享有的值得的方式去愛，他已經為普世合一的教會，尤其是在弟兄之間，在教會的成員中，賜下了他自己和他的愛啊。在弟兄心裏，在神為他們的顯現和與他們同在里，務要愛神啊！從而，我們若愛彼此，神就住在我們裏面。弟兄們尊崇的摯友就是神的殿，神聖的上帝正奇異地居住於此啊。 五、於此神的愛在我們裏面就實現了大目的和大成就：「愛他的心在我們裏面得以完全了（第12節）。在我們里也在我們上，愛就收穫了完全。神的愛不是在神裏面得以完全的，乃是在我們裏面，因着與我們同在而完全的。在我們身上，神之愛的計設絕不會無效無果。當愛本身名副其實的目的和成果因愛之工實現並成就時，就可以說是完全了。因此，信心是藉着信心之做工而完全的，愛是藉着愛的實行才成就的。 儘管我們的愛此時還並未完全，神愛我們其終極目標也還並沒完全，但是當神的愛把我們鑄就成了同樣的形象，愛神，愛弟兄，做神的兒女，尋求神，那麼這愛也就相當地完滿了。」當那時神認為祂對我們的愛完全了，我們弟兄間的基督之愛該何等雄心萬丈啊！據此，使徒約翰，指出了神住在我們裏面是至大的恩寵，並附註其暗示和特徵：神將他的靈賜給我們，從此就知道我們是住在他裏面，他也住在我們裏面（第13節）。當然啦，這種相互的內住比我們熟知的或可以言說的更高貴更偉大。人覺得，既然神不曾在我們面前引導，那麼談論神住在我們裏面以及我們住在神裏面，用凡間的語言則是難以企及的。其實，這種內住的意義早在第3章24節簡潔地闡述過。神的愛究竟會何等完全，這必將稍後就顯現給蒙福的世人的。使徒約翰說，我們所知的這種相互的內住，是因為神賜給了我們祂的靈；神把祂的形象和靈果埋進了我們的心裏（第13節），祂所賜給我們的靈就顯現成是出於祂的，因為這是剛強、熱忱、仁愛的靈，是愛神亦愛人的靈，是徹底的精神的靈，是在神及信仰事務，並神在人間國度中很好引導，清楚明白的靈，參看提摩太後書1:7。 --【譯】何葉 2012年3月12日 (一) 10:05 (CST)^-^~

MHC:約翰一書 4:14-16

The Divine Love. (a. d. 80.) 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Since faith in Christ works love to God, and love to God must kindle love to the brethren, the apostle here confirms the prime article of the Christian faith as the foundation of such love. Here, I. He proclaims the fundamental article of the Christian religion, which is so representative of the love of God: And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, v. 14. We here see, 1. The Lord Jesus's relation to God; he is Son to the Father, such a Son as no one else is, and so as to be God with the Father. 2. His relation and office towards us—the Saviour of the world; he saves us by his death, example, intercession, Spirit, and power against the enemies of our salvation. 3. The ground on which he became so—by the mission of him: The Father sent the Son, he decreed and willed his coming hither, in and with the consent of the Son. 4. The apostle's assurance of this—he and his brethren had seen it; they had seen the Son of God in his human nature, in his holy converse and works, in his transfiguration on the mount, and in his death, resurrection from the dead, and royal ascent to heaven; they had so seen him as to be satisfied that he was the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 5. The apostle's attestation of this, in pursuance of such evidence: "We have seen and do testify. The weight of this truth obliges us to testify it; the salvation of the world lies upon it. The evidence of the truth warrants us to testify it; our eyes, and ears, and hands, have been witnesses of it." Thereupon, II. The apostle states the excellency, or the excellent privilege attending the due acknowledgment of this truth: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God, v. 15. This confession seems to include faith in the heart as the foundation of it, acknowledgment with the mouth to the glory of God and Christ, and profession in the life and conduct, in opposition to the flatteries or frowns of the world. Thus no man says that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost, by the external attestation and internal operation of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. xii. 3. And so he who thus confesses Christ, and God in him, is enriched with or possessed by the Spirit of God, and has a complacential knowledge of God and much holy enjoyment of him. Then, III. The apostle applies this in order to the excitation of holy love. God's love is thus seen and exerted in Christ Jesus; and thus have we known and believed the love that God hath to us, v. 16. The Christian revelation is, what should endear it to us, the revelation of the divine love; the articles of our revealed faith are but so many articles relating to the divine love. The history of the Lord Christ is the history of God's love to us; all his transactions in and with his Son were but testifications of his love to us, and means to advance us to the love of God: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, 2 Cor. v. 19. Hence we may learn, 1. That God is love (v. 16); he is essential boundless love; he has incomparable incomprehensible love for us of this world, which he has demonstrated in the mission and mediation of his beloved Son. It is the great objection and prejudice against the Christian revelation that the love of God should be so strange and unaccountable as to give his own eternal Son for us; it is the prejudice of many against the eternity and the deity of the Son that so great a person should be given for us. It is, I confess, mysterious and unsearchable; but there are unsearchable riches in Christ. It is a pity that the vastness of the divine love should be made a prejudice against the revelation and the belief of it.But what will not God do when he designs to demonstrate the height of any perfection of his? When he would show somewhat of his power and wisdom, he makes such a world as this; when he would show more of his grandeur and glory, he makes heaven for the ministering spirits that are before the throne. What will he not do then when he designs to demonstrate his love, and to demonstrate his highest love, or that he himself is love, or that love is one of the most bright, dear, transcendent, operative excellencies of his unbounded nature; and to demonstrate this not only to us, but to the angelic world, and to the principalities and powers above, and this not for our surprise for a while, but for the admiration, and praise, and adoration, and felicity, of our most exalted powers to all eternity? What will not God then do? Surely then it will look more agreeable to the design, and grandeur, and pregnancy of his love (if I may so call it) to give an eternal Son for us, than to make a Son on purpose for our relief. In such a dispensation as that of giving a natural, essential, eternal Son for us and to us, he will commend his love to us indeed;and what will not the God of love do when he designs to commend his love, and to commend it in the view of heaven, and earth, and hell, and when he will commend himself and recommend himself to us, and to our highest conviction, and also affection, as love itself? And what if it should appear at last (which I shall only offer to the consideration of the judicious) that the divine love, and particularly God's love in Christ, should be the foundation of the glories of heaven, in the present enjoyment of those ministering spirits that comported with it, and of the salvation of this world, and of the torments of hell? This last will seem most strange. But what if therein it should appear not only that God is love to himself, in vindicating his own law, and government, and love, and glory, but that the damned ones are made so, or are so punished, (1.) Because they despised the love of God already manifested and exhibited. (2.) Because they refused to be beloved in what was further proposed and promised. (3.) Because they made themselves unmeet to be the objects of divine complacency and delight? If the conscience of the damned should accuse them of these things, and especially of rejecting the highest instance of divine love, and if the far greatest part of the intelligent creation should be everlastingly blessed through the highest instance of the divine love, then may it well be inscribed upon the whole creation of God, God is love. 2. That hereupon he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him, v. 16. There is great communion between the God of love and the loving soul; that is, him who loves the creation of God, according to its different relation to God, and reception from him and interest in him. He that dwells in sacred love has the love God shed abroad upon his heart, has the impress of God upon his spirit, the Spirit of God sanctifying and sealing him, lives in the meditation, views, and tastes of the divine love, and will ere long go to dwell with God for ever.

論神的愛。 4:14 父差子作世人的救主，這是我們所看見且作見證的。4:15 凡認耶穌為　神兒子的，　神就住在他裏面，他也住在　神裏面。4:16 　神愛我們的心，我們也知道、也信。神就是愛！住在愛裏面的，就是住在　神裏面，　神也住在他裏面。 既然信基督產生愛神，那麼愛神就必定激起愛弟兄，使徒約翰在此確證基督徒信心的主要成分就是神 愛的根基。在此， 一、他宣稱基督信心的基本要素，就是那神之愛的美好表率：父差子作世人的救主，這是我們所看見且作見證的（第14節）。我們於此也就明白了， 1、主耶穌與神的關係：祂是神的兒子，是絕無僅有的一個兒子，並會成為和父同在的神。 2、祂於我們的關係和使命——是世人的救主。祂拯救我們，藉着自己的死亡、模範、調停、靈和權柄，抗爭阻礙我們得救的勁敵。 3、祂成為救主的緣由——因着祂的使命：父差了子，父按子的所願，命令且希望祂來到世間。 4、使徒對此的確定——他及諸弟兄見過。他們見過神子道成肉身，親見了祂聖潔的言行，以及祂在山上的變容，還有祂的慘死，祂的復活，並君王般的升天。他們如此見過，所以確信祂是父的獨子，滿載着恩典和真理。 5、使徒對此的證詞，在追求證據中：「我們已看見且作見證。這真理的分量迫使我們作見證，因為對世人的救贖着重於此啊。真理的證據就是我們作見證的根據啊，我們的眼、耳、手，都已為之作證。」因此， 二、使徒陳述這份卓越，伴隨對這份真理應有的認識的是卓越的特權：凡認耶穌為　神兒子的，　神就住在他裏面，他也住在　神裏面（第15節）。這份認定似乎包括以心理的信心作為認定的根基，以口稱謝神和主的榮耀，並在生活和行事中宣言，這有別於世人的阿諛或不屑。故而，人能說耶穌是主的，必是被聖靈感動，因着聖靈外在的證詞和內在的做工，參看哥林多前書12:3。所以，凡認基督的，神住在他裏面，他被神的靈充滿，受神的靈控制，殷勤地渴慕神，滿滿的是聖潔的喜樂。接着， 三、使徒約翰致力於此就是為了激發聖潔的愛。神的愛是在基督耶穌里得以彰顯，為人知悉，我們從此才認識並相信神對我們的恩賜（第16節）。基督教徒顯露出來的，是綁我們於愛的，神愛的顯露；而我們所表現出的信心，其要素是諸多關涉神愛的要素。主基督的歷史是神愛我們的歷史；所有父藉子、與子一起成就的事宜，都是神愛我們的見證，是將我們推向神之愛的方式：神在基督里叫世人與自己和好（哥林多後書5:19）。從而我們可以得知， 1、神是愛（第16節）。他是不可或缺的無邊無際的愛；他對屬世的我們的愛無與倫比又深不可測，他已經藉着愛子的使命和調停證明了這點。存在着極大的異議和偏見對基督的顯現進行反駁，說神為我們賜下他自己的永生子是不可理喻又莫名其妙。是的，我承認，這是很高深很玄奧，但是在基督里是有着神秘莫測的財富的。神之愛，浩瀚無邊，卻成了反對其顯露和信念的偏見，這未免太遺憾了吧。神欲證明自己是多麼的完美時，祂有什麼不可以做呢？當祂想顯示祂的權之重、智之高時，祂就創造了現在的世界。當祂想顯示他何等恢弘壯美時，他就為在寶座前服侍的靈兒們創造了天堂。當他規劃着要證明他的愛，他至高的愛，證明他自己就是愛，證明那愛是最鮮活、最珍貴、最卓越、是他無拘無束性情中最具影響力的特質時；當祂要證明這愛不僅是賜給我們，也是賜予天國的眾人，賜予在上的權天使和掌權者，不是為了我們能暫時的驚嘆，而是要我們因為有了永生的至高特權而敬佩、讚美、愛慕、並幸福時，他有什麼不可以做呢？神還有什麼不能做呢？神為我們賜下永生子，如此愛（如果我能估量），是何等煞費苦心，何等氣勢恢宏，何等一味意味深長，遠比刻意為了我們得贖而造一個兒子鄰人心悅誠服多了啊。為我們，給我們，賜下一個純天然的實質的永生子，神以如此方式豁免我們，實在是把祂的愛託付給了我們啊。當祂計劃着要頌讚自己的愛，要在天國、塵世和地獄中頌讚自己的愛時，當祂想頌讚自己並向我們、向我們最高的信心、情感和愛顯現自己時，愛之神有什麼不可以做呢？如若最終神的愛，尤其是神在基督里的愛，顯現了，會怎麼樣呢？如若神的愛是天國榮耀之根，存在於服侍的靈兒們持有的喜樂里、存在於世人的救贖里、存在於地獄的折磨中，那又會怎樣呢？結局將是非常奇異的。如若神的愛不僅是要顯出神本身是愛，維護着自己的律法、治理、愛心和榮耀，也是要安排或者說是懲治惡人，那該如何呢？ （1）、因為他們輕視神已經彰顯已經顯出的愛。 （2）、因為他們拒絕按更進一步提出並期望那樣相愛。 （3）、因為他們使得自己不配成為神滿意和喜樂的對象？如果惡者的良心因這些事情，尤其是因拒絕神愛的至好明證，而控訴他們自己；如果智者最偉大的方面藉神的至好明證蒙受永遠的祝福，那麼神創造的萬有就都將刻骨銘心：神就是愛。 2、住在愛裏面的，就是住在　神裏面，　神也住在他裏面（第16節）。在慈愛的神與有愛心的人之間，有着無比的相交。而有愛心的人，指的就是那些按神所造之物與神的不同關係，及其對神的領受效果和對神的興趣來愛的人。那住在神聖的愛里的，有着神在其心上顯耀的愛和在其靈上刻下的印——神的靈聖化並印證了他，住在對神愛的默念、思度和領悟里，並將在不久後前去與神永遠同住。 --【譯】何葉 2012年3月13日 (二) 20:30 (CST)^-^~

MHC:約翰一書 4:17-21

The Divine Love. (a. d. 80.) 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. The apostle, having thus excited and enforced sacred love from the great pattern and motive of it, the love that is and dwells in God himself, proceeds to recommend it further by other considerations; and he recommends it in both the branches of it, both as love to God, and love to our brother or Christian neighbour. I. As love to God, to the primum amabile—the first and chief of all amiable beings and objects, who has the confluence of all beauty, excellence, and loveliness, in himself, and confers on all other beings whatever renders them good and amiable. Love to God seems here to be recommended on these accounts: 1. It will give us peace and satisfaction of spirit in the day when it will be most needed, or when it will be the greatest pleasure and blessing imaginable: Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, v. 17. There must be a day of universal judgment. Happy they who shall have holy fiducial boldness before the Judge at that day, who shall be able to lift up their heads, and to look him in the face, as knowing he is their friend and advocate! Happy they who have holy boldness and assurance in the prospect of that day, who look and wait for it, and for the Judge's appearance! So do, and so may do, the lovers of God.Their love to God assures them of God's love to them, and consequently of the friendship of the Son of God; the more we love our friend, especially when we are sure that he knows it, the more we can trust his love. As God is good and loving, and faithful to his promise, so we can easily be persuaded of his love, and the happy fruits of his love, when we can say, Thou that knowest all things knowest that we love thee.And hope maketh not ashamed; our hope, conceived by the consideration of God's love, will not disappoint us, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given to us, Rom. v. 5. Possibly here by the love of God may be meant our love to God, which is shed abroad upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost; this is the foundation of our hope, or of our assurance that our hope will hold good at last. Or, if by the love of God be meant the sense and apprehension of his love to us, yet this must suppose or include us as lovers of him in this case; and indeed the sense and evidence of his love to us do shed abroad upon our hearts love to him; and thereupon we have confidence towards him and peace and joy in him.He will give the crown of righteousness to all that love his appearing. And we have this boldness towards Christ because of our conformity to him: Because as he is so are we in this world, v. 17. Love hath conformed us to him; as he was the great lover of God and man, he has taught us in our measure to be so too, and he will not deny his own image. Love teaches us to conform in sufferings too; we suffer for him and with him, and therefore cannot but hope and trust that we shall also be glorified together with him, 2 Tim. ii. 12.The fear of God is often mentioned and commanded as the substance of religion (1 Pet. ii. 17; Rev. xiv. 7); and so it imports the high regard and veneration we have for God and his authority and government. Such fear is constant with love, yea, with perfect love, as being in the angels themselves.But then there is a being afraid of God, which arises from a sense of guilt, and a view of his vindictive perfections; in the view of them, God is represented as a consuming fire; and so fear here may be rendered dread; There is no dread in love. Love considers its object as good and excellent, and therefore amiable, and worthy to be beloved.Love considers God as most eminently good, and most eminently loving us in Christ, and so puts off dread, and puts on joy in him; and, as love grows, joy grows too; so that perfect love casteth out fear or dread. Those who perfectly love God are, from his nature, and counsel, and covenant, perfectly assured of his love, and consequently are perfectly free from any dismal dreadful suspicions of his punitive power and justice, as armed against them; they well know that God loves them, and they thereupon triumph in his love. That perfect love casteth out fear the apostle thus sensibly argues: that which casteth out torment casteth out fear or dread: Because fear hath torment (v. 18)—fear is known to be a disquieting torturing passion, especially such a fear as is the dread of an almighty avenging God; but perfect love casteth out torment, for it teaches the mind a perfect acquiescence and complacency in the beloved, and therefore perfect love casteth out fear. Or, which is here equivalent, he that feareth is not made perfect in love (v. 18); it is a sign that our love is far from being perfect, since our doubts, and fears, and dismal apprehensions of God, are so many. Let us long for, and hasten to, the world of perfect love, where our serenity and joy in God will be as perfect as our love! 3. From the source and rise of it, which is the antecedent love of God: We love him, because he first loved us, v. 19. His love is the incentive, the motive, and moral cause of ours. We cannot but love so good a God, who was first in the act and work of love, who loved us when we were both unloving and unlovely, who loved us at so great a rate, who has been seeking and soliciting our love at the expense of his Son's blood; and has condescended to beseech us to be reconciled unto him. Let heaven and earth stand amazed at such love!His love is the productive cause of ours: Of his own will (of his own free loving will) begat he us. To those that love him all things work together for good, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Those that love God are the called thereto according to his purpose (Rom. viii. 28); according to whose purpose they are called is sufficiently intimated in the following clauses: whom he did predestinate (or antecedently purpose, to the image of his Son) those he also called, effectually recovered thereto. The divine love stamped love upon our souls; may the Lord still and further direct our hearts into the love of God! 2 Thess. iii. 5. II. As love to our brother and neighbour in Christ; such love is argued and urged on these accounts:—1. As suitable and consonant to our Christian profession. In the profession of Christianity we profess to love God as the root of religion: "If then a man say, or profess as much as thereby to say, I love God, I am a lover of his name, and house, and worship, and yet hate his brother, whom he should love for God's sake, he is a liar (v. 20), he therein gives his profession the lie." That such a one loves not God the apostle proves by the usual facility of loving what is seen rather than what is unseen: For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? v. 20. The eye is wont to affect the heart; things unseen less catch the mind, and thereby the heart. The incomprehensibleness of God very much arises from his invisibility; the member of Christ has much of God visible in him. How then shall the hater of a visible image of God pretend to love the unseen original, the invisible God himself? 2. As suitable to the express law of God, and the just reason of it: And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also, v. 21. As God has communicated his image in nature and in grace, so he would have our love to be suitably diffused. We must love God originally and supremely, and others in him, on the account of their derivation and reception from him, and of his interest in them. Now, our Christian brethren having a new nature and excellent privileges derived from God, and God having his interest in them as well as in us, it cannot but be a natural suitable obligation that he who loves God should love his brother also.

論神的愛。 4:17 這樣，愛在我們裏面得以完全，我們就可以在審判的日子坦然無懼。因為他如何，我們在這世上也如何。4:18 愛里沒有懼怕；愛既完全，就把懼怕除去，因為懼怕里含着刑罰，懼怕的人在愛里未得完全。4:19 我們愛，因為　神先愛我們。4:20 人若說「我愛　神」，卻恨他的弟兄，就是說謊話的；不愛他所看見的弟兄，就不能愛沒有看見的　神（註：有古卷作「怎能愛沒有看見的　神呢？」）。4:21 愛　神的，也當愛弟兄，這是我們從　神所受的命令。 使徒約翰，已經憑聖潔的愛其最好的典範和初衷加以激勵並敦促，此愛就是神本身，且就住在神裏面，並繼續以別的理由對其進一步忠告，他按兩主線忠告，那便是愛神、愛我們的弟兄我們的基督鄰里。 一、愛神，作為主要原因——是所有可親的人事中最首要也最主要的，集全部的美麗、卓越和美好於己一身，並將任何能使之良善可親的都授予其他所有的生物。在此忠告要愛神，理由似乎有這麼些： 1、當我們最需要的那天，它能給予我們靈的安寧和滿足，或者那時它將成為可想而知的最大愉悅和福氣：這樣，愛在我們裏面得以完全，我們就可以在審判的日子坦然無懼。因為他如何，我們在這世上也如何（第17節）。必將有世界性審判的那一天。到那天站在神的面前，那些能因着信託而聖潔的坦然無懼的，因着認主為朋友和調停人，能舉起手，直視其面的，他們該是很等喜樂！那些面對那天的景象有着聖潔的坦然無懼和篤信不疑的，那些仰望等候那天，仰望等候主顯現的，他們該是何等喜樂！愛神的，正是如此行的，也當如此行。 他們愛神的心確保了神對他們的愛，也就確保了他們與子的情誼；我們越愛我們的友人，尤其是當們確信祂知道我們的愛，我們就越能信賴祂的愛。因着神的應許是徹底又慈愛並信實的，便能輕易用愛及愛的福果說服我們，到時我們可以說：你無所不知，當然也就知道我們愛你咯。盼望並不羞慚。我們因體貼神的愛而懷有盼望，便不至於羞恥，因為所賜給我們的聖靈將　神的愛澆灌在我們心裏，參看羅馬書5:5。也許在此神的愛可以被理解為我們對神的愛——由所賜給我們的聖靈澆灌在我們心裏；這是我們盼望的根基，或者說是我們確信我們的盼望終能圓滿的根基。否則，如果神的愛被認為是對神愛我們的理解和領悟，這種情況下必當把我們看做或納入神的情人裏邊。其實，感覺並見證他對我們的愛的確澆灌在我們愛祂的心裏了，故此我們對祂有信心，並在他裏面有平安，有喜樂。祂將對所有愛慕他顯現的人賜予公義的冠冕。我們對基督坦然無懼，因着我們遵從祂：因為他如何，我們在這世上也如何（第17節）。愛使我們和祂一致。正如主是神和神的至愛，他已經從我們的思量上教導我們也要這樣，他是不會否認他自己的形象的。愛教導我們在苦難中也要保持一致。我們為祂遭受，和祂一起受苦，所以，唯有盼望和信靠，我們才也能和祂一起領受頌讚。參看提摩太後書2:12.敬畏神常被稱作被命為信仰的主旨（彼得前書2:17，啟示錄14:7）；並因此上升為我們對神及其威嚴與統治所持有的高度敬意和尊崇。如此之敬畏，伴隨着愛，恆久如一，是的，伴隨着完美的愛，宛如自己置身於聖潔的天使群中。 不過也有人害怕神的，出於愧疚感，覺得祂完美形象里有懲罰；以如此視角，神呈現出的就是烈焰；敬畏便由此衍生成了懼怕；其實，愛里是沒有懼怕的。愛之所及是亦善亦美的，因此並也可親、當愛。 愛認為神非比尋常的美好，非比尋常地愛着基督里的我們，於是乎拋開了懼怕，沐浴在其喜樂里。同時，愛滋生，樂亦滋生；於是乎那完美無瑕的愛便除去了我們的懼怕。那些完完全全愛神的，因着神的性情、勸告和契約，完完全全相信神之愛的，因而徹徹底底不會有絲毫憂心的懼怕懷疑神懲罰性的權柄和審判會征對他們，他們非常明白神愛他們，並因着住在他的愛中而得勝。那無瑕的愛除去了我們的懼怕，使徒約翰因此切實地勸說：除去刑法的也就除去了懼怕：因為懼怕里含着刑法（第18節）——懼怕是亂人心扉磨人心智的盛怒，更何況是懼怕全能的復仇之神呢；然而無瑕的愛除去了刑罰，因為它教會了心腦在敬愛的神裏面享受完美的默許和滿足，於是無瑕的愛也就除去了我們的懼怕。或者，同理可得，懼怕的人在愛里未得完全（第18節)。既然我們對神諸多的懷疑、懼怕並鬱郁地理解，這便揭示了我們的愛是遠非完全的。讓我們切盼並奔向完美之愛的世界吧，在那兒我們在神里的平安和喜樂將如我們的愛一樣完全！ 3、根據愛之源之因，是神愛我們在先：我們愛，因為神先愛我們（第19節）。我們不能不愛這般良善美好的神啊，祂首先行愛之事愛之工，祂在我們未愛也不可愛時就愛我們，祂愛我們這般無限無量，祂一直設法徵求我們的愛，竟以自己兒子的寶血作為代價，祂早已屈尊俯就請我們與祂合好。在如此愛中，天地萬物都訝然佇立啊！ 祂的愛是產生我們的愛之因由：神出於祂的心意（出於祂豐盛的愛的心意）創造了我們。我們曉得萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處，就是按他旨意被召的人（羅馬書。8:28）。他們是按誰的旨意被召，接下來這句話會充分地揭示出來：凡神預定的（或按事先的目的，要達成祂兒子的形象）神也就召喚，於是人便滿有成效地由此重生。神的愛把愛烙在我們的靈魂深處。願主一如既往並更進一步地引導你們的心，叫你們愛神（帖撒羅尼迦後書3:5）。 二、如同愛我們基督里的弟兄和鄰里，基於以下原因便也敦促且鼓勵愛神：—1、因為要與我們的基督宣言相稱且一致。在基督教宣言裏我們聲稱會把神當做信仰之根來愛：「人若說或宣稱「我愛神，我愛慕主的名、主的家庭和禮拜」，卻恨他的弟兄——他當因尋求神而愛的人，就是說謊話的（參看第20節），那麼他說出的宣言便是謊言。」這樣的人並不愛神，約翰通過慣常所見的愛的技巧，而不是未見的，表明這樣的人並不愛神：不愛他所看見的弟兄，怎能愛沒有看見的神呢？（第20節）。眼目慣於支配內心，未見之事吸引不了大腦，便也就吸引不了內心。對神的難以理解，很大程度上是出於神的不可見；基督成員因住在神裏面所以能很好地看見祂。於是乎，憎恨由神的形象視覺化的弟兄的，怎麼能裝出愛未見的起初的、那不可見的神本身呢？ 2、因為要相稱於神毫釐不爽的律法，及其合乎情理的因由：愛神的，也當愛弟兄，這是我們從神所受的命令（第21節）。因着神已用性情和恩典交流了祂的形象，所以便會將我們的愛相應地瀰漫擴散。我們當愛起初至高的神，也當愛那住在神里的諸位，因着他們是從神而生且被神接納，也因着神對他們的喜愛。我們的基督弟兄們有着從神而得的全新的性情和姣好的特權，神將好處賜予了他們誠如賜予我們一樣，於是乎，這只能是自然得當的本分：愛神的就也當愛弟兄。 --【譯】何葉 2012年3月14日 (三) 22:09 (CST)^-^~

目錄

約翰一書 4:1 約翰一書 4:2 約翰一書 4:3 約翰一書 4:4 約翰一書 4:5

約翰一書 4:6 約翰一書 4:7 約翰一書 4:8 約翰一書 4:9 約翰一書 4:10

約翰一書 4:11 約翰一書 4:12 約翰一書 4:13 約翰一書 4:14 約翰一書 4:15

約翰一書 4:16 約翰一書 4:17 約翰一書 4:18 約翰一書 4:19 約翰一書 4:20

約翰一書目錄

約一 1 約一 2 約一 3 約一 4 約一 5

MHC:聖經目錄

舊約(OT) 創(Gen) 出(Exod) 利(Lev) 民(Num) 申(Deut) 書(Josh) 士(Judg) 得(Ruth) 撒上(1Sam) 撒下(2Sam) 王上(1Kgs) 王下(2Kgs) 代上(1Chr) 代下(2Chr) 拉(Ezra) 尼(Neh) 斯(Esth) 伯(Job) 詩(Ps) 箴(Prov) 傳(Eccl) 歌(Song) 賽(Isa) 耶(Jer) 哀(Lam) 結(Ezek) 但(Dan) 何(Hos) 珥(Joel) 摩(Amos) 俄(Obad) 拿(Jonah) 彌(Mic) 鴻(Nah) 哈(Hab) 番(Zeph) 該(Hag) 亞(Zech) 瑪(Mal)

新約(NT) 太(Matt) 可(Mark) 路(Luke) 約(John) 徒(Acts) 羅(Rom) 林前(1Cor) 林後(2Cor) 加(Gal) 弗(Eph) 腓(Phil) 西(Col) 帖前(1Thess) 帖後(2Thess) 提前(1Tim) 提後(2Tim) 多(Titus) 門(Phlm) 來(Heb) 雅(Jas) 彼前(1Pet) 彼後(2Pet) 約一(1John) 約二(2John) 約三(3John) 猶(Jude) 啟(Rev)

導航

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參考

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