Andreas of Caesarea — Commentary on Scripture

1 John 1:2

John says this with reference to the close union of the Word with the flesh. Or perhaps he says this with reference to the resurrection, considering the way in which it was made known to the apostles by the action of Thomas. That proved that Christ rose again with the same flesh in which he had been crucified.

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1 John 1:3

What did they proclaim, but that eternal life has appeared to us and that we have become witnesses of it? What you gain from this proclamation is the right to share this experience with us. For the one who is in fellowship with us has fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, and since you share in the same fellowship, we shall all have joy together, in that we have been united to God.

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1 John 1:5

What is this message? It is that eternal life has appeared to us. For the Father so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, and this is what we proclaim to you—that the Word of God who has come into the world and become a man is both God and light.

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1 John 1:6

John says that if we sin we have no fellowship with God, but if we do the works of light, then we have fellowship with one another.

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1 John 1:8

This is how John describes the Jews who dared to say: “Let his blood be upon us and upon our children,” as if they could crucify Christ without being sinners. If we say such things, we deceive ourselves.

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1 John 1:9

If we acknowledge our sin and confess it, he will forgive it, and not only that one but all our sins. For when a person repents and is baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, God forgives all his sins which he has committed both against himself and against heaven.

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1 John 1:10

If we say that we have not sinned, we reject his word, which is spirit and life.

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1 John 2:1

John knows that those who have been enlightened have not been given an impassible nature, but neither have they been let out of prison in order that they might sin.

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1 John 2:2

John is saying: “I am writing these things to you, not so that you may say that you no longer sin at all, but so that when you do sin, you will not remain in that state, for Jesus propitiates your sins in the Father’s presence.”

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1 John 2:3

John shows here that true knowledge means demonstrating that one is faithful to Christ by obeying his commandments.

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1 John 2:4

It is obvious that the person who does not keep God’s commandments has no knowledge of him.

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1 John 2:7

Someone may ask how it was possible for the hearers of this letter to have known the commandment from the beginning, since they were not Jews (as appears from the end of the letter, where they are told to keep themselves from idols). But is there not a commandment which is old, which has existed from the beginning and which all people everywhere have heard? For everybody, even domestic animals, naturally loves those who are close to them.

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1 John 2:8

The new dimension to the commandment is that now the light has come into the world, our Lord Jesus, because of whom the power of the devil has passed away.

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1 John 2:9

How can someone say that he belongs to Christ and at the same time hate his brother for whom Christ died? Or if someone says he belongs to God and yet hates Christ, who has become our brother by becoming a man, he is not of God but of the devil. For if he were of God, he would love the brother who had been sent to him and anointed by grace.

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1 John 2:11

Those who hate Christ do not realize that they have become the inheritors of eternal fire. This is what the devil makes them suffer, because he has blinded their inner vision.

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1 John 2:13

The different ages here are to be understood in spiritual terms; they refer to our maturity in faith. First you must become a child and be weaned off evil. It is in this state that you must put off the weight of your old sins. Once you have done this, you can progress to the status of adolescents, when you must struggle against evil. Finally you will be deemed worthy of the deep knowledge of God which characterizes parents. This is the best and truest order of growth toward acceptance by the Father.

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1 John 2:15

Lest anyone think that he has completely broken with the system of this world, John here reminds us that something of it remains inside us and that we are attracted by it because of the desires of our flesh, which are at war with our soul. From this it may be seen that the visible world is no longer loved by those who have risen above it, who no longer contemplate temporal things but gaze on eternity instead.

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1 John 2:16

None of the vain pleasures of corruption will last. They are temporal and will fade away and in fact are flimsier than any cobweb.

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1 John 2:17

In discussing with the Jews, Christ explained: “This is the will of the Father, that you should believe in the one whom he has sent.” The one who keeps his commandments will gain eternal life.

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1 John 2:18

The antichrist will come at the end of the world, and the heresies have already announced his coming, for they are his friends and brothers, since they both blaspheme Christ.

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