Andreas of Caesarea — Commentary on Scripture

1 John 2:19

John says this because there were some people who had become teachers but had subsequently departed from the truth in order to follow the blasphemies of their own minds. But even if they were once among us, John adds, they were never really part of us, since if they had been, they would have stayed with us.

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1 John 2:20

This is what each of us has received at baptism.

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1 John 2:22

This was the heresy of Simon, which said that Jesus and the Christ were two different people. According to them, Jesus was a man, the son of Mary, but Christ descended from heaven in the form of a dove at the Jordan. John therefore condemns those who think like that and brands their belief with the name of the devil. There were still others who made a distinction between the Father and some nameless deity beyond him, whom they called the Father of Christ. These too denied Jesus, saying that he was a mere man and did not have the nature of God.

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1 John 2:23

There were other heretics who denied the Son but claimed to know the Father. In fact of course they did not know the Father either, because if they had known him they would have known that he is the Father of the only-begotten Son. These people were similar to the Jews, who say that they know the Father but do not accept the Son. They are also like the Simonians, who share the same ungodly confusion.

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1 John 2:24

Rejecting ungodliness, John goes on to teach the doctrine of godliness and to encourage his listeners to accept it, saying that by it they will have fellowship with both the Father and the Son, as well as the promise of eternal life.

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1 John 2:27

Do not mix anything earthly with the oil of anointing with which you have been anointed, and the devil will not get hold of you.

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1 John 2:28

Having the Holy Spirit as your teacher of godly knowledge, do not go after deceiving spirits, but think in the way that he has taught you, so that at his appearing in glory we may stand with confidence before him.

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1 John 3:1

God shows us the necessary patience because of the inheritance which he has given us. Here the “world” refers to wicked people.

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1 John 3:3

Some people argue from this that God made man according to his image but not according to his likeness, which he will give us later on. We have supposedly believed in him according to the likeness which we have, and if that is worthy enough, then we shall receive God’s likeness as well. But if you have believed according to the likeness and then turn away from it and destroy it, who will give you what belongs to the likeness? You will not be able to acquire the likeness unless you have fully perfected the image first. This is supposed to be why John adds the words: “Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, as he is pure.” But my bishop, in his letter to Conon, has shown on the basis of the recognized Fathers of the church that the image and the likeness are one and the same thing and that John was speaking here of something which has already taken place.

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1 John 3:6

How can someone sin if he is not cut off from God in any way?

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1 John 3:8

As often as we sin, we are born of the devil. But we are of God once again, as often as we pursue virtue.

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1 John 3:9

The divine seed is Christ, who dwells in believers and makes them become sons of God. Likewise, when it is said that in Abraham’s seed all the nations will be blessed, this too is a reference to Christ. John says that the Spirit is the seed which we receive through the blessing of our mind. For he dwells in us, making the mind of sin no longer welcome.

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1 John 3:10

Love is the mark of sinlessness, and hate is the mark of sin. Since the person who walks in righteousness is born of God, it follows that someone who is so born will love the brothers, whereas someone who does not have this new birth will not do so. Rather he who hates his brother is not of God.

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1 John 3:12

Cain became unrighteous and turned into the very first person who killed a member of his family, thereby teaching human nature the way of murder.

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1 John 3:14

God says: “He who hears my words and does them will not see death but will be changed from death into life.”

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1 John 4:2

It is characteristic of the antichrist, who is coming into the world and has indeed already come, to deny Christ through false prophets and spirits by saying that he never came in the flesh. There are many different heretics, but on this point they all speak with the same voice. To confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh does not just mean that he has come in his own flesh but that he enters my flesh as well.

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1 John 4:4

The one who is in you is God the Father, through the Son and the Paraclete. The one in the world is Satan, for “world” here refers to evil people.

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1 John 4:5

Who are these but the heretics and Manichaeans? For they blaspheme, speaking evil words out of their evil minds.

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1 John 4:7

What does it mean to say that love is from God? Surely this refers to the man who came from God, who was revealed according to the image and likeness of the one who made him? For when this man appeared, he was revealed as the beloved and as worthy of being loved. Now since this Savior has been sent into the world because of the Father’s great love for the things which he has made, those who have received this blessing and who are thus beloved ought to love one another. For each of us is loved and is called to love, having the command that we should love our neighbor.

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1 John 4:12

This is how God’s love works. God comes to dwell in us, though no one has ever seen him.

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