Bede — Commentary on Scripture | TrulyRandomVerse

On 1 John

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1 John 3:15
And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Even if he seems to live among the saints through faith here, he does not have eternal life abiding in him. For when the time of retribution comes, he will be damned with Cain who was of the evil one, even he who is guilty of this kind of murder, so as to disagree and dissent and have no peace with his brothers. Note that he does not say absolutely, "A murderer does not have life in him," but, "Everyone," he says, "who is a murderer." Certainly not only he who uses a weapon, but also he who follows his brother with hatred.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:16

In this, we have known the love of God, etc. What kind of perfect love ought to be in us, we have learned from the example of the Lord's passion. For no one has greater love than this, that one lays down his life for his friends (John XV). Hence Paul also says: But God commends His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Romans V). Blessed Peter was admonished to have this love, when the Lord said: Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep (John XXI); he responded that he loved Him, and immediately he heard: But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish (Ibid.). This He said (says the evangelist) signifying by what death he would glorify God. For, to the one confessing love, He commended His sheep, teaching him to lay down his life for the same sheep as a testimony of perfect love. He, He said, laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. But perhaps someone says: And how can I have this love? Do not quickly despair of yourself, perhaps it is…

In this, we have known the love of God, etc. What kind of perfect love ought to be in us, we have learned from the example of the Lord's passion. For no one has greater love than this, that one lays down his life for his friends (John XV). Hence Paul also says: But God commends His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Romans V). Blessed Peter was admonished to have this love, when the Lord said: Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep (John XXI); he responded that he loved Him, and immediately he heard: But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish (Ibid.). This He said (says the evangelist) signifying by what death he would glorify God. For, to the one confessing love, He commended His sheep, teaching him to lay down his life for the same sheep as a testimony of perfect love. He, He said, laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. But perhaps someone says: And how can I have this love? Do not quickly despair of yourself, perhaps it is born, but not yet perfect. Nurture it, lest it be choked. And how, you ask, do I know that love is born in me which I should nurture? Listen to the following:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:17
Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, etc. Behold where love begins. If you are not yet fit to die for your brother, be at least fit to give from your possessions to your brother. For if you do not sympathize with your brother suffering hardship, indeed the love of the Father, from whom both of you were reborn, does not abide in you.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:18
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, etc. Namely, in deed, so that when a brother or sister is naked and in need of daily food, we give them what is necessary for the body. Similarly, when we see them lacking in spiritual gifts, let us provide to their need what we can. But in truth, let us give them these blessings with a sincere intention, and not for human praise, not out of pride, not to the injury of others who, though endowed with greater means, have done no such thing. For any mind infected by such vices cannot dwell in the light of truth, even if it seems to show acts of love to its neighbors.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:19

And shall assure our hearts before Him. This statement depends on what preceded. Because when we love our neighbors in deed and truth, we clearly know that we assure our hearts in the sight of the supreme truth. For all men, when they intend to do something, persuade their hearts to meditate on that thing to be done. But those who think evil would, if they could, hide these things from God; as He testifies who says: For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (John 3); but those who meditate on doing good easily persuade their hearts to desire to be revealed before the divinity, which is a sign of the highest perfection when each one rejoices that his deeds or thoughts are seen by God. Hence, He subsequently says: But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God (Ibid.). Through true love, therefore, we know that we are of the truth, and that we assure our hearts before the same truth, that is, we persuade our hearts to have such thoughts as are worthy of d…

And shall assure our hearts before Him. This statement depends on what preceded. Because when we love our neighbors in deed and truth, we clearly know that we assure our hearts in the sight of the supreme truth. For all men, when they intend to do something, persuade their hearts to meditate on that thing to be done. But those who think evil would, if they could, hide these things from God; as He testifies who says: For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (John 3); but those who meditate on doing good easily persuade their hearts to desire to be revealed before the divinity, which is a sign of the highest perfection when each one rejoices that his deeds or thoughts are seen by God. Hence, He subsequently says: But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God (Ibid.). Through true love, therefore, we know that we are of the truth, and that we assure our hearts before the same truth, that is, we persuade our hearts to have such thoughts as are worthy of divine sight.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:19
In this we know that we are of the truth. That is, when we perform acts of piety in truth, it is evident that we are of the truth, which is God, just as we imitate His perfection according to our capacity.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:20
For if our heart reproves us, etc. If our conscience itself accuses us within, because we are not doing our good works with the right intention, how can we hide our knowledge from Him to whom it is sung: Behold, Lord, you have known all things, and, Because the darkness will not be darkened from you, and the night will be illuminated like the day (Psalm 138)?

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:21
Beloved, if our heart does not reproach us, etc. If it truthfully answers us that we love, and that genuine love is in us, and not feigned, but sincere, seeking the brother’s salvation, expecting no gain from the brother except his salvation; likewise, if our heart does not reproach us, notably when we say in prayer: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matthew VI), we have confidence towards God, not in the sight of men, but where God Himself sees in the heart.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:22

And whatever we ask we shall receive from Him, etc. This is a great and desirable promise given to the faithful. But if anyone is so foolish and absurd as not to delight in heavenly promises, at least let him fear what wisdom terrifyingly thunders in contrast, saying: He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, his prayer will be abominable (Prov. XXVIII). Nor should it seem contrary to this statement of blessed John that Paul asked the Lord three times for the angel of Satan to depart from him, and could not obtain it (II Cor. XII), but was told: My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness (Ibid.). For even if we do not always receive what we ask for in prayer to our will, yet we receive the reward of devotion for our salvation, just as the same Paul praying to the Lord received not what he sought, but what was useful for him. But, on the contrary, the reprobate are often heard according to their will, even if not for their salvation. Whence also their head, the devil, was heard according to his will when he tempted blessed Job, but to his own damn…

And whatever we ask we shall receive from Him, etc. This is a great and desirable promise given to the faithful. But if anyone is so foolish and absurd as not to delight in heavenly promises, at least let him fear what wisdom terrifyingly thunders in contrast, saying: He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, his prayer will be abominable (Prov. XXVIII). Nor should it seem contrary to this statement of blessed John that Paul asked the Lord three times for the angel of Satan to depart from him, and could not obtain it (II Cor. XII), but was told: My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness (Ibid.). For even if we do not always receive what we ask for in prayer to our will, yet we receive the reward of devotion for our salvation, just as the same Paul praying to the Lord received not what he sought, but what was useful for him. But, on the contrary, the reprobate are often heard according to their will, even if not for their salvation. Whence also their head, the devil, was heard according to his will when he tempted blessed Job, but to his own damnation. For he was allowed to be tested, so that by being tested, he (the devil) should be punished. Therefore, when John said that whatever we ask we shall receive from Him, if we keep His commandments, as if you were asking what the commandments are, he immediately added:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:23
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, etc. He placed the commandment in the singular number and subsequently added mandates to it, namely faith and love, because clearly these cannot be separated from each other. For neither can we rightly love one another without faith in Christ, nor can we truly believe in the name of Jesus Christ without fraternal love. And he says, let us love one another, as he gave commandment to us. That is, with pure love, not like thieves or perpetrators of any other crimes, who indeed love each other but not chastely. But he gave commandment to us when he said: This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you (John XV). For what is, As I have loved you, except: love for the purpose that I loved you, namely, that you may reach the heavenly kingdoms? And by what reward are these commands of faith and love kept? It follows:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:24
And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. In the early times, the Holy Spirit fell upon believers, and they spoke in tongues which they had not learned. But now, because the holy Church does not need external signs, whoever believes in the name of Jesus Christ and has fraternal love bears witness to the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. For this is what the Holy Spirit does in a person, so that there is love in them. For love (says Paul) is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom. V). Yet because many, not having love, and by perverse doctrine tearing the unity of the Church, nonetheless contend that the Holy Spirit is in them, it is rightly added:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 3:24
And he who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. Let God therefore be your home, and be the home of God; abide in God, and let God abide in you. God abides in you to hold you, you abide in God so that you do not fall. Keep his commandments, hold onto charity. Do not separate yourself from faith in him, so that you glory in his presence, and you will remain secure in him, now through faith, then through sight. And he will remain eternally in you, as the Psalmist sings of him: They shall exult forever, and you will dwell in them (Psalm V).

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:2
In this is known the Spirit of God, etc. Confession in this place is understood not only as the Catholic faith but also as the good operation which is done through charity. Otherwise, some heretics confess, many schismatics, many false Catholics, that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, but they deny their confession by their deeds, not having charity. For charity brought the Son of God to the flesh. And therefore, whoever does not have charity denies that He has come in the flesh, such a one is convicted of not having the Spirit from God. But He is the Spirit of God, who says that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, who says it not with the tongue, but with deeds, not by sounding, but by loving.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:3
And this is the Antichrist of whom you have heard that he comes, etc. He comes with the imminent day of judgment, born into the world as that man more wicked than all others, the son of iniquity. And now he is already in the world, dwelling in the minds of those who resist Christ either by profession or by deed, without the remedy of repentance.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:3

And every spirit that dissolves Jesus is not from God. He dissolves Jesus who denies either His divinity, or His soul, or His flesh, which the Catholic faith teaches that He truly has. He also dissolves Jesus who, by perversely interpreting or by perverse sight, corrupts the commands and words of Jesus. But also he who disturbs the unity of the holy Church, which Jesus came to gather, strives, as far as is in him, to dissolve Jesus. Nor is it surprising if such are not from God, who disband the works, words, or sacraments of God. For they are so far from God, that some of them who wished by evil doctrine to separate the divinity of Christ from human dispensation, have also erased this verse, where it is said, "And every spirit that dissolves Jesus is not from God," from this Epistle, lest their error be convicted by the authority of blessed John. Finally, Nestorius revealed that he did not know this sentence was inserted into the authentic copies, and therefore he did not fear to dissolve Jesus, and thus render himself foreign to God, saying that the blessed Virgin Mary was not the m…

And every spirit that dissolves Jesus is not from God. He dissolves Jesus who denies either His divinity, or His soul, or His flesh, which the Catholic faith teaches that He truly has. He also dissolves Jesus who, by perversely interpreting or by perverse sight, corrupts the commands and words of Jesus. But also he who disturbs the unity of the holy Church, which Jesus came to gather, strives, as far as is in him, to dissolve Jesus. Nor is it surprising if such are not from God, who disband the works, words, or sacraments of God. For they are so far from God, that some of them who wished by evil doctrine to separate the divinity of Christ from human dispensation, have also erased this verse, where it is said, "And every spirit that dissolves Jesus is not from God," from this Epistle, lest their error be convicted by the authority of blessed John. Finally, Nestorius revealed that he did not know this sentence was inserted into the authentic copies, and therefore he did not fear to dissolve Jesus, and thus render himself foreign to God, saying that the blessed Virgin Mary was not the mother of God, but only of a man, such that he made another person of the man, another of the Deity; nor did he believe in one Christ in the Word of God and in flesh and soul, but preached separately another Son of God, another of man.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:4
Because greater is he who is in you, etc. He thus teaches them to maintain humility, so that they do not attribute victory to their own strength, and are overcome by the arrogance of pride. He teaches them to always have confidence and hope of victory in the midst of adversities, retaining in their memory that the Lord is greater to protect than the devil to attack.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:4
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered him. You have conquered the Antichrist by confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that is, by having the charity that Jesus Christ taught when he came in the flesh, which he also commends in the Gospel, saying: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John XV). For how could the Son of God lay down his life for us, unless he was clothed in flesh, where he could die? Therefore, anyone who violates charity, no matter what he says with his tongue, by his life denies that Christ has come in the flesh, and he himself is the Antichrist. And you have conquered him, he says. But how have they conquered? Was it by the power of free will? Certainly not. Let Pelagius be silent, let John himself speak:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:5
And the world listens to them. For the hearts of the spiritual cannot be recalled to worldly and carnal senses from the simplicity of faith. But even the Catholics who, hearing that saying of the Lord: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you" (Matthew V); and again: "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew VI), say they cannot in any way leave their injuries unavenged: these indeed are proved to be of the world, and hence they speak of the world. And because they do not have the bowels of charity, they keep the inviolate mysteries of faith in vain. Nor can they be without the name of Antichrist, who are shown to be opposed to the commands of Christ.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:5
They are from the world, etc. The Antichrists, that is, the heretics, even if they invoke the name of Christ or mark themselves with the sign of Christ, still they are from the world, that is, from the number of those who think worldly thoughts, who seek the lowly things, who are ignorant of celestial matters. And thus they speak of the world, namely by the reason of worldly wisdom opposing the Christian faith, saying that it cannot be that the Son of God is coeternal with the Father, that an untouched virgin gives birth, that flesh rises from dust, immortal, that a man brought forth from the earth perceives a dwelling in the heavens, that a newborn infant is held bound by the guilt of the first man unless reborn in Christ through the water of baptism is saved.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:6
We are of God. He who knows God, etc. For the carnal man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Therefore, he who does not want to hear the preachers of charity is undoubtedly known not to know God, nor to be of God, because he has neglected to imitate the charity that God has exercised towards men.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles