Bede — Commentary on Scripture | TrulyRandomVerse

Commentary

20 of 6,271

1 John 4:16
And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. We have known that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the Father sent him as the Savior of the world. And we believe the love that God has in us, because evidently when He had His only Son, He did not want Him to be alone, but so that He might have brothers, He adopted those who would possess eternal life with Him.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:17
Because as He is, so are we in this world. Can a man indeed be as God? But it should be remembered what was said above, that “as” does not always refer to equality, but it refers to a certain similarity. For when you say, "As I have ears, so too does the image," is it entirely so? Yet still you say "as." So if we are made in the image of God, why are we not as God? Not in equality, but in our own measure. Therefore, confidence is given to us on the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world—namely by imitating the perfection of love in the world, of which He daily provides us an example from heaven. Concerning this, the Savior in the Gospel says, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you and slander you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven, who makes His sun rise on the good and the bad, and rains on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5).

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:17
In this, love is perfected with us, etc. He says how each one may test how much he has progressed in love. Whoever has confidence on the day of judgment, love is perfected in him. What is it to have confidence on the day of judgment? It is to not fear the coming of the day of judgment. For when someone first converts himself from wicked deeds by repenting, he begins to fear the day of judgment, lest, namely, when the Just Judge appears, he himself, being unjust, be condemned. However, encouraged by a good life in the process, he learns not to fear what he once feared, but rather to wish for the coming of the awaited one for all nations, hoping that he will be crowned with the saints by the merit of good actions. From where we can have confidence on the day of judgment, he explains more fully by adding:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:18
But whoever fears is not perfect in charity. Because clearly fear has punishment, as a doctor’s surgery has punishment; although just as the doctor’s surgery brings hoped-for health, so fear follows desired charity. Nor should it be thought that the words of Blessed John are contrary to what the Psalmist says: "The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring forever and ever" (Psalm 19). For there are two fears: one by which men fear God lest they be cast into hell; this is the fear that introduces charity, but it comes so that it may go out. For if you still fear God because of punishments, you do not yet love whom you thus fear; you do not desire good things, but you avoid bad ones; but because you avoid bad things, you correct yourself, and begin to desire good things. When you begin to desire good things, that holy fear will be in you, namely lest you lose those good things, not so that you may not be cast into hell, but lest the presence of the Lord whom you embrace may desert you, whom you wish to enjoy forever.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:18
Because fear has torment. The heart is tormented by the conscience of sins, because justification has not yet been made. Therefore, in the Psalm, concerning this very perfection of justice, "You have turned (he says) my mourning into joy for me; you have removed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness, that my glory may sing praise to you, and not be silent" (Psalm XXIX), that is, there may not be anything to pierce my conscience. Fear pierces, but do not be afraid: love enters, which heals what fear wounds.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:18
But perfect love casts out fear. This fear, of course, of which it is said: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm CX). By which anyone fearing begins works of justice, lest the strict Judge come, and finding himself less chastened, be condemned. This fear is cast out by the love which, on account of its merit of justice, has confidence on the day of judgment. But also the fear of present adversities, perfect love expels from the soul. The one who supplicates to the Lord sought to have, saying: Deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy (Psalm LXIII). The one who had it said: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? etc. (Romans VIII).

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. In that particular love which, in imitation of divine goodness, knows how to do good even to enemies and to love them.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:19
Therefore, let us love God, etc. Let us love because He first loved us. For how could we love unless He had first loved us? Hence He Himself says in the Gospel: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15). Thus, we will be perfect in charity if, just as He first loved us for the sake of our own salvation, so we also love Him solely for the sake of love. But because there are those who love God only in words, it is wisely added:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:20
For he who does not love his brother, etc. He who loves his brother loves God. It is necessary to love God in order to love love itself. For God is love. And lest anyone dare to say: "And what does it hinder to love God, even if I do not love my brother?" it is rightly added:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:20
If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ etc. How do you prove that he is a liar? Listen:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 4:21
And this commandment we have from God, etc. For how can you love him whose command you hate? Who is it who says: I love the emperor, but I hate his laws? Not so the true lover of God, but: See (he says) that I have loved your commands, O Lord (Psalm CXVIII). And therefore he confidently adds: Quicken me in your mercy (Ibid.).

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:1
And everyone who loves the one who begot, loves also the one, etc. With marvelous skill in preaching, blessed John took care to incite us to the love of our neighbor, first noting that everyone who perfectly believes is born of God, then suggesting how just it is that the one who loves God should love also the one born of God. For if anyone is so slow as to neglect to love a man because he is a man, because he endures the same pilgrimage on earth with him, he should be admonished to at least love him for this reason, that he is born of God, that he is made a partaker with him of divine grace, that he expects the same rewards of heavenly life with him. Indeed, this exhortation particularly pertains to those who have not only become our brothers by the companionship of human nature but also by the profession of faith. However, because there are some who love their neighbors but because of kinship or for some temporal benefit, the holy evangelist rightly reveals what true neighborly love is by adding:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:2
In this we know that we love the children of God, etc. Therefore, he alone is proven to love his neighbor rightly who is known to burn with the love of the Creator. And lest anyone deceive himself about the love of the Creator, professing that he loves by word alone, after having said: In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, he added, and we keep His commandments.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. The Lord Himself says this: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word (John XIV). Therefore, the proof of love is the exhibition of work. For we truly love if we constrain ourselves to His commandments from our will. For he who still flows with illicit desires certainly does not love God, because he contradicts Him in his will.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:3
And His commandments are not burdensome. The Lord Himself says: My yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. XI). It should not appear contrary to the words of the Lord or blessed John that the Lord Himself says elsewhere that the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life (Matt. VII); and the prophet says to Him: For the words of your lips, I have kept hard ways (Psalm XVI); and the apostle: For through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts XIV). For what is inherently hard and rough, the hope of heavenly rewards and the love of Christ makes light. Indeed, it is hard to suffer persecutions for righteousness, but what makes it sweet is that for those who suffer thus, the kingdom of heaven belongs. Hence it is well added:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:4
And this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith. Specifically, that faith which works through love; that faith by which we humbly seek the help of Him who said: In the world you will have tribulations, but take courage, I have overcome the world (John 16).

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Therefore, God's commandments are not heavy because all who devote themselves to them in true devotion equally despise the adversities and blandishments of the world with equal mind, even loving death itself as the entrance to the heavenly homeland. And lest anyone trust that he can overcome the world or its luxuries or labors by his virtue, it is deliberately added:

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:5
Who is he that overcomes the world, etc.? He overcomes the world who, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, combines works worthy of that faith. But does the faith and confession of His divinity alone suffice for salvation? See what follows.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:6
And the Spirit is He who testifies because Christ is the truth. When the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, bearing witness to Him as the truth, that is, the true Son of God, the true mediator between God and men, the true Redeemer and Reconciler of mankind, who is indeed free from all stain of sin, truly able to take away the sins of the world. As also the Baptist, understanding when he saw the coming of the same Spirit, said: He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, He it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God (John 1). Therefore, since the Spirit testifies that Jesus Christ is the truth, He calls Himself the truth, the Baptist proclaims Him as the truth, the son of thunder evangelizes the truth, let the blasphemers be silent, who maintain that this is a phantasm; let the memory of those perish from the earth who deny that He is truly either God or man.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
1 John 5:6
This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He who was the eternal Son of God became man in time, so that He who created us by His divine power might recreate us by the weakness of His humanity. He came by water and blood, namely the water of baptism and the blood of His passion. He not only deigned to be baptized for our cleansing to consecrate and deliver to us the sacrament of baptism, but also gave His blood for us, redeeming us by His passion, that we might be nourished unto salvation by the sacraments.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles