Bede — Commentary on Scripture

1 John 4:4

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.

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:

1 John 4:5 · 2 passages

They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

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.

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.

1 John 4:6 · 2 passages

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.

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.

In this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. In this, indeed, because he who listens to us has the Spirit of truth; he who does not listen to us has the spirit of error. And this is the distinction of spirits, about which he warned above, saying: "Test the spirits to see whether they are of God." But let us see what he is about to admonish, in which we should hear him:

1 John 4:7 · 2 passages

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

And everyone who loves is born of God, etc. What more could be said? God is charity. Therefore, to act against charity is to act against God. Let no one say: I sin against man when I do not love my brother, and it is an easy sin against man, if I do not sin against God alone. How do you not sin against God, when you sin against charity? God is charity.

Beloved, let us love one another, etc. He has highly recommended charity, which he said is from God; he is about to say more, let us listen attentively:

1 John 4:9

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.

In this God's love appeared in us, etc. As the Lord himself says: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John XV); and thus the love of Christ for us is proven, because he died for us. The Father's love is also proven in us, because he sent his only Son to die for us. Thus also the Apostle Paul says: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things (Rom. VIII)?

1 John 4:10 · 3 passages

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

In this is love, etc. We did not love him first. For he loved us to the extent that we might love him. Grace indeed goes before man, that he may love God, by which love he works good things. Whence the Psalmist says: My God, his mercy shall anticipate me (Ps. LVIII).

And he sent his Son to be the propitiation, etc. And this is the greatest sign of divine love for us, because when we did not yet know how to ask him for forgiveness for our sins, he sent his Son to us, who, to those believing in him, would grant pardon freely and call us to the fellowship of paternal glory. In some Codices, this verse is read thus: And he sent his Son to be the altar sacrifice for our sins. The altar sacrifice means a sacrificer. For the Son of God sacrificed for our sins not by offering cattle, but by offering himself. Hence Paul rightly admonishes, saying: Therefore be ye imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor (Eph. V). In agreement with this is what John also here adds in exhortation, saying:

We come to God not by our own merits but by the bestowal of his grace alone, as John bears witness when he says that we did not love God but rather he loved us.

1 John 4:11

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Beloved, if God so loved us, etc. What then follows:

1 John 4:12 · 3 passages

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

If we love one another, God abides in us. But let no one think that this love, in which God abides, is preserved by a certain lax and lazy gentleness, indeed not by gentleness but by leniency and negligence. This is not charity, but languor; charity should burn fervently to amend and correct. But if morals are good, let them delight; if they are bad, let them be amended and corrected. Therefore, if we love one another with sincere and disciplined charity, God abides in us, manifested indeed by the works of that very charity, even though He does not yet appear visibly.

No one has ever seen God. A greater discussion is needed, since the Lord promises that the pure in heart will see God, and He says of the saints that their angels always see the face of the Father in heaven. John also stated this in his Gospel, where he consequentially adds how God can be seen, saying: The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (John I). Blessed Father Ambrose explained it thus: "And no one has ever seen God, because the fullness of the divinity dwelling in God has been seen by no one, comprehended by neither mind nor eyes. For 'seeing' must be referred to both. Hence when it is added: The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, it is a vision of the mind rather than of the eyes being spoken of. The form is seen, the power is narrated. The former is comprehended by eyes, the latter by the mind." Likewise, blessed Augustine in his book on seeing God, discussing the same question: "Therefore (he says), with the only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, narrating with ineffable narration, a ra…

No one has ever seen God. A greater discussion is needed, since the Lord promises that the pure in heart will see God, and He says of the saints that their angels always see the face of the Father in heaven. John also stated this in his Gospel, where he consequentially adds how God can be seen, saying: The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (John I). Blessed Father Ambrose explained it thus: "And no one has ever seen God, because the fullness of the divinity dwelling in God has been seen by no one, comprehended by neither mind nor eyes. For 'seeing' must be referred to both. Hence when it is added: The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, it is a vision of the mind rather than of the eyes being spoken of. The form is seen, the power is narrated. The former is comprehended by eyes, the latter by the mind." Likewise, blessed Augustine in his book on seeing God, discussing the same question: "Therefore (he says), with the only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, narrating with ineffable narration, a rational, pure, and holy creature is filled with the ineffable vision of God. We will achieve this when we have become equal to the angels, for we shall see face to face (I Cor. XIII). As visible things are seen by the senses of the body, no one has ever seen God: because if He was ever seen in any way, it was not as a natural object is seen, but He willed to be seen in the form He chose, with His nature remaining hidden and unchangeable in Himself. But in the way He is seen as He is (I Cor. XIII), perhaps He is now seen by some of His holy angels. But by us, He will be seen in that way when we shall have become equal to them." And after some propositions, expounding the sentence of Saint Ambrose, Augustine says, "No one has ever seen God, either in this life as He is, or even in the life of angels, as these visible things are perceived by bodily vision, because the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Therefore, it pertains not to the vision of bodily eyes, but to the vision of minds." And after these many words: "To that vision (he says) by which we will see God as He is (I Cor. XIII), He admonished pure hearts. Because, indeed, bodies are by customary speech called visible, thus God is called invisible so that He may not be believed to be a body. It does not mean that He would deprive pure hearts of the contemplation of His substance, since this great and highest reward is promised to those who honor and love God, as the Lord Himself said when He visibly appeared to bodily eyes, and He promised to show Himself invisibly to pure hearts: Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and show myself to him (John XIV). For His nature is equally invisible with the Father, just as it is equally incorruptible. Paul listed these consecutively, saying: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, he commended the divine substance in a manner he could to humans through preaching. Therefore, God is an invisible reality, to be sought not with the eye but the mind. But just as if we wanted to see the sun, we would purify the eye of the body from which light can be seen; so also, wanting to see God, let us purify the eye of the heart with which God can be seen: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew V). But since this vision is hoped for in the future, what must we do now, while still in the body, wandering away from the Lord? What solace should we use when divine vision is not yet permitted to us?"

And His charity is perfected in us. However, it must be inquired how he says that the perfection of divine charity consists in mutual love, since the Lord in the Gospel pronounces that it is not a great thing if we love those who love us, unless that same love extends also to enemies, about whom he here seems completely silent? Unless perhaps we should love even these enemies with the gaze of fraternal love, so that they do not always remain enemies, but repent from the snares of the devil and join us in a genuine covenant. If we love one another, he says, God abides in us, and His charity is perfected in us. Begin to love, you will be perfected. You have begun to love, God has begun to dwell in you, so that by dwelling more perfectly He may make you perfect.

1 John 4:13

Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

In this we know that we abide in Him, etc. This very thing, because He gave His Spirit to you, how do you know? Ask your own inner parts. If they are full of charity, you have the Spirit of God, as Paul attests, who says: Because the charity of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Rom. V).

1 John 4:14

And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

And we have seen and testify, etc. Let no one despair of salvation, because although the diseases of crimes that weigh one down are great, the omnipotent physician has come to save. Yet let each remember that the same Son of God who came gently to save, will come sternly to judge.

1 John 4:15

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, etc. He speaks of the perfect confession of the heart, which can neither be corrupted by the deceit of heretics who wrongly persuade, nor be shattered by the tortures of pagan persecutors, nor falter by the examples of fleshly brothers, nor waver by the sluggishness of one's own weakness. For there are those who even deny by words that Jesus is the Son of God, of which many are reported to have been at that very time when John wrote this. Likewise, there are those who confess in words, but deny in actions. Hence it is well stated now: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God, he said a little above: If we love one another, God abides in us, surely insinuating that whoever has love for his brothers, he truly testifies that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 4:16 · 2 passages

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.

God is love. He already said that above, behold he says it again. Love could not be commended to you more than by saying God. Perhaps you were going to scorn the gift of God: will you scorn God as well?

And he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him. Conversely, those who contain and those who are contained live in each other. You dwell in God, but so that you may be contained; God dwells in you, but so that He may contain you lest you fall, because as the Apostle says of love itself: Charity never fails. How does he fall whom God contains?