Theophylact of Ohrid — Commentary on Scripture

1 John 1:1

When John talks about having seen this life, he means that the disciples understood its meaning, and when he says that they touched it, he means that they had investigated it thoroughly.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 1:4

John says that having his hearers as fellow participants in the grace of eternal life will make him and the other disciples happy in the same way that a sower is happy to have the reapers alongside him on the day of harvest.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 2:10

Even the Gentiles have always accepted the law or command which appears to derive from nature, that we should do good to those who are of the same nature as we are. The reason for this is that man is a rational and social animal who cannot exist without mutual love. Ancient tales even relate that there were many people who were prepared to sacrifice themselves on behalf of others, and the Savior himself calls this the highest form of love: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends.”

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 2:25

What is eternal life? It is that we should know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 3:3

Note that John uses the present tense when he talks about our need to purify ourselves. The practice of virtue is an ongoing thing and has its own inner dynamic. If we stop living this way or put it off until some future time, there is nothing virtuous about that at all.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 3:4

Sin is a falling away from what is good, whereas iniquity is transgression of the law. The first is a rejection of good as a general principle, the second is a particular violation of a law. The sinner therefore is someone who goes against nature, and it is the nature of human beings to live rationally. Sin is therefore something which must be regarded as absurd.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 3:22

If we obey God’s commands, then our obedience will bear fruit, for we shall receive whatever we ask for.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 3:23

The first point to be made here is that we must love one another according to the faith which we have in the name of Jesus Christ, for it is by this that we know that the grace of the Holy Spirit given to us will be firmly planted in us. The second thing to notice is the use of the word name, which is quite frequent in Scripture. It includes the will, the glory and the honor of the one who bears it, and his will is that everyone everywhere should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 4:3

The antichrist will be a man who bears Satan inside him and who exalts himself above everything which is called God or which is worshiped. For that reason he will spurn idolatry and demand that people worship him instead.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 4:4

You have overcome the false prophets because the God who is in you is greater than the one by whom the false prophets have chosen to live. There is another sign of false prophets, which is that they make simple believers sad. There must be many who react very badly when they see the so-called prophets being given the highest honors while they themselves are treated with disrespect by the world.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 4:5

Those who teach what the world wants to hear will always find followers in it, for the perverted love each other. We on the other hand will never be accepted by them.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 5:2

If we love God, then we must also love those whom God has brought to birth and who have become our brothers and sisters. Loving one another is a sign of how much we love God.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1 John 5:4

Once you have become brothers and sisters in love, you must go on to the next stage, which is to overcome the world. For those who have been born again in God must expel every kind of unbelief from their midst.

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN