Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

¹ My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: ² And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. ³ And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. ⁶ He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. ⁷ Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. ⁸ Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. ⁹ He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. ¹⁰ He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. ¹¹ But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. ¹² I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. ¹³ I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. ¹⁴ I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. ¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. ¹⁸ Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. ²⁰ But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. ²¹ I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. ²² Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. ²³ Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. ²⁴ Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. ²⁶ These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. ²⁷ But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. ²⁸ And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. ²⁹ If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 John 2:1

Wherefore we have need of the dew of God, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be rendered unfruitful, and that where we have an accuser there we may have also an Advocate,

Source: Against Heresies Book III

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:1

"And if any man sin," he says, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ." For so the Lord is an advocate with the Father for us. So also is there, an advocate, whom, after His assumption, He vouchsafed to send. For these primitive and first-created virtues are unchangeable as to substance, and along with subordinate angels and archangels, whose names they share, effect divine operations. Thus also Moses names the virtue of the angel Michael, by an angel near to himself and of lowest grade. The like also we find in the holy prophets; but to Moses an angel appeared near and at hand. Moses heard him and spoke to him manifestly, face to face. On the other prophets, through the agency of angels, an impression was made, as of beings hearing and seeing.

On this account also, they alone heard, and they alone saw; as also is seen in the case of Samuel. Elisæus also alone heard the voice by which he was called. [1 Kings 19] If the voice had been open and common, it would have been heard by all. In this instance it was heard by him alone in whom the impression made by the angel worked.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:1

For just as the Lord is an advocate on our behalf before the Father, so also there is an advocate whom he deigned to send after his ascension.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 2:1

All the more fully: "Little children, these things have I written to you, lest ye sin; and if ye shall have sinned, an Advocate we have with God the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and, He is the propitiation for our sins." "According to these words," you say, "it will be admitted both that we sin, and that we have pardon.

Source: On Modesty

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 John 2:1

How could Jesus have become an advocate and propitiation without the power of God which completely destroys our weakness, a power furnished by Jesus which flows in the souls of believers?

Source: COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.241

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 John 2:1

Let us consider whether the title advocate (“paraclete”) means one thing when applied to the Savior and another when applied to the Holy Spirit. In regard to the Savior “paraclete” seems to mean intercessor, for in Greek it bears both meanings, comforter and intercessor, but according to the phrase which follows, in which it is said that he is the propitiation for our sins, it seems that it must mean intercessor, because he intercedes with the Father for our sins. When used of the Holy Spirit, however, the word paraclete ought to be understood as comforter, because he provides comfort for the souls to whom he opens and reveals a consciousness of spiritual knowledge.

Source: ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.7.4

[AD 311] Peter of Alexandria on 1 John 2:1

""And if any man sin "says he, "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins."

[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on 1 John 2:1

We have an advocate, Jesus Christ, not indeed someone who prostrates himself before the Father on our behalf—such an idea is slavish and unworthy of the Spirit! It would be unworthy of the Father to require this, as also for the Son to submit to it, nor is it right to think such things of God. But by what he suffered as man, he as the Word and counselor persuades the Father to be patient with us. I think this is the meaning of his advocacy.

Source: THEOLOGICAL ORATIONS 30.14

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on 1 John 2:1

I will not glory because I have been redeemed. I will not glory because I am free of sins but because sins have been forgiven me. I will not glory because I am profitable or because anyone is profitable to me but because Christ is an advocate on my behalf before the Father, because the blood of Christ has been poured out on my behalf.

Source: ON JACOB AND THE HAPPY LIFE 6.21

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:1

And lest haply he should seem to have given impunity for sins, in that he said, He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all iniquity; and men henceforth should say to themselves, Let us sin, let us do securely what we will, Christ purges us, is faithful and just, purges us from all iniquity: He takes from you an evil security, and puts in an useful fear. To your own hurt you would be secure; you must be solicitous. For He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, provided you always displease yourself, and be changing until you be perfected.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:1

If you should have a case to be tried before a judge and should procure an advocate, you would be accepted by the lawyer and he would plead your case to the best of his ability. If, before he has finished his plea, you should hear that he is to be the judge, how you would rejoice, because he could be your judge, who shortly before was your lawyer.

Source: SERMONS 213.5

[AD 465] Maximus of Turin on 1 John 2:1

Christ is a judge when he sits and an advocate when he rises. It is clear that he was a judge to Jews but arises as an advocate for Christians. On the one hand, standing before the Father of the Christians, even though they are sinners, he pleads their cause, while on the other he sits with the Father of the Pharisees, who are persecutors, condemning their sins. Angry with the ones, he wreaks harsh vengeance on them, while he gently has mercy on the others, interceding on their behalf.

Source: SERMONS 40.3

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on 1 John 2:1

There is a problem here. A righteous advocate never takes unrighteous cases, which ours of course are. What can we do, dear brothers? The only way to get around this is to follow what Scripture says: “The righteous man accuses himself first of all.” Therefore a sinner who weeps over his sins and accuses himself is set on the path of righteousness, and Jesus can take up his case.

Source: SERMONS ON EZEKIEL 1.7.24

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:1

John knows that those who have been enlightened have not been given an impassible nature, but neither have they been let out of prison in order that they might sin.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:1

But if anyone sins, we have an advocate, etc. See how John himself maintains the humility he teaches; surely he was a righteous and great man, who drank the secrets of mysteries from the Lord's breast. Yet he did not say, "You have me as an advocate with the Father," but said, "We have an advocate." He said "we have," not "you have." He preferred to place himself among the sinners to have Christ as an advocate, rather than place himself as an advocate for Christ and be found among the condemned proud ones. However, it should not be said that bishops or leaders do not intercede for the people. For the Apostle prays for the people, and the people pray for the Apostle, who says, "Praying together for us and for you, that God may open to us a door of the word" (Colossians 4). And the Church prayed for Peter when he was in chains, and it was heard, just as Peter also prayed for the Church, because all members pray for each other. The Head intercedes for all, of whom it is written: “He is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Romans 8). For the only-begotten Son interceding for man means showing himself as man to the co-eternal Father. And for him to have prayed on behalf of human nature means he took up that same nature in the height of his divinity. Therefore, the Lord intercedes for us not with voice, but with compassion, because what he did not want to condemn in the chosen ones, he preserved by taking it up. And rightly when he said we have Jesus Christ the righteous as our advocate with the Father, he added righteous; for a righteous advocate does not take on unrighteous causes: he will then defend us righteously in judgment, if we now know and accuse ourselves as unrighteous. For why should one not be righteous who already rages against his own unrighteousness through tears?

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:1

John calls Jesus our advocate because it is he who prays to the Father for us. In saying this he is speaking in a human way and within a human context, just as elsewhere he says: “The Son can do nothing by himself.” He puts it this way so that the Son will not appear to be the Father’s opponent. For that the Son has the power to forgive sins is clear from the case of the paralytic, and by giving his disciples the power to forgive sins, he shows that he can also share his power with others.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:2

"And not only for our sins,"— that is for those of the faithful, — is the Lord the propitiator, does he say, "but also for the whole world." He, indeed, saves all; but some [He saves], converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily [He saves] with dignity of honour; so "that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth;" [Philippians 2:10] that is, angels, men, and souls that before His advent have departed from this temporal life.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:2

Hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself to walk even as He also walked."

Source: Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book III

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:2

Christ saves from all sin. He converts some by punishing them and others by their own free will and with the dignity of honor.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:2

Moreover, we do not prejudge when the Lord is to be the judge; save that if He shall find the repentance of the sinners full and sound, He will then ratify what shall have been here determined by us. If, however, any one should delude us with the pretence of repentance, God, who is not mocked, and who looks into man's heart, will judge of those things which we have imperfectly looked into, and the Lord will amend the sentence of His servants; while yet, dearest brother, we ought to remember that it is written, "A brother that helpeth a brother shall be exalted; " and that the apostle also has said, "Let all of you severally have regard to yourselves, lest ye also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ; " also that, rebuking the haughty, and breaking down their arrogance, he says in his epistle, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall; " and in another place he says, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall stand, for God is able to make him stand." John also proves that Jesus Christ the Lord is our Advocate and Intercessor for our sins, saying, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Supporter: and He is the propitiation for our sins." And Paul also, the apostle, in his epistle, has written, "If, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

Source: Epistle LI

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:2

But perchance sin overtakes us from our mortal life: what shall be done then? What? Shall there be now despair? Hear: And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiator for our sins. 1 John 2:1-2 He then is the advocate; do your endeavor not to sin: if from the infirmity of this life sin shall overtake you, see to it straightway, straightway be displeased, straightway condemn it; and when you have condemned, you shall come assured unto the Judge. There have you the advocate: fear not to lose your cause in your confession. For if oft-times in this life a man commits his cause to an eloquent tongue, and is not lost; you commit yourself to the Word, and shall you be lost? Cry, We have an advocate with the Father.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:2

See John himself observing humility. Assuredly he was a righteous and a great man, who from the Lord's bosom drank in the secrets of His mysteries; he, the man who by drinking from the Lord's bosom indited of His Godhead, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God: he, being such a man as this, says not, You have an advocate with the Father; but, If any man sin, an advocate, says he, have we. He says not, you have; nor says, you have me; nor says, you have Christ Himself: but he puts Christ, not himself, and says, also, We have, not, you have. He chose rather to put himself in the number of sinners that he might have Christ for his advocate, than to put himself in Christ's stead as advocate, and to be found among the proud that shall be condemned. Brethren, Jesus Christ the righteous, even Him have we for our advocate with the Father; He, even He, is the propitiation for our sins. This whoso has held fast, has made no heresy; this whoso has held fast, has made no schism. For whence came schisms? When men say, we are righteous, when men say, we sanctify the unclean, we justify the ungodly; we ask, we obtain. But what says John? And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. But some man will say: then do the saints not ask for us? Then do bishops and rulers not ask for the people? Yea, but mark the Scriptures, and see that rulers also commend themselves to the prayers of the people. Thus the apostle says to the congregation, Praying withal for us also. Colossians 4:3 The apostle prays for the people, the people prays for the apostle. We pray for you, brethren: but do ye also pray for us. Let all the members pray one for another; let the Head intercede for all. Therefore it is no marvel that he here goes on and shuts the mouths of them that divide the Church of God. For he that has said, We have Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins: having an eye to those who would divide themselves, and would say, Lo, here is Christ, lo, there; Matthew 24:23 and would show Him in a part who bought the whole and possesses the whole, he immediately goes on to say, Not our sins only, but also the sins of the whole world. What is this, brethren? Certainly we have found it in the fields of the woods, we have found the Church in all nations. Behold, Christ is the propitiation for our sins; not ours only, but also the sins of the whole world. Behold, you have the Church throughout the whole world; do not follow false justifiers who in truth are cutters off. Be in that mountain which has filled the whole earth: because Christ is the propitiation for our sins; not only ours, but also the sins of the whole world, which He has bought with His blood.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:2

When John says that Christ died for the sins of the “whole world,” what he means is that he died for the whole church.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:2

John is saying: “I am writing these things to you, not so that you may say that you no longer sin at all, but so that when you do sin, you will not remain in that state, for Jesus propitiates your sins in the Father’s presence.”

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:2

And he himself is the propitiation for our sins. He who intercedes for us with the Father through his humanity, also propitiates for us with the Father through his divinity.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:2

Not only for our own sins, etc. The Lord is not a propitiation only for those for whom John wrote while they were then living in the flesh, but also for the whole Church spread throughout the breadth of the world, from the first chosen to the last who will be born at the end of the world. By these words, he reproves the schism of the Donatists, who claimed that the Church of Christ was confined only to the borders of Africa. Therefore, the Lord intercedes for the sins of the whole world, because the Church, which He bought with His own blood, is spread throughout the entire world. That the whole world is in the power of the evil one does not contradict this statement, for there are those throughout the whole world who serve the evil one, that is, the ancient enemy.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:3

"And by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." For the Gnostic [he who knows] also does the Works which pertain to the province of virtue. But he who performs the works is not necessarily also a Gnostic. For a man may be a doer of right works, and yet not a knower of the mysteries of science. Finally, knowing that some works are performed from fear of punishment, and some on account of the promise of reward, he shows the perfection of the man gifted with knowledge, who fulfils his works by love.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:3

The one who understands will also do the works which pertain to the duty of virtue, but someone who does the works is not necessarily among those who understand. For he may just be someone who understands the difference between right and wrong but who has no knowledge of the heavenly mysteries. Furthermore, knowing that some people do the right thing out of fear of punishment or for some kind of reward, John teaches that a man of perfect understanding does these things out of love.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:3

To these glorious beginnings of confession and the omens of a victorious warfare, has been added the maintenance of discipline, which I observed from the vigour of your letter that you lately sent to your colleagues joined with you to the Lord in confession, with anxious admonition, that the sacred precepts of the Gospel and the commandments of life once delivered to us should be kept with firm and rigid observance. Behold another lofty degree of your glory; behold, with confession, a double title to deserving well of God,-to stand with a firm step, and to drive away in this struggle, by the strength of your faith, those who endeavour to make a breach in the Gospel, and bring impious hands to the work of undermining the Lord's precepts:-to have before afforded the indications of courage, and now to afford lessons of life. The Lord, when, after His resurrection, He sent forth His apostles, charges them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." And the Apostle John, remembering this charge, subsequently lays it down in his epistle: "Hereby," says he, "we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith he knoweth Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." You prompt the keeping of these precepts; you observe the divine and heavenly commands. This is to be a confessor of the Lord; this is to be a martyr of Christ,-to keep the firmness of one's profession inviolate among all evils, and secure. For to wish to become a martyr for the Lord, and to try to overthrow the Lord's precepts; to use against Him the condescension that He has granted you;-to become, as it were, a rebel with arms that you have received from Him;-this is to wish to confess Christ, and to deny Christ's Gospel. I rejoice, therefore, on your behalf, most brave and faithful brethren; and as much as I congratulate the martyrs there honoured for the glory of their strength, so much do I also equally congratulate you for the crown of the Lord's discipline. The Lord has shed forth His condescension in manifold kinds of liberality. He has distributed the praises of good soldiers and their spiritual glories in plentiful variety. We also are sharers in your honour; we count your glory our glory, whose times have been brightened by such a felicity, that it should be the fortune of our day to see the proved servants of God and Christ's soldiers crowned. I bid you, most brave and blessed brethren, ever heartily farewell; and remember me.

Source: Epistle XXIV

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 2:3

Often in the Scriptures the word know means not just being aware of something but having personal experience of it. Jesus did not know sin, not because he was unaware of what it is but because he never committed it himself. For although he is like us in every other way, he never sinned. Given this meaning of the word know, it is clear that anyone who says that he knows God must also keep his commandments, for the two things go together.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:3

John shows here that true knowledge means demonstrating that one is faithful to Christ by obeying his commandments.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:3

And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Which commandments he means, he explains subsequently, that is, love.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:4

Nos enim didicimus libertatem, qua Dominus noster nos liberat a voluptatibus, eta cupiditatibus, et aliis perturbation bus solvens. "Qui dicit: Novi Dominum, et mandata ejus non set vat, mendax est, et in eo veritas non est"

Source: Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book III

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:4

Those who are perishing do not know God, and God will deny that he has even known them, as he himself said: “Depart from me, for I have never known you.”

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on 1 John 2:4

We can be said to be loving God only to the extent that we are keeping his commandments.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 30.1

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:4

It is obvious that the person who does not keep God’s commandments has no knowledge of him.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:4

Whoever says he knows Him but does not keep His commandments, etc. Christ is called the truth: "I am" (He says) "the way, the truth, and the life" (John XIV). Therefore, it is futile for us to boast about knowing Him when we do not keep His commandments. Nor should we consider it a great thing to know one God, since even demons believe, and tremble. But what it truly means to know God, he shows later, saying:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:5

"But whoever keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him,"— by faith and love.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 2:5

The person who really loves God keeps his commandments and by so doing realizes that he knows the love of God. Our obedience results in his love.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:5

Let us see whether this same commandment be not called love. For we were asking, what commandments, and he says, But whoso keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Mark the Gospel, whether this be not the commandment: A new commandment, says the Lord, give I unto you, that you love one another. John 13:34 — In this we know that we are in Him, if in Him we be perfected. Perfected in love, he calls them: what is perfection of love? To love even enemies, and love them for this end, that they may be brethren. For not a carnal love ought ours to be. To wish a man temporal good, is good; but though that fail, let the soul be safe. Do you wish life to any that is your friend? You do well. Do you rejoice at the death of your enemy? You do badly. But haply both to your friend the life you wish him is not for his good, and to your enemy the death you rejoice at has been for his good. It is uncertain whether this present life be profitable to any man or unprofitable: but the life which is with God without doubt is profitable. So love your enemies as to wish them to become your brethren; so love your enemies as that they may be called into your fellowship. For so loved He who, hanging on the cross, said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34 For he did not say, Father let them live long, me indeed they kill, but let them live. He was casting out from them the death which is for ever and ever, by His most merciful prayer, and by His most surpassing might. Many of them believed, and the shedding of the blood of Christ was forgiven them. At first they shed it while they raged; now they drank it while they believed.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:5

Love sustains all those who try to put God’s commandments into practice.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:5

But whoever keeps His word, etc. Therefore, truly the one who keeps God's commandments and proves by his love has true knowledge of God. For to know God is to love Him. For whoever does not love Him clearly shows that he does not know how lovable He is. And he has not learned to taste and see how sweet and pleasant the Lord is, who does not strive continuously to please Him through intent devotion.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:5

By this we know that we are in Him, etc. That is, through excessive love, even to pray for enemies, just as He did, saying, "Father, forgive them" (Luke XXIII). Also, to despise all the favorable aspects of the world with a strong mind, to willingly endure insults and reproaches, just as He said: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Luke IX).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 2:6

When, however, he turns their minds back to continence, ("But I will you all so to be,") "I think, moreover," he says, "I too have the Spirit of God; "in order that, if he had granted any indulgence out of necessity, that, by the Holy Spirit's authority, he might recall. But John, too, when advising us that "we ought so to walk as the Lord withal did," of course admonished us to walk as well in accordance with sanctity of the flesh (as in accordance with His example in other respects).

Source: On Monogamy

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:6

For you ought to know and to believe, and hold it for certain, that the day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle; nor consider anything but the glory of life eternal, and the crown of the confession of the Lord; and not regard those things which are coming as being such as were those which have passed away. A severer and a fiercer fight is now threatening, for which the soldiers of Christ ought to prepare themselves with uncorrupted faith and robust courage, considering that they drink the cup of Christ's blood daily, for the reason that they themselves also may be able to shed their blood for Christ. For this is to wish to be found with Christ, to imitate that which Christ both taught and did, according to the Apostle John, who said, "He that saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." Moreover, the blessed Apostle Paul exhorts and teaches, saying, "We are God's children; but if children, then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."

Source: Epistle LV

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:6

But there are some rich women, and wealthy in the fertility of means, who prefer their own wealth, and contend that they ought to use these blessings. Let them know first of all that she is rich who is rich in God; that she is wealthy who is wealthy in Christ; that those are blessings which are spiritual, divine, heavenly, which lead us to God, which abide with us in perpetual possession with God. But whatever things are earthly, and have been received in this world, and will remain here with the world, ought so to be contemned even as the world itself is contemned, whose pomps and delights we have already renounced when by a blessed passage we came to God, John stimulates and exhorts us, witnessing with a spiritual and heavenly voice. "Love not the world," says he, "neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not from the Father, but is of the lust of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God also abideth for ever." Therefore eternal and divine things are to be followed, and all things must be done after the will of God, that we may follow the divine footsteps and teachings of our Lord, who warned us, and said, "I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." But if the servant is not greater than his lord, and he that is freed owes obedience to his deliverer, we who desire to be Christians ought to imitate what Christ said and did. It is written, and it is read and heard, and is celebrated for our example by the Church's mouth, "He that saith he abideth in Christ. ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." Therefore we must walk with equal steps; we must strive with emulous walk. Then the following of truth answers to the faith of our name, and a reward is given to the believer, if what is believed is also done.

Source: Treatise II. On the Dress of Virgins.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:6

But if we also, beloved brethren, are in Christ; if we put Him on, if He is the way of our salvation, who follow Christ in the footsteps of salvation, let us walk by the example of Christ, as the Apostle John instructs us, saying, "He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Peter also, upon whom by the Lord's condescension the Church was founded, lays it down in his epistle, and says, "Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not, but gave Himself up to him that judged Him unjustly."

Source: Treatise IX. On the Advantage of Patience.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:6-9

That charity and brotherly affection are to be religiously and stedfastly practised. In Malachi: "Hath not one God created us? Is there not one Father of us all? Why have ye certainly deserted every one his brother? " Of this same thing according to John: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Also in the same place: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love than this has no man, than that one should lay down his life for his friends." Also in the same place: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." Also in the same place: "Verily I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth concerning everything, whatever you shall ask it shall be given you from my Father which is in heaven. For wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them." Of this same thing in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: "And I indeed, brethren, could not speak unto you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I have given you milk for drink, not meat: for while ye were yet little ye were not able to bear it, neither now are ye able. For ye are still carnal: for where there are in you emulation, and strife, and dissensions, are ye not carnal, and walk after man? " Likewise in the same place: "And if I should have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods for food, and if I should deliver up my body to be burned, but have not charity, I avail nothing. Charity is great-souled; charity is kind; charity envieth not; charity dealeth not falsely; is not puffed up; is not irritated; thinketh not evil; rejoiceth not in injustice, but rejoiceth in the truth. It loveth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, beareth all things. Charity shall never fail." Of this same thing to the Galatians: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and accuse one another, see that ye be not consumed one of another." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "In this appear the children of God and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not righteous is not of God, and he who loveth not his brother. For he who hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Also in the same place: "If any one shall say that he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? " Of this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles: "But the multitude of them that had believed acted with one soul and mind: nor was there among them any distinction, neither did they esteem as their own anything of the possessions that they had; but all things were common to them." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: If thou wouldest offer thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave thou thy gift before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift at the altar." Also in the Epistle of John: "God is love l and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Also in the same place: "He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is a liar, and walketh in darkness even until now."

Source: Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:6

In this we know that we are in Him, if in Him we be made perfect. Touching the very perfection of love of enemies, the Lord admonishing, says, Be therefore perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 He, therefore, that says he abides in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. 1 John 2:6 How, brethren? What does he advise us? He that says he abides in Him, i.e., in Christ, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked. Haply the advice is this, that we should walk on the sea? That be far from us! It is this then, that we walk in the way of righteousness. In what way? I have already mentioned it. He was fixed upon the cross, and yet was He walking in this very way: this way is the way of charity, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. If, therefore, you have learned to pray for your enemy, you walk in the way of the Lord.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:6

There are three ways that we dwell in God—by faith, by hope and by love. God dwells in us by patience and humility.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 461] Leo the Great on 1 John 2:6

Our hope of eternal life is in him. He is the pattern of our patience. Otherwise we are using the likeness of a false profession if we do not follow the commands of him in whose name we glory. And these would not be burdensome to us and would free us from all dangers, if we would love only what he commands us to love.

Source: SERMONS 90.2

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:6

Let us follow Christ’s footsteps with the entire effort of our minds. And so that we may deserve to come to the gate of his heavenly kingdom, let us seriously consider entering it by that course of action by which he proceeded when he was spending his life on earth.

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 2.11

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:7

"I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning,"— through the Law, that is, and the prophets; where it is said, God is one. Accordingly, also, he infers, "For the old commandment is the word which you have heard."

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:7

You had the commandment through the law and the prophets.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 2:7

Some people were apparently objecting that the Evangelist’s teaching was a new thing, and so he had to insist that this was not so.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:7

What commandment calls he old? Which you had, says he, from the beginning. Old then, in this regard, that you have already heard it: otherwise he will contradict the Lord, where He says, A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another. John 13:34 But why an old commandment? Not as pertaining to the old man. But why? Which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. Old then, in this regard, that you have already heard it.

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 John 2:7

John is talking here about love. The commandment was not new, because long before that time it had been proclaimed by the prophets.

Source: CATENA

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:7

Someone may ask how it was possible for the hearers of this letter to have known the commandment from the beginning, since they were not Jews (as appears from the end of the letter, where they are told to keep themselves from idols). But is there not a commandment which is old, which has existed from the beginning and which all people everywhere have heard? For everybody, even domestic animals, naturally loves those who are close to them.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:7

Dearest, I am not writing a new commandment to you, etc. The same love is also an old commandment, for it has been recommended from the beginning, and it is a new commandment because, with the darkness cast out, it infuses the desire for new light. Hence it is rightly added:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:8

"This is the commandment; for the darkness" of perversion, that is, "has passed away, and, lo, the true light has already shone,"— that is, through faith, through knowledge, through the Covenant working in men, through prepared judgments.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:8

The darkness is the darkness of perversion, and the light is the light of faith, working in us according to God’s foreordained plan.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 2:8

Nay, but this whole world is the one house of all; in which world it is more the heathen, who is found in darkness, whom the grace of God enlightens, than the Christian, who is already in God's light. Finally, it is one "straying" which is ascribed to the ewe and the drachma: (and this is an evidence in my favour); for if the parables had been composed with a view to a Christian sinner, after the loss of his faith, a second loss and restoration of them would have been noted.

Source: On Modesty

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:8

Not another, but the selfsame which he has called old, the same is also new. Why? Which thing is true in Him and in you. Why old, you have already heard: i.e., because you knew it already. But why new? Because the darkness is past, and the true light now shines. Lo, whence it is new: because the darkness pertains to the old man, but the light to the new man. What says the Apostle Paul? Put off the old man, and put on the new. Colossians 3:9-10 And again what says he? You were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord. Ephesians 5:8

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:8

The commandment is true in him because he loved us so much that he died for us, and it will be true in us also if we love one another.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:8

The new dimension to the commandment is that now the light has come into the world, our Lord Jesus, because of whom the power of the devil has passed away.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:8

Which is true in him and in you, etc. Behold here is the new, for darkness pertains to the old man and the light truly to the new man. Finally, the Apostle Paul says: Put off the old man and put on the new one (Eph. IV); and again: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Eph. V).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 850] Ishodad of Merv on 1 John 2:8

By “commandment” John means the revelation of the dispensation. It cannot be called new with respect to God, but from the human point of view it was a mystery hidden in the Creator from the beginning.

Source: COMMENTARIES

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:8

The commandment is new in that it is no longer restricted to Israel as it was under the law of Moses. Under that law it was normal to love one’s friends and to hate one’s enemies, as Jesus himself testified. But he then turned that around by saying that we should love our enemies and do good to those who hate us, concentrating on the fact that these people are human beings like ourselves and not worrying about how they feel toward us.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:9

"He that says he is in the light,"— in the light, he means in the truth —"and hates," he says, "his brother." By his brother, he means not only his neighbour, but also the Lord. For unbelievers hate Him and do not keep His commandments.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:9

The light is the truth, and a brother is not just our neighbor but the Lord [Jesus] as well.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:9

Why do you rush into the darkness of jealousy? why do you enfold yourself in the cloud of malice? why do you quench all the light of peace and charity in the blindness of envy? why do you return to the devil, whom you had renounced? why do you stand like Cain? For that he who is jealous of his brother, and has him in hatred, is bound by the guilt of homicide, the Apostle John declares in his epistle, saying, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath life abiding in him."24 And again: "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."25 Whosoever hates, says he, his brother, walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth. For he goeth unconsciously to Gehenna, in ignorance and blindness; he is hurrying into punishment, departing, that is, from the light of Christ, who warns and says, "I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."26 But he follows Christ who stands in His precepts, who walks in the way of His teaching, who follows His footsteps and His ways, who imitates that which Christ both did and taught; in accordance with what Peter also exhorts and warns, saying, "Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that ye should follow His steps."27

Source: Treatise X On Jealousy and Envy

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:9

What! My brethren, how long shall we say to you, Love your enemies? Matthew 5:44 See whether, what is worse, you do not hate your brethren. If you loved only your brethren, you would be not yet perfect: but if you hate your brethren, what are you, where are you? Let each look to his own heart: let him not keep hatred against his brother for any hard word; on account of earthly contention let him not become earth. For whoso hates his brother, let him not say that he walks in the light. He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. Thus, some man who was a pagan has become a Christian; mark well: behold he was in darkness, while he was a pagan: now is he made henceforth a Christian; thanks be to God, say all joyfully; the apostle is read, where he says joyfully, For you were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord. Ephesians 5:8 Once he worshipped idols, now he worships God; once he worshipped the things he made, now he worships Him that made him. He is changed: thanks be to God, say all Christians with joyful greeting. Why? Because henceforth he is one that adores the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; one that detests demons and idols. Yet still is John solicitous about our convert: while many greet him with joy, by him he is still looked upon with apprehension. Brethren, let us gladly welcome a mother's solicitude. Not without cause is the mother solicitous about us when others rejoice: by the mother, I mean charity: for she dwelt in the heart of John, when he spoke these words. Wherefore, but because there is something he fears in us, even when men now hail us with joy? What is it that he fears? He that says he is in the light— What is this? He that says now he is a Christian—and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. Which there is no need to expound: but to be glad of it, if it be not so, or to bewail it, if it be.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:9

The person who hates is in darkness until he repents or until he discovers love.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on 1 John 2:9

Perhaps you think that such darkness is like that which people suffer when they are locked in prison. If only it were as easy as that!

Source: SERMONS 185.2

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:9

How can someone say that he belongs to Christ and at the same time hate his brother for whom Christ died? Or if someone says he belongs to God and yet hates Christ, who has become our brother by becoming a man, he is not of God but of the devil. For if he were of God, he would love the brother who had been sent to him and anointed by grace.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:9

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, etc. The Lord has commanded to love enemies; therefore, he who says he is a Christian and hates his brother is still in sins. And he rightly added "still," because all men undoubtedly are born in the darkness of vices, all remain in darkness until they are illuminated by the grace of baptism through Christ. But even the one who approaches the fountain of life with brotherly hatred to be reborn and to the drink of the precious blood to be redeemed, if he considers himself to be enlightened by the Lord, is still in darkness, nor in any way could he shed the shadows of sins who did not care to put on the entrails of charity. Hence it is that Simon, recently drenched by the waters of baptism, heard from him who had the keys of heaven: You have no part or lot in this matter; for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity (Acts VIII). Because evidently neglecting the fellowship of brotherhood, he desired to buy the gift of the Spirit, by which the unity of the Church is preserved, with money and to have it privately.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:10

I beseech you by Christ: God is feeding us, we are about to refresh our bodies in the name of Christ; they both are in some good measure refreshed, and are to be refreshed: let the mind be fed. Not that I am going to speak for a long time, do I say this; for behold, the lesson is now coming to an end: but lest haply of weariness we should hear less attentively than we ought that which is most necessary.— He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no scandal, or none occasion of stumbling, in him. Who are they that take scandal or make scandal? They that are offended in Christ, and in the Church. They that are offended in Christ, are as if burnt by the sun, those in the Church as by the moon. But the Psalm says, The sun shall not burn you by day, neither the moon by night: i.e., if you hold fast charity, neither in Christ shall you have occasion of falling, nor in the Church; neither Christ shall you forsake, nor the Church. For he that forsakes the Church, how is he in Christ who is not in the members of Christ? How is he in Christ who is not in the body of Christ? Those therefore take scandal, or, occasion of falling, who forsake Christ or the Church. Whence do we understand that the Psalm in saying, By day shall the sun not burn you, nor the moon by night, says it of this, that the burning means scandal, or occasion of stumbling? In the first place mark the similitude itself. Just as the person whom something is burning says, I cannot bear it, I cannot away with it, and draws back; so those persons who cannot bear some things in the Church, and withdraw themselves either from the name of Christ or from the Church, are taking scandal. For see how those took scandal as from the sun, those carnal ones to whom Christ preached of His flesh, saying, He that eats not the flesh of the Son of Man and drinks His blood, shall have no life in him. John 6:54-69 Some seventy persons said, This is an hard saying, and went back from Him, and there remained the twelve. All those the sun burnt, and they went back, not being able to bear the force of the Word. There remained therefore the twelve. And lest haply men should imagine that they confer a benefit upon Christ by believing on Christ, and not that the benefit is conferred by Him upon them; when the twelve were left, the Lord said to them, Will you also go? That you may know that I am necessary to you, not you to me. But those whom the sun had not burnt, answered by the voice of Peter: Lord, You have the word of eternal life; whither shall we go? But who are they that the Church as the moon burns by night? They that have made schisms. Hear the very word used in the apostle: Who is offended, and I burn not? 2 Corinthians 11:29 In what sense then is it, that there is no scandal or occasion of stumbling in him that loves his brother? Because he that loves his brother, bears all things for unity's sake; because it is in the unity of charity that brotherly love exists. Some one, I know not who, offends you: whether it be a bad man, or as you suppose a bad man, or as you pretend a bad man: and do you desert so many good men? What sort of brotherly love is that which has appeared in these persons? While they accuse the Africans, they have deserted the whole world! What, were there no saints in the whole world? Or was it possible they should be condemned by you unheard? But oh! If you loved your brethren, there would be none occasion of stumbling in you. Hear the Psalm, what it says: Great peace have they that love Your law, and there is to them none occasion of stumbling. Great peace it says there is for them that love the law of God, and that is why there is to them none occasion of stumbling. Those then who take scandal, or, occasion of stumbling, destroy peace. And of whom says he that they take not and make not occasion of stumbling? They that love God's law. Consequently they are in charity. But some man will say, He said it of them that love God's law, not of the brethren. Hear what the Lord says: A new commandment give I unto you that you love one another. John 13:34 What is the Law but commandment? Moreover, how is it they do not take occasion of stumbling, but because they forbear one another? As Paul says, Forbearing one another in love, studying to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2-3 And to show that this is the law of Christ, hear the same apostle commending this very law. Bear one another's burdens, says he, and so shall you fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:10

Someone who loves his brothers is in no danger of stumbling.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:10

He who loves... and there is no stumbling in him. That is, no offense; for he who loves his brother endures all things for the unity of unity. For much peace is for those who love your name (Psalm CXVIII), that is, charity, and there is no stumbling for them (Ibid.). And Paul says: Bearing with one another in love, striving to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. IV).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on 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.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 John 2:11

Whoever does evil and hates his brother has extinguished the lamp of love, and therefore he walks in darkness.

Source: SERMONS ON LEVITICUS 13.2.4

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:11

A great thing, my brethren: mark it, we beseech you. He that hates his brother walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. What so blind as these who hate their brethren? For that you may know that they are blind, they have stumbled at a Mountain. I say the same things often, that they may not slip out of your memory. The Stone which was cut out of the Mountain without hands, is it not Christ, who came of the kingdom of the Jews, without the work of man? Has not that Stone broken in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, that is, all the dominations of idols and demons? Has not that Stone grown, and become a great mountain, and filled the whole earth? Do we point with the finger to this Mountain in like manner as the moon on its third day is pointed out to men? For example, when they wish people to see the new moon, they say, Lo, the moon! lo, where it is! And if there be some there who are not sharp-sighted, and say, Where? Then the finger is put forth that they may see it. Sometimes when they are ashamed to be thought blind, they say they have seen what they have not seen. Do we in this way point out the Church, my brethren? Is it not open? Is it not manifest? Has it not possessed all nations? Is not that fulfilled which so many years before was promised to Abraham, that in his seed should all nations be blessed? Genesis 22:18 It was promised to one believer, and the world is filled with thousands of believers. Behold here the mountain filling the whole face of the earth! Behold the city of which it is said, A city set upon a mountain cannot be hid! Matthew 5:14 But those stumble at the mountain, and when it is said to them, Go up; There is no mountain, say they, and dash their heads against it sooner than seek a habitation there. Esaias was read yesterday; whosoever of you was awake not with his eyes only but with his ear, and not the ear of the body but the ear of the heart, noted this; In the last days shall the mountain of the house of the Lord be manifest, prepared upon the top of the mountains. Isaiah 2:2 What so manifest as a mountain? But there are even mountains unknown, because they are situated in one part of the earth. Which of you knows Mount Olympus? Just as the people who dwell there do not know our Giddaba. These mountains are in different parts of the earth. But not so that Mountain, for it has filled the whole face of the earth, and of it is said, Prepared upon the top of the mountains. It is a Mountain above the tops of all mountains. And, says he, to it shall be gathered all nations. Who can fail to be aware of this Mountain? Who breaks his head by stumbling against it? Who is ignorant of the city set upon a mountain? But marvel not that it is unknown by these who hate the brethren, because they walk in darkness and know not whither they go, because the darkness has blinded their eyes. They do not see the Mountain: I would not have you marvel; they have no eyes. How is it they have no eyes? Because the darkness has blinded them. How do we prove this? Because they hate the brethren, in that, while they are offended at Africans, they separate themselves from the whole earth: in that they do not tolerate for the peace of Christ those whom they defame, and do tolerate for the sake of Donatus those whom they condemn.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:11

The person who loses sight of love will not know which way to turn when it comes to doing good works.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on 1 John 2:11

If a man hates his brother, he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going. In his ignorance he goes down to hell, and in his blindness he is thrown headlong into punishment, because he withdraws from the light of Christ.

Source: SERMONS 90.6

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:11

Those who hate Christ do not realize that they have become the inheritors of eternal fire. This is what the devil makes them suffer, because he has blinded their inner vision.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:11

He who hates his brother is in darkness, etc. For he, ignorant, falls into hell, blind and unaware, withdrawing from the light of Christ who warns and says: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John VIII).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:12-14

He then indicates the stages of advancement and progress of souls that are still located in the flesh; and calls those whose sins have been forgiven, for the Lord's name's sake, "little children," for many believe in account of the name only. He styles "fathers" the perfect, "who have known what was from the beginning," and received with understanding — the Son, that is, of whom he said above, "that which was from the beginning."

"I write," says he, "to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one." Young man strong in despising pleasures. "The wicked one" points out the eminence of the devil. "The children," moreover, know the Father; having fled from idols and gathered together to the one God.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:12

“Little children” means those whose sins have been forgiven.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:12

All things that are read from the Holy Scriptures in order to our instruction and salvation, it behooves us to hear with earnest heed. Yet most of all must those things be commended to our memory, which are of most force against heretics; whose insidious designs cease not to circumvent all that are weaker and more negligent. Remember that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ both died for us, and rose again; died, to wit, for our offenses, rose again for our justification. Romans 4:25 Even as you have just heard concerning the two disciples whom He met with in the way, how their eyes were holden that they should not know Him: Luke 24:13-28 and He found them despairing of the redemption that was in Christ, and deeming that now He had suffered and was dead as a man, not accounting that as Son of God He ever lives; and deeming too that He was so dead in the flesh as not to come to life again, but just as one of the prophets: as those of you who were attentive have just now heard their own words. Then He opened to them the Scriptures, beginning at Moses, and going through all the prophets, showing them that all He had suffered had been foretold, lest they should be more staggered if the Lord should rise again, and the more fail to believe Him, if these things had not been told before concerning Him. For the firmness of faith is in this, that all things which came to pass in Christ were foretold. The disciples, then, knew Him not, save in the breaking of bread. And truly he that eats and drinks not judgment to himself in the breaking of bread does know Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:29 Afterward also those eleven thought they saw a spirit. He gave Himself to be handled by them, who also gave Himself to be crucified; to be crucified by enemies, to be handled by friends: yet the Physician of all, both of the ungodliness of those, and of the unbelief of these. For you heard when the Acts of the Apostles were read, how many thousands of Christ's slayers believed. Acts 2:41 If those believed afterwards who had killed, should not those believe who for a little while doubted? And yet even in regard of them, (a thing which you ought especially to observe, and to commit to your memory, because that which shall make us strong against insidious errors, God has been pleased to put in the Scriptures, against which no man dares to speak, who in any sort wishes to seem a Christian), when He had given Himself to be handled by them, that did not suffice Him, but He would also confirm by means of the Scriptures the heart of them that believe: for He looked forward to us who should be afterwards; seeing that in Him we have nothing that we can handle, but have that which we may read. For if those believed only because they held and handled, what shall we do? Now, Christ is ascended into heaven; He is not to come save at the end, to judge the quick and the dead. Whereby shall we believe, but by that whereby it was His will that even those who handled Him should be confirmed? For He opened to them the Scriptures and showed them that it behooved Christ to suffer, and that all things should be fulfilled which were written of Him in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms. He embraced in His discourse the whole ancient text of the Scriptures. All that there is of those former Scriptures tells of Christ; but only if it find ears. He also opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. Whence we also must pray for this, that He would open our understanding.

But what did the Lord show written of Him in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms? What did He show? Let Himself say. The evangelist has put this briefly, that we might know what in all that great compass of the Scriptures we ought to believe and to understand. Certainly there are many pages, and many books; the contents of them all is this which the Lord briefly spoke to His disciples. What is this? That it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again the third day. You have it now concerning the Bridegroom, that it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again: the Bridegroom has been set forth to us. Concerning the Bride, let us see what He says; that you, when you know the Bridegroom and the Bride, may not without reason come to the marriage. For every celebration is a celebration of marriage: the Church's nuptials are celebrated. The King's Son is about to marry a wife, and that King's Son is Himself a King: and the guests frequenting the marriage are themselves the Bride. Not, as in a carnal marriage, some are guests, and another is she that is married; in the Church they that come as guests, if they come to good purpose, become the Bride. For all the Church is Christ's Bride, of which the beginning and first fruits is the flesh of Christ: there was the Bride joined to the Bridegroom in the flesh. With good reason when He would betoken that same flesh, He broke bread, and with good reason in the breaking of bread, the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they knew Him. Well then, what did the Lord say was written of Him in the Law and Prophets and Psalms? That it behooved Christ to suffer. Had He not added, and to rise again, well might those mourn whose eyes were holden; but to rise again is also foretold. And wherefore this? Why did it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise again? Because of that Psalm which we especially commended to your attention on the fourth day, the first station, of last week. Why did it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise again? For this reason: All the ends of the earth shall be reminded and converted unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Him. For that you may know that it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again; in this place also what has He added, that after setting forth the Bridegroom He might also set forth the Bride? And that there be preached, says He, in His name, repentance and remission of sins throughout all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You have heard, brethren; hold it fast. Let no man doubt concerning the Church, that it is throughout all nations: let no man doubt that it began at Jerusalem, and has filled all nations. We know the field where the Vine is planted: but when it is grown we know it not, because it has taken up the whole. Whence did it begin? At Jerusalem. Whither has it come? To all nations. A few remain: it shall possess all. In the mean time, while it is taking possession of all, it has seemed good to the Husbandman to cut off some unprofitable branches, and they have made heresies and schisms. Let not the branches that are cut off induce you to be cut off: rather exhort them that are cut off that they be grafted in again. It is manifest that Christ has suffered, is risen again, and is ascended into heaven: made manifest also is the Church, because there is preached in His name repentance and remission of sins throughout all nations. Whence did it begin? Beginning at Jerusalem. The man hears this; foolish and vain, and (how, shall I express it?) worse than blind! so great a mountain, and he does not see it; a candle set upon a candlestick, and he shuts his eyes against it!

When we say to them, If you be Catholic Christians, communicate with that Church from which the Gospel is spread abroad over the whole earth: communicate with that Jerusalem: when this we say to them, they make answer to us, we do not communicate with that city where our King was slain, where our Lord was slain: as though they hate the city where our Lord was slain. The Jews slew Him whom they found on earth, these scorn Him that sits in heaven! Which are the worse; those who despised Him because they thought Him man, or those who scorn the sacraments of Him whom now they confess to be God? But they hate, forsooth, the city in which their Lord was slain! Pious men, and merciful! They much grieve that Christ was slain, and in men they slay Christ! But He loved that city, and pitied it: from it He bade the preaching of Him begin, beginning at Jerusalem. He made there the beginning of the preaching of His name: and you shrink back with horror from having communion with that city! No marvel that being cut off you hate the root. What said He to His disciples? Sit still in the city, because I send my promise upon you. Behold what the city is that they hate! Haply they would love it, if Christ's murderers dwelt in it. For it is manifest that all Christ's murderers, i.e., the Jews, are expelled from that city. That which had in it them that were fierce against Christ, has now them that adore Christ. Therefore do these men hate it, because Christians are in it. There was it His will that His disciples should tarry, and there that He should send to them the Holy Ghost. Where had the Church its commencement, but where the Holy Ghost came from heaven, and filled the hundred and twenty sitting in one place? That number twelve was made tenfold. They sat, an hundred and twenty persons, and the Holy Ghost came, and filled the whole place, and there came a sound, as it were the rushing of a mighty wind, and there were cloven tongues like as of fire. You have heard the Acts of the Apostles: this was the lesson read today: They began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And all who were on the spot, Jews who had come from various nations, recognised each his own tongue, and marvelled that those unlearned and ignorant men had on the sudden learned not one or two tongues, but the tongues of all nations whatsoever. There, then, where all tongues sounded, there was it betokened that all tongues should believe. But these men, who much love Christ, and therefore refuse to communicate with the city which killed Christ, so honor Christ as to affirm that He is left to two tongues, the Latin and the Punic, i.e. African. Christ possess only two tongues! For there are but these two tongues on the side of Donatus, more they have not. Let us awake, my brethren, let us rather see the gift of the Spirit of God, and let us believe the things spoken before concerning Him, and let us see fulfilled the things spoken before in the Psalm: There are neither speeches nor discourses, but their voices are heard among them. And lest haply the case be so that the tongues themselves came to one place, and not rather that the gift of Christ came to all tongues, hear what follows: Into all the earth is their sound gone out, and unto the ends of the world their words. Wherefore this? Because in the sun has He set His tabernacle, i.e., in the open light. His tabernacle, His flesh: His tabernacle, His Church: in the sun it is set; not in the night, but in the day. But why do those not acknowledge it? Return to the lesson at the place where it ended yesterday, and see why they do not acknowledge it: He that hates his brother, walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. For us then, let us see what follows, and not be in darkness. How shall we not be in darkness? If we love the brethren. How is it proved that we love the brotherhood? By this, that we do not rend unity, that we hold fast charity.

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you through His name. 1 John 2:12 Therefore, little children, because in forgiveness of sins you have your birth. But through whose name are sins forgiven? Through Augustine's? No, therefore neither through the name of Donatus. Be it your concern to see who is Augustine, or who Donatus: no, not through the name of Paul, not through the name of Peter. For to them that divided unto themselves the Church, and out of unity essayed to make parties, the mother charity in the apostle travailing in birth with her little ones, exposes her own bowels, with words does as it were rend her breasts, bewails her children whom she sees borne out dead, recalls unto the one Name them that would needs make them many names, repels them from the love of her that Christ may be loved, and says, Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 1 Corinthians 1:13 What says he? I would not that you be mine, that so you may be with me: be with me; all we are His who died for us, who was crucified for us: whence here also it is said, Your sins are forgiven you through His name, not through the name of any man.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:12

I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of His name. He glorifies all his hearers, whom he had preceded in Christ, with the name of children, because, having been reborn of water and the Spirit, they had received the remission of sins. And lest you doubt that all faithful can rightly be called the children of preceding fathers, hear the prophet singing of the Church, "All the glory of the king's daughter is within" (Ps. XLIV); likewise to the same, "Instead of your fathers shall be your sons" (Ibid.).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:12

John knew that not everyone would receive the gospel message with the same understanding or commitment. Some would respond like children in need of further instruction, and to them he expounds the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:13

By “fathers” John means those perfect people who understood everything from the very beginning and readily perceived that the Son had always existed.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:13

I write unto you, fathers. 1 John 2:13 Why first sons? Because your sins are forgiven you through His name, and you are regenerated into a new life, therefore sons. Why fathers? Because you have known Him that is from the beginning: for the beginning has relation unto fatherhood. Christ new in flesh, but ancient in Godhead. How ancient think we? How many years old? Think we, of greater age than His mother? Assuredly of greater age than His mother, for all things were made by Him. John 1:3 If all things, then did the Ancient make the very mother of whom the New should be born. Was He, think we, before His mother only? Yea, and before His mother's ancestors is His antiquity. The ancestor of His mother was Abraham; and the Lord says, Before Abraham I am. John 8:58 Before Abraham, say we? The heaven and earth, ere man was, were made. Before these was the Lord, nay rather also is. For right well He says, not, Before Abraham I was, but, Before Abraham I Am . For that of which one says, was, is not; and that of which one says, will be, is not yet: He knows not other than to be. As God, He knows to be: was, and will be, He knows not. It is one day there, but a day that is for ever and ever. That day yesterday and tomorrow do not set in the midst between them: for when the 'yesterday' is ended, the 'today' begins, to be finished by the coming 'tomorrow.' That one day there is a day without darkness, without night, without spaces, without measure, without hours. Call it what you will: if you will, it is a day; if you will, a year; if you will, years. For it is said of this same, And your years shall not fail. But when is it called a day? When it is said to the Lord, Today have I begotten You. From the eternal Father begotten, from eternity begotten, in eternity begotten: with no beginning, no bound, no space of breadth; because He is what is, because Himself is He that Is. This His name He told to Moses: You shall say unto them, He that Is has sent me unto you. Exodus 3:14 Why speak then of before Abraham? Why, before Noe? Why, before Adam? Hear the Scripture: Before the day-star have I begotten You. In fine, before heaven and earth. Wherefore? Because all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. John 1:3 By this you know the fathers: for they become fathers by acknowledging That which is from the beginning.

I write unto you, young men. There are sons, are fathers, are young men: sons, because begotten; fathers, because they acknowledge the Beginning; why young men? Because you have overcome the wicked one. In the sons, birth: in the fathers, antiquity: in the young men, strength. If the wicked one is overcome by the young men, he fights with us. Fights, but not conquers. Wherefore? Because we are strong, or because He is strong in us who in the hands of the persecutors was found weak? He has made us strong, who resisted not His persecutors. For He was crucified of weakness, but He lives by the power of God. 2 Corinthians 13:4

I write unto you, children. 1 John ii.13 Whence children? Because you have known the Father. I write unto you fathers: he enforces this, and repeats, Because you have known Him that is from the beginning. Remember that you are fathers: if you forget Him that is from the beginning, you have lost your fatherhood. I write unto you, young men. Again and again consider that you are young men: fight, that you may overcome: overcome, that you may be crowned: be lowly, that you fall not in the fight. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:13

The different ages here are to be understood in spiritual terms; they refer to our maturity in faith. First you must become a child and be weaned off evil. It is in this state that you must put off the weight of your old sins. Once you have done this, you can progress to the status of adolescents, when you must struggle against evil. Finally you will be deemed worthy of the deep knowledge of God which characterizes parents. This is the best and truest order of growth toward acceptance by the Father.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:13

I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. He calls fathers not by age, but by greater wisdom and maturity. For venerable old age is not counted by long duration nor by the number of years. Gray hairs, however, are the understanding of a man, and the mature age is an unspotted life (Wis. IV). For it is the role of fathers to remember ancient things, to know them, and to reveal these to the younger. Hence, it is written: "Ask your fathers, and they will tell you" (Deut. XXXII). And thus he rightly calls fathers those who have learned to know Him who is from the beginning, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and to faithfully preach to their hearers.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:13

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. Youth is a slippery time because of the incentives of the flesh, but fitted for battle due to the vigor of age. Hence, John writes to those youths who have, by the love of God's word, overcome the temptations of carnal delights. He writes also to those who, with greater perfection, despite persecutions inflicted because of the word of God, have bravely scorned all the plots of the wicked enemy.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:13

I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. He calls little children those humble in spirit, who, the more they consent to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, the more sublimely know the mysteries of His eternity, just as the Son says to the same Father: You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to little ones (Luke X).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:13

I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. He commends this and repeats it: Remember that you are fathers. If you forget Him who is from the beginning, you lose the fatherhood.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:14

By strong “young men” John means those who have overcome their lusts.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 John 2:14

In my opinion, if someone is a child inside, then he will appear to be a child on the outside as well, however old he is. The same is true of someone who is an overgrown teenager. But it also follows from this that anyone can be an adult and parent on the inside, whatever age they may be.

Source: CATENA

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 John 2:14

The young men are a model of courage, the elders are a model of understanding, and the sons and daughters are a model of what it means to be children in Christ.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:14

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, etc. Consider again and again that you are young men, fight so that you may conquer, conquer so that you may be crowned. Be humble, lest you fall in battle.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:15-16

"For the world," he says, "is in the wicked one." Is not the world, and all that is in the world, called God's creation and very good? Yes. But,

"The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world," which arise from the perversion of life, "are not of the Father, but of the world," and of you.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:15

Source: Treatise II On the Dress of Virgins

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:15

We add, also, and say, "Thy will be done, as in heaven so in earth; "not that God should do what He wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills. For who resists God, that l He may not do what He wills? But since we are hindered by the devil from obeying with our thought and deed God's will in all things, we pray and ask that God's will may be done in us; and that it may be done in us we have need of God's good will, that is, of His help and protection, since no one is strong in his own strength, but he is safe by the grace and mercy of God. And further, the Lord, setting forth the infirmity of the humanity which He bore, says, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me'" and affording an example to His disciples that they should do not their own will, but God's, He went on to say, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." And in another place He says, "I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Now if the Son was obedient to do His Father's will, how much more should the servant be obedient to do his Master's will! as in his epistle John also exhorts and instructs us to do the will of God, saying, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of life, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of the world. And the world shall pass away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God also abideth for ever." We who desire to abide for ever should do the will of God, who is everlasting.

Source: Treatise IV. On the Lord's Prayer.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:15

It is for him to wish to remain long in the world whom the world delights, whom this life, flattering and deceiving, invites by the enticements of earthly pleasure. Again, since the world hates the Christian, why do you love that which hates you? and why do you not rather follow Christ, who both redeemed you and loves you? John in his epistle cries and says, exhorting that we should not follow carnal desires and love the world. "Love not the world," says he, "neither the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of the world. And the world shall pass away, and the lust thereof; but he who doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever." Rather, beloved brethren, with a sound mind, with a firm faith, with a robust virtue, let us be prepared for the whole will of God: laying aside the fear of death, let us think on the immortality which follows. By this let us show ourselves to be what we believe, that we do not grieve over the departure of those dear to us, and that when the day of our summons shall arrive, we come without delay and without resistance to the Lord when He Himself calls us.

Source: Treatise VII. On the Mortality.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:15

That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins." Of this same thing in Solomon: "I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity." Of this same thing in Exodus: "But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's passover." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Likewise in the same place: "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." Likewise in the same place: "No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Of this same thing in Matthew: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head." Also in the same place: "Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." Of this same thing in the first to the Corinthians: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." Also in the same place: "The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Also in the same place: "The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is from heaven." Of this same matter to the Philippians: "All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ's; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory." Of this very matter to Galatians: "But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Concerning this same thing to Timothy: "No man that warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances, that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself. But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he fight lawfully." Of this same thing to the Colossians: "If ye be dead with Christ froth I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? " Also concerning this same thing: "If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and holiness, and truth." Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Also in the same place: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world. And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever." Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

Source: Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 2:15

Since the nature of friendship with God is such that if anyone loves this world he is an enemy of God, it follows that if someone wants to be a friend of God and dwell in God’s love, he must turn away from love of the world and the things which are in the world.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:15

All these things, my brethren,— because we have known That which is from the beginning, because we are strong, because we have known the Father,— do all these, while they in a manner commend knowledge, not commend charity? If we have known, let us love: for knowledge without charity saves not. Knowledge puffs up, charity edifies. 1 Corinthians 8:1 If you have a mind to confess and not love, you begin to be like the demons. The demons confessed the Son of God, and said, What have we to do with You? Matthew 8:29 and were repulsed. Confess and embrace. For those feared for their iniquities; love ye Him that forgives your iniquities. But how can we love God, if we love the world? He prepares us therefore to be inhabited by charity. There are two loves: of the world, and of God: if the love of the world inhabit, there is no way for the love of God to enter in: let the love of the world make way, and the love of God inhabit; let the better have place. You loved the world: love not the world: when you have emptied your heart of earthly love, you shall drink in love Divine: and thenceforth begins charity to inhabit you, from which can nothing of evil proceed. Hear therefore his words, how he goes to work in the manner of one that makes a clearance. He comes upon the hearts of men as a field that he would occupy: but in what state does he find it? If he finds a wood, he roots it up; if he finds the field cleared, he plants it. He would plant a tree there, charity. And what is the wood he would root up? Love of the world. Hear him, the rooter up of the wood! Love not the world, (for this comes next,) neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

You have heard that if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Let not any say in his heart that this is false, brethren: God says it; by the Apostle the Holy Ghost has spoken; nothing more true: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Would you have the Father's love, that you may be joint-heir with the Son? Love not the world. Shut out the evil love of the world, that you may be filled with the love of God. You are a vessel; but as yet you are full. Pour out what you have, that you may receive what you have not. Certainly, our brethren are now born again of water and of the Spirit: we also some years ago were born again of water and of the Spirit. Good is it for us that we love not the world, lest the sacraments remain in us unto damnation, not as means of strengthening unto salvation. That which strengthens unto salvation is, to have the root of charity, to have the power of godliness, not the form only. 2 Timothy 3:5 Good is the form, holy the form: but what avails the form, if it hold not the root? The branch that is cut off, is it not cast into the fire? Have the form, but in the root. But in what way are you rooted so that you be not rooted up? By holding charity, as says the Apostle Paul, rooted and grounded in charity. Ephesians 3:17 How shall charity be rooted there, amid the overgrown wilderness of the love of the world? Make clear riddance of the woods. A mighty seed you are about to put in: let there not be that in the field which shall choke the seed. These are the uprooting words which he has said: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 John 2:15

What is there in the world but vanity, which is of no use to anybody? The distractions of the present life are unnecessary and pointless, as is the excessive abundance of worldly passions.

Source: CATENA

[AD 449] Eucherius of Lyon on 1 John 2:15

Do not love the world or the things in it, says the apostle, for all these things flatter our gaze with their deceptive show. Let the power of the eyes be focused on the light, not given over to error, and since that power is available for the enjoyment of life, let it not receive what causes death.

Source: EXHORTATION TO HIS KINSMAN VALERIAN

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:15

A wise father warns his children not to love things which quickly vanish away. This wisdom is the crowning glory of the supreme Maker of all things, and it is well-suited to everyone who is righteous.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on 1 John 2:15

John means the lusts and desires of the world, which are ruled by the devil.

Source: CATENA

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:15

Lest anyone think that he has completely broken with the system of this world, John here reminds us that something of it remains inside us and that we are attracted by it because of the desires of our flesh, which are at war with our soul. From this it may be seen that the visible world is no longer loved by those who have risen above it, who no longer contemplate temporal things but gaze on eternity instead.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:15

Do not love the world, etc. He writes this generally to all the children of the Church, both to those who are fathers through maturity of prudence and doctrine, and to those who are little children through the devotion of humility, and to those who are adolescents or young men because of the conquered trials of temptations. He commands all these alike to use this world only for necessity, but not to love it for excessive desires, as Paul also says: And make no provision for the flesh in its desires (Romans XIII).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:15

If anyone loves the world, etc. Let no one deceive himself. One heart does not accommodate two loves so opposed to each other. Therefore also the Lord says: No one can serve two masters (Matthew VI); and again: You cannot serve God and mammon (Ibid.). For as the love of the Father is the fountain of all and the origin of virtues, so the love of the world is the root and kindling of all vices. Hence follows:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 1022] Symeon the New Theologian on 1 John 2:15

Let us flee the world. For what have we got in common with it? Let us run and pursue until we have laid hold of something which is permanent and does not pass away, for all things perish and pass away like a dream, and nothing is lasting or certain among the things which are seen.

Source: DISCOURSES 2.14

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 2:16

It was still, up to that time, accounted as being in Adam, with its own vicious nature, easily indulging concupiscence after whatever it had seen to be "attractive to the sight," and looking back at the lower things, and checking its itching with fig-leaves.

Source: On Modesty

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:16

These three are they: lest haply any man say, The things that are in the world, God made: i.e. heaven and earth, the sea: the sun, the moon, the stars, all the garniture of the heavens. What is the garniture of the sea? All creeping things. What of the earth? animals, trees, flying creatures. These are 'in the world,' God made them. Why then am I not to love what God has made? Let the Spirit of God be in you, that you may see that all these things are good: but woe to you if you love the things made, and forsake the Maker of them! Fair are they to you: but how much fairer He that formed them! Mark well, beloved. For by similitudes you may be instructed: lest Satan steal upon you, saying what he is wont to say, Take your enjoyment in the creature of God; wherefore made He those things but for your enjoyment? And men drink themselves drunken, and perish, and forget their own Creator: while not temperately but lustfully they use the things created, the Creator is despised. Of such says the apostle: They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever. Romans 1:25 God does not forbid you to love these things, howbeit, not to set your affections upon them for blessedness, but to approve and praise them to this end, that you may love your Creator. In the same manner, my brethren, as if a bridegroom should make a ring for his bride, and she having received the ring, should love it more than she loves the bridegroom who made the ring for her: would not her soul be found guilty of adultery in the very gift of the bridegroom, albeit she did but love what the bridegroom gave her? By all means let her love what the bridegroom gave: yet should she say, This ring is enough for me, I do not wish to see his face now: what sort of woman would she be? Who would not detest such folly? Who not pronounce her guilty of an adulterous mind? You love gold in place of the man, lovest a ring in place of the bridegroom: if this be in you, that you love a ring in place of your bridegroom, and hast no wish to see your bridegroom; that he has given you an earnest, serves not to pledge you to him, but to turn away your heart from him! For this the bridegroom gives earnest, that in his earnest he may himself be loved. Well then, God gave you all these things: love Him that made them. There is more that He would fain give you, that is, His very Self that made these things. But if you love these— what though God made them— and neglect the Creator and love the world; shall not your love be accounted adulterous?
For the world is the appellation given not only to this fabric which God made heaven and earth, the sea, things visible and invisible: but the inhabitants of the world are called the world, just as we call a house both the walls and them that inhabit therein. And sometimes we praise a house, and find fault with the inhabitants. For we say, A good house; because it is marbled and beautifully ceiled: and in another sense we say, A good house: no man there suffers wrong, no acts of plunder, no acts of oppression, are done there. Now we praise not the building, but those who dwell within the building: yet we call it house, both this and that. For all lovers of the world, because by love they inhabit the world, just as those inhabit heaven, whose heart is on high while in the flesh they walk on earth: I say then, all lovers of the world are called the world. The same have only these three things, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, vain glory of life. For they lust to eat, drink, cohabit: to use these pleasures. Not surely, that there is no allowed measure in these things, or that when it is said, Love not these things, it means that you are not to eat, or not to drink, or not to beget children? This is not the thing said. Only, let there be measure, because of the Creator, that these things may not bind you by your loving of them: lest you love that for enjoyment, which you ought to have for use. But you are not put to the proof except when two things are propounded to you, this or that: Will you righteousness or gains? I have not wherewithal to live, have not wherewithal to eat, have not wherewithal to drink. But what if you can not have these but by iniquity? Is it not better to love that which you lose not, than to lose yourself by iniquity? You see the gain of gold, the loss of faith you see not. This then, says he to us, is the lust of the flesh, i.e. the lusting after those things which pertain to the flesh, such as food, and carnal cohabitation, and all other such like.
And the lust of the eyes: by the lust of the eyes, he means all curiosity. Now how wide is the scope of curiosity! This it is that works in spectacles, in theatres, in sacraments of the devil, in magical arts, in dealings with darkness: none other than curiosity. Sometimes it tempts even the servants of God, so that they wish as it were to work a miracle, to tempt God whether He will hear their prayers in working of miracles; it is curiosity: this is lust of the eyes; it is not of the Father. If God has given the power, do the miracle, for He has put it in your way to do it: for think not that those who have not done miracles shall not pertain to the kingdom of God. When the apostles were rejoicing that the demons were subject to them, what said the Lord to them? Rejoice not in this, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20 In that would He have the apostles to rejoice, wherein you also rejoice. Woe to you truly if your name be not written in heaven! Is it woe to you if you raise not the dead? Is it woe to you if you walk not on the sea? Is it woe to you if you cast not out demons? If you have received power to do them, use it humbly, not proudly. For even of certain false prophets the Lord has said that they shall do signs and prodigies. Matthew 24:24 Therefore let there be no ambition of the world: Ambitio sæculi, is Pride. The man wishes to make much of himself in his honors: he thinks himself great, whether because of riches, or because of some power.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:16

The stronger and more vehement the lust which is not from the Father but from the world, the more each one becomes willing to accept all annoyances and griefs in pursuing the object of his desires.

Source: On Patience 17

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:16

This love of the world, which contains in itself the universal lust of the world, is the general kind of fornication by which one sins against one’s own body, in that the human mind is unceasingly enslaved to all bodily and visible desires and pleasures, left marooned and abandoned by the very Creator of all things.

Source: SERMONS 162.4

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:16

The lust of the flesh is what pertains to our physical appetites, whereas the lust of the eye and the pride of life are what pertains to the vices of the soul, such as inordinate self-love, which does not come from the Father but from the devil.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:16

None of the vain pleasures of corruption will last. They are temporal and will fade away and in fact are flimsier than any cobweb.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:16

Since all that is in the world, etc. All that is in the world, he says, refers to all who dwell in the world with their minds, who inhabit the world with love; just as they inhabit heaven who have their conversation in heaven, whose hearts are above, although they walk in the flesh on earth. Therefore, all that is in the world, that is, all lovers of the world, have nothing but the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. By these names of vices, he comprehends all kinds of vices. For the lust of the flesh is all that pertains to bodily pleasure and delights: among which the greatest are food, drink, and sexual intercourse: concerning which Solomon says: The leech has two daughters, saying, "Give, give" (Prov. 30). The lust of the eyes is all curiosity that arises in learning wicked arts, in contemplating obscene or superfluous spectacles, in acquiring temporal goods, in distinguishing and criticizing the vices of others. The pride of life is when someone boasts in honors. In these three only, human greed is tempted. By these, Adam was tempted and defeated. By the lust of the flesh, namely, food, when the enemy showed the forbidden fruit of the tree and persuaded him to eat. By the lust of the eyes, when he said: "Knowing good and evil, and your eyes will be opened" (Gen. 3). By the pride of life, when he said: "You will be like gods" (Ibid.). By these, Christ was tempted and overcame. By the lust of the flesh, that is, food, when it is suggested: "Tell these stones to become bread" (Matt. 4). By the lust of the eyes, that is, curiosity, when he is admonished from the pinnacle of the temple to throw himself down, to see if he would be caught by angels. By the pride of life, that is, vain boasting, when all the kingdoms of this earth are shown to him on a high mountain and promised if he would worship.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:16

Which is not from the Father, but from the world. The conflict of vices has not been naturally instilled in us by God the Father and Creator, but it is proven to have happened to us from the love of this world, which we have preferred to the Creator. For God made men upright, and they have sought out many inventions, as Solomon testifies. Hence James also says: "Let no man, when he is tempted, say he is tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one" (James 1). But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own desire.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:17

That we are not to obey our own will, but the will of God. In the Gospel according to John: "I came not down from heaven to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Of this same matter, according to Matthew: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt." Also in the daily prayer: "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." Also according to Matthew: "Not every one who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." Also according to Luke: "But that servant which knoweth his Lord's will, and obeyed not His will, shall be beaten with many stripes." In the Epistle of John: "But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as He Himself also abideth for ever."

Source: Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:17

These three there are, and you can find nothing whereby human cupidity can be tempted, but either by the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. By these three was the Lord tempted of the devil. Matthew 4:1-10 By the lust of the flesh He was tempted when it was said to Him, If you be the Son of God, speak to these stones that they become bread, when He hungered after His fast. But in what way repelled He the tempter, and taught his soldier how to fight? Mark what He said to him: Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word of God. He was tempted also by the lust of the eyes concerning a miracle, when he said to Him, Cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. He resisted the tempter, for to do the miracle, would only have been to seem either to have yielded, or to have done it from curiosity; for He wrought when He would, as God, howbeit as healing the weak. For if He had done it then, He might have been thought to wish only to do a miracle. But lest men should think this, mark what He answered; and when the like temptation shall happen to you, say also the same: Get behind me, Satan; for it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God: that is, if I do this I shall tempt God. He said what He would have you to say. When the enemy suggests to you, What sort of man, what sort of Christian, are you? As yet have you done one miracle, or by your prayers have the dead been raised, or have you healed the fevered? If you were truly of any moment, you would do some miracle: answer and say: It is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God: therefore I will not tempt God, as if I should belong to God if I do a miracle, and not belong if I do none: and what becomes then of His words, Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven? By pride of life how was the Lord tempted? When he carried Him up to an high place, and said to Him, All these will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me. By the loftiness of an earthly kingdom he wished to tempt the King of all worlds: but the Lord who made heaven and earth trod the devil under foot. What great matter for the devil to be conquered by the Lord? Then what did He in the answer He made to the devil but teach you the answer He would have you to make? It is, written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. Holding these things fast, you shall not have the concupiscence of the world: by not having concupiscence of the world, neither shall the lust of the flesh, nor the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life, subjugate you: and you shall make place for Charity when she comes, that you may love God. Because if love of the world be there, love of God will not be there. Hold fast rather the love of God, that as God is for ever and ever, so you also may remain for ever and ever: because such is each one as is his love. Love earth, you shall be earth. Love God, what shall I say? You shall be a god? I darenot say it of myself, let us hear the Scriptures: I have said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. If then you would be gods and sons of the Most High, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all the things that are in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world: 1 John 2:15-17 i.e. of men, lovers of the world. And the world passes away, and the lusts thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever, even as God also abides for ever.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:17

In discussing with the Jews, Christ explained: “This is the will of the Father, that you should believe in the one whom he has sent.” The one who keeps his commandments will gain eternal life.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:17

And the world passes away, and its desire, etc. The world will pass away, when on the day of judgment it will be transformed by fire into a better form, so that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. And its desire will pass away, because the time for a life of luxury, or for any sin, will be no more. For on that day all their thoughts will perish (Psalm 145), those indeed which were directed toward the desires of this world; but he who does the will of the Lord, his thoughts will not perish with the passing world, but because he desired heavenly and eternal things, they remain unchangeable forever, because he will obtain the heavenly rewards he desired. Hence the Lord said of the devoted woman, or rather of any soul that has perfectly followed his will: "Mary has chosen the best part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10). Therefore, whoever desires to remain undisturbed and at peace forever, let him embrace the things that do not pass away, let him follow the will of God who is eternal.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:17

Wise people do not go on despising the gospel and clinging to the perishable things of this world, for that is just like trying to build a house on sand.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 John 2:18

Know ye therefore, that every lie is from without, and is not of the truth. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is Antichrist.".
foreseeing by the Spirit those weak-minded persons who should be led astray.

Source: Against Heresies Book III

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:18

Ex nobis exierunt, sed non erant ex nobis. Nam si fuissent ex nobis, permansissent utique nobiscum."

Source: Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book III

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 2:18

And how is it that he enjoins duties which belong to our God, and enjoins them to be offered to none other than our God? Either contend that the devil works with our God, or else let the Paraclete be held to be Satan. But you affirm it is "a human Antichrist: "for by this name heretics are called in John. And how is it that, whoever he is, he has in (the name of) our Christ directed these duties toward our Lord; whereas withal antichrists have (ever) gone forth (professedly teaching) towards God, (but) in opposition to our Christ? On which side, then, do you think the Spirit is confirmed as existing among us; when He commands, or when He approves, what our God has always both commanded and approved? But you again set up boundary-posts to God, as with regard to grace, so with regard to discipline; as with regard to gifts, so, too, with regard to solemnities: so that our observances are supposed to have ceased in like manner as His benefits; and you thus deny that He still continues to impose duties, because, in this case again, "the Law and the prophets (were) until John.

Source: On Fasting

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on 1 John 2:18

And the apostles, who speak of God, in establishing the truth of the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, have each of them indicated the appearing of these abominable and ruin-working men, and have openly announced their lawless deeds. First of all Peter, the rock of the faith, whom Christ our God called blessed, the teacher of the Church, the first disciple, he who has the keys of the kingdom, has instructed us to this effect: "Know this first, children, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts. And there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies." After him, John the theologian, and the beloved of Christ, in harmony with him, cries, "The children of the devil are manifest; and even now are there many antichrists; but go not after them. Believe not every spirit, because many false prophets are gone out into the world." And then Jude, the brother of James, speaks in like manner: "In the last times there shall be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts. There be they who, without fear, feed themselves." You have observed the concord of the theologians and apostles, and the harmony of their doctrine.

Source: Dubious and Spurious Pieces

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:18

Nor ought it, my dearest brother, to disturb any one who is faithful and mindful of the Gospel, and retains the commands of the apostle who forewarns us; if in the last days certain persons, proud, contumacious, and enemies of God's priests, either depart from the Church or act against the Church, since both the Lord and His apostles have previously foretold that there should be such. Nor let any one wonder that the servant placed over them should be forsaken by some, when His own disciples forsook the Lord Himself, who performed such great and wonderful works, and illustrated the attributes of God the Father by the testimony of His doings. And yet He did not rebuke them when they went away, nor even severely threaten them; but rather, turning to His apostles, He said, "Will ye also go away? " manifestly observing the law whereby a man left to his own liberty, and established in his own choice, himself desires for himself either death or salvation. Nevertheless, Peter, upon whom by the same Lord the Church had been built, speaking one for all, and answering with the voice of the Church, says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe, and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God: " signifying, doubtless, and showing that those who departed from Christ perished by their own fault, yet that the Church which believes on Christ, and holds that which it has once learned, never departs from Him at all, and that those are the Church who remain in the house of God; but that, on the other hand, they are not the plantation planted by God the Father, whom we see not to be established with the stability of wheat, but blown about like chaff by the breath of the enemy scattering them, of whom John also in his epistle says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us." Paul also warns us, when evil men perish out of the Church, not to be disturbed, nor to let our faith be lessened by the departure of the faithless. "For what," he says, "if some of them have departed from the faith? Hath their unbelief made the faith of God of none effect? God forbid! For God is true, but every man a liar."

Source: Epistle LIV

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:18

But it is to approve the baptism of heretics and schismatics, to admit that they have truly baptized. For therein a part cannot be void, and part be valid. If one could baptize, he could also give the Holy Spirit. But if he cannot give the Holy Spirit, because he that is appointed without is not endowed with the Holy Spirit, he cannot baptize those who come; since both baptism is one and the Holy Spirit is one, and the Church founded by Christ the Lord upon Peter, by a source and principle of unity, is one also. Hence it results, that since with them all things are futile and false, nothing of that which they have done ought to be approved by us. For what can be ratified and established by God which is done by them whom the Lord calls His enemies and adversaries? setting forth in His Gospel, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth." And the blessed Apostle John also, keeping the commandments and precepts of the Lord, has laid it down in his epistle, and said, "Ye have heard that antichrist shall come: even now there are many Antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us." Whence we also ought to gather and consider whether they who are the Lord's adversaries, and are called antichrists, can give the grace of Christ. Wherefore we who are with the Lord, and maintain the unity of the Lord, and according to His condescension administer His priesthood in the Church, ought to repudiate and reject and regard as profane whatever His adversaries and the antichrists do; and to those who, coming out of error and wickedness, acknowledge the true faith of the one Church, we should give the truth both of unity and faith, by means of all the sacraments of divine grace. We bid you, dearest brethren, ever heartily farewell.

Source: Epistle LXIX

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 2:18

These things are not said of all who teach false doctrine but only of those who join a false sect after they have heard the truth. It is because they were once Christians that they are now called antichrists.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 420] Jerome on 1 John 2:18

Why is the lamb offered up in the evening and not during the day? The reason is plain enough, for our Lord and Savior suffered his passion at the close of the ages, which is why John called it the last hour.

Source: SERMONS 91

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:18

1. Children, it is the last hour. In this lesson he addresses the children that they may make haste to grow, because it is the last hour. Age or stature of the body is not at one's own will. A man does not grow in respect of the flesh when he will, any more than he is born when he will: but where the being born rests with the will, the growth also rests with the will. No man is born of water and the Spirit, John 3:5 except he be willing. Consequently if he will, he grows or makes increase: if he will, he decreases. What is it to grow? To go onward by proficiency. What is it to decrease? To go backward by deficiency. Whoso knows that he is born, let him hear that he is an infant; let him eagerly cling to the breasts of his mother, and he grows apace. Now his mother is the Church; and her breasts are the two Testaments of the Divine Scriptures. Hence let him suck the milk of all the things that as signs of spiritual truths were done in time for our eternal salvation, that being nourished and strengthened, he may attain to the eating of solid meat, which is, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 Our milk is Christ in His humility; our meat, the selfsame Christ equal with the Father. With milk He nourishes you, that He may feed you with bread: for with the heart spiritually to touch Christ is to know that He is equal with the Father.
Therefore it was that He forbade Mary to touch Him, and said to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father. What is this? He gave Himself to be handled by the disciples, and did He shun Mary's touch? Is not He the same that said to the doubting disciple, Reach hither your fingers, and feel the scars? Was He at that time ascended to the Father? Then why does He forbid Mary, and says, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to the Father? Or are we to say, that He feared not to be touched by men, and feared to be touched by women? The touch of Him cleanses all flesh. To whom He willed first to be manifested, by them feared He to be handled? Was not His resurrection announced by women to the men, that so the serpent should by a sort of counterplot be overcome? For because he first by the woman announced death to man, therefore to men was also life announced by a woman. Then why was He unwilling to be touched, but because He would have it to be understood of that spiritual touch? The spiritual touch takes place from a pure heart. That person does of a pure heart reach Christ with his touch who understands Him coequal with the Father. But whoso does not yet understand Christ's Godhead, that person reaches but unto the flesh, reaches not unto the Godhead. Now what great matter is it, to reach only unto that which the persecutors reached unto, who crucified Him? But that is the great thing, to understand the Word God with God, in the beginning, by whom all things were made: such as He would have Himself to be known when He said to Philip, Am I so long time with you, and have you not known me, Philip? He that sees me, sees also the Father. John 14:9
But lest any be sluggish to go forward, let him hear: Children, it is the last hour. Go forward, run, grow; it is the last hour. This same last hour is long; yet it is the last. For he has put hour for the last time; because it is in the last times that our Lord Jesus Christ is to come. But some will say, How the last times? How the last hour? Certainly antichrist will first come, and then will come the day of judgment. John perceived these thoughts: lest people should in a manner become secure, and think it was not the last hour because antichrist was to come, he said to them, And as you have heard that antichrist is to come, now are there come many antichrists. Could it have many antichrists, except it were the last hour?
Whom has he called antichrists? He goes on and expounds. Whereby we know that it is the last hour. By what? Because many antichrists have come. They went out from us; see the antichrists! They went out from us: therefore we bewail the loss. Hear the consolation. But they were not of us. All heretics, all schismatics went out from us, that is, they go out from the Church; but they would not go out, if they were of us. Therefore, before they went out they were not of us. If before they went out they were not of us, many are within, are not gone out, but yet are antichrists. We dare to say this: and why, but that each one while he is within may not be an antichrist? For he is about to describe and mark the antichrists, and we shall see them now. And each person ought to question his own conscience, whether he be an antichrist. For antichrist in our tongue means, contrary to Christ. Not, as some take it, that antichrist is to be so called because he is to come ante Christum, before Christ, i.e. Christ to come after him: it does not mean this, neither is it thus written, but Antichristus, i.e. contrary to Christ. Now who is contrary to Christ you already perceive from the apostle's own exposition, and understand that none can go out but antichrists; whereas those who are not contrary to Christ, can in no wise go out. For he that is not contrary to Christ holds fast in His body, and is counted therewith as a member. The members are never contrary one to another. The entire body consists of all the members. And what says the apostle concerning the agreement of the members? If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26 If then in the glorifying of a member the other members rejoice with it, and in its suffering all the members suffer, the agreement of the members has no antichrist. And there are those who inwardly are in such sort in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ— seeing His body is yet under cure, and the soundness will not be perfect save in the resurrection of the dead— are in such wise in the body of Christ, as bad humors. When these are vomited up, the body is relieved: so too when bad men go out, then the Church is relieved. And one says, when the body vomits and casts them out, These humors went out of me, but they were not of me. How were not of me? Were not cut out of my flesh, but oppressed my breast while they were in me.
They went out from us; but, be not sad, they were not of us. How do you prove this? If they had been of us, they would doubtless have continued with us. Hence therefore you may see, that many who are not of us, receive with us the Sacraments, receive with us baptism. receive with us what the faithful know they receive, Benediction, the Eucharist, and whatever there is in Holy Sacraments: the communion of the very altar they receive with us, and are not of us. Temptation proves that they are not of us. When temptation comes to them as if blown by a wind they fly abroad; because they were not grain. But all of them will fly abroad, as we must often tell you, when once the fanning of the Lord's threshing-floor shall begin in the day of judgment. They went out from us, but they were not of us; if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. For would you know, beloved, how most certain this saying is, that they who haply have gone out and return, are not antichrists, are not contrary to Christ? Whoso are not antichrists, it cannot be that they should continue without. But of his own will is each either an antichrist or in Christ. Either we are among the members, or among the bad humors. He that changes himself for the better, is in the body, a member: but he that continues in his badness, is a bad humor; and when he is gone out, then they who were oppressed will be relieved. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but (they went out), that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. That he has added, that they might be made manifest, is, because even when they are within they are not of us; yet they are not manifest, but by going out are made manifest. And you have an unction from the Holy One, that you may be manifest to your own selves. The spiritual unction is the Holy Spirit Himself, of which the Sacrament is in the visible unction. Of this unction of Christ he says, that all who have it know the bad and the good; and they need not to be taught, because the unction itself teaches them.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:18

Let us recall how long ago it was that John said that it is the last hour. If we had been alive then and had heard this, how could we have believed that so many years would pass after it, and would we not rather have hoped that the Lord would come while John was still present in the body?

Source: LETTERS 199.7

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:18

The antichrist will come at the end of the world, and the heresies have already announced his coming, for they are his friends and brothers, since they both blaspheme Christ.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:18

My little children, it is the last hour. The last hour, the last time of the age, which is now being carried out, he says, according to that parable of the Lord, where he narrates that workers in the vineyard are hired from the first hour, the third, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh. For at the first hour those who cultivated the vineyard of the Lord were serving the will of their Creator either by teaching or by living rightly from the beginning of the age. From the third hour, those from the times of Noah. From the sixth hour, those from the times of Abraham. From the ninth hour, those from the times the law was given. From the eleventh hour, those from the times of the Lord's Incarnation until the end of the age, are serving the heavenly commands: in which hour, both the coming of the Savior in the flesh and the future plague of the Antichrist, who would fight against the heralds of salvation, was marked by the prediction of the prophets. Whence it follows:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:18

And as you have heard, that Antichrist comes, etc. He calls heretics Antichrists; but also those who, by perverse actions, destroy the Catholic faith which they profess, are rightly called Antichrists, that is, contrary to Christ; who all bear witness to that great Antichrist who will come at the end of the age, as to their head. Whence also Paul says of that one that the mystery of iniquity is already at work (II Thess. II).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:18

Whence we know that it is the last hour. How do we know? Because many Antichrists have come. It can also be understood this way, that he says it was already then the last hour, because the persecution of that time, which was brought by heretics, had a great similarity to that last persecution which is to come just before the day of judgment, although this one only harassed the Church with foul tongues, that one will torment with fierce swords.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:18

It is possible that John calls this the last hour because in it we have reached the limits of what evil can do. For since the coming of the Savior the world has been upset by great evils caused by the devil, either as a way of testing the good or as a way of confusing those who are better still, so that they will no longer know the difference between good and evil. Therefore he calls this the last hour, because things cannot get any worse than they are now. This interpretation is supported by what he goes on to say about the antichrist.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:19

"They went out from us; but they were not of us"— neither the apostate angels, nor men falling away —"but that they may be manifested that they are not of us." With sufficient clearness he distinguishes the class of the elect and that of the lost, and that which remaining in faith "has an unction from the Holy One," which comes through faith. He that abides not in faith.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 2:19

"They went out from us," says (St. John, ) "but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us."

Source: The Prescription Against Heretics

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:19

Has once learned, never departs from Him at all, and that those are the Church who remain in the house of God; but that, on the other hand, they are not the plantation planted by God the Father, whom we see not to be established with the stability of wheat, but blown about like chaff by the breath of the enemy scattering them, of whom John also in his epistle says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us.".

Source: Epistle LIV

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:19

What does the fierceness of wolves do in the Christian breast? What the savageness of dogs, and the deadly venom of serpents, and the sanguinary cruelty of wild beasts? We are to be congratulated when such as these are separated from the Church, lest they should lay waste the doves and sheep of Christ with their cruel and envenomed contagion. Bitterness cannot consist and be associated with sweetness, darkness with light, rain with clearness, battle with peace, barrenness with fertility, drought with springs, storm with tranquillity. Let none think that the good can depart from the Church. The wind does not carry away the wheat, nor does the hurricane uproot the tree that is based on a solid root. The light straws are tossed about by the tempest, the feeble trees are overthrown by the onset of the whirlwind. The Apostle John execrates and severely assails these, when he says, "They went forth from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, surely they would have continued with us."

Source: Treatise I. On the Unity of the Church

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:19

If then they went out from us, they are antichrists; if they are antichrists, they are liars; if they are liars, they deny that Jesus is the Christ. Once more we come back to the difficulty of the question. Ask them one by one; they confess that Jesus is the Christ. The difficulty that hampers us comes of our taking what is said in the Epistle in too narrow a sense. At any rate you see the question; this question puts both us and them to a stand, if it be not understood. Either we are antichrists, or they are antichrists; they call us antichrists, and say that we went out from them; we say the like of them. But now this epistle has marked out the antichrists by this cognizance: Whosoever denies that Jesus is the Christ, that same is an antichrist. Now therefore let us enquire who denies; and let us mark not the tongue, but the deeds. For if all be asked, all with one mouth confess that Jesus is the Christ. Let the tongue keep still for a little while, ask the life. If we shall find this, if the Scripture itself shall tell us that denial is a thing done not only with the tongue, but also with the deeds, then assuredly we find many antichrists, who with the mouth profess Christ, and in their manners dissent from Christ. Where find we this in Scripture? Hear Paul the Apostle; speaking of such, he says, For they confess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him. Titus 1:16 We find these also to be antichrists: whosoever in his deeds denies Christ, is an antichrist. I listen not to what he says, but I look what life he leads. Works speak, and do we require words? For where is the bad man that does not wish to talk well? But what says the Lord to such? You hypocrites, how can you speak good things, while you are evil? Matthew 12:34 Your voices you bring into my ears: I look into your thoughts. I see an evil will there, and you make a show of false fruits. I know what I must gather, and whence; I do not gather figs of thistles, I do not gather grapes of thorns; for every tree is known by its fruit. Matthew 12:7, 16 A more lying antichrist is he who with his mouth professes that Jesus is the Christ, and with his deeds denies Him. A liar in this, that he speaks one thing, and does another.
Now therefore, brethren, if deeds are to be questioned, not only do we find many antichrists gone out; but many not yet maninfest, who have not gone out at all. For as many as the Church has within it that are perjured, defrauders, addicted to black arts, consulters of fortune-tellers, adulterers, drunkards, usurers, boy-stealers, and all the other vices that we are not able to enumerate; these things are contrary to the doctrine of Christ, are contrary to the word of God. Now the Word of God is Christ: whatever is contrary to the Word of God is in Antichrist. For Antichrist means, contrary to Christ. And would ye know how openly these resist Christ? Sometimes it happens that they do some evil, and one begins to reprove them; because they dare not blaspheme Christ, they blaspheme His ministers by whom they are reproved: but if you show them that you speak Christ's words, not your own, they endeavor all they can to convict you of speaking your own words, not Christ's: if however it is manifest that you speak Christ's words, they go even against Christ, they begin to find fault with Christ: How, say they, and why did He make us such as we are? Do not persons say this every day, when they are convicted of their deeds? Perverted by a depraved will, they accuse their Maker. Their Maker cries to them from heaven, (for the same made us, who new-made us:) What made I you? I made man, not avarice; I made man, not robbery; I made man, not adultery. You have heard that my works praise me. Out of the mouth of the Three Children, it was the hymn itself that kept them from the fires. The works of the Lord praise the Lord, the heaven, the earth, the sea, praise Him; praise Him all things that are in the heaven, praise Him angels, praise Him stars, praise Him lights, praise Him whatever swims, whatever flies, whatever walks, whatever creeps; all these praise the Lord. Have you heard there that avarice praises the Lord? Have you heard that drunkenness praises the Lord? That luxury praises, that frivolity praises Him? Whatever you hear not in that hymn give praise to the Lord, the Lord made not that thing. Correct what you have made, that what God made in you may be saved. But if you will not, and lovest and embracest your sins, you are contrary to Christ. Be thou within, be thou without, you are an antichrist; be thou within, be thou without, you are chaff. But why are you not without? Because you have not fallen in with a wind to carry you away.
These things are now manifest, my brethren. Let no man say, I do not worship Christ, but I worship God His Father. Every one that denies the Son, has neither the Son nor the Father; and he that confesses the Son, has both the Son and the Father. He speaks to you that are grain: and let those who were chaff, hear, and become grain. Let each one, looking well to his own conscience, if he be a lover of the world, be changed; let him become a lover of Christ, that he be not an antichrist. If one shall tell him that he is an antichrist, he is angry, he thinks it a wrong done to him; perchance, if he is told by him that strives with him that he is an antichrist, he threatens an action at law. Christ says to him, Be patient; if you have been falsely spoken of, rejoice with me, because I also am falsely spoken of by the antichrists: but if you are truly spoken of, come to an understanding with your own conscience; and if you fear to be called this, fear more to be it.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:19

It seems to us that all who appear to be good and faithful ought to receive the gift of final perseverance. God, however, has judged it better to mingle some who will not persevere with the certain number of his saints, so that those for whom security in the temptations of this life is not helpful cannot be secure.

Source: ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE 8.19

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 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.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:19

"They went out from us, but they were not of us. It seemed to be mourned as a loss when we heard: 'They went out from us'; but soon consolation is added, when it is said: 'But they were not of us.' For it is evident that only Antichrists can go out from us, but those who are not opposed to Christ cannot in any way go out; for he who is not opposed to Christ, remains in His body. But there are those who are within the body of the Lord, while the body is still being healed, and perfect health will not be until the resurrection of the dead. They are in the body of Christ as evil humors; when they are vomited out, the body is relieved. So too the wicked, when they go out, the Church is relieved. 'They went out from us,' it says, but, 'do not be sad, they were not of us.' How do you prove it?

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:19

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. Therefore, it must be seen that many who are not of us receive the sacraments of Christ with us. But temptation proves that they are not of us, for when temptation comes to them, like the wind they fly away, because they were not the grain. However, they will all fly away when the Lord's threshing floor begins to be winnowed on the day of judgment. If some indeed go out by sinning but return through repentance, they are not Antichrists, but are proven to be in Christ, if the end of this present life finds them remaining in the Church.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:19

But so that it may be evident, because not all who are within us are of us. Therefore, by the permission of the Lord, some go out from the Church even before the final winnowing, showing that they were not members of the Church, nor did they belong to the body of Christ, so that it may be clearly manifest that not all who are placed inside with us and receive the sacraments of Christ are of us, but only those who do works worthy of those same sacraments in the unity of the Church of Christ."

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:19

Some people will ask where the antichrists have come from, and the sad answer is that they have come from our midst. That way they can pretend to have all the credibility of true disciples and stand a better chance of seducing the unwary. They became disciples themselves at first but then departed from the truth and invented their own blasphemies to replace it.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 160] Shepherd of Hermas on 1 John 2:20

They therefore who lie deny the Lord, and rob Him, not giving back to Him the deposit which they have received. For they received from Him a spirit free from falsehood.

Source: Shepherd of Hermas Commandment Third

[AD 185] Theophilus of Antioch on 1 John 2:20

Or what castle or house is beautiful and serviceable when it has not been anointed? And what man, when he enters into this life or into the gymnasium, is not anointed with oil? And what work has either ornament or beauty unless it be anointed and burnished? Then the air and all that is under heaven is in a certain sort anointed by light and spirit; and are you unwilling to be anointed with the oil of God? Wherefore we are called Christians on this account, because we are anointed with the oil of God.

Source: Theophilus to Autolycus, Book I, Chapter XII

[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on 1 John 2:20

All have been anointed, not only the prophets and holy men who lived in their days but also and especially all those who later believed in the great and only true anointed one (Christ), our God and Savior, along with those who continue to believe in him. For in the divine washing of regeneration and baptism when we are symbolically anointed with myrrh, we receive his inheritance by the Holy Spirit and his rich gifts, by which we know that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Source: CATENA

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 2:20

This is what each of us has received at baptism.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:20

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. The spiritual anointing is the Holy Spirit, whose sacrament is in the visible anointing. He says that all who have this anointing of Christ have the ability to discern the good and the evil, and that there is no need for them to be taught those things which the anointing itself teaches. And fittingly, when speaking about the heretics, suddenly turning towards his own listeners, he says that they have the anointing from the Holy One, to show them, by contrast, that the heretics and all Antichrists are deprived of the gift of spiritual grace, and do not pertain to the Lord, who has been accustomed to be called Holy by the prophets, but rather they hold a place among the ministers of Satan, who have nothing of holiness and hold a position of perdition.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:20

They had all received the sacred anointing by their baptism and by the same Holy Spirit who led them into all truth. Because of this John was not writing to the ignorant but to people who knew what he was talking about.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:21

That innocency asks with confidence, and obtains. In the Epistle of John: "If our heart blame us not, we have confidence towards God; and whatever we ask, we shall receive from Him." Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Blessed are they of a pure heart, for they shall see God." Also in the twenty-third Psalm: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? The innocent in hands and of a pure heart."

Source: Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:21

Behold, we are admonished how we may know antichrist. What is Christ? Truth. Himself has said I am the Truth. John 14:6 But no lie is of the truth. Consequently, all who lie are not yet of Christ. He has not said that some lie is of the truth, and some lie not of the truth. Mark the sentence. Do not fondle yourselves, do not flatter yourselves, do not deceive yourselves, do not cheat yourselves: No lie is of the truth. Let us see then how antichrists lie, because there is more than one kind of lying. Who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? One is the meaning of the word Jesus, another the meaning of the word Christ: though it be one Jesus Christ our Saviour, yet Jesus is His proper name. Just as Moses was so called by his proper name, as Elias, as Abraham: so as His proper name our Lord has the name Jesus: but Christ is the name of His sacred character. As when we say, Prophet, as when we say, Priest; so by the name Christ we are given to understand the Anointed, in whom should be the redemption of the whole people. The coming of this Christ was hoped for by the people of the Jews: and because He came in lowliness, He was not acknowledged; because the stone was small, they stumbled at it and were broken. But the stone grew, and became a great mountain; Daniel 2:35 and what says the Scripture? Whosoever shall stumble at this stone shall be broken; and on whomsoever this stone shall come, it will grind him to powder. We must mark the difference of the words: it says, he that stumbles shall be broken; but he on whom it shall come, shall be ground to powder. At the first, because He came lowly, men stumbled at Him: because He shall come lofty to judgment, on whomsoever He shall come, He will grind him to powder. But not that man will He grind to powder at His future coming, whom He broke not when He came. He that stumbled not at the lowly, shall not dread the lofty. Briefly you have heard it, brethren: he that stumbled not at the lowly, shall not dread the lofty. For to all bad men is Christ a stone of stumbling; whatever Christ says is bitter to them.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:21

Therefore it is not true that sometimes we ought to lie. What is not true we should never try to persuade anyone to believe.

Source: Against Lying 18 (37)

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:21

You all know the truth because you received it in the rule of faith which you professed at your baptism.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:21

I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, etc. For you know the truth of faith and life taught by the anointing of the Spirit, and you do not need to be taught, except that you should persist in what you have begun.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:21

And because every lie is not of the truth. This verse depends on the above, and the sense is: We have not written to you as if you do not know the truth, but as though you know it: and also knowing this, that every lie is not of the truth. Behold, therefore, we are warned how to recognize the Antichrist. Christ says: I am the truth (John 14). But every lie is not from the truth. Therefore, all who lie are not from Christ. He does not say, some lie is from the truth. No one should deceive themselves, let no one delude themselves: every lie is not from the truth.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:22

"A liar" and "an antichrist, who denies that Jesus is the Christ." For Jesus, Saviour and Redeemer, is also Christ the King.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 2:22

John, moreover, brands that man as "a liar" who "denieth that Jesus is the Christ; "whilst on the other hand he declares that "every one is born of God who believeth that Jesus is the Christ." Wherefore he also exhorts us to believe in the name of His (the Father's, ) Son Jesus Christ, that "our fellowship may be with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Source: Against Praxeas

[AD 400] Ignatius of Antioch on 1 John 2:22

Whosoever, therefore, declares that there is but one God, only so as to take away the divinity of Christ, is a devil, and an enemy of all righteousness. He also that confesseth Christ, yet not as the Son of the Maker of the world, but of some other unknown being, different from Him whom the law and the prophets have proclaimed, this man is an instrument of the devil. And he that rejects the incarnation, and is ashamed of the cross for which I am in bonds, this man is antichrist. Moreover, he who affirms Christ to be a mere man is accursed, according to the [declaration of the] prophet, since he puts not his trust in God, but in man. Wherefore also he is unfruitful, like the wild myrtle-tree.

Source: Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Antiochians

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:22

For hear and see. Certainly all who go out from the Church, and are cut off from the unity of the Church, are antichrists; let no man doubt it: for the apostle himself has marked them, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. Therefore, whoso continue not with us, but go out from us, it is manifest that they are antichrists. And how are they proved to be antichrists? By lying. And who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? 1 John 2:22 Let us ask the heretics: where do you find a heretic that denies that Jesus is the Christ? See now, my beloved, a great mystery. Mark what the Lord God may have inspired us withal, and what I would fain work into your minds. Behold, they went out from us, and turned Donatists: we ask them whether Jesus be the Christ; they instantly confess that Jesus is the Christ. If then that person is an antichrist, who denies that Jesus is the Christ, neither can they call us antichrists, nor we them; therefore, neither they went out from us, nor we from them. If then we have not gone out one from another, we are in unity: if we be in unity, what means it that there are two altars in this city? What, that there are divided houses, divided marriages? That there is a common bed, and a divided Christ? He admonishes us, he would have us confess what is the truth:— either they went out from us, or we from them. But let it not be imagined that we have gone out from them. For we have the testament of the Lord's inheritance, we recite it, and there we find, I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and for Your possessions the ends of the earth. We hold fast Christ's inheritance; they hold it not, for they do not communicate with the whole earth, do not communicate with the universal body redeemed by the blood of the Lord. We have the Lord Himself rising from the dead, who presented Himself to be felt by the hands of the doubting disciples: and while they yet doubted, He said to them, It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name Luke 24:46-47 — Where? Which way? To what persons?— through all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Our minds are set at rest concerning the unity of the inheritance! Whoso does not communicate with this inheritance, is gone out.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 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.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:22

Who is the liar, if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He had foretold that every lie is not from the truth, but since there are many kinds of lies that are not at all similar, now he sets forth the lie of denial of Christ as singular because this is such a heinous and abominable lie that in comparison to it, other lies either seem small or nonexistent. According to what was said to the sinning Jerusalem: Sodom was justified because of you (Ezekiel 16). This denial is proper to the Jews, that they say Jesus is not the Christ. But even heretics who wrongly believe about Christ deny Jesus is the Christ, because they do not think rightly about Christ; nor do they confess him as such as divine truth teaches, but as their vanity invents. Wicked Catholics also who despise obeying the commands of Christ deny Jesus is the Christ, to whom they do not render the due service of fear or love as to the Son of God but dare to contradict at their will as to a man of no power. Therefore, all these are proved to be liars and Antichrists, that is, contrary to Christ, as the Apostle attests who says: They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds (Titus 1).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:22

This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. With this sentence, he strikes both heretics and especially the Jews, who denying that Jesus is the Son of God, nonetheless claimed to have God as the Father, showing them to confess the Father in vain if they deny the Son. Hence, the Lord himself, cursing them, said: If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here (John 8).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:22

In addition to the Simonians there were other heretics who followed Valentinus, who said that there was another being who was called the “father” apart from the Father of Christ. They also denied the Son, claiming that he was just a human being and did not possess the nature of God.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:23

"He who denies the Son," by ignoring Him, "has not the Father, nor does he know Him." But he who knows the Son and the Father, knows according to knowledge, and when the Lord shall be manifested at His second advent, shall have confidence and not be confounded. Which confusion is heavy punishment.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:23

That God is so angry against idolatry, that He has even enjoined those to be slain who persuade others to sacrifice and serve idols. In Deuteronomy: "But if thy brother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or thy wife which is in thy bosom, or thy friend which is the fellow of thine own soul, should ask thee secretly, saying, Let us go anti serve other gods, the gods of the nations, thou shalt not consent unto him, and thou shalt not hearken unto him, neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him, declaring thou shalt declare concerning him. Thine hand shall be upon him first of all to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people; and they shall stone him, and he shall die, because he hath sought to turn thee away from the Lord thy God." And again the Lord speaks, and says, that neither must a city be spared, even though the whole city should consent to idolatry: "Or if thou shalt hear in one of the cities which the Lord thy God shall give thee, to dwell there, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, slaying thou shalt kill all who are in the city with the slaughter of the sword, and bum the city with fire, and it shall be without habitation for ever. Moreover, it shall no more be rebuilt, that the Lord may be turned from the indignation of His anger. And He will show thee mercy, and He will pity thee, and will multiply thee, if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt observe His precepts." Remembering which precept and its force, Mattathias slew him who had approached the altar to sacrifice. But if before the coming of Christ these precepts concerning the worship of God and the despising of idols were observed, how much more should they be regarded since Christ's advent; since He, when He came, not only exhorted us with words, but with deeds also, but after all wrongs and contumelies, suffered also, and was crucified, that He might teach us to suffer and to die by His example, that there might be no excuse for a man not to suffer for Him, since He suffered for us; and that since He suffered for the sins of others, much rather ought each to suffer for his own sins. And therefore in the Gospel He threatens, and says: "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven; but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." The Apostle Paul also says: "For if we die with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us." John too: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath both the Son and the Father." Whence the Lord exhorts and strengthens us to contempt of death, saying: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to kill soul and body in Gehenna." And again: "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he who hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal."

Source: Treatise XI Exhortation to Martyrdom Addressed to Fortunatus

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:23

That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh to the Father but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved." Also in the same place: "Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Also in the same place: "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life: he that is not obedient in word to the Son hath not life; but the wrath of God shall abide upon him." Also Paul to the Ephesians: "And when He had come, He preached peace to you, to those which are afar off, and peace to those which are near, because through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." Also to the Romans: "For all have sinned, and fail of the glory of God; but they are justified by His gift and grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Also in the Epistle of Peter the apostle: "Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might present us to God." Also in the same place: "For in this also was it preached to them that are dead, that they might be raised again." Also in the Epistle of John: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same also hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath both the Son and the Father."

Source: Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:23

You cannot know the Father if you deny the Son, because no one comes to the Father except through him.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 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.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:23

Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either, etc. Here he seeks the confession of the heart, the voice, and the work, as Paul sought when he said: And no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit; which is openly to say: No one can, unless by the grace of the Holy Spirit granted, serve the Lord Christ with perfect profession and action.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:24

For haply you might ask about the wages, and say, Behold, that which I have heard from the beginning I keep safe in me, I comply therewith; perils, labors, temptations, for the sake of this continuance, I bear up against them all: with what fruit? What wages? What will He hereafter give me, since in this world I see that I labor among temptations? I see not here that there is any rest: mere mortality weighs down the soul, and the corruptible body presses it down to lower things: but I bear all things, that that which I have heard from the beginning Wisdom 9:15 may remain in me; and that I may say to my God, Because of the words of Your lips have I kept hard ways. Unto what wages then? Hear, and faint not. If you were fainting in the labors, upon the promised wages be strong. Where is the man that shall work in a vineyard, and shall let slip out of his heart the reward he is to receive? Suppose him to have forgotten, his hands fail. The remembrance of the promised wages makes him persevering in the work: and yet he that promised it is a man who can deceive your expectation. How much more strong ought you to be in God's field, when He that promised is the Truth, Who can neither have any successor, nor die, nor deceive him to whom the promise was made! And what is the promise? Let us see what He has promised. Is it gold which men here love much, or silver? Or possessions, for which men lavish gold, however much they love gold? Or pleasant lands, spacious houses, many slaves, numerous beasts? Not these are the wages, so to say, for which he exhorts us to endure in labor. What are these wages called? eternal life. You have heard, and in your joy you have cried out: love that which you have heard, and you are delivered from your labors into the rest of eternal life. Lo, this is what God promises; eternal life. Matthew 25:34 Lo, this what God threatens; eternal fire. What to those set on the right hand? Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Matthew 25:41 To those on the left, what? Go into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Thou dost not yet love that: at least fear this.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 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.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:24

That which you have heard from the beginning, let it remain in you, etc. He says, follow with all your heart that faith, those doctrines which you have received from the voice of the apostles from the earliest times of the nascent Church. For these alone are what make you partakers of divine grace. And if anyone says to you, "Behold, here is Christ, behold, there he is," do not believe it. For false prophets will arise, as the Lord foretold (Mark XIII). And you, he says, will remain in the Son and in the Father. He places the Son first, because as the Son himself says: "No one comes to the Father except through the Son" (John XIV); no one will see the glory of divine exaltation except he who is reborn through the sacraments of the humanity which the Son assumed. Or surely he named the Son first and then the Father for the reason that the Arians may not say that the Son should be believed to be lesser than the Father because he has never found to be named before the Father.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:24

This means that if you do these things you will have fellowship with God.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:25

Let none seduce you unto death: desire the promise of eternal life. What can the world promise? Let it promise what you will, it makes the promise perchance to one that tomorrow shall die. And with what face will you go hence to Him that abides for ever? But a powerful man threatens me, so that I must do some evil. What does he threaten? Prisons, chains, fires, torments, wild beasts: aye, but not eternal fire? Dread that which One Almighty threatens; love that which One Almighty promises; and all the world becomes vile in our regard, whether it promise or terrify. These things have I written unto you concerning them which seduce you; that you may know that you have an unction, and the unction which we have received from Him may abide in you. In the unction we have the sacramental sign [of a thing unseen], the virtue itself is invisible; the invisible unction is the Holy Ghost; the invisible unction is that charity, which, in whomsoever it be, shall be as a root to him: however burning the sun, he cannot wither. All that is rooted is nourished by the sun's warmth, not withered.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:25

Christ’s promise is that we shall receive a hundred times over in this life, and eternal life in the next.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:25

And this is the promise which He Himself promised us, eternal life. As if you were asking for a reward, and you were saying: "Behold me, I keep what I have heard from the beginning, I obey; I endure dangers, labors, temptations, for maintaining this. What will be the fruit, what the reward? What will be given to me afterward?" And this, he says, is the promise which He Himself promised us, eternal life. Let the remembrance of the promised reward make you perseverant in your work.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on 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.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 2:26

People want to deceive us in order to teach you some heresy or other. John has written in order to warn us about this.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:26

These things I have written to you about those who deceive you. By deceivers whom he names, not only are heretics to be understood, who seek to turn away from the faith by wicked doctrine, but also those who, by allurements or by adversities of the world, detract the minds of the weak from the promise of eternal life, either by enticing them evilly or by frightening them.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:27

But additions of other people's hair are entirely to be rejected, and it is a most sacrilegious thing for spurious hair to shade the head, covering the skull with dead locks. For on whom does the presbyter lay his hand?

Source: Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book III

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 2:27

But, moreover, the very interrogation which is put in baptism is a witness of the truth. For when we say, "Dost thou believe in eternal life and remission of sins through the holy Church? "we mean that remission of sins is not granted except in the Church, and that among heretics, where there is no Church, sins cannot be put away. Therefore they who assert that heretics can baptize, must either change the interrogation or maintain the truth; unless indeed they attribute a church also to those who, they contend, have baptism. It is also necessary that he should be anointed who is baptized; so that, having received the chrism, that is, the anointing, he may be anointed of God, and have in him the grace of Christ. Further, it is the Eucharist whence the baptized are anointed with the oil sanctified on the altar. But he cannot sanctify the creature of oil, who has neither an altar nor a church; whence also there can be no spiritual anointing among heretics, since it is manifest that the oil cannot be sanctified nor the Eucharist celebrated at all among them. But we ought to know and remember that it is written, "Let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head," which the Holy Spirit before forewarned in the Psalms, lest any one going out of the way and wandering from the path of truth should be anointed by heretics and adversaries of Christ. Besides, what prayer can a priest who is impious and a sinner offer for a baptized person? since it is written, "God heareth not a sinner; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth." Who, moreover, can give what he himself has not? or how can he discharge spiritual functions who himself has lost the Holy Spirit? And therefore he must be baptized and renewed who comes untrained to the Church, that he may be sanctified within by those who are holy, since it is written, "Be ye holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord." So that he who has been seduced into error, and baptized outside of the Church, should lay aside even this very thing in the true and ecclesiastical baptism, viz., that he a man coming to God, while he seeks for a priest, fell by the deceit of error upon a profane one.

Source: Epistle LXIX

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:27

Then to what purpose is it that we, my brethren, teach you? If His unction teaches you concerning all things, it seems we labor without a cause. And what mean we, to cry out as we do? Let us leave you to His unction, and let His unction teach you. But this is putting the question only to myself: I put it also to that same apostle: let him deign to hear a babe that asks of him: to John himself I say, Had those the unction to whom you were speaking? You have said, His unction teaches you concerning all things. To what purpose have you written an Epistle like this? What teaching did you give them? What instruction? What edification? See here now, brethren, see a mighty mystery. The sound of our words strikes the ears, the Master is within. Do not suppose that any man learns ought from man. We can admonish by the sound of our voice; if there be not One within that shall teach, vain is the noise we make. Aye, brethren, have ye a mind to know it? Have ye not all heard this present discourse? And yet how many will go from this place untaught! I, for my part, have spoken to all; but they to whom that Unction within speaks not, they whom the Holy Ghost within teaches not, those go back untaught. The teachings of the master from without are a sort of aids and admonitions. He that teaches the hearts, has His chair in heaven. Therefore says He also Himself in the Gospel: Call no man your master upon earth; One is your Master, even Christ. Matthew 23:8-9 Let Him therefore Himself speak to you within, when not one of mankind is there: for though there be some one at your side, there is none in your heart. Yet let there not be none in your heart: let Christ be in your heart: let His unction be in the heart, lest it be a heart thirsting in the wilderness, and having no fountains to be watered withal. There is then, I say, a Master within that teaches: Christ teaches; His inspiration teaches. Where His inspiration and His unction is not, in vain do words make a noise from without. So are the words, brethren, which we speak from without, as is the husbandman to the tree: from without he works, applies water and diligence of culture; let him from without apply what he will, does he form the apples? Does he clothe the nakedness of the wood with a shady covering of leaves? Does he do any thing like this from within? But whose doing is this? Hear the husbandman, the apostle: both see what we are, and hear the Master within: I have planted, Apollos has watered; but God gave the increase: neither he that plants is any thing, neither he that waters, but He that gives the increase, even God. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 This then we say to you: whether we plant, or whether we water, by speaking we are not any thing; but He that gives the increase, even God: that is, His unction which teaches you concerning all things.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:27

You remember, brethren, that yesterday's lesson was brought to a close at this point, that you have no need that any man teach you, but the unction itself teaches you concerning all things. Now this, as I am sure ye remember, we so expounded to you, that we who from without speak to your ears, are as workmen applying culture from without to a tree, but we cannot give the increase nor form the fruits: but only He that created and redeemed and called you, He, dwelling in you by faith and the Spirit, must speak to you within, else vain is all our noise of words. Whence does this appear? From this: that while many hear, not all are persuaded of that which is said, but only they to whom God speaks within. Now they to whom He speaks within, are those who give place to Him: and those give place to God, who give not place to the devil. Ephesians 5:27 For the devil wishes to inhabit the hearts of men, and speak there the things which are able to seduce. But what says the Lord Jesus? The prince of this world is cast out. John 12:31 Whence cast? Out of heaven and earth? Out of the fabric of the world? Nay, but out of the hearts of the believing. The invader being cast out, let the Redeemer dwell within: because the same redeemed, who created. And the devil now assaults from without, not conquers Him that has possession within. And he assaults from without, by casting in various temptations: but that person consents not thereto, to whom God speaks within, and the unction of which you have heard.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:27

All who await him in faith will rejoice when he comes. Those who are without faith will be ashamed when what they do not now see has indeed come.

Source: TEN HOMILIES ON 1 JOHN 4.2

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 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.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:27

And the anointing which you received from Him, etc. This, he says, with the Lord’s help, strive to ensure that the grace of the Holy Spirit, which you received in baptism, remains whole in your heart and body, according to what the Apostle Paul says: Do not extinguish the Spirit (1 Thess. 5). So it happens that with the Spirit teaching you inwardly, you need less to be taught by the instruction of men from outside. The anointing of which he speaks can be understood as the very love of God, which is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5), which most swiftly inflames the heart it fills to observe God's commandments.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:27

But as His anointing teaches you about all things. Deservedly, he added ‘about all things,’ just as in the Gospel the Lord, speaking of the same Spirit to the disciples, says: He will teach you all things (John 14). Because unless the same Spirit is present in the heart of the listener, the speech of the teacher is idle. Therefore, let no one attribute to the human teacher what he understands from the teacher’s mouth, for unless there is One who teaches within, the teacher’s tongue labors in vain externally. Yet, the teacher should not cease to do what he can, according to what Paul says: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:27

And it is true, and it is not a lie. By frequent repetition, he keenly emphasizes that what he preaches is true and free from all stain of falsehood, in order to restrain those who presume to preach otherwise, and diligently remind us that eternal life cannot be found otherwise than by following that purity of faith and work given by the apostles to the early Church, and by remaining steadfast in following and keeping it until the end of this life. This is similar to what the Apostle Paul says: Let no one deceive you with empty words, because of these the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5). What is said in another translation: And it is true, and it is not a lie, refers to the previous verse, where it is said: But as His anointing teaches us about all things, signifying that the same anointing is true, that is, the Spirit Himself who teaches humans cannot lie.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:27

And as he taught you, abide in him. Do not be carried away by various and strange doctrines. In the faith and the tradition which he himself taught, abide in him. For whoever perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt. XXIV).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:28

When the Lord appears at his second coming, the one who knows the Son and the Father according to knowledge will have confidence and will not be confounded, for confusion is a great punishment.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:28

You see, brethren: we believe in Jesus whom we have not seen: they announced Him, that saw, that handled, that heard the word out of His own mouth; and that they might persuade all mankind of the truth thereof, they were sent by Him, not dared to go of themselves. And whither were they sent? You heard while the Gospel was read, Go, preach the Gospel to the whole creation which is under heaven. Consequently, the disciples were sent every where: with signs and wonders to attest that what they spoke, they had seen. And we believe in Him whom we have not seen, and we look for Him to come. Whoso look for Him by faith, shall rejoice when He comes: those who are without faith, when that which now they see not has come, shall be ashamed. And that confusion of face shall not be for a single day and so pass away, in such sort as those are wont to be confounded, who are found out in some fault, and are scoffed at by their fellowmen. That confusion shall carry them that are confounded to the left hand, that to them it may be said, Go into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:31 Let us abide then in His words, that we be not confounded when He comes. For Himself says in the Gospel to them that had believed on Him: If you shall abide in my word, then are you verily my disciples. John 8:3l, 32 And, as if they had asked, With what fruit? And, says He, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. For as yet our salvation is in hope, not in deed: for we do not already possess that which is promised, but we hope for it to come. And faithful is He that promised; Hebrews 10:23 He deceives not you: only do not faint, but wait for the promise. For He, the Truth, cannot deceive. Be not a liar, to profess one thing and do another; keep the faith, and He keeps His promise. But if you keep not the faith, your own self, not He that promised, has defrauded you.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 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.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:28

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, etc. Whoever remains in the Lord amidst the persecutions of the unbelievers, amidst the mockeries of carnal neighbors, has confidence in his coming, knowing that the patience of the poor will not perish at the end. But whoever is ashamed to either offer the other cheek to the one who strikes him or to patiently endure the reproach inflicted by a neighbor, or indeed other such things which the Lord commanded to observe, or certainly fears to publicly profess himself as a Christian in time of persecution, this one, undoubtedly, cannot have confidence at the coming of the Lord, for he has neglected to maintain the confidence of his profession in this life. Rather, he will be ashamed by Him at His coming. Hence it says: Whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, him the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his glory and that of His Father and of the holy angels (Luke IX).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:28

Why does John tell us to remain in Christ? So that we may have confidence in him when he appears. For what could be better or more desirable than to have confidence with which to show Christ the works we have done in this life and to do this with full assurance, not being ashamed of anything?

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:29

"Every one," he says, "who does righteousness is born of God;" being regenerated, that is, according to faith.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 2:29

To be born of him means to be born again by faith.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 2:29

The righteousness which at present is ours is of faith. Perfect righteousness is not, save only in the angels: and scarce in angels, if they be compared with God: yet if there be any perfect righteousness of souls and spirits which God has created, it is in the angels, holy, just, good, by no lapse turned aside, by no pride falling, but remaining ever in the contemplation of the Word of God, and having nothing else sweet unto them save Him by whom they were created; in them is perfect righteousness: but in us it has begun to be, of faith, by the Spirit. You heard when the Psalm was read, Begin ye to the Lord in confession. Begin, says it; the beginning of our righteousness is the confession of sins. You have begun not to defend your sin; now have you made a beginning of righteousness: but it shall be perfected in you when to do nothing else shall delight you, when death shall be swallowed up in victory, 1 Corinthians 15:24 when there shall be no itching of lust, when there shall be no struggling with flesh and blood, when there shall be the palm of victory, the triumph over the enemy; then shall there be perfect righteousness. At present we are still fighting: if we fight we are in the lists; we smite and are smitten; but who shall conquer, remains to be seen. And that man conquers, who even when he smites presumes not on his own strength, but relies upon God that cheers him on. The devil is alone when he fights against us. If we are with God, we overcome the devil: for if you fight alone with the devil, you will be overcome. He is a skillful enemy: how may palms has he won! Consider to what he has cast us down! That we are born mortal, comes of this, that he in the first place cast down from Paradise our very original. What then is to be done, seeing he is so well practised? Let the Almighty be invoked to your aid against the devices of the devil. Let Him dwell in you, who cannot be overcome, and you shall securely overcome him who is wont to overcome. But to overcome whom? Those in whom God dwells not. For, that you may know it, brethren; Adam being in Paradise despised the commandment of God, and lifted up the neck, as if he desired to be his own master, and were loath to be subject to the will of God: so he fell from that immortality, from that blessedness. But there was a certain man, a man now well skilled, though a mortal born, who even as he sat on the dunghill, putrifying with worms, overcame the devil: yea, Adam himself then overcame: even he, in Job; because Job was of his race. So then, Adam, overcome in Paradise, overcame on the dunghill. Being in Paradise, he gave ear to the persuasion of the woman which the devil had put into her: but being on the dunghill he said to Eve, You have spoken as one of the foolish women. Job 2:10 There he lent an ear, here he gave an answer: when he was glad, he listened, when he was scourged, he overcame. Therefore, see what follows, my brethren, in the Epistle: because this is what it would have us lay to heart, that we may overcome the devil indeed, but not of ourselves. If you know that He is righteous, says it, know ye that every one that does righteousness is born of Him: of God, of Christ. And in that he has said, Is born of Him, he cheers us on. Already therefore, in that we are born of Him, we are perfect.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 2:29

If you know that he is righteous, know that our righteousness is now by faith. Perfect righteousness is found only in angels, and scarcely in angels if compared to God. However, if any perfect righteousness exists in the souls and spirits that God created among the angels and saints, the righteous and the good, who fell by no lapse, were not brought down by pride, but always remained in the contemplation of God's word and found nothing else sweet except the one from whom they were created, in them is perfect righteousness. But in us, it began to be according to the Spirit through faith. Whence the Psalmist says: Begin to the Lord in confession (Psalm 146). He says, begin. The beginning of our righteousness is the confession of sins. You have begun not to defend your sin; you have already started righteousness. It will be perfected in you when you will be pleased to do nothing else. When death is swallowed up in victory, when no desire will titillate, when there will be no struggle with flesh and blood, when there will be the crown of victory, and triumph over the enemy, then there will be perfect righteousness. Therefore, if you know that he is righteous, he says, know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him; that is, of Christ. And because he has said, he is born of him, he encourages us now that we are born of him, so that we may be perfect. Listen of course to what follows.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 2:29

It is obvious that the One who is righteous produces offspring who are also righteous.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN