1 João 1

Bede

1 João 1:1

Aquilo que vimos e nossas mãos tocaram a respeito da Palavra da vida. Pois eles não apenas viram o Senhor com os olhos físicos como os outros, mas também perceberam Seu poder divino com os olhos espirituais. Principalmente aqueles que O viram transfigurado no monte, entre os quais estava o próprio João. E quando ele diz: “e nossas mãos se tocaram no Verbo da vida”, ele refuta a loucura dos maniqueístas, que negam que o Senhor tenha assumido verdadeira carne; os apóstolos não podiam duvidar da verdade desta carne, pois atestavam não só pela visão, mas também pelo tato; especialmente o próprio João que, acostumado a reclinar-se sobre Seu peito durante o jantar, tocava Seus membros com mais liberdade à medida que se aproximava. E mesmo depois de Sua ressurreição dentre os mortos, suas mãos tocaram o Verbo da vida, pois entenderam sem qualquer dúvida que Ele havia assumido a verdadeira carne, embora agora incorruptível, ouvindo-O dizer: “Toca e vede, porque um espírito não tem carne nem ossos, como vedes que eu tenho” (Lucas 24). Está bem dito: “e nossas mãos tocaram a Palavra da vida”, porque ao provarem a verdade de Sua carne ressuscitada tocando com as mãos, eles mais certamente sabiam que Ele era a Palavra da vida, isto é, o verdadeiro Deus. Conseqüentemente, Tomé, que foi especialmente ordenado a tocá-Lo, imediatamente após tocar a carne, confessou que Ele era Deus, dizendo: “Senhor meu e Deus meu” (João 20). - Comentário sobre as Epístolas Católicas

1 João 1:1

The disciples were with Jesus from the beginning, and so they could preach what they had seen and heard in his presence without any ambiguity. — Homilies on the Gospels 2.16

1 João 1:2

And the life was manifested, etc. He refers to that life which speaks in the Gospel: "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11); which was manifested through divine miracles declared in the flesh, and the disciples present saw what they would testify to posterity with undoubted truth, when performing signs, as John himself wrote, He manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him (John 2). And because the apostle John testifies that he saw the life manifested with his co-apostles, the heretic Apelles should be confounded with his followers, who contends that the same life, that is, the Lord Savior, appeared to the world not as God in truth, but as a man in fantasy. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:2

And we proclaim to you eternal life, etc. It was with the Father in eternal divinity, and appeared in time to the world in humanity. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:3

What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you, etc. Blessed John clearly shows that anyone who desires to have fellowship with God must first be united with the fellowship of the Church, learn that faith, and be imbued with its sacraments, which the disciples received from the Truth dwelling in the flesh itself. Nor in any way are those less associated with God who believe through the doctrine of the apostles, than those who believed through the Lord preaching in the world himself, except insofar as the quality of faith or works distinguishes them. Hence also concerning this fellowship of the saints, which they have in the Father and the Son, the Son himself, praying to the Father, says: Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given to me, that they may be one as we are one (John XVII). And a little later: I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us (John XVII). — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:4

And we write these things to you so that your joy may be complete. The joy of teachers is made complete when, through preaching, they lead many to the fellowship of the holy Church, and to the fellowship of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, through whom the Church is strengthened and grows. Hence also Paul says to those whom he instructed in the faith: Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind (Philippians II). — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:5

And this is the message which we have heard from him, etc. By this statement, blessed John both shows the excellence of divine purity, which we are also commanded to imitate, saying: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus XIX); and he refutes the insane doctrine of the Manicheans, who said that the nature of God was conquered and corrupted by the prince of darkness in war. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:6

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, etc. He names darkness, sins, heresies, and hatreds. Therefore, the mere confession of faith alone is not sufficient for salvation, to which the testimony of good works is lacking. But neither does the rectitude of works without the simplicity of faith and love profit. For whoever is besieged by darkness in any part cannot have fellowship with Him in whom no iniquities occur. For what fellowship has light with darkness? (II Cor. VI). — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:7

But if we walk in the light, etc. The distinction of words is to be noted, because he says that God is in the light, but that we ought to walk in the light. For the righteous walk in the light, as they advance to better things by serving with works of virtue. But divine holiness, to which it is said: "But you are the same" (Ps. CI), is rightly remembered to be in the light, because being full goodness always existing, it does not find where it may advance. To the faithful it is said: "Walk as children of light" (Eph. V). For the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. But God always exists as good, just, and true without any progress. If, therefore, we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. Because it evidently gives an indication that we are advancing by walking in the path of light, if we rejoice in the bond of fraternal fellowship, with which we likewise may reach the true light. But even if we are found to do the works of light, if we seem to hold inviolable the rights of mutual love, we should not think that by our progress or industry we are able to be completely cleansed from sins. For it follows: — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:7

And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. For indeed, the sacrament of the Lord's passion both alleviated all past sins for us in baptism and forgives whatever we commit after baptism due to daily frailty, by the grace of the same our Redeemer. Especially when among the works of light that we perform, we humbly confess our errors to Him daily, when we receive the sacraments of His blood, when we pray for our debts to be forgiven as we forgive our debtors, when, mindful of His passion, we willingly endure each adverse thing. Remarkably, when speaking of the Lord, it is said: "And the blood of Jesus His Son"; indeed, the Son of God in the nature of divinity could not have blood; but since the same Son of God also became the Son of man, appropriately He calls the blood of the Son of God due to the unity of His person, to show that He truly assumed a body, truly shed His blood for us; and to refute the heretics who either deny that the true flesh was assumed by the Son of God or that the Lord Jesus truly suffered in the flesh which He assumed. Similar to this is what Paul says: "The Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20). — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:8

If we say that we have no sin, etc. This sentence avails against the heresy of Pelagius, which claimed that all infants are born without sin and that the elect in this life can progress to such an extent as to be without sin. For even when the prophet says: "Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sin my mother bore me" (Psalm 50), we cannot be without guilt in the world, having come into the world with guilt. But the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin so that our debts do not hold us under the power of our enemy, because the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, freely repaid on our behalf what He did not owe. For He who undeservedly paid the debt of death in the flesh for us, freed us from the debt of the death of the soul. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful, etc. Because we cannot be without sin in this life, the first hope of salvation is confession, and no one should consider themselves just or lift up their neck before the eyes of God. Then comes love, because charity covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4), which is consequently highly recommended to us with much praise in the following parts of this Epistle. Beautifully, both are suggested together, that we should both pray for our sins and obtain God's indulgence when we pray. Therefore, He is also called faithful to forgive sins, retaining the faithfulness of His promise, because He who taught us to pray for our sins and debts promised fatherly mercy and ensuing forgiveness. He also affirms Him to be just, because He justly forgives true confession. "That He may forgive us our sins," he says, "and cleanse us from all iniquity." He forgives daily and slight sins to the elect in this life, without which they cannot live on earth; He cleanses them after the dissolution of the flesh from all iniquity, bringing them into that life in which they neither wish to sin nor can. He now forgives greater temptations to those who pray, so they may not be overcome; He forgives the smallest, so they may not be injured; He then cleanses from all, so that no iniquity at all may exist among the blessed in the eternal kingdom. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

1 João 1:10

If we say that we have not sinned, etc. For he himself said through a man filled with his Spirit: There is no just man on earth who does good and does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7). But even through himself, he taught us that we cannot be free from sins, as he commanded us to pray thus: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6). Therefore, no one, being taught by Pelagius, should believe that he can live free from sins and debts, when he sees the apostles, being taught by the Lord, praying for their own sins. And elsewhere it is written: The just man falls seven times a day and rises again (Proverbs 24). For it is impossible for any of the saints not to sometimes fall into slight sins, which are committed through speech, thought, ignorance, forgetfulness, necessity, will, or surprise, and yet they do not cease to be just, because with the Lord's help, they quickly rise from guilt. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles