1 João 4
James Montgomery Boice · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 João 4:5
Boice writes that John's use of kosmos in this section is in its ethical sense "The idea here is of the world of men in rebellion against God and therefore characterized by all that is in opposition to God. This is what we might call “the world system.” It involves the world’s values, pleasures, pastimes, and aspirations. John says of this world that the world lies in the grip of the evil one (1Jn 5:19), that it rejected Jesus when He came (Jn 1:10), that it does not know Him (1Jn 3:1+), and consequently that it does not know and therefore also hates His followers (John 15:18,19, 20, 21; 17:14). It is in this sense that John speaks of the world in the passage before us. (Borrow The Epistles of John) Vincent on from (ek) the world (kosmos) - Proceeding from, as their source. Different from from the earth (John 3:31), as marking the whole worldly economy morally considered. speak as from the world - "Literally “they speak out of the world; i.e., the character of their utterances corresponds to their origin." “The world listens to those who speak its own language.” --D Edmond Hiebert A T Robertson "their talk proceeds from the world and wins a ready hearing. The false prophets and the world are in perfect unison." R C H
1 João 4:10
Boice - If God had merely sent Jesus to teach us about Himself, that would have been wonderful enough. It would have been far more than we deserved. If God had sent Jesus simply to be our example, that would have been good too and would have had some value … But the wonderful thing is that God did not stop with these but rather sent His Son, not merely to teach or to be our example, but to die the death of a felon, that He might save us from sin. (Borrow The Epistles of John)
1 João 4:12
Boice explains that "The Old Testament Theophanies (See Theophany; Theophany-2), including the apparently contradictory statement in Exodus 24:10 ("they saw the God of Israel"), did not involve the full revelation of God as He is in Himself but only a suggestion of what He is in form that a human being could understand." (BORROW The Epistles of John) Robert Yarbrough - God’s invisibility, then, is not only a reason to exalt and venerate him in his heavenly loftiness; it is at the same time an implicit mandate for God’s people to render his presence concrete by their response to him. (See 1-3 John - Page 264) As an aside, since God presented Himself in a Theophany numerous times in the OT, this passage (no one has seen God) strongly supports that it was God's Son, Jesus Who was manifested, not God the Father (See discussion of Angel of the LORD) In the opening of this epistle John wrote "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life (Jesus the Messiah)." (1Jn 1:1+) So while it is true that "no one has seen God" the Father, it is not true that no one has seen God at all, because to behold Jesus was to behold the Father (Jn 14:9+). "A saint is a man in whom Christ lives again" and the best demonstration of God comes not from argument but from a life of love. William