(Continued from page 298.) (Chap. 2:28-3:24.)

The practice of righteousness is not the only mark of one who is born of God. A child of God is characterized by loving his brethren (ver. 10). We must now consider what the apostle says in reference to this.

It is to be noted that he mentions the two characteristics in a way that shows they go together. A child of God cannot be marked by one without the other. They are inseparable. If one is lacking, so is the other. We have seen that there is in the child of God a nature that is perfectly holy. This holy nature asserts itself in two ways-in the practice of righteousness and in loving the brethren.

Let us remember the apostle is speaking, not of the measure of realization or degree of enjoyment, but of what is characteristically true of all children of God. He is not discussing the hindrances to the full expression of the divine nature in us, but what is true in fact. It is the fact that is insisted on, not the extent in which it is displayed. If doing righteousness and loving the brethren are in any measure present, if they are at all in operation, the divine nature is there. There may be still much evidence of the old nature's presence, which characterizes us as natural men:it shows what we are as natural men-not what we are as born of God. It is the operations of our new nature that display what we are as having been born of God, although overshadowed often by those of the old. They are in error who reason that the old nature is away by the new, and who teach that the evidence of the presence of the old is evidence of the absence of the new.

All this that I have been saying is of the greatest moment if the apostle is to be understood, if we read him intelligently, it must be seen that He is speaking in the abstract, that he is writing of what is characteristically true, and thus of what is true of every believer, of every child of God.

For proof of the statement that loving the brethren is a mark of a child of God, the apostle appeals to the message or instruction of the incarnate Son of God (ver. 11). He refers to the fact that love to one another should characterize them. In John 13:34, 35, He said:"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Our Lord is not simply pressing upon His own the obligation or responsibility to love one another, but that it would "pe a mark by which the reality of their professed discipleship would be manifested. John appeals to this as a mark of the children of God.

A child of God is one who has been born of Him, and so is of God-not like Cain, who was of the evil one (ver. 12). His works therefore were evil. There was, even then, light shining sufficiently to manifest whether his works were wrought in God or were evil. The light exposed his works, showed them to be evil. God's acceptance of what Abel had wrought in God manifested Cain's deeds to be evil, proved he had not done well. Cain therefore hates the light-hates its witness. His murder of Abel manifested his hatred of the light. The children of God come to the light, and the light manifests them to be of the truth ; it shows that their deeds are wrought in God (John 3:21). However misunderstood by the world, the children of God are seen to be doers of righteousness and lovers of their brethren.
If Cain represents the natural man in his rejection of the testimony of God, and is an example of the world's hatred of the light which exposes its evil deeds, the children of God need not wonder at the world's hatred of them (ver. 13). Our Lord said to His disciples, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you " (John 15:18). If it hates Him, if it refuses Him who is the Light, it will desire to rid itself of every witness to Him. The light, even feebly reflected, will be intolerable to it.

But we have passed out of death into life. We have the testimony of the Son of God for this (John 5 :24). John, however, does not appeal to this here. We are conscious of love to the brethren (ver. 14):therefore we are not of the world, nor are we of him in whom the world lies-the wicked one. We are abiding, not in death, but in life- eternal life. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. If he does not love, he hates; and "whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (ver. 15) ; that is, he is identified in nature and character with him who "abode not in the truth," but became a murderer and liar (John 8:44).

"Ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him " has often been misunderstood. It has been taken to mean that no murderer can be saved. Let us seek to understand what the apostle says. In the first place, he declares that "whosoever hates his brother is a murderer." Is it not plain that the apostle points to the nature which characterizes one who, like Cain, is of the wicked one? Thus a man does not need to take the life of a fellow-man to be a murderer; he is that by the very fact that he possesses that nature. In this sense all men are murderers by their very nature since the fall. But when the grace of God lays hold of one who is such in the eyes of God, he is born anew, "born from above." He possesses a new nature, which now characterizes him in God's eyes. God looks upon him as having passed out of death into life. He no more looks at him according to the old nature which is still in him, but according to what he is as born of God. A new life dwells in him. It is in the character of this new life that God now views him.

We have spoken of love to the brethren as evidence of a new nature received from God; but it may be said:Is not God above us, beyond us? Do we not read, " No man hath seen God at any time? " How then is it possible for us to comprehend the activities of love in God ? It has been manifested in the person of His Son whom He sent into the world to lay down His life sacrificially in behalf of men (ver. 16). In this we have learned what the love of God is. The knowledge of this divine love is abiding in the soul that has bowed to the meaning of the Cross of Christ.

The activities of love in God must necessarily characterize His children. It is not merely a question of duty or obligation, but a characteristic of their nature, which in communion with God displays itself. This is the force of verse 17. Of course, the verse may be used as an appeal to rouse the conscience where there seems to be carelessness or indifference, but the apostle is convicting of unreality the mere profession of loving the brethren. His argument is, How can love be there if there is no activity of it ? How can love that is of God be dwelling where it is not in exercise ? There is danger, even in the children of God, of falling into pretension. So in verse 18 the apostle warns against it. Clearly he is speaking here to those whom he recognizes as of God. He is exhorting them to see to it that there be no pretense, no mere loving in word or tongue, but only in deed and in truth. Unreality is a grievous sin in a child of God ; it is really hypocrisy. Let us then give due heed to the apostle's warning against it. Our Lord also speaks of this in Luke 12:1.
What is the test of reality? Verses 19 and 20 are the apostle's answer. It is for us to know-to realize-that we are of the truth. It is the privilege of the child of God to assure his heart before God. " God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." Those who "walk in the light as God is in the light" realize this; they are conscious that all unreality is exposed before Him. What enables us to stand in the light in which no unreality can be tolerated, is the atoning blood of Christ. It is that which gives us assured hearts before God, before whom all is thoroughly searched out. He who is greater than our hearts has provided us with what gives us full confidence in His presence; the blood of Christ is His answer to every question of our acceptance or attack of the enemy. In the power of the blood of Christ, with uncondemning hearts, we abide in that Presence before whom all is manifest. God Himself is our refuge and our confidence; by His grace we are those who keep His commandments and practice the things pleasing to Him. We are those who believe '' on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another," and whose petitions are in accordance with Him in whom we are accepted. We abide in God and He abides in us (vers. 21-24).

A marvelous blessing this, a wonderful privilege:abiding in God and God abiding in us! We are in the community of life and nature, after the pattern of that declared by our Lord when He said, " I am in the Father, and the Father in me " (John 14:10, n). Just as He abode in the Father and the Father in Him, so also we abide in Him and He in us. By the Spirit which now dwells in us we are able to realize and enjoy the portion that is ours. Characteristically speaking (as John constantly does), in this dispensation of the Spirit the children of God are qualified to enjoy the intimacies of their relationship with God. They find their power for this in the Spirit dwelling in them. C. Crain

(To be continued.)