SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:4
El que dice: Yo le he conocido, y no guarda sus mandamientos, el tal es mentiroso, y no hay verdad en l.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 John 2:4
Verse 4. He that saith, I know him] This is a severe blow against those false teachers, and against all pretenders to religious knowledge, who live under the power of their sins; and against all Antinomians, and false boasters in the righteousness of Christ as a covering for their personal unholiness. They are all liars, and no truth of God is in them.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. He that saith I know him , &c.] God or Christ, as the Gnostics did, who pretended to great, even perfect, knowledge of divine things: and keepeth not his commandments ; which the above persons had no regard to, and as many who profess great light and knowledge in our days show no concern for: is a liar ; he contradicts what he says, and gives the lie to it; for though in words he professes to know God, in works he denies him, and which betrays his ignorance of him: and the truth is not in him ; there is no true knowledge of God and Christ in him; nor is the truth of the Gospel in his heart, however it may be in his head; nor is the truth of grace in him, for each of these lead persons to obedience. The Ethiopic version renders it, the truth of God is not with him; (see Gill on 1 John 1:8).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 3-11 - What knowledge of Christ can that be, which sees not that he is mos worthy of our entire obedience? And a disobedient life shows there is neither religion nor honesty in the professor. The love of God is perfected in him that keeps his commandments. God's grace in his attains its true mark, and produces its sovereign effect as far as ma be in this world, and this is man's regeneration; though neve absolutely perfect here. Yet this observing Christ's commands, ha holiness and excellency which, if universal, would make the eart resemble heaven itself. The command to love one another had been in force from the beginning of the world; but it might be called a ne command as given to Christians. It was new in them, as their situatio was new in respect of its motives, rules, and obligations. And thos who walk in hatred and enmity to believers, remain in a dark state Christian love teaches us to value our brother's soul, and to drea every thing hurtful to his purity and peace. Where spiritual darknes dwells, in mind, the judgment, and the conscience will be darkened, an will mistake the way to heavenly life. These things demand seriou self-examination; and earnest prayer, that God would show us what we are, and whither we are going.
Greek Textus Receptus
ο 3588 λεγων 3004 5723 εγνωκα 1097 5758 αυτον 846 και 2532 τας 3588 εντολας 1785 αυτου 846 μη 3361 τηρων 5083 5723 ψευστης 5583 εστιν 2076 5748 και 2532 εν 1722 τουτω 5129 η 3588 αληθεια 225 ουκ 3756 εστιν 2076 5748
Vincent's NT Word Studies
4. A liar. Compare we lie, i. 6.
In him (en toutw). Emphatic. Lit., in this one the truth is not. See on i. 8. Keepeth His word (thrh autou ton logon). Note the changed phrase: word for commandments. The word is the revelation regarded as a whole, which includes all the separate commandments or injunctions. See the use of logov word, and ejntolh precept, in John xiv. 21-24.
Is the love of God perfected (h agaph tou Qeou teteleiwtai). Rev., rendering the perfect tense more closely, hath the love of God been perfected. The change in the form of this antithetic clause is striking. He who claims to know God, yet lives in disobedience, is a liar. We should expect as an offset to this: He that keepeth His commandments is of the truth; or, the truth is in him. Instead we have, "In him has the love of God been perfected." In other words, the obedient child of God is characterized, not by any representative trait or quality of his own personality, but merely as the subject of the work of divine love: as the sphere in which that love accomplishes its perfect work.
The phrase hJ ajgaph tou Qeou the love of God, may mean either the love which God shows, or the love of which God is the object, or the love which is characteristic of God whether manifested by Himself or by His obedient child through His Spirit. John's usage is not decisive like Paul's, according to which the love of God habitually means the love which proceeds from and is manifested by God. The exact phrase, the love of God or the love of the Father, is found in iii. 16; iv. 9, in the undoubted sense of the love of God to men. The same sense is intended in iii. 1, 9, 16, though differently expressed. The sense is doubtful in ii. 5; iii. 17; iv. 12. Men's love to God is clearly meant in ii. 15; v. 3. The phrase occurs only twice in the Gospels (Luke vi. 42; John v. 42), and in both cases the sense is doubtful. Some, as Ebrard, combine the two, and explain the love of God as the mutual relation of love between God and men.
It is not possible to settle the point decisively, but I incline to the view that the fundamental idea of the love of God as expounded by John is the love which God has made known and which answers to His nature. In favor of this is the general usage of ajgaph love, in the New Testament, with the subjective genitive. 64 The object is more commonly expressed by eijv towards, or to. See 1 Thessalonians. iii. 12; Colossians. i. 4; 1 Pet. iv. 8. Still stronger is John's treatment of the subject in ch. 4. Here we have, ver. 9, the manifestation of the love of God in us (en hmin) By our life in Christ and our love to God we are a manifestation of God's love. Directly following this is a definition of the essential nature of love. "In this is love; i.e., herein consists love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us" (ver. 10). Our mutual love is a proof that God dwells in us. God dwelling in us, His love is perfected in us (ver. 12). The latter clause, it would seem, must be explained according to ver. 10. Then (ver. 16), "We have known and believed the love that God hath in us" (see on John xvi. 22, on the phrase have love). "God is love;" that is His nature, and He imparts this nature to be the sphere in which His children dwell. "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God." Finally, our love is engendered by His love to us. "We love Him because He first loved us" (ver. 19).
In harmony with this is John xv. 9. "As the Father loved me, I also loved you. Continue ye in my love." My love must be explained by I loved you. This is the same idea of divine love as the sphere or element of renewed being; and this idea is placed, as in the passage we are considering, in direct connection with the keeping of the divine commandments. "If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love."
This interpretation does not exclude man's love to God. On the contrary, it includes it. The love which God has, is revealed as the love of God in the love of His children towards Him, no less than in His manifestations of love to them. The idea of divine love is thus complex. Love, in its very essence, is reciprocal. Its perfect ideal requires two parties. It is not enough to tell us, as a bare, abstract truth, that God is love. The truth must be rounded and filled out for us by the appreciable exertion of divine love upon an object, and by the response of the object. The love of God is perfected or completed by the perfect establishment of the relation of love between God and man. When man loves perfectly, his love is the love of God shed abroad in his heart. His love owes both its origin and its nature to the love of God.
The word verily (alhqws) is never used by John as a mere formula of affirmation, but has the meaning of a qualitative adverb, expressing not merely the actual existence of a thing, but its existence in a manner most absolutely corresponding to ajlhqeia truth. Compare John i. 48; viii. 31. Hath been perfected. John is presenting the ideal of life in God. "This is the love of God that we keep His commandments." Therefore whosoever keepeth God's word, His message in its entirety, realizes the perfect relation of love.
We are in Him. Compare Acts xvii. 28. See note on ii. 15.
