The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle of S. John
Morally. S. John here teaches that great care must be taken in training children. (He here gives as an instance the case of the youth whom he entrusted to a Bishop.) For the whole regulation of our life depends on our childhood's training. S. Ignatius accordingly founded schools for such training. See Ribadeneira in his life (lib. iii. cap . 24), where he quotes many Fathers, Councils, and Philosophers.
Mystically . S. Augustine (de Vera Relig. cap. 26) describes the seven ages of a righteous man. He first drinks in the lessons and examples of history — next he forgets things of earth, and reaches after things divine, and strives after the highest and unchanging rule of life, by the steps of wisdom — next he proceeds more boldly, wedding his carnal appetite to the strength of reason, and rejoicing within with a kind of conjugal joy, when the soul is united to the mind, and is so covered with the veil of modesty as no longer to be compelled to live rightly, but even not to delight in sin, though all might allow it. And fourthly, he acts thus in a more bold and orderly manner, shining forth into the perfect man, and becoming more capable of bearing all the persecutions and tempests of this world and even breaking their force. Fifthly, to be calm and tranquil , in every respect enjoying to the full the highest and ineffable wisdom ; and sixthly, a thorough turning to the life eternal, and a complete obliviousness to this temporal life, and a passing on to the perfect image and likeness of God. The seventh age is that of eternal rest, which is not distinguished by any different stages of growth.
Ver. 13. — I write unto you, fathers , because ye have known Him who is from the beginning . Fathers, we know, are proud of their experience ; and therefore he fitly congratulates them on having known the Ancient of Days, who is from eternity. For, as S. Augustine says, “ Christ is new in the flesh, but ancient in His Godhead.” He adds, “Remember, ye who are fathers, if ye forget Him who is from the beginning, ye have lost your fatherhood.”
I write unto you , young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. He passes to that stage of life which rejoices in its strength, and is full of concupiscence. He congratulates them for having overcome the wicked one, for he is speaking to Christian young people living in a Christian way, as S. Agnes, S. Lucy, S. Agatha, and many others, or that young man of whom S. Jerome speaks (in the life of Paul the first hermit), who when tempted by a harlot to sin, bit off his tongue, and spat it in her face, and thus by the intensity of the pain overcame the feeling of lust. This strength and this victory was prompted by Christ. See 1 Cor. xv. 57. And S. Augustine (in loc.) says, “If the wicked one is overcome by the young men, He is fighting with us. He fights, but he does not overcome. Is it because we are strong, or because He is strong in us, who in the hands of His persecutors was found weak ? He hath made us strong who resisted not His persecutors, for He was crucified in weakness, but liveth by the power of God.” (2 Cor. xiii. 4.)
Ver. 14. — I write unto you , children. He here comes round and says the same thing in other words, to enforce it the more, calling them τεκνία in the first instance, and παιδία here.
Because ye have known the Father ; by the words of the Creed.
Morally , Catherinus beautifully says, “ The life of beginners is to be, in a sense, under Him, who by cherishing us in His paternal and allurements, keeps away from us for a while sharper temptations. But He afterwards hands us over to the Son, for our growth and fuller instruction, and at last to the Holy Spirit to be strengthened and perfected.”
Here in some MSS. the exhortation to fathers is repeated. F. Lucas notices its omission in the Complut Polyglott and in the Vulgate, and asks why it is omitted ? Is it because a single admonition was enough for the aged ?
I write to you , young men , because ye are strong, and have overcome the wicked one . Him who is the chief and head of all malignity. “Consider,” says S. Augustine (in loc.), “that ye are young, fight that ye may overcome again and again, overcome that ye may be crowned. Be lowly, that ye fall not in the fight.” And again, “ This is a great commendation of grace, that it instructs the hearts of the humble, but stops the mouths of the proud.”
And the word of God abideth in you . Ye keep that word which we and our fellows have preached. Others understand it of the Uncreate and Eternal Word. Ye have remained stedfast in the faith, and have thus overcome the wicked one. As Œcumenius says, “ In promising youths and young men (strong as they may be and needing to be trained for war) the glory of victory, he shows that they require to be addressed in noble and warlike terms.” And S. Prosper ( Epist . ad Demetriad in S. Ambrose Ep . iv. 33) says, “ Our will is aided by the operation of the Spirit, but is not done away with. The effect of grace is this, that our will, corrupted as it is by sin, beside itself with vanities, surrounded by corruptions, entangled with difficulties, should not remain in this feeble state, but should be cured and regain its strength by the aid of the All-compassionate Physician.” And again, “ The crafty tempter is ever on the watch, that, as our devotion increases, pride should steal in, and a man should glory in himself, rather than in God, for the good that is in him. The Apostle tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And accordingly the more we advance in holiness, the greater reason we have for fear and trembling, lest the mind, conscious of its progress, should be hurried into excess of pride, and thus become defiled by vanity, while it seems to itself to be resplendent in virtue.”
Ver. 15. — Love not the world. “There are two loves,” says S. Augustine (in loc.), “ the love of God and the love of the world. If the love of the world occupy the heart, there is no room for the love of God to enter. Let the love of the world retire, let the love of God enter in ; let the better have its own place. Thou lovedst the world : love it no more. When thou hast drained out the love of the world from thy heart, thou shalt drink in love divine, and then shall charity begin to dwell in thee, from whence nothing evil can proceed.” “It is,” he proceeds, “as clearing a field before planting fresh trees.”
The Abbot Isaias (de Poenit . Orat. xxi.) answered the question, “ What is the world ? ” in this way. “ It is a fatal rushing into sin —doing what is contrary to nature — fulfilling the desires of the flesh —thinking we shall live here for ever, the caring more for the body than for the soul — glorying in things which perish.” As the Apostle John says, “ Love not the world,” &c. As S. Augustine says, “In this vale of misery thou shouldst not possess anything so beautiful, or so delightful, as to fully occupy your mind. Shun the world, if thou wishest not to be worldly . If thou art not worldly, the world delighteth thee not. Avoid the creatures if thou desirest to have the Creator. Let every creature be vile in thy sight, that the Creator may be sweet in thy heart.”
If any one love the world , the love of the Father is not in him . See James iv. 4. “ We must not give half our heart to God, and half to the world.” As S. Leo says (Serm. v. de Jejun. 7 Mensis) : “There are two loves ... for the rational soul loves either God or the world. There can be no excess in the love of God. But in the love of the world all things are hurtful. And therefore we must firmly cleave to eternal goods, but use worldly goods only by the way, and since we are pilgrims, and hastening to return to our country, we must use the good things of this world as food for our journey through it, and not as an allurement to abide in it.”
Ver. 16. — For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye , and the pride of life. You will say that these properly are not in the world, but in the souls of men who desire them. But I answer, the word world is used in a threefold sense.
1. For men of the world, see John i. 10, xvi. 18 ; and S. Augustine on Ps. lv., “ the wicked and ungodly in the world,” in which sense S. John uses it in his Gospel.
2. It means this created world, in which, as being inanimate, there is not, properly speaking, any concupiscence. But these are provocatives of concupiscence. For everything we see affects our senses and lures us on to love it.
3. It signifies a worldly life, consisting in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is the whole body of sin consisting of these several parts or members. As S. Antony of Padua said, “ The earth is avarice, water is luxury, the air is inconstancy , fire is pride.” These three kinds of concupiscence are in the general term concupiscence. As is added, “ It is not of the Father but of the world.”