we may infer that it was written prior to that event; but here, as in 2 Peter, the evils with which the epistle deals preclude us from giving it a much earlier date, say 65-68 A.D.

Its Character and Contents.-This epistle, consisting of a single chapter, bears a very striking likeness to the second chapter of 2 Peter, so much so that we may conclude with confidence that the one was borrowed from the other. As this epistle has certain features of originality about it which the other lacks, we may infer that St. Peter and not Jude was the borrower. It is quite possible, however, that the Epistle of Jude may itself be the translation of an Aramaic original-judging, for example, from its fondness for threefold expressions.

The epistle is remarkable for several allusions to matters of ancient history that are not recorded in the Old Testament. In ver. 14 we have a quotation from an apocryphal book of Enoch (of which several copies of an Ethiopic version were brought from Abyssinia by the traveller Bruce in 1773); and ver. 9 seems to have been derived from a book called "The Assumption of Moses," only a small part of which has been preserved to us. These allusions are no more at variance with the doctrine of Inspiration than the quotations in the Old Testament from the "Book of Jasher," etc, or Paul's allusions to "Jannes and Jambres" (2 Tim. iii. 8), or his quotations from heathen writers. In 2 Peter, however, these quotations are so modified as to lose their apocryphal character, and there is also an omission of one or two references to Levitical uncleanness, as if the writer desired to adapt his epistle as far as possible for general

use.

The epistle is full of sharp and stern denunciation, aimed at practical evils of a most heinous character, committed by men who were "turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." These evils were founded upon a gross abuse of Christian liberty, and were somewhat similar to the terrible excesses which broke out among

che Anabaptists after the Protestant Reformation, resulting from the abuse of the doctrine of Justification by Faith, when professing Christians combined the guilt of Cain (bloodshed), of Balaam (seduction), and of Korah (insubordination) ver. II. In view of the corruption both of faith and manners that was thus beginning to infect the Church, Jude exhorts his readers to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints," and appeals to the past history of God's judgments for proof of the punishment in store for the present offenders, whom he commends nevertheless to the compassion and care of their believing brethren.

The epistle concludes with one of the most beautiful doxologies to be found in the New Testament.

CHAPTER XXIII

I, 2, AND 3 JOHN

"THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN'

WHO

HO wrote it.-This epistle is quoted by two of the Fathers who had been disciples of the Apostle John, viz. Polycarp and Papias. It is also recognised, and quoted, as John's by Irenæus, who had been a disciple of Polycarp. It is freely quoted by Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian; it is referred to in the Muratorian Fragment, and it is one of the books contained in the old Syriac Version.

Its internal character is such as to confirm us in the belief that it was written by the author of the fourth Gospel. Not only has it many verbal similarities,1 but it is dominated by the same Christian idealism which refers all things in human life to the ultimate principles of light and darkness, truth and error, good and evil, love and hatred, life and death, God and the devil. So intimate is the connection between the two books that the epistle was regarded by the late Bishop Lightfoot as forming a postscript to the Gospel.

To whom written.-In all probability it was addressed in the first instance to the Churches of Asia,

1 E.g. cf. i. 1, John i. 1, 14, xx. 27; i. 2, John iii. 11; i. 3, John xvii. 21; i. 4, John xvi. 24; i. 5, 6, John i. 5, iii. 21, viii. 12; ii. 11, John xii. 35; iii. 14, John v. 24; iv. 9, John i. 14, iii. 16; iv. 14, John iv. 42; v. 6, John xix. 34.

among whom the Apostle John spent the latter part of his life. The exhortation in v. 21, "" guard yourselves from idols," would have special significance in the neighbourhood of Ephesus, which was a great stronghold of idolatry; and the absence of allusions to the Old Testament bears out the supposition that the epistle was addressed to converts from heathenism. Although there are no personal or historical allusions such as would have been likely to occur if it had been a letter addressed to an individual Church, yet the writer speaks in a quiet tone of authority as if he were well known to his readers and expected that his words would command respect.1

Where and when written.-It was probably written in the same city as tradition assigns to the Gospel, viz. Ephesus; and about the same time-85 A.D., or a few years later. It takes the Gospel for granted, and in certain passages (e.g. ii. I, etc., "my little children") the tone of its language is such as would befit an aged apostle addressing men of a later generation.

Its Character and Contents. In this epistleprobably the last inspired utterance of the New Testament excepting the two brief missives that follow it-we have the translation into the Christian life of those great truths, regarding the fellowship of God with man, that are found in the fourth Gospel in connection with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. That Gospel, as we have seen, is doctrinal as well as historical, but its doctrines are here applied to the lives of Christ's followers. The epistle is thus in advance of the Gospel, being designed to lead Christians to a conscious realisation of the new life to which they are called in fellowship with Christ (cf. v. 13 and i. 4 with John xx. 31).

Its thought springs mainly out of a twofold conception of the Divine Nature as "light" (i.-ii.), and as

1 Augustine and other Latin writers speak of the epistle as addressed to the Parthians, but this was probably a mistake occasioned by the Greek term parthenos ("virgin "), which was frequently applied to the Apostle John, in allusion to his supposed lifelong celibacy.

ΤΟ

"love" (iv. 7-v.), united by a bond of righteousness (ii. 29-iv. 6). There is no laboured argument such as we find in some of Paul's epistles, but simply an appeal to first principles that are to be seen with the spiritual eye, not to be proved by means of logic.

Although lofty and spiritual, the teaching in the epistle is at the same time intensely practical. It was evidently intended to counteract the growing tendency to magnify knowledge at the expense of practice (i. 6-7; ii. 3-6; iii. 6-10; cf. ii. 18-19). One form of this incipient Gnosticism was associated with the name of Cerinthus, who lived at Ephesus in the time of the apostle. Cerinthus, like many others,1 denied the reality of Christ's humanity, maintaining, in particular, that the Divine Being only entered into the man Jesus at his Baptism and left him on the eve of his Passion. Hence the emphatic statement of the apostle (v. 6), "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood,”—that is to say, the Saviour fulfilled His divine mission in His death upon the cross as well as in His baptism. Again and again, in other passages, the apostle insists on the reality of the union between Jesus and the Christ, as an essential element of the Christian faith (ii. 22; iv. 2-3, 15; v. 1, 5; cf. i. 1-4).

While it gives no quarter to evil and falsehood, the epistle overflows with exhortations to the love of God and man (ii. 9-11; iii. 11-18; iv. 7-13, 16-21; v. I-2). As we read the apostle's language here, we find it easy to believe the story told of him by Jerome, that when he was too old to preach he used to be carried to church, simply to repeat in the hearing of the congregation, "Little children, love one another." And when some one asked him, "Master, why dost thou always speak thus?" he answered, "Because it is the Lord's command; and if only this be done, it is enough."

1 Called Doceta from a Greek word meaning apparent, not real,