In estimating this dogmatism, however, we must take into account several explanatory - I do not say, modifying - factors.

    (a)  In the Epistle the writer reveals himself as one whose mind is dominated, in an exceptional degree, by the idea of Truth.  To him Christianity is not only a principle of ethics or even a way of salvation; it is both of these, because it is, primarily, the Truth - the one true disclosure, without a competitor,⁴ of the realities of the spiritual and eternal world.  The adjectiveavlhqino,j,⁵ describing that which both ideally and really corresponds to the name it bears, and the substantive avlh,qeia, denoting the reality of things sub specie aeternitatis, are conspicuous expressions of Johannine thought.  The light of the Gospel is the "true light" (to. fw/j to. avlhqino,n, 2⁸), no dim symbolic light like that of the Old Testament, no illusory phosphorescence, like Gnostic speculation, but the light of the Eternal Mind shining out in Christ upon every object in the spiritual world.  The God revealed in Christ is the "true God" (o` avlhqino.j qeo,j, 5<sup>20</sup>), the God who is, and who is all that God ought ideally to be; or, again, He is simply the "True" (o` avlhqino.j, 5²⁰), the ultimate eternal Reality.  No words are more characteristic of St. John than that "No lie is of the truth" (2²¹).  Everywhere we find the same rigorous sense of reality, the same insistence upon the primary necessity of squaring conduct with facts - of "doing the truth" (1⁶); and, in order to this, of knowing, believing, and confessing the great facts in which all true life is rooted.  A mind like St. John's, for which the ideal is the only real, and by which every matter of practice is so clearly seen in the light of its ultimate principles and issues, necessarily lays a weighty emphasis upon Belief, and displays an intense dread and hatred of error.  "No lie is of the truth."  Truth and untruth cannot blend.  They have no common factor; they are opposite in origin and issue.  Whatever be the subject in question the "truth" concerning it is one, and is the sole path by seeing and following which we are "made free" (John 8³²) - are brought into saving contact with the universe of realities.

    (b)  In the Epistle this idiosyncrasy has its edge sharpened by the controversial situation.  If the writer is vehement in his denunciation of all teaching that subverts the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation, it is because this doctrine is in his conviction the centre and compendium of all Truth.⁶  Nor is this dogmatic attitude one that stands in need of apology.  It is true that "the Gospel centres in a Person and not in any truth, even the greatest about that Person" (Westcott).  But it is true also that the Gospel cannot consist merely in the narrative of a life and the delineation of a character, apart from the question who the Person is whose life is narrated and whose character is pictured.  A creedless or merely biographical Gospel is impossible.  The baldest humanitarian, no less than the fullest Trinitarian, conception of Christ implies a creed.  The picture of the historical Jesus has one significance, if we can say - That is the ideal man; another, if we can say - That is very God; still another, if we can say - That is at once the true God and the true man.  But unless we can say one or other of these things about Jesus, His personality remains only a picture or a dream; our knowledge of Him is reduced to that of a mere phenomenon, standing in no known relation to the facts of life; and no Gospel of any kind can centre in Him.  But it has been only in process of time, and chiefly under the stimulus of conflict with antichristian or defectively Christian estimates of the significance of Christ, that Christian Faith has become conscious of its own intellectual contents.  In the first generation it had instinctively given to Christ the significance of true God and true man; but now, as Hellenic speculation and Oriental theosophy sought to draw it into their own strangely blended currents and to assimilate it to their peculiar genius, Christian Faith was compelled to realise the implications of its own consciousness of Christ, and, in repudiating the fantastic eidolon that Gnosticism substituted for the Christ of the Gospel, to develop and formulate those "beliefs" about Christ which, from the first, were implicit in its "believing in" Him.  This was the especial task of the Johannine Theology; and this explains in part the stringent dogmatic tone of the Epistle.

    (c) But there is still another factor to be kept in view, the most important of all in estimating St. John's conception of Belief and the emphasis he lays upon it, - Belief is the touchstone of spiritual life.  Belief in itself is an intellectual judgment regarding the truth of a proposition; yet Christian Belief is essentially more than this.  It is an act of the intellect which has moral and spiritual presuppositions, which is the response not of the reasoning faculty alone, but of the whole moral personality, to the data presented.  It is not belief under coercion of logical proof; it has its deeper source in the spiritual perception of spiritual realities.  Such perception is ultimately a power bestowed by the Divine Begetting (5¹) - a function of the Divine Life therein imparted.  Yet it is conditioned also by moral sincerity - the will to do the will of God (John 7¹⁷).  Thus Belief is the subject of commandment:  "This is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment" (3²³).  No more than Christian Love is a merely instinctive or passive emotion, is Christian Belief a matter either of sheer intellectual compulsion or of involuntary impulse.  It is the gift and the work of God (Eph. 2⁸, John 6⁴⁴); at the same time it is a work of man (John 6²⁹) - the work in which self-determining will at its highest is displayed (John 5⁴⁰, 7¹⁷).

    The paragraph in the first Cycle of the Epistle in which the subject of Belief is treated is 2^18-28.  The chief interest this paragraph has for us lies in its exposition both of the content and the basis of Christian belief; and these topics have been dealt with in preceding chapters.⁷  But it must not be overlooked that the writer's purpose is not exposition; his interest is wholly in the practical application of his cardinal doctrine as the decisive test of Christian and antichristian tendencies.  The warmth of his indignation breaks out in such an abrupt and peremptory interrogation as, "Who is the liar, but he that denieth Jesus is the Christ?" (2²²).  There are many lies and many liars; but he who utters this lie is the liar.  To St. John himself the perception of Jesus as the Christ, the Divine Redeemer, is the ultimate certainty; and he cannot conceive that any one should be able to deny this truth, unless he has, at the same time, lost all sense of truth whatsoever.

    But the passage which chiefly demands our attention in this chapter is the important paragraph in the second Cycle of the Epistle.

    Comparing this with the corresponding paragraph 2^18-28, we find that the Apostle is by no means covering the same ground a second time.

    Here we are confronted by the phenomenon of false as well as of true inspiration; and while in the former paragraph the Spirit of Truth was seen to be the source and guarantee of the True Belief, here, conversely, the "spirits" are themselves tested by the belief to which they give utterance.

    The paragraph is introduced by the customary formula, "Hereby we perceive" (evn tou,tw| ginw,skomen).  What is to be established is that "God abideth in us"; and the reality of this is to be tested" by the Spirit .which He hath given us" (3^24b).⁸  But the Apostle is drawn somewhat aside from the direct line of his argument by consideration of the actual facts with which he has to deal.  The argument in its essence is, "God abides in all to whom He has given His Spirit; but only the spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ come in the flesh is the Spirit of God; if therefore, the spirit in us inspires this confession of Jesus, we know that God abideth in us."  But the writer and his readers have to reckon with the fact that there are in their midst spirits that testify to the contrary effect; and, therefore, he continues, "Beloved, believe not every spirit; but try the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (4¹).  The reference, of course, is to the psychical manifestations with which, from whatever cause;the atmosphere of the Apostolic age was charged in a degree quite unfamiliar to modern experience.  The "spirits" on either side are many, yet have one head and represent one character the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error (4⁶).  It is not to be assumed (as by Huther and Haupt) that the plurality of spirits consists in nothing more than the manifestations of the one personal Spirit, as these are diversified by the individuality of the human "medium " - that, in other words, the "spirits" are simply the "prophets" themselves as the inspired organs of the Spirit.  On the contrary, all that we learn from the New Testament regarding this matter points to the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error as acting upon men through a hierarchy of subordinate spiritual agents.⁹  Thus, as the Church had its "prophets," who were inspired by spirits of heavenly origin, the adherents of antichrist had their pseudo-prophets, the subjects of a daemonic inspiration.  The Apostle accordingly warns his readers not to believe every spirit simply because it is a spirit, but to "test the spirits, whether they be of God"; this being the more necessary " because many false¹⁰ prophets," not merely false teachers, "have gone out" as ambassadors from their native sphere "into the world."  This warning to practise a wise incredulity is not superfluous at any time.  The tendency to yield a facile homage to whatever is characterised by violent emotion and disturbances of human nature, to regard anything that is extraordinary and sensational, rather than what is calm and normal, as possessing in itself the credentials of truth, is one that has borne much evil fruit in the religious world.  Enthusiasm is no guarantee of truth.

    According to I Cor. 12¹⁰ there was in the primitive Church a special charism of "discerning spirits."  Here, however, this is regarded as within the competency of all Christians.  And, indeed, the Apostle immediately proceeds to ensure this by furnishing one crucial test by which the Spirit of Truth is to be at once distinguished from the Spirit of Error.  "Hereby recognise the Spirit of God.¹¹  Every spirit that confesseth¹² Jesus as the Christ come in the flesh¹³ is of God" (4²).

    It is by the substance of the confession, not by its publicity, that the Divine character of the inspiration is to be tested.  To introduce here the idea of contrast between open confession of Christ and inward faith (Haupt, Westcott, following Augustine), is entirely beside the point.  It is of "spirits," not of believers, that the passage speaks; and the antichristian testified no less openly than the Christian spirits.  And, to state the matter with full logical exhaustiveness:  "Every spirit that confesseth not Jesus¹⁴ is not of God"; but, on the contrary, is to be identified with Antichrist¹⁵ (4³).  There is no third possibility.

    The Apostle then proceeds to congratulate his readers upon the faithfulness and success with which they have hitherto resisted and overcome the enemy of their faith.  "Ye are of God" (in contrast with the spirits that "are not of God"), "my little children, and have overcome them."  And this victory is assured of permanence, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (4⁴).  The spirit that has been identified with Antichrist is further characterised as having its sphere of operation and dominion "in the world." They (the spirits who are agents of him "who is in the world") "are of the world."  And their spiritual affinities determine the character of their teaching.  "They speak as of the world"; and the character of their teaching reveals the character of their hearers; "Therefore the world heareth them" (4⁵); for the world "loveth its own" (John 7⁷, 15¹⁹) and "listens to those who express its own thought"¹⁶ (Westcott).  In direct opposition to this description of the false spirits and prophets, the writer asserts of himself and of those whom he associates with himself as truly unfolding the word of life, that "We are of God," and that "Every one that knoweth¹⁷ God heareth¹⁸ us";¹⁹ while, on the contrary, the mark of "Whosoever is not of God," is that he "heareth not us" (4⁶).  Finally, he sums up the purport of the whole argument in the words:  "From this we recognise the Spirit of Truth" (i.e. the Spirit given by God, 3²⁴), "and the Spirit of Error."²⁰  The inferential phrase "from this" (evk tou,ton) is to be understood, not as referring exclusively to the last-mentioned test, the "hearing" or "not hearing" of us (Huther, Weiss), but as indicating the accomplishment of the writer's purpose in the paragraph as a whole.  That purpose, as stated at the outset, was to urge upon his readers this test of God's dwelling in them, namely, the presence and operation in them of the Spirit of God.  But the very office of the Divine Spirit, the promised Paraclete, is to testify to Jesus as the Christ come in the flesh.  Every spirit, therefore, that bears witness to this is of God; and every spirit that does not bear witness to this is not of God.  This test is decisive for the "spirits" themselves.  It is decisive also for those who speak by their inspiration, distinguishing the false prophets from those who, like the Apostle himself, are the messengers of the Truth.  But it is decisive also for their hearers.  And this is the point at which, in reality, the paragraph is aimed.  Not all had the prophetic afflatus.  There were those who gave utterance to the Church's confession and moulded its doctrine; and there were those who only associated themselves therewith by approval and adherence.  For the majority, the actual test consisted in the confession they received as true and adopted as their own, and in the teaching to which they approvingly listened.  For all alike, teachers and taught, their attitude towards the truth of the Incarnation was decisive of the spirit that was in them, whether it was the Spirit of Truth or the Spirit of Error.

    In the third Cycle of the Epistle the corresponding paragraph²¹ is 4^13-16.  And, in fact, this paragraph reproduces in the simplest and directest form the argument which in was somewhat complicated by the reference to the different "spirits" and their human organs.

    "In this, that²² He hath given us of His²³ Spirit, we perceive that we abide in Him, and He in us" (4¹³).

    Here, as everywhere in the Epistle, the Spirit is regarded exclusively as the Spirit of Truth - the Witness to Christ, and the Author of true Belief.

    The first-fruit of this endowment with the Spirit is the Apostolic testimony itself - "And we²⁴ have beheld and bear witness²⁵ that the Father sent the Son (as) the Saviour of the world"; (4¹⁴) - its full result is the continuous reproduction of the same testimony in others also.  Not only the Apostles have in their vision and testimony the infallible sign of God's dwelling in them; but "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God" (4¹⁵).  In 4², the true confession was, "Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh"; here, it is "Jesus is the Son of God."  The two formulae are equivalent; and here the latter is preferred as suggesting more directly the revelation of the Divine Love in the mission of the Son, and as thus leading up to the statement in which the thought of this whole section is summed up, "We have perceived and believed²⁶ the Love which God hath toward²⁷ us.  God is Love; and he that abideth in Love abideth in God, and God in him" (4¹⁶).

    It ought to be observed that in this paragraph the ideas of Belief and Love are knit together in closest relation.  At the beginning (4¹³), the mutual indwelling of God and man is said to be certified by the presence of that Spirit Who, alike in the Apostles (4¹⁴) and in the whole company of the faithful (4¹⁵), testifies to the true Belief.  In the end, the same mutual indwelling is certified by our "abiding in Love" (4¹⁶).  And the transition is naturally effected through the fact that the whole weight of our assurance that God is Love, and that, consequently, to abide in Love is to abide in God, hangs upon the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, sent by the Father to be the Saviour of the world.  St. John does not say or imply that Love is the fruit of Belief, or Belief of Love.  Their correlation consists in this, that both Love and Belief are necessarily and concomitantly wrought in men by the Divine Begetting and Indwelling.  Because God is Love, the new nature of the God-begotten also is Love (4⁷).  But the fulness of the Divine Love is manifested only in the mission of the Son (4^9,10), and those who are "begotten of God" necessarily have the power to perceive this when it is presented to them, - to recognise in the Incarnation and the Saviourship of the Son of God, the supreme divinity of Love.  Therefore, "Every one that loveth is begotten of God" (4⁷); therefore also, "Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him and he in God" (4¹⁵).

    Here, then, the characteristic doctrine of the Epistle with regard to Belief is unmistakable.  Belief is the outcome, therefore the test, of life.  The truth asserted is not that our abiding in God and God's abiding in us are the result of our belief in Christ and confession of Him, but, conversely, that the confession is the result of the abiding.  The same position is categorically affirmed in 5¹ "Every one that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God." Here the tenses (pisteu,wn - gege,nnhtai) make it clear that the Divine Begetting is the antecedent, not the consequent, of the believing; that, in other words, Christian Belief, which is essentially the spiritual recognition of spiritual truth, is a function of the Divine²⁸ Life as imparted to men.  This is the most distinctive element in the Johannine conception of Belief; and, unless it is firmly grasped, the most characteristic utterances of the Epistle regarding Belief will appear to be the assertions of a hard, scholastic dogmatism that interprets intellectual assent to an orthodox formula as the equivalent of spiritual union with God.  Fuller consideration than has yet been given to this point will, therefore, not be out of place.  The conception of Belief just indicated is most fully developed in the Fourth Gospel, which it dominates from beginning to end.  A few passages out of many may be quoted. "Unto this end have I been born, and to this end have I come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth; every one that is of the truth heareth My voice" (18³⁷).  "Ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep.  My sheep hear My voice. . . and they follow Me"(10^26,27).  "I have manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gayest Me.  Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me" (17⁶; cf. 3^19-21, 12^37-41, 5⁴⁴, 6⁴⁴, 8^42,47).  "Every one that hath heard from the Father cometh unto Me"; "No man can come unto Me except it be given him of My Father" (6^45,65).  In these and all similar passages, in the Gospel and the Epistle, belief or unbelief, when Christ is presented, depends upon antecedent spiritual predisposition.  The Gospel does not create the children of God; it finds them, attracts them, reveals them, draws them forth from the mass of mankind.  Thus St. John can speak of those who have not even heard the Gospel as being, at least potentially, the "children of God" (John 11⁵²).  And this is otherwise expressed in the favourite Johannine view that Christ's work among men is a work of judgment, of sifting and separation (kri,sij, John 9³⁹, 3^18,19).  Christ comes as a Light into the world; and those who, though they dwell in darkness, are lovers of the Light, come unto Him.  Christ comes as the voice of Eternal Truth, and all who are "of the truth" hear His voice.  Christ is thrust as a magnet into the midst of mankind, and draws to Himself all who have an affinity with Him.  Others He repels; they "see no beauty in Him, that they should desire Him."  Men believe or disbelieve according to the spirit that is in them.  By their attitude to the Revelation of God they reveal themselves; according as they pronounce their judgment upon the Truth, it pronounces judgment upon them.  To recognise or not to recognise God in Christ - there lies the boundary-line between spiritual life and spiritual death.

    Pfleiderer, however, gives a quite inconsistent statement of the Johannine doctrine, when he interprets it to the effect that "The manifestation of Christ brings nothing absolutely new into the world, but develops and matures the Divine and undivine germs that already lie implanted in men" (ii. 490).  As well might one say that the spring-sunshine brings nothing new into the world, because autumn sowed and winter stored the seeds it brings to germination; or that the dawn brings nothing new into the world, because it comes to those who, though sitting in darkness, yet have eyes.  What the Johannine doctrine avers is, that there exists in some men what is lacking in others, a power of spiritual vision by which Christ is recognised and welcomed in His true character - a capacity and a predisposition to receive Him (John 1^12,13).

    This is, in fact, St. John's equivalent to the Pauline doctrine of predestination.²⁹  Pondering the question why the Gospel reveals so profound a cleavage among men, St. Paul answers it by the thesis of a direct Divine predestination; St. John, by that of a personal spiritual predisposition.  But St. John's predisposition is no more inherent in the natural character than St. Paul's predestination.  He refuses to find its source in the human personality (John 1¹³; I John 5¹).  The children of God are not a superior species of the genus homo.  They are mcn who "have passed from death into life" (3¹⁴); and who have done so because they are "begotten of God."  And the motive of St. John's doctrine is precisely the same as that of St. Paul's.  Partly, it is apologetic.  It is the assertion, as against the unbelieving world, of the inward ground and the intuitive certainty of Christian Belief.  As we need no proof that light is light when the eye beholds it, so the soul, begotten of God, beholds and recognises eternal truth (5²⁰).  Partly, the motive is religious.  It is to satisfy the innermost Christian consciousness that, not even for this vision of the truth, not even for the appropriation of God's gift in Christ, can believers take credit to themselves; that in nothing can the human will do more than respond to the Divine; and that, in the last resort, this power itself is of God.

    It is far-fetched to find, as Pfleiderer does (ii. 490), a historical kinship between this doctrine and the Gnosis of Basilides.  The connection he suggests with Philo's doctrine of the separative activity of the Logos is more credible.  But the historical roots of the Johannine conception lie nearer at hand - in the Old Testament, in the Synoptic Gospels, in the Epistles of St. Paul.  They are plainly to be traced in the great prophecy (Isa. 6^10,11) quoted in St. John (12^37-41), and so often elsewhere in the New Testament; in such Pauline passages as 2 Cor. 2^15,16, 4^3-6 in such Synoptic utterances as Luke 2^34,35, Matt. 11^25,26, 16¹⁷.  But, in truth, it is not necessary to deduce the doctrine from any remoter source than the meditation of a thoughtful Christian mind upon the facts of life.  And when we consider what the facts are; - that, among men of the same race, traditions, education, manners, and morals Christ is, on the one hand, the supreme and enduring attraction, and on the other, an object of frigid indifference or of keen hostility; that, as when of old He was crucified between two malefactors, the Cross itself became a throne of judgment on which He sat separating the sheep from the goats, so still, under all the apparent identities and diversities of human life, Christ shows Himself the great divider of men: when we consider, further, that we can know and be attracted by that only with which we have some affinity, that the soul cannot kindle in recognition admiration and desire of what is alien to its own nature, - we are constrained to ask whether any truer word can be spoken concerning all this, than that of the Epistle, - that a believing response to the Revelation of Christ, in whomsoever it is found, is due to the fact that he has been "begotten of God."  "Can you tell why the needle trembles to the pole, why the buds feel their way to the spring, the flowers to the sunlight?  They are made for it: and souls are so made for Christ."

    Of Divine contents and origin, Christian Belief is also a Divine power in men, victorious over the evil and falsehood of the World.  The first of the passages that tell of this victory is that in which the Apostle congratulates his readers upon their having quitted themselves like true soldiers of Jesus Christ, by their resolute and successful resistance to the enemies of their faith.  "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (4⁴).  Here the conflict is expressly between Truth and Error; and, indeed, between the personal Spirit of Truth and the personal Spirit of Error.  As it is said "ye are of God," so "He that is in you" can be none other than God,³⁰ acting by "the Spirit He hath given us" (3^24b) - the "Anointing" which "teacheth concerning all things" (2²⁷).  And "He that is in the world" can be none other than the dia,boloj³¹ of 3^8,10.  The human combatants are identified on both sides with a superhuman personality whose instruments they directly are and in whose power they contend.  And the victory of Truth is won, and its permanence is ensured by the fact that its Divine protagonist is greater than the opposing Spirit of Error.  Great as is the power of falsehood to captivate and to mislead, the convincing power of Truth is always, in the end, greater (John 16^8-11).  This mei,zwn³² is the Christian's sheet anchor of hope when he contemplates the power of falsehood in the World.

    "And His commandments are not burdensome, because everything that is begotten of God overcometh the world.  And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

    Here, as elsewhere³³ in the Epistle, the "World" is not the order of the seen and temporal considered as a power to hold the soul in bondage and to render it insensible to spiritual realities; it is the world of ungodly persons, with the opinions, sentiments, and influences - the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life" - which they embody.  The "World" is, therefore, a prolific source of temptations that inevitably tend to make God's commandments burdensome to those who strive to obey them fully.  Its hostility may take the form of overt persecution; but always the world brings to bear against those whose aims are spiritual, a force of ideas and estimates - as of "success," "happiness," "honour" - and of social influences, which he must conquer or to which he must succumb.  Such an environment would necessarily render the requirements of the Christian Life a grievous and a galling yoke but for this,³⁴ - "Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world."  As the human body is unaffected by an external atmospheric pressure that would crush it to a pulp, but for the fact that there is an equal expansive pressure within the body itself; so, since "Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world," the world's hostile pressure is more than neutralised, and God's commandments are not burdensome.  "And this is the victory that overcometh (hath overcome,³⁵ R.V.) the world - our Belief."  Belief itself may be regarded as the victory.  Simply to believe in Christ is, in principle, complete victory over the world.  This alone puts the world, with its false ideals and standards, under our feet.  But the battle has to be fought out in detail; and our Belief is necessarily the spiritual weapon³⁶ by which every successive temptation is met and overcome.  What this Belief is the next verse declares:  "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"  The union of the human name "Jesus" with the full title "the Son of God," expresses vividly the world-conquering power of this belief.  For, from the worldly point of view, no one was ever more manifestly overwhelmed by defeat and disaster than was this "Son of God."  To believe that, living and dying, Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, that to do the will of God and to finish His work as Jesus did is the one true victory life can give that to minister rather than to be ministered unto, and to give oneself a ransom for many, is its "topmost, ineffablest crown," is to be, in thought at least, emancipated from the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life."  But it is not only by its loftier ideal that Christian Belief conquers the world.  It combines with the purely ethical ideal both the power of Love ("This is the Love of God, that we keep His commandments," 5³) and the assurance of immortality; setting over against the world that "passeth away" the vision of another where the Divine Ideal is in fact, as here it is in right, supreme.  Above all, Belief is victory because it is the proof of union with Christ Who, Himself victorious over the world, is the source of all-conquering power to them in whom He abides (John 16³³).  "He that hath the Son hath Life" (5¹²); and, while surrounded by the world's hostile influences, he is made partaker in Christ's own triumph over them.

"Remember what a martyr said
On the rude tablet overhead!
'I was born sickly, poor and mean,
A slave: no misery could screen
The holders of the pearl of price
From Caesar's envy; therefore twice
I fought with beasts, and three times saw
My children suffer by his law.
At last my own release was earned:
I was some time in being burned,
But at the close a Hand came through
The fire above my head, and drew
My soul to Christ, whom now I see.
Sergius, a brother, writes for me
This testimony on the wall -
For me, I have forgot it all.'"

    In the Johannine writings this word has the same leading significations as in classical Greek.  In one instance it means to "entrust" (evpi,steuen auvto.n auvtoi/j, John 2²⁴).  Elsewhere it means (a) to "believe" a fact (with the noun in the accusative, as in 4¹⁶ pepisteu,kamen th.b avga,phn) or the statement of a fact (introduced by o[ti, as in 5^1,5); (b) to "believe" or credit the testimony of a person or thing; (c) to "believe in" or trust a person or thing.  Confining attention to the last two of these usages, we find that in classical Greek pisteu,ein in either sense has the object in the dative, never being followed by a prepositional phrase.

    But it was indispensable that N.T. Greek should possess the means of distinguishing ideas that are so different for Christian thought as "believe" and "believe in."  In St. John to "believe in" or "trust" ( = B. !ymia/h,) is, as a rule, pisteu,ein eivj (5¹⁰).  In the three cases in which pisteu,ein eivj has a thing, not a person, as its object (eivj to. fw/j, John 12³⁶; eivj th.n marturi,an, I John 5¹⁰; eivj to. o;noma, I John 5¹⁸), it may be argued that the sense is still to "trust," the reference being really to the person who is the source of the light, the author of the testimony, the possessor of the name.

    On the other hand, to "believe" is, as a rule, pisteu,ein, c. dat. Moulton (p. 67), like Westcott and Abbott, will have it that the rule is invariable for the New Testament.  But in Acts 16³⁴, 18⁸ much the more natural sense of pisteu,ein, c. dat., is "believe in."  In St. John, also, the two constructions are sometimes used interchangeably (cf. John 6^29,30 and 8^30,31).  And, in the Epistle, it is impossible, without pedantry, to assign different shades of meaning to pisteu,ein tw/| ovno,mati (3²⁸) and pisteu,ein eivj to. o;noma (5¹³).  The truth is that, in the nature of the case, the two ideas "believe" and "believe in" frequently run into and blend with each other, belief of the thing testified resting upon trust in the person testifying (cf. John 5^24,38 with 12⁴⁴).