This faithful abiding in fellowship with Christ, by virtue of which believers will in that day stand with untroubled conscience before the Lord, in the sense of John embraces the entire life; including not merely opposition to radical errors in doctrine, but to all sin by which the christian life might be defiled. Thus a new division now commences, with reference to the shunning of everything sinful: "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."
These words are more closely connected with what follows than with what precedes; and we must therefore here refer the pronoun, not to Christ, but to God. The close connection between the references to Christ and to God, renders this transition easy, without any formal designation of it. It here arises naturally out of the conception, which in all that follows underlies the Apostle's course of thought. The appellation "Righteous" admits indeed of a reference to Christ; and as the subject of remark now is a being of believers in Christ, and their whole life is contemplated as having its source in him, as derived from him and vitalized by him, so also it might be said that they were born of Christ. But the Apostle's uniform manner of conception and expression decides against this view. As he is accustomed to contemplate Christ in his human manifestation, -- the incarnate Word; He through whom man is reinstated in fellowship with God, through whom he is raised again to the filial relation to God, and becomes the child of God; so does he contemplate God, as the eternal, original source of the new life imparted through Christ to the believer. It is in this view, accordingly, that he speaks of a birth from God, in contrast with the natural corporeal birth by which one becomes a member of the human family; inasmuch as by this he is lifted out of the customary current of the world, and incorporated with the kingdom of God, in which without divine life there can be no participation. Thus, by the Righteous, we are to understand God. Righteousness is here synonymous with perfect purity, with holiness. Accordingly, the inference is here made, that those who know God as the Holy One must also know, that being through the kindled life imparted by him born of him anew, and called in this sense his children, they must make themselves manifest as such through a righteous life-walk in harmony with him. Two things, an affirmative and a negative, are implied in this declaration. First, that where true righteousness exists, it can have been derived only from this source; that true righteousness can only be attained through a birth from God, as it is only through the power of God that the ruling power of sin can be overcome in man. So Christ asserts, that whatever is born of the flesh needs the moral transformation effected by the Spirit which God imparts. "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh;" it corresponds to its origin, to sinful human nature as estranged from God. Secondly it is implied, that he only who leads a life in harmony with righteousness is born of God; only by this sign can the birth from God make itself known. Where the opposite is found, it furnishes evidence that this birth from God has never yet taken place; that what the Holy Spirit calls the Flesh, comprehending under this name whatever both in the sensual and intellectual nature stands opposed to the divine influence, is still predominant in him. In this connection, as is shown by what follows, the special reference is to God.
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