[98] "Imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good" (3 John 12). A comparison of this verse with John xxi. 24 would lead to the supposition that the writer of the letter is quoting the Gospel, and assumes an intimate knowledge of it on the part of Caius. See Discourse XVII. Part ii. of this vol.
[99] See note A at the end of this discourse.
[100] 1 John iv. 9.
[101] απεσταλκεν.
[102] απεστειλεν.
[103] 1 John iv. 20.
[104] 1 John iv. 16.
[105] πεπιστευκαμεν την αγαπην, 1 John iv. 16.
[106] For the aor. conj. in this place as distinguished from the pres. conj. cf. John v. 20, 23, vi. 28, 29, 30. Professor Westcott's refined scholarship corrects the error of many commentators, "that the Apostle is simply warning us not to draw encouragement for license from the doctrine of forgiveness." The tense is decisive against this, the thought is of the single act not of the state.
[107] εαν τις ἁμαρτη, 1 John ii. 1.