[153] Observe in the Greek the μη ἁμαρτητε, which refers to single acts, not to a continuous state—"that ye may not sin."
[154] 1 John ii. 2. As a translation, "towards" seems too pedantic; yet προς is ad-versus rather than apud, and with the accusative signifies either the direction of motion, or the relation between two objects. (Donaldson, Greek Grammar, 524). We may fittingly call the preposition here προς pictorial.
[155] The various meanings of κοσμος are fully traced below on 1 John ii. 17. There is one point in which the notions of κοσμος and αιων intersect. But they may be thus distinguished. The first signifies the world projected in space, the second in time. The supposition that the form of expression at the close of our verse is elliptical, and to be filled up by the repetition of "for the sins of the whole world" "is not justified by usage, and weakens the force of the passage." (Epistles of St. John, Westcott, p. 44.)
[156] As to doctrine. There are three "grand circles" or "families of images" whereby Scripture approaches from different quarters, or surveys from different sides, the benefits of our Lord's meritorious death. These are represented by, are summed up in, three words—απολυτρωσις, καταλλαγη, ιλασμος. The last is found in the text and in iv. 10; nowhere else precisely in that form in the New Testament. "Ιλασμος (expiation or propitiation) and απολυτρωσις (redemption) is fundamentally one single benefit, i.e., the restitution of the lost sinner. Απολυτρωσις is in respect of enemies; καταλλαγη in respect of God. And here again the words ἱλασμ. and καταλλ. differ. Propitiation takes away offences as against God. Reconciliation has two sides. It takes away (a) God's indignation against us, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19; (b) our alienation from God, 2 Cor. v. 20." (Bengel on Rom. iii. 24. Whoever would rightly understand all that we can know on these great words must study New Testament Synonyms, Archbp. Trench, pp. 276-82.)
[157] Acts xvii. 27.
[158] Jonah i. 5.
[159] 1 John ii. 28.
[160] 2 John 9.
[161] Matt. xxiii. 15.
[162] Bouddhism, it is now said, appears to be on the wane, and the period for its disappearance is gradually approaching, according to the Boden Professor of Sanscrit at Oxford. In his opinion this creed is "one of rapidly increasing disintegration and decline," and "as a form of popular religion Bouddhism is gradually losing its vitality and hold on the vast populations once loyal to its rule." He computes the number of Bouddhists at 100,000,000; not 400,000,000 as hitherto estimated; and places Christianity numerically at the head of all religions—next Confucianism, thirdly Hinduism, then Bouddhism, and last Mohammedanism. He affirms that the capacity of Bouddhism for resistance must give way before the "mighty forces which are destined to sweep the earth."