And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice and your joy may be full.
και ταυτα γραφομεν υμιν ινα η χαρα ημων υμων η πεπληρωμενη
11 Church Fathers comment on this verse
For when we are in fellowship with you, we experience the greatest delight. It is like the joy which the rejoicing sower gives to the reapers when he distributes their wage, as they also rejoice that others enjoy the fruits of their labors.
"And these things," he says, "we write to you, that our joy may be full." According to John, full joy is found in this very communion, in this very love, and in this very unity.
Teachers attain the fullness of rejoicing when, by their preaching, they bring many into the fellowship of the holy Church. They bring them into fellowship with Him by Whom the Church is strengthened and grows: God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
The apostle is not indicating a new purpose. He is disclosing the desired consequence of communion with them, the apostles, in their gracious communion with the Father and His Son. All apostolic preaching, whether delivered orally or in writings, calls to apostolic faith and to participation with the apostles in the gracious gifts communicated through faith in Jesus Christ.
By bringing us to this participation in gracious gifts, apostolic teaching also brings us to participation in their perfect joy. “And these things we write to you, that your joy may be perfect.” Saint John speaks as though saying this: we write these things to you so that, together with us, you may have true and unshakable faith in Jesus Christ. We write so that you may love Him with all your heart, keep His commandments with all your strength, and, serving the Lord with us in this way, have perfect joy in Him. This joy rests in the hope of inheriting eternal and blessed life in the mansions of the heavenly Father.
If you do this, and if you plant in your heart unshakable faith and unhypocritical love, then you will be assured that your labor will not be empty before the Lord. You will feel in your soul the true and perfect joy which is the portion of all God's elect.
“That your joy may be fulfilled,” or, in the Russian translation, “perfect.” The Savior Himself said the same to His disciples when He was taking leave of them (Jn 15:1). He promised them that if they kept the commandment of love, they would abide in His love. That is, they would be loved by Him and would be in communion with Him, and through Him with His Father. This would fill their hearts with the greatest joy (Jn 15:10-11; Jn 16:24; Jn 17:13).
For “if God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32). Here joy means blessedness. It is perfect because God, who gives it, is perfect. As the commandment of love is the summary of the whole Law, and love is the bond of perfection (Col 3:14), so the promised union with God is the promise of all the highest blessings. It is full and most perfect joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17).
"These things we write" means that we bear witness both orally and in writing. We proclaim orally and we write. The purpose of this oral and written witness, this proclamation and writing, is that your joy may be perfect, full, pure, and exalted.
Such fullness of joy can exist only in fellowship with God and Christ in the Holy Spirit. Compare Jn 15:10 and Jn 17:13.
"When we are in fellowship with you, we experience the greatest joy. It is like the joy which the rejoicing sower gives to the reapers when he distributes their wage, as they also rejoice that others enjoy the fruits of their labors" (Theophylact).
In his first epistle the holy apostle speaks with believers as a father with children, quite artlessly. He does not follow a strict order in arranging his thoughts, and he often repeats the same expressions. Therefore every effort to divide the contents of his epistle into independent sections according to some guiding thoughts would be useless and would only lead to strained constructions.
For the sake of memory, when grasping the contents of the epistle, it is enough to mark, in the order of the chapters, certain prominent thoughts in them. The other accompanying thoughts relate to these as subordinate.
At the beginning the apostle sets forth a brief notice concerning the chief subject of his blessing (1 Jn 1-4). This is the incarnate God the Word. He explains the grounds for faith in Him and his own motives for preaching Him.
“That which was from the beginning,” as in the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word,” and so forth. “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and which our hands have handled,” meaning what is most certain, “concerning the Word of life, we declare to you, that you also may have communion with us,” the apostles. “And our communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
The apostle indicates another purpose of the Epistle. Christians must not give themselves over to sorrow when they hear and see attacks against the most precious objects of the Christian faith.
On the contrary, they should rejoice when they hear the indisputably true witness concerning the divine majesty of Jesus Christ, and the saving power of His work and teaching. Jesus Christ Himself said something similar when He saw an incorrect understanding of the meaning of His departure from the world. See Jn 15:11 and 17:13.
During the preaching activity of John the Theologian in Asia Minor at the end of the first century, heretics appeared there who were later called Gnostics. They introduced principles of Greek philosophy and Jewish views into pure Christian teaching, and they denied the divine dignity of the Son of God.
At the same time as the Gnostics, other heretics, the Docetists, did not deny the divine dignity of Jesus Christ. Yet they did not acknowledge the reality of His Incarnation. They asserted that Jesus Christ had only the phantom flesh of a man, and that His sufferings were only apparent. In reality, as bodiless God, He did not suffer. The spread of such false teachings among the Christians of Asia Minor moved the apostle John the Theologian to write the epistle.
The heretics prided themselves on their imaginary wisdom and on supposedly possessing true knowledge, or faith, concerning God. From the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge, they were called Gnostics. At the same time, however, they led a sinful and sensual life, wholly attached to the goods of this sinful world.
In refutation of these heretics, the apostle writes that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. For communion with God, a morally pure life is necessary. “If we say that we have communion with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not act according to the truth.”
Communion with God requires constant care for one’s moral purity. For while living in the world, a man cannot remain sinless. Only by confessing his sins before God is he cleansed from defilement. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ch. 1). For “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (2:1-2).
Fellowship with the apostles, and through them with Christ and God the Father, must serve as the source of full and inexhaustible spiritual joy for Christians in every condition of earthly life.
For this reason the apostles remind believers of the need for this fellowship. They wish to awaken and sustain this joy in them, and to show in it the means for patiently enduring sorrows and persecutions for the faith of Christ.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 10 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS