1 John 5:21

5:18-21 All mankind are divided into two parties or dominions; that which belongs to God, and that which belongs to the wicked one. True believers belong to God: they are of God, and from him, and to him, and for him; while the rest, by far the greater number, are in the power of the wicked one; they do his works, and support his cause. This general declaration includes all unbelievers, whatever their profession, station, or situation, or by whatever name they may be called. The Son leads believers to the Father, and they are in the love and favour of both; in union with both, by the indwelling and working of the Holy Spirit. Happy are those to whom it is given to know that the Son of God is come, and to have a heart to trust in and rely on him that is true! May this be our privilege; we shall thus be kept from all idols and false doctrines, and from the idolatrous love of worldly objects, and be kept by the power of God, through faith, unto eternal salvation. To this living and true God, be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

1 John 5:21 . Filioli, custodite vos a simulacris (Vulg.). The exhortation arises naturally. “This”—this God revealed and made near and sure in Christ—“is the True God and Life Eternal. Cleave to Him, and do not take to do with false Gods: guard yourselves from the idols.” St. John is thinking, not of the heathen worship of Ephesus—Artemis and her Temple, but of the heretical substitutes for the Christian conception of God. τεκνία gives a tone of tenderness to the exhortation. φυλάσσειν is used of “guarding” a flock ( Luke 2:8 ), a deposit or trust ( 1 Timothy 6:20 ; 2 Timothy 1:12 ; 2 Timothy 1:14 ), a prisoner ( Acts 12:4 ). φυλάσσειν “watch from within ”; τηρεῖν (see note on 1 John 2:3 ), “watch from without ”. Thus, when a city is besieged, the garrison φυλάσσουσι , the besiegers τηροῦσιν . The heart is a citadel, and it must be guarded against insidious assailants from without. Not φυλάσσετε , “be on your guard,” but φυλάξατε , aor. marking a crisis. The Cerinthian heresy was a desperate assault demanding a decisive repulse.

i.e. From those idolatrous communions with the Gentiles in their worship and festivals in their temples, which these pseudo-christians had latitude enough for, as appears by the apostle St. Paul’s discourses, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 10:14 (especially if any danger did urge); wherein, instead of that communion with the Father and the Son, which {1Jo 1:3} he was inviting them to, they should have fellowship with devils, as that other apostle tells his Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 10:20,21 . And he might also have reference to the peculiar idolatries, which this sort of men are noted to have been guilty of towards their great sect master.

Keep yourselves (φυλάξατε ἑαυτὰ) The exact phrase is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. See 2 Peter 3:17. Rev., rightly, guard. See on 1 Peter 1:4. Idols (εἰδώλων) Strictly, images. The command, however, has apparently the wider Pauline sense, to guard against everything which occupies the place due to God.

1 John 5:21 . Φυλάξατε ἑαυτοὺς , keep yourselves ) in my absence, that no one deceive you. The elegance of the active verb with the reciprocal pronoun is more expressive than φυλάξασθε , be on your guard . See on Chrysostom de Sacerd. p. 423.— ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων , from idols ) and not only from their worship, but also from all communion and appearance of communion with them: Revelation 2:14 ; Revelation 2:20 .[27] [27] Bengel, J. A. (1866). Vol. 5 : Gnomon of the New Testament (M. E. Bengel & J. C. F. Steudel, Ed.) (W. Fletcher, Trans.) (111–154). Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

Verse 21. - Keep yourselves from idols; or, guard yourselves from the idols. In verse 18 we had τηρεῖ ; here the verb is φυλάξατε . The aorist, rather than the present imperative, is used to make the command more forcible, although the guarding is not momentary, but will have to continue (Compare μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί , John 15:4 ; τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσατε John 14:15 ). What is the meaning of "the idols" τῶν εἰδώλων here? In answering this question it will be well to hold fast to the common canon of exegesis, that where the literal interpretation makes good sense, the literal interpretation is probably right. Here the literal interpretation makes excellent sense. Ephesus was famous for its idols. To be "temple-keeper of the great Artemis" ( Acts 19:35 ) was its pride. The moral evils which had resulted from the abuse of the right of sanctuary had caused the Roman senate to cite the Ephesians and other states to submit their charters to the government for inspection. Ephesus had been the first to answer to the summons, and had strenuously defended its claims. It was famous, moreover, for its charms and incantations; and folly of this kind had found its way into the Christian Church ( Acts 19:13-20 ). As so often happens with converts from a religion full of gross superstition, a good many of the superstitious observances survived the adoption of Christianity. With facts such as these before us, we can hardly be wrong in interpreting "the idols" quite literally.

The apostle's "little children" could not live in Ephesus without coming constantly in contact with these polluting but attractive influences. They must have absolutely nothing to do with them: "Guard yourselves and abjure ἀπό them." Of course, this literal interpretation places no limit on the application of the text. To a Christian anything is an idol which usurps the place of God in the heart, whether this be a person, or a system, or a project, or wealth, or what not. All such usurpations come within the sweep of the apostle's injunction, "Guard yourselves from your idols." 1 John 5:21

21. Affectionate parting caution. from idols—Christians were then everywhere surrounded by idolaters, with whom it was impossible to avoid intercourse. Hence the need of being on their guard against any even indirect compromise or act of communion with idolatry. Some at Pergamos, in the region whence John wrote, fell into the snare of eating things sacrificed to idols. The moment we cease to abide "in Him that is true (by abiding) in Jesus Christ," we become part of "the world that lieth in the wicked one," given up to spiritual, if not in all places literal, idolatry (Eph 5:5; Col 3:5).

Little children - This is a favorite mode of address with John, (see the notes at 1 John 2:1 ), and it was proper to use it in giving his parting counsel; embracing, in fact, all that he had to say - that they should keep themselves from idols, and suffer nothing to alienate their affections from the true God. His great object had been to lead them to the knowledge and love of God, and all his counsels would be practically followed, if, amidst the temptations of idolatry, and the allurements of sin, nothing were allowed to estrange their hearts from him. Keep yourselves from idols - From worshipping them; from all that would imply communion with them or their devotees. Compare the notes at 1 Corinthians 10:14. The word rendered "idols" here (εἰδώλων eidōlōn) means, properly, an image, specter, shade - as of the dead; then any image or figure which would represent anything, particularly anything invisible; and hence anything designed to represent God, and that was set up with a view to be acknowledged as representing him, or to bring, him, or his perfections, more vividly before the mind. The word is applicable to idol-gods - pagan deities, 1 Corinthians 8:4, 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Corinthians 10:19; Romans 2:22; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; but it would, also, be applicable to any "image" designed to represent the true God, and through or by which the true God was to be adored.

The essential things in the word seem to be: (a) an image or representation of the Deity, and, (b) the making of that an object of adoration instead of the true God. Since one of these things would be likely to lead to the other, both are forbidden in the prohibitions of idolatry, Exodus 20:4-5. This would forbid all attempts to represent God by paintings or statuary; all idol-worship, or worship of pagan gods; all images and pictures that would be substituted in the place of God as objects of devotion, or that might transfer the homage from God to the image; and all giving of those affections to other beings or objects which are due to God. why the apostle closed this Epistle with this injunction he has not stated, and it may not be easy to determine. It may have been for such reasons as these: (1) Those to whom he wrote were surrounded by idolaters, and there was danger that they might fall into the prevailing sin, or in some way so act as to be understood to lend their sanction to idolatry. (2) in a world full of alluring objects, there was danger then, as there is at all times, that the affections should be fixed on other objects than the supreme God, and that what is due to him should be withheld. It may be added, in the conclusion of the exposition of this Epistle, that the same caution is as needful for us as it was for those to whom John wrote. We are not in danger, indeed, of bowing down to idols, or of engaging in the grosser forms of idol-worship.