2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
John sets into motions reason for writing this letter: so we will not sin. First, we as Christians need to understand the importance of sin. It is a big deal. Why? Because sin unchecked has a way of overcoming us in time, and when we leave sin unchecked, we erode our spiritual defenses, create a barrier between us and God, and ultimately hasten our own spiritual demise. Sin is a fact in our life. We are not perfect, and there is no way we can be perfectly sinless. It impedes our relationship with God. But there is a remedy. Jesus Christ. His sacrifice for us is the provision for our sin. He is our advocate, as John puts it. Advocate in Greek is Lenski. It primarily refers to friends of the accused who voluntarily step forward, in a court setting, to vouch for the accused, and personally sway the judge to rule in his favor. This is what Jesus does for us. When we are before the judge (God), and are obviously guilty sin via the accuser (satan), and the judge is about to rule against us, Jesus (advocate) steps in and says”wait, he’s one of mine.” The judge then levies the judgment. “Guilty, but the fine is paid.”
Jesus is the propitiation, or the atonement, for our sins. His sacrifice was final, for all, and conquered sin. When we put our faith in Christ, then we are trusting in that propitiation. We are understanding the sacrifice and putting our faith in that promise. That’s how Christ breaks the back of sin. He did it for the entire world. But if Jesus did this for all, why isn’t the entire world saved?
There is a choice in the matter. Free Will is the opportunity we have to choose God. Sadly, many do not. And that is the sad fact of why the world isn’t saved. Jesus needs you to make a choice for him for salvation. It’s the only way.
LOVE AND HATRED FOR FELLOW BELIEVERS
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. The evidence of following God is that we keep his commands. This isn’t the walk of the Pharisees or of Judaism in general, where there are a set number of commandments (613 in Judaism) that must be adhered to or you are considered out of step. God understands our imperfect character. What John is saying here is that its relationship (fellowship) is based on obedience. If we aren’t obeying God’s commands with a strident yearning, then our claim to fellowship is fraudulent. A simple, loving and obedient life to God is a natural result fellowship with God.
But can’t we just know about Christ without actually knowing him? Can we take a simply academic approach and never let God into our hearts? If we are to authentically claim fellowship, then we must live a life marked by three things: submission, confession and active response.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:
Love for God displays itself as obedience. That sounds backward in our western mind. Our American culture tells us that we must be independent, to carve our own trails, to be the author of our own story. But God requires obedience to his commands. And when we are obedient to his commands, in love, it creates a mature relationship. A mature relationship gives us assurance in Jesus. A mature walk does many things, but it has a very distinct mark on sin: 1. We don’t love sin anymore 2. We don’t brag about sin 3. We don’t plan sin 4. We don’t fondly remember it 5. We don’t fully enjoy it anymore 6. We aren’t comfortable in habitual sin
6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
How did Jesus live? He lived a faithful, disciplined life. As Jesus was directed by God, we must be directed by the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of God.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
The commandment is both old and new (John 13:34-35). As the old commandment refers to God’s 10 Commandments (Exodus 20), The new commandment, which makes the commandments full, is love. The 10 commandments were about duty. Now, with the basis of the 10 commandments being love, it changes it to obedience + love.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
The measurement of our love is based on how we treat others. In this case, John is speaking of other Christians. If we don’t care about/for other Christians, then our claim to fellowship (relationship) is fraudulent. If we follow (dutifully) but do not love others, then the things we do for God are ultimately meaningless (1 Corinthians 13)
REASONS FOR WRITING
12 I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. 14 I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
John lays out his reason for writing this book: he wants to bring people to spiritual maturity. He groups people into three categories:
Fathers: these are people with a long spiritual walk.
Young men: these are people who are not “fathers”, but are in an active spiritual fight- they are presently in the battle against satan in a big way.
Little Children: Those who see themselves as dependent children.
ON NOT LOVING THE WORLD
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[d] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Worldliness threatens our fellowship with God. This is the beginning of John’s explanation of things, from the outside, that can effector relationship. When we talk about worldliness though, we must define it properly. It isn’t about hating all things in the world, or the people, or certain types of people. God made the world and proclaimed it good in Genesis 1. And as Christians, we are called to love those in the world. David Wells says it well in Losing our Virtue:
That system of values, in any given age, which has at its center our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and his truth from the world, and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. It thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong and, for that reason, makes what is wrong seem normal.
The wordiness John talks about is the rebellious world system opposed to God. When we go to Genesis 11:1-9, we read about these people in early Babylon who built a tower. Nothing wrong with building a tower, but the people of Babel wanted to build a tower for a very specific reason: they wanted to live life on their own terms, independent of God. It is the first story of organized opposition to God int he bible. And do you know when it happens? Two generations after the flood! The leader of this effort is a guy named Nimrod, a descendent of Noah! So organized opposition to God has been happening since the beginning, and all through scripture, up until our time, we can see evidence of society trying to avoid, ignore or outright deny God.
In our modern society, this is often done through science and technology. Science attempts to bring everything about us into a biological alignment. Everything we do, say or think is a component of our flesh being, nothing more. Technology gives us what we want when we want it, and distracts us to a point that we don’t need anything but what it can offer to make our lives more comfortable. These things help us fall in love with culture and realize that culture demands nothing form us. In fact, there is no accountability in comfort, and oftentimes that’s exactly where we want to be.
We are not to love the world, John says. He means we are not to love the world’s secular system. What do we do when we love? We spend time, we focus, and lay our energy into something. If our energy is in the world, then what are we leaving for God?
He also tells us to not love the things of the world. That is an exact reference to material things( Ecc. 5:10-12). In Ecclesiastes, The King teaches that if we yearn after material things (money), we’ll never have enough. It becomes a vicious cycle, because when you yearn for more, it’s never quite enough. You’re left yearning for just a little more, and you chase that dragon down a dark cavern never quite catching it.
Thirdly, John says that if you love the world, then the love of the father is not in you. What John is saying is that if your time, energy and focus is wrapped into the fabric of the world, then your allegiance is really to what is opposite of God. The two are not compatible.
Verse 16: The character of the world is discussed. John narrows it to three categories: 1.Lust of the flesh: when we’re drawn to things of a selfish nature 2.Lust of the eyes: drawn to those things that make you envious 3.Pride of Life: When you live in superiority to others.
John says that these three categories are not from God, but from the world. God doesn’t influence us through lust. When we are of the world, a few things happen:
1.We have a lack of intimacy with God 2.Lack of generosity with resources 3.Have compromised morals, especially when pressured 4.Sacrifice of family for cultural status 5.Lack of spiritual influence 6.Are reluctant to give up sin 7.Are materialistic 8.Lack of the fear of God 9.Pass compromise onto their children
Verse 17: The folly of Worldliness. Our lives should be grounded in what is true and beneficial, rather than what is temporary and fading. All of our investment into this world cannot come with us. The King in Ecclesiastes discovered this after his long run of experiments:
13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
WARNINGS AGAINST DENYING THE SON
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
John eludes to the future coming of the antichrist, but also mentions that many antichrists have come. He is eluding to the spirit of antichrist, which is the teaching of anything opposed to Christ. This can be of a religious nature or secular. In John’s time, the Christian church was dealing with the growing threat of Gnosticism, which looked a lot like Christianity, with some very large differences. First, they believed that the flesh and spirit were disconnected, and the flesh was rotten. Therefore, whatever was done in the flesh had no consequence. So they didn’t need a savior, they needed only to improve their spirit. This was a large departure from Christianity, and it took many from the church, causing a great disturbance in the early church. They are part of the antichrist movement John is talking about. And it follows into verse 19. He addresses what is going on in the church, and says that their leaving showed them that they were never really saved to begin with. They were people who may have had in appearance of holiness, but they really never belonged, and their life reflects they don’t follow Jesus anymore.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
The anointing given to a believer gives us a very important tool: Discernment. The follower possesses the tool to understand truth from lies. This is a very important anointing that must be worked as life goes on. So in following John’s logic, we have to understand that lies don’t come from the truth. We must understand first, the relationship between the father and son. Jesus is the Messiah, fully God and fully man, and he revealed the heart of the Father to us. The spirit of the antichrist denies the father and the son. And here John makes another bold statement: if you don’t have the son, you don’t have the father either. So do all paths lead to the same God? If we are to believe John, we must believe that Jesus is the only way. If you don’t have the son, you don’t have the father either.
24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
Our protection against the spirit of the antichrist (false teaching) is by abiding in the core message of the apostles (Acts 4:12). If anyone teaches a different Gospel, it is to be rejected (Galatians 1:6-9) Abiding is important to understand. It doesn’t mean to simply know it is enough; we must live in it. When we live in the truth of Jesus Christ, we abide in the son and the father. This is not a passive. It involves mental and spiritual training. And this is in no way a one-sided relationship. When we abide in him, he abides in us.
25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.
The blessing of abiding in Jesus is eternal life. When the truth lives in us, then God lives in us. When God lives in us, then there is a promise. The promise of eternal life is real.
26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
Our anointing as Christians allows us protection so we can continue in the truth. All true followers have this anointing. The anointing we receive from God guides us into truth, and will guide us closer to Jesus.
GOD’S CHILDREN AND SIN
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
If we are in relationship with him, then there is no reason to be ashamed. If you have submitted, are confessing, and actively living with him, then when Jesus comes, there is no reason to fear. The intimacy of relationship chases the fear. Abiding brings us the confidence of his coming (John 14:23)
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
If we are born of him (reborn through Christ), we naturally begin to live out our faith. And an amazing thing happens: we move from a life ruled by disposition to sin to a life rules by disposition to righteousness.