1 JOHN 5

(All scripture references below are from the NASB, unless indicated otherwise.)

1 John 5:1 "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.

5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.

5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.

5:5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

John says in this passage that anyone born of God loves God and keeps his commandments, particularly the commandment to love others who are born of God. By implication, we are commanded to love both Christ and his followers.

Verse 4 above is probably the most well-known verse in this chapter. The faith which overcomes the world may be thought of in two ways. In the context of this chapter, it means believing God's testimony that Jesus is the Christ, as well as the earth-borne testimony about Christ which we will discuss in later verses.

But it can also refer to the results of faith which are described in Hebrews 11 below:

Hebrews 11:32 "And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,

11:33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,

11:34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

11:35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;

11:36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated

11:38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground."

Obviously, the above passage confirms faith's power, but it also implies the willingness to suffer greatly for the cause of Christ. The Bible never teaches, as many of today's churches do, that overcoming faith is just about miracles and the mighty works of God. First and foremost, overcoming faith is the result of obedience, obedience which begins by believing in Jesus and continues to abide in him in all circumstances.

1 John 5:6 (NLV) "Jesus Christ came by water and blood. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. The Holy Spirit speaks about this and He is truth.

5:7 There are three Who speak of this in heaven: the Father and the Word and the Holy Spirit. These three are one.

5:8 There are three who speak of this on the earth: the Holy Spirit and the water and the blood. These three speak the same thing."

I'm quoting the New Life Version here, because it best indicates that there are witnesses of Christ's deity in heaven, and there have been witnesses of his deity on earth. If we believe the testimony of two or more human witnesses, as we are instructed to do in Numbers 35:30 2 Corinthians 13:1 and 1 Timothy 5:19, the witness and testimony of God is greater and more important, and all of these witnesses agree in unison that Jesus is the Christ.

But what exactly does John mean when he refers to three witnesses on earth, the Spirit, the water and the blood? We are probably all familiar with the story of Noah and the flood in Genesis 7 and 8, in which all of Noah's generation perished, except for Noah's family, because of their sins. In a similar way, we bury our sins when we are baptized as Christians. Though he was without sin, Jesus was similarly baptized, as shown in the passage below:

Matthew 3:13 "Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.

3:14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"

3:15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him.

3:16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,

3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.""

Note two things here. The water of baptism is supposed to cleanse us from sin, as the waters of the flood cleansed the earth from sin in the days of Noah. Also, God testified that Jesus was his Son, both here and in the descriptions of Christ's transfiguration found in Matthew 17:1-9 and Mark 9:2-10.

There is a similar passage in John's gospel when Jesus says publicly that he is about to suffer for the sins of mankind.

John 12:27 "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

12:28 "Father, glorify Your name " Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.""

The blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin, and God declares in this passage that he will continue to glorify his name, declaring it publicly as a direct response to the prayer of Jesus.

The Spirit, the water and the blood continue to be important in the lives of Christians today--the Spirit of truth as Comforter, Counselor and the presence of Christ in our churches, the water with which we follow Jesus in baptism, and the blood of Christ which continues to cleanse our sins as we confess them.

1 John 5:9 "If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.

5:10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.

5:11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

5:12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."

God responds to faith in Christ by placing the life of Christ in us, in the form of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the down payment or the guarantee of eternal life. Earlier confirmation in this book that the Spirit has been given to believers can be found in 1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:27, 1 John 3:24 and 1 John 4:13. Unlike Paul, John never speaks about the baptism or the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so it would be impossible to tell from John's writings whether or not believers need to be subsequently baptized in the Holy Spirit. That subject needs to be discussed in regard to the book of Acts and Paul's epistles, but it's best to table that discussion for now. As is often the case, an adequate discussion about the ministry of the Holy Spirit needs to take all scripture into account, and that's beyond the scope of my efforts here.

The point here is that he who has Christ has eternal life, the eternal life which is in God's Son. Our life has never pleased God. It's the part of us which needed to be buried in baptism. It is only the life of Christ in us which pleases God.

1 John 5:13 "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

5:14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

5:15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."

Many translations do not explicitly say that our prayers are only answered when we pray within God's will, but that would seem obvious enough. Christians are still capable of sin, and God himself would become an agent of sin if our will took priority over his. Nevertheless, these verses should clearly encourage us to pray, and they echo what Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-11.

Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

7:8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

7:9 "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?

7:10 "Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

7:11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

A thorough study of the power and the proper role of prayer among Christians is far beyond the discussion of this chapter, yet it seems well worth emphasizing that God wants and expects to hear from us, he is listening to us, and he will respond favorably, at least within his own will and wisdom, to our petitions. Speaking critically of myself as a Christian, I'm very dedicated to reading and studying the scriptures, but I don't think I pray as often or as effectively as I should. I hope the reader will not make that mistake.

1 John 5:16 "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.

5:17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death."

Earlier in this book, in 1 John 2:1, John tells us that Jesus is our advocate with the Father when we sin. He now adds us to the ministry of intercession, and he promises that God will give life to the brothers and sisters we pray for. But who are we not to pray for?

When I was growing up in the Catholic church, we were taught that there is venial and mortal sin, and the Bible actually seems to support that concept. However, every Catholic priest and every catechism teacher seemed to have a different interpretation of what a mortal sin was. Furthermore, the Catholic concept of mortal sin was different, in that it was supposed to cause parishioners to go to confession as quickly as possible. Mortal sins were not unforgivable, as John indicates they are here. I remember a Catholic priest telling us one Sunday that missing mass was a mortal sin. It seemed to me, therefore, that departing from the church at all was inherently to risk hellfire and damnation, because there was a possibility of car trouble next Sunday and sudden death afterwords before the priest held confession. Of course, Christians should gather together and I don't mean to be Catholic-bashing, but no Christian should have a works-related fear about something such as a Sunday morning absence.

Most evangelical Christians would guess that we should not pray for anyone who has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, attributing the miraculous works of God to Satan. Anyone who wants to study blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can read about it in Matthew 12:24-33, Mark 3:22-30 or Luke 12:8-10. In Matthew and Mark's gospels, it is clear that those who committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit were Pharisees, who had never accepted Christ at all. I'm not saying it couldn't occur, but there is no clear scriptural proof that any Christian has ever blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. Of course, it may seem likely to us that some have, but I don't think that is what John is talking about here.

What I think John means here can be understood by reading the last verse of this chapter, which tells us to keep ourselves away from idols. John does not want us to pray for people who have renounced Jesus and departed from the faith. This is not about having a couple of beers or watching a raunchy movie, though we would be well advised not to do so. When I was a young Christian, I was told, "If you're concerned that you may have committed a mortal sin, you haven't, because you still care about your standing with God. Those who have actually committed mortal sins couldn't care less what God thinks about it." I'm not trying to give anyone a license to commit evil. On the other hand, no one should be frightened that they are beyond the reach of prayer.

1 John 5:18 "We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

5:19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life.

5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols."

John cannot mean in verse 18 that no Christian ever sins, because that would contradict verse 16 and the passage from 1 John 1:8 to 1 John 2:2, where he says we should confess our sins, and Jesus is our advocate with the Father. John must, therefore, be indicating that anyone who is born of God will be sanctified by God and will live less and less sinfully, as Paul indicates in his letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

We have a role to play in our sanctification, but God also has a hand in it, and he is faithful. Rather than causing us to be concerned about our standing with God, verses 18-20 should remind us that we know Jesus, and he has the power and the desire to keep us from the evil one. This passage should remind us of another passage from the gospel of John.

John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

10:29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

10:30 "I and the Father are one."

With regard to verse 21, it should remind us of the passage below, taken from the New English Translation:

1 Kings 19:15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came and then head for the Desert of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael king over Syria.

19:16 You must anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to take your place as prophet.

19:17 Jehu will kill anyone who escapes Hazael’s sword, and Elisha will kill anyone who escapes Jehu’s sword.

19:18 I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him.”

Nothing endangers our lives or our spiritual well-being as much as idolatry. We generally think of idolatry as paganism, based on stories like this from the Old Testament, but idolatry can really be anything which effectively lessens our devotion to Christ.

I believe the primary messages of this letter are as follows:

1. God is good, completely, unimaginably and incorruptibly good. The essence of his nature is love. God cannot be the author of anything evil, no matter how much evil we see around us. On the contrary, he has a plan to bring all evil to an end.

2. We can become God's children and receive eternal life by obeying him and keeping his commandments. He commands us to believe in his Son Jesus, who he sent into the world to atone for our sins. We must rely fully on Christ for our salvation, absolution from sin, access to God the Father, and for the very life we must lead in order to be separated from the anti-Christian world around us.

3. God also commands us to love him and to love our fellow believers in the same way Christ loved us when he was on earth.

It's time to tie up First John and put a bow on it for now, but we should return to it frequently. A simple, uneducated man named John uses simple language to communicate the simple truths of what God requires from us.

1 JOHN 4

(Unless otherwise noted, all of the scripture quoted here is from the NIV, because I think it is the best literary rendering of this chapter.)

Though neither of my sons are particularly shy, babies generally go through a phase where they are very comfortable with their parents and other adults they know, but they seem to feel naturally uncomfortable, even scared, in the presence of strangers. One day, when my older son was just learning to walk, my wife brought him to my office for lunch. He didn't want anything to do with my fellow employees who gathered around him, but when he saw me, he came to me and grabbed my leg as if to say, "I'm going to hang on to the only person here I feel safe with." With that as background, consider the following passage from the English Standard Version (ESV) of John's gospel:

John 10:1 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

10:2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

10:3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

10:4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

10:5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

John expects Christians to know the Good Shepperd's voice and to flee from strangers. There are many shepperds in this life. Everyone from politicians to golf instructors offers to help us in some way. John is probably not asking us to avoid anyone who can help us improve our golf swing, but he begins this chapter by giving us some insight about who the good guys are and who the bad guys are who offer us spiritual insight. I don't think the following verses are meant primarily as a litmus test, though they are that, as they're meant to remind us of what we should already know. The message below is to follow Jesus and to flee anyone who leads us away from him.

1 John 4:1 "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

4:2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

4:3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

4:5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

4:6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood."

It is common throughout scripture, particularly in John's writing, to use contrasts to make a point. John was apparently dealing with an increasingly popular error in his generation, being taught by gnostics, that Jesus did not have a real body. John stresses the physical incarnation of Christ not only in this epistle, but in passages such as John 19:34-37. We can trust those who acknowledge Christ's incarnation and divinity, and we cannot trust those who don't.

The next contrast, however, has a subtle twist. Christians have overcome the false spirits in the world because the Spirit in us is greater than the spirit of the world. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever does not know God does not listen to us. This is contrasted with those outside of Christ, who speak from the world's viewpoint and the world listens to them. Everything in verses 4-6 is spoken of as an ongoing reality which is still taking place, except for the part which says we have overcome, which is spoken of as a past event and a done deal. We would expect to read that we will overcome, or that we are overcoming, but God sees it as a past event, because Christ has already overcome the world. We have been baptized into his death and raised with him to walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:1 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

6:2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

6:3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

We can also more fully understand what John means by saying that we have overcome the spirit of antichrist in the world by looking ahead to the passage below from the next chapter:

1 John 5:4 "for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

5:5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."

We have overcome the world because we have placed our faith in Christ who has overcome the world by his own faith and by the power of his sinless life and his willingness to give himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Also in the next chapter, John will end this letter by saying:

1 John 5:21 "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols."

At first, that seems oddly out of context, since idols aren't mentioned anywhere else in this book. It will make more sense when we come to it, if we remember that John asks us in this chapter to test the spirits we listen to, and to only listen to those who acknowledge the essential facts about the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

However, John is not content for us merely to verbally ascent to the truths about the incarnate and risen Jesus. Real proof of our discipleship can only be achieved by living in accordance with God's character. As the passage below shows, the very essence of God's nature is love, and love must be the essence of our discipleship as Christians.

1 John 4:7 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

Love is a very messy problem for us in a world full of sin. When people speak of love, they often are not speaking of the unconditional and unchanging love which comes from God. When I was a junior in high school, I had quite a crush on one of my female classmates. She knew it, but I was pretty shy with girls, so we didn't do much together outside of school, and we never even held hands. One day, early in my senior year, we were walking out of class toward the bus we rode together on the way home, when she announced: "I have a boyfriend now, I don't need you anymore." Without any warning or justification, I found out I had outlived my usefulness. I don't see that as a tragedy today, because I now understand that she wasn't taking away from me the sort of love John speaks about throughout his gospel and his epistles. But I'll never forget how I felt when this happened. I hope my sons will listen to me when I tell them that the only love worth finding is the sort of love which can't be lost, but they'll probably have to figure it out the hard way, like I did. Ironically, the only asset I had at the time was the pain I felt. Pain seems like an odd thing to call an asset, but it can ultimately be good for us because it lets us know how far off track we've been.

Not only are we looking for love in all the wrong places, but most people spend much of their lives looking for the wrong kind of love in all the wrong places. John lets us know what kind of love we should be looking for by reminding us that God sent his only Son into the world to become an atoning sacrifice for us. The kind of love which caused Jesus to willingly give up his glory in heaven to come here and hang on a cross couldn't possibly be generated by the shallow temporary commitment my high school girlfriend had to me. I'm not saying that to criticize her, but only to point out the essential difference between divine and human love.

John isn't just content to tell us about the kind of love God has. He says we don't even know God unless we give others the same kind of love Jesus has given us. Unless we know God and Jesus is living in us, we're not even capable of that kind of love, at least not for an extended period of time. One has only to consider the divorce rate in the United States to realize how temporary and circumstancial human love generally is. Non-Christians are fond of telling us that our churches are full of hypocrites, yet Jesus has never divorced any of them.

1 John 4:12 "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit."

It is only when his Spirit lives in us that we are capable of God's love, the life-sacrificing love which is the result of knowing God. Jesus commands us to love each other, which implies we have a choice to make, a choice to obey him or to disobey him. How can I reconcile the passages of scripture like this one, which say God has given us his Spirit, yet Jesus has commanded us to love one another, which implies that we might not do it, with verse 8, which says that whoever does not love does not know God? This seems to imply that we may have the Holy Spirit, but still refuse to love others, and not know God. How can that be?

Here's my interpretation, for what it's worth. When John speaks of knowing God, he isn't just speaking about recognizing God in the way that someone might recognize a familiar face from a high school yearbook. He is speaking about an ongoing moment by moment fellowship with God, which we might refer to as the presence of God. The practical application is that when we find ourselves falling short of the love of Christ, we ought to confess it as sin and ask God to restore his abiding presence with us. I recall a story from Corrie Tin Boom's book, "The Hiding Place", in which she is speaking at a church about forgiveness after World War II. After the service, she was approached by a former Nazi prison guard, who had been quite cruel to her while she was in a concentration camp with her sister during the war, but he had come to Christ after the war ended. Humanly speaking, even though she had just spoken about forgiveness, she had every reason to hate this man and not to forgive him. Yet Corrie was not out of fellowship with God, and she knew this would be her only opportunity to extend kindness to him, rather than returning his cruelty. Failing to do so would damage both his walk with the Lord and her own credibility and confidence in her message. So she prayed and asked God to immediately show her his love for him. When she prayed, she said she immediately felt love for him which was overwhelming, and she spoke to him as if she were being reunited with a dear friend instead of an ex-Nazi. That was Corrie's story, and I don't have a better one from my own experience. The point is that God's love did what Corrie Tin Boom's love could not have done. God knows we will fall short of his love from time to time, and he wants us to learn to depend on his presence to fill the gap between who we are and who we ought to be.

4:14 "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

4:15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

4:17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

4:19 We love because he first loved us.

4:20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

4:21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

In these final verses, John makes three points. We are not the initiators of love, God is. Love is the essence of God's nature, and God has been in the love business since the beginning of time and creation. As John said in the first chapter of this book, God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. God is not the author of death, disease, natural disasters or human sorrow. Indeed, God has a plan to put an end to all of these things.

In the meantime, he asks us to walk in the way Jesus walked, to live the self-sacrificing way Jesus lived, and to depend on his presence and his forgiveness to deepen our knowledge of him and our commitment to others. If we love God, we are to share his love with others.

Finally, verses 16-18 tell us that we should rely on God's love for us and give that love to others, in order that we may have confidence in his presence. We are probably all familiar with the story in Genesis that Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God after they sinned. Ever since then, God has been working on restoring his fellowship with mankind, and he wants to restore fellowship with us individually. Verse 18 is one of the most memorable verses in the Bible because of how obviously true it is. How many drivers slow down when they see the police? It's a good thing that they slow down, but God wants to be a father to us, not just another cop. But he can only do that if we are willing to be his children and obey his commandments, especially the commandments below:atthew 22:34 "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.

22:35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

22:36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

22:37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

22:38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

22:39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

22:40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.""

1 JOHN 3

(All scripture quotes below are from the NIV, unless otherwise indicated.)

Most of us have attended company meetings, where management tells us what the company is doing and how we should participate in what the company is doing. Typically, these meetings produce a mixed response from employees, partial willingness to contribute to the company's goals, mixed with cynicism, boredom, and sometimes even resentment.

Many of us have also had family meetings. When we were children, our parents may have called us together to explain why we would be moving, where we would be going on vacation, or how to get out of the house in case there was a fire. Sometimes our family meetings produce excitement, but they may also produce reluctance to cooperate, if the purpose is discipline, living within a tight budget, etc.

This chapter might be described as God's family meeting. But God does not have a dysfunctional, partially united and cooperating family, as many of us do. It may appear to us that God's family is just as dysfunctional as the human families and organizations we have been part of, but God does not see his family that way, as we shall see.

1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

3:3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

These opening three verses deserve a lot of attention, because they make several points. First of all, God could easily bring us into some sort of relationship with him without calling us his children. Scripture often refers to God's people as servants or disciples, as in the following passage:

Matthew 10:24 (NASB): "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

10:25 "It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!"

Simply being called God's servant or Christ's disciple is a greater honor than we deserve. Beyond that, many of us are probably touched by having Jesus refer to us as friends, as he does in John's gospel.

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Yet even friends, as important as they are, are not usually invited to family meetings, and they are not identified as completely with us by the outside world as our family members are, nor do they bear a physical or genetic resemblance to us.

John says at the end of verse 1 that the world does not know us because it did not know him. From the time of his birth until his crucifixion, Jesus was in constant conflict with the world. Sometimes Jesus seems to have instigated that conflict by telling people the truth or warning them about coming judgment. At other times, such as when Herod destroyed all of the male children under two years old in Bethlehem, or when he was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, the conflict had nothing to do with his intensions. That conflict is now ours, and if we have no conflict with the world, we have a conflict with God himself.

Verse 2 says that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Being like him does not mean we will eventually become God, as some religions teach. Divinity is the one thing which is absolutely unattainable for us. We can never become God's Son, but sonship is available to us, and the rest of this chapter describes what God's sons and daughters do, what the devil's children do, and how Christ has initiated the relationship we have with him.

As I said earlier, God doesn't have a dysfuctional family, because obedience is the evidence of family membership.

1 John 3:4 "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

3:5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.

3:6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him."

When I think of sin as lawlessness, I realize that I don't want to be outside the law. Lawbreakers are subject to arrest, detension, punishment, and in some cases, lawlessness is fatal, as it was for Bonnie and Clyde. The concept of lawlessness conjures up images of flashing lights, a siren, and being asked to pull over. Sin is lawlessness and lawlessness has consequences, and the punishment for our sins either falls on us or it is covered in the blood of Christ, who came to take away our sins.

When verse 6 says that no one who lives in him keeps on sinning, and no one who continues sinning has either seen him or known him, it seems that what John is saying can't possibly be true. We know by experience that we ourselves and other Christians sin from time to time after they accept Christ. John can't mean that it's impossible for a Christian to sin, because we know Christians do sin. If John meant it is impossible for a Christian to sin, what could he have possibly meant earlier in this letter when he said:

1 John 1:8 "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

We would have no need for Christ as an intercessor or an advocate before the throne of God on our behalf if we were beyond the reach of temptation.

But John must mean something in verse 6 when he says those who continue in sin have neither seen or known Christ, and this is what I think he means. In 1973, I read the Bible for the first time, from Genesis to Revelation, and I became a Christian as I read through the New Testament for the first time. Two days after I gave my life to Christ, my brother was talking to a young woman in our home. The woman said she was thinking about becoming a prostitute; the money was easy, sex was fun, etc. I didn't say anything, because she wasn't talking to me, but I remember how I felt. I was completely absorbed by the scriptures I had been reading, including the New Testament's prohibition of prostitution shown below.

1 Corinthians 6:13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

6:16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."

6:17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit."

I felt absolutely no desire to be alone with her or to become her first customer, because I was having deep and intense fellowship with the Lord, and my newfound relationship with Christ was as much more valuable to me than a quick heartless sexual act as a Rolls Royce is more valuable than a pet rock. I specifically remember being astonished because this didn't even seem like a temptation at all. It seemed extremely unattractive. That doesn't mean that I was permanently above every sort of temptation, or that I could never be tempted to have sex inappropriately under any circumstances. What it means is that fellowship with Christ completely destroyed the desire I would otherwise have had for sexual sin at that moment. If the same thing happened today and I felt tempted by it, I would know that I'm out of fellowship with God, and I probably would have sin to confess. Pornography and sexual temptations have very deep roots in American culture today. They are as irresistible to many as gravity, and many people probably don't think there is anything better in life than what they call their sexual freedom. The Bible's standard is sex inside of marriage and nowhere else. Anyone who is struggling with that needs to submerge themselves in the scriptures and in the knowledge of God, because Christ alone gives us freedom from our passions.

What John is saying in this verse is that the presence of Christ in our lives inevitably produces the absence of sin. Holiness just can't live with vulgarity, because their desires are completely opposite. As we know Christ more and more, we will sin less and less. If we sin more and more, we don't know him. When we sin, we ought to confess our sins to him, so we can be forgiven, our fellowship with him can be restored, and he can continue to create his likeness in us.

1 John 3:7 "Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

3:8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

John continues to develop the three themes of verses 4-6 in these verses:

1. The devil has sinned from the beginning, and the spirit of antichrist is leading the devil's children into more and more sin.

2. Jesus is righteous, and he came to destroy the works of the devil.

3. Those who know God do what's right, as Jesus did.

In keeping with John's earlier statement in 1 John 1:7 that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, the works Jesus came to destroy include all of the effects of sin, death, disease, etc. There was no death or disease before Adam and Eve sinned, and death and disease will persist until sin is done away with. Since we don't see that yet, we must assume that until Christ returns, God's primary business is to prepare a spotless and unblemished bride for Christ, a church which is both justified by faith and sanctified by deliberate separation from the sins which are in the world, by acts of righteousness and by the experience of being doers of good during an evil age, in a world that did not recognize or acknowledge either Jesus or those who follow him.

There is some disagreement about what the term "God's seed" in verse 9 means, with some arguing that it is the word of God, citing the parables of Jesus, particularly the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13:3-9, and some arguing that the seed of God is the Holy Spirit, God's own presence, which is mentioned at the end of this chapter. Either view is acceptable, since the word and the Spirit are never in conflict with each other.

1 John 3:11 "This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

3:12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.

3:13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

3:17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

John returns here to an earlier theme found in 1 John 2:9-11, which says that Christians who love their brothers are walking in the light, and anyone who hates his brother is still walking in darkness. But this time, he follows love and hate to their logical conclusions.

Anyone who hates his brother is capable of murder and already has the motive for murder in his heart. Jesus taught consistently that someone who desires sin, but doesn't commit it, is just as guilty as the one who actually commits it. Murder is specifically cited as the work of the devil, the very product of his nature.

John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

By contrast, verses 16-18 here remind us that Jesus laid down his life for his friends, asks us to be willing to do the same, and states that we are not walking in love if we are not willing to share our material resources with other believers. The desire for sin, even when it is not committed, makes one guilty. But by contrast, love must be acted upon, or it is not real.

1 John 3:19 "This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence

3:20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

3:21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God

3:22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

3:24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

There are some key points in these final verses. First, it is the active love we are willing to share with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, which is not only for their benefit, but for ours, since our love for believers should give us confidence in God's presence. Christianity is not a religion of works and self-improvement. Rather, good deeds follow the purified motives which our faith in Christ produces. God knows we will fall short sometimes, but he is the justifier of the faithful. The faithful obey his commandments, and God wants us to pray to him with confidence, and ultimately to stand in judgment with confidence, because we have obeyed God and loved one another.

God's love works hand in hand with faith in Christ. We know very little about Abel's love for others, but we know that by faith he offered a more acceptable sacrifice than his brother Cain. By contrast, Cain did not have Abel's faith, nor did he love his brother. Not only did Cain murder his brother, but afterwords he continued to mock his brother's profession and his faith by asking, "Am I my brother's keeper (his shepherd)?" Verse 15 says that no murderer has eternal life, but Abel's Shepperd remembers him. Abel is the first patriarch mentioned in Hebrews 11, the New Testament's faith chapter.

Hebrews 11:4 "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."

Finally, verse 24 says that those who obey God live in him, and God's Holy Spirit, his abiding presence, the spirit of power and love and self-control, lives in those who obey him.

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

Romans 8:12 "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.

8:13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,

8:14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

We are part of God's family if we believe Jesus is the Christ, obey his commandments and love each other. Those outside of God's family do not share his purpose for them, nor do they have the blessed destiny of the body of Christ. This functional family meeting is adjourned.

1 JOHN 2

(Except when otherwise stated, the quotes here are from the New English Translation, which is also referred to as the NET Bible.)

This is one of those places in scripture where I believe the chapters were not divided well. If it were up to me, verses 1 and 2 would be at the end of the previous chapter, since I believe they finish the thoughts which John began in 1 John 1:8.

1 John 1:8: "If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1:9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

2:1 (My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One,

2:2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world."

I would have expected verse 2 to say that Jesus made the atoning sacrifice for our sins, or that he was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Instead, it says he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Obviously, that does not mean that he is still hanging on a cross. It means that in addition to his redemptive work on the cross, he is our advocate with the Father, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. Jesus was crucified on a hill long ago and far away, and to this day, he continues to be our atoning sacrifice, interceeding for us, working to draw us to himself, to cleanse us from sin and to bring us into a vital and eternal relationship with himself and to present us without sin to the Father. He is still engaged in the same constant and continuous act of love for us which led him to Calvary.

In a similar way, our service and obedience to Christ must be ongoing and continuous, as described in verses 3-11.

1 John 2:3 "Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.

2:4 The one who says “I have come to know God” and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person.

2:5 But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

2:6 The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.

2:7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have already heard.

2:8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

2:9 The one who says he is in the light but still hates his fellow Christian is still in the darkness.

2:10 The one who loves his fellow Christian resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

2:11 But the one who hates his fellow Christian is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

1 John 1:8-1 John 2:2 serves as an explanatory preface to this section. If John had not already said that we all have a problem with sin and that Jesus is our atoning sacrifice for sin, we might read verses 3-6 and conclude that we must go on a radical self-improvement mission in order that we may keep God's commandments and come to know God. Indeed, this can be a very discouraging passage for Christians, who rightly conclude that walking as Jesus walked is humanly impossible, and it may cause some, who are painfully aware of their continuing imperfections, to wonder if they are really in God's family at all. Fortunately, John has already addressed our concerns by telling us Jesus is faithful and just to forgive our sins if we confess them. Clearly some effort is involved on our part to keep Christ's commandments. We can't do it accidentally. But the effort we need to make is not to fulfill legalistic requirements. Instead, we should continue to make our relationship with Christ our top priority, confessing our shortcomings to him, relying on his atonement and his Spirit to lead us and to help us fulfill his calling on our lives. We must seek a deeper knowledge of God, relying on his efforts, not our own.

Though God is far greater than man, perhaps a human analogy is helpful here. Suppose a friend asks you to pick up her daughter from school one day, because she can't. Your friend will not be pleased if you say you will pick up her daughter, but you don't do it. On the other hand, faithfully picking her up will help you maintain your relationship with your friend. Acts of faithfulness, over an extended period of time, wil give you and your friend greater confidence in each other. It would be unnatural for you to go to your friend, promising to try harder, and asking your friend to love you more. That would cause discomfort to both of you. As with any good friendship, faithfulness deepens the relationship. Christ's friendship with us has been initiated by him, not by us, as the gospel of John shows in the following passage:

John 15:13 "No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life for his friends.

15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

15:15 I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father.

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

15:17 This I command you – to love one another."

John does not attempt to answer all of our questions about what he means by saying we should walk in the way Jesus walked. He doesn't tell us whether or not we should eat meat, drink beer, play cards, dance, etc, which the Pharisees did. He tells us we can prove we love Christ by keeping his commandments, making Jesus our motivation and the compass by which we must judge our own actions. Of course, the Lord's judgment, and even the judgment of the local church, may be different from ours. But John is essentially reiterating the point Jesus made in Luke 13:24:

Luke 13:24 “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to."

As is often the case in his epistles, John is elaborating in verses 3-11 on what Jesus said during the last supper:

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments."

John 14:21 "The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

14:22 “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him.

14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me."

When he says obedience is the test which proves or disproves the genuineness of one's love for God, John does not tell us whether we should apply the obedience test to ourselves or others, but Matthew 7:3-5 says we should always apply judgment first to ourselves, and then secondarily to others, if necessary.

Matthew 7:3 "Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?

7:4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own?

7:5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Immediately after Judas left the last supper, Jesus gave his disciples the commandment below:

John 13:34 “I give you a new commandment – to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

13:35 Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.”

The reason I chose to use the NET Bible when discussing this chapter is that most translations say we are to love our brother, but they don't specify whether that applies to all mankind or specifically to those who are Christians. Though there is no scriptural basis for applying the golden rule selectively to some and not to others, I believe the passage above from John 13 and verses 7-11 of 1 John 2 mean primarily that there ought to be a special bond of love between Christians which the world sees nowhere else. If we would focus on fulfilling John 13:34-35, it would fill our churches with new converts to Christ. Apologetics, doctrinal discussions and evangelism have their place, but they are far less powerful than the mutual love Jesus is commanding us to give to other Christians. Most churches in the United States seem focused on new or larger facilities, more programs and ministries, more contemporary music and better sermons, none of which Jesus asked for. It is to our own peril that we ignore or don't focus primarily on the first thing he commanded us to do when he was alone with his disciples for the last time before he died for us.

1 John 2:12 (NKJV) "I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

2:13 I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.

2:14 I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one."

I confess I am somewhat puzzled by the way this passage is written--to children, to fathers, to young men, and then again to children, to fathers and to young men. It would seem more natural to us if John had written to children, to young men and to fathers, since boys go usually go from childhood to manhood to fatherhood. Just to help me, I'm going to rearrange this passage that way and then explain what I think it means.

"I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father."

"I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one."

"I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning."

When my second son was born, he introduced himself to the world by crying loudly. He was then handed to me, and I spoke to him. He continued crying, but somewhat more softly, because he seemed to recognize my voice. Then I handed him to his mother, she spoke to him, and he stopped crying. At the moment of birth, babies know their parents, and they feel comforted and reassured by their presence. My son knew us, but he did not know about our faith, our lifestyle, our political beliefs, and he hadn't even met his brother yet.

Similarly, when we are reborn into God's kingdom, our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, and we know God, just as certainly as my son knew his parents. But we do not immediately know God well. We know the Shepperd's voice and our acceptance into his family is complete, but we do not know our Shepperd well until after a long period of discipleship and obedience.

As we begin to mature in our walk with the Lord, we become strong, the word of God remains in us, and we have overcome the wicked one, not only from an eternal perspective, but in our daily lives.

John says twice that fathers know him who is from the beginning, which reminds me of the doubling of Pharaoh's dream in Genesis 41:32. Through a long period of obedience, Christ's disciples finally gain a mature knowledge of God. They have learned to walk as Jesus walked, they have adopted his convictions and his lifestyle, and their love for Christ is deeper than when they were first saved, because they know him better.

Of course, in the spiritual world, maturity can't necessarily be measured by the passage of time. It is possible to be a Christian for many years without coming to spiritual maturity. Conversely, spiritual maturity might come relatively quickly to some, but never without consistently obeying God's commandments, particularly the commandment to love one another.

1 John 2:15 (NKJV) "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

2:17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

The obvious question arises as to why we ought not to love the world, since the familiar verse, John 3:16, tells us that God loved the world enough to allow his Son to be crucified for its sins.

John 3:16 (ESV): "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

God wants to redeem people from the world, from the human failings produced by a culture which is consumed by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Jesus did not come into the world in order to participate in such things, and we ought to refrain from participating in them.

The phrase "Do not love the world or the things in the world" reminds me of the John Denver song "Rocky Mountain High". "Rocky Mountain High" is a pleasant record to listen to, except that it seems that John Denver fell in love with nature and loved the creation without loving the Creator. It is perfectly OK for Christians to love the Rocky Mountains as much as John Denver did, as long as they see the creation as the reflection of a greater Creator. We do well if natural beauty reminds us of the goodness of God, but it's wrong for us to become earth lovers, as I believe John Denver was.

As for the lust of the eyes, one of the troublesome things this passage reminds me of is the way consumer products are merchandized to our children. It is increasingly difficult to find cereal, shirts, or even underwear, which are not inscribed with the likeness of a cartoon character. Nearly every fast food restaurant gives out toys to children, which are designed to promote the latest movie for kids. Unfortunately, the characters our children are supposed to be fond of are usually completely lacking in virtue. Even worse, our children are being told from infancy that they ought to have everything they see. While a fifty cent toy from McDonalds may seem harmless enough, we have created a culture in which people are trained from infancy to covet everything they see, and to believe it should be their possession.

I'm concerned that four-year-old boys who want to go to McDonalds because they have the newest toy will become twenty-year-old men who will see women, find them attractive, and take them to bed, particularly if they're dressed provocatively, as if they too are consumer products to use and discard in favor of newer products. American culture is just seething with the notion that if I've seen it, it ought to be mine, until I'm bored with it and I don't want it anymore. This is totally contrary to God's love, which we ought to emulate.

The expression "the pride of life" deserves some thought, because it is uncommon. I take it to mean anything which causes us to rely on ourselves instead of God. Self-reliance seems to be a good thing in many contexts. Self-reliance seems preferable to dependence on others or on the government for our economic welfare. However, if we become like the man in Luke 12"16-21 who tore down his barns so he could build bigger barns and take it easy for many years, believing he would live forever and that he was the source of his wealth, we are guilty of the pride of life. We ought to do the work each day requires of us, relying on God to sustain us and giving him thanks for what we have and whatever we achieve. If football were only being played by faithful Christians, end zone dances would be a thing of the past.

1 John 2:18 (NIV): "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.

2:19 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.

2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

2:21 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.

2:22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.

2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

Verse 18 brings up two questions which I will mention in passing, but don't want to focus on. What does John mean by saying it is the last hour? The expression doesn't appear elsewhere in the New Testament. If John were really convinced Jesus would return before sunset, he would not seem to need to ask Christians to abide in Christ, since they would just need to get through the afternoon. He doesn't seem to know how much time is involved, since Acts 1:7 says:

Acts 1:7 He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority."

After looking up all of the passages which refer to the last days, which is the closest thing I can find to the last hour, it seems to me that the term "the last days" refers generally to the entire time between Christ's ascension and his return. This doesn't nullify the signs of the end Jesus gave in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, or Daniel 9, 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 3 & 4, which speak about increasingly stressful times as the end of the age approaches. Probably all that John means by saying it is the last hour is that now that Christ has come, judgment has begun, because Jesus has been believed in by some men and rejected by others.

John 3:18 "The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God."

The other question we might ask about 1 John 2:18 is what John means by the term antichrist. He is clearly not speaking about a single individual, because he says many antichrists have come, and antichrists are said to be those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, which unfortunately, is hardly unique among mankind. Nowhere does John refer to the antichrist as one person, though he will refer to the spirit of antichrist in chapter 4.

However, Paul speaks about the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, and there are references to the "false prophet" in Revelation 16, 19 and 20, but many of us who have studied Revelation don't believe he is the antichrist.

The point of this passage appears to be that some have both left the church and departed from the faith, probably only a faith they pretended to have in the first place, rather than falling away from a real and honest, but temporary profession of faith. The secessionists who deny Christ have neither the Father nor the Son, whereas those who acknowledge Christ have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit's anointing to lead them into all truth.

It goes beyond the scope of this chapter to have a long discussion about the role of the Holy Spirit, but it's worth noting that John's beliefs about the Holy Spirit are the result of what Jesus taught during the last supper, in chapters 14, 15 and 16 of John's gospel. Perhaps the pivotal experience of Paul's life happened to him on the road to Damascus, because he continually brings us back to that moment in his letters, as does Luke in the book of Acts. John, however, does not speak continually about the moment he met Jesus or when he first believed, but John continues to stress throughout his life what Jesus taught him on the night before his passion and death.

1 John 2:24 (NIV): "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.

2:25 And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

2:26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.

2:27 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.

2:28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

2:29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him."

In this passage, John encourages his readers to continue to believe in Jesus as the Christ, to honor and trust the Spirit's internal witness in their hearts, to acknowledge Christ boldly before men, to continue in fellowship with other Christians and to continue to do what is right, both because it gives them assurance they are born of God and because it will give them confidence when Jesus appears to judge the living and the dead. Verse 29 is similar to John 3:21 and Psalm 11:7 below::

John 3:20 "For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.

3:21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God."

Psalm 11:7 "Certainly the Lord is just; he rewards godly deeds; the upright will experience his favor."