Epistle Of John
The letters of First, Second and Third John were short, straight-speaking books but the Word of God here contain and express some of the most profound spiritual truths. They are epistles of love yet at the same time epistles of no compromise. They are like a flame that exposes hypocrisy and sheds light on the truth of authentic Christianity. For this study, we will center our attention on First John, and make references to his succeeding letters that highlight his teachings in the first.
Problems
It was about A.D. 90 when John wrote the letter, and the church was about a generation old. At that time, there was a flailing commitment among Christians. More and more people were conforming to worldly standards and false doctrinal and practical errors were dislodging the people from their faith in Christ. Some of the false teachings included defining the human body as a mere envelope for the human spirit and therefore promoted the idea that nothing that is committed by the body will affect or harm the spirit within. As a result, moral decay started to take place among the Christians who soon grew indifferent to moral sins.
Thus, John saw the need to remind them of the basis on which they can have true fellowship with God. He lists four spiritual habits critical for maintaining our fellowship with God.
Walk In The Light
“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1Jn.1:5-7)
By this John meant that God is absolutely holy, absolutely righteous, and absolutely pure. For us to fellowship with God, we must forsake sin and not continue to live in it. Light and darkness can never co-exist in a person’s life. If we are walking in darkness, we are not in fellowship with God. A man who says he has fellowship with Him and habitually walks in darkness is a liar. If we walk in truth, we are walking with the Lord. If we walk in sin, we have no fellowship with Him, for in Him there is no darkness at all. And unless we all walk in the truth, we do not have true fellowship with one another “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” That is the reason why people find themselves in friendships that are full of insincerity. True fellowship with God and with others is base on the common elements of walking in the light. When a person defies the basis of fellowship, his relationships with God and with His children are nothing but a sad empty shell of hypocrisy. It is all falsehood and no fellowship at all.
Confess Our Sins
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1Jn.19-10)
Fellowship with God does not require us never to sin again. We are imperfect beings and will definitely fall short of glory at the weaker links of our lives. So, God does not expect us to be perfect, but He does require us to bring our sins to the light to be exposed, confessed, repented from and forsaken. God desires us not to hide away from Him, but to be absolutely honest about our condition. As the Spirit of God convicts us of our sins, it is our responsibility at the same time to respond by confessing our sins. This is unfortunately one of the most neglected responsibilities among us. The Spirit of God is faithful and He always convicts us of wrongful thoughts or sinful ways, but how often do we response to that conviction and confess the offences immediately? Don’t we often agree in our minds that we have done something wrong or said something wrong, but we rarely ever bring those offences to God as confessions of our sins? That is how in the long run consciences get seared and hearts grow cold and hardened towards God. The earlier we break the power of sin over us, the harder it takes for the devil to steal the joy of our salvation from us. If we continually confess our sins and turn away from darkness, the devil will never be able to steal our joy from us. Confession of sins is really a childlike discipline, which yields the fruit of everlasting joy in walking with God. Every time we confess our wrongdoings, our relationship with God is renewed and our righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit restored.
Obey God’s Word
“He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:3-6).
John now adds that fellowship with God also means keeping His commandments (vs.3); keeping His word (vs.5); and walking as Jesus walked (vs.6). To keep God’s commandments is to obey the Bible. To keep His word not only means obeying the Bible, but also following God’s continuous guidance. To walk as Jesus walked means to allow the full expression of Christ in our lives, showing grace and love to others.
To keep God’s commandments and His word does not imply faultless obedience to His teaching or to the will of God, but it speaks of a habitual desire to keep God’s commandments and to please Him. Nobody can claim to have fellowship with God if they are not diligent in keeping His commandments and doing His will. The life of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels is our model and guide. Yet, it is not something we can accomplish on our own strengths. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. We must turn our lives over to God unreservedly and let Him live His life through us. That way, we become one with Him – abiding in Him and fellowshipping with Him.
The letters of First, Second and Third John were short, straight-speaking books but the Word of God here contain and express some of the most profound spiritual truths. They are epistles of love yet at the same time epistles of no compromise. They are like a flame that exposes hypocrisy and sheds light on the truth of authentic Christianity. For this study, we will center our attention on First John, and make references to his succeeding letters that highlight his teachings in the first.
Problems
It was about A.D. 90 when John wrote the letter, and the church was about a generation old. At that time, there was a flailing commitment among Christians. More and more people were conforming to worldly standards and false doctrinal and practical errors were dislodging the people from their faith in Christ. Some of the false teachings included defining the human body as a mere envelope for the human spirit and therefore promoted the idea that nothing that is committed by the body will affect or harm the spirit within. As a result, moral decay started to take place among the Christians who soon grew indifferent to moral sins.
Thus, John saw the need to remind them of the basis on which they can have true fellowship with God. He lists four spiritual habits critical for maintaining our fellowship with God.
Walk In The Light
“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1Jn.1:5-7)
By this John meant that God is absolutely holy, absolutely righteous, and absolutely pure. For us to fellowship with God, we must forsake sin and not continue to live in it. Light and darkness can never co-exist in a person’s life. If we are walking in darkness, we are not in fellowship with God. A man who says he has fellowship with Him and habitually walks in darkness is a liar. If we walk in truth, we are walking with the Lord. If we walk in sin, we have no fellowship with Him, for in Him there is no darkness at all. And unless we all walk in the truth, we do not have true fellowship with one another “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” That is the reason why people find themselves in friendships that are full of insincerity. True fellowship with God and with others is base on the common elements of walking in the light. When a person defies the basis of fellowship, his relationships with God and with His children are nothing but a sad empty shell of hypocrisy. It is all falsehood and no fellowship at all.
Confess Our Sins
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1Jn.19-10)
Fellowship with God does not require us never to sin again. We are imperfect beings and will definitely fall short of glory at the weaker links of our lives. So, God does not expect us to be perfect, but He does require us to bring our sins to the light to be exposed, confessed, repented from and forsaken. God desires us not to hide away from Him, but to be absolutely honest about our condition. As the Spirit of God convicts us of our sins, it is our responsibility at the same time to respond by confessing our sins. This is unfortunately one of the most neglected responsibilities among us. The Spirit of God is faithful and He always convicts us of wrongful thoughts or sinful ways, but how often do we response to that conviction and confess the offences immediately? Don’t we often agree in our minds that we have done something wrong or said something wrong, but we rarely ever bring those offences to God as confessions of our sins? That is how in the long run consciences get seared and hearts grow cold and hardened towards God. The earlier we break the power of sin over us, the harder it takes for the devil to steal the joy of our salvation from us. If we continually confess our sins and turn away from darkness, the devil will never be able to steal our joy from us. Confession of sins is really a childlike discipline, which yields the fruit of everlasting joy in walking with God. Every time we confess our wrongdoings, our relationship with God is renewed and our righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit restored.
Obey God’s Word
“He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:3-6).
John now adds that fellowship with God also means keeping His commandments (vs.3); keeping His word (vs.5); and walking as Jesus walked (vs.6). To keep God’s commandments is to obey the Bible. To keep His word not only means obeying the Bible, but also following God’s continuous guidance. To walk as Jesus walked means to allow the full expression of Christ in our lives, showing grace and love to others.
To keep God’s commandments and His word does not imply faultless obedience to His teaching or to the will of God, but it speaks of a habitual desire to keep God’s commandments and to please Him. Nobody can claim to have fellowship with God if they are not diligent in keeping His commandments and doing His will. The life of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels is our model and guide. Yet, it is not something we can accomplish on our own strengths. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. We must turn our lives over to God unreservedly and let Him live His life through us. That way, we become one with Him – abiding in Him and fellowshipping with Him.
Love One Another
“He who loves his brother abides in the light…But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1Jn.2:10-11)
Finally, to fellowship with God, we need to love our brethren. God will not allow us to bear unforgiveness and resentment towards our brethren because that breaks the unity in His family. Beside, the love of God for mankind is so strong that He did not even spare His Son but sent Him to die for us. If God loved people so much, how would He ever allow us to fellowship with Him when we are unloving towards one another? We do need to pay attention to the people around us – consider their needs and work towards meeting them “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the Church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles” (3Jn.5-6). Though this may not be the only evidence of our fellowship with God, it is nevertheless a sign of true conversion from darkness to light. Regarding this Jesus says, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Mt 25:40). If we neglect to meet the needs of people, Jesus has this to say, “Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” (Mt 25:45). Jesus does not just keep a record of the things we do for people, but also of the things we fail to do for them! The searching revelation of that passage in Matthew 25 is that this is now happening all around us. Christ is in all these situations of need, and when we are confronted with someone who has a need it is Jesus who is asking our help. Our reaction to that person is our reaction to Jesus Himself. The cross is made up our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with men. When our relationship with men fails, our relationship with God is incomplete.
Now that we know what we need to do in order to conduct our fellowship with God aright, we must also find out what we must not do in order not to grieve the fellowship we have with God. John brings out two cautions of fellowship for us to note.
Love Not The World
“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” (1Jn 2:15)
John tells us plainly that it is not possible to love God and love the world. He is not talking about the world of mankind or the natural creation. Rather, he is referring to the world of the pleasures of sin, the sensual fleshly appetites that our evil nature emits – the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”. God does not want us to return to the ways of the world we came from, but to start walking in the light, as we ought to. When we embrace the principles of God, we must discard the philosophies of the world, or else we cause great battles within ourselves, for “friendship with the world is enmity with God.” (Ja 4:4). God’s ways are higher than the ways of the world and His thoughts higher than the thoughts of the world, so there is no way we can walk in God’s ways and still embrace the ways of the world. We are called to love the people in the world but we must not love the ways of the world. God commands this of us because firstly, the ways of the world are destructive and secondly, the world itself is passing away so there is absolutely no eternal value in following its ways. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Pet 1:24-25).
Divine Love vs. Human Affection
“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (2 Jn 10-11).
While we are called to love one another, the Bible also warns us to be cautious who we fellowship with. He specifically says we should be careful how we respond to false teachers who appear at our doorsteps. Should we invite them in, serve them refreshments, or give them financial aid? John tells us not even to greet them and never to receive them. People who show us a doctrine different from what the Word of God says are enemies of God and therefore we have no reason to show them hospitality or fellowship with them. Human affection should never over rule the principles of divine love. Divine love is exercised according to the principles found in God’s word. We therefore need to read His word so that we may understand how to love one another the way He commands.
Regarding people who spread falsehood on the teachings of Christ, we are to love them, but at the same time, we are not to support their ways or associate ourselves with their activities. Supporting the people who are living in errant doctrine is not loving them, but separating them from the truth of God. Love, in God’s terms, is only love when it is exercised according to His word, “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments….Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God”. (2 Jn 6,9)
We shall now look at some of the Characteristics Of Fellowship that John highlighted.
Purity of Life
“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming… everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” ( (1 Jn 2:28; 3:3)
How many of us are confident of meeting the Lord at His second coming? Probably not all of us are. Because not everyone has prepared himself to meet the Lord. According to John, “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 Jn 3:3). Those who abide in Christ purify themselves in the hope of seeing Him when He returns. If anyone lacks confidence in meeting the Lord at His return, that is a direct result of the lack of fellowship with Christ. Because Paul did say that when we abide in Christ, we will appear with Him in glory, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4). There is no way we can appear on our own strength in the day of the Lord. It is either we abide with Christ now and appear with Him that day, or we detach ourselves from Him and be lost forever. Fellowship with God is the key to being able to celebrate the second coming of the Lord (there are some who fear, rather than welcome, the return of our Lord). How can we possibly experience peace in our hearts when we have no confidence of meeting Christ at His return? If we truly awaits for the return of Christ, it should have a sanctifying influence in our lives.
Practice Of Righteousness
“He who sins is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 Jn 3:8).
For this reason, anyone who abides in Christ cannot continue to lead a sinful life. Otherwise he doesn’t belong to Christ, but to the devil, who is the father of all sins. John says, “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins…” (1 Jn 3:5). We ought to know, that the reason why Christ came to suffer and die on earth was so that He may free us from the bondage of sin. Therefore, to continue sinning even after we’ve received Him into our lives is an outrageous denial of Christ’s mission on earth. To go on practicing sin, therefore, is to live in utter disregard of the reason for His incarnation. Consider what it cost Jesus to redeem us from sin. It was nothing less than a long and painful death for Him. Therefore, for people who love the Lord, there is only one goal for us, and that is to put sin away from us as far as possible! It was sin that killed our Lord Jesus Christ. It is terrible even for us to think of committing sin, what more to practice it and sin again and again. So the instruction for us is clear, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him” (1 Jn 3:6). God’s children are known by their righteous lives.
Love In Deed And In Truth
“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1Jn.3:18)
The practice of righteousness distinguishes the children of God from the children of darkness, so does loving one another in the way Jesus demonstrated. How much are we to love one another? John says “because He laid down His life for us… we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16). According to him, we are to love one another unto the point of death. But before we are willing to die for one another, let us first be willing to live for one another. In his earlier address, John spoke about loving one another as a sign of fellowship in God. Now, he adds to that, emphasizing that we should not love just in words, or in thoughts, but also in our actions and conduct. Love is invisible, but we can see the manifestation of love. As James puts it, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (Ja 2:14); “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Ja 2:17). We can make encouraging speeches or comfort people in trouble with the right words, but if we do not help them in practical ways, if we do not help them cope better or overcome their problems, then we are not demonstrating the love of God. The charge therefore is, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 Jn 4:7). By this we can then be counted as people who are born of God and have known God.
Finally, John tells us what the consequences, benefits and blessings fellowship with God brings. Firstly, there is this tremendous value of love being perfected among believers who have learnt to abide in love.
Perfected In Love
“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love has been perfected in us” (1Jn.4:12)
Love finds its origins in God, for its source is in God alone. John continues to describe the manifestations of God’s love in three tenses. In the past, it was manifested to us while we were still sinners “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him…He love us and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins” (4:9-11). In the present, it is manifested to us as saints in His dwelling in us “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us” (4:12). In the future, it will be manifested to us in giving us boldness in the day of judgment “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment” (4:17)
As John earlier taught, the really loving person is the one who “abides in love”, that is, the one who consistently accepts people not as objects or obstacles, but as individuals created by God, and reflects love to them on that basis. Exercising this kind of love leads us to being perfected in the love of God.
Whether Christian or non-Christian, it is hard to imagine that there might be a single person who does not realize, deep in his heart, that at the end of his life there is an accounting to do before an Almighty God, his Maker. This was exactly what Paul said to a group of non-Christians in Athens, “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (Acts 17:31). “That day lies ahead of us all. Therefore is there not a question in your heart now, "When I stand before God like that, will I pass the test?" “When the Lord judges the nations and divides the sheep to His right and the goats to His left, where will I be cast?”
Notice that John does not say that is the end of us if we can’t be sure of our fate on that day. But he inserts the divine revelation saying that “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 Jn 4:17). That means Christ is now in this world, invisibly living through our visible presence and actions. Therefore, it is Christ living in us and we are no longer trying our best to obey the commands of Jesus, but we are trusting quietly and confidently expecting that God will fulfill His promise to live in us and do through us all that He wants to do. Whatever we do in this world, it is God within us who does it. So if in the day of judgment God is going to look at our lives and see His own activities done through us, He will certainly not deny Himself! If what we do comes from Him, they are wholly acceptable unto Him and we can have complete confidence in His presence. With that, we can understand John’s words, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.” (1 Jn 4:18). If one truly walks in love, our lives will be marked with tranquility, peace and joy in all circumstances.
Victory Over The World
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believers that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jn 5:4-5).
These verses tell us that our faith in Christ Jesus connects us to the source of every victory. Like what Paul says, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…” and in Rom. 8:37, “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him…” Very certainly, both Paul and John are telling us that Jesus is the source of victory. If we abide in Jesus, we can have continuing victory!
The world is full of temptations, always luring us away from God and from what is eternal, into things that are temporary and sensual. Victims of such temptations are completely absorbed into things of passing value. Only a child of God is able to rise above the perishing things of this world and see things in their true, eternal perspective. Thus, the one who overcomes the world is not the great scientist or philosopher or psychologist, but the believer who realizes that the things which are seen are temporary and that which are not seen are eternal.
John never said that one that is born of God maybe he can overcome the world. Not maybe, but will overcome. Victory is something that is to be expected of every Christian “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1Jn.5:18-19). As Watchman Nee puts it, victory is a “normal Christian life”. To live a defeated life and not overcome the world is not normal for a Christian. It is very abnormal! The standard of a Christ-filled life is victory. Being overcome by the world is not normal. Being conquerors of the world is. Victory is our spiritual birthright.
In closing, let us be reminded of John exaltation to the elect lady and her children in his second epistle “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward” (2Jn.8) In other words, stand firm in the truth and live out the truth, so that our lives are not live out in vain.
“He who loves his brother abides in the light…But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1Jn.2:10-11)
Finally, to fellowship with God, we need to love our brethren. God will not allow us to bear unforgiveness and resentment towards our brethren because that breaks the unity in His family. Beside, the love of God for mankind is so strong that He did not even spare His Son but sent Him to die for us. If God loved people so much, how would He ever allow us to fellowship with Him when we are unloving towards one another? We do need to pay attention to the people around us – consider their needs and work towards meeting them “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the Church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles” (3Jn.5-6). Though this may not be the only evidence of our fellowship with God, it is nevertheless a sign of true conversion from darkness to light. Regarding this Jesus says, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Mt 25:40). If we neglect to meet the needs of people, Jesus has this to say, “Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” (Mt 25:45). Jesus does not just keep a record of the things we do for people, but also of the things we fail to do for them! The searching revelation of that passage in Matthew 25 is that this is now happening all around us. Christ is in all these situations of need, and when we are confronted with someone who has a need it is Jesus who is asking our help. Our reaction to that person is our reaction to Jesus Himself. The cross is made up our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with men. When our relationship with men fails, our relationship with God is incomplete.
Now that we know what we need to do in order to conduct our fellowship with God aright, we must also find out what we must not do in order not to grieve the fellowship we have with God. John brings out two cautions of fellowship for us to note.
Love Not The World
“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” (1Jn 2:15)
John tells us plainly that it is not possible to love God and love the world. He is not talking about the world of mankind or the natural creation. Rather, he is referring to the world of the pleasures of sin, the sensual fleshly appetites that our evil nature emits – the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”. God does not want us to return to the ways of the world we came from, but to start walking in the light, as we ought to. When we embrace the principles of God, we must discard the philosophies of the world, or else we cause great battles within ourselves, for “friendship with the world is enmity with God.” (Ja 4:4). God’s ways are higher than the ways of the world and His thoughts higher than the thoughts of the world, so there is no way we can walk in God’s ways and still embrace the ways of the world. We are called to love the people in the world but we must not love the ways of the world. God commands this of us because firstly, the ways of the world are destructive and secondly, the world itself is passing away so there is absolutely no eternal value in following its ways. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Pet 1:24-25).
Divine Love vs. Human Affection
“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (2 Jn 10-11).
While we are called to love one another, the Bible also warns us to be cautious who we fellowship with. He specifically says we should be careful how we respond to false teachers who appear at our doorsteps. Should we invite them in, serve them refreshments, or give them financial aid? John tells us not even to greet them and never to receive them. People who show us a doctrine different from what the Word of God says are enemies of God and therefore we have no reason to show them hospitality or fellowship with them. Human affection should never over rule the principles of divine love. Divine love is exercised according to the principles found in God’s word. We therefore need to read His word so that we may understand how to love one another the way He commands.
Regarding people who spread falsehood on the teachings of Christ, we are to love them, but at the same time, we are not to support their ways or associate ourselves with their activities. Supporting the people who are living in errant doctrine is not loving them, but separating them from the truth of God. Love, in God’s terms, is only love when it is exercised according to His word, “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments….Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God”. (2 Jn 6,9)
We shall now look at some of the Characteristics Of Fellowship that John highlighted.
Purity of Life
“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming… everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” ( (1 Jn 2:28; 3:3)
How many of us are confident of meeting the Lord at His second coming? Probably not all of us are. Because not everyone has prepared himself to meet the Lord. According to John, “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 Jn 3:3). Those who abide in Christ purify themselves in the hope of seeing Him when He returns. If anyone lacks confidence in meeting the Lord at His return, that is a direct result of the lack of fellowship with Christ. Because Paul did say that when we abide in Christ, we will appear with Him in glory, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4). There is no way we can appear on our own strength in the day of the Lord. It is either we abide with Christ now and appear with Him that day, or we detach ourselves from Him and be lost forever. Fellowship with God is the key to being able to celebrate the second coming of the Lord (there are some who fear, rather than welcome, the return of our Lord). How can we possibly experience peace in our hearts when we have no confidence of meeting Christ at His return? If we truly awaits for the return of Christ, it should have a sanctifying influence in our lives.
Practice Of Righteousness
“He who sins is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 Jn 3:8).
For this reason, anyone who abides in Christ cannot continue to lead a sinful life. Otherwise he doesn’t belong to Christ, but to the devil, who is the father of all sins. John says, “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins…” (1 Jn 3:5). We ought to know, that the reason why Christ came to suffer and die on earth was so that He may free us from the bondage of sin. Therefore, to continue sinning even after we’ve received Him into our lives is an outrageous denial of Christ’s mission on earth. To go on practicing sin, therefore, is to live in utter disregard of the reason for His incarnation. Consider what it cost Jesus to redeem us from sin. It was nothing less than a long and painful death for Him. Therefore, for people who love the Lord, there is only one goal for us, and that is to put sin away from us as far as possible! It was sin that killed our Lord Jesus Christ. It is terrible even for us to think of committing sin, what more to practice it and sin again and again. So the instruction for us is clear, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him” (1 Jn 3:6). God’s children are known by their righteous lives.
Love In Deed And In Truth
“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1Jn.3:18)
The practice of righteousness distinguishes the children of God from the children of darkness, so does loving one another in the way Jesus demonstrated. How much are we to love one another? John says “because He laid down His life for us… we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16). According to him, we are to love one another unto the point of death. But before we are willing to die for one another, let us first be willing to live for one another. In his earlier address, John spoke about loving one another as a sign of fellowship in God. Now, he adds to that, emphasizing that we should not love just in words, or in thoughts, but also in our actions and conduct. Love is invisible, but we can see the manifestation of love. As James puts it, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (Ja 2:14); “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Ja 2:17). We can make encouraging speeches or comfort people in trouble with the right words, but if we do not help them in practical ways, if we do not help them cope better or overcome their problems, then we are not demonstrating the love of God. The charge therefore is, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 Jn 4:7). By this we can then be counted as people who are born of God and have known God.
Finally, John tells us what the consequences, benefits and blessings fellowship with God brings. Firstly, there is this tremendous value of love being perfected among believers who have learnt to abide in love.
Perfected In Love
“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love has been perfected in us” (1Jn.4:12)
Love finds its origins in God, for its source is in God alone. John continues to describe the manifestations of God’s love in three tenses. In the past, it was manifested to us while we were still sinners “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him…He love us and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins” (4:9-11). In the present, it is manifested to us as saints in His dwelling in us “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us” (4:12). In the future, it will be manifested to us in giving us boldness in the day of judgment “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment” (4:17)
As John earlier taught, the really loving person is the one who “abides in love”, that is, the one who consistently accepts people not as objects or obstacles, but as individuals created by God, and reflects love to them on that basis. Exercising this kind of love leads us to being perfected in the love of God.
Whether Christian or non-Christian, it is hard to imagine that there might be a single person who does not realize, deep in his heart, that at the end of his life there is an accounting to do before an Almighty God, his Maker. This was exactly what Paul said to a group of non-Christians in Athens, “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (Acts 17:31). “That day lies ahead of us all. Therefore is there not a question in your heart now, "When I stand before God like that, will I pass the test?" “When the Lord judges the nations and divides the sheep to His right and the goats to His left, where will I be cast?”
Notice that John does not say that is the end of us if we can’t be sure of our fate on that day. But he inserts the divine revelation saying that “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 Jn 4:17). That means Christ is now in this world, invisibly living through our visible presence and actions. Therefore, it is Christ living in us and we are no longer trying our best to obey the commands of Jesus, but we are trusting quietly and confidently expecting that God will fulfill His promise to live in us and do through us all that He wants to do. Whatever we do in this world, it is God within us who does it. So if in the day of judgment God is going to look at our lives and see His own activities done through us, He will certainly not deny Himself! If what we do comes from Him, they are wholly acceptable unto Him and we can have complete confidence in His presence. With that, we can understand John’s words, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.” (1 Jn 4:18). If one truly walks in love, our lives will be marked with tranquility, peace and joy in all circumstances.
Victory Over The World
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believers that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jn 5:4-5).
These verses tell us that our faith in Christ Jesus connects us to the source of every victory. Like what Paul says, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…” and in Rom. 8:37, “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him…” Very certainly, both Paul and John are telling us that Jesus is the source of victory. If we abide in Jesus, we can have continuing victory!
The world is full of temptations, always luring us away from God and from what is eternal, into things that are temporary and sensual. Victims of such temptations are completely absorbed into things of passing value. Only a child of God is able to rise above the perishing things of this world and see things in their true, eternal perspective. Thus, the one who overcomes the world is not the great scientist or philosopher or psychologist, but the believer who realizes that the things which are seen are temporary and that which are not seen are eternal.
John never said that one that is born of God maybe he can overcome the world. Not maybe, but will overcome. Victory is something that is to be expected of every Christian “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1Jn.5:18-19). As Watchman Nee puts it, victory is a “normal Christian life”. To live a defeated life and not overcome the world is not normal for a Christian. It is very abnormal! The standard of a Christ-filled life is victory. Being overcome by the world is not normal. Being conquerors of the world is. Victory is our spiritual birthright.
In closing, let us be reminded of John exaltation to the elect lady and her children in his second epistle “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward” (2Jn.8) In other words, stand firm in the truth and live out the truth, so that our lives are not live out in vain.