1 John: The State of The Church & Commentary

Sanctification part 4

Continuing in our sanctification series and seeking to understand the condition of various churches in the Bible, we now come to the book of 1 John and shall examine what their spiritual state was like. I have also extensively studied this book to do my best not to interpret it with my own biases. With that goal in mind, I have paraphrased the book verse by verse while looking at the Greek, and I have worded things in a way that seeks to be most faithful to the text and the progression of thought in which John has written this letter. I personally don’t like the way John naturally words everything because it’s hard to read and can be confusing at times and so I have changed some of the syntax to make it more natural to read while also trying to maintain the verb tenses and original meaning. After the paraphrase, I have also included a short commentary to communicate John’s basic ideas and progression of thought which is meant to be read one verse after another rather than as a reference. Then, after this short commentary section, I have included a lengthier commentary section for more depth. In the future I may add more to it. But if you’re just here for the teachings on Sanctification, Interpretive methods for 1 John, what it means to abide, the condition of John’s church, some discussion on eternal security, and to continue understanding Wesleyan Christian perfection, then it may be sufficient to just read the introductory material below.

What was the condition of John’s audience and what does it mean to abide?

Is John presenting a gospel message of salvation of how we become saved? Or is he telling us how we stay saved, the necessary conditions for salvation? Or is he telling us that these are the marks of genuine believers? Or is he saying that these are the marks of mature believers who have entered into God’s rest which is the true intention for our salvation? This place of God’s rest, or as Wesleyans called it, Christian perfection, may have been the normal condition of believers at that time and in that church.

Let us explore these questions to find out who John’s audience is and what he intends to achieve.

John spoke to “children,” “fathers,” and “young men,” which many people take to mean those in the church who are newly saved, those who have been saved for a long time, and those who have been saved for some time now. John addresses them as “little children, teknion” (2:1, 12, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21) and “brethren, brother, adelphos” (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21; 5:16) and “beloved, agapētos” (2:7; 3:2, 21; 4:1, 7, 11) most of the time in reference to the whole group that he is writing to. The term, “little children” is also used by Jesus in addressing His disciples (Jn 13:33). In this way, it is an endearing title for disciples. Then there is the term for “born of God, gennaō,” which just means begat, or fathered, and is used six times (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18).

John only mentions fathers and young men on one occasion (2:13-14). But in reference to “children” as a group, he could use it as short for “children of God,” which he also used a few times and includes himself in that description (teknon: 3:1, 2, 10). This term teknon means offspring, children, or son; and also comes up in 3:10 when it talks about the children of God and the children of the devil. The term, adelphos could also be understood as friends in the Lord or family in the Lord. The idea is that because we are children of God, and God has fathered us through cleansing us and united us to Him, we are all brethren, family, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. In this way, John may not have been referring to various lengths of time in how long they have been saved by using those terms. Instead, he may have simply meant every individual in the church more in reference to their physical age and their relation to other members of God’s family. In summary of all these terms, those who are united to God in fellowship are also untied to one another in fellowship and in this way, we are all members of God’s family and God’s children. Therefore, all these terms essentially mean the same thing and the variation of the terms are mostly just nuanced. Because of that, I do not think that when John addresses his audience as “children” that he is somehow only addressing the new believers. I believe he is addressing everyone with that term, along with “little children,” and in all the terms he uses, he is speaking endearingly to the church.

To abide can be translated as “to live, to dwell, to stay, to remain” in God and in fellowship with God through faith and love (see chapter 1 and 2:23-24). It is us being united to God and God being united to us through obeying His commands to have faith in Him and love the family of believers so that our fellowship with God is all connected. We are whole in God as a body of believers. However, this doesn’t mean just showing up to church on Sunday. That’s just a building. Church is the fellowship of believers practicing the “one another” passages in the Bible of loving each other and building each other up in the faith. That is of primary importance, even more so than outreach ministry because it is from our inner strength that we can have outer strength. So, good going for all you Baptist churches with your potlucks and all the other churches who do home fellowship groups, small groups, and fun activities and events, and just doing life together. We were created in the image of God who is a Trinity, a community, and so we were made to exist and live with community. However, the vitality of life is not just in being loved and being served, but loving others and serving others.

In all of the abide passages in the book of 1 John, most of them explain what abiding is or what abiding looks like. But there are two occasions where to abide is an imperative command. In 1 John 2:24 the command is for the word/truth in which they heard from the beginning to abide in them and if they did that, then they also would abide in the Son and in the Father. This truth is about who Jesus is in His divinity and humanity as both Lord and Savior. To believe in Him is to believe the gospel to be united to God. But since John is addressing those who are already believers, he’s essentially saying that they need to hold on to the gospel truth and this foundational doctrine of who Jesus is so that they continue firm in the faith without being shaken so that they remain in God.

The second command to abide is in 1 John 2:28 which is just four verses later and says, “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” John is clearly addressing his disciples, all the believers in the church. He is encouraging them and exhorting them to continue to abide in Jesus so that when He returns, they will not be ashamed and their hearts will not accuse them because they will be walking blamelessly before God, conscious of no wrongdoing against themselves and taking faith in God’s love.

This then brings up the question: Is there only “to abide” and “not to abide,” or is it possible to not fully abide in God while still abiding in God? I’m inclined to think that the answer is yes, considering this passage. If some believers don’t fully abide in God because they have sinned, they might shrink away in shame at the coming of the Lord because their heart condemns them. That is, they will have fear and shame. However, Jesus gives the encouragement with the most likely possibility that when He returns, we will be able to have confidence because He says, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Lk 21:18). However, according to 1 John, there is the possibility that we will not have confidence when this time comes and that’s why the command is given: abide in Him. But we don’t have to be morally perfect because 1 John 1:8-10 says that if we make such a claim, it is not a truthful claim, and is actually an indicator that we don’t know the truth and the word of God is not on our hearts. Because of this, we come to the conclusion that we are not morally perfect while yet at the same time bearing marks of a true believer. If then we are bearing marks of a true believer, then we are abiding in Him because if we did not abide in Him, then we would not be in Him who is our life, salvation, and eternal life. But if we can shrink back in fear or shame at His coming, then it is for some reason because we are not morally perfect or because we are not abiding in salvation (abiding in Him) or that we are not fully abiding in Him (in His fellowship through faith and love).

Those are the possibilities that I see and John does leave this book open for the possible interpretation that believers can forfeit the faith and fall away because (1) the command to abide and the possible result which may or may not be the loss of salvation and (2) because the nature of abiding is holding onto the truth of Jesus, believing in Him, loving one another, not hating/despising one another (unforgiveness), and not walking in darkness. However, can genuine believers hold onto bitterness and unforgiveness? Can they walk away from Christianity? Can they renounce the faith they once held? Can they corrupt their view of Jesus and fall away? These things can certainly happen. Also, (3) the nature of salvation John presents here is something more mystical, a union between God and man—a connection that becomes connected through faith and love. In this way, it certainly has a more Eastern Orthodox feel to it. Nevertheless, it logically proceeds that if something can become connected, it can also become disconnected. If faith and love is what connects, then the absence of faith or love disconnects.

However, one might say that this was not the point of John’s letter. He wrote to the believers to encourage them, so that their joy would be made full and so that they would not sin (1:4; 2:1). He was already convinced that they were saved by the many endearing terms that he uses along with saying he wrote to them because their sins had already been forgiven, they had overcome the evil one, and they personally know the Father (2:12-14, 27). They had the Holy Spirit, they didn’t need anyone to teach them about the essential truths, and knew the essential truth of Jesus (2:20-21). He called them children of God along with himself and said, “we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (3:14). If John’s whole aim was to encourage the believers, then having all these stark contrast statements that he makes about those who walk in the light vs. those who walk in the darkness, shouldn’t have disturbed their faith or discouraged them because they were rock solid before John sent this letter to them. Therefore, the aim of the letter is not to rebuke them, teach them something they didn’t already know, and especially not intended as a gospel message to lead them into being saved. Rather, these contrasts are to point out the genuine marks of a believer, not necessarily all the exact conditions and defining lines of what is required to be a believer. This was to aid the assurance of their own salvation so that the Gnostics who were leaving their group would not shake them in any way (5:13; 2:19).

We might say that the genuine marks of a believer are where the target’s red bull’s eye is whereas the required marks, not specifically listed here, are the outside area of the bull’s eye. As long as you are consistently hitting the board, you’re okay. However, the outside edge of the board is not revealed to us and so we don’t know exactly at what point one draws the line to say, “this person is saved” but “that person over there isn’t.” In this way, I do not think it would be right to use the book of 1 John as a litmus test to become fruit inspectors and specifically tell people that they are not saved when the reality is that we might not actually know because they are somewhere in the gray area. It would be more wise to use Peter’s method and say, “For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” (2 Pet 1:9-11). Peter didn’t separate the sheep from the goats but rather, left it in God’s hands. But it can be a dangerous thing for the church for people to operate like that in their own perceptual judgement to decide for themselves who is and who isn’t saved. Jesus warned us not to do that in a parable of the wheat and the tares in which the master told the servants not to pull up the tares since they looked so similar to the wheat and if they tried to separate them, they may accidentally do harm to the wheat, pulling it out to dispose of it because they mistook it for what they thought was tares (Mt 13).

Having said these things about the genuine marks vs. the required condition, no one would be wise to mess around in sin or test their limits. When sin becomes a lifestyle so that you are living in it without repentance, without fighting against it, without trying to put it to death, you are in much danger. Once you are confronted with your evil and you still refuse to repent, and the whole church has tried to win you over to no avail, then we can declare with the authority of heaven that you do not truly believe God and do not have the life of God within you. However, one Christian might say something is a sin while another may say that it’s not. It may be a matter of personal conviction and not a salvation related matter. But there are also instances where the word of God mentions something but is not crystal clear about the matter and if that’s the case, we can’t rightly condemn someone for doing that thing. The law that is most important though, is the law of love. Those who live in unforgiveness, reveal that they do not have the life of God within them because that life is love and God is love. If they know God, they then they would know to love also and that the seriousness of this sin leads to spiritual death.

Having said all these things about the possibility of forfeiting the faith, someone might point to 1 John 2:19 which says, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.” Some Christians point to this passage and say that there were people in the church with other believers and so there were unbelievers with believers mixed in together but the believers didn’t know that the other people were unbelievers until they left the church and proved themselves not to be believers. So, it’s not saying that some people lost their faith but rather, that they were not truly saved to begin with. Now, in principle, I agree with the possible scenario which can show itself in our experience and in the experience of John. However, I do not believe this is what the verse is indicating. These people who left the church were adversaries of Christ because they were false teachers, not holding onto the fundamental truths about Jesus. The direct context does not have enough support to indicate that sin was the main or only issue here because the context reveals that it was the fundamental truths that were the issue and they either held to these beliefs in secret until a later time or they developed those beliefs during the time they stayed with the true believers but time revealed who they were and that the Spirit of truth was not in them. It may have been deceptive people with evil intentions from the very beginning, wolves in sheep’s clothing. Having said that, even if one were to believe that this was an exit out of the church due to sin reasons alone, that still does not mean that in every case and every scenario that this is what it will look like. John is narrating an event that happened, not dictating that such an event could only happen in that particular fashion. Therefore, this verse does not close the door to the possibility of a genuine believer committing apostasy.

Continuing on with the subject of what it means to abide and having established the fact that John’s audience seem to be rock solid in their faith, conduct, and were involved in exemplary behavior so that this letter would be received to them as an encouragement to bolster their assurance and make their joy full, let’s now turn to examine their possible weaknesses. John writes that another purpose of his message to them is so that his audience may have fellowship with them and also fellowship with the Father and the Son (1:3). However, this could be the purpose of the gospel and fundamental truths as well according to verses 1-2. But I don’t think John is saying that if you believe these things, you guys are going to get saved because elsewhere, he affirms they already know the truth and are walking in it. So then, John is reminding them of the truth for their encouragement for (1) their joy to be full and (2) for there to be fellowship. It seems then that they had joy but could still have more joy and that they had fellowship with believers, and with the Father and the Son but could still have greater fellowship with them. So then, from the very start of this letter, I don’t just see black and white—I see some grey. I see in between the lines.

Next, John says that if we walk in the Light as Jesus is, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1:7). This statement is contrasted with walking in darkness being a bad thing yet it does not inherently spell out that it is impossible to do for those who say they have fellowship with God but it is certainly indicative of someone who doesn’t have fellowship with God. But it is saying that those who walk in darkness are not practicing the truth of their claim and are in this way walking in falsehood or living a lie. They are not practicing the reality of the gospel which is to love one another. However, those who walk in the light of Jesus have fellowship with one another. Is this indicative of fellowship when one enters into salvation or is it an added benefit type of fellowship? It could be both. Though, it seems to be from verses 1-6 that the focus is on the truth of one’s profession while verses 8-10 is focused on particular situations for believers of “if,” “then,” statements where the focus is on righteous living and to what extent one can be expunged from all practical sin as a believer. That puts verse 7 sandwiched between these two things of which the earlier words seem to focus on the salvation of Jesus and the latter words seem to focus on the extent of sanctification and the means of cleansing to be sanctified. But there are two verses in this chapter which offer cleansing, verses 7 and 9. Verse 9 most clearly points to what the believer can now do to be sanctified and I defend this position on the basis of verse 8 which denies the reality of a believer having no sin so then it follows in verse 9 that whatever sin a believer does come to have, then they have opportunity to confess it. For this reason, verse 9 is about the practical cleansing away of sin and guilt through faith in God’s faithful love and upright character. In this way, the specific application of verse 9 is about the believer’s relational aspect of duty and privilege from God to be forgiven and cleansed rather than a salvation message regarding justification.

That leaves us with verse 7 which is also about cleansing. But is this justification or sanctification? I’m inclined to believe that it is a sanctification cleansing because love heals. Fellowship is healing. It dispels whatever darkness may be in our hearts so that we leave whatever corrupted, fragmented, disordered, or broken state that we might be in. In the beginning, it was not just God and Adam because not too long after, God created Eve and He said it was because it is not good for man to be alone. We need to live with our kind. But God did not see animals sufficient because they are not our kind. So, we need community for our health so that we will not turn to sin or seek its pleasures. Secondly, I see verse 7 about sanctification because verse 9 was also about sanctification and they both speak of cleansing, and because the preceding verse is vague enough that it could be speaking of believers who are not practicing what they say they believe.

However, throughout the book of 1 John, he uses this analogy of darkness and light as two starkly opposite things where it is one or the other and he applies it to how Christians behave and how non-Christians / the Gnostic false believers behave. The idea is that light cannot exist where darkness is and darkness cannot exist where light is. Light will always expel the darkness and so it is inherently unnatural to have darkness where there is light. Jesus made similar contrasts in His teachings: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Mt 6:24). Love or hate. Devoted or despise. You choose. But here, I don’t think Jesus is preaching Lordship salvation, I believe He is preaching Lordship discipleship. It’s about being a disciple of Jesus, the hard path of sanctification, and part of the total plan of salvation but not the door to get in to be saved. Though, He is speaking to the crowd at this point and so He is informing people of what the hard road will be if they decide to follow Him because after someone is saved, the discipleship begins. Jesus certainly does want total commitment and devotion and that’s the path to healing from sin and we might even argue, the path to immortality. But forgiveness is free. Reconciliation with God is not conditioned on radical discipleship because discipleship is a part of sanctification. But a heart that turns to God and away from sin so that one’s life begins to change, is a necessary outflow of faith if that faith is genuine. Every true believer acknowledges Jesus as both Savior and Lord. However, the level of commitment varies from person to person.

To me, it makes sense to see the book of 1 John as a book about the high call of discipleship in spiritual growth to reach for the highest bar. Even in the Gospel of John, Jesus points to this path for His disciples and any who would follow Him. He tells them that their feet need to be washed, indicating their need for continual cleansing in sanctification. He speaks of how they need to be sanctified by the truth and He prays for them to come to the point of reflecting the same love and unity that is within the Trinity so the world may believe in Jesus.

John sets the standard for his audience in the letter of 1 John and even calls them “little children,” quite often, which is a discipleship term for students. But, as I have said before, their spiritual state of walking in the light must be healthy enough for them to take this letter to be joyful and uplifting to them as it affirms that they are walking in the light and hopefully most of them do not have any notable sin struggle or addiction or anything like that which would condemn their hearts. But the fact that this is a letter of discipleship as well and not just an encouraging letter, I will also refer you back to what I said previously about the two imperative abide passages which gives further weight to this being about discipleship as well. Additionally, in 3:16, John says that we ought to lay down our lives for God’s children even as Jesus laid down His life for us. This is the discipleship language Jesus used, saying, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mt 16:24). Jesus calls every believer higher up. But how high could they be?

We know that they were not sinning, they were not making a practice of sin (3:4-10). They were keeping Jesus’ commandments of faith and love and doing what was pleasing in His sight so that whatever they asked in prayer, they would receive (3:22). Yet John also says that just as Christ is pure and righteous, so also can believers be. What does that mean?

1 John 3:2-3 says, “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” This is a purity that can be attained through the power of hope. Hope can dispel the darkness of sin and doubt so that it purifies our hearts to be blameless before God. “Just as” means in the same way as or in like manner. Of course, the context indicates that we will not be totally like Him in every way until Christ appears and transforms us to have a glorified body as His. However, we can still be purified after the purification of Jesus. This is something to pursue after conversion to conform ourselves to Christ in this pursuit of discipleship. But it is not an automatic static state of every believer. The pursuit of this is for sanctification cleansing and setting our hearts apart from this world to be holy, even as He is holy. Again, not moral perfection but a blameless heart walking before God. It is possible to walk in purity because Christ who is pure dwells within us and can live through us.

1 John 3:7-8 says, “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” Again, we have this “just as” phrase. We know it cannot mean moral perfection to live without any flaws, mistakes, or ever sinning as 1:8-10 reveal to us. So, the definition of righteousness is not moral perfection. Rather, it is living in a right relationship with God through His forgiveness and walking in His commandments. This is John’s description of a life of a believer and one who clearly belongs to God in contrast to those who are not, who do not walk in His commandments but instead make a practice of sin.

But here in verses 4-6 John says, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.” And verse 9, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” It logically follows that if there is no sin in Jesus and we are continually abiding in Him, then so long as we are abiding in Him, we are not sinning either. The life of God that we receive from our connection to the Vine, Jesus, does not produce any sin. Otherwise, there would be sin in Jesus. But that is not the case. And so, in our connection to the Vine, it is our natural state to not willfully sin. Now, of course, we can still choose to willfully sin since we have free-will but if and/or when we are abiding in Him, that is not what we produce. That is not the fruit of God.

Flagrant sin, is therefore, contrary to our nature, along with struggling with sin. At least, it was for John’s audience. In this chapter, practicing sin is equated with unrighteousness, not loving one’s brother in the Lord, and being of the devil. Cain was given as a specific example of being of the devil in his hate, envy, and anger against his brother so as to murder him. That heart attitude and the evil actions against fellow believers that result from it, makes someone a murderer and those murderers who practice that heart attitude and actions do not have eternal life, according to John. Because, if God is love and the love of God is in them, how is it they can live that way? Unless, the love of God is not in them and therefore God is not in them? That is his thought process for saying he doesn’t think that person is a genuine believer because that person does not show the signs of a genuine believer but rather, the opposite signs.

To make a practice of sinning really means a lifestyle where you’re increasing in sin, you’re getting better at it, you’re perfecting it, and you’re living in it without repentance. Make a practice of sin is continually doing making sin. Living like that surely reflects someone who is not saved or abiding in Jesus.

John had affirmed that the audience he was speaking to was saved, they weren’t sinning, they didn’t need anyone to teach them, and they knew the truth. He spoke of them along with himself as walking in the light and following the commands of Jesus, and he does not rebuke them on anything. They were also full of the love of God. This sounds like a very healthy and mature church. Since they didn’t need anyone to teach them, they seem to fit the opposite description of the Hebrews who were still drinking milk and needed to be taught the fundamentals all over again. If that is indeed the case for John’s audience, then it seems very likely that this group of believers had generally as a whole group, entered into God’s rest through walking into maturity. Therefore, we would be wise to look at 1 John as the standard for a healthy and normal church with the description of normal Christians rather than identifying with the struggles in sin that other biblical teachers and apostles were having to correct and bring those churches out of. Sin is certainly not normalized or coddled in the book of 1 John. Just because it appears normal in other churches and becomes average for many people, that doesn’t mean that this is where we should be. 1 John is the standard. According to 1 John, it is not normal to have pet sins and nor is it okay. Romans 7 doesn’t teach the normalcy of sin either. That would be a misunderstanding. Paul was not describing himself struggling with sin as a mature Christian. See my article on this for more information.

1 John Introduction and Interpretive Methods

The way John writes his letter to the church or churches cannot properly be defined as a letter since there is no introduction/salutation address and no farewell words. John just gets right to the point and says what he needs to say even as he did in writing the gospel of John. Almost immediately, John introduces this concept of light and darkness where God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Then he takes this concept and applies it to what it looks like to live for God being a believer and disciple of Jesus as in the light and then what the opposite looks like of living in the darkness, in sin and unbelief. This understanding sets up the entire letter contrasting what believers look like and what unbelievers look like. However, this isn’t to be understood in a strictly rational way as if someone is only in this box or that box and there can be nothing in between. But that would certainly be our inclination to think that way as the rational, logical, western thinkers that we are. However, I don’t think John is thinking here as much with his left brain as he is with his right brain. That is, John sees the light in the imagination of his mind. In his mind’s eye, he sees a picture of what a believer looks like and he sees a picture of what an unbeliever looks like and then he puts it to pen to tell us of those images. In this way, he is drawing a painting of each side—the light and the dark. For this reason, his main emphasis is on contrast rather than telling us or specifically describing what the exact boundary lines are of a true believer. John is showing us marks of a true Christian and marks of an unbeliever. He does this to give his audience assurance that they are on the right side and so that the Gnostic false teachers who came out of their church would be truly exposed for who they are as walking in the dark. This exposure in pointing them out as distinctly different from the genuine believers of the true faith, would grant those believers greater confidence and comfort in their faith.

These false teachers denied Jesus as God, as Messiah, and as one who came in the flesh. They also believed that the body was evil while the spirit within them was pure and so that whatever evil that they did do was okay because they reasoned that it was just their body doing it and not their spirit or spark of goodness within them. In this way, they would claim to be without sin, without guilt, to be perfect, even though they were living in flagrant sin. John’s aim is to expose them for who they are while encouraging the true believers.

John does this by giving many descriptions of true and false believers showing what the light looks like and what the dark looks like. However, we must understand that these descriptions were not meant to be unequivocal statements, without exceptions, without qualifications. Again, John’s aim was not to show us the boundary line as much as it was to show us the standard and expectation of what true believers are who are walking in the light and living a life of discipleship after Jesus. We know that light can have different gradations of brightness, that there is not just one level of luminescence. With God, however, there is only one level and it is fully bright and pure.

When John says, “God is light,” he is speaking metaphorically of God’s moral purity, rational understanding, and omnipresence. God shines into the darkness to enlighten every man, every person who lets the light in. Just as how when the sun is shining, it brings light to everything that it shines upon, so also God’s light brings light to everything that He shines upon. But just as the natural light does not penetrate into all things so spiritual light does not either. People can resist and close their hearts and minds off to God and refuse to let the light to come in.

Here, we must also bring to the forefront our biased understanding of God’s presence. Often, we think from a very westernized concept of the occupation of matter in physical space and volume and think very scientifically and analytically about it. When we think of God living in us, we think that way too, like we are some box or cup that God occupies and then think absently of God occupying anything outside of ourselves. But thinking in terms of God’s light, His presence is everywhere the light is shining. This means that to abide in Him is to let His light shine in us to penetrate and expel the darkness. And for Him to abide in us, is for God’s presence that is already around us, to enter into us and bring life to us. But if we close our hearts off to Him by cutting off our love and faith, then the darkness returns because darkness is the absence of light. To abide in Him, then, is to keep the connection going so that we continue to live with God’s light, with the presence of His Spirit, love, and faith. However, this light can exist in degrees. It is certainly necessary for all true believers to open their hearts to the light and to give God the darkness that was in their hearts. However, not every inch of every Christian has yielded every part of themselves to God and so there remains certain areas of darkness which still need cleansed. But in John’s descriptions, he doesn’t seem to show that possibility. I believe this is because (1) this was not his emphasis and would not have served his goal. (2) He is showing the standard and prime example of what walking in the light looks like. (3) Having given us the example, he urges us all to strive for that perfect state of love and unity in the Christian walk of growing in discipleship so that we may all attain what Jesus wants for us. (4) The believers were a very healthy church or churches, living in the light and love of unity and fellowship and spiritual life that Jesus had called them to. It is for this reason that such a letter from John would have been encouraging to them and would have filled their hearts with joy and assurance rather than uncertainty or doubt. Otherwise, the purpose statements that John makes of why he wrote these things, would be unfulfilled or would have the opposite effect.

From this, it would seem reasonable to believe then, that many of these believers were filled with the Spirit, living in Christian maturity, in God’s rest, and this Wesleyan idea of Christian perfection. This is the picture that John gives us of those walking in the light. That is also why I believe it looks so different from many of the things that Paul has written in his letters to the Christians struggling with many and various sin issues. So what I’m saying here is that the standard of normal Christian living should be what John describes rather than what Paul describes. Paul writes in a way that offers a helping hand to those who are struggling in their infancy in Christ and need to rise higher in their life of discipleship to maturity, he isn’t giving the normative pattern for how all Christians should look. But here, John is giving the normative pattern of discipleship of which John’s readers are emulating. Paul instructs us in how to crucify the flesh whereas John describes to us what it looks like when it’s finally dead and where the light and life and love of Christ abounds in victory. That’s why John can say things like, “if” anyone sins, rather than “when” anyone sins (1 Jn 2:1). And “no one who abides in Him sins” (1 Jn 3:6). And “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 Jn 3:9). In other words, in the believer that John is describing, the inclination to sin is dead. That is why he does not make a practice of sin, why he does not willfully sin, and why sin is a foreign thing to him; because it is not part of his new nature of Christ’s life within him which he has aligned his heart, mind, and body with. Sin is dead and so it is not an impelling, controlling force anymore. Instead, God’s life rules and reigns and shines forth.

To interpret the book of 1 John, it is very important to get into John’s head, to try and imagine what he is imagining. Virtually all of his concepts come from his other book, the Gospel of John. He repeats words and phrases that both Jesus and himself used in the Gospel of John along with metaphors. He repeats the same ideas like, “the Word, the Light, life, children of God, born of God, in the beginning, abide, have sin, eternal life, the Trinity, etc.” Therefore, the best way to understand what John means in 1 John is to find the definition in the Gospel of John because that is where the definition or concept is being pulled from, specifically, John chapters 1, 14-17. The book of 1 John is essentially a commentary and reminder of the things that were said in the Gospel of John. Using this interpretive method, we might conceive what John meant by the sin that leads to death if we turn to John 17:12 where Judas is mentioned as the son of perdition who perished. His apostasy was final because despite all the clear and miraculous signs in front of him for Jesus being truly God and the true Messiah, Judas did not believe or he believed but turned away from that belief away from the only true Life who could save him. John also says that he writes a new commandment to his readers yet he doesn’t by this mean that this commandment comes from him. Rather, he is reminding them of when Jesus said that (Jn 13:34; 1 Jn 2:7-8). He also mentions the phrase “the beginning” on seven occasions which might refer to the beginning of time, the inception of when his readers received the gospel message, or when the story of Jesus’ ministry or incarnation began. John uses the term “little children” often when addressing his audience, which is an address that Jesus used towards His disciples (Jn 13:33). In this way, John may be communicating that they are Jesus’ disciples and his own disciples along with children of God. When John speaks of “abiding,” this term must be understood in the framework of when Jesus used the metaphor of the Vine and the branches (Jn 15:5). That is, we cannot divorce this Greek word for abide apart from the metaphor or from the context or understanding that Jesus used of it. We might also understand 1 John 1:8 of those that claim to “have no sin,” similar to John 8:7; 9:41; 15:22, 24. Defining the phrase this way, we come to understand it more in terms of those who think or claim to be perfect and see no flaws within themselves that might incur guilt. This is also compatible with how John later describes believers without having ongoing sin (1 Jn 3:4-10). Therefore, John is certainly not advocating that the normal state of these believers is to “have sin” as some kind of substance or principle of force within them. He is only saying that true believers are not flawless.

Considering the fact that there are many “if” “then” statements and both the “if” and “then” are in the present tense, this seems to be indicating a present state of being rather than a mode to get into something like salvation. Therefore, John is describing the particular condition that both he and his audience are in; and, the clear condition of those who are walking in the light. All of these “if, then” statements and abiding passages except for two (1 Jn 2:24, 28; cf. Jn 15:4, 9), are not imperatives in the Greek. That is, they are not commands to get into doing something to achieve some result. Rather, they are the result, the image, of those who are doing those things. The condition is indicated rather than prescribed. So, “if” would be better understood as “in the case that…” or “those who…”

It is very important to understand the book of 1 John as indicators of what a true believer looks like which are works of love and good deeds that flow out from faith, which is abiding in Jesus. But what he is not saying is that in order to be converted to Christ for eternal life, that you must do all these things perfectly without error or else you will lose your salvation. Abiding is primarily holding on to Jesus through faith and secondarily, choosing the light and love over the dark. All true believers walk this path. Faith keeps us attached to Jesus as the Vine, even with our imperfections or struggles. However, living in a degree of love is also necessary. Otherwise, the darkness will consume us and we will become good for nothing except branches to be cut off and thrown away into the fire to be consumed (Jn 15:6; Ro 11:22). This is why we must continually live with the fear of God and abide in Him and continue pursuing God in faith, obeying His commands, and loving one another until we reach that point of perfect love where we have boldness before God in His love and great assurance. Then there is no fear or doubt but full faith and we continue on in that growing into the full image of Christ. It is true faith that saves and true faith that continues abiding by choosing light and love. But if you have unforgiveness in your heart, you have no right to call yourself a child of God because you have given your heart over to the darkness and are living in continual unrepentance. However, for others who feel condemned when they should not, remember that John says that all unrighteousness is sin and there is hope for those who commit unrighteousness which is sin not leading to death (1 Jn 5:16-17). Because, they can repent and confess their sins to God and He will be faithful and righteous to forgive and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9).

Here is my definition of abide: to stay connected to Jesus through faith and to continue pursuing Jesus as a disciple in love for Him by obeying His commands and loving one another. Therefore, there are two ideas or aspects with this word. The first is belief for salvation. The second is continuing faith and obedience in sanctification, which is discipleship and closer fellowship with God. All true believers are disciples but not all believers have the same level of commitment.

Here is my definition of not abiding: to not stay connected to Jesus through faith and to continue in unrepentant sin where sin becomes a lifestyle and a normal accepted practice which also increases. Those who have close to zero love or are in the negative through continual hate/despising of other believers and unforgiveness, then those are sure signs of a false believer or of someone who claims belief in God but is not abiding in eternal life and was cut off as a branch and now does not have eternal life. However, only God truly knows if they were cut off or not.

I also conceive that it is possible to abide and not abide at the same time. You can abide in faith and still maintain eternal life while struggling with some sin or sinful habit, as long as you’re still fighting against it by trying to get rid of it rather than making peace with it. If you don’t make efforts to fight against sin, that is an indication that the Holy Spirit is not in your heart and you do not have the life of God because you have no fear of God before your eyes, no conviction over sin to make you uncomfortable with it, and the Spirit does not exercise His grief over sin within you. So, if none of those elements are present and you have made peace with sin, then the life of God is not within you and you are a branch that will be thrown into the fire. However, for the genuine Christian who is fighting against sin or who has killed the sinful passions, they are presently abiding in faith. That faith also sanctifies the believer to pursue loving God and loving people. But this aspect of love is something we must choose to abide in every day but sometimes we don’t and sometimes we do but our hearts falsely condemn us. So, as genuine believers who have eternal life, we are always abiding in faith but we are not always abiding in love. So, there is the salvation aspect of abiding and there is the sanctification and discipleship aspect of abiding and we are called by Jesus to do both, to abide in faith and to abide in love. Genuine believers are always abiding in Jesus but they are not always fully abiding in Jesus and so the command to abide in Him is still relevant to them because it’s a continual process of growth and bearing fruit.

When studying the book of 1 John and conceptualizing true vs. false believers, I think it would be helpful to study and think about how people in the Old Testament were saved through faith and repentance. The standard of faith is the same and God has not raised the standard for eternal life. However, God has certainly given more clarity to the standard of discipleship even though the standard of God’s call to holiness has always been, “be holy, for I am holy,” and to not have any other gods or idols before Him but to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourself. However, the new call of Jesus for His disciples is a higher standard. They were still to practice loving everybody in the way of loving their neighbor as themselves but when it came to the community of believers, the new command Jesus gave them was to love one another as I (Jesus) have loved you.

This is another notable aspect of 1 John, that all the exhortations to love one another are directed at believers to fellow believers. It is not in reference to loving unbelievers to that degree though you are not condemned if you so choose to do that. However, you also do not need to feel falsely condemned through a false understanding of 1 John, thinking that you are supposed to love unbelievers with the same love of Jesus towards you. But, you still need to treat them with dignity, respect, and compassion, even as you show yourself these things.

Contrary to our often individualized western culture where it’s all about me and Jesus and me and my Bible, 1 John has a very collective mindset where it’s about “we” and “us.” John speaks of the gospel proclaimed to them which brings about this tight knit fellowship with both God and believers. After all, if God dwells in each of us, then having fellowship with each other is also having fellowship with God. That is, God can move, live, and speak through us to encourage one another, build each other up, love one another, and to take care of each other. There is a spiritual unity and fellowship we can experience of God when we experience life and worship with other believers. Because of this, John sees that to love one another is absolutely essential to loving God and that to abide in love is to abide in God (1 Jn 4:16). If God is all around us in His omnipresence and God is love, then the frequency of God is love and so to let that frequency of His light into our hearts, then we must tune to the frequency of love. But we certainly won’t be able to do that if we’re living in anger, hate, bitterness, unforgiveness, complaining and grumbling, ingratitude, fear, anxiety, shame, guilt, and self-focus. Those things are the opposite frequency of love and God does not jive with that.

How do we explain all the “perfect” passages?

Since most of 1 John takes its information from the gospel of John chapters 14-17, it would seem most reasonable to understand the word “perfect” in accordance to where that word is found in that context which would be John 17:17-23 in which Jesus prays to His Father asking:

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; (23) I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

We see clearly here that to be perfected (in unity) is a process of spiritual growth in sanctification for which Jesus prays that His disciples and all the people that they preach the gospel to will become one, will become united to God in this love and unity. Since Jesus is speaking about sanctification here, it doesn’t seem right to make it all about regeneration. Though, for some people, regeneration may look like that. But that is certainly not the case for every person’s conversion to Christ. There is a great deal of spiritual growth that needs to take place to attain this union of love and closeness of fellowship between other believers. However, it is possible to attain this state of perfection. It doesn’t mean that they will be completely without sin, that they will never sin anymore. But it does mean that they can live in a continual state of love and unity between God and their family in Christ because of the love and peace in their hearts and how they have died to themselves to live to God. But this place of unity cannot be merely tolerating one another because that doesn’t convince the world of the love of the Father or the love of Jesus so as to believe in Him. It has to be a greater supernatural love and fellowship which has the power to convince hearts and minds to believe in Jesus.

So then, how do we understand the word “perfected”? It means that the desire and goal that Jesus has for us comes to its fulfillment when we have extraordinary love, fellowship, and unity. To reach this place is to fulfill Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, to reach maturity, and live in harmony. But as I said, it’s more than just getting along. It’s the formation of a deep spiritual union between one another even as we have become united to God and God to us. But part of that union with God is union with one another. There is also this sense in which although God dwells in us, we may not fully dwell in Him and so are not living in the fullness of our union with God. That could be because something with our relationship with God is impaired or our relationship with others is impaired, or we might just need to crucify the flesh and put it to death to enter into God’s rest and maturity in Christ. This then is Christian perfection. Not living morally perfect but living in a state of fullness for which God planned for us to walk in. Now let’s look at what 1 John has to say about the word, “perfect.”

1 John 2:3-5

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.

At first glance, we might think this is merely a contrast between a true believer and a false convert. However, I believe it is a contrast between a false convert and an undeniably true believer. But of course, this isn’t a full description of every aspect of this believer but one aspect among many. Nonetheless, in this person, God’s love has been “perfected.” That is, through the continual life of keeping God’s commandments and walking in obedience to God, they have come to maturity in Christ and since they continue to walk uprightly, they can continue to have assurance of eternal life. However, if they constantly faltered in their walk with God, they would not have this assurance that John was trying to give them to encourage them to make their joy full. Instead, they would feel condemned and ashamed and fearful. But perfect love does not have fear.

1 John 4:12

No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

This verse most closely resembles the one in John 17:23. The idea is that no one has seen the Father but if we love one another (as a condition or as evidence), God abides in us or abides in us more fully and we can experience God’s love and spiritually perceive Him through our union with Him and fellow believers. In this way, God’s love achieves the goal that it aims for in this love and unity being in us and being matured. But this maturity comes through the process of denying ourselves our own desires, pleasure, and comfort, for the sake of loving one another. Then we come to this point where our self-will is crucified so that we always give preference to one another in love. Yieldedness to God also brings about the filling and power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this work of love and unity. Therefore, loving one another is a sign of a genuine believer as well as a means to abide in God. But as I said before, even if we are already abiding in God, we can still abide in Him to greater degrees as we yield more of ourselves to Him. Abiding is about both connection and closeness. The experience or condition of a believer having the perfected love of God with them, in them, and among them, comes as a result of love to God and neighbor being matured through continual practice. God’s love is first revealed through regeneration but it is matured through sanctification.

1 John 4:16-18

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Abiding in love to God and love to others is a sign of abiding in God and also the means to abide in God and for God to abide in us. Therefore, to continue abiding in love shall bring about a maturity or “perfected” love in our hearts so that when Christ returns, we may have confidence and not shrink away in fear or shame before Him since we are also living the cross life as He lived, loving the way He loved, denying the passing pleasures of this world for eternal rewards, and rejecting also the lusts of this world in obedience to God. In that kind of consecrated life and realization of God’s indwelling presence, we have no need to fear anything. But if we have those fears, anxieties, doubts, and shame, then we have not been perfected in love; we have not matured in our love to God and our realization of His love for us so that all we’re thinking about when Jesus appears is our love for Him and His love for us instead of thinking of punishment and/or discipline. In this passage, John includes himself with his readers as those who have that perfected, matured love. He uses the plural pronoun “we” and then switches to the singular, saying, “the one” who fears is not perfected in love, indicating that he does not believe his main audience to be among those who fear.

This place of “perfect love” is a place where all believers are called to be through their pursuit of faith and love. I believe it is also the place of perfected unity according to John 17:23 for which Jesus prays that we all come to. But it’s not automatic just because we believe in God. It’s something we need to work at and strive towards. This is the life of discipleship. But it is possible to fulfill Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer to be perfected in love and unity. We can all collectively get there if we believe it is possible and strive towards it. But we must not believe we are all already there simply because John equates perfected love with believers. Note that those were the believers and the reflection of John’s audience, not necessarily a reflection of many believers in the church today. For the church today, they are often a better reflection of much of Paul’s audience and the audience of Hebrews, still in their carnality and immaturity; and since the church nowadays is more concerned with people making a profession of faith to have more church attenders instead of discipling those church attenders and teaching them the essentials of spiritual growth and crucifying the flesh, they remain in their condition, failing to press on to maturity so that Christ is not formed in them.

Definition of “fellowship” in chapter 1:

• Fellowship is: with the church, the Father, and Jesus

• Fellowship is associated with or necessary for: the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all sin

• To have fellowship: walk in the Light

• Fellowship is not attained by: walking in the darkness

• Not having fellowship is: walking in the darkness, not practicing the truth

Abide passages:

Claim:

• I abide in Him

• The one who abides in Him

Fruit:

• Walk in the same manner as Jesus walked (2:6)

• Loves his brother (2:10; 4:12)

• No one sins [does not sin] (3:6)

• He does not practice sin (3:9)

• He cannot sin because His seed abides in him and he is born of God (3:9)

The logic of abiding:

• Jesus is the word (logos) and so to abide in the word is to abide in Jesus (1:1).

• Jesus is the eternal life and so to abide in eternal life is to abide in Jesus (1:2).

• Jesus is the Light and so to abide in the light is to abide in Jesus (1:5).

• To abide in Jesus is to abide in the word, eternal life, the light, and love.

In the Gospel of John:

• To abide is to draw connection and nutrients of life from the grape vine, who is Jesus (Jn 15:1-5).

• The word abiding in you is defined as believing Jesus (5:38; 6:56).

• Those who continue (abide) in His word are truly His disciples (8:31).

• The purpose of Jesus coming into the world is so that those who believe in Him will not remain (abide) in darkness (12:46).

• The importance of abiding is to bear much fruit and prove to be Christ’s disciples (Jn 15:8).

Imperative commands of Jesus to His disciples to abide:

• John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

• John 15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”

Overlapping synonymous terms:

Abide in Him, abides in you, fellowship with God, born of God, from God, children of God, knows Him, is in the Light, walks in the Light, believes Him, confesses Jesus/the Son, the one who loves, practices righteousness, and the one who does the will of God.

Here are the main themes that John brings out in his letter which is a general outline:

• The doctrine of Jesus: God, eternal, came in the flesh

• The doctrine of God: Light, Love, Life, Word

• The necessity and enablement to not sin

• What to do if a believer sins

• The provision of Jesus to forgive, cleanse, and expiate sin

• Abide in God through faith and love

• How to recognize genuine believers

• How to recognize false believers

• How to have assurance of eternal life and signs to look for

• The high standard of discipleship

• Walk in the Light and not in the dark

• What about future sin?

• The Love of God

• Love each other

• The power of faith and God living within us to overcome the world and the evil one

• Exhortation to not set one’s heart upon this passing world and its lusts or idols

• Warning against false teachers, false prophets, deceitful spirits, and antichrists

• Our identity as children of God, and born of God

• Our future purifying hope of Jesus returning one day and how to be confident

• Perfect love

• The witness of the Spirit

• The testimony of Jesus

• Eternal life is Jesus abiding in us and provides us fellowship with the Trinity and believers

• Sin leading to death and sin not leading to death

Here are the contrasting themes:

• Light vs. dark

• Truth vs. error

• Life vs. death

• Loving God vs. not loving God

• Abiding vs. not abiding

• Children of God vs. children of the devil

• Practicing righteousness vs. practicing sin

• Evidence of God in you vs. God not in you

• Can you think of any others?

1 John 1 Paraphrase:

Jesus is “from the beginning,” (Jn 16:4). That is, not the beginning of life for the Son of God but our beginning, that which the apostles saw, heard, and touched with their senses when they first encountered Him walking upon this earth. Jesus is the Word and the Life, the Word of Life, the Logos (Jn 1:1-18). God’s life was made known to us in the flesh as He appeared to us on the earth and walked among us. The apostles saw Him personally, have testified about Him, and proclaimed Him, He who is the eternal life. This eternal life, Jesus, was eternally with the Father and He/the life was made known to them. The apostles testified about Jesus to them so that they would have fellowship with them. This fellowship was collectively within the body of believers and was a fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. To have fellowship with God is to have fellowship with believers and to have fellowship with believers is to have fellowship with God (Jn 17:21). But is there fellowship with God apart from other believers? This letter was written to the church so that their joy (collectively with the apostles) would be made full (Jn 15:11) (1:1-4)

The message that the apostles heard from Jesus is that “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (v. 5). Continuing on with that message, is the contents of this whole letter. God is pure light and there is no darkness at all in Him. So, if someone says that they have fellowship with God yet walk in spiritual darkness, they are not practicing the truth of their claim because you cannot have fellowship with God while walking in darkness. But if we are living in the light as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, the Father’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1:5-7)

If we say that we are without sin, then we are deceived and only fooling ourselves because that’s not true. But if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we claim that we have never sinned (that we are without imperfections), then we make God out to be a liar and His word is not in us. (1:8-10)

1 John 2 Paraphrase

My precious disciples and children in the Lord (Jn 13:33), I have written this letter to you so that you do not choose to sin, to keep you from sinning (Jn 16:1?). But if anyone does sin, we have a great Helper [Intercessor: Ro 8:34; Heb 7:25; Jn 17] who has come to our aid: Jesus, who is with the Father, and He is righteous. Jesus Christ is the atonement [provisionally] for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. We can be sure of the fact that we know God if we keep His commandments. But to the one who says, “I have come to know God,” but does not keep His commandments, is not truthfully someone who knows God. But to those who keep the word of Jesus by following His commands, then God’s love has most certainly been perfected in them. In this way, we can know for sure that we are in Him. Those who say that they abide “in Him” should walk in the footsteps of Jesus. But this isn’t some new kind of instruction but an old one, an old command which you have already heard and have been taught from the very beginning. [It is to walk in love]. However, I am also writing a new command to you (Jn 13:34). This command is true in Jesus and also true in you [Jesus lived this way and so also are you living this way in love] because the darkness is in the process of passing away while the true light continues to shine. (2:1-8)

Because of this commandment “to love” that we have received from Jesus, no one can say that they are in the light while at the same time hating and detesting a fellow believer. Those who do so are in the dark up to this point. [hate is darkness and those who hate are not walking in the light]. However, whoever loves this believer who might otherwise be hated, abides (is living) in the light. This person who is living in the light does not cause others to stumble because they are walking in love and where love is, there is no cause for stumbling. However, those who hate fellow believers are walking and living in darkness and cannot see or discern where they are going because the darkness overtakes their sight so that they are blind and that is why they stumble about and are a tripping hazard for others. (2:9-11)

I am writing these things to you, little children, (believers, physically young) because God has forgiven you. To be true to His character and glory, He has forgiven you. I am also writing to you because you know the Father. I am writing to you, fathers (believers, physically older), because you really know Jesus. I am writing to you young men (believers, physically young adults), because you are strong, the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one, the devil. (2:12-14)

This is the message I have for you all: Do not set your heart on this world or the things in this world. Whoever loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. All the things people pursue in this world like: the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, are not from the Father but from the world. [The lusts of the world are all about gratifying the senses of the body, of the heart, and of the mind. They’re about human goals and achievements to make it to the top in life and outperform everyone else. They’re about greed, envy, and covetousness to have more and more with no end in sight. They’re about the never-ending indulgence of the lustful cravings of the body for food, sex, and entertainment]. But the world along with its lusts are all passing away but the one who does the will of God (what is pleasing to God) continues to live forever. Those who set their heart on those things do not have the love of the Father in them, for if they did, they would be satisfied rather than lusting after the things of this world seeking to find purpose, meaning, satisfaction, and fulfillment. (2:15-17)

My precious disciples and children in the Lord, we are living in the last age of time and I believe Jesus will return soon [as He has warned us that many deceivers would come in the last days: Mt 24:23-24]. You have heard that antichrist is coming. Even now, many people who are anti-Christ have appeared. Because of these things, we know our time is short. These people left our churches and by their going out from us, it was revealed that they were not really one of us. But if they were true to the faith, they would have remained with us. But now we know clearly that they did not belong to us. But you have the oil (of anointing/cleansing) that comes from the Holy One [the true Christ (anointing), Jesus, who cleanses you] and you all know this. You know that He lives within you. [Or, you know the truth because He lives within you]. (2:18-20)

I have not written this letter to you because you don’t recognize [eidō, Literally, “to see” as opposed to ginōskō, which is a more intimate knowledge: 2:3] the truth but because you do recognize and perceive the truth and because no lie [or falsehood] is of the truth. You already have the discernment to see that the one who does not accept Jesus as the Christ (Messiah, Son of God, Anointed One), is the antichrist (the adversary of the Messiah). The antichrist denies the Father and the Son and anyone who denies Jesus as the Messiah is an adversary of Christ who believes not in either the Father or the Son because if they reject the Son, they reject the Father also. And in this way, they do not truly know God. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father or the love of the Father in their heart but the one who confesses the Son to be true, has the Father in their heart also. As for you, let the truth of what you heard from the beginning to abide in you, the truth regarding Jesus Christ as the Messiah, who is your Savior and who is also the Lord your God who took upon Himself a fleshly body to walk upon this earth but nevertheless the Word of Life, the Son of God, who was existing eternally with the Father (see 1:1-3). If this truth of what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you also will abide in the Son and in the Father, to remain in fellowship with them. (2:21-24)

This is the promise that Jesus has made to us when He was with us in person: Eternal life [so that we have the very life of the Son which is fellowship with God and life forever with Him and that life abides in us]. I have written these things to you because of those who are trying to deceive you, to those who are trying to lead you astray. But because you have the Holy Spirit whom you have received from God and He abides in you, you don’t need for anyone to tell you about these things or teach you about these things which I have just spoken about. You know the truth and the Holy Spirit has revealed to you the truth about Jesus. You don’t need anyone to teach you because Christ’s Spirit teaches you about all the things you need to know, and what He teaches is true and not false (Jn 14:26; 16:12-15). Therefore, abide in Him and the truth that He has taught you. [Do not let these antichrists disturb you or shake you from the truth in any way. Listen to the Spirit]. Now, my precious disciples and children in the Lord, abide in Him (remain in fellowship with Him). If you do, you’ll be ready for when Jesus returns when He appears in His glorious presence. You’ll be ready to face Him without fear or shame but have full confidence in His presence. If you know that Jesus is righteous, then you should really know that those who practice righteousness are born of Him. (2:25-29)

1 John 3 Paraphrase

Can you see how great of a love the Father has given us, how much He loves us, that we would be called children of God? Yes, we are His children. For this reason, the people of the world and the world’s system do not really know us. [we are not liked by them. We don’t fit in. We are a peculiar people to them. They don’t understand us]. But the reason that they don’t know us is because they never truly knew Jesus and even now, they don’t know Him. But my dear friends, we are now at this time God’s children. It has not yet been shown to us what we will be like when Christ appears but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him; for we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed upon Him purifies themselves just as He is pure. (3:1-3)

All those who make a practice of sinning also practice lawlessness. That is, they ignore and violate His laws. Sin is lawlessness. But in Jesus there is no sin and He came to this earth for the very purpose of taking away sin. Those who continue to live (abide) in Him do not sin (make a practice of sinning). But those who do not live (abide) in Him will continue sinning (make a practice of sinning). Nobody who makes a practice of sinning really knows God and nor have they truly perceived Him with their spiritual eyes or understanding. My precious disciples and children in the Lord, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: Those who practice righteousness are righteous just as He is righteous. But those who practice sin are of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the very beginning. [The righteous belong to God and the wicked belong to the devil. If the works that come from their heart are good, then these are children of God and of the light and belong to the kingdom of light. But if the works which flow out from their heart are evil, then they are in darkness and belong to the kingdom of darkness]. But the Son of God came to undo (destroy) the works of the devil. He came to undo sin and all the evil and destruction that the devil has caused. Those who have been born into God’s family (born of God) do not make a practice of sinning because God’s life (His seed) is in them. Because of this, they cannot keep sinning since they are children of God. [with God’s life, light, love, and Spirit it is not natural within them to sin and so they do not sin]. By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are made known: those who do not live righteously are not of God and neither are those of God who do not love other believers. This is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; unlike Cain, who belonged to the devil and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain did what was evil and his brother did what was righteous. (3:4-12)

Do not be surprised then if the world hates you (Jn 15:18-25). We know that we have passed out from death and into life because we have love for one another (Jn 15:14-15). But those who do not love remain in death. Those who hate each other are murderers, and you all know that no murderer has eternal life within them. We really know what love is by Jesus who gave (laid down) His life for us and we also should give up our lives for our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Jn 15:12-13). But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother or sister (in the Lord) in need, but closes his heart against him to not show him compassion, then how does the love of God really live in him? My precious disciples and children in the Lord, let us not merely say that we love each other, but let us show the love that we claim to have through our actions. In this way, we will really know that we are of the truth, and will persuade our heart of being true before God. But in the case that our heart condemns (accuses) us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. [So if we feel guilty before God for false guilt because we feel like we aren’t measuring up, or because someone says something that makes us feel bad, then we can take comfort in the fact that God knows all our actions, intentions, and circumstances. God is greater than whatever we are feeling]. Dear friends, if our heart does not condemn us [because we are living rightly], then we have boldness before God and so what [whatever] we ask of Him we receive because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight (Jn 15:7; 16:23-24). This is His commandment: Believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. Those who keep God’s commands abide in Him, and God abides in them and remain in fellowship with them (Jn 15:10). This is how we know that He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (3:13-24)

1 John 4 Paraphrase

My precious family, do not be convinced of every spirit but test and examine the spirits to see whether or not they are from God because many false prophets have come out from among the world. This is how you can tell and really know the spirit who is from God among the prophets: Do they confess that Christ has come in the flesh (in a real physical body)? Then they are from God. But every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not of God but they are the spirit of the antichrist (Christ’s adversary). This you have been forewarned of and this spirit is already here in the world. You are from God, my precious disciples and children in the Lord, and have been victorious over these antichrist spirits; because greater is the One who is in you than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and so they speak out from what the world is and so this is why those who are in the world listen to them. [The world hears them and are captivated by what they say because they speak of the things that worldly people want and according to how worldly people think]. We can tell what the spirit of truth is versus the spirit of error (deception / delusion / fraudulent spirit) by this: Those who know God are those who listen to us because we have the Spirit of Christ in us but those who don’t listen to us are not from God. [Because, not having God’s Spirit, they do not recognize the true Spirit of God within us and so that’s why they don’t listen to what we say and why they leave, because they are of another spirit]. (4:1-6)

My precious family, let us continue to love one another because our love is from God and whoever loves has been Fathered of God (that is, born of God), and really knows God. Those who do not love do not really know God because God is love (He exists in His very nature as love). God sent to us His one and only Son and in this way, He gave all of Himself to the world so that we have the opportunity to live through Him. That is how He revealed His love to us. This is what love is: It’s not about you or I who loved God but rather, God who loved us and sent His Son to us to be the atonement (expiation) for our sins. (4:7-10)

My precious family, if God loved us this way, we also should love one another (because of really knowing this love from God the Father). No one has seen God the Father at any time (Jn 1:18; 6:46). But if we love one another, God the Father lives in us and His love is perfected in us (Jn 17:21-23). [That is, His love is made whole in us and we are joined in unity to the Trinity and fellow believers through love and continue to live in harmonious fellowship so long as we choose love. In this way, along with seeing Jesus, we have also seen/perceived the Father: Jn 14:7-11]. We have evidence that we live in God and God in us because of the Holy Spirit that He has given us. We have seen and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son as Savior to the world. (4:11-14)

Whoever [whichever spirit] confesses that Jesus is the Son of God is the one who God abides in and they also abide in God. We have really come to know and have believed God’s love for us. God is love and the one who lives in love lives in God and God in them. In this way, love is perfected among us to have boldness when the day of judgement comes so that we may stand before God unafraid and unashamed since we live in this world the way He lived in this world. In a place of love, there is no fear because love does not have fear, but perfect love dispels fear, since fear thinks about punishment, and so the one who is in a state of fear is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. [That is, we love and are enabled to love as a result of Him first loving us and placing His love into our hearts]. If somebody says, “I love God,” while also hating (despising) a fellow believer, he does not actually love God and so does not speak the truth. One is not able to love God while at the same time not loving a fellow believer. And you would think that it might be easier to love what one sees compared to what one cannot see. But this is the commandment we have from God: Whoever loves God should also love their fellow believers. (4:15-21)

1 John 5 Paraphrase

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah, Savior) is Fathered of God (born of God); whoever loves the Father, loves that which proceeds from the Father (His children). When we love God and do what He says (obey His commandments), it becomes evident that we love His children also. This is what it means to love God: to keep His commandments. But His commandments are not oppressive—they are not a heavy weight upon us; because that which proceeds from God (is born of God), overcomes the darkness of this world [since Jesus has overcome the world: Jn 16:33]. This is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith. (5:1-4)

Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God shall overcome the world. Jesus Christ is the one who came (into the world) by water and blood; but not only by the water, but by the water and by the blood, which the Spirit testifies of this because the Spirit is the spirit of truth. We then have three testimonies: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and all three are in agreement. If we take into account the testimony of people, then the testimony of God surely ought to be greater, which it is, and this is the testimony: the Father has validified and affirmed His Son (Jn 5:37). Those who believe in the Son of God accept this testimony and it is within them. Those who do not believe God have made Him out to be a liar because they have not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And this is the true testimony of God: The Father has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son (Jn 17:3). Whoever has the Son also has this life but those who do not have the Son of God, do not have this life. (5:5-12)

I have written these things to those of you who believe in the name of the Son of God (in the fullness of the nature of Jesus), so that you can know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before God, that if we ask what is according to His will, He hears us (Jn 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-24). And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we can be confident that we will receive what we asked for. (5:13-15)

If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin not leading to death (sinning in a way that doesn’t lead to death), he can ask and God will grant this request for the one who asks God for this person and will give him life. But I’m not saying [recommending?] that you should pray for those who commit the/a sin leading to death. [the sin of apostasy?]. All unrighteousness (crookedness contrary to God’s law) is sin (missing the mark, in error), and there is a sin that does not lead to death. (5:16-17)

We know that no one who is Fathered of God (born of God) sins (makes a practice of sinning, to be in the present condition of sinning); but He who was Fathered of God guards him and keeps him (from sinning or losing the faith) and the evil one does not touch him (have his way with him by stirring/kindling him up to sin or to renounce his faith). [Jesus has a firm grip on those who are His and doesn’t let the devil to grab hold of them or even touch them in regard to sin: Jn 17:12, 15]. We know that we belong to God and that the whole world (the ruling forces and ways of the world) lies in (the power, influence, and sway of) the evil one (Jn 14:30). And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us the understanding to truly know who God really is and that He is the true God. We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. My precious disciples and children in the Lord, guard and keep yourselves from idols. (5:18-21)

1 John short commentary, summary of ideas, and flow of thought

1:1-2 Apostolic eye-witness testimony and affirmation of Jesus having come in the flesh while also being the eternal Logos (Word) and Life who was with the Father.

1:3 The gospel of Jesus brings a fellowship with the Father, the Son, and fellow believers.

1:4 Purpose of writing: that their joy would be made full/complete.

1:5 The Apostles received this message from Jesus Himself that God is Light and there is no darkness at all in Him.

1:6 Fellowship with God cannot be an effectual fellowship for those who walk in darkness.

1:7 Walking in the Light brings about or is the condition of fellowship with one another and the cleansing of sin from Jesus is the result of or condition of walking in the Light and/or having fellowship with one another.

1:8 However, this doesn’t mean that believers “have no sin,” or do not sin anymore. Those who think or say so, like the Gnostics, are deceived, and the truth of the gospel is not in them. Alternatively, “the truth is not in us” simply means that their statement is not true in saying they have no sin.

1:9 Since believers are not perfect in every way, they still sin sometimes but that’s okay because we have a means provided to have our sins forgiven through Jesus if we confess our sins. God will both forgive us and cleanse us once we do.

1:10 But if we say that “we have not sinned” as if, it was just our bodies doing it and not us, or that there is no sin in our past that we have done, then we make God out to be a liar and “His word is not in us,” meaning, His truth, His gospel, and Jesus Himself who is the Word of Life.

2:1-2 John addresses his audience as “little children,” to mean his disciples, Jesus’ disciples, and his family in the Lord. He says that his purpose of writing to them is so that they do not sin, to keep them from sinning in some potential future act. However, he reassures them that if anyone does sin, it’s okay because we have an “Advocate” or Helper, with the Father, Jesus Christ, and He will do what is right in helping us. He also is the “propitiation” or atonement for our sins and for those of the whole world.

2:3 We can tell that we have really come to know God if we keep His commandments.

2:4 But those who claim to know Him while not obeying Him, do not really know Him.

2:5 But “whoever,” not “we.” That is, those who keep God’s word, God’s commandments, is in a condition of the love of God having been perfected in them. This condition is not just a sign of being converted but a reality of being converted and matured in the faith.

2:6 Those who claim to abide in Jesus should be walking in the footsteps of Jesus, following His commands. This is a sign of knowing that we are “in Him.”

2:7 This isn’t some new kind of instruction but was given to John’s audience already as the gospel and maybe also the book of the gospel of John.

2:8 When John says, “I am writing a new commandment to you,” he is not speaking of himself as writing this to them but rather, speaking by way of his memory in the Holy Spirit of the words that Jesus spoke, saying, “a new commandment” (). It is the commandment of love which is a reality within Jesus and within the hearts of his audience. This love also shows forth itself as evidence because the Light of Jesus has victory over their lives to dispel the darkness even as Jesus dispelled the darkness. However, the darkness is still in the process of passing away.

2:9 The law of love that Jesus spoke of would indicate that those who hate and despise their brothers and sisters in the Lord are still walking in the darkness.

2:10 However, those who love each other give indication that they are abiding in the Light rather than stumbling in the darkness and causing others to stumble.

2:11 But for those who hate and despise their fellow believers in the Lord actually give a clear sign that they are in the darkness and walk in the darkness and are spiritually blinded.

2:12-14 But John does not think this about his audience. He is writing to them because he believes and affirms that their sins have been forgiven and that they are walking in the light. They have also overcome the evil one, they are strong, and the word of God abides in them, they know Jesus, and they know the Father.

2:15 Yet he now turns to tell and warn his audience to not love the world’s system and the worldly ways of sin, to not set their hearts upon this earth that is passing away. Those who pursue the things of this world show that the love of the Father does not fill and rule their hearts, and those who live only for this life, show that they do not have an inkling of God’s love in their hearts.

2:16-17 The pride and lustful desires of the heart proceed from the earth that shall soon pass away and thus, are things that do not originate from the Father. Those who attach themselves to this earth that is passing away will pass away along with it but those who attach themselves to the eternal things of heaven that proceed from the Father by doing the will of God, they shall have eternal rewards which shall not perish as the things of heaven do not perish. Those who do the will of God, therefore, shall live forever.

2:18 When Jesus was with His disciples, He said, the hour has come. John picks up on this language and says, it is the last hour, indicating the urgency and shortness of time. John addresses his audience as children in God’s family and warns them of all the adversaries of Christ that have appeared in the world, and by this, the return of Jesus seems to be close.

2:19 These adversaries of Christ and Gnostic apostates rejected Jesus as Messiah and therefore, showed their true colors that they do not belong to the Christian group of devoted believers in Christ. They left the group because they never really belonged to it in the first place.

2:20 In contrast to these adversaries in Christ, John’s group of believers were the true ones and they knew it. They had the anointing from the Holy One. That is, Jesus as Messiah was the anointed One who dwelt within them through faith.

2:21 John writes to them again telling them the purpose of his writing; that this purpose was not to inform them of something they didn’t already know.

2:22-23 There were people who were trying to disturb the faith of John’s audience by saying that Jesus was not the Messiah (anointed one). But for the antichrists to deny the Son as the Messiah, deny who the Son really is and they also by implication, deny the Father; because without a proper belief in Jesus, you cannot truly believe in the true God.

2:24 John addresses his audience again informing them that if the truth of Jesus abides in them through faith, then they also will have abiding fellowship with the Son and the Father. What they heard from the beginning was the gospel that was preached to them.

2:25 Jesus had promised eternal life to those who believe in Him ().

2:26 John tells his audience again why he is writing to them, to preserve them against those specific people or Gnostics who are trying to deceive them.

2:27 John switches away from Jesus as being the anointed one to now the Holy Spirit being the anointing which abides within them. John is referring to the secret knowledge of the Gnostics as not being necessary but whatever is necessary for faith and godliness, the Holy Spirit can adequately supply to them and reveal to them. The Spirit can make known to them the essential truths of the gospel so they need not seek another gospel or another Jesus. That gospel which they first believed and that made them alive, they were instructed to hold on to and by holding onto it, they abide in God.

2:28 John addresses them again as the disciples of Jesus, his own disciples, and his own family in the Lord and gives them an imperative command to abide in Jesus. If they continually live and walk in connection/fellowship to Jesus, then when He returns to reward everyone according to their good or evil deeds, they may have full confidence without any fear or shame.

2:29 To abide in Jesus means that we share His righteousness through Him living through us. This is why those who practice righteousness show forth the evidence that the righteous Jesus lives in them because He lives through them.

3:1 We are children of God through our spiritual connection with God, regeneration, through adoption, and through the Father who gave us the right to become children of God since we believed in the name of Jesus. The reason we are alienated from the world is because we don’t belong to it and our identity is not in the world but in God. The world is also alienated from God and that’s why they don’t understand us or see us as their own. We are children of God—not of the world.

3:2 The fullness of who we are to be has not yet been revealed but when Jesus comes back, He will transform our bodies to be as His body.

3:3 Our expectation and looking forward to the Lord’s return has a purifying effect upon our souls. Hope is a powerful and sanctifying thing. But it is also a choice. Hope strengthens faith and that enables us to walk in obedience to God. By putting our hope in God, we conform ourselves to the image of His purity.

3:4 Practicing sin is no light matter—it is lawlessness.

3:5 In Jesus there is no sin and He came to this earth to take sins away (actually).

3:6 Those who abide in Him do not make a practice of sinning and as long as they are continually abiding in Him, they are not sinning. But those who live practicing sin as their normal way of life, they have not seen Jesus or spiritually perceived Him and nor do they truly know Him.

3:7-8 If these people did know God, they would know that He is righteous and they would be righteous like Him. That is why those who practice righteousness are righteous according to the righteousness of Jesus within them. But, the one who continues to practice sin still belong to the devil and are following after the pattern of the devil. But the Son of God came into this world to undo the works of the devil and so to undo the works and power of sin.

3:9 Those who are born of God do not make a practice of sin because the seed of Jesus, of righteousness, and of the transformative gospel abide in them and live out through them and that is why they cannot make a practice of sin. It is now against their nature, against the life that is within them being born of God to do sin. Therefore, it cannot be a way of life.

3:10 The children of God can be discerned from the children of the devil in that the children of the devil do not practice righteousness and do not love fellow Christians. Therefore, they are not of God.

3:11-12 From the early years of their believing, John’s audience had already heard of the fact that they should love one another. But this message goes even further back as an example of what we should not do if we go to the very beginning with the story of Cain and Abel. Do not be like Cain who proved himself to be of the evil one because his deeds were evil and so he murdered his brother out of envy as one sin led to another.

3:13 This brings up another point since we’re on the topic of murder. It is expected for the children of the devil to hate you, even as they Cain hated and slew his brother, Abel. So also, in similar ways, the world may hate you. As you already know, many have died for their faith. But do not be surprised if the world hates you because we know that it hated the Father and the Son first and so since you are His children, they will also hate you because they hate Him.

3:14 We can be sure of our salvation because we have the evidence that we love our brothers and sisters in the Lord. But those who do not love other believers, remain in a state of spiritual death.

3:15 Jesus said that those who hate have committed murder in their hearts. You cannot be presently hating and despising people, and harboring unforgiveness in your heart while abiding in God. The two are not compatible. Fellowship with God and murder are incompatible for those who abide in Jesus.

3:16 Those who abide in God have a heart opposite of Cain’s. Instead of a heart of murder, they have a heart of love. This love, instead of taking life, it gives up one’s own life for the sake of another. This is the kind of love we should have for those in God’s family. The supreme example of love is Jesus who gave His life for us and it is befitting to love one another if we truly comprehend the love given to us by God.

3:17 In light of this great act of love from God, how then is it possible for us to close our hearts against other believers when we see that they are in need and we have the world’s goods to take care of them? How can we say that God’s love abides in us if we do that?

3:18 We must not just say that we love others but we should show the reality of that love by our actions. That displays the truth of our love.

3:19-20 Living this way gives us assurance to truly and confidently know that our profession in Christ is true and neither the law, nor the devil, and nor false guilt will be able to accuse us with any weight to what they are saying because our conduct is upright when we are walking in love. Nonetheless, sometimes our heart will condemn us anyway and we will have false guilt. But if we are walking in love and still have false guilt, we can entrust ourselves to God because He is greater than the feelings of our hearts and knows all things. Therefore, we do not need to torment ourselves with accusatory thoughts and all the “what if” scenarios. The very God who wants us to be generous to others is the same God who will be generous to us and give us grace for where we fail.

3:21-22 If we walk in love and our heart does not condemn us for anything, then this is a very great privilege and place to be at because we can have great confidence before God. Our faith can be strong so that we do not doubt; and so, whatever we ask according to His will, He hears us because we live in a way that is pleasing to Him.

3:23 What God asks of us is simple: believe Jesus and love one another. That is what is pleasing to Him. Jesus already spoke of this and commanded it for us to do. He also told us that love is the fulfillment of the whole law.

3:24 Abiding in Him is defined as keeping these commandments: faith and love. Those who do so are those who abide in Him and He also abides in them. There is also another way of knowing that God abides in us, by the Holy Spirit who lives in us and who operates within us.

4:1 John addresses his audience as “beloved” which means that they are loved by God and loved by him. It is an endearing term to communicate his love and the fellowship he shares with them as part of God’s family. He tells them to not believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see if they are from God or not. That is because there are many false prophets out there and behind those false prophets are evil spirits. And so, just because someone claims to speak from God, that doesn’t mean they actually do. Therefore, every spirit needs to be tested through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit and through their doctrine of Jesus.

4:2-3 The spirit who confess that Jesus came in the flesh and was not just in appearance in the flesh but actually in the flesh, then that spirit is from God. But the spirit that does not confess Jesus or that He came in the flesh, that spirit is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which means, Christ’s adversary.

4:4 But since you are of God and are His children, do not be worried or afraid because Christ who is the overcomer has already overcome the evil and demonic forces in this world and Christ lives in you. He is greater than any antichrist spirit, evil spirit, or evil person.

4:5 Since these evil people and false prophets are from the world, that’s why the world listens to them. They tell them what they want to hear. They appeal to their carnal desires.

4:6 But we are from God and those who know God listen to us because we have the true Shepherd’s voice within us through the Spirit and those who belong to God recognize His voice. But those who do not know God, will not listen to us because they don’t belong to God. In this way, we can discern the spirits and where people are coming from, whether they have the true Spirit of God or whether they have a deceptive spirit.

4:7 John exhorts his listeners to love one another out of the love that was shown to us from God and has transformed us into His children. By “everyone,” he does not mean those who do not believe in Jesus, as He previously said that was a necessary requirement. But in general, the true believers are distinguished as those who love one another. Their love is a reflection of their relationship with God and transformed life. Note also that God is love and love is from God. It would be erroneous to say that love is God. Jesus is God and is also a personal being. Because of that, love cannot be God. However, God can be love and He is love.

4:8 Those who do not love show forth their absence from the tree of life in Jesus that they are not abiding in Him. They are disconnected and because of that, they do not love. But if they were connected, they would be connected to God who is love and love would come forth from them as fruit.

4:9 The gospel of God sending His only Son into the world is to save it through our living and abiding in Jesus. God’s love manifests itself through us as we love one another and do the things that are pleasing to Him. It shows that the gospel is truly in our hearts.

4:10 The definition of love is that God sent His only Son into the world to expiate our sins, to purge them away. The love we have for God cannot compare to that and so our love is not the standard but God’s love is. He is the standard and definition of love.

4:11 God’s love should motivate us to love one another.

4:12 No one has ever seen God the Father but if we love one another, the Father dwells in our hearts and we can perceive Him. To love one another is to fulfill the goal that He has for our unity, to fulfill Jesus’ High Priestly prayer, that we would be one. When that happens, the intention of God’s love has been completed in us (collectively). If we love the way Jesus loved and we all live as dead to ourselves but alive to God so that we always put others before ourselves, then God’s love has reached its goal and in this way, has been perfected in us. However, this is not a state that many believers live in right now. However, it is the goal. The perfected love may also be more than an objective reality; it may also be an experience of God’s love in us that culminates through a unified state of Christian fellowship and the closeness of being involved in one another’s lives. It is unclear from this verse whether or not John’s audience was in this state of perfected love.

4:13 We can discern if we are united to God because the Holy Spirit who lives in us is an indicator.

4:14 John, along with the other apostles, personally saw and could testify that Jesus came from the Father and is the Savior of the world.

4:15 To confess that Jesus is the Son of God is to believe in Him (by faith) and it is also to deny the false Gnostic beliefs. Assenting to true doctrine is then an indicator of abiding in God.

4:16 John includes his audience with himself as those who have come to know God and believed in His love. He also equates abiding in love as abiding in God. There may be a sense in which we sense God’s presence and experience His fellowship when love is the frequency.

4:17 When love becomes our frequency so that it is the string we are tuned to, God’s love has reached its goal in us. It has become mature and to this point of perfect unity, fulfilling Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. In a place like this, we will have great confidence when the day of judgement comes because we have been living the way Jesus was living when He was in this world. That is, to walk in love and to be in the world but not of it.

4:18 Those who are in a state of fear regarding the future judgement, are fearful because they are thinking about punishment. But those who are in a state of love and even mature love, they don’t think about punishment. Rather, they think about the love of God. Those who fear are not necessarily those who are unsaved but it could be those who are not yet perfected in love and still require more spiritual growth to get to that point.

4:19 God set His heart on us first to love us and we now love Him in response to Him first loving us. We also love one another as a result of God first loving us and putting His love in our hearts to love others.

4:20 For the one who says “I love God” while hating his or her fellow believer, that person is a liar, because if they loved God, they would also love their fellow believer. It is easier to love what one can see vs. what one cannot see. So, if you can’t even love a brother or sister in the Lord, how can you love God? I don’t think John is saying that it’s impossible to do, only that it is rationally inconsistent and/or doesn’t work. Fellowship with God may be blocked if we fail to love others. After all, if God dwells within every believer, then to have fellowship with another believer is also to have fellowship with God. But to cut off a believer in a failure to love or through bitterness or unforgiveness, that is also to cut the fellowship of God off. That doesn’t 100% mean that this person isn’t saved but certainly their salvation is questionable.

4:21 John is saying that this is the commandment that they received from Jesus, that those who love God are also called to love their fellow believer as well.

5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, is someone who is born of God. They are converted. They have God’s life within them that has made them new so that they are now children of God. This isn’t an ontological change or re-creation but rather, an infused change through Christ’s indwelling presence. “Born of God” is not to be taken literally but metaphorically. Also, whoever loves God the Father, loves Jesus who was born of Him (begat, fathered). Also, those who love the Father will love all of the Father’s children, the believers.

5:2 We can tell that we love God’s children when we love God and do what He says.

5:3 God’s love is defined as keeping His commandments, and this isn’t a heavy task to do or something oppressive upon us. If it is, then something is wrong.

5:4 One of the reasons why God’s commandments are not a heavy task is because faith makes it easy. We overcome the world and we obey God through the power of faith. Also, when God’s life is in us, He lives through us.

5:5 Overcoming the world is again credited to faith in Jesus.

5:6 Jesus came by water and by blood. Some say the water was Jesus’ baptism and others say it was when He was pierced and blood and water flowed out from His side. We know that both the water and the blood are viewed metaphorically as cleansing agents to wash the body and wash the heart from sin and the guilt of sin. I believe the water signifies all the works that Jesus did in His life which testified about Him and His validity as coming from God as He performed many miracles and fulfilled many prophecies. This water, then, is Jesus’ ministry of which He was the baptizer of the Holy Spirit; and this began at His water baptism where the Spirit descended upon Him to empower Him and it culminated all the way to His death on the cross where both blood and water flowed from His side. Therefore, the water was the works of Jesus’ life and the blood was the works of His death. All throughout He was taking away the sin of the world with miracles and signs and through His love.

5:7-8 There were three individual testimonies the validate Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. All three testify the same thing.

5:9 The Father also testified of Jesus being the Son during the transfiguration of Jesus and John was there and heard from heaven along with Peter and James, “this is My beloved Son, listen to Him” (Mk 9:7). There were also the supernatural signs at Jesus’ death of the earthquake and the sun being darkened. This was part of the Father’s testimony of the Son as well.

5:10 The testimony inside believers is the gospel truth and the Holy Spirit.

5:11-12 No one has eternal life apart from Jesus, for there is only one name under heaven given to us by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12).

5:13 John says that he has written all these things to those he is confident already believe in Jesus and he wants to give them assurance that they are saved. However, this isn’t assurance to the doubters and to those who are not walking in love. Rather, it is assurance to bolster their faith to be firm so that the Gnostics who had left them and had caused trouble, could not shake their faith. In this way, John’s aim in writing was more for encouragement for them that they were doing the right thing and for them to continue doing what they were doing.

5:14-15 This confidence is gained by walking in the light and walking in love, which John believed that his general audience was already doing and so they could have that confidence. They would have confidence that God would hear their prayers and so whatever they ask according to God’s will, they could be assured that they would receive.

5:16-17 There is a sin leading to death and a sin not leading to death. This is speaking of mortal sin for which there is no repentance. Any sin can be forgiven except for the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mt 12:31-32). This is the sin that Judas committed and it culminated when he betrayed Jesus (Jn 17:12). But he wouldn’t have betrayed Jesus if he truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah. And so, after all that he had personally witnessed, he still didn’t believe. We might say that he never had faith or we might say that he had faith and let go of it in preference for his greed. Either way, he rejected the only source of salvation, Jesus, and was too prideful to humble himself and ask for forgiveness afterwards in true repentance. But this isn’t just the typical apostasy we see today. This apostasy was also equivalent to the Jews discovering Jesus as the Messiah and their personal Savior and then afterwards, to go back to their false religion of Judaism. In John’s situation, it was all the false prophets and Gnostics who were once supposedly part of their group in identifying as Christians but then rejected Jesus as their Messiah. John isn’t saying that you can’t pray for those people to come back to the light, only that he’s not recommending to pray for them. I should also clarify that I do not think going to agnosticism is equivalent as going back to false religion while outright rejecting Jesus as the Savior. I see that with agnostics there is still hope but for false religion after having witnessed and experienced all the supernatural goodness of God and then to reject it, I don’t see hope in those people being restored once they go back to false religion. However, anything is possible with God.

5:18 The general condition of those who are saved is that those who have been transformed of God and have been cleansed of their sins do not go on practicing sin because it is not reflective of their new nature. But God guards the person from sinning and holds on to them so that the evil one cannot force them into sinning. God provides spiritual life and power to those who abide in Him through faith and love. This happens at conversion but is also an ongoing process of abiding. Faith, therefore, must continue to stay strong to receive victory over sin. Even so, Jesus is our safeguard to keep us in the faith through His prayers (Jn 17:9-12; Lk 22:32).

5:19 The world is controlled, influenced, and swayed by the devil, though not completely because God is still over the devil. However, because of the world’s evil, the devil has legal right—he has claim to those practicing sin. They are under his jurisdiction.

5:20 Jesus came and enlightened our eyes to understand Him so that we may truly know Him and know the Father, to be united to Him and have their life dwell within us. Eternal life is not some abstract thing to obtain. Rather, Jesus is the true God and He Himself is eternal life. He is our salvation—Him abiding in us.

5:21 The last thing John says without any kind of goodbye speech, is an exhortation for his readers to keep themselves from idols.

1 John 1 Commentary

It seems necessary that walking in the light allows us to have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. To be cleansed from all sin, what type of cleansing is this? Legal or practical? Is it saying that this is what the condition of our right standing with God is? Or is it saying that there is a purifying/purging aspect of our sins from (1) walking in the light and (2) by having fellowship with one another? Secondly, is “all sin,” all sin without exception? Or is this hyperbole to simply mean that there is a great cleansing effect? Or, is there a particular definition of sin we should keep in mind here? Third, what is meant by the blood of Jesus? If Penal Substitutionary Atonement is our only mental framework to go by, then the blood of Jesus might be seen as legal. However, in a different paradigm, we could see that the blood is used for actual cleansing of sin so it removes the darkness from the heart. Blood is also used for consecration of things to God. If we understand the blood from the Moral Influence model of the atonement, then by “blood,” it means, the love of Jesus by His sacrifice. Therefore, it would be the love of Jesus that cleanses us, specifically, those who have faith in His love. Walking in the light might then be equated with walking in love and when one walks in love, they also have fellowship, and this increases love for cleansing the heart from darkness. Or, perhaps these three things of walking in the light, fellowship, and cleansing are all equal conditions at the same time and one does not lead to another. I am more inclined to believe this is true. In either case, I do believe that the blood of Jesus is the actual cleansing of sin with the light of God’s love to dispel the darkness. But if that is the case, someone might say that according to this position, I must believe that “all sin” is taken away, and all at once. But we must consider the “if” condition that if we are walking in the light and if we have fellowship with one another, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Therefore, it is the light of love that cleanses us from the sin darkness in our hearts. But is it “all sin”? It is all evil inclinations, the lusts of the heart that are cleansed away. This could be Christian maturity of God’s rest, or salvation, or what salvation was intended to be in its original design from the beginning of the church. However, the text does not specifically tell us.

However, this interpretation does seem to fit according to the rebuttal of the next verse in verse 8 which says that “if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The thought process goes like this, “John just told me that I would be cleansed from all sin so that must mean that I never sin anymore and am not living in any way that is unholy.” This is why John gives the rebuttal to say, “Hold up a minute, do not reach for that conclusion. As believers, we still commit sin. Don’t be deceived into thinking that you don’t. To be cleansed from all sin doesn’t mean that you never sin anymore.” Then John gives another positive “if” statement that if we confess our sins, then God will be faithful to Himself according to His character and promise and He will be faithful to us in His goodwill towards us to fully forgive us of all our sins. His righteousness, then, which is light, will cleanse away all the unrighteousness (darkness, ways contrary to God) in our hearts. To be unrighteous is to be crooked in our relationship with God and in the practices that we perform. But if we confess our sins to God, and if we appropriate our faith in His faithfulness and righteousness to truly forgive us because we believe in His love and goodness, then God’s light of love can cleanse away the darkness of our crooked state to make us straight with Him and to make our paths straight (the way we live our lives). Because, where God’s light and love have cleansed our hearts, we have no desire for sin. God is righteous. He will do you no wrong. If He said He’ll forgive you when you confess your sins, then He’ll forgive you. But by placing your faith in His love and goodness to forgive you, comes the cleansing from all unrighteousness. But hold on, John is telling us, before we get carried away again into thinking that this means that we have not sinned, we must realize that this is not true. Those who believe in Jesus have still sinned and are imperfect. Those who claim otherwise make God out to be a liar and are showing that God’s word is not in their hearts.

1:8. To say that you do not have any sin whatsoever, is to claim that you are morally perfect. Surely, there are at least many sins of omission, things that you should be doing but are not doing. There are many commands in the Bible as to how we should live but do you keep a perfect record? Have you fulfilled the fullness of all the law’s demands? Surely there are imperfections in you. Read your Bible and you will discover them. Look at what it says and then examine your life by it.

1:10. I take the “word” that is not in us to mean God’s spoken words through the Bible (2:7, 14). Those who claim to have never sinned are those who are not saved and those who are not saved cannot have the word of God on their hearts and minds in a spiritual way that breathes life through their souls. This word would give them understanding of sin. However, in a more basic way, those who say they have never sinned must not have ever read the Bible because sin is everywhere and in all forms. How can someone not know that they have ever sinned? Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

1 John 2 Commentary

2:1. John calls the believers in this church, “my little children,” showing how endearing they are to him and his goal in writing to them is so that they do not choose to sin and to be encouraged to choose to walk in the light which is the way of Jesus. However, John considers the real possibility that the believers in his audience could still sin and he wants to protect them from that. But then he says, “if” anyone sins rather than “when” anyone sins, indicating the freedom that John’s audience has in Christ to not sin, where the sinful inclinations are dead. The emphasis then is more on the possible scenario of a time that someone would sin rather than the focus being on this idea of sin being an inevitable reality and outcome that we just can’t help ourselves from doing. Jesus said that if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed (Jn 8:36). He did not say that you will only partially be free or kind of free but that you would be truly free. The Bible also says that whenever there is temptation, there is always a way out (1 Cor 10:13). Therefore, it is not inevitable that we give in to the temptation to sin.

But in the case that we do sin, we have an “Advocate” with the Father, Jesus. This Greek word “advocate” is used a total of 5 times and every other time except for this one, the word refers to the Holy Spirit who is translated as “Helper.” Therefore, it does not seem faithful to translate this as Advocate and then give the impression that Jesus pleads our case before the Father. The context indicates that Jesus is “with” the Father in agreement rather than some kind of disagreement. He is “righteous,” which was also stated in the previous chapter that because of His righteousness, He would forgive us our sins if we confess our sins to Him. For God to be righteous is for Him to be correct in everything He does. It is for Him to be pure of heart, to be good and loving in the deepest, most true, and most full way, and for all His actions to reflect that good and upright nature. There is not a crooked way in Him and there is no darkness whatsoever. This righteous Jesus is our great Helper and has come to our aid to purge away our sin from our hearts (propitiation, expiation) and in this way, to make “atonement” with God. Meaning, at-one-ment, or, to be reconciled to God to a restored relationship and in agreement with Him. God’s righteousness helps us in that it is wholly within His good nature to help us. He has good intentions for our well-being to see us turn away from sin to be healed and cleansed and set free. His righteousness is also light and this light is fully bright enough so that we might receive of His light into our hearts to purge the darkness and then live in the light of Christ dwelling within us. Both Jesus and the Father are light and they are for us. And since Jesus has revealed to us the nature of the Father through His incarnation, life, and death, we can have confidence in the Father also to be for us. Therefore, this Helper, Jesus, is “with” the Father. They stand side by side for our aid to help us.

This help, cleansing, purging, atonement, and reconciliation is an encouragement for believers to keep us from sinning and it is a help to unbelievers to draw near to God and have their hearts cleansed and their relationship to God restored. This is what Jesus did for us and this is what is available to the whole world, to those who put their faith in Him and love one another.

Does this “come to know” God mean to simply be a believer? Or does it mean to really and truly intimately know God? Or to be sure that you know? Like, if you really know God, then you would live in a way that reflects that.

1 John 3 Commentary

There is a rational connection here in John’s letter between Christ’s work on this earth to take away sin and those who stop the practice of sinning. In other words, Christ’s work to take away sin in the context of 1 John was not a legal taking away but a purification taking away. Those who have truly believed in Jesus have had a purification type of work done on their hearts through the love of God so that this love cleanses away sin so that they no longer make a practice of sinning.

3:20. Why is it comforting or encouraging to know that God is greater than our hearts and knows all things during the times that our hearts condemn us? Also, if we’re living in wickedness, maybe our hearts should condemn us and maybe we should get out of that, considering all of the stark contrasts just mentioned about who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Also, for some Christians, they might find it more frightening that God knows every single thing about them, like every single sin that they have done or the things they aren’t doing. But that seems to be in direct opposition to this verse which is supposed to bring comfort. Why is that? Notice that it says if our “heart” accuses us, not if our “actions” accuse us, like, if we close our heart to a brother or sister in need to not show them compassion through our actions, then we are clearly in the wrong and have violated God’s law and need to confess our sin to God and not live that way of selfishness.

1 John 4 Commentary

Read the gospel of John chapter 17 and notice all the parallels in 1 John 4.

4:12. Alternatively, love is fulfilled and made full in us and accomplishes its work through us. Alt: God’s love is carried through us and brought to completion when we love one another. Alt: By loving one another, the love of God fills our souls with His love, since God is love, and in this way, we are made whole. Alt: God’s love is matured in us. Alt: It’s also possible that John’s audience, specifically, was living in perfected love which cannot be said of many believers today. This perfect love is a mature love which the disciples of Jesus didn’t have at the time since Jesus was praying for their unity and completion of God’s love in them. Remember the High Priestly prayer? Well, a lot of people today aren’t there yet. But this isn’t so much an experience of love as it is a love that comes from a pure heart that has been cleansed by the Father’s love so that believers come to this place where nothing is about themselves but only about God and loving others and glorifying God in all things. Though, at least, for John Wesley, it was very experiential.

1 John 5 Commentary

5:8 The Spirit, the water, and the blood. To interpret what these are, it is important to understand that their purpose in this context is to give testimony to validate Jesus, specifically with the aim of refuting the false teachers and teachings of Gnosticism. The death of Jesus and the blood He spilled would be a sure refutation against the idea that Jesus didn’t come in the flesh. The Father and the Spirit validated His divinity; and the water, that is, His ability to baptize with the Holy Spirit, also validated that He came from God and was a righteous man. As the blind man said, “God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him” (Jn 9:31). Jesus certainly did not emulate or approve of the sinful lifestyles of the Gnostics. The biblical/historical Jesus is the true Jesus and true God.

5:18 The one who is born of God is kept from the devil. Jesus “keeps” him. Jn 17:9-12 and Lk 22:32 are probably the thought of what John is alluding to and what made him write this as he uses the word “keep” and “guard.” In this context, keep is in regard to not forfeiting the faith but in the context of 1 John, the preceding words are about not making a practice of sin along with the last verse which concludes the paragraph which is about his readers being exhorted to keep themselves from idols. Therefore, because of the direct context, it seems like sin is the main focus of what Jesus keeps us from. But according to John 17, apostasy is what Jesus’ prayer keeps believers from. So, it seems as though both are part of the interpretation. Though, this doesn’t mean that we are invulnerable to sinning as even Jesus’ disciples fled during one of His greatest times of trial and Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. Even so, Peter never lost his faith but came back. Basically, the devil can tempt us and lie to us, but he cannot force us to do evil or renounce our faith. That choice is up to us in our own free-will. Judas had such a choice and the devil entered him only after he had committed himself to betrayal, to apostasy. However, those who have had their hearts regenerated by God and had the Spirit placed in them (born again, born of God), that new nature is a great safeguard against sin or abandoning the faith so that it is unlikely that they ever will. As long as they abide in Him, they are protected. But even if they rebel, God’s discipline will be enacted to bring them back to repentance. Nonetheless, they still have free-will. But their great protection is abiding through faith and Jesus working on their behalf.

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Romans 7 is Not What You Think

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