1 John 2:1-2 The Atonement for sins
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The title, "Righteous One" fits the theme of this book. The writer of this letter will put all the emphasis on Jesus's righteousness. Note the present tense in the sentence, "He is the atoning sacrifice". Why present tense?
Verse 2 mentions two groups for whom Christ was (is!) the sacrifice. Who are they? What does it mean, "of the whole world"?
1 John 2:3-6, Disciples and liars
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him.
This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
The phrase "we know" appears about 40 times in the book. It involves two different verbs: ginoskomen and eidenai. The first means "to perceive" and is the root (I think) of "gnosticism" and "knowledge". The second means "to know as a fact".
I find the last sentence difficult. What if I don't always walk as Jesus did? (And what of those who seem to walk like Jesus but are not Christians?)
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
This command ("love your brothers/sisters") is both old and new. Why? (What makes the command new?)
Now begin a series of tests of Christian consistency. John Stott (Stott, p. 94) calls them the doctrinal, moral, and social tests. The moral test is, "Are you obedient to God?" The social test is "Do you love others?"
The Greek "ho legon" is translated "he who says". It appears in verses 2:4, 6, 9. The NIV translates these differently, "The man who says", "whoever claims", and "anyone who claims".
1 John 2:12-14, Overcomers
I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Three different populations are addressed here, repeated twice. Who do they represent? Is this three levels of maturity?
1 John 2:15-17, Lovers of the World
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
The world (Greek kosmos) is under the control of Satan (see I John 4:4 and 5:19.) The world (or universe) is the object of God's every action.
What is the "pride of life"? What does it mean to "love the World"? Aren't there some things in the world which we should love?
The Christian overcomes the world "through faith in Christ". How?
1 John 2: 18-23 The antichrists
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
But it wasn't the last hour! Is "antichrist" plural or singular? Who is he (are they)?
What is the effect of denying the Son? What is the effect of acknowledging both?
The word "anointing" (Greek: "chrisma") sometimes represented as an initiation. The Gnostics apparently had an initiation into the secret knowledge. The Christians also have an initiation. What is it?
1 John 2: 24-25 Prepare for his coming -- Remaining in Christ?
See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us--even eternal life.
Must one endure to be saved? Or is endurance a characteristic of salvation?
1 John 2: 26-29, Prepare for his coming
I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him.
And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
Why are we to continue in him? What will be the reactions at his coming? Moral conduct is linked to his appearance.
The book seems to end here -- and then start over with chapter 3?
For further thought: In what ways has "the World" infiltrated the Church? Careful – this question is a lot harder than it appears! Infiltration, by its very nature, will be subtle and hard to recognize.
Oh, your questions demand a book of answers! No time. One comment, well 2: v 7 or 8--can't tell exactly which--mitigates the stark contrast of darkness and light with a metaphor of dawn. It is not yet fully Day, so it may be reasonable to expect that life will be muddier than the stark contrasts he draws here. But the trend should be in the direction of increasing light. And persistent darkness in an area of life is a matter of grave concern that calls the reality of a person's conversion into question. Btw, vv 1-2 also mitigate the starkness--we have an advocate when we fall into sin. The other comment concerns the last hour--I think we are living in it and have been since the Resurrection. I think of the display at the Grand Canyon of geological time and how recorded history is the last few sentences of the last page of the last book, and the past 2000 years is much shorter than that. Also, this definition of Antichrist affords just one more piece of evidence for me that an amillennial interpretation of last things is the truest to Scripture. There's a grenade for you!
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