I John 4, God is Love

The social test for identification as a Christian is, "Do you love others."  Here John describes the doctrinal test.

1 John 4: 1-3, Recognizing the spirits of truth & falsehood (the doctrinal test)
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

This the doctrinal test: does one acknowledge that Jesus came (historically) in the flesh?

1 John 4: 4-6, The world's falsehood
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

The system opposed to God has a natural falsehood; the follower of God has insights to truth (through the Spirit) that the world does not understand.

1 John 4: 7-12, Acting on truth -- love
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Ultimately John returns to our love and compassion for others. Followers of God will mirror his love.  So we display God by our love for each other.

What does it mean, "God is Love"?

What does it mean, "his love is made complete in us."

1 John 4: 13-16a A summary: God lives in us and we rely on his love
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

The spiritual test: love. Stott calls this the "high water mark" of the letter.

1 John 4: 16b-21 Perfect love
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

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

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

God's love is compared with our love.

How can we love God and hate the one ("brother") made in his image? Stott says that love for God and men is al part of a single command.

I John 3, Children of God

The apostle John says that we are children of God and are very different from the world.

Commentator John Stott says this passage is a continuation from 2:28. The section I John 2:28-3:10 discuss the moral test: righteousness, obedience to God. It compares righteousness to knowledge.

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

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

The opening Greek words translated here "How great" mean literally, "of what country!" A modern usage might be "Out of this world is the love ..."

How will we be like him? Physically? Will we have the same physical body he has? John does not know what we will be like, after this new appearance of Jesus, but is content to wait for this change.

1 John 3: 4-6 Children of God don't continue in sin
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

How is sin defined? (Is this helpful?)  What appearance is being discussed here?
Do we continue in sin? What does that mean?

This chapter has an emphasis on "appearances" -- Jesus did appear; he will appear again; we will have a certain appearance....  Even the World has a certain appearance.

1 John 3: 7-10, We follow our true father
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

Why did Jesus first appear?

Verse 9, "No one who is born of God continues in sin..." is intended to be reassuring. Sin is against God's nature and therefore against the nature of the Christian.  One cannot "pretend" about sin -- one cannot commit sin with actions but say (as the gnostics did) that one's heart could remain pure.

1 John 3: 11-18 Our actions are tested by love
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.

Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

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

This passage covers the social test: love.

There are two models here: Cain and Jesus. (Similar to Adam and Jesus in Paul's letter to the Romans.)

1 John 3: 19-24 God in our hearts
This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

How do our hears condemn us? Is the condemnation legitimate, accurate?
Do these paragraphs conflict?
What is the meaning of verses 19-20?

Answers to prayer are emphasized again here. What are the requirements?

I John 2, Overcomers

John has just written that we all have "forgiveness from sin" offered by Jesus.

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?)

1 John 2:7-11,  Light is represented by love
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.

The First Epistle of John

Towards the end of the New Testament appear three letters apparently written by the apostle John, author of the fourth gospel.  The first is not long (105 verses); the other two are much shorter.

The first letter is a general pastoral letter, concerned about the growth of people in a church.  (The other two letters are addressed to individuals.  II John is addressed to an unknown "lady chosen by God", possibly a single individual, possibly a more general address to the Church personified.  III John is addressed to Gaius, "my dear friend."  Both of these letters address the issue of hospitality to visiting ministers.)

The theme of the first letter of John is that True Christianity has three parts:

1. Belief that Jesus came in the flesh;
2. Obedience to God;
3. Love for others.

The certainty of one's relationship with God is theological, moral and social.

I John includes Hebrew parallelisms. In this book there are sharp contrasts: antichrists/Christ, light/darkness, purity/sin. At each turn, the reader is presented with only two options; everything is black or white. The World is an important topic in this book, as is true Christian fellowship.

Like the book of Hebrews, the teaching is cyclical (or spiral), returning to the same concepts again and again.  Like the book of Hebrews, there is no named author or reader; like the book of Hebrews the concern is of believers, those already committed to following Jesus.

(The book contains 105 verses, could be memorized in 15 weeks at a verse a day.)

I have, as a reference, a nice commentary by John Stott, The Letters of John, from InterVarsity Press, 1988. (At this time, used copies are available from Amazon for 99 cents.)

Other online resources for I John

There is a nice summary of I John at OverviewBible.com.  Summaries of the second and third letters are here and here. The Bible Project now has a nice video summary here.)

Wikipedia, of course, covers I John, II John and III John, and also has an overview of the three Johannine epistles.

The Comma

There is a fairly notorious medieval corruption of Scripture in I John 5: 7-8, where presumably a scribe elaborated on the concept of the Trinity in the margins of an ancient text and the elaboration crept into medieval translations. An account of this insertion is given here on the evangelical Christian website of Bible.org. Appearing in the King James translation of the Bible, this added sentence has been removed and footnoted in more modern translations. This medieval corruption of Scripture was noted by Erasmus, who refused to put it into his New Testament translation of Greek. As a mathematician, I will point out that Sir Isaac Newton (!!) wrote a paper, An Historical Account of Two Corruptions of Scripture, on this very problem.

I John 1, God is Light

The author of the fourth gospel also wrote several letters to churches. Here is the beginning of his longer letter, I John. This first chapter is quite short but packed....

1 John 1:1-4, The Word of Life
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

NIV footnotes: Some manuscripts say "make your joy complete" instead of "make our joy complete".

This letter, written as a general pastoral letter, might be a follow-up to the gospel of John. The goal is to reinforce belief by emphasizing the eternal fellowship that should flow out of belief.

There is a progression from "seen with our eyes" to "we looked at".  The latter phrase implies an investigation.

When was "the beginning"? At Creation? Or the Incarnation?  Contrast/compare this passage with the first four verses of the gospel of John.

The Father and Son are mentioned but not (yet) the Holy Spirit. Why?

The words "testify" and "appeared" emphasize a clear historical event; Jesus appeared at one moment in history; John was fortunate enough to be able to "testify" to that occurrence. Christianity is foremost a response to a historical event.

Comments (A little Greek): There is a process described here in the Greek words angelia (1:5, message), koinoinia (1:3, twice, fellowship) and chara (1:4, joy). The message leads to fellowship and then joy.

1 John 1:5-7, God is light, not dark -- we must live this way
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

What are qualities of light?
What does it mean, "God is light"?
What are the results of "walking in the light"?
Are you purified from all sin? What does this mean?

I once met one who claimed that as a Christian he was completely sinless.  He cited some Bible verses and I countered with others and then he lost his temper and slammed his door in my face.

There are only two options portrayed here: light, purity, fellowship, truth vs. darkness, sin, separation, lies.  This stark contrast is characteristic of John.

1 John 1:8-10, Recognition of sin
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Some questions: So -- wait a minute -- which are we? Are we light? Or are we in sin?

Why this digression in verses 8-10? Is this a statement about salvation? Or a statement after salvation (about sanctification)?

What two attributes of God are mentioned in verse 9? Why is God just to forgive sin?

According to verse 9, what are the two results of confessing sin? What is the meaning of "word" in verse 10. Compare with verse 1.

Comments: John Stott (in The Letters of John) puts verse 10 with the first two verses of chapter 2.

For further contemplation: What exactly is "sin"?  Although the word and related concepts appear throughout the Bible, common attempts to explain "sin" degenerate into a legalistic list of things one should do or not do. Such superficial approaches to the concept of sin are convenient, but detrimental.
So ... what is "sin" -- and how does it pervade the human race?

Conflict with the World, Part 1, Theory

In John 17:14-16, Jesus prays that his disciples not be "of the world" since he is not. Jesus then goes on to say that the World will hate the disciples of Jesus. In John's first epistle (I John 2:15-17), he tells the followers of Jesus to "not love the world."

As we move from the Gospel of John into the epistles (letters) of John, we might look at this concept of "the world". The Bible has a fair amount to say about the "World" (Greek "kosmos") and the path of the citizen of heaven.  According to the Bible, the cosmos is under the control of Satan (I John 4:4 and I John 5:19.) The world is the object of God's every action. Other passages on examples of "loving the World" include Genesis 3:6, Joshua 7:21, 2 Sam 11:2. New Testament verses on "the World" are John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11.  (I'll return to these at some later time.)

In my country (USA) in my times (late 20th, early 21st century) the Christian conflict with "the World" has often been misunderstood. This conflict is often interpreted to mean that believers must wage some type of "war" on the culture around them.

The New Testament view of "the World" is quite different. The follower of Jesus recognized that there was a higher kingdom, a higher citizenship (see Hebrews 11: 13-16) and that the political establishment (primarily the Roman empire) and the social establishment (civic Judaism) was in principle opposed to the things of God. Even the local social fabric in Israel seemed to promote a fake religiosity that allowed one to act spiritual (to act like a sincere Jew) while being insincere.

This has not significantly changed in two millenia. The Christian still should not expect to be rewarded socially or politically by his/her commitment to follow the Messiah. One of Jesus's teachings (Matthew 10:34-39) is particularly depressing in that regard, unless we are indeed looking for the City God has prepared for us.

The relationship between the Christ-follower and their community is a complicated one. It should be so.  There should always be a certain tension between a Christ-follower and the community within which he/she lives, just like there is a certain tension in traveling overseas, in a culture and community that is not one's home.

Some of our community culture comes from within "the church", from religious organizations. Just as  Jesus experienced the sharpest conflict with the Jewish religious leaders, so too the Christ-follower will discover that religion (Christian religion) is in conflict with genuine spiritual growth and action. In any society in which Christianity has begun to hold significant social or political power, the culture has invaded the church. In my experience, we may need to be most alert to the influences of "the World" on Sunday. And it will not be in ways we first expect.

I have been in a number of churches that used Romans 14: 13-21 -- a passage that emphasizes compassion for spiritually weaker brothers or sisters -- to prohibit the drinking of alcoholic beverages. This is not because of some deep understanding of Scripture, but instead a long running cultural response to Prohibition in twentieth century America. A thoughtful reading of that passage in Romans should lead one to act differently in a number of ways -- and alcohol is the least of the problems of the church!

At some point, one has to decide with Habbakuk (Habbakuk 4: 17-18): "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

In the New Testament one might observe the "Agrippa Principle" -- Christians often speak from chains -- (Acts 26: 28-29)... Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"  Paul replied, "Short time or long--I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."

I will try to flesh this out further in a second, later post.  At one time I was very much immersed in the political fight against "the World". At one time I was president of the local chapter of Citizens for Decency, leading a campaign to rid the community of pornography (among other concerns.) I lost track of the true focus of the Christian life and stooped for political influence.  I regret that.

The Farewell Teachings of Jesus

The synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, all record a last supper of Jesus with his disciples, followed by prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and then, finally, the arrest of Jesus in the garden. (See Matthew 26: 17-56, Mark 14: 12-42, and Luke 22: 7-45.)  The apostle of John elaborates on these events by providing additional details about the upper room conversations including more private instructions which occur after the traitor, Judas, has been dismissed.

Merrill Tenney calls this "The Period of Conference" in his commentary on the Gospel of John. These last teaching of Jesus roughly follow the five chapters of John 13-17. They include:

1. The Last Supper, including washing the disciples' feet and the dismissal of Judas,
2. The announcement of upcoming events followed by questions from Peter, Thomas, Philip and Judas (not Iscariot). 
3. These responses elaborate the teachings on the Holy Spirit (John 14.)
4. Teachings on the Vine, primarily John15
5. Teachings on the eventual conflict with the world, primarily John 16,
6. Lengthy prayer for the disciples, John 17.

Some of these teachings occur in the Upper Room in Jerusalem; some presumably occur while walking to the Mount of Olives.

Here is an online exposition of this passage, as a series of linked sermons (I think)from Bible.org.

There are a number of good Wikipedia articles on the Last Supper and the Farewell Discourse, along with an article on the Cenacle, a supposed location of the upper room in Jerusalem.