1 John here today - I hope we’ll finish that section
from 2:3 to 2:8 which is the fellowship of the Son. We’ve done the
Father, moved to the Son.
On the handout today I’ve got a pretty extensive
review of the first section from 1:5 to 2:2, which deals with our fellowship
with the Father. And the reason I’m doing that - and I’m going to ask some of
you to read. I need 4 volunteers to read if you’ll see down there where
it says Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Proverbs 14, and Proverbs 17. If I can have
somebody read those when we get down to that point - appreciate it.
The reason we’re taking one whole sheet (one side of one sheet) this morning
for this section on God the Father is because it dawned on me afterwards that
this is a basic truth of the Christian life. We want to be sure we
understand it. This is sort of a spiritual first aid point which is just
confession. This is why on the handout where it says right under
fellowship with the Father we must come to terms with His holy nature.
We’re trying to be specific on the different ways we interact. It appears
that John is presenting us with a situation where he’s saying that we interact
with the Father in a slightly different way than we interact with the Son by the
way he uses his vocabulary. We’ve already done verse 5 through 2:2 when
it seems very, very clear from that section of text that we’re interacting with
the Father’s holiness.
NKJ 1 John 1:5… that God is light
Then he emphasizes:
and in Him is no darkness at all.
So we look at 1 John 1:9 which is the central verse in
that section as far as we personally are concerned in our Christian life.
NKJ 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
A little commentary there - I wanted to run through
that - if you follow.
If we confess our sins,
It’s the sins we’re confessing. We confess them
as sins. We don’t confess them as mistakes. We don’t confess them
as accidents. We confess them as authentic choices that we’ve made in
defiance of His holy nature. That’s what confessing sin means. The
point here is that subtly there can arise because remember we are in an evil,
hostile environment so that means we’re constantly facing deceptive thoughts
that are coming into our minds. One of the deceptive thoughts is that God
won’t forgive us unless we vow, unless we pledge some - be good boys and girls
or something like that. That doesn’t really count. The issue in confession
is that we’re coming and we’re saying - we’re acknowledging personal
responsibility for a bad choice. That’s what it’s all about. It’s
not about vowing. It’s not about be a good boy if you’ll forgive
me. That’s not what you read in 1 John1: 9.
What we read is:
NKJ 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just …
He’s going to do what He says. He’s going to do
it justly which means that He’s got to rely on the cleansing power of the
atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s not an arbitrary forgiveness, as you
would have in other religions, which say somehow God or Allah forgives if he
wants to or if you’re a good boy or good girl. That doesn’t cut it
because the issue isn’t us. The issue is God’s character. Is that character
going to be compromised in the fashion in which He forgives? The answer
biblically – no, because it says it’s the blood of Jesus Christ is the
mechanism here under which it goes. He is faithful and just.
Then if you’ll follow again where it says in italics:
to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
There’s a distinction going in there between sin and
righteousness or unrighteousness. Commentators have generally felt that
the sins are the sins and the unrighteousness - probably the best kind of
understanding of this is attitudes and outlooks that are dangerous that are
cycling around in our minds that could very easily sprout into sin. If
confession is clear and we understand what it is we are doing at confession,
then that acts as a deterrent against what we’ll call potential areas in our
lives for sin.
Now going down the next step in that outline you’ll
see where it says:
Must recognize the reality of two category existence…
Why have I put that in there? That’s in there to
protect us from thinking in psychological terms. Confession is not a
psychological device. It’s not something that is there to make us feel
good. It’s there to deal with the problem in the throne room of God.
That’s what’s going on here. It’s the Creator-creature distinction
again. This is the universe as the Bible presents the universe, not as
psychologists present the universe. We are living in two different
worlds. We’re either living in the universe, the reality that secular
psychology says or we’re living in the reality that the Bible says. In
the reality that the Bible says we are in this universe and there is a throne
room of God and what we do down here has immediate application up there.
So we have to deal with what’s going on up there. We can’t smell it, see
it, taste it. So we have to go to the Word of God to understand what is going
on up there. That’s why this is so important.
David in Psalm 51:4 - when David confesses in - Psalm
51 is a key confession psalm. It’s a model of how King David dealt with
his personal sin. So that’s why. There are 3 psalms actually that are
David’s confession psalms. But 51:4 has this very important point and
people misunderstand this. When it says:
NKJ Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight …
We have some people at work in local city government
that see the county court system. When a crime is committed technically
is the crime against the victim or the crime against the State of
Maryland? Ever hear a court proceeding? It’s against the State of
Maryland - not against the victim. You’ve injured or hurt the victim but
that would not be a crime if there were not a law that says it’s a crime.
The law that says that is a crime is the law of the State of Maryland. So
the issue there is between the criminal and the state. That’s why it’s in
court. That’s analogous to what David’s saying that yes he did evil, yes
he had her husband murdered. Yes but the sin is against God and only
against God because God is the one who set the standard. The injury is to
the victim; but the crime is against God. That’s why confession is so
important because it deals with the crime just as the local court system deals
with violation of local law.
Now if someone will read Psalm 32. If another person
will start turning to Psalm 38 to volunteer to read that. Somebody pick
up Psalm 32. Let’s all turn there, verses 2 through 4. Anyone want
to read that? Yes, go ahead.
NKJ Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute
iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept
silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My
vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
The reason why we’re reading those 4 selections in
Scripture is another aspect of this confession thing. That is when we’re
on the outs spiritually with God; we are also injuring our personal
health. In all the talk about health insurance and healthcare and so
forth, people are forgetting the fact that in our country, it’s not just a
healthcare problem. It’s a health problem. You wouldn’t have to have
healthcare if there wasn’t a health problem to need to be cared for. So
let’s push the logic back further and talk about health. One of the
testimonies here is and it shouldn’t surprise us if you think about what was
just read here in the text. If our bodies are in God’s image and if our bodies
are designed the way the Bible says they are designed and we’re not living the
way our Creator wants us to live; is it any wonder that when we’re out of sorts
with the Lord we’re also injuring ourselves? So this is self induced
misery. So sin not only deals with what’s going on in the throne room of
God above us; but it also deals with the damage we’re doing to our
bodies. I was reading in research last year where some of the
neuro-cardiologists that are watching the brain-heart connection are pointing
out that when we get angry there are 1,500 chemical reactions that go on
between the time you want to be angry and the time the hormones and everything
else get going in your body. Fifteen hundred chemical reactions are
triggered just by anger. So this is why you can ingest toxic substances into
your body; but you can also create the same reaction through a toxic substance
by the way you live if you’re not in league with God.
So David is recording this.
He says: (I am reading the New King James Version
here.)
3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my
groaning
The Hebrew word is almost a constant moaning.
…all the day
long.
4 For day and night
This is 24-hour stuff.
Your hand was heavy upon me; My
vitality was turned into the drought of summer.
If that isn’t talking about a health problem, I don’t
know what it is talking about.
So let’s go to Psalm 38 and look at verses 1 to
8. Anybody want to read that one? Yes, go ahead.
NKJ Psalm 38:1 A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in
Your wrath, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply, And Your hand
presses me down.
3 There is no
soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a
heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds are foul and festering Because of my foolishness.
6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning
all the day long.
7 For my loins are full of inflammation, And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and
severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil
Is that a health problem or not? It’s
interesting what happens in a secular culture. When you think of a health
problem, you think of going to the doctor and getting a pill. But the
Bible says that we’re not just bodies. We’re also souls and bodies.
So the soul can affect the body. Ironically in this concern about health,
what we as Christians - biblically we ought to do self-examination as to
whether we’re creating half of our health problems ourselves with our
attitudes.
Let’s go to Proverbs 14:30 here. Turn over there
and see what the topic there is in Proverbs 14:30. Okay. Go ahead.
NKJ Proverbs 14:30 A sound heart is
life to the body, But envy is rottenness
to the bone
Okay, health problem here? You wonder –
the health problems in our country will eventually bankrupt us if it hasn’t
already. We’re talking billions and billions of dollars here. Now
wouldn’t it be an interesting study for someone to research what percent of the
billions and billions of dollars we’re spending on healthcare are due to this
kind of problem.
And finally let’s turn to Proverbs 17:22. Anyone
take that?
NKJ Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken
spirit dries the bones.
Okay, again body-mind interaction going on here.
I present those to show that confession while it deals vertically with God
because we are made in God’s image the connection with health comes through the
fact that we are created in His image. Our bodies are created with a
chemistry and a physique that is intended to walk in fellowship with God so if
we don’t walk in fellowship with God, a price is paid in our
health. There are physical results.
Now the last part in this section is on the Father
here. Let’s turn to Psalm 139. Stay in this section of the Bible. Psalm
139 I’ve always found to be a nice prelude to 1 John 1:9. I John 1:9 says:
NKJ 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins,
Well, how do I know what sins to confess?
Psalm 139:23 is a useful verse in executing this
procedure.
NKJ Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know
my anxieties;
NKJ Psalm 139:24 And see if there
is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
So verse 23 is a prayer request where you ask the Lord
to show you these things. This takes time. It takes quiet
time. You can’t be sitting there listening to radio, watching TV, and
texting and executing this verse. It doesn’t work. You have to have some quiet
time where you turn off the email and shut off the electronics and relax and
ask the Lord to show you where you sinned so you can confess it and deal with
it.
Now Proverbs 6 is a great passage, a small
passage. The emphasis in Proverbs 6 shows you something about sin’s
scope. In Proverbs 6:16 is a list. I broke list down there in the
outline.
NKJ Proverbs 6:16 These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an
abomination to Him:
17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are
swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows
discord among brethren.
Those are 7 things. Two of the things are thought
patterns or mental attitude sins, three are sins of the tongue, and two are
overt. If you look at the distribution statistically of those seven, the
emphasis isn’t just on overt acts. The emphasis is on mental attitudes and
sins of the mouth. So that also says something about the pattern of sins
in our lives. At least 5/7ths, statistically 5/7ths of sins in this list,
have nothing to do with overt acts. They have to do with mental attitudes
and running off at the mouth. This also is a great profile. All of
this is part and parcel of 1 John 1:9 and the ramifications of this.
Finally I’d like to turn over to the New Testament
Matthew 6. This is one area that’s the hardest I think because you get so
involved with personal interactions. But Matthew 6:14 Jesus warns us of
something about our interactions with other people. This is always very
delicate hot button issues. But Jesus said in verses 14 and 15:
NKJ Matthew 6:14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you.
NKJ Matthew 6:15 "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.
So that creates a block to executing 1 John 1:9.
The reason for this is that if we don’t confess others, we don’t understand
grace. If we don’t understand grace; we can’t understand grace through
us. Caution in verses 14 and 15, Jesus is adamant about forgiving others
their transgressions against us. He illustrated that at the cross.
NKJ Luke 23:34 …"Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they do." …
But forgiving someone a sin is not saying you approve
of the sin. That’s where we get confused.
People say, “I’m not going to forgive him. That was
wrong.”
That’s right. That’s why we forgive them.
The act of forgiveness is not saying that what’s out there that led to what
created the problem, isn’t sin. Yes, it is. Jesus wasn’t’ saying
when He said:
NKJ Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they
do not know what they do." …
…that the cross was not a justice issue. It had
nothing to do with sins being laid upon Him. Of course it
did. The point here is from our side (verses 14, 15) is why hurt
ourselves unnecessarily by refusing to forgive someone. If they’ve done some
injury to us, that’s their problem. And maybe it’s the state’s problem,
government’s problem. Somebody that’s assaulted someone, raped them or
insulted them in some way. That’s a sin and the state will deal with
that. And God will deal with that. We let Him deal with that or we
let Him work through the state. It’s not wrong to bring a charge in a
lawsuit against that if there’s a bonified wrong. But there can’t be
bitterness – what it’s getting at we can’t be bitter here and harbor resentment
and we’re going to be the ones that straighten everybody out. That’s not
going to happen. We might as well relax, forgive them, move on and trust
the Lord with it. It’s too much hassle to bother with it otherwise.
All of this today, this quick hasty run down here on
this side of the sheet, is just to expand a little bit on the practical
side.
(Question)
Paul’s bringing up a point here not to confuse here
what deals with the relationship and what deals with salvation. That goes
back - remember what we said last time, the three phases of salvation: phase 1
justification, phase 2 sanctification, phase 3 glorification. We’re not
even dealing with phase 3 other than knowing that it’s going to happen and to
be absent from the body is face-to-face with the Lord. So all of our
attention is on phase 2 unless we’re not saved yet which would be
salvation. The context of Matthew remember is the Sermon on the Mount
context and He’s talking to a Jewish audience and He’s showing them what should
have been their lifestyle under the Mosaic Law. Now many of them may not be
saved; and that’s convicting. But Jesus is talking here addressing the
whole Mosaic Law situation which is addressed to sanctification.
We are going to move on because we want to get to 1
John 2 and finish the section. Now we’ve moved from the Father to the
Son. So let’s go to 1 John. In your outline I’ve put the verses you
want to look at here in the New King James. I’ve outlined them because
you can circle them, underline and show relationships – sort of using
this as a worksheet. So let’s point to some things. What I’m going to do
is let’s read verses 3, 4, and 5 again. Then I want to point out certain
features of the text. For some of you this may seem picayune and going down to
the microscope level. Why I want to do this is to show that when we read the
Scriptures we want to pay attention to details, particularly when you deal with
New Testament epistles. It’s a little easier when you’re reading narrative in
the Old Testament or you’re reading narrative in the gospels. You can
kind of get the sweep of the text. When you deal with these epistles,
epistles were written to teach. They were necessarily compressed. So
there are details in the details of the text that we want to look at. So
in 1 John, John is now saying:
NKJ 1 John 2:3 Now by this we
know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
Now the Him in this case is the Son because in verses
one and two, he’s moved from the Father to the Son who has propitiated the sins
of the world.
NKJ 1 John 2:4 He who says,
"I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
By this we know that we are in Him.
Now we want to stop there and look at the sheet for a
moment. The text is on the sheet - want to look and observe certain
things in the flow. Look at verse 3 and look at the first 4 words in
verse 3. Then look down verse 5b. I have divided a and b because a
and b refer to clauses. You see an a and b - translators use that so they
break up the clauses. So 5b is the last clause in this section. Look at
the first 4 words in 5b. Do you notice something? They’re the
same. This should trigger our observation. Wait a minute. Why does
John repeat himself here? In fact these 4 words are used several times
throughout the epistle.
“by this we
know”
Remember we said the verb know occurs 25 times in this
epistle. That’s a lot of times in a small epistle. That tells you - just
the statistical frequency of the word - tells you that John is after
knowing. He wants us to know. The theme is going to be as we’ll see
later confidence before God. We can’t have confidence before God if we don’t
know and are sure of our faith. So know is important. If knowing is
important, then isn’t it important to know – how do we know? So
that’s these 4 words.
How do we know? He’s telling you that you should
know this and he’s also telling us how you know this. And he repeats
it. There is another little feature to this. In the Greek text it’s
en touto. Work has been done in
this with Greek scholars. They discovered something. When you see
these 4 words with the Greek equivalent en
touto when you see that, the next thing you need to look for is the clause
in which that expression is found - is that clause- remember clause, subject
and predicate. So we have “by this we know”, subject and
predicate. “By this” is hooked into a clause. Here’s
the question. Is that clause in which you see that connected to another
clause or not? That determines whether “by this we know” is looking
forward or whether “by this we know” is working backwards.
So now let’s look at verse 3. “By this we know” is
connected to the clause
that we know Him
Then we follow it with another clause.
if we keep His commandments.
So in this case “by this we know” has its own
clause. That clause is hooked to another clause. Therefore we know
that “by this we know” is talking about something that is starting there and
flowing forward in the text.
Now verse 5b:
By this we know that we are in Him.
Same thing, en
touto in the Greek. It’s connected to a subject and a predicate so
it’s hooked into a clause. But that clause doesn’t have any connecting
clause to it. It ends. So that tells us that the second “by this we
know” is looking back. It’s a summary. If that’s the case verse 3
and verse 5b form brackets. The technical word for this by the scholars-
they’ll use this word. It is inclusio. That means it’s a chunk of text
that is meant to be a unit. John is showing us that it’s a unit by the
way he’s constructing this. So now what does the unit teach? If
that’s a unit of text, what is the emphasis?
By this we know that we have come to know Him.
The verse 5b:
By this we know that we are in Him.
What does that teach about how he uses a locative
“in”? See what I’m saying? If you look at verse 3:
NKJ 1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him,
Then verse 5b says:
NKJ 1 John 2:5 ... By this we know that we are in Him.
What does that say about the two clauses “we have come
to know Him” and “we are in Him”? They are the same thing. This is
saying – this is one of those cases where you look carefully at the text
and now you understand when John uses “in Him,” this is what he means by the
expression “in Him” - that we know Him, that we are familiar with Him.
See that’s different than Paul when he says that we are in Christ. That’s a
forensic discussion. That’s a legal discussion. That’s totally
different. Paul is using “in” differently than the way John uses
“in.” You get to that conclusion by watching details of the text like
this. We all know now that verse 3 and 5b are meant to be the same
thing. They are talking about the same thing.
Now there is something else to notice. Look at
the subject of the verbs verse 3 and 5b and the subject of all the verbs in
verse 4 and 5a. What do you notice different about the subject of the verbs in
verses 3 and 5b on one hand and the subject of the verbs in 4 and 5a?
What’s that? Yeah. Eventually yes they are. But let’s back up one before
we get to that conclusion. You’re right.
In verses 4 and 5a it’s a singular subject is it not?
It’s what we call 3rd person. Remember back in English
class- first, second and third person? Let’s see. You’re teaching
home school. You got ‘em? First, second and third person. The
first person is I or we. The second person is you. The third person
is he. Now look at the structure. Verse 3 and 5b it’s we.
Does “we” include John? Yes. This is a first person plural. He’s
talking about – he’s including himself in this. So these are things
that the apostles themselves – it’s true for. This is
sanctification. They are being sanctified too.
Now in verses 4 and 5a he uses the third person.
Now when he uses the third person in 4 and 5a he’s using that like we
would. It’s a principle. It’s what you would say – a person
does this, boom, boom, boom. The woman did that, boom, boom. A
woman that does that, blah, blah, blah. A man that does that, blah, blah, blah.
In other words verses 4 and 5a are teaching the principle. They are teaching an
example. They’re teaching an example so we can look and say, “Okay. I
understand this”. But it’s bracketed in verses 3 and 5b by “we” because
that tells us the overall thrust of the passage. Now the reason why I am
making a big point about this is because when we read further in the epistle
you won’t see the bracketing any more. You won’t see the “we” on both
ends. You’ll just see principle. You’ll use third person, third
person, third person, third person. How do you understand the third
person? Those are examples. He’s not even in verse 4 and 5a - it
appears he has no one particularly in mind, does he? Are these indefinite
in their look? Yes. Verse 4 is indefinite. It’s he. It’s
whoever. The translators in verse 5a - in fact the translators helped us
out there because the translators have decided in verse 5a to use the
translation “whosoever.” So you can kind of understand these third
persons as “whoever’s”. Whosoever does this….
Now…
(Question)
That’s right.
(Question)
Yeah, that’s true; but we use the sentence the same
way he’s using it. We know it’s cold outside if the temperature is... I’ve used
the same construction.
(Question)
That’s right, but when you say, “I am” that’s a
conclusion of the temperature. I’m saying, “If - I know it’s cold outside
if the temperature is below 30 like it was this morning.”
(Question)
That’s true but…
(Question)
That’s right.
(Question)
But that’s not John’s point. John’s point is we
can tell we know Him if we are keeping His commandments. He’s using this
to modify the word know. How else is he going to modify “know”? See
that’s the problem. The verb here is know. What he’s trying to say
is, “How do I know?” I know only if something happens. I’ve got to
have an observation. Remember something else we studied. What was the
first verse of this epistle? Let’s go back to the first verse of
the epistle. What does the first verse of this epistle stress?
Observations. This is tremendously important for John. Remember we
said this guy for some reason this particular author of the text is very much
obsessed almost with the sense of sight, sound, and touch. He is the only man
that goes in detail that famous passage on the doubting Thomas. What was it
that helped Thomas no longer doubt? Touching. For some reason John was
watching this and it registered with him that you can touch Jesus. You
can see Him. That’s the glory of God. That’s why John when he says,
“We saw His glory,” - nowhere in his gospel does he bring the Mt. of
Transfiguration up. How come that is? All the other guys talk about
the Mount of Transfiguration. John doesn’t.
He says, “I saw the glory all the time.”
So obviously he’s talking about daily walking with
Jesus - daily listening to Him. That to John is seeing the glory of God
by John.
(Question)
John does write a unique gospel; but John probably
wrote it later. It’s almost like John filled in the gaps where the other
men had done their jobs.
(Question)
Joel is pointing out the evidential thrust of
it. Look for example in verse 2 of chapter 1. Look at one of the
verbs there. He uses that verb a lot. See the verbs, verse 2.
NKJ 1 John 1:2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear
witness…
There you go. He uses the word testify. See he’s
emphasizing this.
“I am reporting this to you. “
He’s talking to a generation. He seems to be
talking to people that weren’t there. He’s defending the validity of what
he has seen to an audience who apparently did not touch Him. In fact if
you look at verse 1, there’s a subtlety in the verb tenses that tells you
this. In verse 1 it says:
NKJ 1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard,
Perfect tense
which we have seen with our eyes,
Those two verbs hear and see, he uses in verse 3,
doesn’t he? See verse 3. There are those two verbs again. But
in verse 1 there are 4 verbs. Verb #3 and verb #4 he does not use in
verse 3 because verb 3 is we gazed upon Him and the fourth verb is we touched
Him. Neither verb #3 or verb #4 would be true to the generation to which
he wrote. They couldn’t gaze upon Jesus any longer; and they certainly
couldn’t touch Him. But they could be recipients of what John had seen
and heard. We begin here to appreciate John’s thinking and that this was
written by a real person.
We said already the verb keep is watch over, guard, or
treat respect it. The thrust here is that our relationship with
Jesus Christ as we saw in John 14. Jesus says:
NKJ John 14:24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words;
and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
So keeping His commandments is not just a legalistic
“keep His commandments” kind of thing. It’s keep respecting the fact that
Jesus’ words are identical to the Father’s words that when we read Jesus’ words
it would be as though personally at Mt. Sinai and we were listening to God the
Father speak. That’s the thrust of what he’s talking about here.
It’s recognizing the deity and authority of Jesus Christ that He stands above
everyone.
A couple of more comments – the other one is
when it gets down to verse 5a.
NKJ 1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is
perfected in him.
We will deal later with this love of God so I’ll just
going to pass by it right now. Love of God can be interpreted two
different ways. We can talk about “of God”. In the Greek it’s a
genitive. We can think of it as a subjective genitive. That is the love
that God shows. In other words “of God” means the love that comes out of
God to me. That’s the subjective genitive meaning the subject is God who
is loving down to me. But it can also go the other way. It can be
an objective genitive, can it not? We love God. In that case the thing
reverses. Why that’s important is because in John 14 Jesus does it. He
says, “You will love Me and We will love you,” – a reciprocal arrangement
which is fellowship. So it can be an objective genitive here; it can be a
subjective genitive because the relation is reciprocal. It’s not always
easy to separate these but John 14:21-23 is the reference if you want to check
reciprocity issue out for the objective and subjective genitive.
Now the other issue there in 5a is “perfected.”
What does that mean? Perfection? Not really.
If we turn to John 4, let’s see how he uses that
word. Always good when we are puzzled about a verb or a word is to go to
the context. The nearest context is the nearest context same epistle
written by the same guy.
NKJ 1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one
another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
That’s not talking about perfection because verse 12
is talking about empirical observation. He has made the statement that no man
has ever seen God. So how do you see God? You see God manifested
among Christians. John makes this stunning claim that it is seeing
God. So perfecting, the way verse 12 is using the word suggests that the
way John uses “perfection” means becomes operational. It becomes
empirically observable. We will see this as we go on.
Going back to this verse 5a:
NKJ 1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is
operational, is functioning in him.
That’s important to John. It’s
functioning. We can see it. We can observe it.
Finally if you go to verses 6, 7, and 8, we’ll finish
this section.
NKJ 1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to
walk just as He walked.
What do we know about abiding in Him? Verse 5 told
us. He that says abides in Him. What do we know about abiding in
Him? Verse 5 told us. How do we know we are in Him or abiding in
Him? How do we know? We just said that; so it’s not a mystery. What’s he
saying is, he who claim that he’s abiding in Him ought to walk even as He
walked.
What does this verse 6 tell about the necessity of why
there are 4 gospels written in the Bible? How does this verse relate to
the 4 gospels? Let’s suppose our Bibles don’t have the 4 gospels.
They only have the epistles.
(Comment)
Exactly! This verse tells you why the God Holy Spirit
has put four gospels in here - so we know how He walked. How else would
we know how Jesus walked? We can’t know unless there are some gospels
that tell us how He walked.
Finally in verse 8:
NKJ 1 John 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing
is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true
light is already shining.
Know what we said a couple of weeks back?
Secular scholars always talk about the Age of the Enlightenment with Descartes,
Emanuel Kant. What does this verse say the Age of Enlightenment began?
With Jesus Christ. So it’s a claim of history.
NKJ 1 John 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing
is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true
light is already shining.
It doesn’t say the world is totally convinced here. It
says now the true light is available. The highest revelation of God is
now on the scene. There is no improved version ever again. Jesus is
it. This is the finality of divine revelation.
Our time is up folks so next time we’ll move on to the
last section in the first part of this epistle.
(Closing prayer)