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Chapter 2 |
Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
1 ¶ My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 ¶ And hereby we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments. 4 He that saith, "I know Him," and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. 6 He that saith that he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. 7 ¶ Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the Word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. 9 He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion for stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 12 ¶ I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. 13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 18 ¶ Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that AntiChrist shall come, even now are there many antiChrists, whereby we know that this is the last time. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 20 ¶ But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antiChrist who denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. 24 Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He hath promised us: even eternal life. 26 These things have I written unto you concerning those who seduce you. 27 But the anointing which ye have received from Him abideth in you, and ye have no need that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. 28 ¶ And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one who doeth righteousness is born of Him. |
In this chapter John develops two ministries of Jesus, "the Advocate" and "Propitiations for sins." "Propitiation," the basic meaning of this word is " to appease, to win, or regain the favour or approval of someone who is angry." This may give the idea of an angry God who wants to punish the world, whose Son wants to, in love, satisfy this anger. A pure and holy God is angry with the sin of Man, but we are told in John 3:16 of a loving God who does not want Man to be destroyed. Jesus died in our place on the cross, satisfied the holy Law of God. Now there is a free pardon to any who ask for forgiveness. When Jesus died on the cross the sacrifice was for all the people in the world, but the ministry of Jesus being an "Advocate" only applies for the Believer. The word Advocate was normally used with the lawyers, when a person goes to a court for trial they take a lawyer or Advocate, who will stand by them and help with advice and plead for the person during the court case, a person who stands by the person. Jesus used a similar idea with the coming of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, John 14:16,26 and John 15:26. The work of Jesus was completed on earth at the cross and resurrection, but to day He is in heaven, standing before the throne of God as our representative, our Advocate. When we fail and sin then Jesus is our Advocate, pleading before God as long as we have confessed the sins and asked for forgiveness. Because the price has been paid, God will forgive any confessed sins, v9. "Confession" is not just making a list of sins, admitting sins, but also judging what we have done. This facility does not allow us to go out whenever we want to and sin because we will be forgiven. Remember what it cost God to open the door to forgiveness for you, 1 John 1:9. v3-5 John tells us that obedience is a sign that we know Him, proof of our love for Him is if we willingly obey Him, not as a slave who has to, but because we want to, John 14:15. v4,5 As we obey His Word then we will become closer, if we do not obey and claim that we ‘know’ God, then we are liars, there is no truth in our life. A person who wants to obey the Words of God shows the relationship with God, only a person who loves the things of God will seek to please Him, we obey because we want to please Him in love, not because we have to, John 8:29; 1 Thess 4:1. As His Word is taken in then God is able to make the believer more like His own beloved Son. v6 As a sign of a believer being in Christ they should become more Christlike, to walk as He walked, lived and behaved. It is not possible to become saved by living like Christ, many have tried, we have to acknowledge that we are sinners and Christ died for those sins. He is our Propitiation(sacrifice) for our sins, v2, our Advocate before God, v1, He is our Light, 1 John 1:7; Gal 5:16-26. v7-14 New and Old. The word translated "Brethren," would be better translated "beloved." v7 John talks about a command which is new, yet we have had from the beginning:- Love one another. In English the word "Love" can "Love my wife or children" or we can "love a special meal", same word but having a very obvious level of ‘love.’ John goes on to a further level and said that Christian love can involve life and death, v9, if we hate a brother yet say we love God then there is a serious problem, the light of God, who has a love which does not expect love in return cannot be in control of the believers life, to live in hatred is to live a spiritual death, v11. The original Greek has a number of words for "love" showing specific(clear-cut) meaning. "Agape:- " is used to show God’s love for Man. A believers love for another believer and the love of God for His Church. "Philia:- " a love of friendship. "Eros:- " Erotic love, this word is not ever used in the New Testament. Love is not new, neither is the command to love God but Jesus, when He responded to the question, "What is the most important Law, said, " Loving God, loving your neighbour," Mark 12:28-34; Matt 22:34-40; Luke 10:25-37. If this is the case what is new about this command? John has used two different Greek words which mean "new in time" or "new in status or value". The love John is talking about is the second idea, a believer loves to obey God and serve others, not with fear but because they want to, to fulfil the Law of God but done in love. Read again Gal 5:16-26. v8-11 Initially shown as the truth in Christ, "love one another" is now the truth in a believers life, which comes with the new life and new nature. Because of this new nature light will replace the blinding darkness, hatred will be replaced with love. It is wrong for a believer to claim to have fellowship with God but hate the believers in their church fellowship. Each believer in a local church is different, our natural natures and backgrounds, our education, age, understanding of spiritual matters and many other differences. Each of these can cause problems in a church, but God wants each "to love one another." v11 Note that a believer lacking love for another will also suffer lack of spiritual growth, "darkness hath blinded his eyes." Let the Holy Spirit fill your life with love so that you are able to love others as God loves you. Rom 5:5. v12-15 Who is the commandment for? v12 "Little children," All of the readers of John’s letter are included but especially those who have their sins forgiven and so have a family relationship with each other, children in Christ believing in Him and in His Name. v13 John now addresses "the fathers," those who are more spiritually mature, older in Christ. They have known through living believing and trusting in Him. To the "young men," the younger of the readers, "have overcome," indicating that past action is still active. The "wicked one," Satan or the persons evil nature. "Little children," the Greek word used indicates subordination, subjection, of lower position instead of a relationship, parent to child instead of child to child as before. All three groups have known the Father. v14 The young have been able to win over the evil one, personal and Satan, because they know and understand the Word of God, they lived their life in a way which pleased God and was according to His Will and His Word. v15-17 Believers relationship with the world. Previously John has been reminding the readers that, as believers, they had special rights and advantages, their sins were forgiven, they knew the source of truth, they had been able to experience spiritual victory. John now encourages the readers to walk worthy of this calling, avoiding a love of things in the world as anyone who has a love of the things of the world will be against God. v15,16 "Love not the world," all people are being address with this command. The "world," which can be the physical earth, or the world of mankind. John is referring to anything which is any part of the system which is against God, 1 Cor 2:14. God loves the world of Men, John 3:16 because He was willing to send His Son to die for it, but He hates anything in the world which has rejected Him, so should the believer, there should be no desire, lust of the eyes, pride of life. See James 1:27; James 4:4; Matt 6:19-24; John 15:18,19; Phil 3:17-20; 2 Peter 1:4. v17 A final reason for not having a love for the world is that it is not permanent, not designed to last very long, it is passing away, note the words indicated it is going on right now. How silly it would be to put trust and love in the world which is already being destroyed, John 12:31. Far better to seek to please God who has the power of eternal life, Col 1:9,10. v18 John has just warned his readers about ‘light’ and ‘darkness,’ ‘love’ and ‘hate,’ now he turns to true doctrine and false doctrine. John warns the "children" the importance with "the last time," and "AntiChrist shall come," both indicating the world is approaching the end. The end times started when Jesus returned to heaven, why has he not returned yet? God is above time, 2 Peter 3:8. There were false teachers in John’s time, to day they are more apparent. Believers have always been living in the "Last Times." John is the only writer who refers to the "Antichrist," a spirit which will come into the world which denies who Jesus Christ is, the name is used to describe false teachers who will teach about this spirit, and finally a physical person who will lead and control the final world system at the end. The spirit of antichrist has been in the world since Satan’s disobedience to God, it controls or is the source of all false teaching or religious replacement for the truth of Christ. The world is occupied by the two forces, the Holy Spirit is the source of the Truth and uses the Church as messenger, Satan is the source and energy of evil. The presence of the Holy Spirit living in the Christian’s is controlling and holding back the Satanic power. At the Rapture, 1 Thess 4:13-18, the Church will be removed from the earth, evil will have no direct resistance and will be free to take over the world, though God will still be in overall control throughout. v19-25 John warns of the marks of these false people, "they went out from us," indicating that they were originally part of the fellowship but that does not mean that they were true believers. A true believer accepts the Bible as the Word of God, that Jesus is the Son of God, 1 John 4:2; John 10:30; John 5:23. They confess that they are sinners and need the saving grace of God through the substitute death of Christ on the cross. They believe Jesus rose again, and that the Holy Spirit now lives in the true believer, Rom 8:9. All true believers are looking for the return of Jesus for them. v24,25 We must let the Word of God fill us, searching out the truth so that we can grow more like Jesus each day preparing to claim a wonderful promise, eternal life. This will help us know when we meet false teaching. v26-29 The faithful can be deceived. Many of those who have a false faith and want to teach their doctrine will tend to concentrate on the church fellowship, Satan, who controls these people is not interested in the unsaved as they are already his followers, he wants to destroy the fellowship with Christ of a believer. The words v26 John used "who seduce you," which has the idea of ‘being led away.’ "I have warned you of these before," he then said. Compare 1 Tim 4:1-4; 2 Cor 11:13-15. Satan will always try to counterfeit (produce a false copy) the work of God. He can produce ministers who teach his false doctrines, Gal 1:6-12; John 8:42-45. Also look at the parables Jesus gave in Matt 13:24-43. v27 Every true believer has been anointed by the Holy Spirit, He who knows what is counterfeit and a believer just needs to open themselves to His teaching and leading to identify these false teachers, 1 John 5:6. v28 Abiding(live in, fellowship, accept) the Father and His Word then we will be ready for the return of Jesus, having not failed Him. v29 It is possible to be part of a family, one of the children, yet not be in fellowship with the father, or other family members. John is saying that behaviour shows the closeness of each family member, the pure and righteousness of God is a sign of being a member of His family, those who live right with God are part of His family. |
Easy English Translation
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