Series: New Testament Overview
Category: Core Seminars, Assurance of Salvation, Fellowship & Hospitality, Loving Others, Personal Holiness, The Love of God, Person of Christ, The Deity of Christ, Work of Christ, Faith, The Gospel, Indwelling Sin, Nature of Sin
Detail:
The Love of the Kingdom: 1 John
Introduction
When asked what the greatest command was, Jesus replied that we are to love the Lord our God and that we are to love our neighbor. Now, to our modern ears, that needs some defining. So often, our culture evaluates the quality of love by its sincerity and by its freeness. Many times love is a sentiment. True love, in the culture’s eyes, imposes no obligations or requirements on the object of its love; it accepts people for who they are (at least within certain bounds that are culturally acceptable). Or love is viewed through the lens of the latest Hollywood romance, sparked by a random interaction on the street that leads to subsequent chance encounters and then a lifetime of romantic fulfillment and bliss.
Is that what the love that Jesus describes, love of the Kingdom, love of God and neighbor, looks like? A positive feeling? When Jesus commands his followers to love God and love one another, is he simply telling us that we should like each other and consider God our friend? No. Fair enough. I’m guessing that most of us here don’t think that way. But, especially if you’re a Christian, where would you go in Scripture to prove that this overly sentimental, hollow-sounding conception of love is wrong? And, positively, what is the alternative?
At least one place that offers some help on this is John’s epistles. You could see 1 John as expounding on Jesus’s statement in Matthew 22 that the great commands are to love God and love neighbor, which itself draws on Deuteronomy. (1 John 2:7). As Jesus’s example of washing the disciples’ feet illustrated, the love of the Kingdom is profoundly different from our culture’s idea of love, both in its depth and in its expression. Ultimately, this kind of love is supremely defined by the cross, where God demonstrated that He is love. And because we are radically undeserving of his love, we see at the cross that love is characterized by mercy, humility, and sacrifice. John, who had his feet washed by Jesus, was transformed by Jesus’s love. And in John’s three letters, he explains just what that love was, the effect it should have on our lives as followers of Jesus Christ, and how this sort of love makes all the difference in showing that our Christianity is real, not counterfeit.
Main Point We can be confident that we are God’s children if our faith in Jesus Christ expresses itself in obedience to God and love of others.
Background to 1 John
Let’s begin with some background. Genre : Unlike many of the books we’ve been studying during this stretch, this epistle lacks some of the typical characteristics of a letter. There’s no greeting or farewell. It’s “something of an enigma”; more like a pastoral treatise.
Author : First, there is strong internal and external evidence that the author is John the apostle (brother of James—the “Sons of Thunder”; author of the fourth gospel; the disciple whom Jesus loved). In 1 John, the author makes a clear claim that he is an apostle from the very beginning. Let’s look at 1 Jn 1:1-3:
1:1-3: “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life –the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us –that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
Here, John claims that he is one of the “we” who saw, touched, and heard the word of life. And the language is clearly similar to the language of the fourth gospel (“In the beginning was the Word…”).
Date : Probably about 85-100 AD, but not totally sure
Recipients : Also not sure, but perhaps the other churches in the area of Ephesus, where John is believed to have been at the time—perhaps the same 7 churches to whom John wrote in Revelation.
Context : The reason, as we see in this book, is that there was false teaching concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. John writes to oppose this teaching and to provide categories by which these believers could be assured of their salvation. Some of those false teachers had been in the church, but their unbelief was revealed when they left. (2:19) Look at 2:22-23: “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”
These false teachers seemed to be saying that Christians who disagreed with them , namely, those who were following Christ through the teaching of apostles like John, were in fact not Christians at all. And so John writes, really, from two perspectives. Doctrinally , he is writing to refute these false teachers. Pastorally , he wants to give his followers ground for assurance, given the doubt that false teachers were sowing in their minds. And not a blanket assurance like “just take my word for it; you really are in Christ.” But assurance grounded in solid evidence so that people could assess their lives and see evidences of God’s grace.
And in those two linked purposes, we see the real beauty of the book of 1 John: a doctrinal treatise, yes, but one designed to be applied directly to our hearts, that we might know we are in fact in Christ.
Purpose of I John
There are four statements where John tells us his purpose (1:4, 2:1, 2:26, 5:13), with 5:13 being the most important/synthesized statement: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”
Note the parallel with John 20:31: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Outline of 1 John
Now, turning to the outline of 1 John, let me give an overview of the structure. There’s not a clear, linear structure in 1 John, like you often see in Paul’s letter. There are several themes that he circles around and returns to again and again, weaving them into the overall tapestry of the book. And so in another sense, it’s a delightful book to read because it feels so evident he is pastoring us, not arguing with us. His book feels less like a legal treatise and more like the kind of conversation you might have with your pastor, repeating the same truths again and again, in slightly different ways, to assure you of the confidence we have in Christ.
So, let’s first walk through the outline of the book so we can see how it all works together, and you can follow along on your handout.
First Meditation on Assurance (1:5-2:14)
Those who are in Christ walk in the light (1:5-7)
Those who are in Christ are forgiven (1:8-2:2)
Those who are in Christ obey his love command (2:3-11)
Evidences of grace in John’s audience (2:12-14)
Warning Against Following the World (2:15-27)
Do not love the world (2:15-17)
Do not listen to the world’s message (2:18-27)
Second Meditation on Assurance (2:28-4:6)
Those who are in Christ do what is right (2:28-3:10)
Those who are in Christ love one another (3:11-23)
Those who are in Christ have the Holy Spirit (3:24-4:6)
Exhortation to Love and Faith (4:7-5:12)
Love like God loved you (4:7-5:4a)
Have faith in the Christ who died (5:4b-12)
Concluding Remarks: Confidence in Approaching God (5:13-21)
That’s a rapid fire overview of the book. In a moment we’ll dive into three major themes. Before we do so, any questions or comments so far?
Themes
Now, let’s examine a few of John’s major themes. Again, John is writing doctrinally and pastorally to give these Christian confidence in their love of God, in their standing before God. To help them, John offers three tests for knowing whether we are in Christ. Doctrinal : Do you believe the right things about who Jesus is? Moral : Do you obey the commands of God? Social : Do you love the people of God?
Let’s look at these three tests in turn.
Doctrinal Test: This test relates more closely to the negative purpose of the book (refuting the false teachers), but it is not all negative—John explains that there are some things we should believe.
Throughout this book, we see John countering false teachers: Just as an overview, it seems that the false teachers were saying that (1) they were without sin (1:8), (2) that Jesus did not come in the flesh (4:2-3), (3) that Jesus was not divine (5:20); (4) that Jesus did not die as an atoning sacrifice for our sin (2:1-2). And John indicates that (5) these false teachers did not love other Christians (2:11) or (6) care about holiness (3:6-8).
*Read the underlined passages in the handout.*
His focus seems to be believing in the nature and work of Christ. The false teachers seemed to be denying that Jesus is fully God and fully man. These teachers separated out Christ’s “divine” spirit and his “fleshly” body. For us today, this might seem like an academic discussion that, while important, doesn’t seem to have much practical import. Others wonder if focusing on doctrine is somewhat arrogant, or a hindrance to unity among believers. Is this false teaching merely an academic matter? Is it simply a roadblock to unity? Not at all. Without a fully human and fully divine mediator, we cannot have the atoning sacrifice for sins that we need: A sacrifice that is both made by an appropriate representative of the human race, and one that is infinitely valuable and can therefore satisfy God’s holy standard. Believing in the full humanity and full divinity of Jesus is of paramount gospel significance.
So, right belief is crucial to our assurance as believers. Getting rid of central doctrine makes no more sense than jettisoning the engine of a truck because it’s too heavy and can slow us down. Yes, doctrine sometimes divides. Yes, discussing doctrine can sometimes seem not that immediately practical. But without the truth of the gospel, the whole thing is really less than worthless.
So often, we are most concerned with attacks on Christianity and the gospel by atheists and skeptics. Yet, 1 John serves as an example to us today that that is not the only real danger we face. In addition to unbelief and irreligion , there is a danger in wrong belief and heresy and deception . He also refutes the idea that Jesus was merely a teacher who taught the way of God, who became hungry and tired, and who one day bled to death. No, he was God himself. We must get the doctrine of Christ’s person right, as John presents it, because our salvation hangs on it.
John says we have good reason to believe these things (Read 1 John 5:6-12). There are witnesses: the water, the blood, and the Spirit all agree. Drawing on the OT ideas that you needed two to three witnesses to verify things. Here, he is saying we have sure and confident witnesses. The water: his baptism. The blood: his crucifixion. The Spirit: bear witness then and now, through the water and the blood. The Spirit descending like a dove at the baptism. And, of course, John himself was a witness to Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.
As important as right doctrine is, right doctrine alone is not enough. It is necessary but not sufficient. We know from James that even the demons believe the “right” things about who Jesus is. And so John gives us additional tests for knowing we are in Christ.
The Moral Test: Do you obey God?
*Read the underlined passaged in the handout.*
Look at 3:7-10. John says, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
Such black and white teaching, isn’t it? If we love God, we will obey him. Does that mean if I sin I’m no longer a child of God? No, it doesn’t. Look back earlier in 1 John to refute that erroneous thought. Like 1:8-9, where John assures us that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins when we confess them—as a brief aside, what a sweet truth. God is faithful and just to forgive us only because of the work of Christ, as John’s use of the word propitiation reminds us (2:2; wrath satisfier). You could also look at 2:1 for clarity that sin is not disqualifying: John says that if any Christian sins, Jesus speaks to the Father in our defense. When you are reading Scripture, remember to take each piece in light of the whole.
So we see that sin is not disqualifying. But, at the same time, John is making an important—and sharp—point. Christians will, as a general matter , live lives of obedience to God, not marked consistently by unrepentant sin. John states things in a black-and-white way in this letter—“Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” (3:10)—which has a way of making his point clear and simple. 1 John is so useful in that sense, giving us full nuance in context, but in particular verses showing us how simple things really are.
What John is saying in this passage is that, if you are a child of God, you will live like God. If you are a child of the devil, you will live like the devil. That’s all there is to it. Again, no Christian perfectly lives like God. And thankfully, no non-Christian lives exactly like the devil. Still, the contrasts in this book—between love of the world and love of God; light versus darkness; children of God as opposed to children of the devil—are stark and absolute. Your life will display one general pattern or the other. Or, to put it another you, there are only two ways to live.
Part of the listeners’ confusion might have been in the overlap of the doctrinal and moral tests. If Jesus really did become fully man and fully God to die for our sins, why are we still sinning? So John builds some on the already-not yet distinction throughout the book. Christians really do live different lives, but we are not suddenly perfect. Instead, we look forward to a future day of perfect fellowship with God. *Read 3:1-2.* Some of my favorite verses: We shall be like him because we will see him as he is.
In all of this, John is certainly not saying that “nice people are Christians.” All of us know nice people who are not Christians. Many of us, before we were Christians, were nice people, by God’s common grace. There is a difference between being nice and being holy, between being nice and being born again. Of course, the fruit of the Spirit include kindness and gentleness and other things that should, in general, mark Christians as nice. So being a Christian should generally equal being nice. But being nice does not equal being a Christian. (To equate the two is a logical fallacy.) The moral test builds on the doctrinal test. You might say it is a proof of the doctrinal test.
CAVEAT : A word to those of you who struggle with assurance or who always feel like you are falling short: This test is often best applied in community. If you are prone to introspection or have a difficult time trying to evaluate your life on your own, don’t spend too much alone trying to assess your own obedience or faithfulness. That can be a hard task that leaves you feeling frustrated and confused. Instead, keep trusting in Christ and repenting of your sin. And ask other people, especially those who know you well and love you, to help you reflect on your efforts at obedience or to evaluate with you areas where you often struggle. John meant this book to be an encouragement to Christians so that they could have assurance, and we should be self-aware and wise in how we seek to apply these truths.
You see an example of the corporate nature of the test in John’s own encouragement to his readers that they are in Christ. *Read 2:12-14.* How can you encourage someone else today or this week?
This way of living—in obedience to God’s commands—stands in stark contrast to the way of the world. *Read 2:15-17.* Why are those things enticing? Jamie’s sermon on this last week was incredible; I highly recommend it, if you did not have a chance to listen. I was convicted and provoked by his question whether I had convinced myself that I could serve both God and money. Good food for thought. The Christian’s life will be marked generally by obedience to God, rather than a life of sin.
We’ve now discussed the doctrinal test (do you believe the rights things about Jesus?) and the moral test (is your life generally marked by obedience to God?). But there’s one more to go: the social test (do you love God’s people?).
Finally, the Social Test:
One of the first ways we know that we are obeying the moral test John provides is whether we are loving one another.
What makes us think that we love God? Is it our doctrinal correctness? Is it our meticulous obedience? Or is it that warm fuzzy feeling that we get when you sing his praises? Those are all good indications. But they are only a mirage if our love for God is not demonstrated in love for his people. Jesus so identifies with his people that he says that our attitude towards other Christians is our attitude towards him.
*Read the underlined passages in the handout.*
John is explicitly clear throughout this book on this point. In 3:14 he says, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” There is no middle ground option with John , no option of loving the brothers you like to be around or are able to tolerate; no option for being a Christian but not really being about church. No, you can believe all the correct doctrine you want, read all the right Christian books, have an outwardly upright life, and yet if you do not love the people of God, you are not a Christian! You may object and say, but I love God, I love Jesus, I love learning about Him and following Him, I can’t help that some people just aren’t my type. Think back on the verses we just considered from chapter 4. John reasons that if you can't love a brother, who has been loved by God and is created in (and being transformed into) the image of God, how can you love the God that you have not seen who created and loved this brother or sister. John argues from the greater to the lesser: Those who love God love others, so if you’re not doing the lesser (loving others), there’s no way that you’re doing the greater (loving God).
John challenges us to express our love for others, especially other believers, in real, practical ways. Look at 3:17-18: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” More than simply doctrinal accuracy or morality, we also need the active love that induces church members to give themselves away for one another. We need to learn to love people who do not look like we do or act as we do. The most honest test of Christian love is whether we love those with whom we have disagreed or had difficulty.
This love for others is rooted in an understanding of who are as children of God who have been loved by him in ways that go far, far beyond what we deserves. We who have been shown such lavish grace and mercy from God cannot help but show that love toward others. God shows this kind of active, sacrificial love. *Let’s read 4:7-19.*
When you aren’t sure how to love or don’t feel motivated to love, look at God’s love for you in Christ.
How have you tried to carry out this active love? What are good examples you have seen of others doing this?
Summary of 1 John
John provides three tests to help us assess whether we are in fact children of God, whether we have eternal life. Those tests work together; indeed, on their own they can be hollow or misleading. The Christian finds great assurance as (1) we believe the right things about Jesus, (2) obey what God has commanded, and (3) love our brothers and sisters.
And, to be clear, that assurance is not a self-assurance. Self-assurance is another way of saying self-righteousness. If you look at your life and think: “Let at me; I’m doing alright; I have this thing figured out”—then you are missing the point. The point is that a heart and life changed by God’s grace will look this way. So whether you are doing well spiritually or struggling, the call is to keep coming back to Christ. Keep believing and asking God to help your unbelief. Keep turning from your sin and seeking refuge in Jesus’s death and resurrection. Then, consider these tests that John provides as a helpful diagnostic and good reminder to keep trusting G od and loving others.
A good practical step, then, would be to ask a close Christian friend, “Does my life look different because of who I believe Jesus to be? Am I seeking to obey His word and to love others?”
I hope that we will be people who heed the words of John and live lives that are radically altered because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
