Chapter Ten: What Do You Know for Sure? (1 John 5:6–21)
John’s letter has been compared to a spiral staircase because he keeps returning to the same three topics: love, obedience, and truth. Though these themes recur, it is not true that they are merely repetitious. Each time we return to a topic, we look at it from a different point of view and are taken more deeply into it.
We have already learned about our love for other believers—“the brethren” ()—but the emphasis in 1 John 2 was on fellowship. A believer who is “walking in the light” will evidence that fact by loving the brethren. In our present section, the emphasis is on his relationship with other believers.
Christians love one another because they have all been born of God, which makes them all brothers and sisters in Christ.
Obedience and love are both evidences of sonship and brotherhood. We have been reminded that a true child of God practices righteousness (), and now we shall look into the matter of love for the brethren (). This truth is first stated in the negative—“Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” ().
A striking difference should be noted between the earlier and the present treatment of love for the brethren. In the section on fellowship (), we are told that loving the brethren is a matter of light and darkness. If we do not love one another, we cannot walk in the light, no matter how loud our profession. But in this section () on brotherhood, the epistle probes much deeper. We are told that loving the brethren is a matter of life and death. “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” ().
When it comes to this matter of love, there are four possible “levels of relationship,” so to speak, on which a person may live: murder (), hatred (), indifference (), and Christian compassion ().
The first two are not Christian at all, the third is less than Christian, and only the last is compatible with true Christian love.
Murder, of course, is the lowest level on which one may live in relationship to someone else. It is the level on which Satan himself exists. The devil was a murderer from the beginning of his fallen career (), but Christians have heard, from the beginning of their experience, that they are to “love one another.” John emphasizes origins:“Go back to the beginning.” If our spiritual experience originates with the Father, we must love one another. But if it originates with Satan, we will hate one another. “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning” ().
Cain is an example of a life of hatred; we find the record in . It is important to note that Cain and Abel, being brothers, had the same parents, and they both brought sacrifices to God. Cain is not presented as an atheist; he is presented as a worshiper. And this is the point: children of the devil masquerade as true believers. They attend religious gatherings, as Cain did. They may even bring offerings. But these actions in themselves are not valid proof that a man is born of God. The real test is his love for the brethren—and here Cain failed.
Every man has a “spiritual lineage” as well as a physical, and Cain’s “spiritual father” was the devil. This does not mean, of course, that Satan literally fathered Cain. It means, rather, that Cain’s attitudes and actions originated with Satan. Cain was a murderer and a liar like Satan (). He murdered his brother, and then he lied about it. “And the Lord said unto Cain, ‘Where is Abel thy brother?’ And he said, ‘I know not’ ” ().
In contrast to this, God is love () and truth (; ); therefore, those who belong to God’s family practice love and truth.
The difference between Cain’s offering and Abel’s offering was faith (), and faith is always based on the revelation God has given (). It seems clear that God must have given definite instructions concerning how He was to be worshiped. Cain rejected God’s Word and decided to worship in his own way. This shows his relationship to Satan, for Satan is always interested in turning people away from the revealed will of God. The devil’s “Yea, hath God said?” () was the beginning of trouble for Cain’s parents and for all mankind since.
We are not told by what outward sign the Lord accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s. It may be that He sent fire from heaven to consume Abel’s sacrifice of an animal and its blood. But we are told the results: Abel went away from the altar with God’s witness of acceptance in his heart, but Cain went away angry and disappointed (). God warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door like a dangerous beast () but promised that if Cain would obey God, he, like Abel, would enjoy peace.
Instead of heeding God’s warning, Cain listened to Satan’s voice and plotted to kill his brother. His envy had turned to anger and hatred. He knew that he was evil and that his brother was righteous. Rather than repent, as God commanded him to do, he decided to destroy his brother.
Centuries later, the Pharisees did the same thing to Jesus (), and Jesus called them too children of the devil ().
Cain’s attitude represents the attitude of the present world system (). The world hates Christ () for the same reason Cain hated Abel: Christ shows up the world’s sin and reveals its true nature. When the world, like Cain, comes face-to-face with reality and truth, it can make only one of two decisions: repent and change, or destroy the one who is exposing it.
Satan is the “prince of this world” (), and he controls it through murder and lies. How horrible to live on the same level as Satan!
A hunter took refuge in a cave during a rainstorm. After he had dried out a bit, he decided to investigate his temporary home and turned on his flashlight. Imagine his surprise when he discovered he was sharing the cave with an assortment of spiders, lizards, and snakes! His exit was a fast one.
If the unsaved world could only see, it would realize that it is living on the low level of murder and lies, surrounded by that old serpent Satan and all his demonic armies. Like Cain, the people of the world try to cover up their true nature with religious rites; but they lack faith in God’s Word. People who continue to live on this level will eventually be cast into outer darkness with Satan to suffer apart from God forever.
At this point, you are probably thinking, “But I have never murdered anyone!” And to this statement, God replies, “Yes, but remember that to a Christian hatred is the same as murder” (; cf. ). The only difference between Level 1 and Level 2 is the outward act of taking life. The inward intent is the same.
A visitor at the zoo was chatting with the keeper of the lion house.
“I have a cat at home,” said the visitor, “and your lions act just like my cat. Look at them sleeping so peacefully! It seems a shame that you have to put those beautiful creatures behind bars.”
“My friend,” the keeper laughed, “these may look like your cat, but their disposition is radically different. There’s murder in their hearts. You’d better be glad the bars are there.”
The only reason some people have never actually murdered anyone is because of the “bars” that have been put up: the fear of arrest and shame, the penalties of the law, and the possibility of death. But we are going to be judged by “the law of liberty” (). The question is not so much, “What did you do?” but “What did you want to do? What would you have done if you had been at liberty to do as you pleased?” This is why Jesus equates hatred with murder () and lust with adultery ().
This does not mean, of course, that hatred in the heart does the same amount of damage, or involves the same degree of guilt, as actual murder. Your neighbor would rather you hate him than kill him! But in God’s sight, hatred is the moral equivalent of murder, and if left unbridled it leads to murder. A Christian has passed from death to life (), and the proof of this is that he loves the brethren. When he belonged to the world system, he hated God’s people; but now that he belongs to God, he loves them.
These verses (), like those that deal with habitual sin in a believer (1 John 1:5–2:6), concern a settled habit of life: a believer is in the practice of loving the brethren, even though on occasion he may be angry with a brother (). Occasional incidents of anger do not nullify the principle. If anything, they prove it true, because a believer out of fellowship with his fellow Christians is a miserable person! His feelings make clear to him that something is wrong.
Notice another fact: we are not told that murderers cannot be saved. The Apostle Paul himself took a hand in the stoning of Stephen () and admitted that his vote helped to put innocent people to death (; ). But in His grace God saved Paul.
The issue here is not whether a murderer can become a Christian, but whether a man can continue being a murderer and still be a Christian. The answer is no. “And ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (). The murderer did not once have eternal life and then lose it; he never had eternal life at all.
The fact that you have never actually murdered anyone should not make you proud or complacent. Have you ever harbored hatred in your heart?
Hatred does the hater far more damage than it does anyone else (). Jesus said that anger put a man in danger of facing the local court. Calling a brother an “empty-headed fool” put him in danger of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish council. But calling him a “cursed fool” put him in danger of eternal judgment in hell. Hatred that is not confessed and forsaken actually puts a man into a spiritual and emotional prison! ()
The antidote for hatred is love. “Hateful and hating one another” is the normal experience of an unsaved person (). But when a hateful heart opens to Jesus Christ, it becomes a loving heart. Then instead of wanting to “murder” others through hatred, one wants to love them and share with them the message of eternal life.
Evangelist John Wesley was stopped one night by a highwayman who robbed the Methodist leader of all his money. Wesley said to the man, “If the day should come that you desire to leave this evil way and live for God, remember that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.’ ”
Some years later, Wesley was stopped by a man after a church service. “Do you remember me?” the man asked. “I robbed you one night, and you told me that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. I have trusted Christ, and He has changed my life.”
But the test of Christian love is not simply failure to do evil to others. Love also involves doing them good. Christian love is both positive and negative. “Cease to do evil; learn to do well” ().
Cain is our example of false love; Christ is the example of true Christian love. Jesus gave His life for us that we may experience truth. Every Christian knows , but how many of us pay much attention to ? It is wonderful to experience the blessing of ; but it is even more wonderful to share that experience by obeying : Christ laid down life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Christian love involves sacrifice and service. Christ did not simply talk about His love; He died to prove it (). Jesus was not killed as a martyr; He willingly laid down His life (; ). “Self-preservation” is the first law of physical life, but “self-sacrifice” is the first law of spiritual life.
But God does not ask us to lay down our lives. He simply asks us to help a brother in need. John wisely turns from “the brethren” in to the singular, “his brother,” in .
It is easy for us to talk about “loving the brethren” and to neglect to help a single other believer. Christian love is personal and active.
This is what Jesus had in mind in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (). A lawyer wanted to talk about an abstract subject: “Who is my neighbor?” But Jesus focused attention on one man in need, and changed the question to, “To whom can I be a neighbor?”
Two friends were attending a conference on evangelism. During one of the sessions, Larry missed Pete. At luncheon, when he saw Pete, he said, “I missed you at the 10 o’clock session. It was really terrific! Where were you?”
“I was in the lobby talking to a bellhop about Christ. I led him to the Lord,” said Pete.
There is nothing wrong with attending conferences, but it is easy to forget the individual and his needs while discussing generalities. The test of Christian love is not in loud professions about loving the whole church, but in quietly helping a brother who is in need. If we do not even help a brother, it is not likely we would “lay down our lives” for “the brethren.”
A man does not have to murder in order to sin; hatred is murder in his heart. But a man need not even hate his brother to be guilty of sin. All he has to do is ignore him, or be indifferent toward his needs. A believer who has material goods and can relieve his brother’s needs ought to do it. To “close the door of his heart” on his brother is a kind of murder!
If I am going to help my brother, I must meet three conditions. First, I must have the means necessary to meet his need. Second, I must know that the need exists. Third, I must be loving enough to want to share.
A believer who is too poor to help, or who is ignorant of his brother’s need, is not condemned. But a believer who hardens his heart against his needy brother is condemned. One reason Christians should work is so that they may be able “to give to him that needeth” ().
In these days of multiplied social agencies, it is easy for Christians to forget their obligations. “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (, NASB).
This “doing good” need not be in terms of money or material supplies. It may include personal service and the giving of oneself to others. There are many individuals in our churches who lack love and would welcome friendship.
A young mother admitted, in a testimony meeting, that she never seemed to find time for her own personal devotions. She had several little children to care for, and the hours melted away.
Imagine her surprise when two of the ladies from the church appeared at her front door.
“We’ve come to take over,” they explained. “You go into the bedroom and get started on your devotions.” After several days of this kind of help, the young mother was able to develop her devotional life so that the daily demands on her time no longer upset her.
If we want to experience and enjoy the love of God in our own hearts, we must love others, even to the point of sacrifice. Being indifferent to a brother’s needs means robbing ourselves of what we need even more: the love of God in our hearts. It is a matter of love or death!
True Christian love means loving in deed and in truth. The opposite of “in deed” is “in word,” and the opposite of “in truth” is “in tongue.” Here is an example of love “in word”:
“If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled’; and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” (, NASB)
To love “in word” means simply to talk about a need, but to love “in deed” means to do something about meeting it. You may think, because you have discussed a need, or even prayed about it, that you have done your duty, but love involves more than words—it calls for sacrificial deeds.
To love “in tongue” is the opposite of to love “in truth.” It means to love insincerely. To love “in truth” means to love a person genuinely, from the heart and not just from the tongue. People are attracted by genuine love, but repelled by the artificial variety. One reason why sinners were attracted to Jesus () was because they were sure He loved them sincerely.
“But does it not cost a great deal for the believer to exercise this kind of love?”
Yes, it does. It cost Jesus Christ His life. But the wonderful benefits that come to you as by-products of this love more than compensate for any sacrifice you make. To be sure, you do not love others because you want to get something in return, but the Bible principle, “Give and it shall be given unto you” (), applies to love as well as to money.
John names three wonderful blessings that will come to a believer who practices Christian love.
Assurance (vv. ). A believer’s relationship with others affects his relationship with God. A man who is not right with his brother should go settle the matter before he offers his sacrifice on the altar (cf. ). A Christian who practices love grows in his understanding of God’s truth and enjoys a heart filled with confidence before God.
A “condemning heart” is one that robs a believer of peace. An “accusing conscience” is another way to describe it. Sometimes the heart accuses us wrongly, because it “is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” () The answer to that question is, “God knows the heart!” More than one Christian has accused himself falsely, or been harder on himself than necessary; but God will never make such a mistake. A Christian who walks in love has a heart open to God (“God is love”) and knows that God never judges wrongly.
John may have remembered two incidents from Jesus’ life on earth that illustrate this important principle. When Jesus visited Bethany, He stayed at the home of Mary and Martha (). Martha was busy preparing the meal, but Mary sat at His feet and listened to Him teach. Martha criticized both Mary and Jesus, but Jesus knew Mary’s heart and defended her.
The Apostle Peter wept bitterly after he had denied his Lord, and no doubt he was filled with remorse and repentance for his sin. But Jesus knew that Peter had repented, and after His resurrection the Lord sent a special message () to Peter that must have assured the hot-headed fisherman that he was forgiven. Peter’s heart may have condemned him, for he knew he had denied the Lord three times, but God was greater than his heart. Jesus, knowing all things, gave Peter just the assurance he needed.
Be careful lest the devil accuse you and rob you of your confidence (). Once you confess your sin and it is forgiven, you need not allow it to accuse you anymore. Peter was able to face the Jews and say, “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just!” () because his own sin of denying Christ had been taken care of and was forgiven and forgotten.
No Christian should treat sin lightly, but no Christian should be harder on himself than God is. There is a morbid kind of self-examination and self-condemnation that is not spiritual. If you are practicing genuine love for the brethren, your heart must be right before God, for the Holy Spirit would not “shed abroad” His love in you if there were habitual sin in your heart. When you grieve the Spirit, you “turn off” the supply of God’s love (Eph. 4:30–5:2).
Answered prayer (vv. ). Love for the brethren produces confidence toward God, and confidence toward God gives you boldness in asking for what you need. This does not mean that you earn answers to prayer by loving the brethren. Rather, it means that your love for the brethren proves that you are living in the will of God where God can answer your prayer. “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments” (). Love is the fulfilling of God’s Law (); therefore, when you love the brethren, you are obeying His commandments and He is able to answer your requests.
A believer’s relationship to the brethren cannot be divorced from his prayer life. If husbands and wives are not obeying God’s Word, for example, their prayers will be hindered ().
An evangelist had preached on the Christian home. After the meeting a father approached him.
“I’ve been praying for a wayward son for years,” said the father, “and God has not answered my prayers.”
The evangelist read —“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
“Be honest with yourself and the Lord,” he said. “Is there anything between you and another Christian that needs to be settled?”
The father hesitated, then said, “Yes, I’m afraid there is. I’ve harbored resentment in my heart against another man in this church.”
“Then go make it right,” counseled the evangelist, and he prayed with the man. Before the campaign was over, the father saw his wayward son come back to the Lord.
These verses do not, of course, give us all the conditions for answered prayer, but they emphasize the importance of obedience. One great secret of answered prayer is obedience, and the secret of obedience is love. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (). “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you … If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love” (, ).
It is possible, of course, to keep God’s commandments in a spirit of fear or servitude rather than in a spirit of love. This was the sin of the elder brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (). A believer should keep His Father’s commandments because this pleases Him. A Christian who lives to please God will discover that God finds ways to please His child. “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (). When our delight is in the love of God, our desires will be in the will of God.
Abiding (vv. ). When a scribe asked Jesus to name the greatest commandment, He replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” Then He added a second commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (). But God also gives us one commandment that takes in both God and man: “Believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another” (, NASB). Faith toward God and love toward man sum up a Christian’s obligations. Christianity is “faith which worketh by love” ().
Faith toward God and love toward men are two sides of the same coin. It is easy to emphasize faith—correct doctrine—and to neglect love. On the other hand, some say doctrine is not important and that love is our main responsibility. Both doctrine and love are important. When a person is justified by faith, he should know that the love of God is being shed abroad in his heart ().
“Abiding in Christ” is a key experience for a believer who wants to have confidence toward God and enjoy answers to prayer. Jesus, in His message to the disciples in the Upper Room () illustrated “abiding.” He compared His followers to the branches of a vine. So long as the branch draws its strength from the vine, it produces fruit. But if it separates itself from the vine, it withers and dies.
Jesus was not talking about salvation; He was talking about fruit-bearing. The instant a sinner trusts Christ, he enters into union with Christ; but maintaining communion is a moment-by-moment responsibility. Abiding depends on our obeying His Word and keeping clean (, ).
As we have seen, when a believer walks in love, he finds it easy to obey God, and therefore he maintains a close communion with God. “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him” ().
The Holy Spirit is mentioned by name in 1 John for the first time in . John introduced us to the Holy One () with emphasis on the Spirit’s anointing and teaching ministry. (This parallels ; .) But the Holy One is also the abiding Spirit (; ). When a believer obeys God and loves the brethren, the indwelling Holy Spirit gives him peace and confidence. The Holy Spirit abides with him forever (), but when the Spirit is grieved, He withdraws His blessings.
The Holy Spirit is also the attesting Spirit (), giving witness to those who are truly God’s children. When a believer is abiding in Christ, the Spirit guides him and warns him of false spirits that would lead him astray.
He is also the authenticating Spirit (), bearing witness to the person and work of Jesus Christ. This witness of the Spirit is mentioned in .
Each member of the Triune Godhead is involved in the “love life” of a believer. God the Father commands us to love one another, God the Son gave His life on the cross, the supreme example of love. And God the Holy Spirit lives within us to provide the love we need (). To abide in love is to abide in God, and to abide in God is to abide in love. Christian love is not something we “work up” when we need it. Christian love is “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” and this is your constant experience as you abide in Christ.
There are four levels on which a person may live. He may choose the lowest level—Satan’s level—and practice murder. Murderers “have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” ().
Or, a person may choose the next level—hatred. But hatred, in God’s sight, is the same as murder. A man who lives with hatred is slowly killing himself, not the other person! Psychiatrists warn that malice and hatred cause all kinds of physical and emotional problems. In fact, one specialist has entitled his book Love or Perish!
The third level—indifference—is far better than the first two, because the first two are not Christian at all. A man who has constant hatred in his heart, or who habitually murders, proves he has never been born of God. But it is possible to be a Christian and be indifferent to the needs of others.
A man who murders belongs to the devil, like Cain. A man who hates belongs to the world (), which is under Satan’s control. But a Christian who is indifferent is living for the flesh, which serves Satan’s purposes.
The only happy, holy way to live is on the highest level, the level of Christian love. This is the life of joy and liberty, the life of answered prayer. It assures you confidence and courage in spite of the difficulties of life.
Dr. Rene Spitz of New York made a study of children in foundling homes to determine what effect love and neglect had on them. The survey proved that children who were neglected and unloved were much slower in their development, and some of them even died. Even in a physical sense, love is the very atmosphere of life and growth.
It is even more so in the spiritual sense.
In fact, it is a matter of love or death!
For the third time, we are considering the subject of love!
This does not mean John has run out of ideas and has to repeat himself. It means that the Holy Spirit, who inspired John, presents the subject once more, from a deeper point of view.
First, love for the brethren has been shown as proof of fellowship with God (); then it has been presented as proof of sonship (). In the earlier passage, love for the brethren is a matter of light or darkness; in the second it is a matter of life or death.
But in , we get down to the very foundation of the matter. Here we discover why love is such an important part of the life that is real. Love is a valid test of our fellowship and our sonship because “God is love.” Love is part of the very being and nature of God. If we are united to God through faith in Christ, we share His nature. And since His nature is love, love is the test of the reality of our spiritual life.
A navigator depends on a compass to help him determine his course. But why a compass? Because it shows him his directions. And why does the compass point north? Because it is so constituted that it responds to the magnetic field that is part of the earth’s makeup. The compass is responsive to the nature of the earth.
So with Christian love. The nature of God is love. And a person who knows God and has been born of God will respond to God’s nature. As a compass naturally points north, a believer will naturally practice love because love is the nature of God. This love will not be a forced response; it will be a natural response. A believer’s love for the brethren will be proof of his sonship and fellowship.
Three times, in this section, John encourages us to love one another (, ). He supports these admonitions by giving us three foundational facts about God.
This is the third of three expressions in John’s writings that help us understand the nature of God: “God is spirit” (, NASB); “God is light” (); and “God is love.” None of these is a complete revelation of God, of course, and it is wrong to separate them.
God is spirit as to His essence; He is not flesh and blood. To be sure, Jesus Christ now has a glorified body in heaven, and one day we shall have bodies like His body. But being by nature spirit, God is not limited by time and space the way His creatures are.
God is light. This refers to His holy nature. In the Bible, light is a symbol of holiness and darkness is a symbol of sin (; ). God cannot sin because He is holy. Because we have been born into His family, we have received His holy nature (; ).
God is love. This does not mean that “love is God.” And the fact that two people “love each other” does not mean that their love is necessarily holy. It has accurately been said that “love does not define God, but God defines love.” God is love and God is light; therefore, His love is a holy love, and His holiness is expressed in love. All that God does expresses all that God is. Even His judgments are measured out in love and mercy ().
Much that is called “love” in modern society bears no resemblance or relationship to the holy, spiritual love of God. Yet we see banners saying “God is love!” displayed at many festivals, particularly where young people are “doing their own thing”—as if one could dignify immorality by calling it “love.”
Christian love is a special kind of love. may be translated: “In this way is seen the true love.” There is a false love, and this kind of love God must reject. Love that is born out of the very essence of God must be spiritual and holy, because “God is spirit” and “God is light.” This true love is “poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (, NASB).
Love, therefore, is a valid test of true Christian faith. Since God is love, and we have claimed a personal relationship with God, we must of necessity reveal His love in how we live. A child of God has been “born of God,” and therefore he shares God’s divine nature. Since “God is love,” Christians ought to love one another. The logic is unanswerable!
Not only have we been “born of God,” but we also “know God.” In the Bible, the word know has a much deeper meaning than simply intellectual acquaintance or understanding. For example, the verb know is used to describe the intimate union of husband and wife (). To know God means to be in a deep relationship to Him—to share His life and enjoy His love. This knowing is not simply a matter of understanding facts; it is a matter of perceiving truth (cf. ).
We must understand “he that loveth not knoweth not God” () in this light. Certainly many unsaved people love their families and even sacrifice for them. And no doubt many of these same people have some kind of intellectual understanding of God. What, then, do they lack? They lack a personal experience of God. To paraphrase , “The person who does not have this divine kind of love has never entered into a personal, experiential knowledge of God. What he knows is in his head, but it has never gotten into his heart.”
What God is determines what we ought to be. “As He is, so are we in this world” (). The fact that Christians love one another is evidence of their fellowship with God and their sonship from God, and it is also evidence that they know God. Their experience with God is not simply a once-for-all crisis; it is a daily experience of getting to know Him better and better. True theology (the study of God) is not a dry, impractical course in doctrine—it is an exciting day-by-day experience that makes us Christhke!
A large quantity of radioactive material was stolen from a hospital. When the hospital administrator notified the police, he said: “Please warn the thief that he is carrying death with him, and that the radioactive material cannot be successfully hidden. As long as he has it in his possession, it is affecting him disastrously!”
A person who claims he knows God and is in union with Him must be personally affected by this relationship. A Christian ought to become what God is, and “God is love.” To argue otherwise is to prove that one does not really know God!
What God Did: “He Sent His Son” ()
Because God is love, He must communicate—not only in words but in deeds. True love is never static or inactive. God reveals His love to mankind in many ways. He has geared all of creation to meeting men’s needs. Until man’s sin brought creation under bondage, man had on earth a perfect home in which to love and serve God.
God’s love was revealed in the way He dealt with the nation of Israel. “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you … hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand” ().
The greatest expression of God’s love is in the death of His Son. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (, NASB).
The word manifested means “to come out in the open, to be made public.” It is the opposite of “to hide, to make secret.” Under the Old Covenant, God was hidden behind the shadows of ritual and ceremony (); but in Jesus Christ “the life was manifested” (). “He that hath seen Me,” said Jesus, “hath seen the Father” ().
Why was Jesus Christ manifested? “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins” (). “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (). Where did Jesus take away our sins and destroy (render inoperative) the works of the devil? At the cross! God manifested His love at the cross when He gave His Son as a sacrifice there for our sins.
This is the only place in the epistle where Jesus is called God’s only-begotten Son. The title is used in John’s Gospel (). It means “unique, the only one of its kind.” The fact that God sent His Son into the world is one evidence of the deity of Jesus Christ. Babies are not sent into the world from some other place; they are born into the world. As the perfect Man, Jesus was born into the world, but as the eternal Son, He was sent into the world.
But the sending of Christ into the world, and His death on the cross, were not prompted by man’s love for God. They were prompted by His love for man. The world’s attitude toward God is anything but love!
Two purposes are given for Christ’s death on the cross: that we might live through Him () and that He might be the propitiation for our sins (). His death was not an accident; it was an appointment. He did not die as a weak martyr, but as a mighty conqueror.
Jesus Christ died that we might live “through Him” (), “for Him” (), and “with Him” (). A sinner’s desperate need is for life, because he is “dead in trespasses and sins” (). It is something of a paradox that Christ had to die so that we may live! We can never probe the mystery of His death, but this we know: He died for us ().
The death of Christ is described as a “propitiation.” John has used this word before (), so there is no need to study it in detail again. We should remember that propitiation does not mean that men must do something to appease God or to placate His anger. Propitiation is something God does to make it possible for men to be forgiven. “God is light,” and therefore He must uphold His holy Law. “God is love,” and therefore He wants to forgive and save sinners. How can God forgive sinners and still be consistent with His holy nature? The answer is the cross. There Jesus Christ bore the punishment for sin and met the just demands of the holy Law. But there, also, God reveals His love and makes it possible for men to be saved by faith.
It is important to note that the emphasis is on the death of Christ, not on His birth. The fact that Jesus was “made flesh” () is certainly an evidence of God’s grace and love, but the fact that He was “made sin” () is underscored for us. The example of Christ, the teachings of Christ, the whole earthly life of Christ, find their true meaning and fulfillment in the cross.
For the second time, believers are exhorted to “love one another” (). This exhortation is a commandment to be obeyed (), and its basis is the nature of God. “God is love; we know God; therefore, we should love one another.” But the exhortation to love one another is presented as a privilege as well as a responsibility: “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (). We are not saved by loving Christ; we are saved by believing on Christ (). But after we realize what He did for us on the cross, our normal response ought to be to love Him and to love one another.
It is important that Christians progress in their understanding of love. To love one another simply out of a sense of duty is good, but to love out of appreciation (rather than obligation) is even better.
This may be one reason why Jesus established the Lord’s Supper, the Communion service. When we break the bread and share the cup, we remember His death. Few men, if any, want their deaths remembered! In fact, we remember the life of a loved one and try to forget the sadness of his death. Not so with Christ. He commands us to remember His death: “This do in remembrance of Me!”
We should remember our Lord’s death in a spiritual way, not merely sentimentally. Someone has defined sentiment as “feeling without responsibility.” It is easy to experience solemn emotions at a church service and yet go out to live the same defeated life. True spiritual experience involves the whole man. The mind must understand spiritual truth; the heart must love and appreciate it; and the will must act on it. The deeper we go into the meaning of the Cross, the greater will be our love for Christ and the greater our active concern for one another.
We have discovered what God is and what God has done; but a third foundation fact takes us even deeper into the meaning and implications of Christian love.
What God Is Doing: “God Abides in Us” ()
At this point it would be good for us to review what John has been saying about the basic truth that “God is love.”
This truth is revealed to us in the Word, but it was also revealed on the cross, where Christ died for us. “God is love” is not simply a doctrine in the Bible; it is an eternal fact clearly demonstrated at Calvary. God has said something to us, and God has done something for us.
But all this is preparation for the third great fact: God does something in us! We are not merely students reading a book, or spectators watching a deeply moving event. We are participants in the great drama of God’s love!
In order to save money, a college drama class purchased only a few scripts of a play and cut them up into the separate parts. The director gave each player his individual part in order and then started to rehearse the play. But nothing went right. After an hour of missed cues and mangled sequences, the cast gave up.
At that point, the director sat the actors all on the stage and said: “Look, I’m going to read the entire play to you, so don’t any of you say a word.” He read the entire script aloud, and when he was finished, one of the actors said:
“So that’s what it was all about!”
And when they understood the entire story, they were able to fit their parts together and have a successful rehearsal.
When you read , you feel like saying, “So that’s what it’s all about!” Because here we discover what God had in mind when He devised His great plan of salvation.
To begin with, God’s desire is to live in us. He is not satisfied simply to tell us that He loves us, or even show us that He loves us.
It is interesting to trace God’s dwelling places as recorded in the Bible. In the beginning, God had fellowship with man in a personal, direct way (), but sin broke that fellowship. It was necessary for God to shed the blood of animals to cover the sins of Adam and Eve so that they might come back into His fellowship.
One of the key words in the Book of Genesis is walked. God walked with men, and men walked with God. Enoch (), Noah (), and Abraham walked with God (; ).
But by the time of the events recorded in Exodus, a change had taken place: God did not simply walk with men, He lived, or dwelt, with them. God’s commandment to Israel was, “And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (). The first of those sanctuaries was the tabernacle. When Moses dedicated it, the glory of God came down and moved into the tent ().
God dwelt in the camp, but He did not dwell in the bodies of the individual Israelites.
Unfortunately, the nation sinned and God’s glory departed (). But God used Samuel and David to restore the nation; and Solomon built God a magnificent temple. When the temple was dedicated, once again the glory of God came to dwell in the land ().
But history repeated itself, and Israel disobeyed God and was taken into Captivity. The gorgeous temple was destroyed. One of the prophets of the Captivity, Ezekiel, saw the glory of God depart from it (; ; ; ).
Did the glory ever return? Yes—in the Person of God’s Son, Jesus Christ! “And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory” (, lit.). The glory of God dwelt on earth in the body of Jesus Christ, for His body was the temple of God (). But wicked men nailed His body to a cross. They crucified “the Lord of glory” (). All this was part of God’s thrilling plan, and Christ arose from the dead, returned to heaven, and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in men.
The glory of God now lives in the bodies of God’s children. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (, NASB) The glory of God departed from the tabernacle and the temple when Israel disobeyed God, but Jesus has promised that the Spirit will abide in us forever ().
With this background, we can better understand what is saying to us. God is invisible (), and no man can see Him in His essence. Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (). By taking on Himself a human body, Jesus was able to reveal God to us. But Jesus is no longer here on earth. How, then, does God reveal Himself to the world?
He reveals Himself through the lives of His children. Men cannot see God, but they can see us. If we abide in Christ, we will love one another, and our love for one another will reveal God’s love to a needy world. God’s love will be experienced in us and then will be expressed through us.
That important little word abide (or dwell, KJV) is used six times in . It refers to our personal fellowship with Jesus Christ. To abide in Christ means to remain in spiritual oneness with Him, so that no sin comes between us. Because we are “born of God,” we have union with Christ; but it is only as we trust Him and obey His commandments that we have communion with Him. Much as a faithful husband and wife “abide in love” though they may be separated by miles, so a believer abides in God’s love. This abiding is made possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit ().
Imagine the wonder and the privilege of having God abide in you! The Old Testament Israelite would look with wonder at the tabernacle or temple, because the presence of God was in that building. No man would dare to enter the holy of holies, where God was enthroned in glory! But we have God’s Spirit living in us! We abide in this love, and we experience the abiding of God in us. “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him” ().
God’s love is proclaimed in the Word (“God is love”) and proved at the cross. But here we have something deeper: God’s love is perfected in the believer. Fantastic as it may seem, God’s love is not made perfect in angels, but in sinners saved by His grace. We Christians are now the tabernacles and temples in which God dwells. He reveals His love through us.
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, famous British preacher, had five sons, all of whom became ministers of the Gospel. One day a visitor in their home dared to ask a personal question: “Which of you six is the best preacher?”
Their united answer was, “Mother!”
Of course, Mrs. Campbell Morgan had never preached a formal sermon in a church; but her life was a constant sermon on the love of God. The life of a Christian who abides in God’s love is a potent witness for God in the world. Men cannot see God, but they can see His love moving us to deeds of helpfulness and kindness.
Three different witnesses are suggested in these verses: 1. The witness of the believer that Jesus Christ is God’s Son (); 2. the witness in the believer by the Spirit (); and 3. the witness through the believer that God is love and that He sent His Son to die for the world ().
These witnesses cannot be separated. The world will not believe that God loves sinners until they see His love at work in His children’s lives.
A Salvation Army worker found a derelict woman alone on the street and invited her to come into the chapel for help, but the woman refused to move. The worker assured her: “We love you and want to help you. God loves you. Jesus died for you.” But the woman did not budge.
As if on divine impulse, the Army lassie leaned over and kissed the woman on the cheek, taking her into her arms. The woman began to sob, and like a child was led into the chapel, where she ultimately trusted Christ.
“You told me that God loved me,” she said later, “but it wasn’t till you showed me that God loved me that I wanted to be saved.”
Jesus did not simply preach the love of God; He proved it by giving His life on the cross. He expects His followers to do likewise. If we abide in Christ, we will abide in His love. If we abide in His love, we must share this love with others. Whenever we share this love, it is proof in our own hearts that we are abiding in Christ. In other words, there is no separation between a Christian’s inner life and his outer life.
Abiding in God’s love produces two wonderful spiritual benefits in the life of a believer: 1. He grows in knowledge, and 2. He grows in faith (). The more we love God, the more we understand the love of God. And the more we understand His love, the easier it is for us to trust Him. After all, when you know someone intimately and love him sincerely, you have no problem putting your confidence in him.
A man standing in the greeting card section of a store was having trouble picking out a card. The clerk asked if she could help, and he said:
“Well, it’s our fortieth wedding anniversary, but I can’t find a card that says what I want to say. You know, forty years ago it wouldn’t have been any problem picking out a card, because back then I thought I knew what love was. But we love each other so much more today, I just can’t find a card that says it!”
This is a growing Christian’s experience with God. As he abides in Christ and spends time in fellowship with Him, he comes to love God more and more. He also grows in his love for other Christians, for the lost, and even for his enemies. As he shares the Father’s love with others, he experiences more of the Father’s love himself. He understands the Father’s love better and better.
“God is love,” then, is not simply a profound biblical statement. It is the basis for a believer’s relationship with God and with his fellowman. Because God is love, we can love. His love is not past history; it is present reality. “Love one another” begins as a commandment (), then it becomes a privilege (). But it is more than a commandment or a privilege. It is also the thrilling consequence and evidence of our abiding in Christ (). Loving one another is not something we simply ought to do; it is something we want to do.
Some practical applications grow out of this basic truth:
First, the better we know God’s love, the easier it will be to live as a Christian. Bible knowledge alone does not take the place of personal experience of God’s love. In fact, it can be a dangerous substitute if we are not careful.
Helen came home from a youth retreat greatly enthused over what she had learned.
“We had some terrific sessions on how to have personal devotions,” she told her sister Joyce. “I plan to have my devotions every single day.”
A week later, while Joyce was running the vacuum cleaner, she heard Helen screaming, “Do you have to make all that noise? Don’t you know I’m trying to have my devotions?” And the verbal explosion was followed by the slamming of a door.
Helen still had to learn that personal devotions are not an end in themselves. If they do not help us love God and love one another, they are accomplishing little. The Bible is a revelation of God’s love; and the better we understand His love, the easier it should be for us to obey Him and love others.
A second consideration is that unless we love the lost, our verbal witness to them will be useless. The Gospel message is a message of love. This love was both declared and demonstrated by Jesus Christ. The only way we can effectively win others is to declare the Gospel and demonstrate it in how we live. Too much “witnessing” today is a mere mouthing of words. People need an expression of love.
One reason why God permits the world to hate Christians is so that Christians may return love for the world’s hatred. “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me … But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (, , NASB).
“Pastor, the Bible tells us to love our neighbors, but I doubt that anybody could love my neighbors,” Mrs. Barton said at the close of a Sunday School lesson. “I’ve tried to be nice to them, but it just doesn’t work.”
“Perhaps ‘being nice to them’ isn’t the real answer,” the pastor explained. “You know, it’s possible to be nice to people with the wrong motive.”
“You mean as though you’re trying to buy them off?”
“Something like that. I think you and I had better pray that God will give you a true spiritual love for your neighbors. If you love them in a Christian way, you’ll not be able to do them any damage,” the pastor pointed out.
It took some weeks, but Mrs. Barton grew in her love for her neighbors; and she also found herself growing in her own spiritual life.
“My neighbors haven’t changed a whole lot,” she told the prayer group, “but my attitude toward them has really changed. I used to do things for them to try to win their approval. But now I do things for Jesus’ sake, because He died for them—and it makes all the difference in the world!”
In this paragraph of his letter, John has taken us to the very foundation of Christian love. But he still has more to teach us. In the next section, he deals with our own personal love for God and how God perfects that love in us.
These two aspects of Christian love cannot be separated from one another: if we love God, we will love one another; and if we love one another, we will grow in our love for God.
And both statements are true because “God is love.”
1 John 4:17–5:5
The prospective bridegroom was extremely nervous as he and his fiancée were discussing their wedding plans with their pastor.
“I’d like to see a copy of the wedding vows,” the young man said; and the pastor handed him the service. He read it carefully, handed it back, and said, “That won’t do! There’s nothing written in there about her obeying me!”
His fiancée smiled, took his hand, and said, “Honey, the word obey doesn’t have to be written in a book. It’s already written in love in my heart.”
This is the truth in view in this portion of 1 John. Up to this point, the emphasis has been on Christians loving one another; but now we turn to a deeper—and more important—topic: a believer’s love for the Father. We cannot love our neighbor or our brother unless we love our Heavenly Father. We must first love God with all our hearts; then we can love our neighbor as ourselves.
The key word in this section is perfect. God wants to perfect in us His love for us and our love for Him. The word perfect carries the idea of maturity and completeness. A believer is not only to grow in grace and knowledge (), but he is also to grow in his love for the Father. He does this in response to the Father’s love for him.
How much does God love us? Enough to send His Son to die for us (). He loves His children in the same way as He loves Christ (). And Jesus tells us that the Father wants the love with which He loved the Son to be in His children ().
In other words, the Christian life is to be a daily experience of growing in the love of God. It involves a Christian’s coming to know his Heavenly Father in a much deeper way as he grows in love.
It is easy to fragment the Christian life and become preoccupied with individual pieces instead of the total picture. One group may emphasize “holiness” and urge its members to get victory over sin. Another may stress witnessing, or “separation from the world.” But each of these emphases is really a by-product of something else: a believer’s growing love for the Father. Mature Christian love is the great universal need among God’s people.
How can a believer know that his love for the Father is being perfected? This paragraph of 1 John suggests four evidences.
Two brand-new words come into John’s vocabulary here: fear and torment. And this is written to believers! Is it possible that Christians can actually live in fear and torment? Yes, unfortunately, many professed believers experience both fear and torment day after day. And the reason is that they are not growing in the love of God.
The word boldness can mean “confidence” or “freedom of speech.” It does not mean brazenness or brashness. A believer who experiences perfecting love grows in his confidence toward God. He has a reverential fear of God, not a tormenting fear. He is a son who respects his Father, not a prisoner who cringes before a judge.
We have adopted the Greek word for fear into our English vocabulary: phobia. All sorts of phobias are listed in psychology books; for instance, acrophobia—“fear of heights,” and hydrophobia—“fear of water.” John is writing about krisisphobia—“fear of judgment.” John has already mentioned this solemn truth in ; and now he deals with it again.
If people are afraid, it is because of something in the past that haunts them, or something in the present that upsets them, or something in the future that they feel threatens them. Or it may be a combination of all three. A believer in Jesus Christ does not have to fear the past, present, or future, for he has experienced the love of God and this love is being perfected in him day by day.
“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (). But a Christian does not fear future judgment, because Christ has suffered his judgment for him on the cross. “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (, NASB). “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (, NASB). For a Christian, judgment is not future; it is past. His sins have been judged already at the cross, and they will never be brought against him again.
The secret of our boldness is, “As He is, so are we in this world” (). We know that “we shall be like Him” when He returns (), but that statement refers primarily to the glorified bodies believers will receive (). Positionally, we are right now “as He is.” We are so closely identified with Christ, as members of His body, that our position in this world is like His exalted position in heaven.
This means that the Father deals with us as He deals with His own beloved Son. How, then, can we ever be afraid?
We do not have to be afraid of the future, because our sins were judged in Christ when He died on the cross. The Father cannot judge our sins again without judging His Son, for “as He is, so are we in this world.”
We do not have to be afraid of the past, because “He first loved us.” From the very first, our relationship to God was one of love. It was not that we loved Him, but that He loved us (cf. ). “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (, NASB). If God loved us when we were outside the family, disobeying Him, how much more does He love us now that we are His children!
We do not need to fear the present because “perfect love casteth out fear” (). As we grow in the love of God, we cease to be fearful of what He will do.
Of course there is a proper “fear of God,” but it is not the kind of fear that produces torment. “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ ” (, NASB) “For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” ().
Fear is actually the beginning of torment. We torment ourselves as we contemplate what lies ahead. Many people suffer acutely when they contemplate a visit to the dentist. Think of how an unsaved person must suffer as he contemplates the day of judgment. But since a Christian has boldness in the day of judgment, he can have boldness as he faces life today, for there is no situation of life today that begins to compare with the terrible severity of the day of judgment.
God wants His children to live in an atmosphere of love and confidence, not fear and torment. We need not fear life or death, for we are being perfected in the love of God. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (, , NASB).
Imagine! Nothing in all creation—present or future—can come between us and God’s love!
The perfecting of God’s love in our lives is usually a matter of several stages. When we were lost, we lived in fear and knew nothing of God’s love. After we trusted Christ, we found a perplexing mixture of both fear and love in our hearts. But as we grew in fellowship with the Father, gradually the fear vanished and our hearts were controlled by His love alone. An immature Christian is tossed between fear and love; a mature Christian rests in God’s love.
A growing confidence in the presence of God is one of the first evidences that our love for God is maturing. But confidence never stands alone; it always leads to other moral results.
Here it is for the seventh time: “If a man say …!”
We have met this important phrase several times, and each time we knew what was coming: a warning against pretending.
Fear and pretense usually go together. In fact, they were born together when the first man and woman sinned. No sooner did Adam and Eve sense their guilt than they tried to hide from God and cover their nakedness. But neither their coverings nor their excuses could shelter them from God’s all-seeing eye. Adam finally had to admit, “I heard Thy voice in the Garden, and I was afraid” ().
But when our hearts are confident toward God, there is no need for us to pretend, either to God or to other people. A Christian who lacks confidence with God will also lack confidence with God’s people. Part of the torment that fear generates is the constant worry, “How much do others really know about me?” But when we have confidence with God, this fear is gone and we can face both God and men without worry.
“How many members do you have in your church?” a visitor asked the pastor.
“Somewhere near a thousand,” the pastor replied.
“That certainly is a lot of people to try to please!” the visitor exclaimed.
“Let me assure you, my friend, that I have never tried to please all my members, or even some of them,” the pastor said with a smile. “I aim to please one Person—the Lord Jesus Christ. If I am right with Him, then everything should be right between me and my people.”
An immature Christian who is not growing in his love for God may think he has to impress others with his “spirituality.” This mistake turns him into a liar! He is professing something that he is not really practicing; he is playing a role instead of living a life.
Perhaps the best example of this sin is seen in the experience of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). They sold a piece of property and brought part of the money to the Lord, but they gave the impression that they were bringing all the money. The sin of this couple was not in taking money from God, for Peter made it clear that the disposal of the money was up to them (). Their sin was hypocrisy. They were trying to make people think they were more generous and spiritual than they really were.
Pretending is one of the favorite activities of little children, but it is certainly not a mark of maturity in adults. Adults must know themselves and be themselves, fulfilling the purposes for which Christ saved them. Their lives must be marked by honesty.
Spiritual honesty brings peace and power to the person who practices it. He does not have to keep a record of the lies he has told, and he is not using his energy to cover up. Because he lives in open honesty with the Father, he can live in honesty with other people. Love and truth go together. Because he knows God loves him and accepts him (even with all his faults), he is not trying to impress others. He loves God, and therefore he loves his fellow Christians.
Jerry’s grades were far below his usual performance and, on top of that, his health seemed to be failing. His new roommate was concerned about him and finally persuaded him to talk to the campus psychologist.
“I can’t figure myself out,” Jerry admitted. “Last year I was sailing through school, and this year it is like fighting a war.”
“You’re not having trouble with your new roommate, are you?” the counselor asked.
Jerry did not reply right away, and this gave the counselor a clue.
“Jerry, are you concentrating on living your life as a good student, or on trying to impress your new roommate with your abilities?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s it,” Jerry answered with a sigh of relief. “I’ve worn myself out acting and haven’t had enough energy left for living.”
Confidence toward God and honesty with others are two marks of maturity that are bound to show up when our love for God is being perfected.
Not simply obedience—but joyful obedience! “His commandments are not burdensome” (, NASB).
Everything in creation—except man—obeys the will of God. “Fire and hail, snow, and vapor, stormy wind fulfilling His Word” (). In the Book of Jonah, you see the winds and waves, and even the fish, obeying God’s commands; but the prophet persisted in disobeying. Even a plant and a little worm did what God commanded. But the prophet stubbornly wanted his own way.
Disobedience to God’s will is a tragedy—but so is reluctant, grudging obedience. God does not want us to disobey Him, but neither does He want us to obey out of fear or necessity. What Paul wrote about giving also applies to living: “not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (, NASB).
What is the secret of joyful obedience? It is to recognize that obedience is a family matter. We are serving a loving Father and helping our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have been born of God, we love God, and we love God’s children. And we demonstrate this love by keeping God’s commandments.
A woman visited a newspaper editor’s office, hoping to sell him some poems she had written.
“What are your poems about?” the editor asked.
“They’re about love!” gushed the poetess.
The editor settled back in his chair and said, “Well, read me a poem. The world could certainly use a lot more love!”
The poem she read was filled with moons and Junes and other sticky sentiments, and it was more than the editor could take.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “but you just don’t know what love is all about! It’s not moonlight and roses. It’s sitting up all night at a sickbed, or working extra hours so the kids can have new shoes. The world doesn’t need your brand of poetical love. It needs some good old-fashioned practical love.”
D.L. Moody often said, “Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather.” We show our love to God, not by empty words but by willing works. We are not slaves obeying a master; we are children obeying a Father. And our sin is a family affair.
One of the tests of maturing love is our personal attitude toward the Bible, because in the Bible we find God’s will for our lives revealed. An unsaved man considers the Bible an impossible book, mainly because he does not understand its spiritual message (). An immature Christian considers the demands of the Bible to be burdensome. He is somewhat like a little child who is learning to obey, and who asks, “Why do I have to do that?” or “Wouldn’t it be better to do this?”
But a Christian who experiences God’s perfecting love finds himself enjoying the Word of God and truly loving it. He does not read the Bible as a textbook, but as a love letter.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and its theme is the Word of God. Every verse but two (, ) mentions the Word of God in one form or another, as “law,” “precepts,” “commandments,” etc. But the interesting thing is that the psalmist loves the Word of God and enjoys telling us about it! “O how love I Thy Law!” () He rejoices in the Law (, ) and delights in it (, ). It is honey to his taste (). In fact, he turns God’s Law into a song: “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage” ().
Imagine turning statutes into songs. Suppose the local symphony presented a concert of the traffic code set to music! Most of us do not consider laws a source of joyful song, but this is the way the psalmist looked at God’s Law. Because he loved the Lord, he loved His Law. God’s commandments were not grievous and burdensome to him. Just as a loving son or daughter happily obeys his father’s command, so a Christian with perfecting love joyfully obeys God’s command.
At this point, we can review and understand the practical meaning of “maturing love” in our daily lives. As our love for the Father matures, we have confidence and are no longer afraid of His will. We also are honest toward others and lose our fear of being rejected. And we have a new attitude toward the Word of God: it is the expression of God’s love, and we enjoy obeying it. Confidence toward God, honesty toward others, and joyful obedience are the marks of perfecting love and the ingredients that make up a happy Christian life.
We can see too how sin ruins all this. When we disobey God we lose our confidence toward Him. If we do not immediately confess our sin and claim His forgiveness (), we must start pretending in order to cover up. Disobedience leads to dishonesty, and both turn our hearts away from the Word of God. Instead of reading the Word with joy to discover the Father’s will, we ignore the Word or perhaps read it in a routine way.
The burden of religion (man trying to please God in his own strength) is a grievous one (cf. ); but the yoke that Christ puts on us is not burdensome at all (). Love lightens burdens. Jacob had to work for seven years to win the woman he loved, but the Bible tells us that “they seemed unto him a few days, for the love he had to her” (). Perfecting love produces joyful obedience.
The Greek goddess of victory was Nike, which also happens to be the name of a United States aerial missile. Both of them are named for the Greek word nike (NEE-kay) which simply means victory. But what does victory have to do with maturing love?
Christians live in a real world and are beset with formidable obstacles. It is not easy to obey God. It is much easier to drift with the world, disobey Him, and “do your own thing.”
But the Christian is “born of God.” This means he has the divine nature within him, and it is impossible for this divine nature to disobey God. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world” (, NASB). If the old nature is in control of us, we disobey God; but if the new nature is in control, we obey God. The world appeals to the old nature () and tries to make God’s commandments seem burdensome.
Our victory is a result of faith, and we grow in faith as we grow in love. The more you love someone, the easier it is to trust him. The more our love for Christ is perfected, the more our faith in Christ is perfected too; because faith and love mature together.
The word overcome is a favorite with John; he uses it in with reference to overcoming the devil. He uses it seven times in Revelation to describe believers and the blessings they receive (, , , ; , , ). He is not describing a special class of believers. Rather, he is using the word overcomer as a name for the true Christian. Because we have been born of God, we are overcomers.
We are told that a soldier in the army of Alexander the Great was not acting bravely in battle. When he should have been pressing ahead, he was lingering behind.
The great general approached him and asked, “What is your name, soldier?”
The man replied, “My name, sir, is Alexander.”
The general looked him straight in the eye and said firmly: “Soldier, get in there and fight—or change your name!”
What is our name? “Children of God—the born-again ones of God.” Alexander the Great wanted his name to be a symbol of courage; our name carries with it assurance of victory. To be born of God means to share God’s victory.
This is a victory of faith, but faith in what? Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God! The person who overcomes the world is the one “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (, NASB). It is not faith in ourselves, but faith in Christ, that gives us the victory. “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” ().
Identification with Christ in His victory reminds us of the several times we have read “as He is” in John’s letter. “As He is, so are we in this world” (). We should walk in the light “as He is in the light” (). If we claim to abide in Him, then we should conduct ourselves as He conducted Himself (). His children are to be, on earth, what He is in heaven. It is only necessary for us to claim this wonderful position by faith—and to act on it.
When Jesus Christ died, we died with Him. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ” (, NASB). When Christ was buried, we were buried with Him. And when He arose, we arose with Him. “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (, NASB).
When Christ ascended to heaven, we ascended with Him and are now seated with Him in heavenly places (). And when Christ returns, we shall share His exaltation. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (, NASB).
All these verses describe our spiritual position in Christ. When we claim this position by faith, we share His victory. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He “seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named … and He put all things in subjection under His feet” (, NASB). This means that, positionally, each child of God is privileged to sit far above all his enemies!
Where a man sits determines how much authority he may exercise. The man who sits in the general manager’s chair has a restricted sphere of authority; the man who sits in the vice president’s chair exercises more control. But the man behind the desk marked president exercises the most authority. No matter where he may be in the factory or office, he is respected and obeyed because of where he sits. His power is determined by his position, not by his personal appearance or the way he feels.
So with a child of God: his authority is determined by his position in Christ. When he trusted Christ, he was identified with Him by the Holy Spirit and made a member of His body (). His old life has been buried and he has been raised to a new life of glory. In Christ, he is sitting on the very throne of the universe!
A Civil War veteran used to wander from place to place, begging a bed and bite to eat and always talking about his friend “Mr. Lincoln.” Because of his injuries, he was unable to hold a steady job. But as long as he could keep going, he would chat about his beloved President.
“You say you knew Mr. Lincoln,” a skeptical bystander retorted one day. “I’m not so sure you did. Prove it!”
The old man replied, “Why, sure, I can prove it. In fact, I have a piece of paper here that Mr. Lincoln himself signed and gave to me.”
From his old wallet, the man took out a much-folded piece of paper and showed it to the man.
“I’m not much for reading,” he apologized, “but I know that’s Mr. Lincoln’s signature.”
“Man, do you know what you have here?” one of the spectators asked. “You have a generous federal pension authorized by President Lincoln. You don’t have to walk around like a poor beggar! Mr. Lincoln has made you rich!”
To paraphrase what John wrote: “You Christians do not have to walk around defeated, because Jesus Christ has made you victors! He has defeated every enemy and you share His victory. Now, by faith, claim His victory.”
The key, of course, is faith, but this has always been God’s key to victory. The great men and women named in Hebrews 11 all won their victories “by faith.” They simply took God at His word and acted on it, and He honored their faith and gave them victory. Faith is not simply saying that what God says is true; true faith is acting on what God says because it is true. Someone has said that faith is not so much believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence.
Victorious faith is the result of maturing love. The better we come to know and love Jesus Christ, the easier it is to trust Him with the needs and battles of life. It is important that this maturing love become a regular and a practical thing in our daily lives.
How does a believer go about experiencing this kind of love and the blessings that flow from it?
To begin with, this kind of love must be cultivated. It is not the result of a hit-or-miss friendship! A previous study pointed out that a believer slips back into the world by stages:
1.Friendship with the world ()
Our relationship to Jesus Christ, in a similar way, grows by stages.
We must cultivate friendship with Christ. Abraham was “the friend of God” () because he separated himself from the world and did what God told him. His life was not perfect, but when he sinned, he confessed and went right back to walking with God.
This friendship will begin to influence our lives. As we read the Word and pray, and as we fellowship with God’s people, Christian graces will start to show up in us. Our thoughts will be cleaner, our conversation more meaningful, our desires more wholesome. But we will not be suddenly and totally changed; it will be a gradual process.
Our friendship with Christ and our becoming like Him will lead to a deeper love for Christ. On the human level, friendship often leads to love. On the divine level, friendship with Christ ought to lead to love. “We love Him because He first loved us” (). The Word of God reveals His love to us, and the indwelling Spirit of God makes this love more and more real to us. Furthermore, this love is worked out in our lives in daily obedience. Christian love is not a passing emotion; it is a permanent devotion, a deep desire to please Christ and to do His will.
The more we know Him the better we love Him, and the better we love Him the more we become like Him—“conformed to the image of His Son” (). Of course we will not be completely conformed to Christ until we see Him (); but we are to begin the process now.
What an exciting way to live! As God’s love is perfected in us, we have confidence toward Him and do not live in fear. Because fear is cast out, we can be honest and open; there is no need to pretend. And because fear is gone, our obedience to His commands is born out of love, not terror. We discover that His commandments are not burdensome. Finally, living in this atmosphere of love, honesty, and joyful obedience, we are able to face the world with victorious faith and to overcome instead of being overcome.
The place to begin is not in some daring, dramatic experience. The place to begin is in the quiet, personal place of prayer. Peter wanted to give his life for Jesus, but when he was asked to pray, Peter went to sleep (, ). A believer who begins the day reading the Word, meditating on it, and worshiping Christ in prayer and praise will experience this perfecting love.
When it begins, he will know it—and others will know it. His life will be marked by confidence, honesty, joyful obedience, and victory.
Nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
Benjamin Franklin wrote those words in 1789. Of course, a wise man like Franklin knew that many other things are also certain. The Christian also knows that there are many certainties. Of spiritual truth, Christians are not afraid to say, “We know!” In fact, the word know occurs thirty-nine times in John’s brief letter, eight times in this closing chapter.
Man has a deep desire for certainty, and he will even dabble in the occult in his effort to find out something for sure. A businessman having dinner with his pastor said to him, “Do you see those offices across the street? In them sit some of the most influential business leaders in this town. Many of them used to come over here regularly to consult a fortune-teller. She isn’t here anymore, but a few years ago you could count up the millions of dollars in this room as men waited to consult her.”
The life that is real is built on the divine certainties that are found in Jesus Christ. The world may accuse the Christian of being proud and dogmatic, but this does not keep him from saying, “I know!” In these closing verses of John’s letter we find five Christian certainties on which we can build our lives with confidence.
In , emphasis is placed on trusting Jesus Christ. A person who trusts Christ is born of God and is able to overcome the world. To believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is basic to Christian experience.
But how do we know that Jesus Christ is God? Some of His contemporaries called Him a liar and a deceiver (). Others have suggested He was a religious fanatic, a madman, or perhaps a Jewish patriot who was sincere but sadly mistaken. The people to whom John was writing were exposed to a popular false teaching that Jesus was merely a man on whom “the Christ” had come when Jesus was baptized. On the cross, “the Christ” left Jesus (“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”) and so He died like any other human being.
John’s epistle refutes this false teaching. It presents three infallible witnesses to prove that Jesus is God.
First witness—the water. Jesus came “by water and blood.” The water refers to His baptism in Jordan, when the Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (). At the same time the Spirit descended like a dove and rested on Him. This was the Father’s attestation of His Son at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
Second witness—the blood. But the Father gave further witness as the time drew near for Jesus to die. He spoke audibly to Jesus from heaven, and said, “I have both glorified [My name], and will glorify it again” (). Furthermore, the Father witnessed in miracle power when Jesus was on the cross: the supernatural darkness, the earthquake, and the rending of the temple veil (, ). No wonder the centurion cried out, “Truly this was the Son of God!” ()
Jesus did not receive “the Christ” at His baptism and lose it at the cross. On both occasions, the Father witnessed to the deity of His Son.
Third witness—the Spirit. The Spirit was given to bear witness to Christ (; ). We can trust the Spirit’s witness because “the Spirit is truth.” We were not present at the baptism of Christ or at His death, but the Holy Spirit was present. The Holy Spirit is the only Person active on earth today who was present when Christ was ministering here. The witness of the Father is past history, but the witness of the Spirit is present experience. The first is external, the second is internal—and both agree.
How does the Spirit witness within the heart of a believer? “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (, NASB). His witness is our inner confidence that we belong to Christ—not a confidence that we “work up” for ourselves, but a confidence that God gives us.
The Spirit also witnesses to us through the Word. As we read God’s Word, He speaks to us and teaches us. This is not true of an unsaved man (); it is true only of a believer.
A Christian feels “at home” with God’s people because the Spirit dwells in him. This is another way the Spirit bears witness.
The Law required two or three witnesses for a matter to be settled (). The Father witnessed at the baptism and at the cross, and the Spirit witnesses today within the believer. The Spirit, the water, and the blood settle the matter: Jesus is God.
(Most scholars agree that of the Authorized Version does not belong in the letter, but omitting it does not affect the teaching at all.)
We receive the witness of men, so why should we reject the witness of God?
People often say, “I wish I could have faith!” But everybody lives by faith! All day long, people trust one another. They trust the doctor and the pharmacist; they trust the cook in the restaurant; they even trust the fellow driving in the other lane on the highway. If we can trust men, why can we not trust God? And not to trust Him is to make Him a liar!
Jesus is God: this is the first Christian certainty, and it is foundational to everything else.
Believers Have Eternal Life ()
The key word in is witness, sometimes translated “record” or “testifieth.” God gave witness to His Son, but He has also given witness to His sons—to individual believers. We know that we have eternal life! Not only is there the witness of the Spirit within; but there is the witness of the Word of God. “These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life” (, NASB).
Eternal life is a gift; it is not something that we earn (; ). But this gift is a Person—Jesus Christ. We receive eternal life not only from Christ, but in Christ. “He who has the Son has the life” (, NASB). Not just “life” but “the life”—the life “which is life indeed” (, NASB).
This gift is received by faith. God has gone on record in His Word as offering eternal life to those who will believe on Jesus Christ. Millions of Christians have proved that God’s record is true. Not to believe it is to make God a liar. And if God is a liar, nothing is certain.
God wants His children to know that they belong to Him. John was inspired by the Spirit to write his Gospel to assure us that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (). He wrote this epistle so that we may be sure that we are the children of God ().
It would be helpful at this point to review the characteristics of God’s children:
•“Everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him” (, NASB).
•“No one who is born of God practices sin” (, NASB).
•“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (, NASB).
•“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (, NASB).
•“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” ().
If you bear these “birthmarks,” you can say with confidence that you are a child of God.
When Sir James Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, was on his deathbed, a friend asked him, “Sir, what are your speculations?”
Simpson replied: “Speculations! I have no speculations! ‘For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.’ ”
It is one thing to know that Jesus is God and that we are God’s children; but what about the needs and problems of daily life? Jesus helped people when He was here on earth; does He still help them? Earthly fathers take care of their children; does the Heavenly Father respond when His children call on Him?
Christians have confidence in prayer, just as they have confidence as they await the judgment (; ). As we have seen, the word confidence means “freedom of speech.” We can come to the Father freely and tell Him our needs.
Of course, there are conditions we must meet.
First, we must have a heart that does not condemn us (). Unconfessed sin is a serious obstacle to answered prayer (). It is worth noting that differences between a Christian husband and his wife can hinder their prayers (). If there is anything between us and any other Christian, we must settle it (). And unless a believer is abiding in Christ, in love and obedience, his prayers will not be answered ().
Second, we must pray in God’s will. “Thy will be done” (). “Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in heaven, but for getting God’s will done on earth,” wrote Robert Law. George Mueller, who fed thousands of orphans with food provided in answer to prayer, said: “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is laying hold of God’s willingness.”
There are times when we can only pray, “Not my will but Thine be done,” because we simply do not know God’s will in a matter. But most of the time we can determine God’s will by reading the Word, listening to the Spirit (), and discerning the circumstances around us. Our very faith to ask God for something is often proof that He wants to give it ().
There are many promises in the Bible that we can claim in prayer God has promised to supply our needs ()—not our greeds! If we are obeying His will and really need something, He will supply it in His way and in His time.
“But if it is God’s will for me to have a thing, then why should I pray about it?” Because prayer is the way God wants His children to get what they need. God not only ordains the end, but He also ordains the means to the end—prayer. And the more you think about it, the more wonderful this arrangement becomes. Prayer is really the thermometer of the spiritual life. God has ordained that I maintain a close walk with Him if I expect Him to meet my needs.
John does not write, “We shall have the requests,” but, “We know that we have the requests” (cf. ). The verb is present tense. We may not see the answer to a prayer immediately, but we have inner confidence that God has answered. This confidence, or faith, is “the evidence of things not seen” (). It is God witnessing to us that He has heard and answered.
What breathing is to a physical man, prayer is to a spiritual man. If we do not pray, we “faint” (). Prayer is not only the utterance of the lips; it is also the desire of the heart. “Pray without ceasing” () does not mean that a Christian is always saying an audible prayer. We are not heard for our much speaking (). No, “Pray without ceasing” suggests the attitude of the heart as well as the words of the lips. A Christian who has his heart fixed on Christ and is trying to glorify Him is praying constantly even when he is not conscious of it.
Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher, was working hard on a message but was unable to complete it. It grew late and his wife said, “Why don’t you go to bed. I’ll wake you up early and you can finish your sermon in the morning.”
Spurgeon dozed off and in his sleep began to preach the sermon that was giving him so much trouble! His wife wrote down what he said and the next morning gave her preacher-husband the notes.
“Why, that’s exactly what I wanted to say!” exclaimed the surprised preacher. The message had been in his heart; it had simply needed expression. So with prayer: if we are abiding in Christ, the very desires of our heart are heard by God whether we voice them or not.
The pages of the Bible and the pages of history are filled with reports of answered prayer. Prayer is not spiritual self-hypnosis. Nor do we pray because it makes us feel better. We pray because God has commanded us to pray and because prayer is the God-appointed means for a believer to receive what God wants to give him. Prayer keeps a Christian in the will of God and living in the will of God keeps a Christian in the place of blessing and service. We are not beggars; we are children coming to a wealthy Father who loves to give His children what they need.
Though He was God in the flesh, Jesus depended on prayer. He lived on earth, as we must, in dependence on the Father. He arose early in the morning to pray (), though He had been up late the night before healing the multitudes. He sometimes spent all night in prayer (). In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed with “strong crying and tears” (). On the cross He prayed three times. If the sinless Son of God needed to pray, how much more do we?
The most important thing about prayer is the will of God. We must take time to ascertain what God’s will is in a matter, especially searching in the Bible for promises or principles that apply to our situation. Once we know the will of God, we can pray with confidence and then wait for Him to reveal the answer.
Christians Do Not Practice Sin ()
“We know that no one who is born of God sins” (, NASB). “No one who is born of God practices sin” (, NASB). Occasional sins are not here in view, but habitual sins, the practice of sin. Because a believer has a new nature (“God’s seed,” ), he has new desires and appetites and is not interested in sin.
A Christian faces three enemies, all of which want to lead him into sin: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
The world “lies in the power of the evil one” (, NASB), Satan—the god of this age (, lit.) and the prince of this world (). He is the spirit who works in the children of disobedience ().
Satan has many devices for leading a believer into sin. He tells lies, as he did to Eve (Gen. 3; ), and when men believe his lies they turn away from and disobey God’s truth. Or, Satan may inflict physical suffering, as he did with Job and Paul (). In David’s case, Satan used pride as his weapon and urged David to number the people and in this way defy God (1 Chron. 21). Satan is like a serpent who deceives () and a lion who devours (). He is a formidable enemy.
Then there is the problem of the flesh, the old nature with which we were born and which is still with us. True, we have a new nature (the divine seed, ) within us, but we do not always yield to our new nature.
The world is our third enemy (, ). It is easy for us to yield to the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life! The atmosphere around us makes it hard for us to keep our minds pure and our hearts true to God.
Then how does a believer keep from sinning?
gives the answer: Jesus Christ keeps the believer so that the enemy cannot get his hands on him. “He [Christ] who was born of God keeps him [the believer] and the evil one does not touch him” (NASB). The Authorized Version here gives the impression that a believer keeps himself from sin, but this is not what the verse says. Of course, it is true that a Christian must keep himself in the love of God (); but it is not true that a Christian must depend on himself to overcome Satan.
Peter’s experience with Satan helps us to understand this truth.
“Simon, Simon,” said Jesus, “behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (, NASB).
To begin with, Satan cannot touch any believer without God’s permission. Satan wanted to sift all the disciples, and Jesus gave him permission. But Jesus prayed especially for Peter, and His prayer was answered. Peter’s faith did not ultimately fail, even though his courage failed. Peter was restored and became a mighty and effective soul-winner.
Whenever Satan attacks us, we can be sure that God gave him permission. And if God gave him permission He will also give us power to overcome, because God will never permit us to be tested above our strength ().
One of the characteristics of “spiritual young men” is their ability to overcome the evil one (). Their secret? “The word of God abides in you” (, NASB). Part of the armor of God is the sword of the Spirit (), and this sword overcomes Satan.
When a believer sins, he can confess his sin and be forgiven (). But a believer dare not play with sin, because sin is lawlessness (, where “transgression of the Law” means “lawlessness”). A person who practices sin proves that he belongs to Satan (). Furthermore, God warns that sin can lead to physical death!
“All unrighteousness is sin,” but some sin is worse than other sin. All sin is hateful to God, and should be hateful to a believer; but some sin is punished with death. John tells us () about the case of a brother (a believer) whose life was taken because of sin.
The Bible mentions people who died because of their sin. Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron the priest, died because they deliberately disobeyed God (). Korah and his clan opposed God and died (Num. 16). Achan was stoned because he disobeyed Joshua’s orders from God at Jericho (Josh. 6–7). A man named Uzzah touched the ark and God killed him (2 Sam. 6).
“But those are Old Testament examples!” someone may argue. “John is writing to New Testament believers who live under grace!”
To whom much is given, much shall be required. A believer today has a far greater responsibility to obey God than did the Old Testament saints. We have a complete Bible, we have the full revelation of God’s grace, and we have the Holy Spirit living within us to help us obey God. But there are cases in the New Testament of believers who lost their lives because they disobeyed God.
Ananias and Sapphira lied to God about their offering, and they both died (). Some believers at Corinth died because of the way they had acted at the Lord’s Supper (). And suggests that a certain offender would have died had he not repented and confessed his sin ().
If a believer does not judge, confess, and forsake sin, God must chasten him. This process is described in , which suggests that a person who does not subject himself to the Father will not live (). In other words, first God “spanks” his rebellious children, and if they do not yield to His will, He may remove them from the world lest their disobedience lead others astray and bring further disgrace to His name.
“The sin unto death” is not some one specific sin. Rather, it is a kind of sin—it is the sort of sin that leads to death. With Nadab and Abihu, it was their presumption in taking the priest’s office and entering the holy of holies. In the case of Achan it was covetousness. Ananias and Sapphira were guilty of hypocrisy and even of lying to the Holy Spirit.
If a Christian sees a brother committing sin, he should pray for him (), asking that he confess his sin and return to fellowship with the Father. But if in his praying, he does not sense that he is asking in God’s will (as instructed in ), then he should not pray for the brother. “Therefore, pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee” ().
somewhat parallels . James describes a believer who is sick, possibly because of his sin. He sends for the elders, who come to him and pray for him. The prayer of faith heals him and if he has sinned his sins are forgiven. “The prayer of faith” is prayer in the will of God, as described in . It is “praying in the Holy Spirit” ().
Christians do not deliberately practice sin. They have the divine nature within; Jesus Christ guards them, and they do not want God’s discipline.
The Christian Life Is the Real Life ()
Jesus Christ is the true God. We know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true. We have “the real thing”!
“We know that our real life is in the true One, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the real God and this is real, eternal life” (, Phillips). Reality has been the theme throughout John’s letter, and now we are reminded of it again.
John was probably writing to believers in the city of Ephesus, a city given over to the worship of idols. The temple of Diana, one of the wonders of the ancient world, was located in Ephesus, and the making and selling of idols was one of the chief occupations of the people there (). Surrounded by idolatry, Christians there were under tremendous pressure to conform.
But “we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one” (, NASB). That is, “an idol has no real existence” (NASB, marg.). The tragedy of idolatry is that a dead image can do a worshiper no good because it is not genuine. Hebrew writers in the Old Testament called idols “nothings, vain things, vapors, emptiness.” An idol is a lifeless, useless substitute for the real thing.
The Psalms contain caustic indictments of idolatry (; ). To human vision, an idol looks real—eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands, feet—but these are but useless imitations of the real thing. The eyes are blind, the ears are deaf, the mouth is silent, the hands and feet are paralyzed. But the real tragedy is that “those who make them will become like them; everyone who trusts in them” (, NASB). We become like the god we worship!
This is the secret of the life that is real. Because we have met the true God, through His Son Jesus Christ, we are in contact with reality. Our fellowship is with a God who is genuine. As we have seen, the word “real” means “the original as opposed to a copy” and “the authentic as opposed to an imitation.” Jesus Christ is the true Light (), and true Bread (), and true Vine (), and Truth itself (). He is the Original; everything else is a copy. He is authentic; everything else is only an imitation.
Christians live in an atmosphere of reality. Most unsaved people live in an atmosphere of pretense and sham. Christians have been given spiritual discernment to know the true from the false, but the unsaved do not have this understanding. Christians do not simply choose between good and bad; they choose between true and false. An idol represents that which is false and empty; and a person who lives for idols will himself become false and empty.
Few people today bow to idols of wood and metal. Nevertheless, other idols capture their attention and affection. Covetousness, for example, is idolatry (). A man may worship his bankbook or his stock portfolio just as fervently as a so-called heathen worships his ugly idol. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve” (). The thing we serve is the thing we worship! Whatever controls our lives and “calls the signals” is our god.
This explains why God warns us against the sin of idolatry. Not only is it a violation of His commandment (), but it is a subtle way for Satan to take control of us. When “things” take God’s place in our lives, we are guilty of idolatry. This means we are living for the unreal instead of for the real.
To a man of the world, the Christian life is unreal and the worldly life is real. This is because a man of the world lives by what he sees and feels (things) and not by what God says in His Word. An idol is a temporal thing, Jesus Christ is eternal God. “For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (, NASB).
Like Moses, a Christian endures “as seeing Him who is invisible” (). Faith is “the evidence of things not seen” (). Noah had never seen a flood, yet by faith he “saw” it coming and did what God told him to do. Abraham “saw” a heavenly city and country by faith, and was willing to forsake his own earthly home to follow God. All of the great heroes of faith named in Hebrews 11 accomplished what they did because they “saw the invisible” by faith. In other words, they were in contact with reality.
The world boasts of its enlightenment, but a Christian walks in the real light, because God is light. The world talks about love, but it knows nothing of the real love which a Christian experiences because “God is love.” The world displays its wisdom and learning, but a Christian lives in truth because “the Spirit is truth.” God is light, love, and truth; and these together make a life that is real.
“But it makes no difference what a man believes so long as he is sincere!”
This popular excuse hardly needs refutation. Does it make any difference what the pharmacist believes, or the surgeon, or the chemist? It makes all the difference in the world!
Shed a tear for Jimmy Brown;
Poor Jimmy is no more.
For what he thought was H2O*
Was H2SO4!†
A Christian has “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (). Idols are dead, but Christ is the living God. Idols are false, but Christ is the true God. This is the secret of the life that is real!
So John’s admonition, “Keep yourselves from idols,” can be paraphrased, “Watch out for the imitation and the artificial and be real!”