A Study of 1 John
This is my seventeenth and final look at the little book of 1 John. We badly need this book in a world where atheism and agnostic convictions are dominating popular philosophy; where the bankruptcy of liberal Christian theology has undercut much of the church; and where progressive evangelicalism is eroding many pulpits. The church has always had threats from within and from without. And the book of 1 John helps us keep our heads clear and our hearts strong.
My basic companion in this study has been the second edition of the excellent commentary by Colin Kruse. It’s part of the Pillar New Testament Commentary Series. One more time, I’d like to share the hypothesis that Dr. Kruse presents for the occasion of the writing of this letter.
The apostle John spent the latter part of his ministry overseeing the churches in and around the city of Ephesus. It was there that he wrote his Gospel—the Fourth Gospel, which we call the Gospel of John. Apparently there were a large number of cultural Christians in the congregations, and they reacted critically to John’s description of Jesus Christ as being totally human, totally divine—the God-Man who died and rose again to provide atonement for our sins.
We know from the early church historians that one of these critics was a man named Cerinthus who had some strange views about Christ and opposed the apostle John. We also have from Ignatius a description of a belief called Docetism [doe-SEE-tism] that taught that Christ’s body was not truly human but was a phantom or perhaps the projection of a celestial substance, and therefore his sufferings were not real but only appeared that way.
When these church attenders read John’s Gospel, they begin exiting the churches in droves. It created a crisis, especially for those who remained. And John wrote these epistles—1, 2, and 3 John—in response.
In 2 and 3 John, he asks the leaders of the churches to welcome the teachers that came from him and to reject the heretical teachers. But here in 1 John, he wrote to reassure those who remained in the church to not be rattled but to be reassured.
The key verses are 1 John 2:19 and 20: “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going out showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.”
This is why the overriding theme of 1 John is reassurance. John wants to strengthen us in our faith and keep us from being rattled by those who fall into error and false beliefs. He tells us that we are right; that we have eternal life; we are the ones who know the truth; we have overcome the evil one; we know Him who is from the beginning.
This little book is difficult to outline, but it’s clear that the first four verses of the book are a prologue, followed by an introduction that goes from chapter 1, verse 5 to chapter 2, verse 11. Then John gives us a poem or song of victory in chapter 2, verses 12-14. And beginning in verse 15 he enters the real body of the book, comparing those who are wrong with those of us who are right.
That brings us now to the final paragraph, so let’s read it together—1 John 5:13-21. The phrase “we know” is repeated here over and over. I’ll try to enunciate that for you as I read.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
John was telling his readers here—you and me—that we should not be rattled by anything, but we should stand by what we know is true. We can break this down into four categories.
1. We Know We Have Eternal Life
First, we know we have eternal life. Verse 13 says: I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
This is the purpose statement of the book of 1 John, and it is similar but different from the purpose statement of the Gospel of John. Every book of the Bible has a different purpose. John states his purposes at the end of his Gospel and at the end of his epistle.
Near the end of the Gospel, in John 20:31, John said, “(I have written these things) that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
Near the end of his epistle, here in 1 John 5:13, John said, “(I have written these things) to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life…
The Gospel had a saving purpose; the epistle had a reassuring purpose. We are saved by believing the facts in the Gospel; and we are reassured in our salvation by embracing the facts in the epistle. The first was written that we might have eternal life; the second that we may know that we have eternal life.
Some said, “The blood makes us safe; the book makes us sure.” That’s the kind of pattern we have in John’s writings.
Some years ago, a lady in our church said, “Well, I hope I’m saved and going to heaven, but I don’t think we can really know for sure until we die.”
Inspired partly by her comment I prepared a sermon in which I suggested that we could be certain we’ve been born again because we have a birth certificate. When we are born, our names are recorded in the county of our birth and we are given a birth certificate. Likewise when we are born again, our names are recorded in the heavenly records (which the book of Revelation calls the Lambs Book of Life), and the Word of God becomes our personal birth certificate.
Notice how clearly this is stated in 1 John 5: And this is the testimony (the facts, the record, the reality, the way it is): that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life… I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
There’s an old song that says: “Jesus loves me, this I know; / for the Bible tells me so.”
Our assurance of salvation is not based on how we feel at any given moment. It’s based on the unchanging Word of God.
In his book, How to Begin the Christian Life, George Sweeting suggests that doubting our salvation is like a prisoner who has been pardoned by the Governor. A guard brings him the document, and there it is, signed and sealed. Suppose you ask the man, “Have you been pardoned?” he will say, “Yes.”
“Do you feel pardoned?” we ask.
“No, I don’t. It’s all so sudden.”
“But if you don’t feel pardoned, how do you know you are pardoned?”
“Oh,” the man replies, “it tells me so right here.”
The Bible does not use vague or nonspecific language regarding our salvation. It doesn’t use terms like maybe or might or hopes-to-be. It says will and shall and is. So we know we have eternal life.
2. We Know God Responds to Our Prayers
Second, we know God responds to our prayers. The next verse says: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.
Notice the conditional statement. This is something that John added to clarify what he had written in John 16:23. Back in his Gospel, John quoted Jesus as saying, “Very truly, I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.”
Now John adds that God answers those prayers that are according to His will. That’s an incredible praise item, because we don’t want Him to answer prayers that violate His will for us. I might pray, “Lord, I need that promotion at work. Please open the door for me.” But the Lord might have a much better position for you six months out, and the current opportunity would spoil something much better. So we pray, adding, “Your will be done.”
Jesus taught us that in the Lord’s prayer: “Your will be done….”
In the Garden of Gethsemane, He Himself prayed, “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.”
James said, “You ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
Prayer is the means by which the will of God is actualized in your life.
And as we pray, we should pray for those who are struggling spiritually. Verse 16 goes on to say: If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.
In other words, we sometimes look at a fellow Christian and we know they are backsliding. They have fallen back into old habits. They’re neglecting their quiet time; they’re skipping church; they’re falling back into some addiction; they’ve let themselves become cynical or bitter; they’re exhausted and losing their temper; they’re getting too physically involved with their girlfriend or boyfriend; or whatever it is.
Pray for that person and ask God to convict them and lead them back to the pathway of the victorious Christian life.
Now, we come to the most difficult verse in the book of 1 John. John goes on to say: I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.
The only safe way to interpret this is within the context of the whole letter. John is undoubtedly talking about these deserters. They had rejected the person of Christ. They had rejected Him as the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. And that is the sin that leads to death—the rejection of Christ.
What John seems to be telling these Christians is this: “Right now during these critical times, don’t focus your prayers on those who have left and who have rejected the Gospel. Pray for your brothers and sisters who remain, that they will be strong and confident and steadfast. Pray that they will live the victorious Christian life.
This is very similar to what Jesus prayed in His High Priestly prayer in John 17: “Father… I have revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world…. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are Yours.”
This doesn’t mean we should never pray for the lost. The apostle Paul said in Romans 10:1, “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”
There are times when God burdens our hearts to pray for an unsaved person or for the unsaved masses of some nation or region of the world. But in this present crisis, John told his faithful church members, focus your prayers on each other and keep each other strong.”
Verse 17 goes on to say: All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
What is the sin that does not lead to death? It’s the sin that has been covered with the blood of Christ. What is the sin that does lead to eternal death? It’s the sin of willfully rejecting Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for our sins.
So we know that we have eternal life, and we know God answers our prayers.
3. We Know We Are Shielded from the Evil One
Third, John says we know we are shielded from the evil one. Look at verses 18 and 19:
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God [Jesus] keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
Here John is repeating what he said in chapter 3 and adding to it. In 1 John 3:6, John said, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin.” When we are walking in full agreement with Christ, abiding in Him, we are being sanctified. We are growing in righteousness. We may not reach a state of sinless perfection in this life, but we are shielded from the penalty of sin and from the deadly attacks of Satan.
Verse 19 is perhaps the most dramatic verse in the entire Bible about Satan. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
The whole world! The whole academic world! The whole geopolitical world! The whole entertainment world! The whole military-industrial world! The whole world of politics! The whole world of religion. The world of the media. Everyone on this planet except you and me! Everyone except the children of God. We are children of God and the whole world is under the control of the evil world. It is the shield of Jesus Christ and His blood over our lives that keeps us safe.
4. We know the Son of God Gives Us Understanding
We know we have eternal life. We know God answers our prayers. We know we are His children in a world that is under enemy control. And finally, we know that the Son of God gives us the understanding we need to know Him and to be true to Him. Look at verse 20:
20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
The Gospel of John begins and ends with a declaration of the divinity of Jesus. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And John 20:28 identifies Jesus as our Lord and our God.
In the same way, the epistle of 1 John begins by saying, “We proclaim to You Him who is the Word of Life.” And it ends by saying that Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life. The word He has as its closest antecedent is the name of Jesus. This is one of several places in the Bible that refers to Jesus using the word “God.” In the Greek, the word for God is Theos, and the word for Lord is Kurios. In the Greek New Testament, both terms were used as a divine title. Both terms referred to God.
Normally the New Testament writers used Theos for God the Father and Kurios for Christ. In this way, they distinguished the two members of the Trinity. But sometimes the New Testament writers broke this unofficial rule and referred to Jesus as Theos, making it unmistakable that He was and is and always will be God.
Conclusion
Now the book ends with a little postscript. The final verse says: Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
That seems like an odd way to end the book, but let me give you a couple of renditions that help us see it as a fitting conclusion.
The Living Bible says: “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. Amen. Sincerely, John”
The Message says: “This Jesus is both True God and Real Life. Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles.”
And with that, we have taught through every verse of 1 John and its overriding message: Don’t Be Rattled; Just Be Right.