1
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for[1] the sins of the whole world.
3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love[2] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him[3] to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
14I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
Do Not Love the World
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Warning Against Antichrists
18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They 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 showed that none of them belonged to us.
20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[4] 21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us--even eternal life.
26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him.
Children of God
28And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
V1-2 – 1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for [Or, He is the one who turns aside God’s wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours but also] the sins of the whole world.
John begins this chapter by answering the error that claimed a sinless Christian life. But he doesn’t want his audience to think that he is promoting sinful living – for God has not only forgiven our sin and removed guilt; He has also begun the sanctifying process, which He will see through to completion (Philippians 1:6) – by denying the possibility of sinlessness, therefore, he says that he writes “so that you will not sin.” John wants holy living for followers of Christ, but not with despair over failure. Instead, John wants us to confess and repent and grow in grace, making progress in a lifestyle of holiness, for he knows, once again, that we are “predestined to be conformed to the likeness of” Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).
John points us to Jesus Christ as our advocate, our defense attorney, but not before a judge that despises us. Rather the judge is biased in our favor due to the Person and work of our advocate, Jesus Christ. He is “the Righteous One,” who has paid our debt, our propitiation, which turns aside and satisfies the wrath of God. It’s critical that Jesus is righteous, because God is first and foremost just. Before mercy and love come justice and righteousness as characteristics of God the Father. Thus out of His righteous justice comes His love and mercy. And Jesus is not merely the One who satisfies God’s wrath; He is the satisfaction. He is not merely the propitiator; He is the propitiation. God was pleased to crush Him out of justice and out of love for us. So in response to the erroneous idea that we are sinless, John says, “Turn to Jesus.” He is to be the ground of our confidence in the fight against sin; He is the source from which our holiness flows; He is the basis on which our forgiveness rests.
Now the second half of v2 causes some controversy within evangelical Christianity. But all John is saying is that Jesus turns aside God’s wrath for any of, all of, and only those who know Him, who trust in Him for salvation from sin. It’s a claim of universal availability (Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, female) but not universal effectiveness (exclusive to those who “know Him”); He is sufficient for all but not efficient for all. He is efficient for the elect, for those who by grace come to Jesus in faith for salvation. Some use this verse to promote universal salvation, realizing what John teaches, that if God pours out His full justice on Christ for the sins of the whole world, then He can’t in justice issue an additional punishment on the sinner. But the parallel passage, also from John, helps tremendously. We let Scripture interpret Scripture by reading John 11:50-52 alongside 1 John 2:2. In that passage the high priest Caiaphas says, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” And John explains, “He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.” Jesus was not only the propitiation for the sins of Jewish believers, or for the sins of believers of John’s congregation, but for the sins of all believers everywhere, “for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). Properly explained, this verse strongly promotes the view of the rest of Scripture, that of Limited Atonement.
We pick up with v3 of chapter two, after John mentioned and answered three erroneous false teachings. The first error was that sin doesn’t matter; the second was that the sin nature is gone; the third is to claim that there is no more sin for the Christian. Now John helps his audience consider what true Christianity looks like with three tests: moral, relational, and doctrinal. Let’s take a look:
1) V3-6 – 3We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. 4The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love [Or, word, love for God] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: 6Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.
Coming off his rebuttal of false teaching, John moves into how we ought to recognize true Christians, both in ourselves and in our teachers. He begins with a moral test; v3 is very brief and very clear. “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands.” In v4, John gives a negative example. And in v5, John gives a positive example, along with a fruit of living this way. The phrase, “made complete” refers to God’s love being irrevocably established in those who live by it. Finally, in v6, John exhorts his audience to holy living, to prove that our claim of knowing God is true by walking as Jesus did. He assumes his audience is familiar with Jesus’ lifestyle, as recorded in his gospel.
We don’t come to know God by obeying His commands; notice John’s order – we know that we have come to know Him if we obey. We come to know Him by grace through faith. But once we know Him (not merely about Him), we must strive to live holy lives, which gives us assurance of our knowledge of God. Calvin’s comments are helpful: “The knowledge of God, derived from the gospel, is not ineffectual, but obedience proceeds from it… The knowledge of God leads us to fear Him and to love Him. For we cannot know Him as Lord and Father, as He shows Himself, without being dutiful children and obedient servants.”
John is teaching that salvation is evidenced by obedience, and, in turn, that obedience contributes to our assurance. And if we don’t progress in obedience, then our profession must be called into question. Actually it’s much harsher than that. Calvin says, “In short, no evil has been more common in all ages than vainly to profess God’s name.” The truth is not in the man who claims to know God but does not obey. God’s truth always turns a person to godly behavior; otherwise, it isn’t in the person. We must love God’s law in our striving to obey it (Deuteronomy 10:12, 30:19-20). Jesus loved God’s law; it was His passion; He lived to obey it. And His obedience revealed that God’s love was complete in Him. We strive to emulate Jesus (v6) to show that God’s love is truly made complete in us.
2) V7-11 – 7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in Him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him [or, it] to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
Having issued the moral test for authentic Christianity, John begins this passage in v7 with a relational test, by claiming to write an old command, a command that his audience has “had since the beginning” – the command to love one another. Since it is right to be suspect of “new” doctrine, John may mean that he has preached this command since his ministry began; or he may mean that this command is ancient, founded just after the Exodus at the giving of the law, in Leviticus 19:18. He may even be suggesting, rightly, that this is eternal truth, such as the gospel itself. And then in v8, John declares that he is writing a new command. In John 14, Jesus gives this same “new command.” It’s a call not just to obey the command, but also to be a daily and ever-renewing example of obedience to this command. In other words, this command does not grow old with time; as Calvin says, “It is perpetually in force… no less the highest perfection than the very beginning.” The old command has been there, even in times of darkness; but darkness is passing away in the lives of these believers. So the new command is given as “the true light is already shining.”
John is commanding believers to love one another not merely as an end in itself but also as an example to others, as a means to another end, that all would love one another as Jesus showed. Thinking of Jesus, it’s a call to a self-denying love. This is the relational test of true Christianity. And John wraps up his thoughts on this command by declaring in v10-11 that if you love this way, then you can’t stumble, because you’re in the light. But if you don’t love one another this way, as in 1 Corinthians 13, if you don’t progress toward this kind of selfless love, like Jesus’ love, if you hate your brother, even without using that word, then you’re in darkness, and you’re blind. So we’ve seen an introduction to the moral test and the relational test of authentic Christianity.
3) V12-14 – 12I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. 13I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Coming to v12-14, John wants to reassure his faithful children in the faith that they are secure in Christ. His teaching to this point in the letter may have caused them some concern over their own salvation. So he speaks to “dear children,” “fathers,” and “young men,” commending their faithfulness to God. Some commentators suggest that this address to three groups is actually to one group. That one group would be “children” – through forgiveness, now a part of God’s family – “fathers” – experiential knowledge of Christ brings responsibility to train the next generation – and “young men” – decisive rejection of Satan equals victory akin to Jesus’ in the wilderness.
Other commentators say that this address is indeed to three different groups within any given congregation. First, speaking to the “dear children,” or “little children,” John is addressing the newer believers in his audience. He says that their sins have been forgiven – for the sake of Jesus’ Name (or on account of His Name – see Acts 2:38, 3:6; 4:12, and John 17:11), and that they have known the Father. Do you see how critical these simple statements are to new believers? They are objective statements, encouraging and edifying and reassuring; forgiveness is not based on our performance in any way. God saves sinners when they are in their sin, not those who try hard not to be sinners. And they know God.
Second, speaking to “fathers,” John is addressing the spiritually mature people in his audience. He says they “have known Him who is from the beginning.” It’s a beautiful description that we know well. Certainly you have been around the spiritually mature and walked away thinking, “That person just loves Jesus.” There’s not necessarily a specific thing that stands out, because their full character carries the aroma of Christ and Life and Love and Light. It’s because they have know the eternal Lord.
Third, speaking to the “young men,” John is addressing those Christians who might not yet be considered spiritually mature, but who are certainly on their way in the growth in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ that Peter commands (2 Peter 3:18). John encourages them by declaring that they have overcome the evil one; they are strong, and the word of God lives in them. Basically, they can take heart, because the power of sin has been broken in their lives. They still fall, but they experience deliverance not only from the penalty of sin but also from the power of sin. And they do that because the word of God dwells in them richly. They fight sin by the word of God, and equipped to live for God and die to sin, they have overcome.
4) V15-17 – 15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Since the fifth verse of the first chapter, John has combated three errors, described a moral test and a relational test of authentic Christianity (he still will discuss the doctrinal test later), and provided words of encouragement for every level of Christian, the new believer, the believer growing in grace, and the spiritually mature believer. In this short passage, John describes perhaps the most noticeable thing about Christian behavior – being in the world without loving the world.
The word “world” can mean several things, but here John means, as one preacher put it, “‘evil men over against God’ – the sum total life of human life, human culture, the ordered world considered apart from, alienated from, hostile to God with Satan as its head” (1 John 3:1,13; 5:19). John likes dichotomies, and he often makes our grays into black and white; light and darkness, truth and lies, love and hate, and here, love for the things of God and love for the world. Also, the word “love” refers, as the preacher put it, “to a fondness and affection for an object because of its value, an appetite, a desire, something that I take pleasure in, something that I set my heart upon; what I am emotionally, physically, spiritually invested in; where I get my comfort, hope, and security. We’re not talking about things in and of themselves but our attitude toward things.” In other words, what is precious to you? Appetites for the things of the world are in complete conflict with those for God and His Kingdom. John Piper’s ministry, Desiring God, is all about making Jesus supremely valuable to mankind.
John breaks down the things of the world – desires (natural and necessary), lust (natural but unnecessary), and boasting (neither natural nor necessary) – and acknowledges that they do not come from the Father. What does your appetite say about who you are and what you love? What do the things you watch or look at say about who you are and what you love? And what do the things you have and way you spend your time say about who you are and what you love most? And these things, John says, pass away; but “the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Regarding God’s will, Calvin says, “What is spoken of here is not the perfect keeping of the law, but the obedience of faith, which, however imperfect it may be, is yet approved by God.”
5) V18-23 – 18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They 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 showed that none of them belonged to us. 20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth [or, and you know all things]. 21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
In this passage, John returns to the relational test of authentic Christianity that he has already discussed and moves into the doctrinal test of authentic Christianity as well. He says that we can know “it is the last hour,” or the end is near, due to the fact that “many antichrists have come,” just as Jesus said they would. The end times were ushered in with Jesus’ coming and subsequent Ascension. John’s audience had heard about the antichrist, and so they were well prepared. We need to be mindful of that, understanding that, though Christians generally look for the prophesied Antichrist, the principle of antichrist is all around, even in our local congregations. Therefore, we need to live with urgency and expectation, even as the first century faithful did.
As far as the relational test goes, John notes in v19 that some of the church’s members had left the fellowship over doctrinal disagreement. Calvin supposes that the Church was accused of producing “these pests,” but by their departure from the fellowship of believers, they prove that they were never true Christians. That’s what John is saying. He doesn’t claim that they were true believers and fell away; he says that their going showed that they didn’t belong. None of those who left the fellowship of believers ever belonged to the fellowship of believers. They may have held a membership card and made a profession, but apart from perseverance, John says we can be sure they were never part of the Body of Christ. Their inward apathy or hostility to the gospel could only be masked by outward conformity for a time. And that relational test also moves into the doctrinal test. For “what fellowship can light have with darkness” (2 Corinthians 6:14)?
One commentator says, “The fellowship of God’s people is built upon the reality of Jesus Christ and union with Him. And when we reject the reality of Jesus Christ, we are not capable of sharing fellowship with those who are in fellowship with Jesus Christ.” Those who remain, however, do so because they have the Holy Spirit (v20). Believers are bound to one another in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one Body, and one Lord. And the anointing John speaks of is the same anointing Jesus experienced; it’s a calling to fulfill duties like those of prophet, priest, and king, for the benefit of the Kingdom of God (John 14:12). John has not written to these believers, because they didn’t know the truth (v21). Instead, he writes to them precisely because they do know the truth. And thus, his encouraging words help them to persevere and confidently take hold of the assurance of their salvation in light of the false teachers and division in their midst. Remember John’s purpose in writing (1 John 5:13), “so that you may know you have eternal life.”
John has discussed how these antichrists come and go. And their going reveals that they fail the relational test of authentic Christian, among other things. But furthermore, these antichrists deny that Jesus is the Christ (v22). And that hits the heart of the doctrinal test of authentic Christianity. Whoever denies the Son denies the Father as well. And that makes him, one who professes to know God but denies Him by denying Christ, a liar, and an antichrist. Now John is specifically targeting the false teachers who claim any Jesus other than the Biblical Jesus. They may claim Jesus as Savior but deny his humanity. They may claim Jesus as Messiah but deny His divinity. They may claim Jesus as Christ but deny that He really died and rose from the dead. They are all false teachers. Note Calvin’s words here:
“I readily agree with the ancients, who thought that Cerinthus and Carpocrates are here referred to. But the denial of Christ extends much wider; for it is not enough in words to confess that Jesus is the Christ, except He is acknowledged to be such as the Father offers Him to us in the gospel. The two I have named gave the title of Christ to the Son of God, but imagined Him to be man only. Others followed them, such as Arius, who, adorning Him with the name of God, robbed Him of His eternal divinity. Marcion dreamt that He was a mere phantom. Sabellius imagined that He differed nothing from the Father. All these denied the Son of God; for not one of them really acknowledged the true Christ; but, adulterating, as far as they could, the truth respecting Him, they devised for themselves an idol instead of Christ. Then broke out Pelagius, who, indeed, raised no dispute respecting Christ’s essence, but allowed Him to be true man and God; yet He transferred to us almost all the honor that belongs to Him. It is, indeed, to reduce Christ to nothing, when His grace and power are set aside. So the Papists, at this day, setting up freewill in opposition to the grace of the Holy Spirit, ascribing a part of their righteousness and salvation to the merits of works, feigning for themselves innumerable advocates, by whom they render God propitious to them, have a sort of fictitious Christ, I know not what; but the lively and genuine image of God, which shines forth in Christ, they deform by their wicked inventions; they lessen His power, subvert and pervert His office.”
John is set on affirming the truth; the Jesus of Scripture is the only Jesus who saves. If you don’t get that, you can’t have fellowship with God the Father. And that’s huge. I always wonder here about genuine misunderstandings. I mean, say I’m a student of the Bible, and you’re a student of the Bible, and we disagree about something to do with Jesus that I deem crucial (like His sovereignty in salvation) but you deem relatively insignificant. If either of us is wrong, does that bring eternal condemnation? I don’t know. I hope not. But based on John’s teaching, I might conclude that it does. Getting Jesus right, according to the Scriptures, is the difference between heaven and hell. Thankfully, by grace, I remain certain that all who belong to God will be kept safe, as v23 declares. “Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” I acknowledge, if even imperfectly, the Jesus of the Bible.
6) V24-28 – 24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us – even eternal life. 26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in Him. 28And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
John has moved around quite a bit in this letter. He’s not like Paul going methodically from point to point. But we can make a pretty good outline nevertheless. In this chapter, John has laid out three tests of genuine Christianity – the moral test, do you strive to follow God’s commands; the relational test, do you love one another; and the doctrinal test, do you believe in the Jesus of the Bible. He has also paused to encourage his audience at their specific levels of understanding. And now John gives two commands to help his audience stand firm in the truth during divisive times and the presence of many differing false teachers.
First, in v24-26, John says that to avoid erroneous teachings, to avoid those trying to lead us astray, the teaching we heard at first must remain in us. In other words, we must cling to the original, simple gospel that we first received. The Holy Spirit ordained the original apostolic teaching, and having that abide in us, we remain united to the Father and Son, even unto eternal life. The teaching of the apostles, as recorded in Scripture, is what we must cherish and feed on and devour in order to be free from falsehood. We don’t simply acknowledge its truth and value; we embrace it as our life preserver in the raging seas of our fallen world, where the world, the flesh, and the devil try to make us fall away. Paul calls this lifestyle living by the Spirit, and the way we do it is to let the word of God dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16).
Second, in v27-28, John says that to avoid false teachings we, anointed by the Holy Spirit of Jesus, remain in the power of the Holy Spirit. We received the anointing from Jesus, and just as the Spirit’s teaching has taught us to do, we remain in Him. When John says, “You do not need anyone to teach you,” he’s not contradicting his own teaching. Rather, he’s contradicting the false teachers who are offering something not in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit can teach on that. We don’t need external help there. But we definitely do need expositors of Scripture, whom the Spirit uses to feed and grow us. That’s how we continue in Christ and gain confidence in Him in order to be unashamed before Him when He comes. John will talk more about the Spirit as his book continues. But for now, we avoid error by remaining in the word and having the Spirit remain in us to keep us in Christ. We'll pick up with the final verse of chapter two, which fits better with John's thought process moving into chapter three, on the next page.
Footnotes
- 2:2 Or He is the one who turns aside God's wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours but also
- 2:5 Or word, love for God
- 2:10 Or it
- 2:20 Some manuscripts and you know all things
Bible text from Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.