Bibliotheca
Sacra 145 (1988) 329-342.
Copyright © 1988 by
An
Expositional Study of 1 John
Part 2 (of 10 parts):
An Exposition of I John 1:5—2:6
D.
Professor
Emeritus of New Testament
Mennonite Brethren Biblical
Seminary,
And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to
you, that
God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say
that we
have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie
and do not
practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is
in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus
His Son cleanses us from all sin. If
we say that we have no sin, we are
deceiving
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all
unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make
Him a liar,
and His word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not
sin. And if
anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous; and He Himself
is the propitiation for our sins;
and not for
ours only, but also for those of the whole world. And by this
we know
that we have come to know Him, if we keep His command-
ments. The one who says, "I have come to know
Him," and does not
keep His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but
whoever
keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been per-
fected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one
who says he abides
in Him
ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked (1 John
1:5-2:6).
Following the weighty and difficult
opening paragraph (1:1-4),
John
launched into his discussion. It is exceedingly difficult to pre-
sent a logical analysis of the body of the epistle
(1:5-5:12). At-
tempts to analyze its contents are like attempts to
analyze the face
of the sky: "There is contrast, and yet there
is harmony; variety and
yet order; fixedness, and yet ceaseless change; a
monotony which
sooths without wearying us, because the frequent
repetitions come to
329
330 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July–September 1988
us as things that are both new and old."1
Attempts to produce a logical
analysis of its contents have
yielded widely varying results.2
John's method was not that of syl-
logistic logic but of categorical affirmation.
His thought moved in
cycles rather than straight lines. It seems best to
seek to trace the
flow and aim of John's thought in the light of his
purpose stated in
5:13:
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of
the Son of God, in order that you may know that you
have eternal
life."3 John presented tests of a
vital Christianity, which would
promote the assurance of personal salvation in
the lives of his read-
ers and would enable them
to detect and reject false teachers.
John began by discussing the test of
fellowship with God (1:5-
2:17).
Grounded in the nature of God as light (1:5), this test "is
largely directed against the Gnostic doctrine
that to the man of en-
lightenment all conduct is morally
indifferent."4 In 1:6-10 he showed
how sin hinders fellowship and he provided the
corrective; in 2:1-2
he set forth the divine provision for maintaining
fellowship, and in
2:3-17
he presented signs of fellowship maintained.
The Basis for Christian Fellowship
John moved into a discussion of the
first test without a break:
"And
this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to
you" (v. 5). "And" (kai>),5
as well as his reference to the apostolic
message, connects this test with the reality of
the Incarnation (1:1-3)
as the ground for true fellowship. The words
"this is the message"
(e@stin au!th h[ a]ggeli<a, lit. "and the message is this") point to its
abiding reality and prepare for the coming
statement of its sum and
substance. Have heard from Him" (a]khko<amen a]p ] au]tou?)
again de-
clares the abiding impact of
the message heard from the incarnate
Son
of God (1:3). Unlike the speculative claims of the Gnostics, this
is the true and abiding message received directly
from God Himself.
1 Alfred Plummer, The Epistles of S. John, The
Colleges
(reprint,
2 See
on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), 12:22-
27, for a number of these outlines.
3 So Raymond E. Gingrich, An Outline and Analysis of the First Epistle of John
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,
1943).
See this writer's outline in An In-
troduction to the New Testament, vol. 3: The Non-Pauline Epistles and
Revelation
(Chicago:
Moody Press, 1977), pp. 208-10.
4 Plummer, The Epistles of S. John, p. 77.
5 This is omitted in the
An Exposition of 1 John
1:5—2:6 331
"And announce to you"
again underlines the apostolic commission
to make that message known to others. The verb
"announce" (a]nag-
ge<llomen), or
"declare" (NIV), differs slightly from the verb rendered
"proclaim" in verses 2-3. While no vital distinction
between these
two compound forms is involved, the former term (a]pagge<llomen)
conveys the thought of proclaiming and making
known a message,
the term here (a]nagge<llomen) suggests proclaiming
again, or dif-
fusing knowledge of the message.
The content of this message is
stated both positively and nega-
tively: "that God is
light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
The
statement "God is light" is one of three assertions concerning the
nature of God from the pen of John: "God is
spirit" (John 4:24); "God
is light" (1 John 1:5); "God is
love" (1 John 4:8, 16). While other bib-
lical writers tell about the
attributes and activities of God, John
alone in these statements tells what He is.
"God is light" (o[ qeo>j
fw?j e]stin) is a metaphorical
statement of
His very nature. "God," with
the definite article, is the subject;
"light," without the article, is the predicate
nominative; the two
terms cannot be interchanged. The predicate noun is
qualitative, de-
scribing God as possessing the qualities of
light. Obviously it is not
to be taken in a literal sense. Whatever other
qualities this meta-
phorical designation may
include, it clearly involves the intel-
lectual and moral—enlightenment
and holiness. Just as light reveals
and purifies, so by His very nature God illuminates
and purifies
those who come to Him. His nature determines the
conditions for
fellowship with Him.
Characteristically the apostle added
a negative to his positive
assertion: "and in Him there is no darkness
at all" (kai>
skoti<a e]n
au]t&?
ou]k
e@stin ou]demi<a, lit. "and darkness in Him
not is, not one bit").
The
double negative stresses the total absence of any darkness in
Him. For John "darkness" is not merely the
absence of light; it has a
moral quality, standing in direct antithesis to all
that characterizes
God as "light." For pagans in John's
day, familiar with the Greek
and Roman mythologies, that was a startling
assertion. As
notes,
They had gods that could cheat and lie, gods licentious and unchaste,
gods
spiteful and malignant towards men, quarrelsome and abusive
toward each
other. They had been accustomed to think of the God-
head as a
mixed nature, like their own, only on a larger scale—good
and evil,
kind and cruel, pure and wanton, made of darkness and light.6
6 George G.
332 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July-September 1988
Whenever men create their own gods,
they create them in their
own image. The Gnostics in practice tried to mix
the two realms of
light and darkness or held that since they had been
enlightened the
darkness did not impinge on them. For John
"light" and "darkness"
represent two separate and distinct moral realms
in opposition to
each other. God and His kingdom constitute the first
realm; Satan
and his followers the second.
The
Hindrances to Fellowship
John next dealt with three
hindrances to fellowship in view of
God's nature (1:6-10). Cures are pointed out
for the first two, but none
is stated for the third hindrance.
THE
DENIAL OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF SIN
The
claim (1:6a). "If we say" (e]a>n
ei@pwmen) introduces a hypo-
thetical claim;7 it
does not assert that the claim has actually been
advanced, but it does leave open the possibility.
The claims indi-
cated in verses 6, 8, and 10
seem clearly to represent views advanced
by the false teachers. John's "we" is
inclusive, embracing himself
and his readers, as well as the false teachers.
The words "If we say that we
have fellowship with Him and
yet walk in the darkness" present the
religious profession, marked
by a clear contradiction between the claim and the
conduct main-
tained. "That we have
fellowship with Him" (o!ti koinwni<an
e@xomen
met ]
au]tou?) indicates a claim
that we have continuing fellowship
with God who is light (1:5). It is a claim to be
"united with God by a
living bond of common sympathy, interest, purpose, and
love."8 Over
against this high claim stands a contradictory
course of conduct, "and
yet walk in the darkness" (kai> e]n t&? sko<tei peripatw?men, lit. "and in
the darkness may be walking"). "The
darkness," placed emphati-
cally forward, marks the
contrasted sphere of conduct. "Walk" is a
common figure of speech to denote moral conduct. The
compound verb
denotes the whole round of daily activities,
including thought and
deed. The tense denotes the continued action.
The
condemnation (1:6b). John unhesitatingly pronounced a
twofold condemnation on this contradiction:
"we lie and do not prac-
tice the truth." His
positive assessment, "we lie" (yeudo<meqa),
sug-
7 "The Third Class: Undetermined, but
with Prospect of Determination. This
condition states the condition as a matter of
doubt, but with some expectation of real-
ization" (A. T. Robertson
and W. Hersey Davis, A New Short Grammar of the Greek
Testament [
8 J. M. Gibbon, Eternal Life: Notes of Expository Sermons on the Epistles of S. John
(London: Richard D. Dickinson. 1890). n. 11.
An Exposition of 1 John
1:5—2:6 333
gests they were claiming a known falsehood. It is not
an innocent
mistake but a conscious lie. Whenever there is a
clear conflict be-
tween an individual's verbal
claim and his habitual conduct, it is
always his conduct that shows what he is.
The negative assertion "we . .
. do not practice the truth," means
they fail to embody God's revealed truth in their
daily conduct and
character. As Stott observes, "Religion
without morality is an illu-
sion."9
The corrective (1:7). "But
if we walk in the light as He Himself
is in the light" reveals that the corrective
lies in altered conduct, in
a daily walk consistent with God's character as
"the light." The
standard and pattern of the walk is not left to
believers to determine
but is determined by His nature, "as He
Himself is in the light." The
expression marks the contrast between God who is
"in the light'' as
the natural sphere of His being, and those seeking
fellowship with
Him who must persistently endeavor to walk
"in the light." God is
eternal and abiding; believers are temporal,
moving through time
and space.
The result of such a walk is
twofold. Horizontally, "we have
fellowship with one another." While some
understand the phrase
"with one another" (met ] a]llh<lwn) to denote the
resultant fellowship
between God and man,10 it is more
natural to understand the recipro-
cal pronoun as indicating fellow believers. The
pronoun is used seven
times in I and 2 John and in each of the other
occurrences it clearly
expresses a human relationship.11 It is the result of believers' mu-
tual walk in the light, and
is "a gauge and a sign of the divine fel-
lowship."12 He who consistently has
trouble maintaining fellow-
ship with others walking in the light should examine
his own claim
of fellowship with God.
A Christian's walk in the light also
produces a vertical result:
"and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all
sin." One's walk
in the light does not produce the cleansing; it
only makes him per-
sistently conscious of his
continual need for cleansing. The cleansing
9 J. R. W. Stott, The Epistles of John, The Tyndale New
Testament Commentaries
(Grand
Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964), p. 74.
10 Zane
C. Hodges, "1 John," in The Bible Knowledge
Commentary, ed. John F.
Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, 2 vols. (
1985),
2:885; J. Dwight Pentecost, The Joy of Fellowship
(
Publishing
House, 1977), p. 24.
11 I John l:7;3:11,23;4:7,11,12;
2 John 5.
12 Bonsirven, quoted in Donald W. Burdick, The Letters of John the Apostle: An In-
Depth Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press,
1985), p. 123.
334 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July—September 1988
agent is "the blood of Jesus13 His
Son." This double identification of
the One whose blood cleanses indicates His unique
nature. "Jesus"
points to His life and death here on earth as a real
man, while "His
Son"
underlines the fact of His deity as the incarnate Son of God.
This
assertion of His dual nature repudiates the Gnostic denials of
the reality of the Incarnation.
"Cleanses us from all sin"
declares the impact of His blood as
continuous and comprehensive. The present tense
verb "cleanses"
(kaqari<zei, "keeps on
cleansing") presents its competence to do what
nothing else can, while the phrase "from
all sin" (a]po>
pa<shj
a[marti<aj) points to every act of
sin that may occur while believers
walk in the light. "One who lives in the light
knows his own frailty
and is continually availing himself of the
purifying power of
Christ's
sacrificial death."14 This is progressive sanctification.
THE
DENIAL OF HUMAN SINFULNESS
The claim (1:8a). The clause
"If we say that we have no sin"
sets forth another claim that hinders fellowship.
The claim, again
hypothetically stated, is a denial of
the sinfulness of human nature.
The
expression "have no sin" (a[marti<an ou]k
e@xomen), peculiar to John
in the New Testament, may mean denial of guilt of
an act of sin (cf.
John
19:11); but in view of 1 John 1:10 the expression seems intended
as a denial of the principle, or inherent nature,
of sin. It expresses
the claim of the false teachers that they have
advanced to a stage
beyond human sinfulness. It might be the claim of one
denying that
human nature is sinful. Near the beginning of the
present century a
certain professor in a liberal theological
school maintained the
goodness of human nature and that what some
insisted on calling his
"sinful nature" was simply the survival of his past
animal ancestry
which man had not yet outgrown! More probably the
claim in verse
8a
refers to those who acknowledged that they once had a sinful na-
ture but that by a deeper
personal experience this ugly root had been
completely eradicated in their lives. Years ago
this writer noted an
advocate of this view who quoted this verse this
way: "If we say
that we have [had] no sin, we deceive
ourselves." By this he meant
that the old sinful nature has been eradicated. This
view relegates
sin to the limbo of mistakes, frailties, pardonable
errors of human
limitation—anything but "sin." Barker well
notes, "Whatever the
13 The reading "Jesus Christ" in the
Authorized Version is based on the Textus
Receptus. Most modern editors
omit "Christ" here. For the textual evidence see Nes-
tle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece
(Stuttgart: Deutsche Biblestiftung, 1981);
Zane
C. Hodges and Arthur L. Farstad, The Greek New Testament according to the
Majority Text (Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publishers, 1982).
14 Plummer, The Epistles of S. John, p. 82.
An Exposition of 1 John
1:5—2:6 335
shape of the argument, and regardless of whether it
is an affirma-
tion from the ancient world
or a modern restatement, it remains true
that whenever the principle of sin is denied as an
on-going reality,
there follows a denial of responsibility for
individual action."15
The
condemnation (1:8b). Again John's condemnation is stated
both positively and negatively. Positively, "we
are deceiving our-
selves" (e[autou>j planw?men, "ourselves we
lead astray"16). The re-
flexive pronoun stresses that
this is man's own doing. The verb im-
plies serious departure from the truth. In Matthew
24:5 Jesus used
the term of the coming false teachers; in
Revelation it depicts the
work of Satan, the arch deceiver (12:9; 13:14; 20:3,
8, 10). Such self-
deception is possible only through a willful rejection
of the evidence
concerning one's inner nature as a fallen human
being.
The negative result is that
"the truth is not in us." Self-decep-
tion involves refusal to
allow "the truth" a place in one's inner being.
"The
truth" (h[ a]lh<qeia) denotes "that
specific body of truth, both
moral and soteriological,
that God has revealed to His people."17
As
a person commits himself to Christ that truth becomes his inner
possession.
The corrective (1:9). The
corrective for such self-deception is
stated without a connective particle. The hypothetical
form, "If we
confess our sins" (e]a>n
o[mologw?men ta>j a[marti<aj h[mw?n), implies that
believers must be willing to meet the stipulated
condition. More is
involved than a general acknowledgment of one's sinfulness;
it is the
confession of sinful deeds to God. To
"confess" means literally "to say
the same thing, to agree with." A believer
must frankly be willing
to say the same thing about his sins (the sins he
is conscious of hav-
ing committed) that God
says about them. Christians must acknowl-
edge their sins for what they are, rather than using
some flowery
designation that conceals their true character. The
present tense
calls for such confession as their standing practice.
The confession
should be as wide as the actual guilt.
The assertion "He is faithful
and righteous" assures God's re-
sponse whenever a believer's
sins have been confessed. God is "faith-
ful" (pisto<j) to fulfill His
promises of mercy to the penitent sinner;
He
is also "righteous" (di<kaioj)
in the way He deals with the con-
fessing sinner. The two terms
indicate that in dealing with a Chris-
15
Glenn
W. Barker, "1 John," in The Expositor's Bible
Commentary, ed. Frank E.
Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1981), 12: 311.
16 Robert
Young, The Holy Bible Consisting of the Old and New
Covenants Trans-
lated according to the Letter and Idioms of the Original
Languages
(
& Inglis, n.d.).
17 Burdick, The Letters of John the Apostle, p. 125.
336 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July—September 1988
tian.'s sins God is true to His word and acts
consistently with His
holy nature. His attributes of mercy and justice
find their perfect
reconciliation in the cross of Christ
(cf. 2:1-2).
When a Christian confesses his sins,
God deals with the double
result of those sins. The clause to forgive us our
sins" (i!na
a]f^? h[mi?n
ta>j a[marti<aj)
points to a result in regard to the guilt of sin. Sins not
only break fellowship with God but they also leave a
person guilty
and subject to punishment. But when a person
confesses sins to God,
He
graciously acts to "forgive" (a]f^?, lit. "send away, dismiss") them
as a definite act. God removes the guilt and
restores the fellowship.
The clause "and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness" states
God's
further act of cleansing or purifying believers from the pollu-
tion of their sins. Sins
make believers spiritually dirty as well as
guilty before God. Unrighteousness" (a]diki<aj) means that sin is a
failure to measure up, to the standard of
righteousness. The cleansing
agent is not confession but the blood of Christ
(1:7). Confession makes
possible its application to unrighteousness as a
definite act. "All
unrighteousness" underlines that
the cleansing is total.
THE
DENIAL OF THE PRACTICE OF SIN
The claim (1:10a). "If we say
that we have not sinned" (e]a>n
ei@pwmen
o!ti ou]x
h[marth<kamen) is a blatant denial of
any sinful acts in
one's conduct. In contrast to the denial of a sinful
nature in verse 8,
this is a denial of sinfulness in deed. If John was
setting forth the
claim of the false teachers as professed Christians,
then their claim
can be taken to mean "since conversion."
Bennett insists that "this
interpretation is required by verse 8
and the general context."18 But
the statement is not so limited. As Burdick points
out, "The perfect
tense verb refers to the past and with the negative
it includes all of
past time up to the last minute. It claims that one
is now in the state
of never having committed sin. It is therefore a
denial that one has
ever sinned."19 Such an individual
might acknowledge the reality of
sinful human conduct but claim that he himself had
never committed
such evil deeds.
The
condemnation (1:10b). John announced a double verdict on
such a blatant claim. Positively, "we make Him
a liar" (yeu<sthn
poiou?men
au]to>n, lit. "a liar we
make Him").20 Such a person brazenly
stamps God's testimony that "all have sinned and
fall short of the
glory of God" (Rom. 3:23) as a deliberate lie.
The present tense
18 W. H. Bennett, The General Epistles, The Century Bible: A Modern Commentary
(
19 Burdick, The Letters of John the Apostle, p. 128.
20 Young,
The Holy Bible Consisting of the Old and New
Covenants.
An Exposition of 1 John
1:5—2:6 337
characterizes God as being "a
liar" (cf. the words of Jesus in John
8:44.)
This impugns God's character and the whole program of re-
demption.
The negative fact is that "His
word is not in us." God's Word as
"the truth in the concrete form of the Scriptures, the
inspired utter-
ances of God's mind,"21
has found no place in his inner life and being.
He
has rejected the most elemental application of God's Word on his
own heart and conscience.
Unlike the two previous false
claims, for the third John offered
no remedy. For such willful rebellion against God
and His Word
there is no remedy. Unless that rebellion is
consciously terminated,
no possibility of acceptance and fellowship with
God is possible.
The Provision for Maintaining Fellowship
In 1 John 2:1-2, John set forth the
heart of the gospel message.
God's
provision in Christ Jesus enables sinful men to be forgiven and
have fellowship with Him. John indicated his ardent
desire for his
beloved readers (2:1a), recognized the awful
possibility that be-
lievers may sin (2:1b), and set
forth the adequate provision in Christ
(2:1c-2).
THE
ARDENT DESIRE FOR THE READERS
The apostle's deep pastoral concern
now prompted him to ad-
dress his readers directly as "my little
children" (tekni<a
mou). The
diminutive does not imply immaturity on the part of
the readers but
is rather an expression of endearment on John's
part. The term occurs
seven times in 1 John; setting aside Galatians 4:19
where the reading
is uncertain, it occurs elsewhere in the New
Testament only in John
13:33.
John heard this expression of tender affection from the lips of
Jesus,
and now in his old age it was a favorite term with him. His
fatherly heart went out to his spiritual children
as he sought to aid
them and warn them against sin and the false
teachers.
John wrote, "I am writing these
things to you that you may not
sin." This marks his ardent pastoral desire
for his people. "These
things" apparently looks back to 1:5-10, which
portrays the tragic
effects of sin. "That you may not sin"
(i!na
mh> a[ma<rthte) does not im-
ply that his readers were living in sin; the aorist
tense indicates
that they must not condone even a single act of sin.
John wanted them
to realize that "sin is so heinous in the
sight of God that it may not
be indulged in even once."22
21 W. E.
Vine, The Epistles of John: Light, Love, Light (
Publishing
House, n.d.), p. 17.
22 Gingrich, An Outline and Analysis of the First Epistle of John, p. 55.
338 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July–September 1988
THE
AWFUL POSSIBILITY OF COMMITTING A SIN
"And if anyone sins" (kai> e]a<n
tij a[ma<rt^) recognizes the awful
possibility of sin. The conjunction "and"
(kai>) implies that John also
wanted to make them aware of this sad fact. He was
fully aware of
human frailty and the seductive power of sin and
Satan. Because the
conjunction joins two antithetical clauses the NIV
rendering "but"
seems better here. The aorist tense again implies an
act of sin into
which the believer may be carried away contrary to
the true tenor of
his life. Such a fall into sin does not destroy his
membership in the
family of God but it disrupts fellowship between the
Father and His
child. God's holiness demands that it must be dealt
with.
THE
AMPLE PROVISION FOR MAINTAINING FELLOWSHIP
Having fallen into some sin, the
believer is not left to his own
poor efforts to effect restoration. God has made
effective provision
in Christ.
The personal Advocate (2:1c). In
writing "we have an Advo-
cate" instead of the
expected "he has an Advocate," John made clear
his own need for this Advocate. The present tense,
"we have," por-
trays Jesus Christ as continually maintaining His
activity as
"Advocate"
(para<klhton) on the believer's behalf. The term, often
transliterated into the English as
"Paraclete," is a compound term
meaning "one who is summoned to the side of
another" to help, corn-
fort, encourage, counsel, or intercede for, as the
need may be. In the
fourth Gospel "Paraclete"
occurs four times in Jesus' Upper Room
Discourse
(14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), always of the Holy Spirit.23 Only
here is the term used directly of Jesus Himself,
though in John 14:16
Jesus
implies His own identity as Paraclete by referring to
the Holy
Spirit as "another Counselor" (NIV).
John presented Jesus as an Advocate
with the Father," ever in a
face-to-face relationship with the
Father, pleading on behalf of
believers (Rom. 8:34). "The Father"
recalls believers' status before
Him as errant sons. If "Advocate"
is taken in a strictly legal sense,
Christ
is viewed as acting as the believers' "defense attorney"24
to
counter the charges made against them by Satan,
"the accuser" of the
saints (Rev. 12:10). In extrabiblical
Greek the technical meaning of
"lawyer" or "attorney" is rare; it generally
has the meaning of one
23 In each of these four occurrences The Amplified Bible (
Publishing
House, 1965) amplifies the word in this way "Comforter (Counselor,
Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and
Standby)."
24 Pentecost, The Joy of Fellowship, pp. 34-35; Gordon H. Clark, First John: A Com-
mentary (
An Exposition of 1 John
1:5—2:6 339
who appears in court as a friend speaking on
another's behalf.25
Then
Christ is viewed as a believer's Friend who "comes before God
the Judge to intercede for the believer who has
committed an act of
sin."26
John identified this Advocate as
"Jesus Christ the righteous."
"Righteous"
(di<kaion),
used without the article, is descriptive of His
character. "The efficacy of His ministry is
guaranteed by the righ-
teousness of His Person."27
Being personally conformed to all the
righteous demands of God's law, He pleads the
believers' case in
keeping with the requirements of a holy law.
The perfect
propitiation (2:2). John wrote that Jesus "Himself is
the propitiation for our sins." The pronoun
"Himself" (au]to>j) under-
lines the personal identity of the Christians'
Advocate with "the
propitiation for our sins."
"Is" (e]stin) indicates that His
past aton-
ing work as "the
propitiation for our sins" has perpetual validity.
The
noun rendered "propitiation" (i[lasmo<j), occurring elsewhere
in
the New Testament only in 1 John 4:10, denotes the
means whereby
sins are covered and remitted. Had John written that
Jesus is the
"Propitiator,"
half the truth would have been lost. Then His work
would have been comparable to that of the high priest
on the Day of
Atonement
when he sprinkled sacrificial blood on the, mercy seat to
cover the sins of the people so that God could again
deal with them
in mercy. Unlike the Old Testament high priests,
Jesus Christ is
Himself
"the atoning sacrifice" (NIV) in that He offered Himself as
the sacrifice whereby the barrier which sin
interposes between God
and man is removed. Pagans might think of offering
sacrifices to ,ap-
pease their offended gods as
a means of regaining their favor, but
Scripture
presents God Himself as taking the initiative in sending
His
Son as the propitiation for sins (4:10); the cause of the estrange-
ment between God and man
lies with man, not God. In making "Him
who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf" (2 Cor. 5:21) God achieved
the true and lasting solution to the sin problem;
the perfect sacrifice
of the incarnate Christ enables God to "be
just and the justifier of the
one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26).
The scope of the atoning sacrifice
was "not for ours [i.e., our sins]
only, but also for those of the whole world"
(2:2b). The strong ad-
versative "but" (a]lla>) marks the contrasted sphere of "our" sins and
those of "the whole world," the world of
mankind. The expression
25 Walter
Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
and Other Early
Christian Literature, trans. William F. Arndt
and F. Wilbur Gingrich (
versity of Chicago Press,
1957), pp. 623-24.
26 Burdick, The Letters of John the Apostle, p. 130.
27 Vine, The Epistles of John,
p. 21.
340 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July—September 1988
offers no basis for universalism, but means that
"no one is, by Divine
predetermination, excluded from the
scope of God's mercy; the effi-
cacy of the propitiation,
however, is made actual for those who be-
lieve."28 It reminds believers that
they are not the exclusive objects
of God's redemptive concern. But God has decreed
that to be saved
each sinner must personally accept Christ as his
Redeemer. "Men
may—yea, and do—reject the propitiation when they
reject the Pro-
pitiator—the Lord Jesus
Christ."29
The Signs of Fellowship Maintained
The opening "and" (kai>) in 2:3 connects this
paragraph (2:3-6)
with the preceding discussion concerning fellowship.
John presented
two closely related signs that show that fellowship
is being main-
tained.
THE
SIGN OF OBEDIENCE
John fully believed in the reality
of knowing God. He wrote,
"And
by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep
His commandments" (2:3). But in contradiction to
the Gnostics, he
maintained that no professed knowledge of God is
valid if it does not
have moral consequences. The phrase "by
this" (e]n tou<t&) looks for-
ward to the sign of obedience in the second half of
the verse.
John
then spoke of "knowing" God as synonymous with having
fellowship with Him. The statement "we know
that we have come
to know Him" (ginw<skomen o!ti e]gnw<kamen au]to<n) points to inner pro-
gressive knowledge or assurance
that believers have entered into a
state of knowing Him. Here John used this verb to
denote knowledge
gained by experience or instruction. "Him"
may mean either the Fa-
ther or the Son; in reality
the believer knows both, since the Father
has revealed Himself through His Son.
"If we keep His commandments"
declares the ground for assur-
ance. The conditional
statement again recalls that this may not be
true of some who loudly claim to know God.
"Keep His command-
ments" (ta>j e]ntola>j
au]tou? thrw?men, lit. "His
commandments we may
be keeping") demands a careful, watchful
obedience to the commands
of God, not one's own self-chosen practices. Such
obedience must be
the characteristic practice of the one who is in a
state of knowing
God. The one who has been brought into a saving
relationship with
28 W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words with Their Precise
Meanings for English
Readers
(reprint,
3:225.
29
Gingrich, An Outline and Analysis of the First Epistle of John. p. 60.
An Exposition of 1 John
1:5—2:6 341
God
finds within him a growing love for and desire to obey His com-
mandments.
In 2:4 this test of obedience is
underlined by its very opposite.
"The
one who says" (o[
le<gwn) now replaces the hypothetical "if"
construction. While essentially the
same, the "if" construction stres-
ses the hypothetical
assertion made, while this construction pictures
the individual personally advancing the indicated
claim. Here two
present tense participles under one article mark
the sharp contra-
diction between claim and conduct, "saying
. . . and not keeping" (o[
le<gwn . . . mh>
thrw?n). His conduct invalidates his claim. For John
the
knowledge of God can never be merely speculative,
or mental profes-
sion; it must be practical
and experiential.
John's evaluation is twofold.
Positively, such a person "is a
liar," making a claim which deep within he
knows is false; his
character is bad. Negatively, "the truth is
not in him" (e]n tou<t& h[
a]lh<qeia
ou]k e@stin). God's revealed truth
is not present in him.
By contrast, "whoever keeps His
word, in him the love of God
has truly been perfected" (2:5a). These words
speak of the glorious
outcome of obedience. It is assumed that this
individual has de-
clared himself a believer, but
the crucial concern is whether he is
habitually keeping "His word." The
designation is broader than
"His commandments" (2:3). His concern is to be
obedient in any mat-
ter that he knows to be
God's will. As a result "In him the love of
God
has truly been perfected" (a]lhqw?j e]n tou<t& h[ a]ga<ph tou? qeou?
tetelei<wtai). "Truly,"
placed emphatically forward, stresses the
assured result "in this one."
"The love of God" may be taken as an
objective genitive, "man's love for
God,"30 or as a subjective genitive,
"God's love."31 Both make good sense,
but the latter here seems more
probable. In support of the subjective sense, Kistemaker points to
"the
parallel in verses 4 and 5—'[God's] truth is not in him' (v. 4) and
'God's
love is . . . in him' v. 5," as well as the fact that in "the epis-
tle John explains the
origin of love: 'love comes from God' (4:7)... .
God
is the source and giver of love."32 Then the meaning is that in
the habitually obedient believer God's love
"has been perfected"; it
has attained its goal objectively in him. "An
obedient believer has a
30 Plummer, The Epistles of S. John, p. 91; Burdick, The Letters of John the Apostle,
pp.
137-38; Stott, The Epistles of John, p. 91.
31 Hodges, "1 John," p. 888; Brooke
Foss Westcott, The Epistles of St. John
(reprint,
16.
32 Simon J. Kistemaker,
"Exposition of the Epistles of James and the Epistles of John,"
in New
Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1986), p. 257.
342 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July—September 1988
deep, full-orbed acquaintance with ‘God's love.’"33
THE
SIGN OF IMITATION
"By this we know that we are in
Him" (2:5b) may be taken with
what precedes or follows. Views are divided, but it
seems best, with
most modern versions,34 to take it with
what follows. This agrees
with the same expression in 2:3. The experiential
knowledge gained
from the test is that "we are in Him,"
meaning either the Father or
the Son. The ambiguity may be intentional. Vine
well remarks,
The condition of being "in
Him" is not a matter of absorption into De-
ity, as Pantheism teaches, but of spiritual
relationship and unity of life,
which
involves the removal of the alienation of man in his unregener-
ate state
from God, and the enjoyment of fellowship with God and one-
ness with
Him in His will and purpose.35
The words "the one who says he
abides in Him" (o[
le<gwn e]n
au]t&?
me<nein) refer to the individual's testimony concerning
his
characteristic relationship with God.
"In Him" apparently refers to
the Father rather than the Son. "Abides"
(me<nein), a characteristic
Johannine term, portrays habitual fellowship with
Him as an active
relationship that endures. A
believer's testimony involves moral
obligation: "ought himself to walk in the same
manner as He
walked." "Ought" (o]fei<lei), rather than
"must" (dei), points to an
abiding inner realization that "he who
declares his position is
morally bound to act [according] to the
declaration which he has
made."36
"In the same manner as He
walked" (kaqw>j
e]kei?noj
periepa<th-
sen, lit. "even as that one walked") calls for careful conformity
to
the pattern left by Christ as He engaged in His
daily activities here
on earth. The completed example now stands before
the believer,
challenging him to be walking "in the same
manner" (au]to>j), in ex-
act conformity to the example before him. In thus
insisting that
there is an inseverable
bond between the believer's professed rela-
tionship to Christ and his
morally consistent conduct, John delivered
a crucial blow against the Gnostics who tried to
divorce their
claimed spiritual enlightenment from their daily
moral conduct.
33 Hodges, "1 John," p. 888.
34 This is the rendering in the ASV, Berkeley,
their use of a colon at the end of verse 5.
35 Vine, The Epistles of John,
p. 25.
36 Plummer, The Epistles of S. John, p. 91.
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