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First Letter to the Church …
The first epistle or book one of John was likely written
between 95AD and 110AD, which means it is possible it may have been written
after the book of Revelations. In any
case, it was a letter written well into his old age. With old age, comes the wisdom of experience,
and perhaps for those of us less fortunate, the wisdom of regret as well. But as we age, we gain a clearer and clearer
perspective of what it really important in life, and what is not. It may be that as our mortality starts to
become an ever present reality, we begin to lose interest in the unimportant
things, and begin to focus more on those things that truly carry meaning. If this was so in the life of John, then the
themes which John focused on, would be those themes he felt were perhaps more
important than others. And what might
you expect to be a central theme from one called “the beloved”? That’s right, LOVE. But perhaps the greatest revelation ever
given the disciple John, was that God Himself … is love.
Chapter One …
In chapter one he begins with an outline of the reality of
Christ. John is clear that the Father
God his people had traditionally worshipped had a Son, who was sent to the
world and became one of us. Christ was a
real person. He was more than just the
Word of God, or an idea, he was real. John
states He was … “made manifest”. What is
more John offers a reason why this is important; fellowship. Being near to God, having a close proximity
to the God of the Universe, is the highest ambition any sentient being can
attain. John is here drawing a circle
and saying to his readers that it is Christ who was real, who makes it possible
for you to join with us in the circle of fellowship. When you join in fellowship with Christ, and
those who follow Him, you are also joining in fellowship with God the
Father. Hanging out with Jesus was
something his contemporaries might have been able to relate to, but hanging out
with God the Father seems beyond the reach of anyone. Here is John saying, it is just like being
with Christ, there is no difference. And
it is because of Christ that your fellowship with God is possible, and
therefore is something results in … “your joy may be full”.
Beginning in verse 5 John begins to articulate the character
of God. We have seen the same theme in
the writings of Jude and James, where Christians may be tempted to use the
forgiving nature of God as an excuse to embrace evil rather than to seek a cure
from evil. John begins by plainly
stating that God has no evil in Him.
“God is light” … there is no darkness in Him. If we aspire to be with our God, and share
that fellowship with Him, it will not be done in a place of darkness but in one
of light. How often do we tend to commit
our deeds of evil in secret, outside of public view and scrutiny? Bank robbers wear masks to hide their
faces. Rapists attack at night and in
places where they are largely isolated and alone. Corporate criminals hide behind nameless and
faceless business entities that are hard to track, and even harder to prove
personal liability. It is darkness that
facilitates hiding our evil deeds. And
there is no darkness in the presence of God.
His light dispels it.
John is equally clear about our own nature. We are not naturally creatures of the
light. Instead we tend to prefer
darkness in our natural state. Johns
tells us in verse 8 … “if we say we have no sins, we deceive ourselves”. And further in verse 10 … “if we say we have
not sinned, we make Him a liar.” John is
making the point that none of us are naturally perfect, or naturally inclined
to be completely in the light. We are more
like cockroaches that search for a place to hide from the light which reveals
our nature. But this is not a condition
we were meant to have to endure. John,
like his contemporaries Jude and James, consistently reveals how salvation from
evil works. In verse 7 he states that …
“the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” And again in verse 9 … “to forgive our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus forgives our past, and by His blood pays the penalty we should
have paid.
But beyond forgiveness, comes the cleansing from ALL
unrighteousness. It is not just our past
the Lord is focused on, but also on our present. In order to walk in the light, we must become
like our God who is the source of light.
We do not do this on our own. On
our own we sin, and run from the light.
But as we submit ourselves to Christ, as we confess that we are “unable”
to Christ, He forgives and cleanses us.
John is saying to his readers that you do not do it on your own, that
would make Him (Christ) a liar. Rather,
all of us need Him, all of us can be forgiven by Him, and more than that, all
of us can be made perfect, or cleansed by the work He does within us.
Chapter Two …
In Chapter two John continues by citing the reason for his
letter … “that you sin not.” Now John
just finished writing in the previous chapter that we all sin, and that we all
have sinned. What is more he continues
immediately after citing this reasoning by saying … “But if any man sin” … and
continues again with the mechanism of our forgiveness. So why would John give a reason he writes
when he seems to clearly understand who we are, and that we are all far from
perfect? Perhaps because John is trying
to remind us, that the removal of sin from our lives, is the very process of
salvation. As God’s transforming love
alters who we are, our sins and even our desire to sin, is what is removed from
us. As we embrace God and forsake the
evil of self, we lose the pain our self-focused actions always brought to us
and inevitably to all those who care about us.
The removal of sin then, is not a punishment, or a threat, it is a cure,
and a relief from the pain in our lives.
John writes to remind us that Christ is the source of this relief. Even if we fail as the very next thought reveals,
we can still go to Christ, and begin again on the process of perfection He
offers us as gift.
In verses 3 to 6 John, like James, shows how we can measure
whether our faith has been transformative or not. John, like James, measures our knowledge of
God by the actions we take. When we keep
the commandments of God, it is because we are allowing God to transform how we
think, what we want, and how we love. We
do not keep His commandments in order to obtain a transformation, but rather
because we are undergoing a transformation.
John writes … “in him verily is the love of God perfected:” Here is where the rubber meets the road, it
is ALL about love. It is love that
transforms us. It is love that was
willing to save us. It is love that
motivated the life and actions of Christ.
And when we begin to let Christ change us, and teach us what it means to
love like He loved, we begin to walk like He walked. Love is the motivation behind the law of God,
and the actions of God. When love
motivates the commandments can be kept.
When love is not the motivation, there is no way to keep the law. We can only keep a law we are in harmony
with, and this is not our natural state.
We can be transformed to be in harmony with God, and with His law, only
as we allow His love to remake who we are from the inside out.
In verses 7 through 11 John reiterates how our saying we
love God can be measured against how we love our brother. When the power of God’s transformative love
has truly infected us, and has become our central motivation, we will love like
He loves. God loves us all, even while
we are not yet perfect. Our perfection
is not a prerequisite to His love, it is an after effect, and this is a very
good thing. He loves us in spite of our
imperfection, and His greatest desire is to see us lifted out of our state of
self-inflicted pain. His love wishes
only to see us relieved from the pain we embrace, not continuing to languish in
it. How often Christians look at those
still engaged in their public sins and try to avoid “those people”. How often we look down our noses at them,
cast dispersions on them, consider ourselves fortunate not to be them – and
still call ourselves by the name of One who would only think to love those very
same people with His entire life. Our
God died to save that murderer, that homosexual, and worse that arrogant
“Christian” staring back in the mirror.
He did not die because He had to.
He died because He loves, and wants only to save the erring one from the
pain of his error. When arrogance is
replaced with humility and submission, Love is allowed to replace it. When love becomes an overpowering motivation,
it is no longer the sin of others we see in them, but the infinite potential
God sees, and the infinite value their lives carry with God, and now with us. This is the transformative effect Love will
have upon us, when in humility and submission, we allow Him to perform His work
within us. This is why it is so clear to
John, that we can tell a Christian, by how they love.
In verses 12 through 17 John talks again about how we love,
and what we love. When … “the Word of
God abideth in you, you have overcome the wicked one.” This is the nature of salvation. When it happens within us it changes what we
love. The things of this world are no
longer the things we value. The world
around us is obsessed with pleasing self.
Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are not the
things associated with God, only with the world. The life of Christ stands as a shining example
of what our God is like. Christ’s life
was one of selflessness. Our God was our
servant. Our God thought only of us and
never of Himself and His own comfort or pleasure. Instead He took pleasure in seeing freedom
from the oppression of the slavery of self, relieved within us. Our God thinks only of saving us, the
children that chose to leave Him. This
is a marked contrast with the philosophy of the world that seeks only to please
self, even if at the cost of another.
In verses 18 to 25 John addresses a similar problem as Jude
had done. It was not from the outside
that the attacks of the devil would find success against the Christian church,
it was from the inside. People and
leaders formerly associated with the Apostles “went out from us, but they were
not of us”. John distinguishes between
those who remained in the fellowship of the Apostles and those who chose to
break away and preach their own ideas about salvation. These men are identified for their most
heretical disagreement with Christianity – to deny Jesus Christ. By denying the work of the Son, they cut
themselves off from the presence of the Father.
The work of salvation can only come through submission to
Jesus Christ, when that work is denied, bondage to self and sin remain. Again, a Christian leader who plainly stated
they did not believe in the divinity of Christ would have been rejected by
those of the Christian faith. A belief
in Jesus is the central tenant of Christianity.
However, to deny the “work” of Christ in saving us, and instead profess
a belief in Him, without expressing a need to see Him change us, is to deny His
work. The “antichrists” that John
describes were not like the Jews who simply did not believe at all in the
divinity of Christ, but those who professed the name of Christ, yet denied Him
control over themselves. Any form of
Christianity that denies the work of Jesus Christ within us, and instead seeks
to promote the idea that we can through our own will and good works save
ourselves from evil falls into the category John classes as “antichrist”. The opposite of Christ’s selflessness is the
self-focus of those deemed antichrist.
In verses 26 through 28 John again reminds his readers to
stay steadfast in Him, to keep their salvation based in the work of Christ and
not of self. Only in Christ can we abide
to the end. Only in Christ is it
possible to see evil removed from within us.
Only in Christ can we be confident that at His returning our perfection
will have been achieved. If we were to
rely on self for our cure, we would inevitably fall short of His perfection and
find ourselves wanting to avoid His coming.
But by allowing Christ to do the work of perfection for us, and within
us, will not be ashamed at His coming, but rather our righteousness will be
born of Him. John is careful to never
take the credit for what is good that is reflected through us. Rather he always points his readers back to
Christ, the source of our righteousness.
Like his contemporaries he is ever mindful of the power of transformative
love that Christ brings to each human soul.
Every good thing or good deed that may come our way, does so by the
power of Christ to transform how we think, what we want, and therefore what we
do. And behind it all is the love of
Christ reflected through us.
Chapter Three …
In chapter three, John begins with perhaps the most astounding
words in scripture. He declares that
God’s love for us is so great that we … “should be called the sons of
God.” Notice, John did not say the
‘friends’ of God, or to be accurate the ‘redeemed’ of God. Most of us aspire to both of those. But to use a familial analogy in Greek, Roman
and Hebrew cultures where parentage on the father’s side determined most of
your destiny was a stunning revelation.
All throughout scripture only Christ was ever referred to as the Son of
God. John is here stating that because
of the sacrifice of Christ, and the love both He and His Father have for
mankind, they are elevating us to family status. We are beyond the role of best friend, beyond
the role of treasured associate, or needed companion – we are to be thought of
as actual “sons” of God. I do not
believe this was intended for us to internalize as meaning we are to be given
“god-like” powers at some point in the future.
Nor are we to become equal with Christ in stature with His Father, or
equal in our abilities to create things by sheer power of will. But the love that binds us together with God
is in fact so strong, that Christ thinks of us, as His direct and immediate
family. The bond of love we best
understand is the one Christ uses to show just how intimate he wants to be with
each of us. Christ does not seek a
casual, periodic, convenient sort of love relationship with us, but an intense
one, one that is always with you, one that is in your face so-to-speak. His passion for us is so great, He is actually
referring to us as His kids. John
marvels at love that is so great.
John continues that he has no idea just what the end of the
transformation process will have us looking like. He is not referring to our physical forms,
but to the wonder of transformation that turns our evil horrific lives, into
the bliss of perfect service. The
transformation is so radical, so pervasive, so complete that what it will turn
us into is something we cannot even imagine.
To be so like Christ that we too look like sons of God, is way farther
that humans have the capacity to begin to dream about. And it is important to note, that Christ
finds value in how He loves us. We often
measure God or Christ by their omnipotence, or wonderful power to bend laws of
physics, time, or space. But the simple
equations that God created to govern physics are not the rules he values. God puts value in the expression of love to
another without regard to self. On that
score, the life of Christ sets a benchmark of what it means to be devoid of
self, and dedicated to the service of others, even your enemies. The most powerful, being that has ever, or
will ever exist, set the benchmark for humility and service. He did not wield miraculous power to control
others, only to relieve the pain of others.
He did nothing for Himself, yet did not leave even one in need
unattended. This is the value God places
on existence. To be like that, is
something John has a hard time imagining.
In verses 4 to 10, John again describes what allowing the
love of Christ to transform us, looks like.
When we submit to Christ, and allow Him to remake us, allow His love to
re-create us, our sin goes away. We
become in harmony with the law of God, which is only a cursory definition of
love. When love itself is our primary
motivation, we do not think to steal, or lie, or murder, or cheat. Love is not expressed in those actions, only
pain is. Love seeks to relieve pain, not
cause it. We begin to sin no more,
because love just does not think the same way about life. The devil sins and violates every principle
associated with love, because his first and only interest is in himself. Anyone who gets in the way of Satan is
trampled underfoot by Satan. His
philosophy is in direct contrast with God’s.
Looking out for number one, is Satan’s idea, not Gods. God is looking out for everyone but number
one. He died to prove it. Satan is not interested in dying for you, he
is only interested in your death. When
the focus of your existence is based in pleasing self, your goals will
inevitably come up against the goals of someone else. When that happens, a self-based philosophy,
seeks first to please itself, if someone else has to suffer, so be it.
Verses 11 to 19 focus on the same theme nearest and dearest
to the heart of John, loving one another.
John states it plainly, when you love your brother, the love of Christ
is in you. When you do not love your
brother, it is because you have shut out the love Christ from transforming you
from what you are today to what you should become. When you love like Christ loves, you simply
cannot ignore the needs of others.
Christ does not fault the poor for their poverty. He does not blame the alcoholic for his
addiction. He does not condemn the
sinner for the fact that they are decidedly guilty of their sins. Instead He loves. He seeks to relieve their pain. He meets the needs of the poor, the hungry,
and the naked. He gives anything He owns
to those in need, without a second thought, or moment’s hesitation. And He brings peace and relief from the
self-inflicted pain our sins cause us and everyone that cares about us. Christ did not make social policy arguments
about how we need to teach the poor to get themselves out of their situation. If someone was sick, He healed them. He did not give them health lessons about how
illiterate they obviously are, or how their bad habits have led them to this
fate, or how our stupid decisions lead to pain.
He just healed them, because He loved them, and they needed it. If they were hungry He fed them. If they were lonely, He held them. If they were feeling guilty from their deeds,
He forgave them, and then freed them from the bondage of serving self. This is the life of Christ. Those who can ignore others in need, do not
know who Christ really is, because they have not allowed Christ to change how
they think, and how they love.
In verse 20 John describes the mystery of salvation. He says … “if our heart condemn us, God is
greater than our heart”. Our nature is
not to want to be saved. Our nature is
to ignore or reject God and continue down the path of self-destruction until we
reach the demise we crave. It takes an
act of intervention on God’s part to interrupt this natural chain of events, so
that we can even be free to make the decision to change our fate, and embrace
His redemption. If left to us, we would
choose “under the influence” of our addictive slavery to self, to remain in
slavery. Instead, God elevates us so
that we are able to choose Him, without our nature overpowering the choice
itself. Our heart need only remind us of
the truth of our failures, to rightly condemn us. But here too, God is greater than our heart,
and His mercy is greater than the truth of our failures. It is a mystery that His love is so great it
can forgive. But it is this mystery that
frees us.
John concludes the chapter by summarizing the keeping of the
law in simply loving one another. John
understood motives matter more than actions.
I can refrain from hurting you, without ever loving you. In so doing I have not truly kept the
law. But when I love you, I do so much
more than simply refrain from hurting you, I seek to bring you joy. When love motivates, it is natural to do
good. When love is absent, no deed
accomplishes anything. It is easy to
tell sincerity from mere oral arguments.
I can say anything. But when I
mean it, my words are backed by my actions, intentions, and consistency. My actions do not create my sincerity, rather
they are a result of it. My actions do
not create my intentions, but result from them.
My consistency comes because I mean it, I believe it, and I am not
casual about it. This kind of love can
be seen, not simply described. Christ
loves us in sincerity, and John makes the argument that when Christ dwells within
us, we truly love each other, and His Spirit is evident in us.
Chapter Four …
John opens with a very practical admonition, to paraphrase
he says ‘don’t believe everything you hear’.
Just because a prophet claims to prophesy in the name of God, does not
mean he does so. John recognizes that
there are supernatural forces at work in our world, both to redeem mankind, and
to work for his utter destruction.
“Spirits” may see beyond our immediate vision, and as such, John does
not say to test them by their accuracy.
But he does counsel, we should test them by whether they admit that
Jesus Christ came to this world in the flesh, and that He is the Son of
God.
It is also interesting that throughout his letter, John
addresses his readers as “little children”.
For it is only as little children that our dependence on Christ for
literally everything is recognized. Our
strength in spiritual matters is determined by “who” we allow to abide within
us, not as a picture of our own merits, abilities, skills, and experience. In verse 4 John addresses the “how” we have
overcome those who work to our demise … “because greater is He that is in you,
than he that is in the world.” It is not
about how “strong” we have become on our own, or the list of various good deeds
that help us to defeat the enemy.
Instead, like little children, who are fully aware they need daddy for
everything, particularly protection, our enemy is defeated by He who is “in”
us. Little children are not ashamed of
their dependence, they are actually happy to know they can depend. Little children are not burdened with the
“work” of salvation, as they realize that “work” is being done for them by
Dad. Little children then, are free to
love, free to play, free to enjoy. When
you encounter a Christian who loves first, and is happy, and is playful; my bet
would be you have encountered a true little child of God, who has finally
accepted the truth of how our salvation works.
In verses 5 and 6 John notes that the transformation is so
astounding that how we think changes, therefore what we hear and understand
changes. Ever considered the little
phrase … “that does not make sense”? How
many times do we apply logic to our day-to-day decisions and always attempt to
make sense of what we do. Yet when you
look at the basic relationship with God, it really does not make sense. God asks us to believe in what we cannot
see. God tells us He will change who we
are, despite the fact that we have been unable to do so. God often asks us to do things that just do
not make sense to the world like … ‘build an ark for a flood no one has ever
seen’, ‘step into a Red Sea that has been parted by unseen hands’, ‘look at a
snake on a cross to be miraculously cured of a poison bite’. In our day, as in times past, our God asks
you and I, to let go of the illusion of control over our own lives, and submit
our every breath to His control.
The only way that what God asks us to do begins to make
sense at all, is when we let go of our own ideas about wisdom, and begin to see
things from His perspective. The
fundamental conflict in the universe between good and evil arose, because
Lucifer did not trust what God said about the nature of evil. To Lucifer what God was saying … just did not
make sense. Lucifer trusted his own
wisdom on the matter of pleasing self, instead of serving others, and
everything that has transpired since has been a tangible lesson in the opposite
of love. This same test of trust is the
one we face. It does not make sense that
God can do in me, what I have seen myself fail at time and time again. But it works.
As such, and like a little child, I start caring less about what the
world thinks “makes sense” and start seeing that what God says “makes more
sense to me”. It may well be the
difference between seeing things from a logical and tangible perspective, and a
dependent spiritual one.
In verses 7 through 12, John again sums up the nature of
God. In verse 8 he says … “for God is
love.” Imagine it, the very things we
attribute to love, may well be the composition of God Himself. Beyond matter and energy, there is love. Beyond the limits of our imagination, there
is love. Every time you think you have a
handle on what love is, it surprises you.
A young couple fall in love and get married, right then they believe
they understand what love is. But
introduce a new baby in the mix, and they are both astounded to find, they knew
only one dimension of love before, now they see another. Introduce another child, and even though they
have one before, they find a new love in the new relationship they introduce
into their family unit. Even when after
many years, their children are grown and gone with families of their own, the
love the couple has for each other has grown as well, matured, deepened, become
more intense, and when they look back at their youth, they realize just how
little they really knew of love. This is
God Himself. We will never be done
knowing who God is. Just when we think
we understand His love for us, it will surprise us. God never tires of showing us what it means
for Him to love us. He does it before we
are even aware of it. He loves us before
we even know who He is. It is His love
for us that draws us to Him and inspires love in us for Him.
In verses 15 to 21 John closes out the chapter reiterating
the theme of how love dwells within us.
John tells us that when love dwells within us, that God dwells within
us. The belief on Jesus Christ is the
mechanism, love is the result. In verse
17 John states … “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.” Our love is made perfect, we are in effect
made perfect. While it is not our
natural state, through submission to Christ, we are made perfect, and the work
of this perfection is done inside of us by Christ. The result is actually boldness in the day of
judgment. We actually have a sense of
our harmony and affinity with God. It is
not that we are proud of the changes in us, but that we long to be with God,
and upon His return, we are anxious to be with Him. We would run to Him, rather than to call on
the rocks to fall on us and hide us from the brilliance of His coming. Our boldness reflects a lack of shame, and a
harmony with our Lord, and most of all a burning desire to be at His side. In this His love makes us perfect, the work
of salvation from the evil of self, to the beauty of service, this is the work
that love perfects within us.
Our perfection then leads us to a lack of fear in the presence
of God. Were there any still hidden
desires to sin, we like Adam before us, would tend to run and hide from the
revealing light of God. But due to the
beauty of grace, His work, His love has made us perfect from the inside
out. And the beauty of love, is that our
God loved us first. He loved us before
we knew who He was. He loved us, while
we still called ourselves His enemy. He
loved us while we still preferred the slavery of pain and death. And His love works a transformation in us, so
that we no longer only love ourselves, but instead love others ahead of self in
every way. The evidence of this
transformation is traced back to how we love those we have around us. We begin to love like Christ loves, unconditionally,
fully, without reservation or hesitation.
Thus loving our brother begins to be natural to us. Those who have a hard time loving their
brother are still relying on their own strength to accomplish it. Humans are frail, weak, and fickle. It takes a divine remake, to love like Christ
loves. This is a work only He can do
within us, and only as we allow it. So
John concludes chapter four.
Chapter Five …
John opens chapter five with a measurement of our love
against the commandments of Christ. The
law of love was summed up by Christ in that we love God with all our hearts,
and our brothers as ourselves. Against
this standard, only love is measured.
The words “I love you” ring hollow if they are said while I lie, steal,
cheat, envy, lust and dishonor you. My
actions over-ride the sentiment said from my lips. But when by faith, I allow the love of Christ
to transform who I am, the commandments of love become part of the very core of
who I am, and thus how I love. The
commandments are no longer thought to be a burden or grievous, instead they are
like breath, something we do without thinking.
This is the victory over the world, over self, over slavery to
pain. It is our faith in the work of
Jesus Christ; it is our submission to Him that brings the victory.
In verses 5 to 10 John enumerates how one God is made of
three distinct parts. Our God is made up
of a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit – three in union, in purpose, united to
bring us home. There are those
Christians who do not understand the concept of the Trinity, how one God could
be made of three unique entities. But
perhaps this confusion is due to a lack of understanding about love
itself. The very essence of God is to love
someone other than Himself, this is easier to accomplish when a Father loves a
Son, and a Son loves a Father. Love expressed
both within the Godhead, and to us, the creations of God. In Genesis when the creation of man is
recorded, the words reflect the idea … “let Us make man in Our image.” Even at the creation of man God is referred
to in the plural form, reflecting a family relationship that man was created
with the ability to emulate. We
understand the love parent has for child, and as John has pointed out earlier,
this is how God feels about us. We are
His kids.
In verses 11 and 12 John details what life itself is. Life itself is found in Jesus Christ. Christ is not only our creator and originator
of our lives, but life itself is only found in Him. “He that hath the Son hath life.” In Christ is everything that makes existence
worth having. Without Christ, our
existence would be defined only by our pain, and craving for the relief of
death. A life remade by Christ is a life
of freedom from pain. A life untouched
by Christ is an existence bound by slavery to self, and the extreme pain it
causes everyone. When we refuse to allow
Christ to remake us, we are bound to our pain.
It is not a threat John is making regarding our salvation, it is a
statement of fact – life is found only in the Son of God – those who reject
this idea doom themselves to the strength of their own humanity, and thus to
the pain of failure they are unable to avoid.
The problem with Islam, and Judaism, and Buddhism, and every other
religion in the world is the lack of Christ being able to remake who we
are. Without divine intervention, our
best efforts will always be nothing more than an existence of pain, the pain we
create, and the pain we endure.
In verses 13 to 15 John assures us that belief will lead to
transformation as we submit. When we
submit our will to the will of God, instead of to our own ideas about perfection
and how we can save us, our prayers become petitions we can be sure about. Doubt disappears when we submit what we want,
to be in harmony with the will of God.
Instead of putting our own desires first, we seek the will of God to be
first in us, and then what we ask of God becomes more about what He wants, and
less about what we want. The key is to
be in sync with God, this takes submission on our part, not on Gods. John writes that we should “know we have
eternal life”. For as discussed earlier,
eternal life is found in Jesus Christ.
John wraps up his letter by discussing differences in
sin. There is a sin unto death. While all sin is bad, when we replace Jesus
Christ with something else, when we look somewhere other than Jesus to get rid
of our sins, we risk the sin unto death.
There is no way to obtain forgiveness let alone transformation when we
look away from Christ. Idols, whether
made of stone, or simply elevated in our hearts because of the financial
investment we place in them, lead us to look away from Christ. Idols by definition lead us to worship self,
place value in self. They serve as a
replacement for the actual God our Christ, whose existence is defined by love
and service to others, with something incapable of service to others. Looking in the mirror for the removal of
sins, is worshipping at the altar of self, and it is risking a sin that leads
only to death, or away from the source of life, Jesus Christ. John’s final words of his first general
letter again reminds us to remain “little children” and to keep ourselves away
from anything that would seek to replace the work of Christ within us.
Who painted John, the Beloved ?
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