I John 2:1-7

This month's Series looks at I John verse by verse.

Yesterday's post concluded I John 1 by covering five IF/THEN statements immediately following the MOST important verse in this Series: I John 1:5.

John is building a model. Here is the summary of his model from I John 1:

If we have Fellowship with God then we will:
-walk in the light
-have fellowship with each other
-confess our sins
-be cleansed by Jesus' blood

We are lying if we say:
-we have Fellowship with God and walk in the darkness
-we have no sin

If we say that we have not sinned:
-we are calling God a liar
-His Word is NOT in us

Today, we will look at the next layer of John's model...


I JOHN 2:1-7
"1 My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world."

It is only two verses, but there is a lot here...

-"My little children" means this section is written to new believers.
-John states the reason he has written these thing is so that these new believers may not sin. However, we know that people are going to sin...so John is trying to help people do the best they can at NOT sinning. John's solution is to have Fellowship with God and all the effects mentioned in I John 1 will follow. (See model above.)
-John then ALSO helps people after they sin by stating that if you sin, you have an Advocate: CHRIST.

This month's Series is actually a "reprint" of a study done in conjunction with Joel Swokowski. From time to time during this Series, I will quote directly from Joel's notes. Joel did the following word study for "Advocate":

Advocate comes from the Greek word paraklētos which means:

"summoned, called to one's side, esp. called to one's aid" and "one who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate"

Joel also writes:
"God is the objective Judge. He sees sin and recognizes the unrighteousness and injustice. Christ is our Lawyer. He pleads our case to God, the Judge AND...Christ pays the bill. Christ is our propitiation. His Blood paid for our sin. Not only for our sins (believers) but for the sins of the WHOLE world (EVERYONE WHO EVER LIVED, IS LIVING, OR WILL EVER LIVE, BELIEVER OR UNBELIEVER)."

Joel does a great job of summarizing John's HUGE point: not only is Jesus acting as our Advocate, but HE also paid the bill! ONLY Jesus could pay our bill...AND we could NOT find a better Advocate than Jesus. This is Great News!

FURTHERMORE, John introduces a powerful DOCTRINE: Jesus paid for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD.

Again, there are "versions" of Calvinism that state Jesus ONLY died for those who eventually make it to Heaven.

The associated man-made doctrine involves God predestinating people to be saved and predestinating people to go to hell. God then knowing exactly which people are which before they were created. Then God knowing the exact number of people that would ever exist from the beginning of time. Then God knowing the exact number of sins the people predestinated to go to Heaven were going to commit. Then God having Jesus ONLY have enough value to cover the sins of the people predestinated to go to Heaven. Then people saying the ONLY way God could SPECIFICALLY know the amount of value Jesus needed to create ACCORDING TO THIS MAN-MADE DOCTRINE is if the future already happened...so they state this "proves" the future has already happened!

Meanwhile, NONE of this is supported by the Word of God!

John BLATANTLY states that Jesus died for EVERYONE. EVERYONE has their bill paid. EVERYONE is able to make it to Heaven. The ONLY reason a person does NOT make it to Heaven is because THEY choose NOT to have Fellowship with God and walk in the light.

John justifies God by showing that it is OUR fault if we don't make it to Heaven.

Again, the Calvinist doctrine justifies man by making all of this God's fault. A Calvinist will attempt to rationalize this by saying that "we all deserve hell so God is to be praised that He lets ANY of us go to Heaven". However, whose fault is it that we all deserve hell if the future has already happened?

John has made a powerful statement (verses 1 and 2) as a CAUSE, so now it is time for him to explain the EFFECTS:

"3 And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him:
6 he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked."

Wow!

John begins with "And hereby we know that we know him..."

Notice, John is NOT focused on whether we KNOW God. John has gone one step better! John is telling us that we can KNOW THAT we know Him!

People who walk in darkness embrace OBSCURITY...they state that we can't or aren't supposed to KNOW important aspects of God.

Here, John BLATANTLY contradicts these people by not only saying we can KNOW THAT we know Him...but he is going to show us HOW we can KNOW THAT we know Him!

WHY would you listen to ANY person who tells you that you can't know or aren't supposed to know the MOST important things concerning God?

Just like the previous post, John takes this Statement (CAUSE) through IF/THEN statements...


Verse 3
IF: we keep His commandments
THEN: we KNOW THAT we know Him

If you keep God's commandments, then you can KNOW THAT you know God. What are God's commandments?

First Command: Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, spirit, and strength

Second Command: Love your neighbor as yourself.

The Second Command is an EFFECT of the First Command. The ONLY way you can do the First Command is if you CHOOSE to let God do it through you.


Verse 4
IF: we say we know Him AND do NOT keep His commandments
THEN: we are a liar AND we KNOW THAT we DON'T know Him

Just like yesterday's post, SAYING something AND NOT DOING it results in lying. However, there is an additional layer John has added this time around: we KNOW THAT we DON'T know Him.

Notice, John did NOT cover people who SAY NOTHING and do NOT keep His commandments...right now, John is stating what he knows FOR SURE.

John KNOWS FOR SURE that people who do God's Commands (REGARDLESS of what they say) KNOW THAT they know God.

John KNOWS FOR SURE that people who SAY they know God AND DON'T DO His Commands, are liars and KNOW THAT they DON'T know God.

John hasn't addressed people who say nothing AND DON'T DO His Commands.


Verse 5
IF: we keep His Word
THEN: the love of God has been perfected in us

Remember, "perfect" means "maximum Profitability". If we keep His Word (the PROOF is DOING His Commands) then THAT is the maximum "love" that can be accomplished. What is love?

We are going to see that John defines "love" the same way as Jesus and Paul. However, for now, notice these verses bring up God's Commands...and we know God's Commands BOTH begin with LOVE. Actually, John introduced the concept of "love" as a measure of KNOWING GOD two verses earlier. Now he is "naming" it. If you REALLY need to understand RIGHT NOW what is LOVE according to the Bible, then click this link: Biblical Definition of Love. Otherwise, we will let John work his way up to giving his explanation...

For now, we know that keeping God's Word results in the love of God being perfected in us.


Verse 6
IF: we say we abideth in Him and walk as He walked (in the light)
THEN: we KNOW THAT we know Him

Abideth is Strong's #3306 meno - "to stay...abide, continue, dwell..." This verse speaks of "living/dwelling" in Him.

John is saying that we will KNOW THAT we know Him IF we say we live in Him AND walk (make progress) as Jesus walked (made progress in the light).

John has introduced the concept of "abiding in" (or living in) to the model.


"7 Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard."

John sums up this passage by reminding new believers that what he just wrote is not something they didn't know...this is something they OUGHT to already have known. He completes this feedback loop by returning to where he began this letter: the Word. In fact, what we just read is the same model as Chapter 1...with another layer added to it.


SUMMARY OF MODEL
John has added another layer onto the model he presented at the end of Chapter 1. This layer is made up of:
-God's Commands
-love
-abiding

Here is the model after this layer has been added:

If we keep His commandments, then we will KNOW THAT we have Fellowship with God.

If we have Fellowship with God then we will:
-walk in the light because God abides in us
-have fellowship with each other
-confess our sins
-be cleansed by Jesus' blood and defended by Jesus when we do sin

We will KNOW THAT we DON'T have Fellowship with God if we lie by SAYING we know Him AND DON'T keep His commandments.

We are lying if we say:
-we have Fellowship with God and walk in the darkness
-we have no sin

If we say that we have not sinned:
-we are calling God a liar
-His Word is NOT in us

If we keep His Word then the love of God is perfected in us.


I John 2:1-7 is just another layer onto a model that the new believer already knew.

Next, John is going to share something new...

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