1 John 2
Here’s the text for this week’s study:
1 John 2
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 I am writing to you, little children,because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers,because you know him who is from the beginning.I am writing to you, young men,because you have overcome the evil one.I write to you, children,because you know the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers,because you know him who is from the beginning.I write to you, young men,because you are strong,and the word of God abides in you,and you have overcome the evil one. 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
Make a note to read all of 1 John in one sitting sometime this week, it will help keep the big picture in view.
Looking forward to sharing thoughts and observations again this week.
6 Replies to “1 John 2”
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There’s a word in verse 2 we don’t use every day. Would be good to make sure we know what it means. Here’s from Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary:
Propitiation
that by which God is rendered propitious, i.e., by which it becomes consistent with his character and government to pardon and bless the sinner. The propitiation does not procure his love or make him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to execise his love towards sinners. In Rom. 3:25 and Heb. 9:5 (A.V., “mercy-seat”) the Greek word _hilasterion_ is used. It is the word employed by the LXX. translators in Ex. 25:17 and elsewhere as the equivalent for the Hebrew _kapporeth_, which means “covering,” and is used of the lid of the ark of the covenant (Ex. 25:21; 30:6). This Greek word (hilasterion) came to denote not only the mercy-seat or lid of the ark, but also propitation or reconciliation by blood. On the great day of atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled with it the “mercy-seat,” and so made propitiation. In 1 John 2:2; 4:10, Christ is called the “propitiation for our sins.” Here a different Greek word is used (hilasmos).
Christ is “the propitiation,” because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured.
(Comp. Heb. 2:17, where the expression “make reconciliation” of the A.V. is more correctly in the R.V. “make propitiation.”)
Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary (emphasis mine)
Sorry if that seems a bit technical, but it’s a WONDERFUL word describing a remarkable work Christ does on our behalf! He became our substitute so He could take care of our guilt. ALL of it. Hallelu~!
Phil—
“How do you know?” is a really good question, especially when the alleged believer we’re observing is demonstrating marginal behavior when it comes to living a godly life.
How do we know?
How obedient is he/she? Doing what Christ says?
Living disobediently? There’s room to wonder.
Now here’s the rub.
We are MUCH less patient than God when it comes to ascertaining their spiritual health. We see this week and last. We remember a couple months ago and last year. God sees it all. He knows the beginning from the end. He can be dogmatic and sure. We can’t. We don’t know enough.
Does anyone remember how long the prodigal was gone? (from Luke 15) A summer? A year? Five? Fifteen? Jesus didn’t say, probably on purpose. The father never quit looking for his son’s return and when he saw him coming down the lane, his welcome and response was sincere, eager and filled to overflowing with grace.
So when assessing another, I need to be careful. God knows things I don’t. When assessing myself, I’m going to use the highest possible mark.
Keep His commandments
Keep His word.
If I say I abide in Him I’d better walk like He walked.
-=-=-=-
Vance Havner once said,
-=-=-=-
I wanna be like JESUS!
1
What an blessing and a privilege it is to have an “advocate with the Father” Especially when that advocate is Jesus the almighty himself. I have had to stand up for Billy over the years. Fighting to get what he needs to help him learn. But I am a mere human stop and think for a moment about the fact that we have Jesus standing up for us. WOW!!
2
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Him yet again. He not is standing up for us. He not only took my own sins upon his shoulders He also took the whole worlds.
3, 4 and 6
Loving Him means obeying Him. Trying to live like He did.
5
However we are mere humans who do muck up and sin. Over time and trying to obey Him He works in us perfecting us.
9
We are called to love. We are called to love everyone even our enemies.
10 and 11
By doing so we can walk in Jesus sweet light. If we hate others it is a sin.
I was once involved with an ex-manslaughter (he had served his time) this was a very very rough time in my life. He was very abusive. I to this day pray for him. He claimed he was a Christian yet he still sinned badly. He truly needs the Lord. I pray that the Lord is able to get deep inside him and work. I believe it is only through the pure love of God that he can be cleaned whiter than the snow and become a man of God.
12
Praise the Lord!!! Thank you sweet Jesus
15
We are not of this Earth. Loving things that exist here is only temporary. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus, on the big picture, on where we are going. this reminds me of the wonderful book I read not so long ago – Do You Know Where You Are Going – Sujo John
It also reminds me that we cant serve both things of this world, like $$ and Him.
16 and 17
I have struggling with this recently. I pray that You Lord help me to do what is right.
21 – 27
The truth is Jesus is real. He is Lord of all. There are some to claim they are Christ but they are not. There is only one Lord Jesus Christ and He is the messiah. We must belief and put our faith in Him. If we dont accept, believe and love Jesus then we also dont accept that His father is God.
If we do indeed put our faith in Him then we receive the gift of eternal life.
28
If we do indeed believe in Him and live for Him we can be sure that when He returns we will ready. We wont be like Adam and Eve and hide in shame. We shall be ready to follow Him where ever He leads us.
Today I’ve been meditating on Verse 28:
I’ve written considerably here about the concept of abiding and what it means to me, primarily from John 15 (You can search for “abide” or “John 15” in the margin search engine; I won’t fill this space with links.) and here the apostle John once again encourages his readers to abide in Him. I like the reason he gives. it’s noble; it’s practical:
When I draw my strength from God for everything I do, when my entire purpose for being is to bring forth fruit so he is honored, I’m going to SMILE when I see him coming, not wince and shrink, looking for someplace to hide.
One more reason to pursue a constant state of abiding in Him!
Young, middle-aged, and old, this letter includes you.
—Little children, your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. You know the Father.
—Young men, you are strong,and the word of God abides in you. You have overcome the evil one
—Fathers, you know him who is from the beginning.
Verse 16 is one of the easiest-to-remember summaries of what constitutes wrong. Everything worldly falls into one or more of three general categories:
—the desires of the flesh
—the desires of the eyes
—the pride of life
And none of it is not from the Father.
Pretty basic, but still hard to live by. Perhaps He knew that, and offered us the Comforter to live within and give us the strength hour by hour.
Thanks for the clarification of:
—Little children—Young men—Fathers—
… I needed that bit of information.
I like Vance Havner’s quote about the duck. Seems I’ve heard that somewhere before. 🙂
I guess that’s what keeps getting pounded home each time I read I John (all the way through) is that if I am a child of God and walking with the Lord, I will show it by the way I live.
If it is not evident by the way I live whose child I am, then I need to check my heart and #1 – make sure I’m a child of God or #2 – get rid of those things in my life that are dragging me and the name of Christ through the mud.
Good stuff here, isn’t it?
Jonell