READINGS IN JOHN'S FIRST EPISTLE - 1 JOHN 2
READINGS IN JOHN’S FIRST EPISTLE - 1 JOHN 2
The opening verse begins with “My children”. 1 John 2:1. It is parental, an expression the apostle could use; his place among the saints warranted it. In chapter 2 it is more John’s family, but in chapter 3 it is the family of God. If there is one thing that the saints need more than another it is this parental care. There are very few who have the moral weight to address the saints in this way. It is to be distinguished even from the authority of the teacher. Paul said, You may have ten thousand instructors,
[p. 99] but not many fathers; 1 Corinthians 4:15. Paul claims those who were the direct fruit of his ministry. John here rather addresses the saints generally in parental interest. He could speak thus on account of his great experience and his affection for the saints. In the Revelation he is the “brother and companion in tribulation” of the saints Revelation 1:9. John would seem to refer to his position as known among the saints, particularly the Jewish believers, as one having experience and affection not merely as an apostle. He received no distinct commission such as Paul received, but the Holy Spirit records the incident connected with his call: he was with his father Zebedee in the ship, so he was marked as a family man from the outset. That works out in his writings and ministry so that in using these words, “My children” he would use them knowing that he had a moral right to do so.
In his second letter John addresses “the elect lady and her children”. 2 John 1. The elect lady would suggest the maternal thought of what should appear in any local company. As a father, he would appreciate in the children the marks of maternal care. He says, “I rejoiced greatly that I have found of thy children walking in truth”. 2 John 4. In the third epistle he again speaks of “my children”. He says, “I have no greater joy than these things that I hear of my children walking in the truth”. 3 John 4. Gaius suggests the paternal, and the elect lady the maternal side. The features of the parents are to be seen in the children.
The apostle was writing them that their joy might be full, but the message was, “God is light”. 1 John 1:5. Then he says, “My children, these things I write to you in order that ye may not sin”. 1 John 2:1. The word that comes to us as one of the features of this letter is that we should not sin. It is well to be reminded that we should not sin. The fact that we have sin is no warrant for us to commit sin. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves”. 1 John 1:8.
[p. 100] Jacob was concerned as to his twelve sons. He says, “Hearken unto Israel your father”. Genesis 49:2. He had something to impart to each, a blessing, even for Daniel To enjoy the blessing it is well to be reminded of the dangers that exist. The epistle we are considering opens up with blessing, the blessing of eternal life, but in order that we should not miss it, the message comes in so that we should be on our guard against sin, because sin robs us of the blessing. God has provided a means of preservation, so that it immediately says, “If any one sin, we have a patron with the Father”. 1 John 2:1. We have an Advocate in Jesus. The enjoyment of the blessing depends on our being maintained in communion with God. Hence our Advocate is with the Father. Jacob blessed all the tribes, but if they were to enjoy the blessing, they must be on their guard against their natural proclivities; each had his own danger. What he said was light for the tribes from the very beginning to the end; light on their whole course. Moses’ blessing ( Deuteronomy 33) does not afford any of these warnings, because the saints are viewed in the light of God’s purpose, as having the Spirit, whereas Jacob views them historically. This epistle includes both sides — our actual historical condition, and our abstract state as born of God. Jacob’s blessing brings in the bad as well as the good; Moses speaks of the good only.
In the introduction we have the message that “God is light”, 1 John 1:5, and the actual conditions in which the saints are found here. The second chapter is the mixed condition of things in which we are found. In that way the advocacy of Christ becomes exceedingly important. Even if sin occurs, we are preserved in connection with God. The Lord said to Peter, “I have prayed for thee”, Luke 22:32. He had prayed for him in anticipation of his fall.
This chapter runs parallel with Luke 22. In the latter we have, first, “The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table”, Luke 22:21, that is, one of the number. That is there to remind us of our capabilities. Then the next thing is their contending with one another as to which should be the greatest, and then Peter saying, “With thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death”, Luke 22:33, and the Lord has to say, “The cock shall not crow today before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me”. Luke 22:34. That is what you get here, but the advocacy begins before the things happen.
We have often been reminded that the same word is used for “Comforter” in John 14, but here we have Christ before us as the Advocate. John would have us to know who is there and the service the Lord is rendering us. Our Patron with the Father is Jesus Christ, the Righteous. If it is a question of the blood, it is the blood of God’s Son, but the Advocate is One who is never lawless. “The Righteous” is a very strong way of putting it. That is what He was; it involves His work. As you think of the history of the assembly from the beginning this service is all the more appreciated.
On the providential side we see the care of the Father, even the hairs of our head are numbered, but on the side of the maintenance of the purity of the relationship of the family, the advocacy of Christ provides for it and the same One who is our Advocate is made the propitiation for our sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. 1 John 1:9. The advocacy of Christ brings about the confession and forgiveness. Here our souls are set on a sure foundation. We have here the provision made in view of the long history of sin in this world, so that we might be preserved in communion with God. Every sin committed by believers has been met by Him who is the propitiation for our sins and “for the whole world” 1 John 2:2.
So God is “faithful and just” to forgive our sins. The propitiation is what He is; the bearing of His work remains in Himself in the presence of God in all its value. It is in relation to the “whole world”. There is no other propitiation; it is not exclusive, He is for the whole world, and for all time.
Luke 22 is very remarkable in that way; it groups together the external features which mark the saints throughout the whole period, in what we might call mixed conditions, the conditions we have to recognise in our relations to one another. Luke 22 and John 13 go together, only Luke gives us more the public conditions; there is a possibility of one having his hand on the table and yet being a betrayer; and then there are those who vie with one another as to which shall be the greater; and then there is one who professes to have more love than the rest, and he denies the Lord. That is what you get in Luke 22. In John 13, you get the betrayer, but he goes out. His hand is not said to be on the table. No doubt the light of Christ’s service forced him out. Then there is Peter; he does not go out, but he says, “Thou shalt never wash my feet”, John 13:8. He is a true believer who would assert his own will even to the Lord. He placed the Lord in the position of One who erred; he said in effect, he knew better than the Lord. Then John was there. He lay on the Lord’s bosom. That is John 13. Peter had to beckon to John. He was at a distance. I think 1 John 2 runs parallel with these two chapters. It is what we are here as in our mixed conditions and relationships, but later we shall find that we are viewed in another relationship as the children of God; those that are born of God who do not sin. In the second position, he says that he that is born of God does not sin. We have to reconcile these two statements. The Lord’s table is the testing-point for us all. This is the message, that God is light, and then if we walk in the light as God [p. 103] is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. The Lord’s table covers that.
Verses 3 and 4 raise the question with us as to whether we know God or not. Are we keeping His commandments? “Hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I 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 verily the love of God is perfected”. 1 John 2:3 - 5. There is a distinction between “commandments” and “words”. The love of God is perfected in him who keeps His word. The commandment is placed first. There is here a challenge to every professed believer in Christ. The test is the commandment. Are we subject or not? That is the point of recovery from lawlessness; we keep His commandments.
You have “writing” in both the present and past tenses. The present is to set the saints in motion “These things I write to you”. 1 John 2:1. And then he says, “I have written to you, fathers”. 1 John 2:14. He writes in the past tense to the fathers and to the young men, showing that he was leaving with them something by which they would be exercised as remaining down here, while he was going away. “Have written” corresponds with the commandment; he left something that was to remain with them, but when he says, “I write” it is a present thing, What has been written apostolically and left to the saints has an abiding effect. Paul said, “The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord”, 1 Corinthians 14:37. The “word” is wider. A commandment is a definite authoritative pronouncement, it is not for us to question the rightness of it. For instance, “He spoke, and it was done”. Psalm 33:9. We have often referred to that. The world was made in wisdom; speaking would be the unfolding of God’s architectural wisdom in the physical system. Wisdom was there developed [p. 104] in His word; He spoke, He conveyed His thought. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” Hebrews 11:3; the word conveyed the wisdom of God. Faith understands it. The mere scientist does not understand it. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God”, Hebrews 11:3. “He commanded, and it stood fast”. Psalm 33:9. Here, it is not a question of His wisdom, but of His authority. The commandment becomes intelligible to you, it is a question of authority, but the “word” conveys His mind. The commandment would be largely specific in character. “Love one another” John 15:12. “Love your enemies” Matthew 5:44. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”. Matthew 5:48. Through the “word”, the mind of God, including the mystery, is unfolded.
Judas inquired in John 14: 22, 23, “How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?” and Jesus answered, “If any one love me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him”. We begin with the commandment, where departure exists. The great test is the commandment; then, as subject, you get into the mind of God, so that here you have the word after the commandment. The same principle would apply to the law. You have specific commandments, but you have the wonderful unfolding in type and figure afterwards of the mind of God. (Compare Exodus 20 and Exodus 25 - Exodus 40.) The doxology of the apostle in Romans 11:33 would take it all in: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”
The Lord’s commandments come into evidence as the test of love, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”. John 14:21. The Lord would indicate to such a soul what is His will, not only in regard of his path in the wilderness, but in relation to the house of God. You have a place in [p. 105] the house of God, and He is over it; and whatever He has said in the way of commandment, as in relation to the house of God, you have to regard it.
We are speaking now not of the ten commandments, but of His commandments; the Lord in his own way reduces the ten to two. As in Deuteronomy you have things brought down to the level of affection through Moses’ personal exercises and love for the saints, so the Lord takes up and reduces the ten to two, that is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God ... and thy neighbour as thyself”. Matthew 22:37,39. “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”. Matthew 22:40. The five books of Moses and the prophets have to be read in the light of these two commandments. You love the Lord, and you love the saints. We are reminded of Psalm 119 (one which every young believer should read constantly), “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee”. Psalm 119: 9 - 11. In that psalm the law is said to be an inheritance. It is all really embodied in what the Lord Jesus commands.
In a household you may lay down certain things specifically and the question comes up with the wife or children, and they are settled in accordance with the specific commandment. But there are a thousand things that come up that are not provided for, and on every such occasion the wife would say, “That would not suit my husband”, or the children would say, “That would not suit my father; father would not like that”. That is being governed by the “word”. Through the word, the mind of the person who speaks is known.
The “old commandment” 1 John 2:7 is a word which they had from the beginning. During the Lord’s ministry here, what He said would take the form of [p. 106] a commandment to any one that received it. The more you know the Lord, the more you take every word as law. John sets forth Christ as the “Word”. Mary listened to His word.
We sometimes hear young believers, and those of older age say, “I do not find any verse of scripture against that”. We are not governed by having a specific word for everything, but what is needed is a knowledge of the mind of God; affection discovers it. Those who have it keep “his word”, which conveys the whole scope of His mind. The word is more comprehensive than the commandment. You want every word of His mouth.
There is “the old commandment”, and every part of it is precious; but then he says, there is a new one. Most believers do not know about the new one. It is what is new that tests us: “Again, I write a new commandment to you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines” 1 John 2:8 — what is true in Christ in heaven and what is true in the saints now. We are today in the light of a new commandment, “Which thing”, he says, “is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light already shines”. 1 John 2:8. In John’s gospel the Spirit has to say that “the darkness apprehended it not”, John 1:5, but here it is passing. This involved the coming down of the Spirit from heaven and His present operations here. Darkness has had its day. It is being moved. It is no longer fixed. This brings out what a marvellous position the saints occupy as corresponding with Christ in the light of this new commandment. The path of the righteous shines more and more to the perfect day. The new commandment refers to what is in us as corresponding with what is in Christ. Speaking in a general way, John’s gospel is objective, and this epistle is subjective. What was true in Christ in the former, is true in the saints in the [p. 107] latter. It means that the Holy Spirit has come and is operating in the saints, and that has the complete removal of darkness in view.
It is very striking here: “Which thing is true in him and in you” 1 John 2:8, not that it ought to be, but that it is true. And the mark of it is that I love my brother. “He that loves his brother abides in light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him” 1 John 2:10. Love is the thing worked out. Love is light in that way; hatred is darkness. So that if you say you are in the light and hate your brother, you are yet in darkness. “He that hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes”. 1 John 2:11.
We get something of the idea in what Jude says; “Keep yourselves in the love of God”. Jude 21. The darkness then has passed. You abide in it, but it is a process that is always going on. The shadows are being dispersed, the light that has come in is dispelling the darkness. It is a blessed thing to keep ourselves in the love of God.
In the first and second chapters believers are viewed in their mixed condition, whereas later they are viewed as born of God; they are identified wholly with the divine nature, as born of Him. It is said that they cannot sin. To view the believer in the latter way involves that we have, for the moment, to dismiss from our minds what he is as having sin in him.
To love your brother involves that you lay down your life for him. Love has to be found out; you cannot really define it. You can speak of the effects of it, what it does. 1 Corinthians 13 gives you the features of it.
“Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected”. 1 John 2:5. I apprehend that one who keeps the word is a full grown man. The love of God is perfected in him. The love of God perfected in you [p. 108] would save you from one-sidedness or from special friendships. It renders you like God Himself. It fits you for the house of God.
The Ephesians and Colossians loved in the Spirit, they had love for all saints; and brotherly love is proved in our genuine enjoyment of the society of the brethren or of our brother. Some of us are apt to get on party lines. To love like God is to love universally. The brethren are lovable; one must discover the lovable virtue in order to draw it out. The effect of being in the love of God is that I express it to those who are born of God. You will find your joy in it without the “I must do this” and “I must do that”. “We ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren”. 1 John 3:16. It is a reflection on the Corinthians that the apostle had to speak of it as he did, as of something that was not among them. He describes it as “a picture on the wall”, whereas it should have been in their hearts actively. The universality of the love of God is worked out in the four gospels, in Christ, and it has its full answer in the heavenly city. The light of the city is “most precious”, Revelation 21:11, and it lies foursquare. It is universal in its bearing. It reflects God Himself.