Epistle: I John

The Epistle of 1 John is by far one of the greatest books or letters in the Bible. You may be asking yourself how I can come to that conclusion, after all, it is only five short chapters long. The truth is, in those five chapters you will find the answers to who we are in Christ, our relationship with the Father, our condition in regards to sin, our assurances concerning eternity and the contrasts of good and bad, light and dark, truth and falsehood.

Like nowhere else in the Bible, you will find your reason for being. It is almost as if God, our Father and Creator, centered the rest of His Word around this one little book. Now I know that everyone who reads their Bible on a daily basis has derived favorites, chapters or passages that are especially endearing to them. The truth of the matter is, we need the WHOLE Word of God to be able to gain an insight and understanding into the character and nature of our truly loving Father.

For verse by verse teaching, this Epistle is a good jumping off point, and by the time you are through it, I hope that you will agree with me that this IS just one of greatest letters ever written. My goal in presenting this teaching format will be to give you an understanding of the Word of God, not just in bits and pieces, but as a whole picture. You have heard the old adage that says "You can't see the forest for the trees, and you can't see the trees for the forest." Sometimes this is the problem that we encounter as we try and study God's holy word. Our eyesight tends to be focused on maybe just a few scriptures and we don't see them in context with the rest of the written word, thereby losing a necessary balance in our lives, or our focus is on the word as a whole and we forget the little things that lend direction in our daily lives.

Some Historical Background

The Epistle of 1 John is by far one of the greatest books or letters in the Bible. You may be asking yourself how I can come to that conclusion, after all, it is only five short chapters long. The truth is, in those five chapters you will find the answers to who we are in Christ, our relationship with the Father, our condition in regards to sin, our assurances concerning eternity and the contrasts of good and bad, light and dark, truth and falsehood.

Like nowhere else in the Bible, you will find your reason for being. It is almost as if God, our Father and Creator, centered the rest of His Word around this one little book. Now I know that everyone who reads their Bible on a daily basis has derived favorites, chapters or passages that are especially endearing to them. The truth of the matter is, we need the WHOLE Word of God to be able to gain an insight and understanding into the character and nature of our truly loving Father.

For verse by verse teaching, this Epistle is a good jumping off point, and by the time you are through it, I hope that you will agree with me that this IS just one of greatest letters ever written. My goal in presenting this teaching format will be to give you an understanding of the Word of God, not just in bits and pieces, but as a whole picture. You have heard the old adage that says "You can't see the forest for the trees, and you can't see the trees for the forest." Sometimes this is the problem that we encounter as we try and study God's holy word. Our eyesight tends to be focused on maybe just a few scriptures and we don't see them in context with the rest of the written word, thereby losing a necessary balance in our lives, or our focus is on the word as a whole and we forget the little things that lend direction in our daily lives.

1 John Chapter 1

1. "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life--"

John is stating with authority and as a matter of established fact, that he is talking from experience and not just what he has heard, but also that he was witness too the events that followed the Word. Also, the Word was real to the touch, He could be handled. John may have been remembering the Last Supper when he laid his head upon the Saviors bosom. Remember also the instance when Thomas, later known as the doubter, was asked to:

"Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing." (John 20:27).

The Word of Life is Jesus:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (John 1:1-2).

He was in the beginning. That word "was" denotes in the Greek, always being, never having been created. God is eternal. He has no beginning nor ending. Man, on the other hand is also eternal; but the difference is that man was created, and did have a beginning, although he will never experience an ending. Jesus being God, always was and forever will be; Jesus being man, in the flesh knew a beginning.

Notice also that John doesn't just say the Word of God, but rather in this instance, the Word of Life. In his Gospel, he is talking to mankind as a whole, sharing with them the Good News. Here in this letter, he is sharing with established believers. Jesus is the Word of Life, the Good News taken to the highest step; the Word that brings Life into the believers heart and being. When we mature, beyond the baby steps of Christianity, that Word in our lives should demonstrate to all around us the Life that resides within us.

2. "and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--"

John says "the life was manifested," the life being the Word, who was Jesus, was shown so as to be seen. He was not a figment of some man's imagination, He was real. His life among us was real. John reasserts that he was a witness in actuality to that Life. John's job, or his calling was to bear witness and proclaim that very fact.

So much like the character of John, his humility, he reaffirms his calling or appointment as an apostle without really saying it. The Apostle's calling, then and today is to bear witness and proclaim or declare, to show the truth of that Life. We know, even by historical records that Jesus was a man who lived among us. It is the Apostle's calling to reaffirm that fact, but not just as an historical figure but as the "eternal life, which was with the Father."

In this second verse, John is answering the first, and reiterating the fact that Jesus and the Father are One and have always been One, see John 10:30. Jesus was manifested or shown to us, and so because we have seen or been witness to Jesus, we have been witness to the Father's presence among us also.

3. "what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."

Again John is reiterating with authority that what they have witnessed personally he is not just holding to himself as some guarded secret or treasure, but rather is proclaiming, declaring it to all who would listen. John says we, so as to lend authority to the statement that it was not just himself who witnessed the events of the Word of Life among them, but that it was the company of them, the disciples. John was not standing alone and he was not expecting his hearers to believe it was only him who was witness to those events.

One of the main reasons for the writing of this letter is stated right here also. John is saying that by him proclaiming or sharing these things, the knowledge it gives a person allows us the ability to have fellowship also with him. And since his fellowship is with the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son, we can also have fellowship with them. In other words, it is the same as if my being friends or associated with you, allows me to be associated with all of your friends and vice-versa.

Do not be misled. That word "fellowship" is not just a connotation of friendship, but rather it goes much deeper than that. The Greek word used is the word, "koinonia" which means a partnership, or intimate communion. When we enter into the fellowship of believers, we are not just entering into a social communion, a band of brothers, so to speak, we are entering into something much deeper and more abiding. After all, it is based in the intimate relationship of the Creator of the Universe and the Word of Life Who brings it all together.

We have a bond that is unlike anything that has ever been on this earth, except with possibly Adam and Eve who actually "walked" and communed with the Living God. It is an intimacy that the world can not, nor ever will really understand. We need to be very careful that we do not attempt to understand our relationship with the Heavenly Father in the light of the world's standards. That is why reading letters like this is so very important.

4. "And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete."

John sums up not only the previous three verses, but also all that is to follow in his letter, for the reason of writing the letter. That our joy may be complete. Now I want to take a moment to clear something up. The KJV and the NKJV and some others say that "your" joy may be complete or "full." Some people look at that as contradiction in translations or text, but rather it is updating the original language to modern language or idioms. John is including himself for the reason that he is writing the letter. It gives joy, not only to the reader, but to whom-ever will take to heart the message. Such was his humility that he is counting himself with us. Remember, the previous verse he was talking about the fellowship we have with one another. We in essence, become one with one another, just as we become one with the Father and Son. So, your joy is his, his joy is ours. It is made complete or full when we take these things to heart.

That brings up the issue of joy. Joy is the second quality that is listed as a "fruit of the Spirit." See Galatians 5:22. Joy is God's will for the believer. It is a spiritual quality or characteristic and not a carnal one, therefore, it is not dependent upon our outward circumstances. Rather, joy is a characteristic that is independent of outward circumstances. Do not confuse joy with happiness which is totally dependent upon outward circumstances.

Lack or loss of joy came about due to the result of sin. Where sin is forgiven, joy abounds. This fullness or completeness of joy is mentioned approximately six times by John, in his Gospel as well as his epistles:

• Associated with consecration-----John 3:29
• Associated with obedience-------John 15:10-11
• Associated with prayer-----------John 16:24
• Associated with protection--------John 17:13
• Associated with fellowship--------I John 1:4
• Associated with brotherly love----II John 12

5. "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."

THIS IS THE MESSAGE! With that John is laying the foundation for an announcement of great importance. It is not a message that came out of the blue, or was derived by the intellect of man, rather, John states clearly that the message is from Him. The Him in this case being Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God! That by itself lends credence and authority to the very message itself.

God is light!

"Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow."--James 1:17

There is no darkness, no shadow, no variance in Him at all. Brilliance doesn't even come close to describing the perfect, absolute light that is Him.

Genesis 1:1-4 states, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness."

From the perspective of the message that John is proclaiming, look again at the words in Genesis. The Spirit of God was moving over the void, God is light; He didn't have to speak the Word, His presence alone scattered the darkness, chased it away. But to show the authority in His Word, He spoke it and it was done and it was good!

What does this mean to you and I in our everyday lives? Let me share a small bit of trivia with you. I have always been a bit of a science buff, and new discoveries and new theories always intrigue me and fascinate me. Science theorizes that in the presence of absolute light, (their wording for pure light) there is absolutely no shade or variance of darkness at all. In theory. Why is it a theory? Because science cannot duplicate absolute or pure light. There is always a touch of darkness or shade that changes the brilliance, even just a bit. But the Light of God is pure, it is absolute and there is no shade or variance in His light.

What that means to you and I is that when the Light of God illumines our hearts, our minds, our souls, that darkness is literally chased away. Light and darkness, pure Godly light, cannot be in the same place at the same time.

Light stands for everything that is pure, holy, and unblemished. Darkness stands for exactly the opposite, everything that is purely evil and tainted. That is why the taint and stain of sin is so abhorrent to the Father. It is not just a matter of Him wanting to look upon sin, His vary nature of absolute pureness will not allow Him to be in the same confines as sin. That is why the importance of Jesus shed blood over us as believers is so important. Without that blood, we would be utterly destroyed in the presence of the Father. Remember when Moses wanted to look upon God on Mount Sinai? Moses had to be hid behind a cleft in the rock as the Father passed by and even just the passing by of the Lord changed Moses so that others couldn't even look on the brilliance of his countenance for approximately forty days!

This is the message that Jesus Christ, God's Son, wanted His disciples to pass along. This was not just a casual message. I hope that you can realize that when you meditate upon this passage. Here's a challenge. The next time you have devotions or you have your time of meditating on the character and nature of God Almighty, try and contemplate the importance and significance of the absolute purity of His light.

6. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;"

The message did not end with verse five, with that profound announcement. Remember in the first four verses that John was telling us why he was putting these things to pen. That our joy, that inner spiritual characteristic that is a fruit of the Spirit, might be complete in us. It is necessary for us to hear and read these things that we might grow and mature in the Lord.

Again, we see the importance of practicing or doing what we say we believe. Our walk with the Lord is not a matter of how much knowledge we can attain. It is not a matter of how many verses I can memorize from the Bible, or how well I can debate the scriptures with someone else. It is not based on the religious rituals that I perform or partake in. Our walk with Him is based on the premise that we are in fellowship with Him.

Look at how strong John phrases this. This from a man who is known for his great love. The man whom Jesus loved. If we confess, if we state to the world that I am a Christian, or I believe in God, (whom we have established is light), and yet I walk or practice or take part in anything that is dark or in darkness, then I am a liar! My actions speak louder than my words! I didn't write it, the Apostle John under the inspiration and anointing of the Holy Spirit, put those words down for us to live by.

John is adamantly stating that we cannot love God, cannot fellowship with God and court sin at the same time. It is impossible. The false teachers of his day, were saying that because the body will be destroyed anyway, I can do what I want and it won't affect my soul or spirit. But the Word of God says just the opposite. You cannot live, practice, do anything that is associated with evil or darkness and claim to be a child of the light.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says that there is "nothing new under the sun." Think about this honestly now. Don't we see that same philosophy that John preached against, rearing its ugly head even today. I want to tell everyone that I am a Christian and yet, the carnal things of this world are still okay to dabble in because, my soul is saved! Let's face it people, we have to get to a place of repentance and ask the Lord to forgive us of our short sightedness. We either accept and live by the whole Word of God, or we might as well just throw the Word away and live like we want anyway.

We cannot say that we are something and choose to live the way we want and hope that the God of light will overlook our actions and ignore the darkness in us.

7. "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."

Praise God for His wonderful promises! Here we see the flip side to verse six. In the scriptures you will always see it worded either, "but" or "therefore." God, our loving Father, never, ever leaves us with a word of correction or admonition, without giving us a word of encouragement and/or promise to follow through. Every time He instructs us in the ways of righteousness, He is so faithful to show us the benefits or rewards.

Now look at this action statement! But if we walk (not just say we are) in the light as He Himself does---. There's our example. He doesn't just say do this or else. He always gives us a blueprint to follow. Always. Jesus Christ came to earth to bridge the gap between the flesh and the spirit. What could not be done in and of ourselves in our flesh, can be accomplished through Him and in Him. If we walk in the light, and remember the light is God our Father, just as Jesus did all and said all in and through the Father, than we truly have fellowship one with another, and not just because we say we do.

Look at one of the most precious, one of the greatest promises that follows those actions: the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin! This is something that I have taught for so long. Just as James writes in his letter that we must put forth works to demonstrate our faith, John is saying the same thing. If you walk in the light, as Jesus Himself is in the Light (of God), His blood will and does cleanse us. We can confess our belief in Jesus Christ in accordance with Romans 10:9, but sadly that is where so many people who call themselves Christians stop. With just the confessing. Just saying that Jesus Christ died for our sins and believing it are not enough. We must also accept what verse 10 also says. With the heart man believes, it has to start there, but there has to be actions and those actions result in what Paul calls righteousness, or right standing with God. If you look in Romans 10:9-10, you will see that belief takes place first in the heart of man. Then comes the acts of righteousness, and only after that comes the confession.

That is exactly what John is saying. You believe in Christ, which motivates you to walk, or act, according to the light of God, which is righteousness, then the blood of Jesus cleanses and washes away all your sin. That puts us in fellowship with one another as well as with God as our Father.

I hope you can see as you study these verses, that our walk with the Lord is a serious matter and not one to be taken lightly. We gain our strength and drive from not only His example, but also His Spirit. When we do it, when we walk as He walked, that is when we can claim fellowship one with another and with Him. John is showing us that it is obvious when someone is in fellowship and when someone is not. It is not a matter of judging in the sense of passing a sentence on someone, but it is a matter of being able to judge by discerning the truth in what we see. If someone calls me his brother but is living a life of sin, a life based on deeds done in the dark, he is not a brother no matter how much I love him. Future verses will demonstrate why this is important in the Body of Christ.

8. "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Here again, John is countering the false teachings that were cropping up in his day. Many false teachers were teaching that man is not inherently sinful, we are all born good, it is only due to upbringing and circumstances that man falls into sin.

But as we see in the previous verse, "if we walk in the light---, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin." Number one, we have to recognize that we are sinful creatures to be able to even say that we walk in the light. Number two, there would be no need for Jesus' blood to cleanse us from sin if in fact we had no sin. We would not even have to identify ourselves with Christ or His sacrifice in that case.

John is very clear to establish an order. If you say that you are a Christian, and remember, he is writing this letter to brothers and sisters, it is automatically understood that you are a Christian because you have accepted Christ's sacrifice on the cross, which was necessary. He is reiterating a known fact to Christians because of the false teaching that was spreading in his time. We need to be freed from sin, and Christ is the only way.

If we believe the lie, than we are only deceiving ourselves, because we are surely not deceiving God. Again as in verse 6, we are not practicing the truth if we believe the lie and in reality we are walking in darkness. The truth then is not in us.

9. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Confession is an acknowledgement, not just in our thoughts but also with our lips. It is an action. To confess is an act that requires something to be accomplished. Many people today recognize in there hearts that they have or do sin, but they do not acknowledge it with their lips. Now I am not saying that we must all kneel before a confessor and tell them everything that we have done wrong, but rather this type of confession is towards one that we have wronged. It is important that when we sin against a brother or sister, we confess that to them thus allowing them the opportunity to forgive us. It is the same with the Lord. He knows our heart, but it is the act of verbally confessing to Him that we have sinned against Him that opens our hearts to the act of forgiveness that comes from Him.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. In other words, He removes the guilt that is associated with the wrong doing, but not only that, He is also faithful and just to cleanse us from the pollution or taint of the wrongdoing. If righteousness is defined as our right standing in the sight of God, then unrighteousness has to be defined as wrong standing in the sight of God. Jesus is faithful and true to cleanse us from that taint or stain on our person.

So by confessing and acknowledging our sinfulness, He is sure and true to His word in erasing the guilt that is associated with the sin but also He erases the stain that is also associated with that same sin. We then are no longer held accountable for that sin and it is completely erased from our lives. It as if it never happened!

10. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

John is reiterating verse 8 but also going one step further. Verse 8 is attesting to the fact that man is a sinful creature, thanks to Adam whose legacy we walk in. Verse 10 is also stating that we have actively participated in sin as well. Notice verse 8 says, "if we say we have no sin," which is a noun stating possession of something, but verse 10 states, "if we say that we have not sinned," which is definitely a verb or an action. We have actively participated in sin, so Adam is not only to blame, but we ourselves then become accountable for our own actions. Not just the legacy left to us, but our own actions attest to our guilt.

If we deny the truth of that statement, we not only deceive our selves as verse 8 says, but we in essence make God, our Father, out to be a liar. We need not call Him a liar, but by the very act of denying the truth of our sinfulness, we call Him a liar. In essence, the world who watches and sees our lives in action, infer that we believe God to be a liar, if we live in accordance with denying the truth about our sinfulness. That old saying that "actions speak louder than words," has never been more true in the eyes of the world.

If we deny our sinfulness and make God out to be a liar, we also declare to all that His word does not abide in us. His word is truth, and His word is life, but if we do not believe that we have and do sin, that life is not in us.

When you look at the simplicity of these scriptures, and they are simple, they are very much black and white, it is very easy to see the difference between a true Christian and one who only says they are a Christian. For some reason, the same thing happened in John's day. Many false teachers and believers wanted to be associated with or acknowledged as Christians, but they did not want to live by the truth of God's word. Sadly, we have the same thing today. Many people, for whatever reason, want to be acknowledged as Christians, but they do not live by even the simple precepts listed in scripture. And believe me, they have all sorts of excuses to justify their beliefs. The scriptures are outdated, they no longer apply to the century in which we live, the translations are all wrong and so we cannot rely on the truth or accuracy of them, and on and on.

The fact remains, we have sin, and we have sinned, but we have an advocate with the Father who is faithful to forgive us, and cleanse us from all sin, and that is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God!

God bless you richly!