Spirit Struggle (Sin)
2 (2:4) Profession, False: there is the man who makes a false profession. Scripture is direct and pulls no punches:
“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (v. 4).
3 (2:5) Profession, True—Obedience: there is the obedient man. The obedient man obeys or keeps God’s Word. He knows God and loves God. Note how obedience is tied to knowing and loving God. All these things are involved in knowing anyone. The only way to know anyone is …
• to get near them
• to study them, learn all about them—about their desires and wants, their nature, thoughts, and behavior
The same is true with God. The only way to know God is to get near Him and study Him
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Ti. 3:16).
2 (2:1) Sin—Spiritual Struggle: the truth is that we are sinful, but we should not sin. This is a tender exhortation: John addresses the believers “my little children.” They are very, very dear to him. He was their pastor, their spiritual father; and they were his spiritual children, the ones under his care. He loved them with the love of a strong and caring father. Therefore, he must exhort them. He must exhort them in the areas where they needed strength. Where was that? In sinning. Note exactly what John says:
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not” (v. 1).
These things refer to the things John has just said, to the fact that all have sinned and all do sin. Because of man’s nature, the very fact that he lives within a corruptible world, he cannot keep from sinning. But note the strong exhortation: “Sin not! I am writing these things to you, that you sin not.” The believer lives in a corruptible world, and he is housed in a body of flesh that is so easily aroused and attracted to eat more, take more, have more, be more, and receive more. But the believer is to struggle and fight against sin. He is not to give in to sin. He is to cast down imaginations and struggle to captivate every thought for Christ (2 Co. 10:5). He is to do all he can to become more and more like Christ and to be a stronger and stronger witness for righteousness in the world. He will never achieve perfection; he will never be sinless so long as he is in the flesh and in this corruptible world. But he is to struggle to be as good as he can. He is to be as righteous as possible and he is to gain ground; he is to grow
a. Jesus Christ is our Advocate (parakleton). The word advocate means someone who is called in to stand by the side of another. The purpose is to help in any way possible. (This is the word [parakletos] used of the Holy Spirit. See DEEPER STUDY # 1—Jn. 14:16 for discussion.)
God’s chief commandment is this: that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another. There are two things said here.
1. First, to know God we must believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ. If we believe in Christ, then we come to know God, for Jesus Christ came to earth to reveal God. By believing in Jesus Christ, we obey God’s commandment.
2. Second, to know God we must love one another. Love covers all the commandments of God. If we love one another, we will not hurt or cause pain for one another; we will not offend or sin against one another. We will be obeying all the commandments of God. This is exactly what Scripture declares.