Do you know that you know?

I John: Life in the Light; Which One? / 1 John 1  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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How do you know?

Fellowship leads to knowledge
Keep His commandments
1 John 2:3 AV 1873
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
I John 2:3
1 John 2:3–6 AV 1873
3 And hereby we do 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 is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary B. Basic Principles of Knowing God (2:3–11)

John’s transition (v. 3) to the subject of knowing God may seem more abrupt than it really is. In ancient thought, the concept of “light” readily suggested the idea of “vision,” “perception,” or “knowledge.” It seems obvious that a life of fellowship with God in the light ought to lead to knowing Him. Of course in a sense all true Christians know God (John 17:3), but sometimes even genuine believers can be said not to know God or Christ (John 14:7–9).

I John 2:3-
Evidence of my knowledge of God is both the keeping of His commandments and the desire to keep His commandments. When we hate God’s law, are we really His?
John 1
John 14:21–23 AV 1873
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary B. Basic Principles of Knowing God (2:3–11)

fellowship naturally leads to knowing the One with whom that fellowship takes place. Even on the level of human experience this is true. If a father and son live apart, they will not know each other as well as if they lived together, even though their parent-child relationship continues to exist.

“Know”=ginosko—used here for the first time of 23 times in the book.
Him=either God or Christ as in other writings by John
So fellowship leads to deeper knowledge as a Christian, but this is also a litmus test
1 John 2:4 AV 1873
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

someone may profess a fellowship with God which his life shows he does not possess. John was not afraid to call this kind of claim what it really is: a lie

In such a person the truth is not a dynamic, controlling influence. He is seriously out of touch with spiritual reality.

1 John 2:5–6 AV 1873
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
I John
God’s Love=may be that of God in us or our love for God. Really the best way of saying this would be that God’s love is complete and whole in us when it is that we follow His commandments.
Walk=life—The lifestyle of an individual is an evidence of God’s love in the life of a believer.
John 15:1–8 AV 1873
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

It would be a mistake to equate the concept of being “in Him” as John uses it here with the Pauline concept of being “in Christ.” For Paul, the words “in Christ” describe a Christian’s permanent position in God’s Son with all its attendant privileges. With John, the kind of relationship pictured in the vine-branch imagery describes an experience that can be ruptured (John 15:6) with a resultant loss of fellowship and fruitfulness. Thus here in 1 John, the proof that a person is enjoying this kind of experience is to be found in a life modeled after that of Jesus in obedience to His Word. In short, 2:5–6 continues to talk about the believer’s fellowship with God.

Old and New

Love is the real commandment. This is the main demonstration of our salvation.
1 John 2:7 AV 1873
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
1 John 2:7–8 AV 1873
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
1 John 2:7–11 AV 1873
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

John did not have in mind some new obligation which his readers had never heard. On the contrary the command foremost in his mind was an old one, which you have had since the beginning (cf. 2 John 5). No doubt John thought here especially of the command to love one another (cf. 1 John 2:9–11). He emphasized his point by adding that this old command is the message (logos, lit., “word”; cf. 1:5; 3:11) which you have heard (the majority of mss. add again “from the beginning”). Whatever innovations the readers might be confronting because of the doctrines of the antichrists, their real responsibility was to a commandment which they had heard from the very start of their Christian experience (cf. “heard” and “from the beginning” in 1:1; 2:24; 3:11).

Mark 12:30 AV 1873
30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
:7-11
I John 2:
1 John 2:9 AV 1873
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

John was warning his readers against a spiritual danger that is all too real (cf. 1:8, 10). And he was affirming that a Christian who can hate his fellow Christian has not genuinely escaped from the darkness of this present passing Age. To put it another way, he has much to learn about God and cannot legitimately claim an intimate knowledge of Christ. If he really knew Christ as he ought, he would love his brother.

1 John 2:10–11 AV 1873
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
I JOHN

Hatred is a kind of internal “stumbling block” which can lead to disastrous spiritual falls. But the calamities to which hatred leads are avoided by one who loves his brother.

Hatred is a kind of internal “stumbling block” which can lead to disastrous spiritual falls. But the calamities to which hatred leads are avoided by one who loves his brother.

This is not so, however, for one who hates his brother. Such a person walks around in the darkness and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him (cf. v. 9). A Christian who harbors hatred for a fellow Christian has lost all real sense of direction. Like a man wandering aimlessly in the dark, he faces potentially grave dangers.

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