1 John Bible Study: Walking in the Light (2)

1 John Bible Study: Waling in the Light

Last Week Recap:

Last week we identified that John’s opponents had a view of Christ that was different from what John knew Him to be. The secessionists practiced an early version of Gnosticism, which is defined as having a view that material things are evil and that the divine was unknowable by those who live in the material world. Most importantly, they held such a high Christology that they though Jesus could not possibly have come in the flesh. This doctrine is called Docetism, where they believed that Jesus’ divinity had not actually came in the flesh; that is, being born, dying, and resurrecting again.

To deny the incarnation of God is to deny the power unto Salvation according to Rom 1:16. The “good news” would simply just be news if a human being died on calvary for our sins. It took the one and only messiah, Jesus Christ.

We know Jesus Christ to be fully man and fully human.

John’s opponents were Proto-Gnostics. The primary concern of 1 Jn is Docetism, which is to believe that Christ did not really come in the flesh.

I would like to further add that some Docetists believed in an “Adoptionist” Theology. Adoptionism is where the divinity of God descended at the baptism of Jesus and left him prior to His death.

Beginning Text:

1 Jn 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

1 Jn 2:8-10 “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. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.”

Lesson Connection:

From the author, Gary Burge -

“Do we unwittingly neglect the call to obedience? Many of us recoil at the mere word “obedience.” I often meet students who have grown up in conservative churches and families where obedience and righteousness were pounded home so often that today they have been pushed aside as vehicles of death and suffocation. Obey? such students ask. God loves me. Let me simply enjoy him and live. For some of us, promoting obedience is difficult particularly when we ground our salvation in the rich goodness and charity of God. Nevertheless, John could not be clearer.”

Burge, Gary M.. The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary) (p. 105). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

With the thought of obedience in mind, let us look at 1 Jn 2:3-5:

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.” (1 Jn 2:3-5)

Here we are seeing that John is articulating that those who walk in light keep His commandments.

I can recall as a child that I hated the very word “obey.” To this day, I can still hear my mothers words ringing in my ears - “Berry you need to obey me.” The reality is that I was a heathen. I was unruly, did not listen, and frustrated the life out of my mother. When it came down to it, I simply didn’t like the word “obey.”

Often, it wasn’t because I wanted to cause trouble as the reason to why I didn’t obey what she asked. It was more so because I didn’t like what she had asked. It didn’t seem convenient to me.

“Clean your room after school” she would say. I didn’t want to clean my room because it wasn’t fun. I could think of a thousand better things to do with my time than clean my room. Thus, out of rebellion, I didn’t clean my room!

Often, we’re just like a child - Jesus says, “what is the condition of you heart” and we say I don’t want to evaluate my heart, Lord!

As we grow up, our sins usually have less to do with that of “not cleaning our room” out of rebellion to our mother. Instead, it becomes more complex in the sense of interpersonal relationships.

Often, its not the things like going to church, paying tithes, or even praying that trips up Christians. Please do not misunderstand what I’m saying, these things are vital and do effect Christians - but the real problem is often found and how we see one another. Often, bitterness seeps in and destroys relationships.

Let us look Mat 5:22-25 -

Matt 5:22-25 “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.”

To Walk in the Light is to Love One’s Neighbor

Probably one of the most well known Scriptures in Christianity is 1 Jn 4:8 because it defines God as love -

1 Jn 4:8 “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

(Referencing Krause 2022, n.p.) We should first understand that God is indeed love; however, this is not saying that God is loving (while he is).

Instead, it is saying that everything about God is love. All his actions toward humanity to provide redemption is loving.

If one was to say “I abide in God because I love” they would be incorrect. Love is such a relative term today. A child in elementary school can have a crush and say something along the lines of “I love him or her.” The reality is that the child does not know what true love entails when it comes to the love of married couple. They are simply attracted to said person.

However, God’s love is greater than that of a husband and wife, while the Bible often uses this metaphor for Christ and the church. God’s love is a divine love when understood properly in context.

The Greek word used here is Agape and is defined as being the love of God.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (ἀγάπη)

of the love of God and Christ

Agape means divine love that only God can produce within a person. However, agape still has a reactive nature that can be seen -

1 Jn 3:17 “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

John’s letter has come to the point where he has made a definitive statement - that Christians should love one another as Christ loves the church. To fail to do so is to fail to have Christ living inside of them.

Let us first go through a breakdown of what the secessionists believed before we go any further:

WHAT SOMEONE THINKS about Jesus often lies at the heart of most theological disputes. John says that his opponents hold the following beliefs:

• they deny the Son (1 John 2:23)

• they deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (4:2; 2 John 7)

• they deny that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:22)

These statements may be compared with affirmations in the letters that buttress John’s own Christology. It is likely that these verses are also connected to the opponent’s Christological error.

• Jesus is the Christ (5:1)

• Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (4:2)

• Jesus is the Son (2:23; 3:23; 5:11) or the Son of God (1:3, 7; 3:8, 23; 4: 9, 10, 15, etc.)

• Jesus Christ came “by water and blood” (5:6)

Burge, Gary M.. The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary) (p. 28). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

John’s opponents, as read in his later epistles, were denying shelter, food, and water to traveling missionaries; hence, we should understand that the ones spreading false doctrine hated the true Christians. As John had stated earlier, those who are in darkness despise the light because it brings there sin into sight.

John’s opponents also believed that the things done in the material were of no consequence; hence, why he wrote 1 Jn 2:3-5

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

Let us look closer at 1 Jn 2:5 “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

1 Jn 2:3-5

John’s opponents denied Christian travelers love through action and failed to obey Christ’s word because they saw their actions in this world as of no consequence.

Conclusion

Those who abide in Christ walk in light. To do so is to love one’s neighbor and forgive as Christ forgave.

We must be willing to obey Christ’s commandments and ascribe to be holy for he is holy.

1 Pet 1:16 “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

To walk in light is to obey God and love one’s brothers and sisters in Christ.

1 Pet 1:16