Continued from last...
1:5-2:2. John’s argument proceeds from the nature of God. God is light, without the slightest hint of darkness (v. 5), so God’s children, who are in Him, are children of light and walk in the light (vv. 6-7). This does not mean that they are completely without sin, for as verse seven clearly says, their lives are characterized by three activities all occurring continuously (they walk in the light, they have fellowship with God [who is the light] and with their brethren [who also dwell in the light with them]). As they walk in the light they are being continually cleansed of all of their sin—not the sin of their past, but the sin of their present, committed while they are walking in the light. This is, of course, a very verbose statement, but John wanted to be certain his readers understood what he meant. Stated succinctly, this is what John said: If a person knows God, his life may not be perfect (and God has made provision for that, cf. 2:1-2) but one thing is certain: his life will reflect that he is a child of light rather than darkness. In essence, he said that it is possible to see the evidence of true faith from the outside (which is what Jesus told us: "You will know them by their fruit"). This is an important truth that has been largely obscured in modern Christianity. Why did John make such a statement? Because the church was experiencing the destructive effects of those within that claimed to be right with God who were not what they professed to be. The test of true faith is conversion—the outward manifestation of inner transformation.
Apparently the particular form of unbelief that John was confronting had the characteristic of denying sin. This makes a strong case that it might have been an early form of Gnosticism, since that was a feature that is known to have been associated with Gnostic beliefs. Since Gnostics denied any metaphysical connection between spirit and flesh, some Gnostics believed that the deeds of the flesh could not contaminate the spirit. Thus, they denied that they had sin. John’s retort is clear and direct: If anyone says he has no sin, he is deceiving himself (v. 8) and calling God a liar since God has declared all men to be sinners (Ps. 53:1‑3). Confession of sin—that is, coming to grips with what we are—is one of the core characteristics of true faith. It is called “repentance” and it is one of the reasons many people refuse to come, because they cannot bring themselves to admit what they are. Repentance is not just something one does in order to obtain salvation, it is an integral part of faith—the turning from sin in order to turn to God for help. It does not cease after a person is initially saved; it continues to be a part of faith as one progresses through the Christian life. The person who does not manifest repentance only evidences that true faith is not present.
2:3-11. Again, John emphasizes that the reality of true conversion (knowing God) will manifest itself not only in the inner life of the believer, but in the outer life as well. James also deals with this subject (James 2:14-26), but John takes it a step further; he not only asserts that the true knowledge of God is evidenced by obedience (vv. 3, 5, 6) and love of the brethren (vv. 7-11), but he states categorically that where there is a lack of these, as a general characterization, the claim to know God is invalidated—such people live in the darkness, not in the light, and thus do not know God.
2:12-18. Notice how John continues his contrast of true belief and false profession. In verses 12-14 he reasserts the position of the truly converted: their sins are forgiven (v. 12), they know God (vv. 13-14), they have overcome the Evil One (“overcome” = nikao, νικαω—perfect active; i.e. they now stand as victors based on the triumph of their faith in Christ when they first believed in Him; cf. vv. 13-14), they are strong spiritually (v. 14), and the Word of God abides (continually) in them (v. 14). The love of the world is inconsistent with Christian faith. John is not referring to the people of the world, but to “worldliness” (i.e. the values of the world). Anyone who loves the world does not love the Father (v. 15) because the character of the world (that is, fleshly lust, material lust, and pride) do not come from the Father; they are the product of the darkness that is in the world. The world is destined to perish, but not the one who does the will of the Father (i.e. the one who truly knows God).
2:19-27. Having laid the foundational truth that there are two kinds of people within the church (those who truly know God, and those who merely profess to know Him), he now embarks upon his explanation of the apostasy of individuals within the local congregation. He reminds the believers that they are living in the last hour (the “last time”—the eschatos, εσχατως, which from the Old Testament perspective began with the advent of the Messiah). They had been taught that in the eschatos false Christs (antichrists) would come. Jesus is the source of this information. It originates from his Olivet Discourse and is recorded in Matthew 24:24. Whether these believers had access to Matthew’s gospel is unknown, but they certainly had access to apostolic teaching. In verse 19, which is undoubtedly one of the most important explanatory passages in the New Testament, John makes the profound assertion that those who have departed (implying a complete departure from the faith) have done so because they were never “of us” (of the children who dwell in light—that is, those who know God). In light of the reiteration in the second half of the verse, it is quite impossible to misunderstand his meaning. He says that we know they were not of us because (ei gar, ει γαρ, “for if”—giving the reason) “if” they had been of us they would have remained with us (they would not have apostatized). John states that their departure happened for a purpose (alla hina, αλλα ινα—“hina” being a purposive particle), “in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us"—the sense is that not everyone who professes to be right with God is truly saved. This verse establishes two critical points with respect to the theme of the book and New Testament soteriology:
- the theme of this book is the contrast of true belief, with mere profession leading to apostasy; and
- it establishes the doctrine of the permanence of salvation, since is clearly states that anyone who departs from the faith was never genuinely saved.
John did not want his letter to sound as if the believers could not have figured this out for themselves (vv. 20-21). After all, they did have the Holy Spirit (v. 20). We may assume that John was prompted by the Spirit to write these things as a matter of record for the Church at large. In verse 22, John returns to his discourse reiterating that the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah—God’s Son in the flesh) speaks in the spirit of antichrist—which denies both Father and Son (v. 22). The denial of Christ is also a denial of the Father (v. 23), which answers the question some have posed: “Is it possible that some Jews who rejected Christ as Messiah were sincere worshipers of God?” Obviously, in light of John’s statement, there can be no doubt that those who rejected Jesus, as the Christ, could not have been sincere worshipers of the Father.
2:28-3:12. John continues his contrast with the admonition to abide in Christ, but adds an additional motivation: that we might have confidence and not shrink away from Him (as will those who dwell in darkness) at His coming (v. 28). Again, he reinforces his previous statements to the effect that it is those who practice righteousness that are born of God (“practice” = poieo, πoiεω, present active participle, signifying to practice as an ongoing manner of living). The one who practices sin (again, poieo as before) also practices lawlessness, because sin is lawlessness. The ones who walk in darkness not only sin, they blatantly disobey God’s explicit commands (v. 4). Christ did not come to save men so that they would be free to sin, but so they could be free from sin (v. 5). He repeats what he has said before: “No one who abides in Him sins”—not a reference to an individual sin, for everyone sins, but to the giving of one’s self to live in sin. He admonishes the brethren not to be deceived. True belief manifests itself in righteousness (v. 7). Where righteousness is absent, it is to be assumed that saving faith is also absent, and the subject is a child of the Devil (v. 8). John says that the Devil has sinned from the beginning and Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil (v. 8); so by implication, the one who sins is not in Christ. Notice the strong dichotomy. John leaves no room for misunderstanding. He is not contrasting “spiritual believers” with supposed “carnal believers.” He is contrasting saved and lost. Not only does the one who is born of God not practice sin, he cannot because God’s seed (a reference to the indwelling Holy Spirit) abides in him. As if he had not stated this truth robustly enough already, John now connects all the dots so that no one has any reason to misunderstand what he is saying. He vigorously maintains that it is possible to tell who are children of God and who are children of the Devil by their lifestyles (v. 10). In an age of “private religion” this is not a popular text, and if strictly applied—which it should be—we would have to confess that there are probably far fewer saved people than the number professing faith would suggest.
There are other passages in this book where we see the same contrast between the truly saved and the professing but unsaved (3:14-15; 4:1-6, 7-10, 11-21; 5:1-12). Nevertheless, the point is sufficiently made: There are two kinds of people within the professing church (as evidenced in Jesus' parables in Matthew 13): those that know God, and those who merely profess to know him but are unsaved. It is the latter group from which apostates ultimately arise.
Borrowed and revised from Sam A. Smith's The Biblical Doctrine of Apostasy.