1 John Part Two

Hello everyone. Now for 1 John part two. After reading 1 John for a few days, I'm sure John's themes have not been lost to you. He's one of the more straight forward writers when it comes to his letters. Love is a central theme here in this book. You may have noticed an underlying theme. In chapter 2 he talks about "Do Not Love the World" and "Warning Against Antichrists"(2:15-27). In chapter 4 he talks about "Test the Spirits" (4:1-6).

These two sections are a warning to Christians. What happens if we don't love one another? The world will infiltrate, the spirit of the antichrist can come in. Sheep have a tendency to wander as it is. If love is not a part of the flock, imagine how much more the flock will wander. All it takes is one disagreement or negative circumstance and the flock will scatter. 1 John encourages us to love and reminds us of God's promises and blessings. But it is also a warning of the heavy price that is paid when we fail to love one another.

^4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

In our sinful state, before Christ, we don't love God. He first loved us. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. We should always keep this in mind when loving others. Though they may not always love us, we serve a God who loved us when we didn't love Him. Therefore, we should always love others no matter what the circumstances.

^5:3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

Though I've preached about this an awful lot lately, I didn't want to pass this one by. God is not a god of oppression. He is the Prince of Peace. He is faithful to us continually and constantly. He asks us to love Him in return and to be faithful as He is. That means keeping His commands; obedience. His commands are not burdensome and they even come with a promise. Everyone born of God, loving God and others, overcomes the world.

Now I want to address a confusing piece of Scripture. 1 John 5:16-17 has baffled scholars for centuries. Evidence of scholarly confusion can be found as early as the second century A.D. Which means that upon the apostles departure from the scene, the understanding of this Scripture was lost. Also, John's letters were not as circulated as Paul's. So only a portion understood these verses to begin with. We should remember that John had a particular audience in mind when he wrote this letter. This is an audience that understood these verses as a figure of speech. I do not believe John is contradicting Scripture.

There are some theories, but they are only theories and not proven facts.

1. John is talking about sins that lead to physical sickness and death.
2. John is talking about sins punishable by death.
3. The denying of Christ altogether, which does lead to death.
4. The denial of God's truth altogether, which leads to death.

John could have been talking about any, all, or none of these. Does this challenge our faith? No it does not. John is talking to people who have Christ, who have the Holy Spirit. Christians who continually repent of their sins still sin. Their sin, though we all die because of sin, does not lead to spiritual death because they have Christ. All sin does lead to physical death, but all sin only leads spiritual death if we don't have Christ. Now, if you have Christ, and start living in sin, that can lead to spiritual death because to live in sin is to deny Christ. Denying Christ leads to spiritual death. Is this clear as mud? : )

If you have any question please feel free to ask, whether in person or by email or this forum. Don't let these two verses cause you any grief. The rest of this letter by John talks about the love that God has for us and the love that we have for each other, which is an unending comfort of joy. Continue to love each other and pray for each other as John instructs in 5:16. Until next time...

Peace and grace be with you all.