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1 John

1 John 1

By Pastor Doug
The Truth about Jesus

1 John 1:1

As John looked upon the churches at that time he saw that the false teachers were becoming more and more prominent.  They were calling into question the word of the apostles and the prophets.  They were twisting the gospel and the scriptures to pervert it.  So John wanted to speak the pure word of truth.  God's word is powerful but it must be heard.  We have to speak it.  We have to keep it alive because Satan is always offering a counterfeit.

 

Gnosticism was one of those counterfeits.  It was growing in popularity in the early church.  One of the teachings of a Gnosticism is that Jesus didn't really exist as a man.  Because they taught anything physical, anything of the flesh, anything material was bad, they had to then teach that Jesus wasn't a real man.  They said He was some kind of pseudo man.  He looked like a man but He wasn't real flesh and bones.  This kind of false teaching is ringing in John's ears as he is writing this epistle.

 

To start this letter John goes back to the beginning.  That which was from the beginning is God.  God is eternal.  He always has been and always will be.  God said from the burning bush, I AM That I AM.  He is the self existent one.  John believed this and proclaimed it.  He opened the book of John in much the same way.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

 

You can just feel and see this high view of God.  God is eternal, the beginning of all the things.  That is truth, that is an unchanging and untouchable truth.  He is the "I AM" that has always been.  John said, Jesus is God and has been from the beginning.  He is real and walked this earth.  He and others heard Him with their ears, they saw Him with his eyes.  And not just that.  This wasn't a distant glimpse or a passing glance, they looked upon Him.  This is up close and personally inspecting Him.  John said our hands have handled Him.

 

Jesus was flesh and bones and John said he touched Him.  He was presenting the man Jesus, no pseudo man made up by false teachers but a real man.  He walked this earth.  John is giving first hand testimony.  He was the last man alive to be able to do so and he wanted it to be clear.

 

John said this man is God.  He is Jesus.  He is the Word of life.  When John said Jesus was the word he used the word Logos.  The Jews knew God as the Word.  He was revealed to them perfectly through the Word.  And the Greek philosophers knew the word Logos.  It was the written word of a the Great Philosophers.  This culture knew the word was powerful and able to reveal truth.  When John declared Jesus the Logos, or the word, he revealed to these people the identity and source of something they held dear.  Jesus is the word, the messiah, He is God.

 

John declared Jesus as the source of all Truth, the God of all God's, the philosophy that tops all philosophy.  The word which is greater than any word.  A hard hearted Jew would yell 'blasphemy' and close minded Gentile would mumble 'religious fanatic!'  John didn't engage in petty arguments.  He simply gave testimony.  It is what it is:  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—

 

1 John 1:2

This life he was referring to was that of a real man.  This is John's solemn testimony.  He's bearing witness.  Jesus, who came from the Father also came to earth as a man.  John said God's word was manifested, which is made real and visible.  He was right there.  God's word was manifest to them.

 

The humanity of Jesus is an important doctrine.  He must be fully man to pay the penalty of sin for man.  If he isn't fully human and sinless, He doesn't qualify because He can't identify with us or us with Him.  For the false teachers of Gnosticism to say Jesus wasn't really a man is a perversion that harms the gospel that saved us.  John wouldn't let these men steal that truth without His testimony.  He established it in this epistle for all times, for all men. 

 

John testifies that Jesus is alive, he was resurrected.  Jesus is the promises and words of God come to life.  God's word is manifest, made real, tangible to us in Jesus Christ.  In Jesus we may find eternal life.

 

1 John 1:3-4

John proclaimed what they had seen & heard.  And he did so in obedience to what Jesus commanded, so others may enjoy the same fellowship with Christ as he did.  Disciples of Jesus create disciples of Jesus.  It's normal.

 

To state that men could have fellowship with God was a huge statement in that time.  It's not something we would automatically understand when we read this.  For the Greek mindset, in this Roman culture to be told they could have a relationship with a God was nothing short of stunning.  For them, only certain men among men could attain such a thing.  A universally available offer to be in relationship with God was revolutionary.  They highly prized fellowship among men but had never been told they could have fellowship with God.  Even more so, this was not just a relationship, but fellowship with God.

 

This is where the false teachers hooked some and reeled them in.  They taught that they possessed some secret knowledge or some secret formula in which they too could be a man among the religious men.  This gave them a form of control over the followers who desired this relationship with God.  In reality these false teachers led folks off in the ditch.  They merely used their false teaching as bait to satisfy the desire that exists in every person to be joined to their maker.

 

John declared that man could have fellowship with God.  The word used for fellowship is Koinonia.  The simplest meaning of this word is "common".  Those in Koinonia hold all things in common.  When you apply this as Koinonia between God and man, it means we have access to all that God has access to.  And God has access to all of our life.  That is mind boggling, even today.  We could all spend some time on that one.  Our tendency is to focus on what I get from being in fellowship with God but let's focus on what we give to that fellowship.  Does God have full access to your life?  Is all that you have, His?  Is all you are defined by your relationship with Him?  When we were born again (or if you were born again), you recognized that you were already spiritually dead.  You were infected with sin, with no ability or capacity to cleanse yourself from that sin.  The penalty of your sin against God is nothing short of eternal death.  When we identify with Jesus we say, my life was bound to His life.  I died on that cross with Him.  I went to the grave with Him.  And I rose again with Him.  This is what it means to be born again in Christ.  There is no more "me".  The whole of our life is in Koinonia with Him.

 

This word Koinonia is first used in Acts 2:42 after Peter had just finished preaching on the Day of Pentecost.  Three thousand people were saved and baptized that day.  Verse 42 says: and they (the church, the disciples along with these new saints) continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship(Koinonia), in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

 

The key word there is "steadfastly".  The church held fast to the teaching of doctrine, Koinonia, breaking of bread and prayers.  These are the things a church should be steadfast in.  That should be what we are about.  Then underneath doctrine we find direction to share our faith; to create new disciples in Christ.  Under Koinonia we are called to be united together in worship to share our lives in Christ with each other.  Under the breaking of break we share the declaration in remembrance of what Christ did for us.  Under prayer we are commanded to cast our cares on him; to hold each other up in prayer, to lay hands on the sick and pray.

 

Doctrine, Koinonia, breaking of bread and prayer are the 4 big bullet points.  Our vision of this church should be about those things.  All we do should lead back to one of those categories.

 

John said he wrote of this available fellowship so that those who read this letter might have the same joy.  Jesus is still saying, come to me all you who are weary and burdened.  He is still forgiving sins and cleansing souls.  John wrote this so that I would teach it and you would also know that.  John had you in mind.  John wants you to know the fellowship of God.  Likewise, he wants you to be in fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. 

 

1 John 1:5-7

John saw God as light.  The gospel of John is chocked full of analogies as God as light.  And this isn't John's way of putting it or some writing style.  This is the message that "they".....John and the other disciples heard from Jesus.  And that's what they are declaring.  God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  That Light is the basis of fellowship with God.  There can be no darkness in the light.  This is a simple truth that John builds on.

 

If you say you have Koinonia with God yet walk in darkness, something is wrong.  John says that 'something' is that you are a liar.  You don't really walk with God.  If you walk in the light as He is in the light, in Koinonia, in common with God, we also have Koinonia with each other; because as we have all things common with God, we also have all things common with each other.

 

Many of the false teachers walked in darkness but claimed to be in the light.  Walking in the light means you practice the truth.  To practice the truth you must know what pleases the one you follow.  You must know His standards which is holiness.  You must know His truth.  If you are walking in the light you can't hide anything.

 

1 John 1:8

John said we walk in the light and there is no darkness in us at all.  But walking in the light doesn't mean we are sinless.  When we repent and trust in Jesus our soul is cleansed, our sins are forgiven, but we are still resident in this body of flesh.  We are simultaneously saint and sinner.  The latin term is Simul justus et peccator.  This simply means the early church fathers recognized this doctrine. 

 

Through Jesus we walk in the light of God.  As He sanctifies us and changes us it's our desire to be found holy, but we fail miserably.  We fall to sin but we aren't immersed in it.  Our lives aren't driven by it or characterized by it. 

 

This is not an excuse to sin.  We just have to understand none of could be found sinless.  Anyone who claims that is deceiving them self.  They are a liar.  This one statement eliminates the possibility of these false teachers and their followers of ever claiming that they have risen to some perfect state and relationship with God.

 

1 John 1:9-10

It's not if we sin.  The fact is we will sin.  It's if we are willing to confess it.  If we confess it God promises to forgive us those sins and cleanse us.  This passage has been called the Christian bar of soap.  God's righteousness is on the line.  If we do our part, he will do his part.  However, if we deny we are sinners, His word has no place in our lives.  The denial of sin runs through many cults, religions, and practices.  Many religions deny sin exists because they have no remedy for sin.  Christ is the only remedy. 

 

In just 9 verses we've formed this picture of these false teachers.  They were claiming some sinless state though they walked in darkness.  They were leading others from grace; telling them they weren't good enough to have fellowship with God.  They were casting doubt and dispersion on the apostles.  To some they gave a false gospel and the associated false hope.  They offered another gospel, another Christ, with no saving grace.  To others they offered a standard they could never attain.  They essentially robbed them of all hope, saying they could never be good enough.

 

And John is saying, God is; always has been.  Jesus is God.  He knew Jesus and confirmed that he was a real man.  All men are sinners.  Jesus died for that sin.  If we confess it, He is faithful and just to do exactly what He said He would do.  God will take the account of your sin and move that to what Jesus did on the cross.  And He will take the righteousness of Jesus and credit it to your account. 

 

This puts us in Koinonia with God, walking in the light; not on the basis of secret knowledge or being good enough.  It's simply, come as you are to Jesus.  It's not about what you can or can't do, it's about what He has already done.  His grace is amazing.

 

©2012 Doug Ford

Revised & edited 2020