John Describes True Christians

I John 2:1-6; 3:13-18; 4:15-17

GOLDEN TEXT: “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.”—I John 1:17

OUR lesson for today is composed of a group of texts from the First Epistle of St. John. The first presents the evidences of God’s love and also Jesus’ love. This love is seen in the provision of Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Here, too, the apostle points out an infallible test of our love for God—our obedience to His Word, saying, “But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.”

The second section gives us important instructions as to our attitude toward the brethren, our willingness to lay down our lives for their advancement in the way of the Lord. If we have this attitude then we may know that we have passed from death unto life—that we are in the path of life.

The third section also discusses the subject of love and contains the sublime statement that “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” Here, too, we have the apostle’s statement that all of God’s dealings with us as followers of Jesus are to the end that our love may he made perfect, our own disposition becoming a counter-part of His.

The apostle explains that the object of his writing is to emphasize Christian responsibility for abstaining from sin and continuing in God’s love. He informs us how this is to he accomplished. In this as in other respects he shows that the new creature is responsible for the body. Anyone who would say that he was perfect, without flaw, would be deceiving himself. Nevertheless these flaws are not of the new creature, but chargeable to the flesh. If the new creature should sin willfully, it would cease to be a now creature, because the new creature is begotten of the Spirit, and has joined in the warfare against sin, and is walking in the very opposite direction from sin.

But if any man sin, let him not cast away his confidence in God, Out let him remember that the Father, foreknowing that the new creature could not control every hot and word and act of the flesh, has made provision for this, and has provided for us an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.

In our lesson St. John was evidently reminded of our Lord’s words recorded in the Gospel which bears his name. Jesus claimed to know the Father, and demonstrated the truth of His profession fully and completely. He stated that God had sent Him, that God had taught Him, and that He was speaking what He had seen with the Father, that the deeds He performed were by the power of God, the doctrine He taught was not His, but the Father’s, that He proceeded forth and came from God; and in that beautiful prayer in the 17th chapter of John, He exclaims, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.”—John 7:16,29; 8:38,42; 14:10; 17:25

The thought of our lesson is that if we claim to know the Lord, we should be able to demonstrate our relationship to Him in the same way that Jesus manifested His relationship to the Father—that is, by obedience. This would mean, then, that we not only acknowledge Him as our Teacher, but that we have really learned of Him; walking and living as those who have been sent on a mission, and fully occupied, as He was, with its accomplishment. It is for such true disciples that Jesus prays, “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.”—John 17:21

With this ideal in mind, no wonder the Apostle John in today’s lesson impresses the thought that our love for the brethren, fellow-disciples of our Master, must be warm, and deep and strong; and that, considering the fact that our Lord laid down His life for us, we ought likewise to have such concern for the brethren, their welfare, their growth in grace, that we would gladly devote time, strength, means, yes, life itself in their behalf.

The lesson’s Golden Text sets forth a truly workable basis for Christian fellowship—“if we walk in the light as He is in the light.” Light symbolizes truth, and is in contrast with darkness, which stands for error. God is the fountain of all truth. Through the written Word, and through Christ, the Living Word, He has revealed to us the truth we need in order to do His will. All who are walking in this revealed light are sure to find themselves in harmony with each other. It is a mistaken notion that a Christian can enjoy fellowship with those who walk in darkness with respect to the fundamental features of God’s great plan. If fellowship meant simply the art of being tolerant and kind, then we could associate with those whose views are widely divergent from those taught in the Bible. But fellowship means more than this. It means partnership in the divine cause, which calls for collaboration and co-working on the divine plan, and how could we collaborate and work with those who are working on a different plan?

Belief in the blood of Christ by which we are cleansed is the first essential of Christian fellowship. Christians cannot co-labor with those who are seeking to be cleansed of their sins in some other way; or who, perhaps, refuse to acknowledge that they need cleansing. The Christian’s work today is to co-labor with Christ in building up the church in preparation for the future work of converting the world, hence he cannot harmoniously work with those who are trying to convert the world now.

QUESTIONS:

What is one of the principal ways that divine love is manifested toward the church and the world?

Is it possible for a Christian to live without sin?

In what way does the life of Jesus illustrate the Christian’s mission in the world?

| Home Page | Table of Contents |