Week 29: \u00a0May 6, 2012<\/p>\n
As he sums up this section, John, having warned his reader not to be deceived, \u00a0says who can be trusted, (i.e., those who practice righteousness).\u00a0 He draws a distinguishing between the children of God and those who belong to the devil.<\/p>\n
Study<\/p>\n
8 \u2013 The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy what the devil has been doing. <\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In contrast to those who practice righteousness are those trying to deceive us. These practice sin and belong to the evil one. \u00a0\u00a0When John says, that \u201cthe devil has been sinning from the beginning<\/strong><\/em>\u201d it is not clear if from the beginning refers to the beginning of human sin, i.e., the serpent in the garden, or since the becoming the devil, but it really does not affect the meaning for us.\u00a0 Those who follow God will be marked by righteousness. Those who lives are marked by sin, belong to Satan. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The reason that the Son of God was revealed <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus came into the world to defeat sin.\u00a0 This is not just a throwaway line, but a key part of John\u2019s argument.\u00a0 How can a true follow of Jesus be practicing what he came to destroy?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 9a \u2013 No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God\u2019s[1] seed abides in him.<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John continues the reasoning of verse 8 with a stark statement that is reminiscent of v6. No one who remains in union with him keeps on sinning<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0How could they?\u00a0 How can a true follower of Christ work against what he came to do? (See discussion below) \u00a0After all, we have God\u2019s seed. \u00a0Some see God\u2019s seed as the Holy Spirit, others as the word of God. It is probably a bit of both.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 9b \u2013 Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God. <\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John is reaching a conclusion that started with his initial statement that began this section and his statement\u00a0 in 1 John 1:5 God is light, and in him there is no darkness\u2014none at all!<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0If God has no darkness, and God is in us, we can have no darkness. \u00a0As for what John means by \u201ccannot go on sinning\u201d see discussion on v 6 and discussion below. Also it is important to see this in light of the seed metaphor that precedes it. \u00a0When you plant a seed, it grows and develops.\u00a0 When a person is born-again, they are not fully grown spiritually but begin to grow. \u00a0This is the real mark of a Christian, not sinlessness, but spiritual growth and development.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 10 \u2013 This is how God\u2019s children and the devil\u2019s children are distinguished.[2] No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God. <\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John ends this section with statement that sums up the main points about his opponents. A major reason for this section was to distinguish those who left from those who stayed. \u00a0Our primary way of doing this is to look people\u2019s walk and to see how they \u201cLove their brother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 11 \u2013 This is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. <\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is the message<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This phrase occurs only here and 1:5, This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you<\/em>.\u00a0 1:5 started the first section that focused on those who left (2:19) and how to tell who was telling the truth, who you should trust, and who you should follow. \u00a0\u00a0John uses the same phrase to begin this section. This section will focus more on how we should live.\u00a0 Again there is little consensus over the outline of John.\u00a0 One advantage of this approach is that it draws on literary feature within the letter itself.<\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We should love one another.<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While this section will build on the themes developed in the previous section, the overriding message of this section will be to love another.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 12 \u2013 Do not be like Cain,[3] who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because what he was doing was evil and his brother\u2019s actions[4] were righteous. <\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not too surprisingly John begins with a contrast and, as he so often does, he puts his message into very stark terms.\u00a0 Cain not only did not love his brother, he murdered him.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because what he was doing was evil and his brother\u2019s actions were righteous<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At first this does not seem to make sense.\u00a0 But it is something born out in practice. Righteousness holds up a mirror to evil.\u00a0 \u00a0It reminds the unrighteous of God\u2019s Law, and their disobedience.\u00a0 It ultimately robs them of their excuses. \u00a0\u00a0So Cain had two choices,\u00a0 acknowledge his disobedience or get rid of the evidence, i.e., get rid of Abel.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2013 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. <\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As Cain hated Abel, so will the world hate us and we should expect this. This raises three issues: First, if we do not face opposition from the world, what does that say about our walk?\u00a0 Second, it is important to keep in mind that just because we are facing opposition, that does not mean we are where God wants us to be. If we do not act in love, we should not be surprised if we get a negative reaction. \u00a0So this is not a blank check to be obnoxious. Finally, we may not see \u201chatred\u201d today, because in the current world the main problem it apathy.\u00a0 People, may simply not care.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Questions and Discussion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Verse 9 sparked a lot of discussion.\u00a0 Some theologians try to soften this verse by saying that this refers to continual or habitual sin.\u00a0 There is some truth to this, but I do not believe that it is really faithful to what John is arguing.\u00a0 Hebrew culture tended to express things in terms of stark contrast in a way that we in the 21st<\/sup> century are uncomfortable with.\u00a0<\/p>\n We live in a world governed by a view of precision that would be completely foreign to those in the first century.\u00a0 The easiest place to see this is with time.\u00a0 We commonly think of time in terms of hours, minutes, and seconds, and at times even smaller increments. We will worry if we are even a few minutes late.\u00a0 Yet in the first century, for the most part, even hours were too fine a division.\u00a0 \u00a0Normally people were content with parts of a day.<\/p>\n Thus when we read statements of John such as \u201cNo one who has been born from God practices sin\u201d our innate sense of accuracy and precision causes us trouble.\u00a0 If that is literally accurate then no one could be a Christian.\u00a0 \u00a0Yet we know that John could not mean that, for he has already said that anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar.\u00a0 (1 John 1:8). \u00a0This conflict is what explains the attempts to soften the verse.<\/p>\n But John was not governed by our modern sense of precision, particularly when drawing contrast such as he is doing here.\u00a0 This does not mean the statement is inaccurate, but rather we must seek to understand it has he wrote it; where this is true, but not yet fully realized; where we are Children of god, but what we will be had not yet been revealed. (3:2)<\/p>\n This is, again, while I do not believe that statements about cleansing us of our sins are to be seen as mere restatements of forgiveness.\u00a0 There can be no darkness in God, and for us to be in fellowship with him requires that we not only be forgiven, but cleansed.<\/p>\n To see this as habitual sin, etc., is to not only soften but to undermine John\u2019s argument.\u00a0 God does not want us to be mostly free from sin or to just be free from habitual sin; he wants us completely free from sin. Sin is fundamentally a rebellion against God and we cannot be in fellowship with him, and rebelling against him at the same time. \u00a0\u00a0So while the discussion of habitual or continual sin is probably a valid way of understanding how this verse applies to our daily life, it is important to realize that this was not the argument that John was making.<\/p>\n If you have question or comments about the class, feel free to send me an email at\u00a0elgin@hushbeck.com<\/a>\u00a0and be sure to put \u201cEpistles of John\u201d in the header.<\/em><\/p>\n See here for references and more background on the class<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nPart III : Love One Another (3:11-5:14)<\/h3>\n
a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Message\u00a0 – Love One Another (3:11-17)<\/h4>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 i.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starting Premise\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/h5>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ii.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Negative example \u2013 Cain\u00a0<\/h5>\n