studying 1 John has been enlightening! Its surprising how simple and how powerful John writes. I think it’s what distinguishes him from all other biblical author’s. He uses hook’s and redundant phraseology to drive his points home. This simplistic style is so accessible for all walks, yet so profound if you dig past the surface.

I was struck by his words on our fellowship with God and our fellowship with each other. In his basic wording, he breaks it down: If we want fellowship with the Father, we have to have fellowship with the Son. Who is the Son? the man Jesus, who was with the Father and was manifested to us (v.2-3). John states his desire is for his audience to have fellowship with us (Disciples of Jesus), so that we may all have fellowship with each other and with the Father. When John speaks of “our joy being made complete,” he is speaking of the joy found in a unified body. Unified with each other and unified with the Father through our Lord. When we experience this on earth, the joy is merely a taste of the joy we will experience in heaven when we are all joined as the Bride of Christ and made complete in the perfection of that day!

The next portion outlines how that fellowship with God is attained. God is perfect, and therefor cannot be associated with Sin. Jesus died and poured out His blood as payment for our sin (v.7). I believe John is addressing the specific relationship the Church should have with our God. If we claim to be covered by the blood and therefor claim fellowship with God, yet we walk in the darkness (Sin) which God cannot associate with then we are liars! Plain and simple! If we live and practice all that contradicts who God is, then what has this claim to Jesus’ blood done for us? At the end of v. 6, by living in this opposition “we do not practice the truth.” The truth meaning the calling that Jesus demands from us. Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) If Jesus is “truth” or “the Truth,” then He must dwell in us. Our lives absolutely must reflect this indwelling! If we claim to have Jesus in our lives, yet our walk contradicts his calling and supposed “indwelling,” then we lie, and make Him a liar and “His Word [Jesus] is not in us (v. 9).

The gravity of this is huge! How are we saved? How do we have fellowship with the Father? The blood of Christ! This cleanses our sins and paves the way to be in heaven with God. John is laying it out! Paraphrase: If you’re living a life opposite of that which pleases God, then you aren’t saved. There is no room for questioning here. The statement “God is Light” demands so much more than “Jesus saves.” Jesus certainly saves us but requires that our living is changed as a result! 1 Cor. 6:9-11 says,

⁹ Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Cor. 6:20

²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

This really doesn’t leave a lot of room for ambiguity or “gray areas” in regards to our lifestyle as blood bought saints.

Understanding the context of this letter really allows for an understanding of why he wrote this letter in the first place. Scholars generally agree that John was addressing false teaching and heresy that had begun to creep into the church, specifically Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a relatively new belief, and it had began surfacing among churches. It started in small pockets, but was quickly gaining a following among the early church believers. Gnosticism was a blend of Greek philosophy, Eastern mysticism and enough Christianity to appear as if it were a branch off of the traditional Christian views already established. Because of it’s similarity to Christian beliefs, many Christians were falling away and preaching Gnosticism as truth. One of the main difference’s of Gnosticism is their belief that all matter is evil and sinful. If this is true, then Christ could not be God and man because human flesh is considered sinful thus God could not be incarnate and maintain His deity. John addresses this issue later on in his letter, but first refutes  Gnostic belief’s regarding how believers should live. Since all matter is evil according to their doctrine’s, Gnostics pursued two main paths: The more conservative Gnostics believed in treating their flesh harshly because of it’s sinfulness. The liberal view’s held that since the spirit is pure and the flesh is evil then whatever was done in or with the body was irrelevant since it didn’t impact the spirit’s purity. This liberal Gnosticism was what John was addressing. There were believers who were living as if they were above morality, and John was writing to purge this poison from among the flock. This is why he draws such clear lines in the sand so to speak. It doesn’t leave any room to marry other beliefs in, especially the permissive belief’s of liberal Gnosticism.

American believers face similar attacks like what John is addressing here. Our nation is a melting pot of ideas and philosophy and spirituality. Some of it is very appealing and often times the ideology can creep in silently and soon we’ve built our approach to faith with wrong thoughts of what God wants from us. We add things to what God has said sometimes to make Christianity more appealing to the world, sometimes to make it more appealing to the church. I’ve personally found that the calling of Christ is preferable to all others, but certainly no “walk in the park.” Sometimes a candy coating of feel good sweet Jesus is easier to live with. I totally get that. We want Jesus to be likable to people will want to get to know Him. We want to make Him palatable on our own terms so people will think He is “cool” or that it’s a breeze having Him in our lives. If we add or subtract things to or from Jesus according to our own desires or concepts, we are liars and we make Him a liar too. We are contradicting His character and well intentioned though it may be, any ideology or belief system that takes us away from the person of Jesus Christ as revealed to us by scripture is evil. We do ourselves a disservice and we deceive those who would pursue the Actual Jesus.

How then can we know who the Actual Jesus is? Often times I’ve realized that my concepts of Jesus (be they right or wrong) were formed without my consent. I more or less adopted them as I grew up. Sorry, but this approach to discipleship simply does not work. My faith is not my own, I’ve taken on ideas vicariously. To overcome the potential for being led astray by wrong thoughts of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit I must take ownership of my faith! Want some practical advice on this? READ THE BIBLE. It really is as simple as that. just read it, study it, get into it. Get to know God, He has revealed Himself on these pages. When false teaching is presented to you, you will have the Word on your heart and mind to counter the enemy. You will know the Person of Jesus and won’t be swayed by clever idea’s and smooth philosophy. Wisdom isn’t only found in the word’s of the saints. The world has an appearance of wisdom, but only true wisdom comes from God. The only way you can avoid being swept away by the un-biblical Christ is to get to know the Actual Christ!

Put down religion, put down prejudices, put down existing ideals and take off your moron-glasses. Get into His word and The Word will speak to you and give you understanding. There are many who will not take part in His kingdom because they never took the time to get to know the Actual Jesus; Because they were defined by sin instead of the Savior. God’s desire for all of us is that we walk in the light as He is in the light. He want’s us to pursue holiness because He is holy. He desires to be known, He desires relationship and fellowship with us. In this we form right thinking of Him. In our pursuit of Him, we learn how He wants us to live. Study his Word, and live accordingly.