Rather than ‘getting busy and getting going’ in fellowship projects, the Apostles were concerned that Christians in general began and continued to live a life worthy of their calling, deliverance and adoption by God through the Messiah. Paul taught about Christians possessing and walking in the breath of God. He taught that the breath of God, dwelling in the deep inner core of Christians, provides spiritual insight, illumination, discernment and inclination towards godliness. He also taught that Christians are sometimes tempted away from cleanliness and godliness and that they sometimes quench, ‘grieve’, resist, ignore or oppose the illuminations and inclinations from the breath of God deep within their inner core. Persistence in such opposition and resistance leads to a ‘hardness of heart’, to insensitivity towards God. As we will see, this insensitivity to God leads to ignorance and to following the futility of our own darkened thoughts and reasoning. Along with this we follow the energies and impulses inherent in our fleshly constitution that work in opposition to what God approves of.
It is the illuminating, insightful discernment and (in the main) gentle, subtle impulse of the breath of God dwelling within the Christian’s deep inner core that the Apostle Paul taught as being the basis for the dynamic process of Christians living a godly life. Thus he exhorts Christians to ‘walk around in the breath’, to pay attention to the working energies of the breath of God within them and to work to bring these energies to fruition by bringing them forth in their practical day-by-day speech, attitude and behaviour, making the Messiah complete. ‘The fruit of the breath is love, joy, peace, patient forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Down from these sorts of things there is absolutely no law, 24 and the Messiah, Jesus, crucifies the flesh together with the focus on desires and strong emotions’, (Galatians 5 v 22, 23).
That is the dynamic process that Paul presents in his Epistles with regard to Christians living a godly life. He places this process in contrast to one that refers to external codes, regulations and resolutions to uphold them, even though these regulations or laws may have come down from God. The dynamic process of practical behaviour that the Apostle Paul teaches is for Christians alone, because only they possess the breath of God within. ‘Outsiders’ cannot put into practice the process that he teaches because they do not possess the means to do so. Thus Paul exhorts Christians to walk around day-by-day, moment by moment, within the sphere and influence of the Inner Light and impulse of the breath of God dwelling deep in their inner core. He explains that the New Covenant in the blood of the Messiah is ‘not of the letter [of external written codes] but of the breath, because the letter kills but the breath gives life’, (II Corinthians 3 v 6). He explains in his letter to the Romans that Christians ‘are being put to death to the Law through the body of the Messiah’, (Romans 7 v 4). Christians ‘have been released from the Law so that we serve in the new way of the breath and not in the old way of the written code’, (Romans 7 v 6).
We are now moving to a point at which the three aspects that testify and bear witness to the Son – his physical birth, sacrificial lifeblood and the witness of the breath of God – are portrayed as self-evidencing. Light is self-evidencing – it needs no further external support to prove and demonstrate its existence. If a person is blind and cannot see the light, it does not mean that there is fault in the light itself. The problem lies in the person’s inability (or unwillingness) to look and see. In our natural state, as ‘outsiders’, our fleshly impulses lead us to faulty thinking that in turn lead us to engage in erroneous, divinely disapproved of behaviour. This behaviour leads us to seek to satisfy our fleshly impulses, to release the ‘pressure’ and energy that they create, and this leads us to yet more faulty thinking. It is a vicious circle that we are enslaved to by our nature or constitution. Within this entrapment in the darkness of ignorance and futile, empty reasoning, in our natural state we make God out to be a liar when we are faced with the threefold divine evidential testimony regarding His Son. In this way, ‘outsiders’ separate themselves away from God. ‘Because God does not send away the Son into the orderly arrangement of the world in order to pick out and separate the orderly system of the world, but that the orderly arrangement of the world might be successfully delivered out of danger and across into safety on account of Him. 18 Those persuaded and entrusting in Him are not picked out and separated, but those not persuaded and entrusting in Him are even now picked out and separated because they are not persuaded, entrusting and penetrating into the character and authority of the one and only of a kind – the unique Son of God. 19 Indeed, now this is the separation and picking out, because the Source of Light is here, penetrating into the ordered system of the world, and men prefer to love the darkness more than the Source of light, because their work and behaviour is hurtful and ridden with pain’ (John 3 v 17 – 19).
What do these three aspects point to with one purpose? ‘This is the testimony: that God has given perpetual life to us, and this is the life within his Son’ (Verse 11). There is the polarization between the children of God and the children of the devil. ‘Outsiders’ are not persuaded of the Son of God as Messiah in their personal experience. But Christians know within themselves, in their personal experience, that God has given them perpetual life within the Son of God. Christians are made alive within Jesus such that they co-share in his perpetual life.
The ultimate conclusion of this polarization is this, ‘The one holding and possessing the Son has life; the one not having and possessing the Son absolutely does not have life’ (Verse 12). Throughout his letter John has been going through distinctive and unique qualities that only Christians can hold and possess. They do not hold and possess these qualities because of their own efforts, skills, abilities or intellect, but because they have been brought forth by God. John says that it is impossible for ‘outsiders’ to possess these qualities and characteristics. Therefore, if an individual does possess these qualities they serve as ‘markers’ or evidence that they are indeed a ‘child of God’, delivered from God’s judicial condemnation and that they have a share in a divinely allotted inheritance. In other words,
The one in possession of these qualities gains assurance and confident anticipation and expectation of perpetual life
In this way we are led nicely into John’s conclusion. ‘I am writing these things in order that you may know and appreciate that you hold and possess perpetual life, to you [who are] entrusting penetrating towards the name of the son of God’ (Verse 13). This is the conclusion of his teaching about individual Christians knowing in personal experience that they have perpetual life. But as with all such theological teaching, Christians are meant to think this teaching about personal assurance through to its logical conclusions and to carry it across into their speech and behaviour.
‘Children, it is the last hour; as you have heard that the opposite to the Messiah is coming, even now many opposed to the Messiah have come into being, from which source we know that it is the last hour’, (I John 2 v 18).
John’s logical conclusion drawn from the previous couple of verses is that the present gospel age constitutes the last days or last season before Jesus takes up his role as King. And that is what John states in this verse. This present age is ‘the last hour’.
When Jesus began to preach and perform miracles, we might think that everyone would have clearly perceived that Jesus was indeed the promised deliverer of God’s choosing and anointing. But of course this was not the case. Humanity, including God’s chosen people, the Jews, existed in the darkness of ignorance, their perception obscured to the point that their empty reasoning and fleshly desires made them blind, deaf and hard-hearted when it came to God and what was true to the facts regarding unseen spiritual realities. Furthermore, God still continues to give Jews up to themselves at this present time, with the result that many Jews have turned away from God altogether, and traditional religious-minded Jews still wait for the coming of their Messiah. Christians meanwhile, persuaded that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah, are watching for his second coming, for the return of the Messiah, not as ‘suffering servant’ this time but rather as ‘King of kings’. The Hebrew Prophets, Jesus and his Apostles all point to the ‘Day of the Lord’ as the time when Jesus will take up the mantle of kingship. Ironically then, both religious-minded Jews and Christians are waiting and looking for the appearance of the Messiah in this ‘last hour’.
Scripture does not present a set of dates or any kind of ‘formula’ whereby scholars can calculate the year in which the Messiah will be revealed as King of kings. There are some of course who have tried to work out when this event will happen, and some of them have made confident predictions based on their interpretations and calculations, but they have come to nothing. Jesus himself emphasizes that the date of this event is simply not known: ‘“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”’, (Matthew 24 v 36, Mark 13 v 32). Instead, Jesus, the Apostles and Prophets present certain aspects and events that will exist and occur in the time leading up to the appearance of the Messiah and those who are faithful to God are instructed to be watchful, to be aware of the ‘signs of the times’ or characteristics of the age in which they are living.
This situation tends to create a constant sense not only of watchfulness, but of expectation in many godly people. We can perceive this sense of expectation that the Messiah was about to appear here in John’s writing. It is also present in the Apostle Paul’s writing. The sense was that Jesus was about to return very soon, to the point that there was concern when some Christians died, because there was a feeling that such Christians had somehow been excluded from deliverance and their promised inheritance. But as Paul pointed out, such Christians had not ‘missed out’ and Christians were not to be alarmed by rumours that the Messiah was here, or there, because the Messiah could not and would not come until a final rebellion against God and His Messiah began to take place. John agrees: ‘as you have heard that the opposite to the Messiah is coming’.
Then John says, ‘even now many opposed to the Messiah have come into being’. Paul says something similar: ‘even now the power of lawlessness is at work’. Lawless, rebellious opposition to the Messiah was evident at the time of the Apostles. There were many opponents of the Messiah. This of course contributed to the expectation that the Messiah’s appearance was about to happen. The manifestation of this opposition to the Messiah was, and still is, the source of knowledge that this is ‘the last hour’ before ‘the age’ in which the Messiah will be revealed as King of kings. John will go on to explain more about this theme of opposition in the next few verses.
Jesus sent the Apostle Paul as an Apostle to non-Jews or Gentiles. But the majority of John’s readers were Hebrew Christians – Jews who had come to embrace Christianity. These Hebrew Christians would have been familiar with the divine Laws that form an integral part of the Sinai Covenant that YHVH had given to the Jews through Moses. As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains, this old Covenant is rendered idle when a Jew is placed under the new Covenant of the blood of the Messiah.
Thus John goes on to say, ‘Beloved, I am not writing a new end result to you but an old and ancient one which you have held on to away from the beginning, away from the initial starting point. This old and ancient culmination is the word that you have heard. 8 On the other hand I am writing a new end result to you that is unconcealed and true within him and within you, because the darkness is passing away and the unconcealed true light is shining even now. 9 The one saying that he is within the light but detesting his brother is within the darkness as far as this moment. 10 The one loving his brother stays in the light and there is absolutely nothing within them that is a cause for stumbling and error. 11 But the one hating his brother is within the darkness and walks around within the darkness; he does not appreciate where he is going, because the darkness has obscured his eyes’ (I John 2 v 7 – 11).
Jewish Christians find themselves placed under a new Covenant when they become Christians. They are no longer under the Sinai Covenant but under the New Covenant of the blood of the Messiah. But the aim or purpose of the New Covenant remains the same. The greatest commandment for Jews under the old Sinai Covenant was that they love God with all their heart and strength, and the second greatest commandment was that they love their neighbour in the same way that they love themselves. Taken together these constitute the ‘old and ancient end result’ of the Mosaic Law that Jews received when they emerged from slavery in Egypt and began to constitute a distinct nation for the first time. The end result of the instructions of Jesus is the same, and this is why what John is saying is a new culmination but yet it also reflects the old and ancient one that Jews were familiar with.
The primary culmination of the precepts of Jesus to his disciples is that they love their fellow Christians in the same way that Jesus loves those whom God selects
This constitutes the true goal for all Christians. This love is practical, beneficial love that is clearly seen within what Jesus said and did, and in the same way this love is intended to be manifest or seen within Christians.
John ties this end result of practical, beneficial love to the metaphors of light and darkness. The beneficial, practical love that Christians are exhorted to manifest to their fellow Christians is the result of Christians walking around within the light. This light is meant to shine forth clearly by being seen in their speech, attitudes and behaviours towards one another. This new end result of true light – practical, beneficial love – is not hidden away, concealed in darkness. It is revealed and true to the facts. Because of the Christian’s union with the Messiah, this unconcealed true light is revealed and true within the Messiah and within Christians. The location or locus of this light is within Christians, within their physical constitution. A process has begun within Christians in which the darkness of ignorance is passing away and even now, at this present time, the revealed light is shining. This process is not happening within ‘outsiders’ or ‘unbelievers’.
In returning to the metaphors of light and darkness, John once again brings out the sharp dichotomy, the acute polarization that results in practice. If someone says that they are ‘within the light’ but they are detesting other Christians, or looking down on them, or treating them with disdain and contempt, or are critical and judgmental of them, then such a person continues to be in darkness right up to this present time. Such a person, even though they say that they trust Jesus, cannot see and appreciate where they are going because darkness still obscures their vision. By contrast, Christians who are in and remain within the light and carry across beneficial, practical love towards his or her fellow Christians into their speech and actions are indeed walking around within the light. The result is that there is no malice, anger or deceit within them, indeed, nothing within them that will cause other Christians to trip up and stumble and the moment-by-moment union and life of Christians within the Messiah is maintained.
I John 1 v 5 – 7 – Darkness and Walking in the Light
John says to his mainly Hebrew Christian readers that the message that they have heard from Jesus and which the Apostles are faithfully reporting is that ‘God is the source of light; in Him there is no darkness at all’ (I John 1 v 5). John introduces the metaphors of light and darkness. In Scripture, ‘darkness’ is a metaphor that points to ignorance and lack of knowledge. By contrast ‘light’ is a metaphor that points to knowledge and truth – especially with regards to that which cannot be seen with our physical eyes. Thus we have the idea of ‘enlightened’ or ‘illuminated’ perception and knowledge, and this is a principle or fundamental idea that governs and underpins the theme of assurance, of Christians knowing in personal experience that they know the Messiah. Given this fundamental principle that God is light, certain practical conclusions follow. This is typical of the teaching method often used by the Apostles – they make a doctrinal or theological statement and then they think it through logically to its end point so as to make deductions with regards to its implications in practical day-by-day life. The Apostles do not merely present theory or abstract doctrine – when Christians perceive, receive and accept this truth they are meant to carry it across into real, practical matters in their speech, attitude and behaviour. Thus John takes this initial theological statement to then write about Christians having confidence and assurance in their expectation and anticipation of their deliverance from divine judicial condemnation. ‘If we are saying that we have fellowship with Him, yet we are walking within the sphere of darkness, then we are lying and we are not manufacturing the truth. 7 BUT IF we are walking within the light in the same way that he is within the light, [THEN] we possess partnership with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son is cleansing us away from every kind of missing the mark and self-forfeiture. (I John 1 v 6, 7). If Christians want to be assured that their expectation and anticipation of deliverance from God’s condemnation is genuine then they must indeed look to the way that they speak, their attitudes and their behaviour. But they do not look to their speech and behavior as being the means of their deliverance. What John is saying is that if a person says that they are a Christian and delivered from divine condemnation, but are still continuing to habitually and unconcernedly speak and behave in the way that they used to do before they entrusted the Messiah, then they are walking around in the darkness of ignorance. If they say that they ‘only live once, so eat drink and be merry’, or ‘let’s get as much pleasure as we can and satisfy our eager, sensuous desires’, then they are more than deceiving themselves, they are lying when they say that they are in fellowship with Jesus. By using these metaphors John introduces a strong dichotomy. Light and darkness cannot exist together – light dispels darkness – or darkness overcomes the light. If there is darkness then there is no light.
John says that there is a fundamental and acute difference between God/Light and darkness. The ‘light’ of God is revealed in the Messiah who is the image of the Father and a source of light, as well as in the good news or gospel message of the means of deliverance. Despite this, most people do not respond to this light. The light is shining but most people remain in darkness. We tend to think of this light as being an external light source yet despite the fact that it is shining, most people are described as being in darkness. This is because the source of this darkness is not ‘out there’ but deep within the core of the person. As people are by nature, in their fleshly constitution and ancient humanity, they are described as being blind, deaf and calloused or hard-hearted. The light of God, His Messiah and the gospel is shining, but most people do not see or perceive it. The majority of people who encounter the gospel listen to the gospel up to a certain point and then reject it. This light, involving Jesus as the Son of God, as God’s sacrificial lamb, dying and being resurrected, seems to be stupid and foolish as far as they are concerned. So they reject it, preferring darkness to light.
Christians may on occasion clearly explain the rudiments of the gospel to unbelievers and find quite quickly that their unbelieving listeners adopt an attitude of scornful dismissal, mockery and ridicule. Secular humanism and atheism are popular perspectives, certainly in Western Europe at this present time. Unbelievers also find sentimental superstition, pseudo-mysticism, neo-paganism and self-assertion to be better matched to their natural constitution. So how are Christians exhorted to respond to these kinds of reactions? Many Christians of course try all the harder to persuade such people, and in doing so get involved in moral and spiritual disputes, or they become too enthusiastic and assertive in their beliefs to the point of dogmatism. In Scripture however they are encouraged to shut up and walk away. They are urged not to give that which is pure and set apart to dogs and not to cast their pearls before swine. The position of Scripture with regards to unbelievers rejecting the light of God, His Messiah and the gospel is this – such people are making God out to be a liar. When people make God out to be a liar then His word is not within them, but instead their deep inner core remains in darkness. Very often Jesus encountered mixed responses when teaching by means of parables in public. Some people were hostile, some mocked, some believed. Jesus only stayed for so long with those who opposed him before he walked away. He often ended his teaching with ‘If you have eyes to see, then look, if you have ears to hear, then listen’. The onus was not on his skills of persuasion, oratory, clever words, propagandizing or philosophical arguments. Having stated his position clearly, the onus was then placed upon his hearers to perceive and recognize the light of truth. If his hearers persisted in their opposition, it was not a sign of failure to persuade them on the part of Jesus, rather it was a sign that his hearers remained in darkness and preferred it. Similarly, when Paul was invited to speak to the philosophers at Mars Hill, having declared the gospel he began to meet with a mixed response, so he walked away rather than enter into a long and complicated philosophical debate which is what some of the philosophers wanted to do.
I am sure that you are well aware of what the working energies of our fleshly constitution lead us to. Paul lists the ‘labours of the flesh’ in Galatians: ‘Now the work of the inner energies of the flesh are apparent: fornication and harlotry, uncleanness, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, drug–related magic, hostility, quarrelling, passionate envy, passionate anger, factions, divisions, disunity, 21 grudges, inebriations, revelry and things like these. Regarding these, I am forewarning you as I warned you before, that those who are continuing to do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God’ (Galatians 5 v 19 – 21). John is saying that if these qualities form a person’s regular and habitual attitude, speech and behaviour, then that person is walking around in the darkness of ignorance. They are not within the light. Despite what they may say to the contrary, they are not in fellowship with Jesus and not constructing what is true to the facts. Given the acute dichotomy that John has now introduced, the opposite is also true. If a person is walking around day-by-day within the light, in the same way that Jesus is within the light, if they are not only perceiving what is true to the facts concerning God and His Messiah but also being consistent with their persuasion such that they are walking around in obedient submission and attaining the culmination of the Messiah’s instructions, then such a person possesses partnership with other Christians, and the blood of the Messiah is cleansing them from every kind of missing the mark and shortcoming.
Christian 2 Christians 