I John 5 v 16 – 18 – Praying for Christians who are falling into error

John continues his theme of Christians praying for fellow Christians who are falling into error. Having made an exception with regards to praying for someone who professes to be a Christian but who is clearly and persistently opposing God and bringing God, His purposes, and Christians into disrepute. Such a person is disowned, not identified with and excommunicated – handed over to Satan.

Then he says, ‘All injustice is missing the mark, and there is missing the mark absolutely not leading towards death. 18 We appreciate that everyone who has been born from out of God is absolutely not missing the mark, but the one procreated from out of God is watching over and guarding him, and the malicious absolutely does not touch him’ (I John 5 v 17, 18). John does not want his Hebrew Christian readers to fall into the mistake of Christian Perfectionism, nor does he want them to conclude that every kind of error leads to death. So whilst the sort of error that we have been looking at in recent posts can indeed lead to lifeless insensitivity and unresponsiveness to God, he says that this is not the case with every instance of unjust behaviour or error. In other words there are degrees of missing the mark.

John says that Christians appreciate that all of those who are brought forth from out of God are absolutely not missing the mark. I explored this theme in the discussion on I John 3 v 9. With regards to Christians, to those brought forth by God, ‘the one procreated from out of God is watching over and guarding him and the malicious absolutely does not touch him’. There once again, is a difference in the way that the original Greek is translated into English. Some translations present this verse as I have above, but others present it like this: ‘the one procreated from out of God is watching over and guarding himself’. So which is correct? A brief overview of different Bible Commentators reveals the following opinions. Matthew Poole says, ‘The great advantage is here signified of the regenerate, who, by the seed remaining in them, (as I John 3 v 9) are furnished with a self-preserving principle’. John Gill says, ‘the Vulgate Latin version reads, ‘the generation of God keeps or preserves him’. That is, that which is born in him, the new man, the principle of grace, or seed of God in him, keeps him from notorious crimes, particularly from sinning the sin unto death, and from the governing power of all other sins. But all other versions, as well as copies, read as we do, as follows: ‘keepeth himself’…..the sense is, that a believer defends himself by taking to him the whole armour of God, and especially the shield of faith, against the corruptions of his own heart, the snares of the world, and particularly the temptations of Satan’. However, the Pulpit Commentary proposes that, ‘The whole should run, ‘We know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not, but the Begotten of God keepeth him’.

It is not possible to make a firm decision between these two alternative translations and interpretations, but along with some other Commentators I prefer the version expressed in the Pulpit Commentary. I propose that John’s intention is to say that it is God Who watches over and preserves Christians. God has brought Christians forth through His only begotten Son and the Son watches over and preserves them. That is why it is within God’s purpose and desire that Christians pray to God with regards to a fellow Christian who is falling into error. The end result is that ‘the malicious absolutely does not touch him’. The person brought forth from out of God remains secure within the Messiah who watches over and guards them, with Christians expressing their practical beneficial love towards their fellow Christians in prayerful concern if they see them falling into error. In making such prayers Christians are in agreement with God’s desires and purposes. It is absolutely not possible that a person brought forth by God and made to stand within the Messiah can be condemned by God, or as it were be reclaimed by or brought back into self-forfeiture and loss of a share by the malicious. The malicious – the world, the flesh and the devil – absolutely do not touch such an individual such as to cause them to lose their deliverance and divine inheritance.

‘We appreciate that we are from out of God, and the entire world is placed and reclines within the malicious’ John returns to the polarizing dichotomy that he has introduced and referred to throughout his letter:

Christians appreciate that they are from out of God

Outsiders and the entire orderly arrangement of the world is situated and rests within the malicious

Throughout his letter John has been drawing strong demarcation lines between ‘outsiders’ and Christians and in doing so he has been identifying unique qualities that Christians possess but which ‘outsiders’ absolutely do not. These differences serve as marks of assurance. His conclusion is that Christians are aware and know in experience that that have been brought forth from out of God. They also know that the entire orderly system of the world is placed within that which is malicious, bad, and divinely disapproved of. In fact the worldly arrangement rests at ease and comfort within this sphere of maliciousness.

I John 5 v 5 – 13 – Divine testimony concerning Jesus (4) – Christian Assurance

Having looked at the three important elements of testimony and witness to the truth – water/physical birth, life-blood, and the different set apart breath of God, John says, ‘these three are penetrating towards one purpose’ (Verse 8). Each of these aspects of truthful testimony are in agreement, bearing witness towards the same purpose. He tells us the purpose or goal of this testimony a few verses later, ‘this is the testimony: that God has given perpetual life to us, and this is the life within his son’ (Verse 11). But before he states this purpose he has a few more things to say.

‘If we take hold of human testimony, the testimony of God is greater’ (Verse 9a). John says to his Hebrew Christian readers, ‘You may be listening to and be persuaded of human testimony, you may believe reports and anecdotes given by other people, by other Christians. You may be persuaded of our eyewitness reports as Apostles who were there with Jesus, who saw his miracles and heard his teaching. But the testimony of God is greater, bigger, larger and by implication more trustworthy, ‘because this is the testimony of God that He has testified around his Son’ (Verse 9b). These three aspects of truthful testimony and witness – the physical birth of Jesus, his lifeblood, and the testimony of the breath of God – constitute God’s testimony around His Son. They do not constitute mere hearsay, or human opinions or conjectures about Jesus, rather they present the divine witness and testimony concerning God’s Son as His chosen and anointed deliverer.

Then John says, ‘The one persuaded and entrusting penetrating towards the Son of God is holding the testimony within himself’ (Verse 10a). In these days where modern science has considerable influence, we are used to looking ‘out there’ to find solid, replicable material evidence or ‘proof’ that supports the hypothesis, perspective or beliefs that we hold on to. If we believe in a global flood at the time of Noah then we tend to look to archaeological experts to find tangible, material objective evidence to support and confirm this idea and thus give us assurance that our belief is correct and true. This kind of approach pervades the thinking of many people in many areas of life, whether they are Christians or ‘outsiders’. Indeed, such an approach can be and often is a helpful and important approach giving us advances in areas such as health and medicine.

But the ways of God are often separate and distinct from the values and approaches of the orderly arrangement of the world. For Christians, the testimony, the faithful truthful witness regarding Jesus being the Son of God and the Messiah is ultimately held within themselves. It is an inner perception, enlightened insight, illuminated knowledge and understanding within that leads to persuasion deep in their inner core, thanks to the enlightening and empowering work of the breath residing and remaining in their heart as a result of the free gift of God.

In contrast to this, ‘The one not persuaded towards God is making Him a liar, because he has not been persuaded and entrusted the testimony that God has given about His son’ (Verse 10b). John brings us back to the strong polarizing demarcation line between Christians and ‘outsiders’. Given the threefold divine testimony concerning Jesus – his physical birth, sacrificial life-blood and the witness of the breath of truth – if a person still lacks persuasion, refusing to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah, then the verdict and conclusion is that what they are constructing makes God out to be a liar and deceiver. This quality of lying and deceiving is, as we have seen, the character of Satan. It is a position that is highly insulting to God.

I John 5 v 2 – 5 – Love and the culmination of God’s instructions (2)

‘We know and recognise that we are loving the children of God within this: when we are loving God and are constructing the end result of His instructions’ (I John 5 v 2). What does John mean by saying ‘when we are loving God’? He tells us right away – the definition of loving God consists of Christians constructing, guarding and preserving the attainment or end result of His instructions – the primary instruction being to ‘love the brethren’. All of the elements and aspects that John has been looking at go around in a virtuous circle. The end result at this present time is that Christians show practical beneficial love to their fellow Christians in the same way that God and His Messiah freely show practical beneficial love to them. The end result of God’s plan of deliverance is the establishment of a divinely ordered arrangement within the world that will honour to God by being clean, righteous, judicious and fair, reflecting God’s relationship with His creation. If we love God then we construct, guard and preserve the goals and attainments that form the culmination of His instructions.

Christians do not love God by ‘making a decision’ to trust Jesus and then sitting back in smug security because they consider that having made this decision they are then ‘on the road to glory’. Christians do not love God by ‘letting go and letting God’ do the work such that they are ‘carried along’ by this and that uplifting experience. Being brought forth by God so as to be persuaded and entrust Jesus His Son as coming in the likeness of flesh as the deliverer, leads to the Apostolic exhortation to carry such persuasion across the threshold from within into constructing and manufacturing practical speech and behaviour. Otherwise such persuasion and entrustment is dead and lifeless. This ‘carrying across into constructing speech and behaviour’ is revealed when Christians express their love of God. ‘Outsiders’ cannot love God and His anointed Messiah. It is revealed when Christians construct, guard and preserve the goals and attainments that form the culmination of the instructions of God and His Messiah. They construct and manufacture the end result of practical, beneficial love in their relationships with fellow Christians

These behaviours set Christians apart from ‘outsiders’ who embrace and follow the opposing values and principles of the worldly arrangement, because unlike ‘outsiders’, Christians walk around within the sphere of the different, set apart breath of God and His Messiah. Without the breath of God it is impossible to perceive, entrust and love God and His anointed Messiah, and impossible to show practical beneficial love to those whom God has brought forth.

The end result of Christians loving their fellow Christians and constructing a life that is set apart from the arrangement of the world is not oppressive, heavy or burdensome. ‘Because everyone who has been brought forth from out of God is carrying off the victory and overcoming the orderly arrangement of the world’. The accomplishment and completion of the end result is not in doubt. Christians are not engaging in the construction and manufacture of behaviour towards an end result where success is uncertain or doubtful. Christians may sometimes feel as if they are weak and that the odds are against them, that the arrangement of the world set in opposition to God is firmly established and immovable. Given the pervasive and strong establishment of the present orderly arrangement of the world, victory may seem unattainable – but this is not so. Why? Because of the free gift of their new standing within the Messiah, Christians are on what is already declared to be the victorious side that will ultimately overcome the present world arrangement. They are already part of the ‘New Jerusalem’ – the new delegated authority of God’s Kingdom. This victory is not founded in their own strength and ability, nor on the degree of their godly behaviour, nor their own natural wisdom and knowledge, but rather it is founded and rests in their God-given persuasion to the point of obedience with regards to Jesus, God’s chosen and anointed deliverer which in turn begins to bring forth the fruit of practical beneficial love towards fellows Christians.

John asks a rhetorical question. If the individual who is entrusting in Jesus as the Son of God is not carrying off the victory and overcoming the orderly arrangement of the world, then who is? Who can attain this victory? Paul expresses a similar question in his letter to the Romans. ‘Who will deliver me and rescue me from out of this, the physical body of death? 25 But thanks be to God through Jesus the Messiah, our Master!’ (Romans 7 v 25b, 25).

I John 4 v 19 – 21, 5 v 1 – Loving God and those brought forth from out of Him

John continues pulling together what he has been saying so far. ‘We love because He first began loving us. 20 If anyone is saying, ‘I love God’ but is hating and detesting his brother he is a deceiver, because the one not loving his brother whom he sees, is not able to love God whom he has not seen. 21 This is the end result of the instruction that we have away from Him – that the one loving God should also be loving his brother. Everyone believing that Jesus is the Messiah of God has been brought forth; and everyone loving the One who brings forth also loves him who is brought forth from out of Him’ (I John 4 v 19 – 21, 5 v 1). Within the stark polarizing dichotomy between the ‘children of God’ and the ‘children of the devil’ that John has been expounding, there is a self-contained symmetry within the whole scheme of the restoration and reconciliation of the children of God. By nature Christians were originally like everyone else – they were in a state of darkened weakness and inability, blind, deaf and hardened in their deep inner core towards God. So why have Christians come to love God? Christians love God, His Messiah and their fellow Christians because first of all God loves them. It was God Who made the first move at a time when they were without hope and helpless. ‘Outsiders’ cannot express love to God, His Messiah or Christians because by their nature they are opposed to God within their natural, earthy, fleshly constitution. Showing practical, beneficial love to Christians is one of the distinctive means by which Christians gain confident expectation and anticipation that they are members of the Kingdom.

Earlier, in verse 12, John said that no one has seen God. This statement seemed to come somewhat out of the blue. It did not seem to have any relevance or logical connection to what John was saying. However, the connection that he intends is made plain here in this section and particularly in verse 20. ‘If anyone is saying, ‘I love God’ but is hating and detesting his brother he is a deceiver, because the one not loving his brother whom he sees, is not able to love God whom he has not seen’. I have already said that ‘outsiders’ can say the words ‘I love God’, but saying the words is not enough. Love for God and His Messiah is brought to completion in the beneficial action of showing practical love to Christians. This is the primary instruction of Jesus to Christians. So when someone says ‘I love God’ (or something similar), but then treats Christians with scorn, derision, mockery, disdain, or with opposition to an even worse degree, then such a person is a deceiver. They are not simply in error or falling into a mistake, rather they know with themselves that they are speaking falsehood.

Why is this the case? It is because when Christians reflect the qualities of God and His Messiah by walking around within the sphere of the different set apart breath and enact practical beneficial love towards one another, they are doing this towards someone who can be seen with physical eyes. But if an individual is rejecting and despising those who can be seen to be entrusting God and His Messiah, then how can it be possible that they love God whom they cannot see with their physical eyes? Loving those whom God has selected is the culmination of the primary instruction of the Messiah. ‘Everyone believing that Jesus is the Messiah of God has been brought forth’ by God. The inevitable result of being brought forth by God is that ‘everyone loving the One who brings forth also loves him who is brought forth from out of Him’.

So now Christians are left with another question. If everyone loving the One who brings forth also loves those brought forth from out of Him, then how do Christians know and recognize that they do indeed genuinely love those whom God has brought forth? In part at least, their personal confident expectation of deliverance and their personal anticipation of sharing a portion of the allotted divine inheritance rests on this. This is exactly what John now goes on to consider.

I John 4 v 7 – 21 – Outsiders

Whether Christians are correct in saying that ‘outsiders’ are ‘doomed to a lost eternity in hell’ is another matter. Little is said in Scripture about those separated away into the ‘second death’, the ‘lake of fire’ and ‘place of wailing and gnashing of teeth’. My own personal opinion is that it would be against the principles of fair, reasonable and proportionate justice for example to condemn a child who died in infancy to the same degree of condemnation as Satan, or Judas Iscariot, or the ‘cut off son’ or ‘man of lawlessness’. Scripture teaches that there are proportional rewards when it comes to God’s inheritance, and I consider that it is therefore reasonable to suppose that there are proportional penalties for those separated away. God’s Judgments are not unfair or disproportionate. The Book of Revelation seems to intimate as much in its last chapter. ‘He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, being discharged from out of the throne of God and the Lamb – 2 the river within the middle of its public square, and on either side, a tree of life producing twelve fruits down from each month, each one yielding its fruit; and the leaves of the tree leading towards penetrating into the healing of the nations’ (Revelation 22 v 1, 2). This is also described in the last chapters of Ezekiel and seems to be a potentially literal description of the Millennium Age. I propose that in their fully redeemed state, Christians will be serving God in the heavenly Temple and acting as a delegated authority of royal priests in this healing process. But I am moving into speculation concerning what are as yet veiled and obscure matters.

I hope that I have said enough in the previous few paragraphs to indicate that it is not God’s intention to eradicate planet earth, but to restore the orderly arrangement of the world to a new one of righteousness, justice and purity, in which Christians in their fully redeemed state will have an integral role. This is what John means here in his letter when he says that ‘the Father has sent the Son [as] saviour of the orderly arrangement of the world’ (I John 4 v 14). John is saying that the heartfelt acknowledgement and persuasion leading a person to bear witness and testify that the Father has sent His Son as deliverer of the orderly system of the world is a distinctive quality that is unique to Christians who have the breath of God.

I John 3 v 24b – 4 v 6 – Assurance, the Breath of God and pseudo-prophets (6)

John says that if Christians continue to hold on to and entrust that Jesus the Messiah came in the flesh, then they know the breath of God and His Messiah in experience. There are two aspects of the Messiah in this statement:

Jesus is the Messiah – God’s chosen and anointed deliverer, and

The Messiah came in physical flesh

If someone makes a proper acknowledgment of these aspects, if they are persuaded of these things, to the point of obedience, giving them due place and prominence, then they know the breath of God and His Messiah in experience. John does not mean that someone merely makes a statement to this effect, but rather he is saying that if this is the understanding and perception that they hold to and testify to, then it would show that they know and experience the light of truth, and that they are not someone who is continuing within darkness and error.

It is a fundamental principle that

Christians openly confess, acknowledge and bear testimony to Jesus being the Messiah coming in physical flesh

The primary context of what John is saying here relates to those who are declaring that they have been Directly and Immediately inspired by God – that the breath of God and His Messiah has Directly uncovered and revealed divine knowledge to them in their experience. The Apostle Paul says the same thing when he approached the subject of spiritual gifts: ‘I am declaring to you that no one [who is] speaking within the breath of God says ‘Jesus is a curse’, and no one is able to continue saying ‘Jesus, Master, Owner,’ if [they are] not within the set apart and pure breath’ (I Corinthians 12 v 3). If anyone claims to be speaking by means of any form of divine impulse or unction and they then say that ‘Jesus is accursed’, such a sentiment certainly proceeds from a malicious breath and not from the breath of God. In this way the Apostle cut off all those who spoke blasphemously and irreverently of the Messiah whilst claiming to be moved or inspired by God. He cut off all pretence to the possession of spiritual gifts, or to the possession of any influence from God ‘if anyone’, whoever they might be, blasphemed the name of Jesus. Whatever their pretentious claims were to the contrary, the Apostles considered such opposition to the Messiah, or to the Messiah coming in the flesh, to be full proof that they were an impostor, a pseudo-prophet.

The principle is this:

In every instance the set apart, pure breath honours Jesus the Messiah within the light of Truth, and prompts all who are under the influence or unction of the breath to love and reverence his name

Having outlined the polarizing dichotomy between Christians brought forth by God and ‘outsiders’ as children of the devil, John says that it cannot happen that anyone will acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah without being influenced by the pure, set apart breath.

It is not that ‘outsiders’ lack the physical ability to say ‘Jesus is Lord’. Anyone can speak these words and comprehend their meaning. Rather it is that no ‘outsider’ will be heartily disposed and be persuaded that Jesus is Lord; no ‘outsider’ will acknowledge him as their Lord and Master. It cannot happen that an ‘outsider’ will confess him as the true Messiah who has come in physical flesh. A person who has not been brought to this persuasion by the agency of the pure, set apart breath cannot do this – it is beyond their ability. Such an idea is dull stupidity and foolishness to them. No one can be persuaded that he is their Lord, Saviour and Redeemer but by the breath of God, as Paul explains in the early chapters of I Corinthians. Such an appropriation involves breathful knowledge and illuminated perception of Jesus as being God’s anointed Messiah, leading towards affection towards him; entrustment in him, profession of him, and sincere subjection to him; none of which can occur without the free gift of God and possession of the breath of God in the heart.

I John 3 v 10 – 13 – Christians and Unbelievers Distinguished (3) – Loving the Brothers

‘The children of God and the children of the devil are clear and apparent within this: anyone not constructing what God approves of is absolutely not from out of God, and the one not beneficially loving his brother in practical ways. 11 Because this is the message that you began to hear away from the beginning – that we should have a preference to love and esteem one another, 12 not in proportion to Cain who from out of maliciousness killed his brother. On account of what did he murder him? Because his actions were malicious and his brother’s actions were approved by God. 13 Don’t be surprised brothers if the orderly arrangement of the world hates and despises you’ (I John 3 v 10 – 13). From verse 10b John also draws attention to a specific distinction between Christians and ‘outsiders’ which is revealed in a Christian’s attitude towards their fellow Christians.

The message that Christians heard from the beginning, from Jesus himself, was ‘that we should have a preference to love and esteem one another, 12 not in proportion to Cain, who from out of maliciousness killed his brother’ (I John 3 v 11b, 12). This theme is also recorded in John’s gospel where Jesus said: ‘I am giving you a new goal to accomplish: that you prefer benevolently loving one another. In the same way that I benevolently and practically love you, so also you benevolently love one another in practice. 35 If you are holding and possessing love within one another, within this all will know and recognize that you are pupils learning of me’ (John 13 v 34, 35). The primary goal given by Jesus to Christians, the first and most important goal for them to accomplish is that they show beneficial, practical love towards one another. This is exactly the opposite to the attitude displayed by Cain whose malicious jealousy led him to hate and murder his brother. Cain is an example of how Christians are not to relate to one another. Cain’s actions were typical of what happens when the energies of our natural fleshly constitution are slavishly followed and carried across into our actions. By contrast, Christians ‘continue walking around respectably like those in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in getting people into bed and brutal lack of restraint, not in quarrels and boiling passion. 14 But putting on the master, Jesus the Messiah, we don’t construct forethought for the eager desires of the flesh’ (Romans 13 v 13, 14). ‘Outsiders’ are ‘moving within brutal repression of restraint, improper desires, drunkenness, riotous partying, carousing and unacceptable image-worship. 4 Within this they are bewildered that you are not rushing together with them towards their excessive pouring out of wastefulness, speaking abuse about you. 5 They will have to give account to Him Who is in readiness to judge the living and the dead’ (I Peter 4 v 3 – 5). When these fleshly behaviours and attitudes are listed like this in Scripture they may at times seem to be like caricatures, or they may seem extreme. But they reflect the end result, the consummation and completion of the working energies of our flesh, and a mere glance at the world around us and the news headlines does indeed reveal these qualities and behaviours, especially in ‘outsiders’ – who are not persuaded of Jesus the Messiah.

The primary instruction given by Jesus to Christians is that they are not to behave like ‘outsiders’ when it comes to their relationship with other Christians. The end point of being brought forth by God and having the unction of the breath of God is to ‘love one another’ – to ‘love their brother’. The Greek word for ‘brother’ comes from ‘alpha’ as a prefix and ‘delphus’ meaning ‘womb’. What is meant here is that the Christian’s ‘brothers’ are those who are likewise brought forth from out of God – fellow Christians. The primary goal that Jesus exhorts Christians to accomplish is that they seek to avoid quarrels, cliques, divisions, arguments, disputes, jealousy, legal actions against each other, or criticism, cheating and lying to one another and so on. Instead they are exhorted to show beneficial, practical love to each other.

If Christians are manufacturing and constructing practical, beneficial love to one another then this constitutes another distinguishing quality that leads Christians towards confident hope and expectation that they are indeed delivered and members of the Kingdom

These two ‘ways of being’, these fundamental differences between our ‘old and ancient humanity’ that all of us are born with, and the ‘new humanity’ that Christians obtain through being brought forth by God, result in quite different perceptions and behaviours that are opposed to one another. This concept of opposition is maintained throughout the New Testament. It is because of their inherent opposition to God that ‘outsiders’ do not have beneficial, practical love for Christians. This means that ‘outsiders’ are often quick to criticise and judge Christians, to see them as hypocrites, to view them as naïve and stupid, to treat them with disdain, to mock and treat them with scorn, or even to react to them with abuse and violence. This is why Jesus teaches Christians to exercise spiritual discrimination. He instructs them not to persist in presenting pure, clean teaching in the face of such opposition. ‘Don’t offer the clean and set apart to dogs, nor throw your pearls in front of pigs, so that they will not trample them down with disdain under their feet and in turning around throw you down and take you apart’ (Matthew 7 v 6). Who are these ‘dogs’ that Jesus refers to? John tells us in the Book of Revelation: ‘Outside – the dogs – those living their illusions through drugs; those selling off sexual purity; murderers; those bowing down to and serving images, and everyone having affection for and constructing what is false’ (Revelation 22 v 15). The ‘dogs’ that Jesus refers to are ‘outsiders’ – those not persuaded of the God and His Messiah. They are especially those who are stridently opposed to God to the point of disdain, ridicule and violence.

There is a modern trend within Christian circles faced with declining congregations to cultivate friendliness with the world, to make worship ‘attractive’ or even ‘entertaining’ to outsiders so that they will come in and hear the gospel. But then there is the danger of compromising truth and godly values by mixing them with worldly values and approaches that are in opposition to God. Paul explains in the first two chapters of I Corinthians that God works in completely different ways to those of the world. James warns, ‘Don’t you know that friendship with the orderly arrangement is hostile to God? Therefore if anyone continues to desire to be friendly to the orderly arrangement they constitute God’s enemy’ (James 4 v 4). John warns Christians in the sub-conclusion to this section of his letter ‘Don’t be surprised brothers if the orderly arrangement of the world hates and despises you’ (John 3 v 13).

I John 3 v 10 – 13 – Christians and Unbelievers Distinguished (1)

Having outlined the demarcation and polarization between Christians and ‘outsiders’, John then carries this through to outline the practical distinction that can be made between the children of God and the children of the devil right now. Such distinctions are a potential source of assurance for Christians, and this theme of Christian assurance is the main theme of his letter. ‘The children of God and the children of the devil are clear and apparent within this: anyone not constructing what God approves of is absolutely not from out of God, and the one not beneficially loving his brother in practical ways. 11 Because this is the message that you began to hear away from the beginning – that we should have a preference to love and esteem one another, 12 not in proportion to Cain who from out of maliciousness killed his brother. On account of what did he murder him? Because his actions were malicious and his brother’s actions were approved by God. 13 Don’t be surprised brothers if the orderly arrangement of the world hates and despises you’ (I John 3 v 10 – 13).

From chapter 2 v 29 John has been making a strong distinction between Christians and ‘outsiders’ in terms of whether or not a person has a share in God’s allotted inheritance and whether the actions that they construct miss the mark. Now he draws his observations on these themes together in terms of a practical application by saying that these two divergent and polarized groups are made clear and apparent by their speech, attitudes and particularly by their behaviour. These practical differences serve as a means for Christians to identify and obtain confident expectation and anticipation that they are members of the Kingdom and delivered away from God’s judicial condemnation.

John is not saying that if a Christian engages in some kind of behaviour or other that God disapproves of then it means that such a person is not therefore really a Christian. We have already established that every Christian falls into such wayward attitudes, speech and behaviours in different ways and degrees at different times. Indeed, Christians may engage in behaviour that is shocking even to the standards and values of outsiders. Christians sometimes engage in speech and behaviour that brings the fellowship, the gospel, Jesus and God Himself into disrepute and disdain.

So I conclude that John must be making more general and relative statements here. He seems to be saying that Christians do indeed have times when they are overtaken by missing the mark, or have occasions when they fall into wayward speech, attitudes and behaviour. Indeed, they may have a season of doubt, crisis or pressure during which they become rebellious and follow the impulses of their flesh. Times when they are enticed into divinely disapproved-of behaviour by their acquaintances who remain lacking in persuasion and enslaved to the values and orderly arrangement of the world. Nevertheless, if we properly consider their life as a whole, their main tendency and characteristic is that they do not construct and manufacture what God disapproves of. And if they do, they experience conflict and unsettlement. Rather, as a whole, their preference and intention is to construct their speech and actions by building upon an enlightened foundation that recognizes Jesus as being God’s anointed Messiah. When they do so, this can be seen and observed.

I John 3 v 4 – 7 – Two categories of people and what they construct (2)

John says that everyone who has expectation of deliverance from God’s judicial condemnation, and hope of a share in God’s allotted inheritance is cleansing themselves (I John 3 v 3). This day-by-day cleansing is not something that Christians passively receive or that is done to them. Christians don’t ‘sit back’ in order to be carried along by the movement or unction of enlightened knowledge within them, so that righteous behaviour is accomplished for them. Rather the Apostles urge Christians to actively co-work with the breath of God by exercising enlightened self-control and illuminated self-discipline, harnessing their body so that its impulses and passions are not carried across into their speech, attitudes and behaviours. Instead of bringing the working energies of their fleshly constitution to completion, the Apostles urge Christians to bring the movement or unction of the breath of God and His Messiah that is abiding in and enlightening their heart down to completion, a movement that leads towards cleanliness, purity, holiness and being set apart from the values and practices of the worldly arrangement.

Being set apart from the world does not mean becoming an isolated hermit, solitary mystic or an ascetic living in the desert or alone on an island, or in solitary confinement in a monastery. Being set apart means no longer wholeheartedly joining in with the darkened, deceitful, untruthful principles, trends and values of the worldly arrangement. The worldly arrangement reflects the energies and desires of our natural human fleshly constitution, and leads to death – to insensitivity and unresponsiveness to God and to divine condemnation. Therefore, says John, ‘let no one lead you astray or deceive you. The one who manufactures and constructs what God approves of is approved by God, just as he, [Jesus], is approved by God’ (I John 3 v 7).

‘Outsiders’ are situated within a completely different dynamic compared to Christians. ‘Outsiders’ do not have enlightened perception, or the breath of God abiding within their heart, which means that they remain enslaved to the impulses, desires and raw passions of their fleshly constitution that are inherent in their fleshly constitution and lead them to bring down and construct actions, attitudes and speech that are without lawfulness or without divine approval.

John continues to present his readers with this stark polarity: Christians are brought forth by God into His house and are delivered from out of God’s condemnation by means of His chosen deliverer, Jesus the Messiah. They become ‘adopted sons’ and as such they are entitled to a share in God’s inheritance. Being brought forth out of lawless, ignorant darkness so as to be enlightened and persuaded with regards to the righteousness of God and of Jesus as the Messiah is beyond a person’s natural strength and ability. Anyone constructing and manufacturing his or her actions on the foundation of the righteousness of God and of Jesus being His anointed Messiah is therefore someone who is approved by God. God approves of them in the same way that Jesus is approved by God. What they are moved towards constructing by the unction of enlightenment and the breath of God abiding within them is the ‘fruit of the breath’ – love, joy, peace e.t.c., which in turn leads them to an allotted portion of God’s inheritance that cannot perish or be taken away.

By comparison, ‘outsiders’ cannot construct and manufacture their actions on the foundation of the righteousness of God and of Jesus as the Messiah. Because they remain unenlightened and in darkness, the concept of God’s righteousness is either dismissed or opposed, and the idea of Jesus as Messiah and his atoning death and resurrection is regarded as silly, stupid foolishness – a superstitious myth that belongs to a more primitive or naïve way of thinking. This is the case not only for Gentile ‘outsiders’ but also for Jews who are not persuaded, even though they belong to God’s chosen ethnic people and receive many privileges. Because of their continued disobedience and unfaithfulness, God has withdrawn Himself from His chosen ethnic group and given them up to the futility and emptiness of their own thinking, reasoning, and energies arising from their fleshly constitution. What they are constructing as a result are the labours and workings of the flesh. What they are constructing is ‘no share’ in God’s inheritance. What they are manufacturing is missing the mark. What they are building leads to self-forfeiture and lawlessness – constructions apart from and outside of divine Law.

I John 2 v 7 – 11 – The End Result of the New Covenant

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.