Chapter 5 is another dense passage and my semi-random thoughts will certainly not do it justice. The first few verses reiterate one of John's primary themes: We are children of God who can show our love to Him by obeying His commandments.
John then does something I don't think I ever noticed before doing my reading today--he starts using the language of a warfare. Jesus, who came by "water and blood", conquered the world. This seems out of place given the overwhelming themes in the rest of the book of love and obedience. But it does make sense upon further thought. Not only did Jesus conquer the world, so does our faith in him. If we go back to chapter 2, we see the world defined as, "...the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions..." Our faith in Christ can conquer these things.
So what we seem to have is a circle of faith/obedience that might seem odd. Christ is God's son. Those of us who have faith in Christ are God's adopted children. The faith that makes us adopted children also empowers us to obey the Heavenly Father. This obedience is one key way to show our love to God. So God, through the gift of His son, empowered us to join His family and to love Him.
The rest of the chapter gets into some of the complicated themes that we touched on in chapter 3, but I do not feel adequate to tackle them at this time. Maybe in future years as I continue my study and think about these things.
Showing posts with label I John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I John. Show all posts
Monday, September 16, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Thoughts on I John 4: read it for its deep simplicity
I once heard a Bible teacher refer to I John as "The Book of Love". Reading chapter 4, it is hard to dispute that description. This chapter is all about love: God's love for us, and the appropriate response of loving God back as well as our spiritual sisters and brothers.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time right now (perhaps more in future readings through the Bible) going through this rich chapter, because I think this one is clear and stands on its own in its simplicity. I just want to encourage anyone who might be reading this blog to read I John 4 for yourself, slowly, and let its richness seep into your heart.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time right now (perhaps more in future readings through the Bible) going through this rich chapter, because I think this one is clear and stands on its own in its simplicity. I just want to encourage anyone who might be reading this blog to read I John 4 for yourself, slowly, and let its richness seep into your heart.
Thoughts on I John 3: Sin in the Christian life
The third chapter of I John is perhaps one of the more challenging in the Bible, both from an interpretive and an applicative standpoint.
I'll deal with the interpretive issue first. Verse 6 says, "Everyone who resides in him [Jesus] does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him." Yikes. From an interpretive standpoint, this gets even more complex because at the beginning of I John 2, the author makes very clear that Christians do sin. I'm going to be honest and tell you that I'm not quite sure what to make of this passage. My best educated guess is that it is referring to "living a life of sin"--that is, living a life in which committing sin is the norm and there is no guilt for it. Here is a much better analysis of I John 3:6.
If this interpretation is correct, it still leads to a very difficult application. I grew up in a church that essentially taught what is sometimes referred to as "easy believism". Too often I hear something to the effect of, "If you ask Jesus into your heart, then you will go to heaven. It doesn't matter what happens from here on out, you can be sure of your salvation." Or, to put it differently, "Pray a prayer and you get your guaranteed ticket." (For the record, my church would have never actually stated the second version, but I have heard a more blunt pastor put it that way once.) The problem is that I don't see any way for this theological position to square with today's passage or many other places in the Bible. To read a much more thorough (yet still incomplete) analysis, check out John MacArthur's controversial The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith?
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This is a very dense chapter, but I want to bring out one final point. (I have a feeling this post will be edited and added to quite a bit in the future.) At the end of the chapter John summarizes what it means to be righteous before God. He says, "Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment." My analysis of what "believe" means in the New Testament will have to wait for another day. But, righteousness is summarized as having true faith in Christ and loving each other. Very simple, but also very hard.
I'll deal with the interpretive issue first. Verse 6 says, "Everyone who resides in him [Jesus] does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him." Yikes. From an interpretive standpoint, this gets even more complex because at the beginning of I John 2, the author makes very clear that Christians do sin. I'm going to be honest and tell you that I'm not quite sure what to make of this passage. My best educated guess is that it is referring to "living a life of sin"--that is, living a life in which committing sin is the norm and there is no guilt for it. Here is a much better analysis of I John 3:6.
If this interpretation is correct, it still leads to a very difficult application. I grew up in a church that essentially taught what is sometimes referred to as "easy believism". Too often I hear something to the effect of, "If you ask Jesus into your heart, then you will go to heaven. It doesn't matter what happens from here on out, you can be sure of your salvation." Or, to put it differently, "Pray a prayer and you get your guaranteed ticket." (For the record, my church would have never actually stated the second version, but I have heard a more blunt pastor put it that way once.) The problem is that I don't see any way for this theological position to square with today's passage or many other places in the Bible. To read a much more thorough (yet still incomplete) analysis, check out John MacArthur's controversial The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith?
.This is a very dense chapter, but I want to bring out one final point. (I have a feeling this post will be edited and added to quite a bit in the future.) At the end of the chapter John summarizes what it means to be righteous before God. He says, "Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment." My analysis of what "believe" means in the New Testament will have to wait for another day. But, righteousness is summarized as having true faith in Christ and loving each other. Very simple, but also very hard.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Thoughts on I John 2: The life of obedience
Something that strikes me as I read I John is the emphasis that John places on obedience to God. To him, that is one of the core features of being a Christian. If you don't believe me, just read verses 3-6.
So what does this life of obedience look like? One component is that a Christian ought to love his "brother" (or, as I believe the NET translation correctly extrapolates it "fellow Christian"). Hating ones brother is akin to walking in darkness, which we know from the first chapter is a reference to being out of fellowship with God. In other words, you cannot be in fellowship with God if you are not in Fellowship with his other followers.
What else does it mean to live a life of obedience? Verses 15-17 talk about not loving the world. What is meant by "the world"? "...the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions..." (verse 16, NET). We aren't to love these things if we are to have fellowship with God. These things take away our attention from God and God's family.
I tend to think of these as new problems in Western culture. They aren't new. John is talking about them in the 1st century, apparently because there were false teachers (verses 18-27) presenting these things as being the true way to God. We still have these false teachers today, but I'm not sure there was ever a point in Church history where we didn't have them. The problems are old, but the are still relevant and we need to keep our focus on continued fellowship with God to counteract these false desires.
So what does this life of obedience look like? One component is that a Christian ought to love his "brother" (or, as I believe the NET translation correctly extrapolates it "fellow Christian"). Hating ones brother is akin to walking in darkness, which we know from the first chapter is a reference to being out of fellowship with God. In other words, you cannot be in fellowship with God if you are not in Fellowship with his other followers.
What else does it mean to live a life of obedience? Verses 15-17 talk about not loving the world. What is meant by "the world"? "...the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions..." (verse 16, NET). We aren't to love these things if we are to have fellowship with God. These things take away our attention from God and God's family.
I tend to think of these as new problems in Western culture. They aren't new. John is talking about them in the 1st century, apparently because there were false teachers (verses 18-27) presenting these things as being the true way to God. We still have these false teachers today, but I'm not sure there was ever a point in Church history where we didn't have them. The problems are old, but the are still relevant and we need to keep our focus on continued fellowship with God to counteract these false desires.
Thoughts on I John 1: Turning darkness to light
For many of us who grew up in the Church, we memorized I John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." While it is a very good verse to learn, we might be missing part of it's meaning without the context.
Verse 3 makes reference to our fellowship with the Father and Son. Verse 5 points out that the Father is light and in him is no darkness. Verses 6, 8, and 10 point out that we do have darkness--we sin. So verse 9 is the key that enables us, who have darkness, to still have fellowship with the Father who has no darkness. He gave us a way to have our darkness cleansed (or "turned to light" if you are bothered by the mixed metaphor).
I would say that this is a powerful message about salvation, except that I'm not convinced that it's actually about salvation (at least not completely). If you read the text completely, it is actually about continued fellowship. The "confess" in verse 9 isn't the initial act of repentance in becoming a Christian, but rather a continual act of repentance to maintain fellowship with the Father.
Verse 3 makes reference to our fellowship with the Father and Son. Verse 5 points out that the Father is light and in him is no darkness. Verses 6, 8, and 10 point out that we do have darkness--we sin. So verse 9 is the key that enables us, who have darkness, to still have fellowship with the Father who has no darkness. He gave us a way to have our darkness cleansed (or "turned to light" if you are bothered by the mixed metaphor).
I would say that this is a powerful message about salvation, except that I'm not convinced that it's actually about salvation (at least not completely). If you read the text completely, it is actually about continued fellowship. The "confess" in verse 9 isn't the initial act of repentance in becoming a Christian, but rather a continual act of repentance to maintain fellowship with the Father.
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