Interpretive Study of 1John

Epistle theme: Jesus Christ is the Son of God

Click on the following links to jump to a chapter within this study: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, God, Word Studies.

Chapter 1 Ordered by Sentence

links to sentences in this chapter:

C1-S1 (Verse 1-3), C1-S2 (Verse 4), C1-S3 (Verse 5), C1-S4 (Verse 6-7), C1-S5 (Verse 8), C1-S6 (Verse 9), C1-S7 (Verse 10).

The chapter theme is: 'Fellowship with God.'

Please use This link to see the Chapter Summary.

Chapter Summary from Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge

1-4	He describes the person of Christ, in whom we have eternal life, by a communion with God;
5-10	to which we must adjoin holiness of life, to testify the truth of that our communion and profession of faith, as also to assure us of the forgiveness of our sins by Christ's death.

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C1-S1 (Verse 1-3) The Basis of authority which gives John the right to speak.

Equivalent Section: John personally knew the Word of life.

First Step: John personally interacted with the Word of life.

That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon,
and our hands have handled,
of the Word of life;.

Second Step: God made personal interaction possible.

(See Below);.

Third Step: John wrote this epistle to share the gospel.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,
that ye also may have fellowship with us:.

Equivalent Section: the basis for John offering fellowship.

and truly our fellowship is with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ..

The part of the sentence from the parenthesis, which is the Second Step.

(For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it,
and bear witness,
and shew unto you that eternal life,
which was with the Father,
and was manifested unto us;).

Things that we learn from this first sentence include:

Verse 1

John and others had a personal relationship with Jesus.
Jesus was from the beginning (Micah 5:2).
John (and other apostles [2Peter 1:16 ]) personally and physically witnessed Jesus and is giving his testimony.
Jesus was real and physical. Jesus was not a myth, Spirit or any other 'fake': for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).
Word of Life (Acts 13:46, 48; Philippians 2:16; 1John 1:1).

Verse 3

John offers a personal relationship with Jesus to the reader 1:3-4 .
John is telling what he witnessed about Jesus.
John has fellowship with Jesus (John 15:4, 17:21).
John is offering that same fellowship to the reader. (1Corinthians 1:9).
That fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Included Verse (1:2).

Jesus is eternal life, not (just) mortal like our natural life.
Jesus was with the Father.
Jesus was manifested (revealed in a very detailed and personal way) to John and others.

There is a lot of detail on this sentence found in the notes of the Lord Jesus Christ Study under Jesus Christ and under Son. (Please follow the link to that note for details.)

Please also notice that John gives us a pretty good Biblical definition of manifested in this sentence. Manifested means 'made available for extensive examination that uses multiple means to accomplish the examination'. John and the other apostles didn't just take a quick glance, like the religious leaders did, but they took the time to do a detailed examination.

where this sentence is divided by punctuation above, find the words: heard, seen, looked upon, handled, seen and heard, manifested, seen, shew, and manifested. Yes, some of the words in this list are repeated because John repeats them in his sentence. This list of words are in the order that John uses them in his sentence and it is important to find them all. One of the rules of proper Bible interpretation is that God has to say something literally at least two times in order for us to say that it is doctrine: a rule for all saved to obey. That makes John's repetition in this sentence very significant. John doesn't want us to be like those people who are condemned by God. (Please see Matthew 13:13 and Luke 16:31).

By looking at the words listed above, it should be obvious that what has been manifested can be heard and seen and looked upon and handled. That means it is physically present in this physical world. Further, the sentences here make it clear that what was manifested was revealed in great detail and in many different ways because that is the type of examination which John is saying that he and others made. John calls what was manifested the Word of life and John's writings (John 1:1, 14; 1John 1:1; 5:7; especially Revelation 19:13) lets us know that the Word of life is another name for the Son of God.

Where the Lord Jesus Christ Study proves that the Bible uses Jesus for the Son of God manifested in human flesh, John's writings let us know that the Word of life (Bible) is the Son of God manifested in print. In the Lord Jesus Christ Study we also saw that those people who treated Jesus as 'God in human flesh' were blessed and those treated Jesus as 'just another human being' were cursed. Likewise, this epistle shows us that those people who regard the Word of life (Bible) as 'God in print' will be blessed and those treated the Word of life (Bible) as 'just another book' will be cursed.

John said that the Word of life was manifested to them and he, by example, is letting us know that the Word of life is manifested to us in the Bible. Every way that they examined Jesus to prove that He was / is 'God in human flesh' is available to us. We can examine our Bible in the exact same way and Prove that it is the Word of life (God) manifested in print. However, it requires far more effort for something to be manifested than it does for something to be seen. There are many people who read their Bible and are led into doctrinal error. 2Timothy 2:15 tells us Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly Dividing the word of truth. Study takes far more work than read. Study makes us approved unto God while reading does not. A search of the Bible for the use of (any form of) approved shows that it takes diligent effort and Hebrews 11:6 tells us ...and that he (God) is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. However, a lazy man will read for pleasure and the Bible never promises that God will reward a lazy man. Thus, God will reward those people who make the effort required to have the Word of life manifested to them while God there is no promised blessing to those who merely 'see' and 'hear' the Word of life without getting it manifested to them.

Going on, please notice that John says That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.. Others saw and heard Jesus but died lost because they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:35-50; Romans 11:7-10). In these parts we also see light and darkness is used the same way that John does in this epistle. Thus, to have the Word of life manifested to us we must see the spiritual (God) nature of the Word of life and not treat it like any other book. While there is limited consequences to misquoting other books, there can be eternal consequences to misquoting the Word of life. We will only take proper care to avoid misquoting the Word of life if we truly regard it as 'God in print'.

As was explained above, those people who regard the Word of life (Bible) as 'God in print' will be blessed and those treated the Word of life (Bible) as 'just another book' will be cursed. John said that the Word of life was manifested to them and he, by example, is letting us know that the Word of life is manifested to us in the Bible. 1Peter 1:22-23 tells us that we are ...born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. So our spiritual life comes from the word of God / the Word of life. However, as pointed out in the note for 1Peter 1:22-23 in the Study on truth, not all seed results in a birth. In order for us to be truly born again, we must also purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. This also fits with 1John 5:13 which contains an and tells us that God wrote His Word ...that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. please see the note for 1Corinthians 11:30 for links to the all of the verses in the Bible which use the phrase eternal life.

The Second Section of that sentence is dealing with the ongoing personal relationship that we must agree to have with God before He will save us. Thus, we see in these verses and many more that just like life goes on after birth, so also the Word of life deal with our ongoing spiritual life after we receive our spiritual birth from the Word of life. John uses the Word of life in this opening sentence because his epistle is written to explain our relationship to the Word of life.

The phrase (Word of life) combines two important words: Word and life. Word is capitalized to let us know that it is a formal nameans, therefore, is another name for the Son of God. Word is also used for the Bible since the Bible is our incorruptible picture of the Son of God that is in print. Life, in this sentence, is speaking about spiritual life that comes from God. Word of life is combined to let us know that our spiritual life from God comes from the Son of God through the Bible. Thus, how we learn about this spiritual life also comes from the Son of God (with the help of the Holy Spirit) through the Bible.

John said that the Word of life was manifested to them and he, by example, is letting us know that Word of life is manifested to us in the Bible. Life goes on after birth, so also Word of life deal with our ongoing spiritual life after we receive our spiritual birth from the Word of life. Specifically, John is dealing with how we can personally manifest the Word of life in our personal lives after our initial profession. John uses the Word of life in this opening sentence because his epistle is written to explain our relationship to the Word of life.

Please use This link to see other, less important, 'Minor Titles of the Son of God' found within the Bible along with links to where the Bible uses those titles. The title in this sentence is Word of life.

A lot of people who have problems with what is said in this epistle have only done a cursory examination on a personal level or are relying upon spiritual leaders who have only done a cursory examination on a personal level, or who are in fact antichrists. Part of why John wrote this epistle is to help us understand the need to develop our personal relationship in an extensive enough way that our life reflects that personal relationship with God.

Please be sure to follow the links that are within the sentence outline above to find notes related to those words and to find links to other places where that word is used. Where those links lead to another Study, please also go to the top of the Study (or section within the Lord Jesus Christ Study) to get the definition, the particular application of this verse, and links to other verses with the same application.

Please see the note for John 1:1 about the word beginning. The functional definition for this word is: 'First entering upon; commencing; giving rise or original; taking rise or origin'.

Our sentence has several words which deal with the physical senses. Please see the notes at Manifest in 1John about these physical senses. The functional definition, for the word manifest, is: 'made available for extensive examination that uses multiple means to accomplish the examination'. The functional definition, for the word seen, is: 'The act of seeing; perception of objects by the eye; view. This word is often used symbolically for spiritual understanding'. The functional definition, for the word look, is: 'To direct the eye towards an object, with the intention of seeing it'. Webster's 1828 dictionary defines word hear as: 'Perceiving by the ear. This word is often used symbolically for hearing the spiritual message of the word of God, as sound. 1. Listening to; attending to; obeying; observing what is commanded. 2. Attending to witnesses or advocates in a judicial trial; trying'. Please pay attention to the word 'obey' within this definition. That is what most people refuse to do when the Bible says that they do not hear. The functional definition, for the word handled, is: 'Touched; treated; managed'. The functional definition, for the word shew, is: 'To exhibit or present to the view of others'.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C12S13 about the word eye. The functional definition is: 'Sight; view; ocular knowledge'.

Please see the notes for 1Corinthians C12S12 and Colossians C2S7 about the word hand. The functional definition for this word is: 'The part of the body which is used symbolically for skill, energy, and action'. Please also see the note for Matthew 3:1-2 about the phrase at hand. Please also see the note for 1Peter 5:6-7 about the phrase hand of God. Please also see notes at Manifest in 1John about the word handle. Please also see the note for Luke 1:38 about the word handmaid. Please also see the note for Matthew 18:28 about the phrase laid hands. Please also see the note for Mark 16:19 about the phrase right hand of God.

Please see the notes under Word in 1John and under Life in 1John. The functional definition, for the word word, is: 'a single component part of human speech or language'. However, the word of God is the holy scriptures and in the English language, it is only the KJV-1611. The functional definition from the Easton's Bible Dictionary, for the word life, is: 'generally of physical life (Ge 2:7; Lu 16:25, etc.); also used figuratively (1) for immortality (Heb 7:16); (2) conduct or manner of life (Ro 6:4); (3) spiritual life or salvation (Joh 3:16-17,18,36); (4) eternal life (Mt 19:16-17; Joh 3:15); of God and Christ as the absolute source and cause of all life (Joh 1:4; 5:26,39; 11:25; 12:50)'.

Please see the note for Romans C15S1 about the word bear (verb). The functional definition is: 'to carry a load over a period of time'.

Please see the note for Hebrews 11:4 about the word witness. The functional definition is: 'someone who is qualified to testify in court and is available to do so if the court requests'. That note has full definitions from several dictionaries along with links from several other commentators. Please also see the notes for 2Corinthians 13:1 and Colossians C3S13 about the phrase two or three witnesses.

Please see the note for Colossians 2S8 about the word shew. This is the Biblical spelling for what is commonly spelled show today. The functional definition is: 'To exhibit or present to the view of others'.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians 4:17-18 about the word eternal. The functional definition is: 'Without beginning or end of existence'. Every place that 1John uses the word eternal it is a qualifier for the word life within the phrase eternal life. Please also see the note at the link for life within this Study. Please also see the note for 1Corinthians 11:30 for links to the all of the verses in the Bible which use the phrase eternal life. Please use This link to see other, less important, 'Minor Titles of the Son of God' found within the Bible along with links to where the Bible uses those titles. This title is eternal life.

Please see the note for Hebrews 1:5 about the word father. That note has definitions from several dictionaries as well as links from other commentators. Also please note that John consistently uses a capitalized Father for God the Father and a lowercase father for human fathers. The functional definition is: 'the man who passes his character to the son'. We find this word in 1John in: 1:1-3; 2:1; 2:13; 2:13; 2:14; 2:15; 2:16; 2:22; 2:23; 2:24; 3:1; 4:14 and 5:7.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians 1:11 about the word declare. The functional definition is: 'Made known; told explicitly; avowed; exhibited; manifested; published; proclaimed; recited'.

Please see the note for Philippians 2:1-2 for links to every place in the Bible where we find forms of the word fellowship along with a definition from Easton's Bible Dictionary. Please see the note for Ephesians C5S7 for links to where the Bible tells us about fellowship and provides the definition from Webster's 1828 .

Please also see the notes for 1Corinthians 15:20-23 which explain why Christ had to be a literal physical man.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'A.M. 4094. A.D. 90. That which. 1Jo 2:13; Pr 8:22-31; Isa 41:4; Mic 5:2; Joh 1:1-18; 8:58; Re 1:8,11,17-18; 2:8 which we have heard. 1Jo 4:14; Lu 1:2; Joh 1:14; Ac 1:3; 4:20; 2Pe 1:16-18 and our. Lu 24:39; Joh 20:27 the Word. 1Jo 5:7; Joh 1:14; 5:26; Re 19:13 exp: Joh 1:1; Php 2:16. General references. exp: Pr 8:23; Mr 4:22.
the life. 1Jo 5:11,20; Joh 1:4; 11:25-26; 14:6 was manifested. 1Jo 3:5,8; Ro 16:25-26; 1Ti 3:16; 2Ti 1:10; Tit 1:2 and bear. Joh 15:27; 21:14; Ac 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:41; 1Pe 5:1 shew. 1Jo 5:20 that eternal. Joh 17:3 which was. Pr 8:22-30; Joh 1:1-2,18; 3:13; 7:29; 8:38; 16:28; 17:5; Ro 8:3; Ga 4:4 General references. exp: Pr 8:23; Mr 4:22; Lu 24:48; 1Jo 2:25.
which. 1Jo 1:1; Ac 4:20 exp: Lu 1:2. declare. 1Jo 1:5; Ps 2:7; 22:22; Isa 66:19; Joh 17:25; Ac 13:32,41; 20:27; 1Co 15:1; Heb 2:12 ye also. Ac 2:42; Ro 15:27; Eph 3:6; Php 1:7; 2:1; 1Ti 6:2; Heb 3:1; 1Pe 5:1 (Gr) exp: 1Jo 2:24. our fellowship. 1Jo 1:7; 2:23-24; Joh 14:20-23; 17:3,11,21; 1Co 1:9,30; 2Co 13:14; Php 2:1; 3:10; Heb 3:14 with his. 1Jo 5:10-11; Col 1:13; 1Th 1:10 General references. exp: Nu 10:32; Mr 4:22; Lu 24:48; Joh 20:30; Php 1:5'.

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C1-S2 (Verse 4) Fellowship with the Father and with Jesus brings full joy.

And these things write we unto you,
that your joy may be full..

Implied By this sentence is that is that joy is not possible unless fellowship is full. Further, John wrote about what was manifested to him so that this same truth can be manifested to us. As seen in the notes under manifest, it takes far more effort on our part for something to be manifested than to just see and hear it. Those people who never put forth the effort to have the Word of life manifested to them have no right to expect to receive God's joy. Backslidden Christians can lose their joy (Psalm 51:12).

True joy is demonstrated (1Samuel 18:6, Job 38:7)
is willingly given (1Chronicles 29:9)
comes from God (1Chronicles 29:17)
provides strength (Nehemiah 8:10)
is talked about (Nehemiah 12:43)
makes us generous (Esther 9:22)
has a limited time (Job 20:5)
is a reaction to God's favor (Psalms 5:11, 16:11, 21:1, etc)
is a reaction to righteousness (Psalms 67:4; 132:9, 16)
is a result of change (Psalms 126:4)
is a result of peace-giving (Proverbs 12:20)
magnifies God (Psalms 35:27)
is shared (Psalms 42:4)
causes praise of God (Psalms 43:4)
brings healing (Psalms 51:8)
Comes from within, not without (Proverbs 14:10)

Please see the notes for Romans C15S13; 2Corinthians 1:13-14; Galatians C3-S12 and John 20:31-LJC about the word write. The functional definition is: 'To form by a pen on paper or other material, or by a graver on wood or stone; as, to write the characters called letters; to write figures'. Please also see the note for Romans 4:23-25 about the word written. In addition, please see the note for John 6:45 for links to where we find the phrases It is written or have ye not read. We find forms of this word, in 1John in: 1:4; 2:1; 2:7; 2:8; 2:12; 2:13; 2:13; 2:13; 2:14; 2:14; 2:21; 2:26 and 5:13.

Please also see the note for Romans C14S23 about the word joy. The functional definition of joy is: 'a spiritually based sense that we will be blessed by God for enduring current circumstances in a way that brings God glory'.

Please see the note for Philippians 4:18 about the word full. Please also see the note for Colossians 2:9 about the word fullness. The functional definition is: 'Replete; having within its limits all that it can contain'. Please also see the note for Colossians 2S6 about the word fullness.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'that. Isa 61:10; Hab 3:17-18; Joh 15:11; 16:24; 2Co 1:24; Eph 3:19; Php 1:25-26; 2Jo 1:12 exp: Joh 17:13. General references. exp: Joh 20:30'.

Start of page Start of Chapter Chapter Summary

C1-S3 (Verse 5) The main subject of this chapter.

This then is the message which we have heard of him,
and declare unto you,
that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all..

This sentence tells us:

How we can know if we truly have a personal relationship with Jesus or if we are lying to ourselves. This sentence starts a series of sentences which all start with the word if and go through the end of the chapter. Those sentences give us tests (the if condition) that will verify our personal relationship or will prove that we do not have such a relationship.
John was given a message from God and is passing it on. There is more about this point below.
The message is God is light and in him is no darkness at all. (John 1:9, 8:12, 9:5, 12:35, Revelation 1:5). There is more about this point below.

When John uses light and darkness he is using symbolism. Hopefully, the reader understand this without a lot of further explanation. However, one truth that a lot of people miss is that symbolism is only valid within the context where it is used. Things like light, darkness, water, and oil are used symbolically in some parts of the Bible and used for their literal physical meaning in other parts of there Bible. Therefore, when symbolism is used it is critical that the context be considered carefully in order to get the correct meaning.

God is obviously a whole lot more than literal physical light. Therefore, this statement is symbolic in nature. Please see the note under Light and Darkness in 1John to see other places where these words are used in 1John. We need to look at every usage in order to fully understand the symbolic meaning that John gives us. The note under Light and Darkness is extensive and should have enough details and explanation for any reasonable person. The functional definition, for the word darkness, is: 'the physical manifestation of evil spiritual influence'. Thus, as explained in more detail in the note mentioned, there is nothing in God that will tempt us to sin. That is the message which our sentence is talking about and using light and darkness to symbolically convey. While John could have written this message so that it was easier to understand, he chose to do the same as parables. God's Holy Spirit makes it clear to those saved people who are willing to obey while hiding the truth from all other people.

With this context in mind, we will now look at the phrases of our sentence.

This then is the message which we have heard of him: the word then lets us know that the message is given after we understand what was said in the prior sentences. The details are in the notes above but we can see, just by reading those sentences, that the first sentence tells us that the Son of God, Who was manifested unto us, has fellowship with John and with all who believe the Gospel like John did. The remainder of our chapter tells us that we may claim to know the Son of God (to be saved), but unless we believe and act upon our belief like John and others did, then we do not have the same type of fellowship with the Son of God, and with God the Father, like John and other true believers had. Simply put, we must do our part or God will not fellowship with us.
The phrase This...is the message tells us that the rest of this epistle is giving us the message and explaining the consequences of that message. That is: when God sends us a message God expects us to act in obedience. Any who refuse to obey, even if they are the children of God, will receive the consequence of being a Biblical fool. Therefore, in addition to delivering the message, John explains how to understand it and how we are expected to react to the message.
Since this is a message, it is not from John. John is delivering a message from God.
The phrase which we have heard of him means that this message is about the Son of God. Since no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (Jesus) (John 14:6), we must know how to maintain our relationship with the Son of God if we wish to maintain our relationship with God the Father that is through the Son of God.

and declare unto you: As a messenger, John has a responsibility to pass on the message that he received from God. Part of that message is God's requirement for us to pass on the message to others. However, since the message is spiritual in nature, we must let God's Holy Spirit work through our life in order to pass on this spiritual message. We can not do that but God's Holy Spirit working through us can because the message must be delivered to each person's spirit that is in them. In order for all of this to happen, we must do our part to maintain our fellowship with God. The message was declared unto us. When we received the message we also received the responsibility to declare it unto others.

that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all: these phrases are completely explained in the note at the link for Light and Darkness. Please see that note for details.

We find forms of the word message in: Judges 3:20; 1Kings 20:12; Proverbs 26:6; Haggai 1:13; Luke 19:14; 1John 1:5; 1John 3:11. Webster's 1828 defines this word as: 'to send. 1. Any notice, word or communication, written or verbal, sent from one person to another. We send a servant with a verbal or written message. The welcome message made, was soon received. 2. An official written communication of facts or opinions sent by a chief magistrate to the two houses of a legislature or other deliberative body. Congress receives a message from the President of the United States at the opening of the session. the Governors of some of the states communicate to the legislature by message, others by address. 3. An official verbal communication from one branch of a legislature to the other'. Please also see the note for Philippians 2:25 about the word messenger.

Please see the notes at Manifest in 1John about our physical senses. Webster's 1828 dictionary defines the word hear as: 'Perceiving by the ear. This word is often used symbolically for hearing the spiritual message of the word of God, as sound. 1. Listening to; attending to; obeying; observing what is commanded. 2. Attending to witnesses or advocates in a judicial trial; trying'. Please pay attention to the word 'obey' within this definition. That is what most people refuse to do when the Bible says that they do not hear.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians 1:11 about the word declare. The functional definition is: 'Made known; told explicitly; avowed; exhibited; manifested; published; proclaimed; recited'.

The functional definition, for the word light, is: 'The spiritual gift from God that overcomes spiritual darkness from sin and Satan. Spiritual light allows us to see and understand things from God's view. Spiritual light allows us to see how to walk, work and live in this world in a Godly way'. The functional definition, for the word darkness, is: 'the physical manifestation of evil spiritual influence'. (Please also see the notes for Light and Darkness in 1John.)

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C1-S4 (Verse 6-7) Walk your talk.

Equivalent Section: We are liars if our walk does not match our talk.

If we say that we have fellowship with him,
and walk in darkness,
we lie,
and do not the Truth :.

Equivalent Section: We must walk our talk.

But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin..

This sentence is broken into two Equivalent Sections by the colon between 1:6 and 1:7. These two Equivalent Sections are polar opposites because the colon is followed by the word but. In the First Equivalent Section we are told that our walk must match our talk or we prove ourselves to be liars. In the Second Equivalent Section we are told some of the benefits of walking out talk. With the colon making these two Equivalent Sections polar opposites, we know that liars will never have the benefits of those who walk their talk. That is, saved liars who are not walking in the light, as he is in the light may have their sins forgiven but they will not be cleansed. (Please see the notes below under Sin in 1John and under Light and Darkness in 1John.)

The benefits of walking in the light, as he is in the light include:

If we walk like Christ we will have fellowship with him.
Cleansing by the blood is for those who walk with Christ: no 'easy believism'.
Not walking with Christ leaves the stain on our conscience (Hebrews 9:14).
(along with 1:8): We have to be honest with ourselves to receive forgiveness and cleansing.
If we walk like Christ we will have fellowship with others who are also saved and walking in the light. However, implied in this sentence, and literally said elsewhere, is that we can break that fellowship if we stop walking in the light.

There is a lot of detail on this sentence found in the notes of the Lord Jesus Christ Study under Jesus Christ and under Son. This is in addition to a large, and very significant doctrinal explanation in the note under Sin within this Study. Please be sure to read those notes as what is said there is not repeated here.

This sentence is the first of four sentences which all start with the word If and which finish our chapter and which give us the tests to see if we have truly received the message of 1:5. Therefore, it should be obvious that we need to consider all of these sentences, and their associated notes, together in order to maintain the contextual requirements.

In our First Equivalent Section we read about how our walk affects our fellowship with him (the Son of God). The phrases If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness identifies the people that Revelation 3:16 calls lukewarm and that 1Peter 4:18 calls sinner and that 2Peter 2:9 calls unjust. As explained in the notes associated with those verses, we can not know if these people are truly saved or if they are lost. Further, we are told to not try and figure that out because that is a judgment that God reserves for His role as Lord. He will hurt us for sticking our nose into business that He has reserved for His role as Lord. However, in addition to not judging for ourselves, 2Peter 2:22 lets us know that most of these people are actually lost. Further, 2Peter 2:20-21 has an if that deals with the possible person who is in this group and is actually saved. Peter tells us For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. think about that sentence. Peter says that it had been better for them to go to Hell than for them to be saved and in the group that John identified in the First Equivalent Section. Obviously, we want to avoid being part of this group and do all that we can to discourage others from being part of this group.

Our Second Equivalent Section is the polar opposite of our First Equivalent Section because the Second Equivalent Section starts with the word but which follows the colon. Here we see another if and, as explained elsewhere, the Bible uses 'exclusive ifs', not 'inclusive ifs'. That is: this condition is not 'included' with other ways which provide the specified results but this if 'excludes' all other ways to get these results. Therefore, we can have all of the blessings which are identified in the notes that have links in this Second Equivalent Section, but we must walk in the light, as he is in the light.

Please see the note for Romans 11:1 about the phrase I say. The functional definition is: 'Uttering in articulate sounds or words; speaking; telling; relating; reciting'. Please also see the note for Revelation 1:8 about the word saith. Please also see the note for Romans C10S28 about the word gainsaying. Please also see the note for Matthew 26:1 about the word sayings (plural). Please also see the notes for Romans C15S15 and 2Corinthians 2:17 about the word speak. Please also see the note for 2Corinthians 3:12-14 about the word speech. Please also see the notes for Ephesians C4S15 and 1Peter 2:1 about the phrase evil speaking. The words speaketh and saith mean that the person 'keeps on keeping on doing the saying'.

Please see the notes for Romans C8S1 and Ephesians C4S1 about the word walk. Please see the note for Romans C9S28 about the phrase live / walk by faith. The functional definition is: 'To move slowly on the feet; to step slowly along; to advance by steps moderately repeated'. When applied to faith, the emphasis is upon small movements of faith and repeated continuously.

Please see the note for Galatians C1-S15 about the word liar. The functional definition is: 'an intentional violation of the truth. Lies are emphatically condemned in Scripture'.

Please see the note for Colossians C1S3 about the word blood. The functional definition is: 'The fluid which circulates through the arteries and veins of the human body, and of other animals, which is essential to the preservation of life'. Please also see the note for Matthew 26:28 about the phrase blood of Christ.

Please see the note James 4:8 about the word cleanse'. The functional definition for this word is: 'To remove physical or spiritual pollution, filth or anything which defiles. Only what is unclean needs to be cleansed'. In addition to those references, the word unclean needs to also be studied in order to truly understand the conditions which this word is saying must be removed. Please see the notes for Word Study on Spirit; Romans C14S20 and Colossians C3S5 about unclean spirits. Please see the notes for Galatians C5S20 and Colossians C3S5 about the word uncleanness.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'If we. 1Jo 2:9-10; Ps 56:13; 89:15; 97:11; Isa 2:5; Joh 12:35; Ro 13:12; Eph 5:8; 2Jo 1:4; 3Jo 1:4 as. 1Jo 1:5; Ps 104:2; 1Ti 6:16; Jas 1:17 we have. 1Jo 1:3; Am 3:3 exp: Ga 2:16. and the. 1Jo 2:1-2; 5:6,8; Zec 13:1; Joh 1:29; 1Co 6:11; Eph 1:7; Heb 9:14; 1Pe 1:19; Re 1:5; 7:14 General references. exp: Ge 5:22; Ex 40:7; Le 4:5; 7:29; 11:24; 15:16,27; 16:30; Jer 33:8; Php 1:5; Heb 8:12'.

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C1-S5 (Verse 8) We still sin after getting saved.

If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us..

This sentence is the second of four sentences which all start with the word If and which finish our chapter and which give us the tests to see if we have truly received the message of 1:5. Therefore, it should be obvious that we need to consider all of these sentences, and their associated notes, together in order to maintain the contextual requirements. Each of these sentences is dealing with a different doctrinal error which many people believe. Therefore, it is important to understand each of these sentences in order to avoid doctrinal error.

This sentence tells us:

All people sin including the saved (Romans 3:23; 5:12; 8; Ecclesiastes 7:20).
This sentence deals with a different doctrinal error from the prior sentence. Please be sure to understand the differences in conditions (if) and results. Where the prior sentence dealt with people who were already deceived, our current sentence deals with people who are in the process of being deceived.
It is possible for people to lie to themselves. Please see the word studies below for links to other notes which deal with the word deceive.
People can be living in sin and sincerely believe that they are 'will not suffer the consequence of sin because they consider themselves to be saved'. Only when our lives are compared to the standard of the Bible can we be sure that we are not deceiving ourselves.
and the Truth is not in us. Jesus Christ is the truth. Even though we have the Holy Spirit in us because we are saved, who can still not have Jesus Christ in us. Please see the Study called Relational Prepositions and the sub-sections which deal with verses which use the word in. Those show us that we can be saved and still not be in a proper relationship with the Son of God. Please also see the study on truth for more details on this particular sentence. That note is large and has a lot of doctrinal truth in it. In particular, it explains the contextual differences between this chapter and chapter 3 and those considerations are critical to avoiding doctrinal error.

Please see the notes for Romans C7S15 and 1Corinthians 3:18 about the word deceived. The note in 1Corinthians breaks down the references, in the New Testament, by how the word is used. The functional definition is: 'to take said, to ensnare'. Please also see the note for Galatians C6S3 about the phrase deceiveth himself.

Please see the notes under Sin in 1John about the word sin.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'say. 1Jo 1:6,10; 3:5-6; 1Ki 8:46; 2Ch 6:36; Job 9:2; 14:4; 15:14; 25:4; Ps 143:2; Pr 20:9; Ec 7:20; Isa 53:6; 64:6; Jer 2:22-23; Ro 3:23; Jas 3:2 we deceive. 1Co 3:18; Ga 6:3; 2Ti 3:13; Jas 1:22,26; 2Pe 2:13 the truth. 1Jo 2:4; 1Ti 6:5; 2Jo 1:2; 3Jo 1:3 exp: Joh 14:6. General references. exp: Le 16:30; Job 9:30; Pr 20:9; Jer 33:8; Heb 8:12'.

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C1-S6 (Verse 9) True confessing will cleanse us (cause us to 'Stop our Sinning').

If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness..

This sentence is the third of four sentences which all start with the word If and which finish our chapter and which give us the tests to see if we have truly received the message of 1:5. Therefore, it should be obvious that we need to consider all of these sentences, and their associated notes, together in order to maintain the contextual requirements.

That message was that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. The Son of God needs to cleanse us before we can have fellowship with God. If you were taking your child to see the head of your country and they went outside and fell in a mud puddle, you would clean them up before taking them into the presence of the head of your country, especially if there would be all of the other leaders there also. This is what the Son of God does for us. However, there is a conditional requirement to confess our sins. If we refuse to do this then He can not cleanse us from all unrighteousness and without that cleansing, we can not have fellowship with God. Remember that the Bible uses an 'exclusive if'. That means that there is no other way to have fellowship with God except to fulfill the requirements of this if.

If we truly confess our sins, then He will cleanse us, which will cause us to 'Stop our Sinning'. If we do not 'Stop our Sinning', then He has not cleansed us, which only happens if we are not true in our confession or if He is still working on cleansing us.

This sentence tells us:

Confessing sin includes forsaking it (Psalms 32:5, Proverbs 28:13)
A clear conscience (Hebrews 10:2, 10:22) requires cleansing by the blood of Christ.
Please see part below on Sin in 1John.

Please see the note for 2John C1S7 about the word confess. The functional definition for this word is: 'a lifestyle which proves the faith that a person claims to have In the Bible confess includes the testimony that you live'. Please also see the note for 1Timothy 6:13-16 about the word confession. The functional definition for this word is: 'Confession is acknowledging something with a lifestyle. There are two applications of This word, one of which is apt to be overlooked. The one is the confession of sin. This was enjoined by the law, and if accompanied with a sacrifice it led to forgiveness. Le 5:5; Nu 5:7. The other application of the term is a changed lifestyle due to the Lord Jesus'.

Please see the notes under Sin in 1John about the word sin.

Please see the notes for Colossians 1:1 and Titus 1:1 about the word faithful. The functional definition is: 'Firm in adherence to the truth and to the duties of religion. Full of faith, trustful, and not simply trustworthy. being true to oneself, to one's nature, to any promise given, and to any trust committed'. Please also see the note for Hebrews 3:1-LJC about Christ Jesus is faithful. Please also see the notes for Romans C3S25; 1Corinthians C1S3; 2Corinthians C1S17; Galatians C3S27; Ephesians 6:23-LJC; Philippians 1:25-26 and 2Timothy C1S2 about the word faith. The functional definition is: 'an action word that is based upon a belief in a promise found within the Bible with the action dictated by the Bible and the understanding that our action does not force God to act nor determines when or how God acts but proves that of our own free will we are giving God permission to act in and through our life to do what He promised within His Word'. Please also see the notes for Romans 4 and James 2:21-LJC about Abraham's faith. Please also see the note for 2Timothy C1S2 about the phrase faith: unfeigned. Please also see the note for 2Peter 2:3 about the word feign. Please also see the note for Romans C10S12 about the phrase faith makes us not ashamed. Please also see the note for Ephesians C1S2 about the phrase just shall live by faith. Please also see the note for Romans C11S6 about the phrase just shall live by his faith. Please also see the note for Romans C3S29 about the phrase justification by faith. Please also see the note for Romans C3S25 about Law and faith. Please also see the note for Romans C9S28 about live / walk by faith.

Please see the notes for Galatians 2:16-LJC and Romans C7S16 about the word just. The functional definition is: 'The primary sense is probably straight or close, from the sense of setting, erecting, or extending. It also means Regular; orderly; due; suitable'. Please also see the note for Romans 3:20 about the word justify. Please see the Minor Titles of the Son of God in the Significant Gospel Events Study for the title of Just. Please also see the note for Ephesians C1S2 about the phrase just shall live by faith. Please also see the note for Romans C11S6 about the phrase just shall live by his faith. Please also see the note for Romans C3S29 about the phrase justification by faith. Please also see the note for 2Peter 2:9-LJC about the word unjust.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians 2:7; Colossians C1S3 about the word forgive. The functional definition is: 'legal action which removes the ongoing legal consequence without removing the requirement to restore anything lost as a consequence of the crime. True Biblical forgiveness also requires true Biblical repentance and the forgiveness will be removed if it is shown that the criminal did not truly Biblically repent'.

The note for Romans 3:5 provides links to every verse which uses the word unrighteousness along with a small note on each verse. The note for Romans 1:29 is part of the summary of Romans 1. That note provides the definition from Webster's 1828 and shows the relationship between unrighteousness and several other sins. The functional definition, for the word unrighteousness, is: 'Injustice; a violation of the divine law, or of the plain principles of justice and equity; wickedness'. Please also see the note for Romans C2S5 about the phrase obeying unrighteousness. Please also see the note for 2:1-2 about the word righteous.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'we confess. Le 26:40-42; 1Ki 8:47; 2Ch 6:37-38; Ne 1:6; 9:2-37; Job 33:27-28; Ps 32:5; 51:2-5; Pr 28:13; Da 9:4-20; Mt 3:6; Mr 1:5; Ac 19:18 he is. De 7:9; La 3:23; 1Co 1:9; 1Ti 1:15; Heb 10:23; 11:11 just. Isa 45:21; Zec 9:9; Ro 3:26; Heb 6:10; Re 15:3 and o. 1Jo 1:7; Ps 19:12; 51:2; Jer 33:8; Eze 36:25; 37:23; 1Co 6:11; Eph 5:26; Tit 2:14 General references. exp: Le 16:30; Pr 20:9; Jer 33:8; 1Co 11:31; Heb 8:12'.

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C1-S7 (Verse 10) Claiming that we do not sin is doing the work of the Devil.

If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us..

This sentence tells us:

Making the Son of God a liar is doing the work of the Devil.
Peter warns us that saved can still be ungodly and will suffer consequences for being that way. Proving that his word is not in us makes us ungodly . Formore details see the notes for 1Peter 3:18-20 and the notes it references. (Please note that there is a lot of confusion caused by people not understanding that in the Bible are just, unjust, and ungodly . These are three different categories of people (not just lost and saved) who will have different results when they meet God.)
Please see the note below on Word in 1John and the note on Sin in 1John.

This sentence is the last of four sentences which all start with the word If and which finish our chapter and which give us the tests to see if we have truly received the message of 1:5. Therefore, it should be obvious that we need to consider all of these sentences, and their associated notes, together in order to maintain the contextual requirements. Here we see two results from our if condition. The phrase we make him a liar shows us that our denial of a truth affects other people besides ourselves. The phrase and his word is not in us shows us that we do not have an ongoing personal relationship with the Son of God because John 1:1, John 1:10 tells us that the Word is the Son of God. As already noted in this Study, we can be saved, and have God's Holy Spirit in us, even while we are not in a relationship with the Son of God.

This verse uses a lowercase word as opposed to the uppercase Word of life is used in 1:1. John is not saying that we are lost and have not the Holy Ghost in us. He also is not saying that we have not Christ in us (there are saved people who are not true Biblical Christians). John is saying that we have not made the Bible a part of us. We have not obeyed Psalms 119:105. However, in this case Isaiah 8:20 says about this person there is no light in them. In addition, they have ignored 2Peter 1:19-20 which says We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Peter concludes his chapter with For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Peter tells us that these holy men of God were moved by the Holy Ghost when they followed God's word which is a light that shineth in a dark place. If his word is not in us and we make him a liar then we certainly are not holy men of God and are not moved by the Holy Ghost but match those that Jesus described in John 8:43-45.

Take a moment and think about the phrase we make him a liar. Nobody likes being called a liar. Matthew 1:21 tells us for he shall save his people from their sins. It can be argued that this does not apply to the lost but it definitely applies to people who call themselves Christians. He came here to die and pay the debt for our sins because there was no other way (John 14:6) for us to not have a sin record. Now, If we say that we have not sinned, we not only make him a liar but we say that He died for no purpose. These are the claims that we make about the one who will judge us and determine our eternal fate. Is there anything that we could possibly do which is more foolish?

Please see the notes under Sin in 1John about the word sin.

Please see the note for Galatians C1-S15 about the word liar. The functional definition is: 'an intentional violation of the truth. Lies are emphatically condemned in Scripture'.

Please see the notes under Word in 1John. The functional definition, for the word word, is: 'a single component part of human speech or language'. However, the word of God is the holy scriptures and in the English language, it is only the KJV-1611. That note also has links to many more things about this word within the Bible.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'we say. 1Jo 1:8; Ps 130:3 we make. 1Jo 5:10; Job 24:25 his word. 1Jo 1:8; 2:4; 4:4; Col 3:16; 2Jo 1:2 General references. exp: Pr 20:9'.

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Chapter 2 Ordered by Sentence

links to sentences in this chapter:

C2-S1 (Verse 1), C2-S2 (Verse 1-2), C2-S3 (Verse 3), C2-S4 (Verse 4), C2-S5 (Verse 5), C2-S6 (Verse 6), C2-S7 (Verse 7), C2-S8 (Verse 7), C2-S9 (Verse 8), C2-S10 (Verse 9), C2-S11 (Verse 10), C2-S12 (Verse 11), C2-S13 (Verse 12), C2-S14 (Verse 13), C2-S15 (Verse 13), C2-S16 (Verse 13), C2-S17 (Verse 14), C2-S18 (Verse 14), C2-S19 (Verse 15), C2-S20 (Verse 15), C2-S21 (Verse 16), C2-S22 (Verse 17), C2-S23 (Verse 18), C2-S24 (Verse 19), C2-S25 (Verse 20), C2-S26 (Verse 21), C2-S27 (Verse 22), C2-S28 (Verse 22), C2-S29 (Verse 23), C2-S30 (Verse 24), C2-S31 (Verse 24), C2-S32 (Verse 25), C2-S33 (Verse 26), C2-S34 (Verse 27), C2-S35 (Verse 28), C2-S36 (Verse 29).

The chapter theme 'Beware of spiritual liars like antichrists'.

Please use This link to see the Chapter Summary.

Chapter Summary from Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge

1-2	He comforts them against the sins of infirmity.
3-8	Rightly to know God is to keep his commandments;
9-14	to love our brethren;
15-17	and not to love the world.
18-19	We must beware of seducers;
20-29	from whose deceits the Godly are safe, preserved by perseverance in faith, and holiness of life.

C2-S1 (Verse 1) What John hopes to accomplish with this epistle.

My little children,
these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not..

In the first chapter of 1John we were told that God gave us the Word of life to show us how to live and that those who walked in His light would have fellowship with God the Father, His Son and His ministers. He also warned us that there are liars who claim this fellowship but do not walk in the light of the Word of life. Now in this chapter John is going to tell us how we can personally walk in the light of the Word of life. He is also going to tell us how to identify people who are liars who claim this fellowship but do not walk in the light of the Word of life.

The first thing that John tells us, in this chapter, is to avoid sin, which interferes with our ability to walk in the light of the Word of life, and how to clear up the interference when we do sin. Our current sentence tells us to avoid sin and our next sentence starts telling us how to clear up problems when we do sin. Please also see the note under Sin in 1John for more details on these sentences.

John starts his sentence with My little children to communicate his love and care while also letting us know things which any spiritually mature person would already know. Mature people don't get upset when an authority instructs children that are in a crowd which they also happen to be in. The only people who get upset are immature people who are in denial about their own immaturity.

The next thing that John tells us, in our sentence, is that we each personally (ye) need to sin not. If someone doesn't know this then they are lost or spiritually immature and deserve the title of children.

The other thing which our sentence tells us is that John is writing. This is because he is trying to communicate to people he can not visit and so that God could preserve his message in the word of God.

Please see the notes for Galatians C4-S1 about the word child. Easton's Bible Dictionary defines child as: 'This word has considerable latitude of meaning in Scripture. thus, Joseph is called a child at the time when he was probably about sixteen years of age (Ge 37:3); and Benjamin is so called when he was above thirty years (Ge 44:20). Solomon called himself a little child when he came to the kingdom (1Ki 3:7). The descendants of a man, however remote, are called his children; as, "the children of Edom," "the children of Moab," "the children of Israel." In the earliest times mothers did not wean their children till they were from thirty months to three years old; and the day on which they were weaned was kept as a festival day (Ge 21:8; Ex 2:7,9; 1Sa 1:22-24; Mt 21:16). At the age of five, children began to learn the arts and duties of life under the care of their fathers (De 6:20-25; 11:19). Tohave a numerous family was regarded as a mark of divine favour (Ge 11:30; 30:1; 1Sa 2:5; 2Sa 6:23; Ps 127:3; 128:3). Figuratively the name is used for those who are ignorant or narrow-minded (Mt 11:16; Lu 7:32; 1Co 13:11). "When I was a child, I spake as a child." "Brethren, be not children in understanding" (1Co 14:20). "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro" (Eph 4:14). Children are also spoken of as representing simplicity and humility (Mt 19:13-15; Mr 10:13-16; Lu 18:15-17). Believers are "children of light" (Lu 16:8; 1Th 5:5) and "children of obedience" (1Pe 1:14)'. The Note in Galatians has links to every place where that epistle uses forms of this word along with links from other commentators. Please also see the note for Galatians C3S9 about the children of Abraham. Please also see the notes for Romans C8S14; God in Romans : Romans C4S12 and 1Peter 2:3-LJC about the children of God. Please also see the note for 2Corinthians 3:7-8 about the children of Israel. Please also see the note for Galatians C4-S17 about the phrase My little children.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'little. 1Jo 2:12-13; 3:7,18; 4:4; 5:21; Joh 13:33; 21:5; 1Co 4:14-15; Ga 4:19 exp: 1Jo 2:28. These. 1Jo 1:3-4; 1Ti 3:14 that. Ps 4:4; Eze 3:21; Joh 5:14; 8:11; Ro 6:1-2,15; 1Co 15:34; Eph 4:26; Tit 2:11-13; 1Pe 1:15-19; 4:1-3 exp: Ac 13:38; 22:14. General references. exp: Ex 40:26; Le 14:29; Eze 33:16; Heb 8:12'.

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C2-S2 (Verse 1-2)

Equivalent Section: Jesus Christ is our advocate (legal representative) with the Father.

And if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous:.

Equivalent Section: We are told how He is our advocate with the Father.
1. And he is the propitiation for our sins :.
Equivalent Section: We are told how He is our advocate with the Father for the lost.

and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world..

This sentence is the second sentence in verse 2:1 combined with the second verse. Once more we see how the verse format causes confusion that is not in the sentence format.

Our current sentence is added to the first by starting with the word And. The second sentence is divided by two colon, which gives it three Equivalent Sections. In the First Section we are told that Jesus Christ is now in God's presence pleading our cause (Hebrews 9:24) where He acts as advocate. In the Second and third Equivalent Sections advocate is equated to propitiation so that there is no confusion as to which acts of an advocate are involved here. As our advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous is doing 'the act of appeasing wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person'. He is using the payment that He personally paid to 'applease the wrath of God' and to 'make conciliation' for us over the sin which we just did. However, there is a difference between how He does this for the saved and for the lost, which is why we have two different Equivalent Sections dealing with His actions.

Notice also that John separates the job as advocate, Who is also the propitiation, into two Equivalent Sections (second and third). The Second Equivalent Section tells us how He represents the saved (our sins). The third Equivalent Section tells us how He represents the lost (sins of the whole world). One of the reasons for this difference is that the saved and the lost are under the jurisdiction of two different legal systems in Heaven. As discussed elsewhere, God has two different legal systems (great white throne and judgment seat of Christ) just like we have Federal Court and State Court. Decisions made in one court do not affect decisions made in the other. Thus, Jesus Christ the righteous is acting as advocate in two different legal systems and must respect the differences between each legal system and the differences between the people He is representing in each legal system.

There is a considerable discussion about the legal considerations in the note for Sin in 1John. The main difference between the Second Equivalent Section and the third Equivalent Section is how Jesus Christ the righteous makes propitiation for sins. The functional definition, of the word propitiation, is: 'The legal act of appeasing wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person'. When Jesus Christ the righteous makes propitiation for the sins of saved people, in the Second Equivalent Section, He reminds God the Father that they are His children and that He will deal with them in this life or at the judgment Seat of Christ (Romans C14S16; 2Corinthians 5:10). However, He can not do that for the lost. Therefore, in the third Equivalent Section, He reminds God the Father that He paid for the sins of the whole world. He then asks for a delay on their judgment to give them a chance to truly Biblically repent. Only when it is obvious that some lost person will never truly Biblically repent does Jesus Christ the righteous stop being their advocate. When that happens, God the Father instructs God the Holy Spirit to stop trying to lead the person to truly Biblically repentance. Instead, they are used to tempt others to a life of sin. This is a test which results in forgiveness or in punishment based upon the individual's personal choice.

This sentence tells us that Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. However, what many people miss is the fact that while God provides things like this, God does not take away our free will and force them upon us. In fact, God also requires some small act of faith from us before He gives us these things so that there is absolutely no question about our free-will choice to receive them. Thus, while Jesus Christ the righteous...is the propitiation for...the sins of the whole world, most of the world goes to Hell because they refuse to do the act of faith specified by God that is required to have this propitiation applied to the sins of their life. Yes, most religious people do some act that they call 'faith', but it is not what God specifies. According to Romans 6:16, what they do is sin unto death.

This sentence uses Jesus Christ for this job while Hebrews 9:24 uses only Christ. Hebrews 9:24 explicitly tells us He represents the saved as well as the lost. However, this verse correctly separates the two acts of propitiation (1Samuel 15:23; John 1:29; 16:8; Galatians 1:4; Hebrews 1:3; 9:26; 1John 2:2) into Equivalent Sections because, while both are the same type of representation, He represents the lost as Jesus for the great white throne legal system and He represents the saved as Christ for the judgment seat of Christ.

Please see the note for Romans C3S20 about the word propitiation. The functional definition is: 'The act of appeasing wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person:...the atonement or atoning sacrifice offered to God to assuage his wrath and render him propitious to sinners'.

Please be sure to follow the links that are within the sentence outline above to find notes related to those words and to find links to other places where that word is used. In particular, there is a lot more detail on this sentence found in the notes of the Lord Jesus Christ Study and under World in 1John. Where those links lead to another Study, please also go to the top of the Study (or section within the Lord Jesus Christ Study) to get the definition, the particular application of this verse, and links to other verses with the same application.

Please use This link to see other, less important, 'Minor Titles of the Son of God' found within the Bible along with links to where the Bible uses those titles. The titles in this sentence are advocate and propitiation.

Webster's 1828 dictionary defines advocate as:

AD'VOCATE, n. L. advocatus, from advoco, to call for, to plead for; of as and voco, to call. See Vocal.

Advocate, in its primary sense, signifies, one who pleads the cause of another in a court of civil law. Hence,
One who pleads the cause of another before any tribunal or judicial court, as a barrister in the English courts. We say, a man is a learned lawyer and an able advocate.

In Europe, advocates have different titles, according to their particular duties.
Consistorial advocates, in Rome, appear before the Consistory, in opposition to the disposal of benefices.
Elective advocates are chosen by a bishop, abbot, or chapter, with license from the prince.
Feudal advocates were of a military kind, and to attach them to the church, had grants of land, with power to lead the vassals of the church war.
Fiscal advocates, in ancient Rome, defended causes in which the public revenue was concerned.
Juridical advocates became judges, in consequence of their attending causes in the earl's court.
Matricular advocates defended the cathedral churches.
Military advocates were employed by the church to defend it by arms, when force gave law to Europe.
Some advocates were called nominative, from their being nominated by the pope or king; some regular, from their being qualified by a proper course of study. Some were supreme; others, subordinate.
Advocate, in the German polity, is a magistrate, appointed in the emperor's name, to administer justice.
Faculty of advocates, in Scotland, is a society of eminent lawyers, who practice in the highest courts, and who are admitted members only upon the severest examination, at three different times. It consists of about two hundred members, and from this body are vacancies on the bench usually supplied.
Lord advocate, in Scotland, the principal crown lawyer, or prosecutor of crimes.
Judge advocate, in courts martial, a person who manages the prosecution.
In English and American courts, advocates are the same as counsel, or counselors. In England, they are of two degrees, barristers and serjeants; the former, being apprentices or learners, cannot, by ancient custom, be admitted serjeants, till of sixteen years standing.

One who defends, vindicates, or espouses a cause, by argument; one who is friendly to; as, an advocate for peace, or for the oppressed.

In scripture, Christ is called an advocate for his people.
We have an advocate with the father. 1John, 2.

AD'VOCATE, v.t. Toplead in favor of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal; to support or vindicate.
Those who advocate a discrimination.

The Duke of York advocated the amendment.
The Earl of Buckingham advocated the original resolution.

The idea of a legislature, consisting of a single branch, though advocated by some, was generally reprobated.

How little claim persons, who advocate this sentiment, really posses to be considered calvinists, will appear from the following quotation.
The most eminent orators were engaged to advocate his cause.

A part only of the body, whose cause be advocates, coincide with him in judgment.

The functional definition for this word is: 'one who pleads the cause of another in a court of law'.

Please see the notes for Romans C1S10 and Galatians C2-S16 about the word righteous / righteousness. Webster's 1828 dictionary defines righteous as: 'Just; accordant to the divine law. Applied to persons, it denotes one who is holy in heart, and observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man. Applied to things, it denotes consonant to the divine will or to justice; as a righteous act. It is used chiefly in theology, and applied to God, to his testimonies and to his saints. The righteous, in Scripture, denote the servants of God, the saints. 2. Just; equitable; merited. And I thy righteous doom will bless'. The functional definition is: 'doing the right thing, the right way, at the right time and for the right reason'. Please also see the note for Philippians 1:9-11 about the phrase fruit of righteousness. Please also see the note for Romans C4S7 about the phrase imputeth righteousness. Please also see the note for Ephesians 4:7-LJC about the phrase righteousness of the Law. Please also see the notes for 1John 1:9 about the word unrighteousness. We find forms of the word righteousness occurring in 1John in: 1:9; 2:1; 2:29; 3:7; 3:10; 3:12 and 5:17.

Webster's 1828 dictionary defines propitiation as:

PROPITIATION, n. propisia'shon.

The act of appeasing wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious.
In theology, the atonement or atoning sacrifice offered to God to assuage his wrath and render him propitious to sinners. Christ is the propitiation for the sins of men. Romans 3. 1John 2.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'And if. 1Jo 1:8-10 we have. Ro 8:34; 1Ti 2:5; Heb 7:24-25; 9:24 exp: Ga 2:16. Father. Lu 10:22; Joh 5:19-26,36; 6:27; 10:15; 14:6; Eph 2:18; Jas 1:27; 3:9 the righteous. 1Jo 2:29; 3:5; Zec 9:9; 2Co 5:21; Heb 7:26; 1Pe 2:22; 3:18 General references. exp: Ex 40:26; Le 14:29; Eze 33:16; Heb 8:12.
he is. 1Jo 1:7; 4:10; Ro 3:25-26; 1Pe 2:24; 3:18 for the. 1Jo 4:14; 5:19; Joh 1:29; 4:42; 11:51-52; 2Co 5:18-21; Re 12:9 General references. exp: Ex 37:6; 40:6; Le 14:29; 23:28; Eze 33:16; Heb 8:12. '.

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C2-S3 (Verse 3) Here is our proof of maintaining our personal relationship.

And hereby we do know that we know him,
if we keep his commandments..

1John 1:6 told us that we lie if we say we know Him and walk in darkness. This sentence is telling us the opposite. If we keep his commandments then His life will be manifested in our life in a way that others can see and we will know that we know him in the Biblical sense of the word know. (The functional definition, of the word know, is: 'A clear and certain perception of that which exists, or of truth and fact; and the perception of the connection and agreement, or disagreement between various truths and acts. Within the Biblical usage is the knowledge that comes only from personal intimate experience'.) Many people claim to know him but do not have God's assurance because they are using the world's definition of 'know' instead of the Biblical definition of know. A lot of people get caught up in the vain repetitions (Matthew 6:7) of saying 'I know that I know, that I know, etc' as if multiple repetitions are supposed to convince anyone. John gives us a better (Godly) way to show that we know. Basically, John says 'Let your lifestyle prove your claims by letting Christ live through you'. That is what is meant by keep his commandments. As mentioned under Sin in 1John, we can lose our knowledge (assurance) of our salvation by disobeying His commandments.

1John 2:3-5 is the basis of people claiming 'I know that I know that I know that I know that...(I'm saved, etc)'. However, instead of repeating this claim like it is some magic formula they need to show how even the lost world sees that they keep his (Jesus Christ's) commandments. Just looking back at chapter 1, which is the basis of this chapter, we see the word if is used 4 times. Connected to those if we find lie, liar and deceive. This verse also has an if and those who claim the results of the if (know that we know him) without fulfilling the conditional (if) requirement (keep his commandments) of this sentence, deceive themselves and are liars as the foundational chapter of this verse tells us. Please remember that the Bible uses an 'exclusive if', not an 'inclusive if'. That means that the only way to get the results (we do know that we know him) of this if is to fulfill the conditional part (we keep his commandments) of the if this is not 'one of several ways' to get the specified result but is the only to get the specified result.

Further, just in case someone fails to figure out this truth for themselves, John clearly states it in the next sentence (2:4). Then John repeats the truth of 2:3 in 2:5 so that it is said twice (making it the basis of doctrine for all saved) and gives us the test to prove or disprove someone's claim. Simply put: if the love of God (is) perfected in someone then they know that they are in him (Jesus Christ). However, the exclusive part of this if also lets us know that the love of God (is) not perfected in someone then they cannot know that they are in him (Jesus Christ) and their claim that they keep his commandments is not proven. They do not have the required evidence necessary to Biblically know something even if they have God's life in them.

Please see the note for Matthew 28:3-4 about the word keeper. Webster's 1828 defines this word as: 'of anything. 1. One who retains in custody; one who has the care of a prison and the custody of prisoners. 2. One who has the care of a park or other inclosure, or the custody of beasts; as the keeper of a park, a pound, or of sheep. 3. One who has the care, custody or superintendence of anything. In Great Britain, the keeper of the great seal, is a lord by his office, and one of the privy council. All royal grants, commissions and charters pass through his hands. He is constituted lord-keeper by the delivery of the great seal. the keeper of the privy seal is also a lord by his office, and a member of the privy council.'. Please also see the note for 1Timothy 5:22 about the word keep. Please see the note for 1John about the phrase keep his commandments. The functional definition is: 'To hold; to retain in one's power or possession; not to lose or part with; as, to keep a house or a farm; to keep anything in the memory, mind or heart. 2. to have in custody for security or preservation'. We find forms of this word, in 1John in: 2:3; 2:4; 2:5; 3:22; 3:24; 5:2; 5:3; 5:18 and 5:21.

Please see the note for Romans 7:8 about the word commandment. The functional definition for this word is: 'a mandate; an order or injunction given by authority; charge'. Please note that a commandment is not always written down and often comes through the human person that God has placed in authority over us. Please see the note for Psalms 119:4 for the use of the word commandment within this Psalm and considerations from several other places within the Bible. Please see the note for Romans C7S11 about the word commandment. Please see the Doctrinal Study on the use Ten Commandments for links to where they are dealt with in the word of God. Please use This link to see the 'Ten (10) Commandments' and references to them in the New Testament. Please also see the note for 1John 5:2 about the phrase keep his commandments. We find forms of this word, in 1John in: 2:3; 2:4; 2:7; 2:7; 2:8; 3:22; 3:24; 4:21 and 5:3.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'hereby. 1Jo 2:4-6; 3:14,19; 4:13; 5:19 we know. Isa 53:11 (Heb) Joh 17:3; 2Co 4:6 exp: 1Jo 3:14. if we. 1Jo 3:22-23; 5:3; Ps 119:6,32; Lu 6:46; Joh 14:15,21-24; 15:10,14; 1Th 4:1-2; Heb 5:9; Re 22:14 General references. exp: Eze 33:16; Joh 14:15'.

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C2-S4 (Verse 4) What God calls the disobedient child of God.

He that saith,
I know him,
and keepeth not his commandments,
is a liar,
and the truth is not in him..

This verse goes beyond warning us that we can lose the assurance of our salvation and places us under the control of Satan. He can not take control of us but we can give him control of us. Yes, saved people can get addicted to sins and people can put whatever fancy explanation they want on it, addicted saved people are saved people controlled by sin. John 8:44 reminds us that the devil is the father of lies. This verse further supports a theme found throughout this book. Namely, that true Christians obey the Son of God and those who never obey the Son of God show themselves to not be true Christians. (Although erroneous religious error denies this truth, the Bible clearly teaches that there are people saved during the Church Age who are not Biblical Christians). We also saw this in Romans 8. Please also see the note for this sentence in the Word Study on truth. That Study is good sized and explains significant doctrine related to this sentence and to the 11 times that the word truth is used in this epistle.

Please notice the use of the words saith and keepeth. The th in these words means that he 'keeps on keeping on doing this action'. Thus, the word saith means that he 'keeps on keeping on saying' that he is saved in spite of all evidence to the contrary. The words keepeth not means that he 'keeps on keeping refusing to obey the commandments' of the Jesus Christ the righteous. In other words: he keeps on refusing to be righteous regardless of what is shown to him in the Bible and regardless of the testimonies of other righteous people.

Our sentence says that this type of person is a liar, and the truth is not in him. We already mentioned the note for this sentence in the Word Study on truth. In addition, John identifies the people that walk in darkness back in C1-S4. These people are the same group but now we have an additional way of identifying them. As said in that earlier note, Revelation 3:16 calls these people lukewarm and that 1Peter 4:18 calls these people sinner and that 2Peter 2:9 calls these people unjust. As explained in the notes associated with those verses, we can not know if these people are truly saved or if they are lost. Further, we are told to not try and figure that out because that is a judgment that God reserves for His role as Lord. He will hurt us for sticking our nose into business that He has reserved for His role as Lord. However, in addition to not judging for ourselves, 2Peter 2:22 lets us know that most of these people are actually lost. Further, 2Peter 2:20-21 has an if that deals with the possible person who is in this group and is actually saved. Peter tells us For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. think about that sentence. Peter says that it had been better for them to go to Hell than for them to be saved and in the group that John identifies in this sentence.

Please see the note for Galatians C1-S15 about the word liar. The functional definition is: 'an intentional violation of the truth. Lies are emphatically condemned in Scripture'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'that saith. 1Jo 2:9; 1:6,8,10; 4:20; Jas 2:14-16 exp: 1Jo 2:6. I know. Ho 8:2-3; Tit 1:16 is a. 1Jo 1:6,8 General references. exp: Ho 8:2; Joh 14:15'.

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C2-S5 (Verse 5) How to know that we are in Christ.

Equivalent Section: Proof of faithful obedience.

But whoso keepeth his word,
in him verily is the love of God perfected:.

Equivalent Section: Benefit of faithful obedience.

hereby know we that we are in him..

We can learn from this sentence that:

This whole chapter is about commandments and keeping them and the actions that we are to do if we are to prove that we have Biblical knowledge and are not liars. The commandments of God are in the word of God. when this verse says whoso keepeth his word it means they do what the Bible tells them to do and do it on a consistently ongoing basis. This also means that they keep checking God's word and comparing the actions and attitudes of their life against God's word (not against any other standard) in order to verify that they keepeth his word. Within this sentence we are told that whoso keepeth his word absolutely (verily is) will have the love of God perfected. If the love of God (is not) perfected then there is some problem with our claim that we keepeth his word and with our claim that we are in him.
Keepeth: this is an ongoing present-tense verb. The th in these words means that he 'keeps on keeping on doing this action'. Keepeth his word goes beyond head knowledge or even strict obedience without thought about the consequences nor thought about the meaning of the commands given to us. We do not keep something by looking at it and then forgetting about it. Many people have equated a life to a garden. Without constant work, weeds and 'wild growth' will take over. Titus 2:11-13 tells us that salvation itself teaches us that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live right. This is what is needed to keepeth. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that he (God) is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. If we are not diligent or if we are diligently seeking anything other than God (through our personal relationship with Him), He will not reward us.
Please also see the note for word about the use of word within this sentence. Here we have a lowercase word, which means it is speaking about the Bible and not about the Son of God. This means that we obey what the Bible literally tells us to do. Many people think they are obeying the Bible when they are disobeying the Bible and are obeying the religious doctrine taught by a religious leader. In order to avoid this, we need to verify every doctrine that we hear preached and not just accept it because someone gives us a Bible reference or even quotes a Bible verse. We need to check the reference within the context and make sure that the preacher is not using the methods of Satan and taking the verse out of context. In particular, our second phrase, within the First Equivalent Section, says in him verily is the love of God perfected. The word perfected means that 'The is becoming more spiritually mature'. In addition, the phrase the love of God means that 'The is displaying God's love, and not his own, even when it requires sacrifice and death'. Someone who is not becoming more sacrificial of their own desires in order to show the world the love of God is not fulfilling this requirement. Therefore, such a person does not keepeth his (God's ) word (the Bible). This person may be saved but they are not obedient in the way that John is writing about.
Love and perfect are found, within 1John, in this sentence; 4:12, 4:17, 4:18. Our current sentence says that this result happens verily. This means it 'Really; truly; with great confidence' will happen. Many people point out that perfect means 'fully spiritually mature'. when this verse says the love of God perfected it is not saying that we have achieved this state but that God is moving us twards this state. In the Study on Fear the Lord, 1John 4:18 is discussed in relationship to love and fear. Many people misquote that verse and build a doctrine based upon ignoring the qualifier of perfect. One of the ways for us to know that the love of God (is being) perfected in us is that we have less fear of things in this life and more faith that our God can overcome any obstacle and will do so if we are serving Him and if that overcoming is the best for our benefit and His glory.
Please also see the note for C2-S3 about the use of know within this sentence. This is third usage of the word know within three consecutive sentences. John is repeating this so that we understand that it is a doctrine which must be accepted by all believers and so that we can understand the doctrine that he is teaching. This is in the Second Equivalent Section of our current sentence, which tells us the 'Benefit of faithful obedience'. Many people keep asking for someone to give them verses which provide assurance of salvation because they keep losing their assurance. Anyone who keeps giving such a person those verses is fighting against God. Our sentence literally says that they must keep on obeying (keepeth) God's word if they want to now we that we are in him ('have confidence in their eternal security').

Please see the note for 1Timothy 5:22 about the word keep. The functional definition is: ' to hold; to retain in one's power or possession; not to lose or part with'. The th in these words means that he 'keeps on keeping on doing this action'. Please also see the note for 1John 5:2 about the phrase keep his commandments.

Please see the note for Matthew 16:28 about the word verily and for the phrase verily, verily. When Jesus, or another Bible author, say or write the word verily, they are saying that they have verified the truth of what they are saying and they are also telling the listener / reader to also verify the truth of what they say or write. When we see the word verily used twice in a row the sentence is fulfilling the legal requirement which is necessary to present something which everyone must believe. Thus, every place, where we see the phrase verily, verily, is a precept and is something which God will use as His law when He judges us.

Please see the notes for Romans 8:39-LJC; Galatians C5-S14; Philippians 1:9-11; love in 1John and 2John 1:3-LJC about the word love. Please see the note for 1John C3S26 about the phrase love one another. Please see the note for 1John C4S13 about the phrase perfect love. Please see the note for Romans C9S23 about the word beloved. Please also see the note for Matthew 17:5 for links to every place where the phrase beloved Son is applied to Jesus. We find forms of the word love occurring in 1John in: 2:5; 2:10; 2:15; 2:15; 3:1; 3:2; 3:10; 3:11; 3:14; 3:14; 3:16; 3:17; 3:18; 4:1; 4:7; 4:8; 4:9; 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:16; 4:16; 4:17; 4:18; 4:18; 4:19; 4:20; 4:21; 5:1; 5:2 and 5:3. The true Biblical doctrine of this word is very complex since it is a character trait of God. That said, a simple functional definition is: 'Doing what brings the greatest ultimate good to another being without any consideration of cost to self and not consideration of any response by the other and a willingness to even bring short-term pain if that is what is required in order to bring the ultimate long-tern good'.

Please see the notes for 1Corinthians C2S5 and 2Timothy C3S10 about the word perfect. The definition from Webster's 1828 is: 'Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind; Fully informed; completely skilled; Complete in moral excellences'. The Biblical functional definition is: 'spiritually mature'. Please also see the note for 1John 4:12 about the phrase perfect love.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'whoso. 1Jo 2:3-4; Ps 105:45; 106:3; 119:2,4,146; Pr 8:32; 28:7; Ec 8:5; Eze 36:27; Lu 11:28; Joh 14:21,23; Re 12:17; 14:12 in him. 1Jo 4:12,18; Jas 2:22 hereby. 1Jo 2:27-28; 3:24; 4:13,15-16; 5:20; Joh 6:56; 15:5; Ro 8:1; 1Co 1:30; 2Co 5:17,21; Col 2:9-10 exp: 1Jo 2:3. General references. exp: Joh 13:35; 14:15'.

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C2-S6 (Verse 6) Jesus is our example of how to live in this flesh.

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk,
even as he walked..

We can learn from this sentence that:

abideth (John 15:4-8) Abiding is more than just visiting or even than staying at some place. If we abide in Christ then He also abides in us and changes our Spirit and behaviour. Also, Jesus, in the Gospel of John, says that we have spiritual fruit only with His abiding in us. Those of us that don't have fruit are either purged, so that they will produce (more) fruit or they are cut off and cast into the fire (John 15:6).
in him: please see Subject Study on Relational Prepositions which has references to many places where the Bible talks about our being in him and about Him being in us. The belief that all saved always have Christ in them is doctrinal error which denied the Trinity. There are certain blessings that are available to us only when we are in Christ that many saved are missing out on and don't know why. In addition, many saved people believe that they are Christians just because they are saved while the Bible teaches that people are saved during the Church age and are not Biblical Christians. All saved have the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit and Christ are two different persons of the Trinity. Claiming that all saved are Christians, denies the doctrine of the Trinity. Tobe a true Biblical Christian, we must be more than just saved. As this sentence indicates, those people that are truly in him walk, even as he walked and those people who do not walk, even as he walked are not truly in him even though they might be Biblically saved.
also so to walk: Many people want to take some 'great leap of faith' but leaping around is not walking. Further, those who do make some 'great leap of faith' usually then stand around willed with pride. Walking is making continuously repeated small movements. When we pray daily and several times throughout the day and read our Bible at least once a day and study it on a regular basis and look for opportunities for Christ to live through us several times a day, then we are walking, even as he walked. Please consider Matthew 11:29 which tells us Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Many saved people do not have God's rest unto your souls because they are seeking some 'great leap of faith' instead of walking, even as he walked.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C7S9 about the word abide. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely'. We find forms of this word, in 1John in: 2:6; 2:10; 2:14; 2:17; 2:24; 2:27; 2:28; 3:14; 3:15 and 3:24.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'that saith. 1Jo 2:4; 1:6 he. 1Jo 2:28; 3:6; Joh 15:4-6 exp: Ps 15:2. Towalk. 1Jo 1:7; Ps 85:13; Mt 11:29; Joh 13:15; 1Co 11:1; Eph 5:2; 1Pe 2:21 General references. exp: Php 2:5'.

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C2-S7 (Verse 7) John is not writing anything that they have not heard before.

Brethren,
I write no new commandment unto you,
but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning..

In the Bible there are some things that are the same across multiple occurrences and some things vary from occurrence to occurrence. For example, we have one interpretation and multiple applications within the Bible. The use of a particular word within a given sentence will give us that particular application. However, every usage of the word within the Bible has to be studied within context, and according to proper rules, in order to find the meaning that is always applied to the word. That common core meaning is the proper interpretation or base definition.

Another example is the fact that we have several Gospel within the Bible. (Follow the link to the document which explains all of them.) the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are two different applications of the gospel of God. While the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is an application that was new at the start of the Church Age, gospel of God was old.

The old commandment which ye had from the beginning is the Mosaic Law and the gospel of the kingdom. The new commandment (2:8) is the New Testament (Hebrews 9:15) and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As mentioned, both gospels are different applications of the gospel of God. In addition, the New Testament only replaced the religious part of the Mosaic Law. The moral part of the Mosaic Law told people how to interact with God on a personal basis and it only wrote down what God had already established before Moses wrote the Mosaic Law. The moral part of the Mosaic Law has never been changed, replaced nor removed. Thus, the new commandment (New Testament) is only giving us new applications of the old commandment (the moral part of the Mosaic Law).

Please see the note for Matthew 1:2 about the word brethren. The functional definition is: 'Spiritually used for God's people: the Jews and the people are saved, baptized and active members of the church'. We find forms of the word brethren, in this Epistle, in: 1John 2:7; 1John 3:13; 1John 3:14; 1John 3:16. Please also see the notes for 1Corinthians C6S10 and Galatians C1-S1 about the word brother. Please also see the note for Romans C12-S8 about the word brotherly.

Please see the note for John 1:1 about the word beginning. The functional definition for this word is: 'First entering upon; commencing; giving rise or original; taking rise or origin'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'I write. 1Jo 3:11; Ac 17:19; 2Jo 1:5 General references. exp: Joh 15:12'.

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C2-S8 (Verse 7) The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

in this sentence John is literally saying what I said in the note above about the old Commandment.

The old commandment is the Bible that existed when John wrote this epistle. The new commandment is what the Holy Spirit revealed in the New Testament. Both must be heard in a way that God's truth is manifested as explained in the note above. This is far more effort that what is put out be a forgetful hearer (James 1:25). They heard spiritually while lost religious people only heard physically. The spiritual hearer regards God's Spirit which is using the person to speak and they obey what they are told as if it is a commandment from God because it matches the word (Bible) which they personally (ye) had from the beginning. The lost religious person rejects and disobeys because they hear with physical (non-spiritual) ears or they threw away their word and replaced it with a man written book or they regarded the commandment as a suggestion or followed some other error.

Please see the note for John 1:1 about the word beginning. The functional definition for this word is: 'First entering upon; commencing; giving rise or original; taking rise or origin'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'but. Le 19:18,34; De 6:5; Mt 5:43; 22:37-40; Mr 12:29-34; Ro 13:8-10; Ga 5:13-14; Jas 2:8-12 General references. exp: Joh 15:12'.

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C2-S9 (Verse 8) The new commandment.

Equivalent Section: the new commandment is identified.

Again,
a new commandment I write unto you,
which thing is true in him and in you:.

Equivalent Section: Why we have it.

because the darkness is past,
and the true light now shineth..

Please see notes for this verse under Light and Darkness in 1John. John just said that he is giving us a new commandment. He also said that he wrote this new commandment because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. Both of these sentences are based upon 1John 1:5-7 which told us that our fellowship was based upon our walking in the light, as he is in the light. Now, in this sentence, John is giving us the test to see if we really walk in the light, as he is in the light or if we are liars. That test is whether we have this true light or not. The specifics of this test continue through 2:11. Notice, in the next sentence, that John didn't say we were lost, only that we are in darkness even until now. That is, being saved and religious (walking in darkness) will allow us to hate our brother while walking in the light, as he is in the light puts an end to that behaviour. Thus, our loving our brother is a test to see if we walking in the light, as he is in the light or if we walk in darkness.

Please notice that our sentence has two Equivalent Sections. The First Equivalent Section tells us that we have a new commandment and the Second Equivalent Section tells us the reason for it (because). This new commandment is because of changes Jesus made after with His resurrection. It was only after the resurrection of Jesus Christ that the indwelling Holy Spirit was given. (That is what John is symbolically saying with the phrase because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.) the indwelling Holy Spirit started the Church Age, started the new Testament, and changed the gospel, which was preached, from the gospel of the kingdom to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (This change was explained in note above for explanation.) All of these changes are because of the indwelling Holy Spirit and His ministry.

The indwelling Holy Spirit is the true light (that) now shineth. He allows us to spiritually discern truths which are hidden from the natural man (1Corinthians 2:14). The natural man walketh in darkness (2:11 because he does not have the true light from the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Before the indwelling Holy Spirit was given, God's people were in darkness. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, we the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. As a result of all of these changes our relationship with God changed. However, God never changes and things like salvation by faith never changes. The main changes are in what the world sees. The differences between what changed and what did not change are like the difference between the interpretation of the Bible and the application of that truth. There is only one interpretation but many applications because that one truth is applied to many different people and to many different circumstances of life. Thus, God still wants a personal relationship with His people. That never changed from the time of Adam and Eve. What has changed is the way that we worship God (our religion) and the evidence that the world sees which shows that someone has a true personal relationship with God. The new commandment is that we loveth our brother. (The th in the word loveth means that we 'keeps on keeping on loving our brother regardless of circumstances'.) this is the outward expression of having the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Back in C2-S3 we read And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. Now we have this new commandment to loveth our brother. One of the reasons why people doubt their 'eternal security' is their refusal to obey this commandment.

One last point: in our First Equivalent Section John wrote the phrase which thing is true in him and in you. This new commandment was true in Jesus Christ the righteous and will be true in us if the true light now shineth in us. The th in the word shineth means that we the true light from the indwelling Holy Spirit 'keeps on keeping on shining in our heart'. That is, we keep getting spiritual direction and knowledge and understanding from the indwelling Holy Spirit. The only thing which can interfere with the true light working in our life is our own refusal to obey. Thus, if we are truly saved but refuse to live a life in obedience to this new commandment, then we have refused to obey and, thereby, given up the blessings from God that are only given to His obedient children. In addition, our ongoing disobedience will make is disobedient children.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the note for Matthew 5:16 about the word shine. Webster's 1828 defines this word as: 'to emit rays of light; to give light; to beam with steady radiance; to exhibit lightness or splendor; as, the sun shines by day; the moon shines by night. Shining differs from sparkling, glistening, glittering, as it usually implies a steady radiation or emission of light, whereas the latter words usually imply irregular or interrupted radiation. this distinction is not always not always observed, and we may say, the fixed stars shine, as well as they sparkle. But we never say the sun or the moon sparkles. 2. to be bright; to be lively and animated; to be brilliant. Let thine eyes shine forth in their full luster. Denham. 3. to be unclouded; as, the moon shines'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'a new. 1Jo 4:21; Joh 13:34; 15:12 which. 1Jo 3:14-16; 4:11; Joh 15:12-15; 2Co 8:9; Eph 5:1-2; 1Pe 1:21; 4:1-3 the darkness. Song 2:11-12; Isa 9:2; 60:1-3; Mt 4:16; Lu 1:79; Joh 12:46; Ac 17:30; 26:18; Ro 13:12; 2Co 4:4-6; Eph 5:8; 1Th 5:5-8 and the. Ps 27:1; 36:9; 84:11; Mal 4:2; Joh 1:4-5,9; 8:12; 12:35; 2Ti 1:10 General references. exp: Joh 15:12'.

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C2-S10 (Verse 9) How to identify a person who is self-deluded.

He that saith he is in the light,
and hateth his brother,
is in darkness even until now..

We need to keep the context of this chapter in mind as we look as these sentences. In 2:2 we were told that Jesus Christ the righteous is our advocate with the Father and the propitiation for our sins. That is: He paid the price for our sins and He is the legal representative who gets His payment applied to our personal account. Then the rest of this chapter is comparing people who actually know Him to those liars who claim to know Him but have no evidence to back their claims. It's pretty hard to get an advocate to argue your legal case when you refuse to have anything to do with him. Thus, one of the main messages of this chapter is 'Here is how to tell the people who have Jesus Christ the righteous representing them versus those liars who claim it but do not have the reality.'

With that context we return to out sentence. Our sentence is telling us how to identify a liar who claims to be in the light while he is really in darkness even until now. This person obviously does not have Jesus Christ the righteous representing them. Our sentence identifies this person as someone who hateth his brother. Since the person who is hated is a brother, this sentence is identifying a saved person as the one who is hated. Please note that the th in the word hateth means that this person, that saith he is in the light, 'keeps on keeping on hating his brother'. Since John already made it clear that the true light is Jesus Christ the righteous, when this person saith he is in the light, he is claiming to be in Jesus Christ. Follow that links to find verses in the Bible where this phrase is used and look at those verses within their context. You will see that the person in this sentence is a liar. In addition, since Jesus Christ the righteous is our advocate (2:2) and He died for the brother who is hated, this person is asking his advocate to be sure that he does not get just punishment while he continues to hateth his brother whom Jesus Christ the righteous died for.

This sentence matches exactly with Matthew 5:21-26 where Jesus said Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. If God the Father won't receive our gift then Jesus Christ the righteous is wasting His time as an advocate. Thus, we must stop hating our brother, and become willing to become righteous before we can expect God to forgive us and turn on the light. Yes, we have access to the light but we choose to walk in darkness when we choose to hate our brother. Please see the note under Light and Darkness for more details.

Please see the note for Galatians C5S20 about the word hatred. The functional definition is: 'Great dislike or aversion; hate; enmity. Hatred is an aversion to evil, and may spring from utter disapprobation, as the hatred of vice or meanness; or it may spring from offenses or injuries done by fellow men, or from envy or jealousy, in which case it is usually accompanied with malevolence or malignity. Extreme hatred is abhorrence or detestation'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'that saith. 1Jo 2:4 he is. 1Jo 1:6; Joh 9:41; Ro 2:18-21 and hateth. 1Jo 3:13-17 is in. 1Jo 2:11; Ps 82:5; 1Co 13:1-3; 2Pe 1:9 General references. exp: Joh 15:12; Heb 13:1'.

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C2-S11 (Verse 10) How to tell if we abideth in the light.

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light,
and there is none occasion of stumbling in him..

This sentence follows the prior and gives us another test to see if we walk in the light, as he is in the light. Basically, the test is whether we use religious rules to cause a brother to stumble. Basically, our sentence literally tells us that if we abideth in the light then there is none occasion of stumbling in him. Said another way, if there is an occasion of stumbling in us then we do not abideth in the light. Please note that the th in the word abideth means that this person 'keeps on keeping on abiding in the light'. Said another way, this person 'keeps on keeping on dwelling, resting, and standing firm in the way of God which Jesus Christ the righteous shows us'. Such a person will not cause anyone to stumble at the word of God nor will they cause anyone to stumble at the way of God.

Please see the notes for Romans 8:39-LJC; Galatians C5-S14; Philippians 1:9-11; love in 1John and 2John 1:3-LJC about the word love. Please see the note for 1John C3S26 about the phrase love one another. Please see the note for 1John C4S13 about the phrase perfect love. Please see the note for Romans C9S23 about the word beloved. Please also see the note for Matthew 17:5 for links to every place where the phrase beloved Son is applied to Jesus. The true Biblical doctrine of this word is very complex since it is a character trait of God. That said, a simple functional definition is: 'Doing what brings the greatest ultimate good to another being without any consideration of cost to self and not consideration of any response by the other and a willingness to even bring short-term pain if that is what is required in order to bring the ultimate long-tern good'.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C7S9 about the word abide. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely'. The th in the word abideth means that this person 'keeps on keeping on abiding'.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians 5:16 about the word occasion. That note has links to every place in the New Testament where We find this word. The functional definition is: 'Properly, a falling, happening or coming to; an occurrence, casualty, incident; something distinct from the ordinary course or regular orders of things'.

We find forms of stumbling in:

John 11:9-10 Jesus answered His disciples who said Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. Basically, the Jews of late stumbleth when they sought to stone Jesus. They were following religious rules which justified hate and killing instead of walking in the light, as he is in the light.
Romans 9:32-33 is the conclusion of Romans 9 where Paul is showing us the difference between true Biblical righteousness and the 'righteousness' of religion. People stumble when they choose the 'righteousness' of religion over true Biblical righteousness.
Romans 11:9, 11 teach further results of stumbling by choosing the 'righteousness' of religion over true Biblical righteousness.
Romans 14:13, 21 is dealing with religious disputes. Paul teaches a considerable amount about causing our brother to stumble in Romans 14. He deals with how we do it, how we avoid doing it and the consequences of doing it or avoiding doing it. See the Book Study on Romans for more details.
1Corinthians 1:23-24 says But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. We have a very clear division between the saved and lost in this sentence with the lost including the religious (Jews) and the worldly-wise (Greeks). Once more we see that a spiritual truth which is understood by those who walk in the light, as he is in the light causes others to stumble.
1Corinthians 8:9 basically teaches the same lesson as Romans 9 (as far as stumbling goes) with only the details being different.
1Peter 2:8 is dealing with the same spiritual concept as all other prior references. Our personal relationship with Christ is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence to those who rely upon keeping religious rules. Peter, and the other verses, are referencing Isaiah 8:13-15.
1John 2:10 is this verse which is telling us that if we walk in the light, as he is in the light we will not cause our brother to stumble be demanding that he keep religious rules instead of developing his personal relationship with Christ.
Revelation 2:14 tells us that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was similar to the doctrine of Balaam and both cause saved people to stumble. The doctrine of Balaam taught that it is OK to seek the pleasures of this world and that there would be no consequence so long as you were a child of God. A lot of Jews died as a result of that doctrine. We have much speculation, but nothing firm, about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Supposedly, it was a doctrine that since everything is to be taken spiritually, what is done in the flesh doesn't matter. That is, it was OK to do sins of the flesh so long as you had the 'right spiritual attitude'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'that loveth. 1Jo 3:14; Ho 6:3; Joh 8:31; Ro 14:13; 2Pe 1:10 occasion of stumbling. Gr. scandal. Mt 13:21; 18:7; Lu 17:1-2; Ro 9:32-33; Php 1:10 General references. exp: Joh 11:10; 13:35; 15:12; Heb 13:1'.

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C2-S12 (Verse 11) Hate shows that we walketh in darkness.

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness,
and walketh in darkness,
and knoweth not whither he goeth,
because that darkness hath blinded his eyes..

Please see John 12:34-41. The people had their minds so locked by a false religious doctrine that they couldn't even see, much less consider, the truth that was plainly set before them. Religious people who walketh in darkness are so positive that their (wrong) religious rules make them 'righteous' that they not only can't consider the truth but they force others to follow their (wrong) religious rules. That is a form of hating your brother.

It is worth our while to look at the phrases of our sentence.

But: this sentence starts with But, which means it is talking about the same subject as the prior two sentences while going in a different direction. All of 2:8-11 needs to be considered together because these sentences form a small sub-section talking about John's analogy of Light and Darkness. Please follow that link to the note which deals with this doctrine as it is expressed in these sentences (verses). That note deals with the context and how all of these sentences interact with each other to form a single doctrine.

he that hateth his brother is in darkness: please note that the th in the word hateth means that this person 'keeps on keeping on hating his brother'. This was dealt with back in C2-S10. Please see that note for more details. The repeat of this phrase shows us that we need to consider the context, as already mentioned, if we want to receive the true message of these sentences.

and walketh in darkness: the and adds this phrase to the prior phrase. However, back in C1-S4 we saw John deal with the phrase walk in darkness. In addition, C2-S10 told us that He that...hateth his brother, is in darkness. When we put these two together, which is proper given the context of John's message, we have walketh in darkness. Please note that the th in the word walketh means that this person 'keeps on keeping on taking small repeated steps of hating his brother and following the way of darkness'.

and knoweth not whither he goeth: Again, the and adds this phrase to the prior phrase. when we decide to walk in darkness we may remember the right way to go from what we saw with the light before we entered the darkness. However, that direction only lasts for a little time and then we quickly know not whither we go if we continue to walk in darkness thus, once mote we see the importance of paying attention to the th on these words. When we 'keeps on keeping on walking in darkness' we will 'keeps on keeping on not knowing where we go'. This truth is added to the prior phrase because this result does not happen at the same time as our action. Neither does it happen immediately but happens after a time following our turn into the way of darkness. In the Bible, know includes what we have learned through personal experience. If we do not continue to use and increase our knowledge, then we will forget it and lose what we had. If we do not continue to experience walking in the light, through our ongoing personal relationship with Jesus Christ the righteous, then our sinful flesh, the world and doctrine of devils will make us forget what we had learned through experience which might not have been pleasant. The way of our sinful flesh, the world and doctrine of devils is the darkness that our phrase is talking about. Our eyes are our spiritual eyes which allow us to see spiritual truth, as John's epistle is telling us. Just as we are physically blinded when we walk in total physical darkness, so also does this process work in the spiritual reality.

because that darkness hath blinded his eyes: When John says darkness hath blinded his eyes, he is referring to (Deuteronomy 29:4; Psalm 69:23; Ezekiel 12:2; Matthew 11:15, Matthew 13:9; Mark 4:9, 4:23 7:16; Luke 8:8, 14:35; Revelation 3:18) where God condemned His people for not having spiritual senses which functioned. This phrase is warning us that when we cling to darkness we will lose our spiritual senses and be condemned by God. Without spiritual senses we can not personally experience (knoweth not) where we are going spiritually. Among other ways to cut off our spiritual senses, John is warning us that hating our brother will have this effect.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians 3:12-14 about the word blind.The functional definition for this word is: 'Without the ability to see. This word is also used, symbolically, for people who lack spiritual understanding'.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C12S13 about the word eye. The functional definition is: 'Sight; view; ocular knowledge'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'he that. 1Jo 2:9; Joh 12:35; Tit 3:3 and walketh. Pr 4:19; Joh 12:35 because. Joh 12:40; 2Co 3:14; 4:4; Re 3:17 exp: Eph 4:18. General references. exp: Pr 4:19; Joh 11:10'.

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C2-S13 (Verse 12) First reason why John is writing.

I write unto you,
little children,
because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake..

Please see all of the notes for C2-S13 through C2-S18 as a single unit since they form a sub-section within this chapter of 1John. It will help our understanding if we look at the phrases of our sentence.

I write unto you: As we have seen elsewhere, God had people write what he wanted to preserve in His Word. Yes, John did write to people who were physically at a distance from him but God also had him write to saved people who were distant from him in time. This is the first of six sequential sentences which start with a form of the phrase I write unto you...because with the people named in the gap varying by type and the reason following the because varying according to the type of person addressed in the start of that sentence. After these six sentences John returns to writing things which apply to all saved people but here, before he changes subjects, John explains why he wrote what he did prior to this sentence.
in this sentence and in C2-S16 John writes to little children. As explained in the note below, for the phrase little children, these remarks are directed to the spiritually immature. These identifications are not dealing with physical age but are dealing with levels of spiritual maturity. That said, John directs two remarks to little children: your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake and ye have known the Father. The first phrase, which is in our current sentence, is designed to provide assurance of 'eternal security' and to remove fear because little children are full of fear. There is more to this phrase, but that is covered in the note below. Instead of dealing with those details, we will look at the second thing which John wrote to little children. That is that ye have known the Father. The word ye means 'each and every one of you personally'. Little children haven't had enough time to learn a lot of facts. However, even babies know that parents and that their parents love them. However, little children sometimes have issues with trust and obedience. Therefore, John wrote to these people to remind them of the love which the Father has already demonstrated to them and, based upon that love, tells the little children to 'trust and obey'.

little children: Little children is referring to those people who are saved but have not spiritually grown to any great extent. As already explained, John uses these designations to identify people who have different levels of spiritual maturity. The main need, of little children, is to know that your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake and that (as a result) they need to concentrate on spiritual growth, through proper fellowship, and stop worrying about sinning and having to pay for those sins. The message to little children is different from the message to young men and to fathers as seen in the next few sentences. As mentioned above, the next phrase and the phrase in C2-S16 are directed at little children. These phrases deal with the specific spiritual needs of the spiritually immature.

because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake: the word because has a functional definition of: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'. Here, and in Romans 3:24-25, the Bible is speaking about sins that are past. It is doctrinal error to claim that 'all of my sins, past present and future are forgiven'. (Please see the note for Romans 3:24-25 about that doctrinal error.) When we first were saved (accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord), all of our past sins were blotted out (Acts 3:19 and Colossians 2:14). That was done before we became children of God. However, children forget details and need to be reminded of them. In addition, children get confused by people who tell lies. God's true children know and understand that they sin after their initial profession. Religious liars tell them that that causes them to lose their salvation and that they need to be saved again. However, the truth is that the only thing which they can lose is their ongoing relationship with God and the assurance of salvation which comes from that relationship. John is assuring God's true children that these sins are also forgiven but have the additional requirement of sanctification.
Forgiveness of sins is related to salvation in:
1. Luke 24:47 where Jesus said that He would suffer and rise from the dead for repentance and remission of sins
2. Acts 4:12) where we are told: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved..
Forgiveness of sins is related to sanctification in:
1. Acts 26:18 where Paul is telling about his salvation and commission by Jesus Christ. He not only was to preach the gospel to get people saved but he was To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. the phrase to turn them from darkness to light is describing sanctification. Please notice that this is a prerequisite (that) of they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance. After we become children of God, we are put into the judgment seat of Christ court system (Romans C14S16; 2Corinthians 5:10) where sanctification is a prerequisite for forgiveness of sins.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the notes for 1Corinthians C1S1 and Philippians 2:9-11 about the word name. The functional definition is: 'power and authority'. Please also see the note for 1Corinthians C1S4 about the phrase name, the. Please also see the note for 1Peter 4:14-LJC about the phrase the name of Christ.

Please see the notes for Romans C15S25; 1Corinthians C9S16 and 2Corinthians 2:10-11 about the word sake. The functional definition is: 'to strain, urge, press or drive forward, and this is from the same root as seek, essay and L. sequor, whence we have pursue and prosecute'. Please also see the note for Philippians 1:29-30 about the phrase sake, for His.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'write. 1Jo 2:7,13-14,21; 1:4 little. 1Jo 2:1 exp: Ga 4:19; 1Jo 2:13. your. 1Jo 1:7,9; Ps 32:1-2; Lu 5:20; 7:47-50; 24:47; Ac 4:12; 10:43; 13:38; Ro 4:6-7; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14 for. Ps 25:11; 106:8; Jer 14:7; Eph 4:32 exp: Heb 6:20'.

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C2-S14 (Verse 13) Second reason why John is writing.

I write unto you,
fathers,
because ye have known him that is from the beginning..

Please see all of the notes for C2-S13 through C2-S18 as a single unit since they form a sub-section within this chapter of 1John. The prior sentence, this sentence and the next two sentences address three different groups of saved people who have different levels of spiritual maturity (little children, young men, and fathers). In addition, these sentences are present-tense while the two next sentences (C2-S17 and C2-S18) are past-tense. In these sentences, the past-tense is speaking about a prior epistle written by John but not preserved by God because, while it is assumed to have good instruction from a pastor, it also had things which God did not want in His word. What is presented in this current epistle is all things which God approved because God preserved this epistle.

in this section of sentences, we see that John is writing:

To the spiritual leaders (fathers) because they have the personal (ye) experience (have known him that is from the beginning). They have spiritually matured enough that they can tell the difference between God's Holy Spirit (him that is from the beginning) and the other spirits of false gods. That is: they can tell what type of spirit is behind the teaching of a religious leader. They have what is required in order to verify that what John is writing matches what comes from the Bible as interpreted by the Holy Spirit.
To the workers (young men) because they have enough Personal (ye) experience (have overcome the wicked one) to know how much trouble it is to grow spiritually. They will have the responsibility of guiding and caring for the spiritual little children. They will be tempted to fall into the errors that John is warning about because these errors seem to make things easy for the short term but cause long-term problems.
To the spiritual little children because what John is writing will cause them to grow-up spiritually is exactly the same things which led to their salvation. He is assuring them that they grow the same way as they got saved (by faith).

In our prior sentence we read little children...have known the Father in a personal way (ye) because they are saved. They have known the Father a little bit but not much more beyond what is required to get saved because they are still little children. Now John switches to the fathers in order to bring out a contrast in levels of spiritual maturity and in the resulting instructions. The fathers have known the Father in a lot of ways since their initial profession because that is what is required to spiritually mature after our initial profession. In John 14:8-9 Jesus teaches Phillip that knowing Him is the same as knowing the Father. One of the major lessons of the Lord Jesus Christ Study is that our spiritual maturity comes from our personal relationship with God through Christ. Although John uses the Father, in this sentence, it is the same as Christ as far as receiving spiritual maturity.

John uses the phrase from the beginning to distinguish between the true God and the gods worshipped by men. These false gods had a beginning, according to the religions of that day. Today, some people claim that one of their gods is the 'creator', and therefore was from the beginning. However, their 'creator' god does not have absolute power over all other gods and spiritual beings. Therefore, their 'creator' god could not have created the universe with the universal natural laws that we see today. Their so-called creation would be as fractured as 'world peace' is today because the various gods would want differences in 'creation', just to show their power, like we see politici and doing today. John uses this phrase to recognize the attributes of the true God which false gods don't have.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the note for John 1:1 about the word beginning. The functional definition for this word is: 'First entering upon; commencing; giving rise or original; taking rise or origin'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'fathers. 1Jo 2:14; 1Ti 5:1 because. 1Jo 2:3-4; 5:20; Ps 91:14; Lu 10:22; Joh 8:19; 14:7; 17:3 him that. 1Jo 1:1; Ps 90:2'.

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C2-S15 (Verse 13) Third reason why John is writing.

I write unto you,
young men,
because ye have overcome the wicked one..

Please see all of the notes for C2-S13 through C2-S18 as a single unit since they form a sub-section within this chapter of 1John. As explained there, the young men are more spiritually mature than the little children. Notice that John says that for these people to mature beyond little children, the must overcome the wicked one. Little children whine and complain about every little thing and fall for every temptation. However, in order to overcome the wicked one, the young men has to stop their wining and complaining and have sought help from God through faith. That is what it takes to overcome the wicked one and to mature spiritually.

In order to overcome the young men must have fought a spiritual battle and won. This is not possible in our flesh which means that they had to learn to seek God's help while they were in the spiritual battle.

Another thing to note is that the Bible often uses male pronouns for situations which apply to males and females. Thus, young men also identifies women who have overcome in spiritual battles and fathers also refers to spiritually mature women, at least within these sentences.

Please see the note for Luke 15:11-12 about the word young. The functional definition for this word is: 'Not having been long born; being in the first part of life; not old'.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the note for 2Peter 2:19 about the word overcome. The definition from Webster's 1828 is: 'to conquer; to vanquish; to subdue; as, to overcome enemies in battle. 2. to surmount; to get the better of; as, to overcome difficulties or obstacles'. We find forms of this word, in 1John in: 2:13; 2:14; 4:4; 5:4 and 5:5.

Please see the notes for Romans C1S16; 1Corinthians 5:8; Colossians 1:9-17 and Ephesians 6:12 about the word wicked. Please also use the link in the sentence outline, above. The functional definition is: 'Departure from the rules of the divine law; evil disposition or practices; immorality; crime; sin; sinfulness; corrupt manners Wickedness generally signifies evil practices'. Please also see the note for Ephesians C4S8 about the phrase wicked heart.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'young. 1Jo 2:14; Ps 148:12; Pr 20:29; Joe 2:28; Zec 9:17; Tit 2:6 because. 1Jo 4:4; 5:4-5; Eph 6:10-12; 1Pe 5:8-9 the wicked. 1Jo 3:12; 5:18; Mt 13:19,38'.

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C2-S16 (Verse 13) Fourth reason why John is writing.

I write unto you,
little children,
because ye have known the Father..

Please see all of the notes for C2-S13 through C2-S18 as a single unit since they form a sub-section within this chapter of 1John. The start of this sentence (I write unto you, little children) is the same as 2:12. However, the ending is worded differently in each sentence. However, your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake and ye (you personally) have known the Father both speak of salvation. John is saying the same thing two different ways to establish the basis for saying that this is doctrine.

C2-S14 is in the same verse as this sentence. Please see the note for that sentence about the use of know within this sentence.

in this sentence John says that he is writing to little children ('spiritually immature people') because ye ('each and every one of you personally') have known the Father. That means they know the character of God the Father. They may not know a lot of Bible and may not know a lot of doctrines but they know the character of the God Who saved them. Parents tell their children: 'Don't talk to strangers'. Children can talk to family members who have a character similar to the parents and won't hurt the children but the children are to fear strangers who might hurt the children. That is, essentially, John's message to his little children. They are to verify the character and spirit of any religious person who tries to teach them and make sure that it matches what they have known (from) the Father.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'little. 1Jo 2:1,12 ye have known. Mt 11:27; Lu 10:22; Joh 8:54-55; 14:7,9; 16:3; 17:21; 2Co 4:6'.

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C2-S17 (Verse 14) Fifth reason why John is writing.

I have written unto you,
fathers,
because ye have known him that is from the beginning..

Please see all of the notes for C2-S13 through C2-S18 as a single unit since they form a sub-section within this chapter of 1John. This sentence uses the same phrase as C2-S14 (ye have known him that is from the beginning). The use of know in this sentence is covered in that note and in the general note reached by using the link in the sentence outline above.

These sentences are written in the past-tense, as opposed to the present-tense of the prior sentences, and they are addressed to two groups of different spiritual maturities. John may be referring to his Gospel in this sentence or he may be referring to another epistle that God did not preserve. John dealt with the spiritual leaders (fathers) in the past like he deals with them now because they have the personal (ye) experience (have known him that is from the beginning) to verify that what John is writing matches what comes from the Bible as interpreted by the Holy Spirit. When it comes to the workers (young men), he had three motivations in the past but only one of those reasons applies to this epistle. John will next give instructions based upon these reasons that he outlines in these sentences.

The next sentence also says I have written unto you. but is directed at young men. This sentence follows one where John says I have written unto you, fathers and both sentences follow a sentence where John says I write unto you, fathers.. and I write unto you, young men.. Obviously there are subtle differences between what John has written and what he is currently writing. There are also subtle differences in what he writes to each group because they have different levels of spiritual maturity. All of the detailed differences that are within these sentences are covered in the notes associated with each sentence and the reader should really understand these differences in order to truly understand what John is writing.

That said, we can see that our current sentence is written to fathers and that John has made a difference between them and little children whom he dealt with in the immediately prior sentence. This is like giving instruction to a child while their parent is present and then immediately turning to the parent and telling the parent to protect the child because there are dangerous being right outside who want to steal and hurt the child. These spiritually mature people who have personally (ye) known him that is from the beginning and are capable of separating the truly Godly people from devil motivated religious leaders. It is their job to protect the little children.

Please be sure to follow the links that are within the sentence outline above to find notes related to those words and to find links to other places where that word is used. Where those links lead to another Study, please also go to the top of the Study (or section within the Lord Jesus Christ Study) to get the definition, the particular application of this sentence, and links to other sentences with the same application.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the note for John 1:1 about the word beginning. The functional definition for this word is: 'First entering upon; commencing; giving rise or original; taking rise or origin'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'fathers. 1Jo 2:13 because ye are. Eph 6:10; Php 4:13; Col 1:11; 2Ti 2:1 the word. Ps 119:11; Joh 5:38; 8:31; 15:7; Col 3:16; Heb 8:10; 2Jo 1:2; 3Jo 1:3 ye have overcome. Re 2:7-3:22'.

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C2-S18 (Verse 14) Sixth reason why John is writing.

I have written unto you,
young men,
because ye are strong,
and the word of God abideth in you,
and ye have overcome the wicked one..

Please see all of the notes for C2-S13 through C2-S18 as a single unit since they form a sub-section within this chapter of 1John. Please also see the note for this verse under Word in 1John. The Spirit of God uses the word of God to bring spiritual maturity to the child of God.

This sentence and the prior sentence are written in the past-tense, as opposed to the present-tense of the prior verse, and they are addressed to two groups of different spiritual maturities. John may be referring to his Gospel in this sentence or he may be referring to another epistle that God did not preserve when he writes I have written unto you.

That said, we can see that our current sentence is written to young men and that John has made a difference between them and little children (2:12) and fathers. Therefore, this group is neither spiritually immature nor the most mature. This group is separated from little children by three facts:

ye are strong (not babies crying over every upset and complaining over every task)
and the word of God abideth in you (they live their claim as discussed for 2:3-11)
and ye have overcome the wicked one (they are not controlled / bothered by the Test of Spiritual Maturity).

in this sentence, the word of God clearly is the Bible. John says that it abideth in you. The th in the word abideth means that the word of God 'keeps on keeping on abiding in this person'. In order for that to happen they must have a disciplined study of the Bible which occurs daily. Said another way, this person 'keeps on keeping on studying their Bible daily, and meditating on what it says, so that it can abideth in them'. With this truth we see that most church members are still little children. This truth is also verified by their prayer requests. Spiritual little children are all concerned with the things of this life and that is what their prayer requests are centered upon. The more spiritually mature person (young men) is concerned about spiritual battles that they are fighting. The spiritually mature (fathers) are concerned about protecting God's children and about their spiritual growth and maturity.

Please also notice that our sentence says that young men are each personally (ye) strong. We only get strong through constant work and exercise. A word Study on the word exercise will show that this is how the Bible uses that word. Thus, these people have constantly used the word of God to fight spiritual battles, which is why John says that they have personally (ye) overcome the wicked one.

Please see the note for Luke 15:11-12 about the word young. The functional definition for this word is: 'Not having been long born; being in the first part of life; not old'.

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians 10:3-6 about the word strong. The functional definition is: 'Very powerful; having great command'.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C7S9 about the word abide. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely'. The th in the word abideth means that this person 'keeps on keeping on abiding'.

Please see the note for 2Peter 2:19 about the word overcome. The functional definition is: 'To conquer; to vanquish; to subdue; as, to overcome enemies in battle'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'the word. Ps 119:11; Joh 5:38; 8:31; 15:7; Col 3:16; Heb 8:10; 2Jo 1:2; 3Jo 1:3 ye have overcome. Re 2:7-3:22'.

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C2-S19 (Verse 15) Precept on love.

Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world..

In the sentences before these John provides the basis for the instructions which he begins here and continues through C2-S22. All of these sentences need to be considered together as a sub-unit in order to get the contextual doctrine. In addition, these sentences are based upon the prior sub-group where John said that he wrote to people who had different spiritual maturity. John expected each group to get different things from his writing. Therefore, the sub-group starting in this sentence is the message that John expects each of the groups in the prior sub-group to understand different ways.

Please see the sentences and notes above to understand the different groups of spiritual maturity. Within the prior sentences John told the readers of all spiritual maturities that everything is based upon what they already learned about the Father and what they already received from Him. Now in this sentence and the next three sentences John warns us that if we go chasing the world or the things that are in the world then we will leave the basis (the Father) of everything spiritual that we have so far from Him. That is, we will leave the love of the Father and everything which comes from that love (the love of the Father is not in him).

Our sentence tells us what to love not. The things of This world which tempt people vary and a lot of that variableness depends on their level of maturity, which is why John wrote what he did in the prior sentences. John has one simple sentence here that applies to everyone but the temptation and way to fight that temptation varies between groups of spiritual maturity.

little children: Children are fascinated by the physical things of this world and even some old people still act like children. Woman have created a saying of: 'The only difference between men and boys is the size and cost of their toys'. There is a similar one for women but I don't remember it. However, the point is that spiritual little children are tempted by all of the physical things of this world such as travel, experiences, houses, toys and more. These are not bad things but putting them at a higher priority than our spiritual growth and service to God is sin. Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36 and Luke 9:25 say: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?. Thus, we see the temptation and consequence to little children. John wrote to these people to remember that your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Therefore, their first priority is to be his name's sake. If they keep remembering that fact they will keep their priorities right. In addition, John wrote the these people ye have known the Father. If they remember the character and Spirit from the Father, then they can identify evil things that are in this world from devils and avoid the traps within those things.
young men: these people are busy doing things and conquering challenges. A main temptation is 'win at all costs'. They are tempted to compare their achievements to the achievements of others. 2Corinthians 10:12 says, For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. they are tempted to hurt their competition. This epistle tells us a lot about love and hate. They are tempted to brag about their achievements or their group but the Bible warns us against pride. John helps young men by reminding them that ye ('each and every one of them personally') have overcome the wicked one. They only did this with the help of God so John is telling them to look at what God has done through their life and not at their personal achievements in the flesh. John also writes to young men: because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. They are to constantly remember that they personally are strong only because the word of God abideth (keeps on keeping on residing) in you. They are to remember that ye have overcome the wicked one only through God's word and God's Holy Spirit. They are to keep the focus on Who actually accomplished all that has been done through their life because that id the only way to overcome pride.
fathers: Older people start to worry about security as they realize that their personal abilities are going away. They worry about who will take care of them in their old age. As a father, John writes ye have known him that is from the beginning. They each personally have learned how God has provided for His people and has protected them through all time. They know things like Psalms 37:25 which says: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. they have each personally experienced God blessing faith and faithfulness. Their temptation is to accumulate wealth so that they can buy the services that they need as they lose their own ability to do. However, John reminds them If this truth so that they can remain faithfulness. ToGod and not turn to accumulated wealth for their needs.

As we see here, John writes one simple sentence but sends different messages to different groups within God's people. He did this by first identifying the different groups, their needs and what God the Father had provided for their needs. With this we see, once more, the importance of keeping things within the context in order to understand what God is really trying to tell us in His word.

The first three chapters in 1Corinthians also tell us this same doctrine but in greater detail and with a different perspective. Those chapters present the opposition between the wisdom of the flesh / this world and the wisdom of God.

In 2:16 John tells us why (for) we will lose everything and he lists three categories of sin that go against everything that we have from the Father. Many other people have, and will, provide details, applications and illustrations of these three categories, which are different from what I presented here. I concentrate on trying to explain what is actually said and let others apply these truths to the different circumstances of life. Therefore, it is worth the reader's while to read other good writers. That said, these three categories encompass all that is covered under Sin in 1John and those notes should be sufficient. John ends these verses in 2:17 which is divided by a colon followed by a but. That makes the two sides polar opposites and gives us a very clear choice. We can have the short-term pleasures of this world, and have no abiding reward from the Father or we can have abiding reward from the Father and give up short-term sinful pleasures of this world, but we cannot have both.

Please be sure to follow the link that is within the sentence outline above to read the note under world.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'Love not. 1Jo 4:5; 5:4-5,10; Joh 15:19; Ro 12:2; Ga 1:10; Eph 2:2; Col 3:1-2; 1Ti 6:10'.

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C2-S20 (Verse 15) Why we were given the prior precept.

If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him..

Please see the note above because it explains a doctrine that John expresses in four sentences, of which this sentence is the second. Many people and religions deny this simple statement by trying to change the definition of love and / or world. Or, they try to make some excuse or claim that the Bible gives them some exception, but have problems remembering exactly where that exception is supposed to be. People who have a problem with this simple sentence need to pray over Mark 8:34-38, especially Mark 8:36.

Please note that John writes the love of the Father is not in him. John does not write that this person is lost. Many people make the mistake of believing that once they are saved everything will be perfect, that they will always do right and that God will always bless. However, it is quickly obvious that that belief is religious foolishness.

As we saw in the note above, these sentences state simple precepts which are true for everyone and every circumstance of life. However, the application of these precepts changes with the type of person and the particular circumstance of life. That said, no matter what may change, when we decide to love the world we must first turn from our love of the Father. Please note that John used the word love, not like or 'are tempted by' or anything else. As one famous preacher said: 'The closer I am to God the farther I am away from sin and the more steps I have to take to get back into the addiction of sin. Therefore, get as close to God as you can and it will keep you away from sin'. When a saved person loves the world they have taken many steps away from the love of the Father. This is not something that the saved 'fall into'.

Please be sure to follow the link that is within the sentence outline above to read the note under world.

Please see the notes for Romans 8:39-LJC; Galatians C5-S14; Philippians 1:9-11; love in 1John and 2John 1:3-LJC about the word love. Please see the note for 1John C3S26 about the phrase love one another. Please see the note for 1John C4S13 about the phrase perfect love. Please see the note for Romans C9S23 about the word beloved. Please also see the note for Matthew 17:5 for links to every place where the phrase beloved Son is applied to Jesus. The true Biblical doctrine of this word is very complex since it is a character trait of God. That said, a simple functional definition is: 'Doing what brings the greatest ultimate good to another being without any consideration of cost to self and not consideration of any response by the other and a willingness to even bring short-term pain if that is what is required in order to bring the ultimate long-tern good'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'If. Mt 6:24; Lu 16:13; Jas 4:4 the love. 1Jo 3:17 General references. exp: Le 11:20; Mt 6:19; Mr 4:7; Lu 14:33'.

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C2-S21 (Verse 16) Why God's love is not in anyone who loves this world.

For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life,
is not of the Father,
but is of the world..

Our sentence names three types of sin which are in the world, of the world, and not of the Father. These three types of sin are: he lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Many good messages have been preached on these three and they can be found in many books. This Study will concentrate on what is literally said within the context and leave to multiple applications to others.

Please see the note for 2:15 as it explains a doctrine that John expresses in four sentences, of which this sentence is the third.

It will help our understanding if we look at the phrases of our sentence.

For all that is in the world: this sentence starts with For. The next sentence starts with And. Together they give the reason for the prior sentence. In 2:12 through 2:14 John told us about writing to various groups of saved people. In 2:21 John returns to saying I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. In between John tells us the difference between what comes from the world and what comes from the Father. So this difference is a main point of John writing. In addition, John ties in antichrists and presents them as the main people trying to get God's children to turn from the Father to the world. Since these things are in the world, we can not take them when we die or are 'Rapture'd (1Timothy 6:7). In addition, all of these things will be destroyed when God makes the new Heaven and the new earth (Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22; 2Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). Therefore, this is a temptation to give up eternal things for temporal things which we can not keep. This is a temptation to become a Biblical fool.

the lust of the flesh: is often thought as sexual. However, it also includes things like gluttony (Philippians 3:16). The fact is that this includes all types of addiction. Search the internet for services which claim to help different types of addiction and you will see the many ways that this type of sin destroys and kills.

and the lust of the eyes: this is mainly covetousness. (Please see the note for Romans C13S12 about the word covet. The functional definition is: 'To desire or wish for, with eagerness; to desire earnestly to obtain or possess; in a good sense. Covet earnestly the best gifts. 1Corinthians 12. 2. to desire inordinately; to desire that which it is unlawful to obtain or possess; in a bad sense'. Please also see the note for Romans C1S16 about the word covetousness.) We see the word covet used twice in the 'Ten Commandments' (Exodus 20). With this two time usage, we understand that it is very important to avoid this particular sin.

and the pride of life: this is one of the three classes of sin that is in the world and is not of the Father, but is of the world. Proverbs 8:13 tells us that the Lord hates pride (among other sins). This is the sin that got Lucifer kicked out of Heaven and it was the chance to be as gods (Genesis 3:5) that caused the first sin. The pride of life is thinking we are better than we are, or that we are better than others, because of some attribute of out physical life.

is not of the Father: No matter what justification or false reasoning religious people may give, none of these sins are of the Father. The word of means 'belongs to'. None of these things 'belongs to' the Father. Therefore, none of these things will be in Heaven, all of these things turn us away from the Father and none of them should be accepter by true Biblical Christians.

but is of the world: this means that these things 'belong to' the world. Notice that our sentence says that these three categories of sin are of the world. That means that they come from the world and point us back to the world for our authority. If we want to stick with what comes from the Father then we need to avoid anything that come from the world and anything that point us back to the world. Please see the earlier parts of this note and the prior notes which talk about things which 'belong to' the world.

Please see the notes for Romans C13S17 and Galatians C5-S18 about the word lust. The functional definition is: 'Longing desire; eagerness to possess or enjoy; as the lust of gain. Concupiscence; carnal appetite; unlawful desire of carnal pleasure. Evil propensity; depraved affections and desires'.

Please see the notes for Romans C8S1; 2Corinthians C1S7; Galatians C6S8; Philippians 1:22 and Colossians C1S6 about the word flesh. The functional definition is: 'our body and all influences upon our mind, our will and our emotions which come through our body and concerns for our body'. Please also see the note for Romans C8S7 about the phrase after the flesh. Please also see the note for Romans C8S7 about the phrase in the flesh. Please also see the note for 2Corinthians 12:7 about the phrase thorn in the flesh. Please also see the note for Matthew 7:16 about the phrase thistles and thorns.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C12S13 about the word eye. The functional definition is: 'Sight; view; ocular knowledge'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'the lust of the flesh. Nu 11:4,34; Ps 78:18,30; Pr 6:25; Mt 5:28; Ro 13:14; 1Co 10:6; Ga 5:17,24; Eph 2:3; Tit 2:12; 3:3; 1Pe 1:14; 2:11; 4:2-3,2-3; 2Pe 2:10,18; Jude 1:16-18 and the lust. Ge 3:6; 6:2; Jos 7:21; Job 31:1; Ps 119:36-37; Ec 5:10-11; Mt 4:8; Lu 4:5 and the pride. Es 1:3-7; Ps 73:6; Da 4:30; Re 18:11-17 is not. Jas 3:15 General references. exp: Le 11:20; Pr 23:31; Mt 6:19; Mr 4:7; Lu 14:33'.

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C2-S22 (Verse 17) Different fates for different people based upon what they do.

Equivalent Section: Fate of the world.

And the world passeth away,
and the lust thereof:.

Equivalent Section: Fate of the truly saved.

but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever..

This sentence starts with And, which adds it to the sentence above. Please see the note for 2:15 as it explains a doctrine that John expresses in four sentences, of which this one is the last. The conclusion which it gives us is that if we seek the things of the world we will lose them because it passeth away. This supports the truth which is expressed as; 'Only what's done for Jesus will last!'

Our sentence has two Equivalent Sections with the Second Equivalent Section starting with the word but following the colon. That makes the two Equivalent Sections polar opposites. The phrase he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever is talking about our having eternal life and knowing that we have it because we doeth the will of God. (Please see the notes under Life in 1John.) the polar opposition if the Equivalent Sections. lets us know that people who are pursuing the world...and the lust thereof are not 'keep on keeping on doing' the will of God. Most such people are lost, as we saw in 2Peter. The extremely rare person who is actually saved and pursuing the world...and the lust thereof, may get to Heaven but he will not have a place to abideth. Yes, he will have a place, but that can be only a bed in a dorm room for 10,000 people. Asi and understand renting 'bed space' even if most first-world residents don't. The word abideth implies having your own place to 'keep on keeping on remaining'. Thus, our sentence is making a promise of eternal reward to those saved people who doeth the will of God while promising eternal loss ( passeth away) to saved people who refuse to doeth the will of God.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians 5:13 for links to every verse in the Bible that uses the phrase passed away.

The meaning of the word wilt, does not match what is found in a man-written dictionary. The true Biblical meaning is: 'The will applied at a lifestyle level. That is: a decision of will which does not change throughout the life.'. Please also see the note for Philippians 1:15-17 about the word will. The functional definition for this word is: 'That faculty of the mind by which we determine either to do or forbear an action; the faculty which is exercised in deciding, among two or more objects, which we shall embrace or pursue'. Please also see the note for Philippians 1:15-17 about the word will. The functional definition for this word is: 'That faculty of the mind by which we determine either to do or forbear an action; the faculty which is exercised in deciding, among two or more objects, which we shall embrace or pursue'. Please also see the note for 1Peter 2:15 about the phrase will of God. That note has links to every place in the Bible where we find this phrase along with notes on each reference. In particular, that note explains that the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God are not three different levels of the will of God but, in fact, are three attributes of the single will of God. As that note explains, there is only one will of God for each circumstance in life but we receive variable rewards or punishment based upon how well we obey the will of God or how much we disobey the will of God. Please also see the Message called The Will of God for the application of these verses in the life of the believer.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C7S9 about the word abide. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely'. The th in the word abideth means that the person 'keep on keeping on dwelling, resting, and remaining' in that place.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'the world. Ps 39:6; 73:18-20; 90:9; 102:26; Isa 40:6-8; Mt 24:35; 1Co 7:31; Jas 1:10-11; 4:14; 1Pe 1:24 exp: Ga 6:14. but. Ps 143:10; Mt 7:21; 21:31; Mr 3:35; Joh 7:17; Ro 12:2; Col 1:9; 4:12; 1Th 4:3; 5:18; Heb 10:36; 1Pe 4:2 abideth. Ps 125:1-2; Pr 10:25; Joh 4:14; 6:58; 10:28-30; 1Pe 1:5,25 General references. exp: Le 11:20'.

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C2-S23 (Verse 18)

Equivalent Section: We know that it is the last time.

Little children,
it is the last time:.

Equivalent Section: How we know that it is the last time.

Step One: the evidence.

and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,
even now are there many antichrists;.

Step Two: the conclusion.

whereby we know that it is the last time..

In the beginning sentences of this chapter John told us that he was writing to encourage us to not sin. Then he told us what to do when we sin. Then he gave evidence that what he said came from God and gave different instructions to three different types of saved people (little children, young men and fathers). His instructions varied because they had different spiritual maturity and could understand at different levels. Then John warned about the deception in the love of the world. Now he is returning to the Little children and giving them warning that it is the last time and, therefore, they need to be extra careful. The evidence that he gives is that even now are there many antichrists. John uses this term in this sentence, 2:22; 4:3 and 2John 1:7. Many people have been taught that this term only applies to the beast of Revelation, but that is not Biblically true. John says that there are many and that they are here now. (The doctrinal error claims that there is only one and he will not appear until after the 'Rapture'. Therefore, God's people don't have to worry about antichrists.) these people are deceivers who will claim to teach 'true doctrine' but who are actually teaching error that will destroy the saved person's personal relationship with Christ (making them an antichrist).

There is so much doctrinal error and confusion about antichrists and other false doctrines, and so much in the Bible about these subjects that I started a separate study called False things According to the Bible. Antichrists are only one subject of this new study. In addition, since there is so much in the Bible and since it is scattered throughout the Bible, I expect this Study to be one that gets continuously added to.

Please also see the notes for 1Corinthians 15:20-23 which explain why Christ had to be a literal physical man. As a literal physical man, Christ shows us how to live spiritually and how to spiritually mature while we live in this flesh. True Biblical antichrists are opposed (anti) to the ministry of Christ in the lives of believers. They claim that people can receive the blessings from God which the Bible says come only after we allow Christ to bring spiritual maturity into our life.

Before we go further into this doctrine on antichrists, we need to consider the additional information available, about our current sentence, from the context and from the sentence structure. This is because one of the main ways that true Biblical antichrists lead people into doctrinal error is by taking Bible verses out of context.

This sentence starts a sub-section which goes through C2-S34 in which John warns us against false teachers, and antichrists, and tells us that the main way to identify them is to use the anointing which ye have received of him. John also identifies this as an unction from the Holy One. (I checked several dictionaries and all of them agree that unction means a special anointing.) Any time that the Bible tells us about someone being anointed it makes it clear that such anointing is to give the person an official position of service before God. Basically, in the context, John is telling us that so long as we are doing all that we can to serve God where He put us, we will be able to identify true Biblical antichrists and avoid their doctrinal error.

Think about it folks. Imagine that you are serving and suffering (2Timothy 3:12), but are truly seeing God work through your life, and someone comes along and teaches that people can get the same rewards as you while they not only do not serve nor do they suffer but they spend their lives pursuing sin. Then you examine the lives of these people and they have no evidence of God working through their life like you have. Someone who is not serving and suffering, and not being blessed and not understanding the reason for those blessings, might be led into error and believe the lie that their lack of blessings is for some reason other than their lack of serving and suffering. However, anyone who has truly received the blessings from serving and suffering will not be fooled. The God-given anointing that they received because of their serving and suffering, and that was given so that they could continue to serve and suffer, is what will keep them from being led into doctrinal error by a true Biblical antichrist. That is the main message of these sentences in this sub-section.

Our next sentence says They went out from us and continues with more details along this line. Basically, people who teach doctrinal error leave the church which is teaching truth and go start their own cult because a true church will not let them teach their doctrinal error within the true church. Look at all of these cults, and so-called 'Christian religions' which reject the literal interpretation of the Bible. In every case we have something started by a person who went out from a church which was preaching truth which they personally rejected. In each case the person starting the false religion lifted themselves up in pride and claimed the right and ability to 'correct' the written word of God. God leaves them for a test. Not only are we to avoid joining or fellowshipping with these people, but we are to reject all of their doctrinal error. Doctrinal error that is now taught by 'Good Godly fundamental KJV only Baptist preachers' comes from these false religions. Their error was accepted because God's people did not trust their Bible, pray and search for the truth with the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead, they made the error of searching in their own fleshly abilities and accepting doctrinal error when their own fleshly abilities failed. Just like Peter taught doctrinal error (Galatians 2) which he received from other preachers, so also do many of God's preachers do today.

Our second next sentence (C2-S25) tells us that But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. The but, which starts the sentence, continues the subject from the prior sentence which warned us about people who teach doctrinal error. Thus, that sentence is telling us how to avoid that doctrinal error.

The next sentence (C2-S26) tells us ye know the truth. That knowledge is from out unction which we were just told about. John continues with no lie is of the truth. When we find a religious leader telling lies we are to get away from him and reject his doctrine.

The next sentence (C2-S27) tells us Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? Here we have a simple test. Anyone who 'keeps on keeping on going against' what the Bible / Jesus (John 1:1, 12) literally says denieth that Jesus is the Christ. As the Christ Jesus teaches us how to deal with God spiritually and these false teachers and antichrists all try to replace Him in that area of people's lives. {Please also see the Study called Significant Gospel Events and do a search for the word Christ for links to places in all of the Bible where we are told about Christ.}

The next sentence (C2-S28) literally tells us He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. This was explained in the note above for the prior sentence and is explained in more detail in the note for this sentence.

The next sentence (C2-S29) tells us that people who 'keep on keeping on denying' the Son do not have the Father and the blessings which come from Him. It then tells us the opposite about people who acknowledgeth the Son. Thus, once more, we see John telling us how to separate people who believe the truth from people who follow doctrinal error.

The next sentence (C2-S30) tells us to stick to fundamental doctrine and not chase 'something new'.

The next sentence (C2-S31) tells us that our ongoing personal relationship depends upon our sticking to fundamental doctrine.

The next sentence (C2-S32) tells us that our promise of eternal life is dependent upon our sticking to fundamental doctrine. No, we will not lose our eternal life, if we truly have it, but our followers will not receive eternal life.

The next sentence (C2-S33) warns us that these false teachers and antichrists seduce you.

The last sentence of this sub-section (C2-S34) returns to our anointing which ye have received of him and tells us that it is our main teacher and that it teaches us that ye shall abide in him.

After taking a brief look at all of the sentence within this sub-section, I hope that the reader can see how all of these sentences are related and are giving us a detailed warning against false teachers and antichrists. Hopefully, the reader can also see how our current sentence, which introduces the antichrists, is just the start of several related sentences and that all of them need to be considered together in order to keep things in context and in order to understand all that John is telling us, in this subsection, about false teachers and antichrists.

Within the context of this sentence, John is talking about how our personal experience with the Father lets us know how He acts. Through that personal experience even newly saved people will know that the only way the Father will allow antichrists to run around deceiving people is if it is the last time and God is not going to try any other method to reveal Himself or His truth. God's plan of salvation (personal relationship with Him through faith) has always been the same. However, different 'dispensations' have resulted in God revealing Himself different ways and requiring men to express their faith in different ways. The last 'dispensation' (last times) is the time of the Church with our personal relationship to God through Christ and with antichrists telling lies of devils. Saved people can know that it is the last times through their personal relationship with Christ and His pointing out the current existence of antichrists.

with this context in mind, we can not return to the doctrine of antichrists.

John tells us about antichrist 4 times (1John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2John 1:7). Please see the notes for 1John 2:22 and 2John 1:7 the Lord Jesus Christ Study for notes about antichrist. Most people think about the beast of Revelation when they think about antichrist but that isn't what John tells us. In our verse John tells us even now are there many antichrists. In 2John 1:7 he says there are many deceivers and tells us that these deceiver are an antichrist. You tell these things to most saved people and they dismiss them because these things don't match the doctrine that they have been taught. The fact is that the doctrine of devils has entered the doctrine of most religions and most churches because people refused to make the effort required to go from hearing and seeing to having something manifested to them.

John says that They went out from us...that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. At the time of John, true believers took the time and effort to have God's truth manifested to them. However, believers of today refuse to put forth the effort and, as a result, their doctrine has snuck back into the doctrine of most churches and believers. As noted in the Lord Jesus Christ Study for 1John 2:22 : the prefix 'anti' is used for 'against' or for 'alternate'. So an antichrist is anyone that opposes the role of Christ in the lives of saved people or that provides an alternate for the role of Christ in the lives of saved people. I have told many nationally known Baptist preachers where the doctrine that they teach is 'anti' to what the Bible teaches and directed them to the Lord Jesus Christ Study which proves that I took the time and effort to have what the Bible truly says manifested to me. They have refused to put forth the effort to search the Bible themselves, they refused to read what I found, they refused to Prove me wrong, but like the Pharisees that crucified our Lord, they insisted that the religious doctrine that they were taught had to be right. They, like most so-called 'Christians' today heard and saw the Word of life but did not have it manifested to them. As noted for 1John 1:1-5 above, God condemns such laziness. As we see here for 1John 2:18-19, true believers not only hear but they put in the effort to have God's truth manifested to them and, as a result, they drive off antichrist instead of letting their children be deceived by the antichrists.

The prefix anti comes from the Greek language and means: 'alternative or opposed'.

The word antichrist is defined as: 'One who promises that the blessings only received from Christ can be received another way. He is opposed to the ministry of Christ and claims to teach an alternate way to receive the blessings from Christ'.

Please see the Study called False things according to the Bible about the word antichrist.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'Little. Joh 21:5 it is. 2Ti 3:1; Heb 1:2; 1Pe 1:5,20; 2Pe 3:3; Jude 1:18 ye have. 1Jo 4:3; Mt 24:5,11,24; Mr 13:6,21-22; Ac 20:29-30; 2Th 2:3-12; 1Ti 4:1-3; 2Ti 3:1-6; 4:3-4; 2Pe 2:1 antichrist. 1Jo 2:22; 4:3; 2Jo 1:7 whereby. 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 3:1 General references. exp: Mt 24:11'.

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C2-S24 (Verse 19) God separates people according to their doctrine.

Equivalent Section: the antichrists were not true Christians.

Step One: Why they left.

They went out from us,
but they were not of us;.

Step Two: True Christians stay and get their doctrine corrected.

for if they had been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us:.

Equivalent Section: Why God makes them leave.

but they went out,
that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us..

in this sentence John says that these antichrists went out from us, which lets us know that they were saved preachers. Then John says but they were not of us because their doctrine did not match what came from God. They were the source of the worldly doctrine that John is writing his epistle to warn us against. (Please see the note above for further explanation of this doctrinal difference.) When John says that they were not of us, he is saying that these people did not 'belong to' the true church which teaches God's doctrine. The of means 'belongs to'. Many people claim to be a man of God but they point you to a religion or a religious leader as the source of their doctrine instead of pointing you back to the Bible (word of God). Also, when they are shown that their doctrine contradicts the word of God they start making excuses and fancy explanations instead of letting the word of God correct them. Such people prove that they are not really a man of God. Peter was a true man of God and the evidence is that after Paul corrected him (Galatians 2:11) Peter changed his doctrine (2Peter 3:15). Peter is our example of someone proving that they are a true man of God. These antichrists refused to be corrected by the word of God, which is why John says that they were not of us.

So, in the First Step of our First Equivalent Section we see that these antichrists, and their followers, left the fellowship of people who preached doctrinal truth. In the Second Step John tells us the reason (for) that they left when he says if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us:. People leaving the church is not always a bad thing. Also, when someone refuses to be corrected from the word of God and insists upon continuing with false doctrine we can know that they are believing something from an antichrist. This does not make them lost but if they continue then they will become what Peter calls ungodly and cursed children (in 1Peter and 2Peter).

In the Second Step John tells us why they left. If they had really been of God's saints then they would no doubt have continued with us. It's a simple test: what's more important to a person: their pride or being righteous?

In the Second Equivalent Section John gives us another perspective on why they left. God made them leave so that He could make it manifest that they were not all of us. God does this by removing His blessings like He did in the Old Testament when His people kept worshipping idols after repeated warnings. People concentrate on the physical idol and ignore the belief system and lifestyle that went with it. They then embrace the belief system and lifestyle while believing that God won't punish because they have left the physical idol. This is part of the error taught by antichrists. Later in this epistle John is going to tell us that these antichrists deny that Jesus came in the flesh (4:2-3). This is because one of the reasons that Jesus came in the flesh is to show us how to live in the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. Since they teach another way to live in the flesh, they want to deny all sources of opposing doctrine.

God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). Since God is going to bring punishment upon these people and all who follow them, He causes them to leave His true followers so that His true followers don't get caught in the judgment. John was not killed when God sent the Roman Army in to destroy Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Church. It can be very dangerous keeping fellowship with people that embrace doctrinal error. These people refused to keep the fellowship that John describes in this epistle and God separated them then brought destruction upon them.

Please see the note for Romans 14:1 which has links to every verse in the Bible which uses a form of the word doubt along with the definition from Webster's 1828 .

Please see the note for Philippians 1:25-26 about the word continue. The functional definition for this word is: 'To remain in a state, or place; to abide for any time indefinitely'. Please also see the note for James 1:25 about the word continueth. The functional definition for this word is: 'A lifestyle of continuing'. The difference being that we can continue something once but later cease it while if we continueth the same thing then we never cease it. Please also see the notes for 1Corinthians 7:5 about the word incontinent.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'went out. De 13:13; Ps 41:9; Mt 13:20-21; Mr 4:5-6,16-17; Lu 8:13; Joh 15:2; Ac 15:24; 20:30; 2Pe 2:20-21; Jude 1:19 for. Job 17:9; Ps 37:28; 125:1-2; Jer 32:38-40; Mt 24:24; Mr 13:22; Joh 4:14; 6:37-39; 10:28-30; 2Ti 2:10,19; 1Pe 1:2-5; Jude 1:1 exp: Song 1:7; Mt 7:25. They might. Ro 9:6; 11:5-6; 1Co 11:19; 2Ti 3:9; Heb 10:39 General references. exp: Mt 25:2; Joh 10:5; 1Ti 5:15'.

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C2-S25 (Verse 20)

But ye have an unction from the Holy One,
and ye know all things..

All Bible dictionaries call unction 'an anointing' although one adds that it is 'an anointing with an unguent' and gives the an example of the Catholic rite called 'Extreme unction' where they put 'sacred oil' on someone just before they die to assure that (according to Roman Catholic rules) they have the Holy Spirit when they die. Of course the Roman Catholics believe in losing salvation and getting it only through their ceremonies. The point being that we have several hundred years of practice to show us that this definition has merit. However, while anoint appears 151 times (in various forms) within the Bible, unction only appears once. Therefore, the difference appears to be what only one dictionary remembered, that this anointment was with 'an unguent'. An 'unguent' provides healing in addition to the other purposes of an anointing. Further, an 'unguent' uses natural properties and may take longer to work than a prescription, but it often works as well or better than the prescription without the bad side-effects of a prescription. John here is telling us that we have a 'healing anointment' from the Holy One.

The Holy One is our Saviour (2Kings 19:22; Job 6:10; Psalms 16:10; 71:22; 78:41; 89:18; Isaiah 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:17, 20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19, 23; 30:11, 12, 15; 31:1; 37:23; 40:25; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14, 15; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 60:9, 14; Jeremiah 50:29; 51:5; Ezekiel 39:7; Hosea 11:9; Habakkuk 1:12; 3:3; Mark 1:24; Luke 4:35; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 13:35; 1John 2:20). The 'healing anointment' from our Saviour is not just the Holy Spirit, which we cannot lose, but it is our relationship with Christ which heals our sinful nature. John has just warned the reader about many antichrists that are already in the world. Following that warning, he starts this sentence with But, which connects this sentence to the prior while going in a different direction. The connection is Christ while the difference in direction is erroneous doctrine from many antichrists versus true doctrine from Christ.

Here is a very simple test. Does the doctrine you are following give spiritual healing or not? Is it making you more righteous in your mind, will and emotions or does it allow sin in one or more of those areas and provide excuses?

The Holy One is our personal Saviour. The unction is His healing anointment that heals our spiritual senses and allows us to know all things as we experience His making spiritual truths real in our personal lives.

Please see the notes for Romans C7S16; 1Corinthians C3S17; Philippians 1:3-7 and Colossians C1S6 about the word holy. The functional definition is: 'Properly, whole, entire or perfect, in a moral sense. Hence, pure in heart, temper or dispositions; free from sin and sinful affections. Applied to the Supreme Being, holy signifies perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character; and man is more or less holy, as his heart is more or less sanctified, or purified from evil dispositions'. Please see the Word Study on Spirit for links to every place in the Bible where we find the phrase Holy Ghost.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'ye have. 1Jo 2:27; 4:13; Ps 23:5; 45:7; 92:10; Isa 61:1; Lu 4:18; Ac 10:38; 2Co 1:21-22; Heb 1:9 the Holy. Ps 16:10; 71:22; Isa 43:3; Mr 1:24; Lu 4:34; Ac 3:14; Re 3:7; 4:8 and ye. Pr 28:5; Joh 10:4-5; 14:26; 16:13; 1Co 2:15; Heb 8:11 exp: 1Jo 2:27. General references. exp: Ex 30:26; Le 14:15; Pr 9:9; 28:5; Isa 32:3'.

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C2-S26 (Verse 21)

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth,
but because ye know it,
and that no lie is of the truth..

Please see the note for 1John 2:21 within the Study on truth. It has a sizable note about this sentence and how truth fits within the context of this sentence and how we can know certain things because that knowledge is based upon the Biblical truth.

This sentence has a double-negative, which confuses a lot of people. Sometimes it is not enough to say 'Here's why I'm doing this'. That leaves the possibility of someone saying 'He also had this other reason but was too polite to say it'. Therefore, John did not just say his true motivation but eliminated all consideration of false motivations. Since John is trying to eliminate the influence of people who sneak in false doctrine, he is trying to eliminate any possibility of them doing that.

John is dealing with people who were wondering if he thought that they didn't know the truth. With his double-negative he is assuring them that that reason is not his motivation. He tells us ye know it. That is: each and every one of us have personally experienced the truth, which is personified in Jesus Christ. Since it is not a lack of knowledge and not a lack of experience then the implied motivation, of John's epistle, is a lack of performance.

All sin is addictive. All addicts end up stopping their sin or finding an 'enabler' who pays the consequence of their sin and enables them to keep on sinning. However, eventually the cost gets too high and the enabler can't pay the price. Often, when that happens, the person doing the sin can't pay the price and ends up dead or in jail for life or something like that. That's why Paul told us, in 1Corinthians, to kick some sinners out of the church and pray for Satan to destroy their body in the hope that they will turn from their sin before they end up dead.

The reason that someone personally knows the truth and disobeys it is that they are hoping on a lie. Look at the next sentence and the things that John says after that. When someone lives a life that is not controlled by the truth of the Bible (no lie is of the truth) and they deny that Jesus ('the word of God in human flesh') is the Christ ('the one Who brings us sanctification'), then they are antichrist (2:22). Continuing to support such a person will lead the child of God into doctrinal error and, eventually, into destruction. It also (often) leads to this child of God to cause other loved and saved people to also go into destruction. As Paul taught the Corinthians, the most loving thing to do is to cut out this type of cancer in order to save the whole body

Please see the note for Romans C1S10 about the word because. The functional definition is: 'provides a effect where the effect and effect are both in the past'.

Please see the note for Galatians C1-S15 about the word liar. The functional definition is: 'an intentional violation of the truth. Lies are emphatically condemned in Scripture'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'because ye know not. Pr 1:5; 9:8-9; Ro 15:14-15; 2Pe 1:12 General references. exp: Pr 9:9; Isa 32:3; Joh 10:5'.

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C2-S27 (Verse 22) Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ?

Please see the notes for this verse that are within the Lord Jesus Christ Study and under Jesus Christ and also the note for the next sentence which is under Son. They are sizable notes that not only deals with this sentence but also deals with the next two sentences. Simply put, when someone denies that Jesus (the word of God personified) is the Christ (is the Person who teaches us how to mature spiritually and to receive sanctification after our initial profession), then they are a liar and following the ways of the father of lies (Satan).

Please see the note for Galatians C1-S15 about the word liar. The functional definition is: 'an intentional violation of the truth. Lies are emphatically condemned in Scripture'.

Please see the note for 2Timothy 2:11-13 about the word deny / denial. The functional definition is: 'To contradict; to gainsay; to declare a statement or position not to be true'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'Who. 1Jo 2:4; 1:6; 4:20; Joh 8:44; Re 3:9 he that. 1Jo 2:23; 4:3; 1Co 12:2-3; 2Jo 1:7; Jude 1:4'.

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C2-S28 (Verse 22)

He is antichrist,
that denieth the Father and the Son..

Please note that our sentence says that these people denieth the Father and the Son. They 'keep on keeping on denying' even after God sends people to correct their doctrinal error. Please also notice the and in our sentence. Cults, like 'Seventh Day Adventist' and 'Jehovah Witnesses' denieth the Father and the Son. They claim to lift up the Father but they deny the witness from the Father, in many places of the Bible including the Old Testament (Psalms 110:1; Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42; Acts 2:34), that the Son is also God. Thus, we see that they not only denieth the Son, but that they also denieth the Father.

Please see the notes for this verse that are within the Lord Jesus Christ Study and under Jesus Christ and under Son.

Please see the Study called False things according to the Bible about the word antichrist.

Please see the note for 2Timothy 2:11-13 about the word deny / denial. The functional definition is: 'To contradict; to gainsay; to declare a statement or position not to be true'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'He is. 1Jo 2:18'.

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C2-S29 (Verse 23) How to know if you have a relationship with God the Father.

Equivalent Section: Who does not have the Father.

Whosoever denieth the Son,
the same hath not the Father:.

Equivalent Section: Who has the Father.

(But) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also..

This sentence was pretty well covered in earlier notes. There are several cults which emphasize part of the Mosaic Law, such as the sabbath, in order to teach doctrinal error. The epistle of Hebrews makes it very clear that God's Son was crucified and rose from the dead to satisfy the requirements of the Mosaic Law and to bring in the New Testament which replaced the religious part of the Mosaic law. These cults, which demand that people still keep any part of the religious part of the Mosaic law, such as the sabbath, denieth the Son. They 'keeps on keeping on denying' the sacrifice of God's Son. They 'keeps on keeping on denying' the power and authority of God's Son. By doing this, our sentence says that they hath not the Father even while they claim that their religion is the right way to worship the Father.

Our Second Equivalent Section starts with the word but, following the colon, which makes it the polar opposite of the First Equivalent Section. This should be obvious when we compare the phrase hath not the Father to the phrase hath the Father. (Please note that the word hath means they 'keeps on keeping on having'.) this is our ongoing personal relationship and our assurance of eternal security.) the conditional requirement of the Second Equivalent Section is: he...acknowledgeth the Son. (The th in the word acknowledgeth means that this person 'keeps on keeping on acknowledging God's Son'.) this must be done in order to 'keeps on keeping on having the Father also', which means that we must keep doing this in order to 'keep on keeping on having (the blessings from) the Father'. This means that in order to keep getting the blessings from the Father, we must keep on admitting God the Son's payment for our sins and His right to tell us what to do and His right to change our character to be like the Father and His right, as God and our personal Saviour, to do anything that He wants with us.

Please see the note for this sentence within the Lord Jesus Christ Study. Please also see the notes for the prior verse that are within the Lord Jesus Christ Study and under Jesus Christ and under Son.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians 16:18 for links to every verse in the Bible which uses any form of the word acknowledge. The functional definition is: ' to own, avow or admit to be true, by a declaration of assent'. The th in the word acknowledgeth means that this person 'keeps on keeping on acknowledging God's Son'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'denieth. 1Jo 2:22; 4:15; Mt 11:27; Lu 10:22; Joh 5:23; 8:19; 10:30; 14:9-10; 15:23-24; 2Jo 1:9-11 General references. exp: Joh 15:23'.

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C2-S30 (Verse 24)

Let that therefore abide in you,
which ye have heard from the beginning..

This sentence tells us the same doctrine as James 1:25 (But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.) How many people have no idea what was preached by the time they are served Sunday lunch? How many people claim to be saved for years but don't know basic doctrines? they have disobeyed this command.

in this sentence John uses the verb abide. In the next sentence he says shall remain. These two mean the same thing and by saying it twice we have a basis for doctrine. With these two sentences John is telling us two different things about this verb abide. In our current sentence we are told what should abide and in the next sentence we are told the result if we allow that which ye have heard from the beginning to abide. (Notice that the phrase from the beginning is used in both sentences.)

In our current sentence John uses the phrase which ye have heard from the beginning. What John and the other apostles put into writing is what they preached from the beginning of the church. in this epistle, John is now dealing with antichrists who have entered in as wolves (Matthew 7:15; Matthew 10:16; Luke 10:3; Acts 20:29). They are preaching another (anti of antichrist) way of sanctification. If we accept this other way we are disobeying the command in this sentence to allow the original message of the church to abide in you. In addition, there will be some who claim that such commands 'used to be valid but now we have a better way', or some other similar nonsense.

Simply put: our sentence tells us to not leave the basic truths which led to our personal salvation such as 'trust and obey God' without trying to correct the commandments from God.

This sentence starts with Let. That is the verb that God used in creation and when we see this verb God is giving us a command that has the power of the laws of nature behind it. So, tell such a person to step off the side of a 30 story building with no aids and nothing to stop them before the cement at the bottom of the building. Right after they use that method to prove that they have set aside the Law of Gravity you can consider (but not do) setting aside some command from God that starts with Let.

Please also see the note for this verse (next sentence) within the Lord Jesus Christ Study.

Please see the note for Romans intro about the word therefore. The functional definition is: 'what follows the therefore is a future result that is based upon what came before the therefore and only seen there and only seen there'.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C7S9 about the word abide. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely'.

Please see the note for John 1:1 about the word beginning. The functional definition for this word is: 'First entering upon; commencing; giving rise or original; taking rise or origin'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'abide. Ps 119:11; Pr 23:23; Lu 9:44; Joh 15:7; Col 3:16; Heb 2:1; 3:14; 2Jo 1:2; 3Jo 1:3; Re 3:3,11 exp: Joh 15:4. which. 1Jo 2:7; Lu 1:2; Joh 8:25; Php 4:15; 2Jo 1:5-6'.

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C2-S31 (Verse 24)

If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you,
ye also shall continue in the Son,
and in the Father..

Please see the note above and the note for this verse within the Lord Jesus Christ Study. As mentioned in the note above, that sentence and this sentence are in the same verse. In addition, the use of abide (in that sentence), and the use of remain in (in this sentence) form the basis for a doctrinal statement.

Notice that this sentence starts with If. As has been explained elsewhere, the Bible uses an 'exclusive if' (not an 'inclusive if'). That means that if you don't meet the condition of the If, you don't get the promise. If we follow an antichrist away from God's way of sanctification (a personal relationship in Him) then we will not continue in the Son, and in the Father. However, if we let the truth from the Bible, which we originally believed in order to be saved, remain in us then we will continue in the Son, and in the Father and we will become sons of God (John 1:12)

Please see the note for John 1:1 about the word beginning. The functional definition for this word is: 'First entering upon; commencing; giving rise or original; taking rise or origin'.

Please see the note for Hebrews 4:6-7 about the word remain. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to rest or abide in a place for a time indefinite'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'ye also. 1Jo 1:3,7; 4:13,16; Joh 14:23; 15:9-10; 17:21-24'.

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C2-S32 (Verse 25)

And this is the promise that he hath promised us,
even eternal life..

This sentence starts with And which means it is added unto the prior sentences. There we see John gives us a conditional statement when he says If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son. Therefore, the promise of this sentence is added to the result of the prior sentence. That means that people do not receive the promise of this sentence unless they fulfill God's requirement found in the prior sentence.

This sentence promises us eternal life, which is God's life in us. Eternal life does not start and stop. It starts and never stops. We can get mad at our parents but they never stop being our parents. Likewise, we can stop maintaining our personal relationship with God, but we can never lose eternal life, once we truly receive it. The problem is that many people who claim to have eternal life never truly received it from God. This is because they believed a religious lie that God has to give them 'eternal life ' if the person does what the religion says when God says that we have to do what he wrote in His Bible (John 3; 1Peter 1:22-23). This restriction also matches the context of this sentence, which specifies God's requirement to receive this promise.

Please see the notes for Romans C4S15; Galatians C3-S15; 1Timothy 4:8 and Titus 1:2 about the word promise. The functional definition is:' In a general sense, a declaration, written or verbal, made by one person to another, which binds the person who makes it, either in honor, conscience or law, to do or forbear a certain act specified; a declaration which gives to the person to whom it is made, a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of the act'. Please see the section called Promises in the Doctrinal Study called Significant New Testament Events. Please also see the Doctrinal Study called Significant New Testament Events for links to promises made in the word of God ourside of the Gospels. Please also see Doctrinal Studies called Significant Gospel Events and Significant New Testament Events for links to promises given for the 'Church Age'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'General references. 1Jo 1:2; 5:11-13,20; Da 12:2; Lu 18:30; Joh 5:39; 6:27,47,54,68; 10:28; 12:50; 17:2-3; Ro 2:7; 5:21; 6:23; Ga 6:8; 1Ti 1:16; 6:12,19; Tit 1:2; 3:7; Jude 1:21'.

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C2-S33 (Verse 26) These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

C2-S23 starts a sub-section which goes through C2-S34 and teaches about false teachers and antichrists. The note for C2-S23 has a small note about each sentence within this sub-section and shows how the context is critical to understand all that John is telling us, in this subsection, about false teachers and antichrists. Therefore, all of these sentences and their related notes need to be considered together. At a minimum, the part of the note for C2-S23, which explains the context, should be read. All of the sentences and notes from there through here need to be considered together as they all deal with them that seduce you. Those people are the antichrists that are in the world today and in our churches and which seduce and corrupt us because religious darkness hath blinded (our) eyes by convincing us that the only antichrist we need to worry about is the beast of Revelation. God had John write this warning and we will suffer the consequence if we ignore God's warning.

When there is a seduction, the person being seduced often starts out skeptical. However, they are won over through dishonest methods. One of the most basic method is to feed the person's pride. They make you feel so smart and then when they run something past you that you don't completely understand, your pride prevents you from complaining. Or, they show you all the details of their argument and get you so involved in those details that you fail to notice that there is a major part that is never addressed. One simple example the number of people who 'go to the Greek'. Being able to tell people 'The Greek says..' definitely feeds people's pride. Now, do a survey of all of your Bible teachers and preachers. Ask them how much education and experience they have in the Greek of the Bible. (It's not the same as modern Greek.) Now, find one or more professional person who has a reputation and several years experience in translating legal documents from one or language to another language. Show them the credentials of all of your teachers and preachers, while hiding the actual names, and ask them how many they or their firm would hire to do translation of legal documents. Keep in mind that God's Law is far more important than any document of man's law.

If you do this simple test you should find that not one of these self-proclaimed 'Greek experts' has any where near enough credentials to be considered for even an entry level position translating legal documents from one language to another. Yes, God does use other tongues, but most of these self-proclaimed 'Greek experts' don't know where their Bible tells us how God uses other tongues, much less how God tells us to use them and what restrictions God places upon them. This is just one example of how Godly people have been seduced into using methods of antichrists and ended up supporting doctrinal error. We will each stand before God in judgment. If God won't agree that you are as qualified (if not more so) as the people who gave us our KJV-1611, you should be very careful about claiming to be qualified in using 'the Greek'. This is especially true if you don't know how God uses other tongues, and how God tells us to use them and what restrictions God places upon them.

That said, the main warning of this sentence is that false teachers and antichrists seduce God's people into accepting doctrinal error. Something that is seductive is extremely attractive especially to our flesh. However, Galatians 5:16-17 and James 4:5 both warn us against accepting this type of seduction.

Please see the note for Romans 1:1 about the word concern. The functional definition is: 'Pertaining to; regarding; having relation to'.

Please see the note for 1Timothy 4:1 about the word seduce. The functional definition is: 'To draw aside or entice from the path of rectitude and duty in any manner, by flattery, promises, bribes or otherwise; to tempt and lead to iniquity; to corrupt; to deprave'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'concerning. 1Jo 3:7; Pr 12:26; Eze 13:10; Mr 13:22; Ac 20:29-30; 2Co 11:13-15; Col 2:8,18; 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 3:13; 2Pe 2:1-3; 2Jo 1:7 General references. exp: Mt 24:11'.

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C2-S34 (Verse 27) Blessings if we retain our anointing.

Equivalent Section: Our anointing will teach us God's Truth.

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you:.

Equivalent Section: We are to stay in our true anointing.

but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is Truth,
and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you,
ye shall abide in him..

This anointing, which our sentence speaks about, is the unction of 2:20 which is our relationship that we have in Christ. All of the sentences within this sub-section are giving us details about this anointing and need to be understood in order to truly understand what John is talking about here. Our sentence says that the anointing...is truth. Where other places in the Bible call the Son of God Truth, our sentence says the same for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit keep us conne3cted to God and makes our ongoing relationship possible.

Be warned: preachers take the sentences of this sub-section out of context and, as our prior sentence warned, seduce God's people into believing doctrinal error about them.

This sentence starts with But which directly connects it to the prior while going in a different direction. In addition, the Second Equivalent Section also starts with the word but following the colon. We have ye need not that any man teach you in opposition to Truth...hath taught you within the sentence. However, we also have both Equivalent Sections giving us an opposition to them that seduce you which was in the prior sentence. That is: ye need not that any man teach you is in opposition to them that seduce you because the seducers claim that you can only learn from them. In addition, the Truth...hath taught you is in opposition to them that seduce you because the seducers oppose God's truth.

In the prior sentence John was talking about what he had written, in this epistle, which is part of the Bible, and was wrote to warn us about antichrists. John wrote to tell us how to the difference between doctrine that builds our relationship with Christ and doctrine that destroys our relationship with Christ. This sentence is telling of another source which teaches us to build our relationship with Christ. Thus, this sentence is related in what is taught while going a different direction in that it presents a different source of that same truth. As explained in the Word Study on Truth, our sentence tells us that this truth is the Holy Spirit, Who maintains our relationship to God.

In our current sentence we have a colon which divides the sentence into two Equivalent Sections. The similarity of the two Sections is abideth in you while the difference is that the First Section presents the abide from our perspective while the Second Section presents abide from His perspective. He (the Holy Spirit) is truth and He is no lie and He hath taught us and He commands us to abide in him so that He can teach us all things. Meanwhile, we received the anointing and we personally (ye) need not that any man teach you because our anointing (Holy Spirit), Who is God and not man, teaches us. However, this part of the sentence adds in the requirement that we let him abideth in you because He cannot teach us when we do not allow Him to abideth in you.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians C1S15 about the word anoint. The functional definition is: 'To pour oil upon; to smear or rub over with oil or unctuous substances. Used symbolically to represent being covered by God's Holy Ghost'.

Please see the notes for Romans C14S1; 1Corinthians C15S1 and Colossians 2:6-7 about the word receive. The functional definition is: 'To take, as a thing offered or sent; to accept'. In addition, please see the note for Matthew 10:41, which explains that in order to truly receive a person, we must receive their character as our own.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C7S9 about the word abide. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely'. The th in the word abideth means that the Holy Spirit 'keeps on keeping on dwelling and resting and remaining in you'.

Please see the note for Philippians 4:19 about the word need. The functional definition is: 'Want; occasion for something; necessity; a state that requires supply or relief. It sometimes expresses urgent want; pressing exigency'. Please also see the note for Romans C13S8 about the phrase must needs.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C12S27 about the word teach. The functional definition is: 'To instruct; to inform; to communicate to another the knowledge of that of which he was before ignorant'. Please also see the note for John 3:2 about the word teacher. Please also see the Study called False things According to the Bible about 'false teachers'. The th in the word teacheth means that the Holy Spirit 'keeps on keeping on instructing us'. In addition, the word taught is the past-tense form of the word teach. Our sentence tells us that the Holy Spirit does not change what He teaches. Therefore, anyone who changes the fundamental message of what he teaches is not of God and not being used by God's Holy Spirit.

Please see the note for Galatians C1-S15 about the word liar. The functional definition is: 'an intentional violation of the truth. Lies are emphatically condemned in Scripture'.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'the anointing. 1Jo 2:20; 3:24; Joh 4:14; 1Pe 1:23; 2Jo 1:2 exp: Le 8:30. and ye. 1Jo 2:20-21; Jer 31:33-34; Joh 14:26; 16:13; Heb 8:10-11 but. 1Co 2:13; Eph 4:21; 1Th 2:13; 1Ti 2:7; 2Pe 1:16-17 exp: Joh 14:17. ye shall. 1Jo 2:28; Joh 8:31-32; 15:4-7; Col 2:6 him. or, it. exp: Ps 25:12. General references. exp: Ex 29:7; 30:26; Pr 28:5; Eph 4:20'.

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C2-S35 (Verse 28)

First Step: What to do based upon prior instruction from John.

And now,
little children,
abide in him;.

Second Step: What we will receive if we do the First Step.

that,
when he shall appear,
we may have confidence,
and not be ashamed before him at his coming..

John's use of the phrase abide in him can be confusing. In the prior sentence John was telling us to abide in God's Holy Spirit. in this sentence John is telling us to abide in Jesus Christ the righteous, Who is the main member of the Trinity which this chapter is telling us about. John is summing up the message of this chapter in this sentence and the next sentence, which is why John switches which member of the Trinity that he is writing about. Please note that our sentence says when he shall appear...at his coming. This can not be the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is the Son of God and John, within our current sentence, is reminding us that we will face Him in judgment.

Obviously, those saved people who do not abide in him will be ashamed before him at his coming and will not have confidence. In fact, as seen elsewhere, those saved people who do not abide in him can lose their 'assurance of salvation ' even though they cannot lose their actual salvation.

2Timothy 2:15 tells us Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly Dividing the word of truth. Notice that Paul says that we can be ashamed, just like John does. Please also notice that Paul says that if we don't study (requires more work them read), then God will make us ashamed. The word ashamed occurs 26 times in the New Testament and the context of most of those verses makes it clear that the person who refuses to put out the required effort ends up ashamed.

In addition, to putting in the required effort, it has to be done the right way. So, for example, when Paul told Timothy Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God (2Timothy 1:8). Timothy could have put a lot of effort into pretending that he didn't know Paul and avoid embarrassment that way, but such effort would be wrong. Likewise, when our verse says to abide, we need to put in the required amount of effort to avoid being ashamed, but that effort has to be directed the way that God tells us to direct it. Notice that our sentence says to abide in him. Please see the Study called Relational Prepositions in order to know where the Bible gives us instructions on how to be in him.

It will help our understanding if we look at the phrases of our sentence.

And now: Our sentence starts with the phrase And now. The word now means: 'after you understand what has been said prior to the word now'. The word and adds the instruction of these last two sentences to what John has wrote prior to this.

little children: John directs his instruction at little children because the more spiritually mature categories of young men and fathers do not need this instruction as they have already personally learned it as part of their personal spiritual maturing. Thus, no matter what age, position or claimed maturity that a person has, if they do not abide in him then they are still spiritual little children.

abide in him: As already mentioned, the phrase abide in him is telling us to abide in Jesus Christ the righteous. The word and, in the first phrase of this sentence, adds this command, of abide, to the command in the prior sentence to abide. The word and gives us an addition, these two commands to abide can not be the same command. Thus, we see another reason why these two commands to abide are different and why the command in this sentence is telling us to abide in Jesus Christ the righteous.

that: this word tells us that what follows it is the reason why we should obey the command which precedes this word.

when he shall appear: this is a reference to the 'Rapture' and the judgment seat of Christ (Romans C14S16; 2Corinthians 5:10) which follows it. Earlier in this note we dealt with saved people being ashamed and, in spite of what the Biblical antichrists teach, the Second Step of this sentence, as well as many other places in the Bible, teach that saved people will be ashamed as a result of the judgment seat of Christ. Also, many saved people in Heaven will have tears that will not be wiped away until more than 1,000-yearss have passed. John puts these last three phrases in his summary of the chapter which tells us about antichrists so that no saved person can claim that they had no warning.

we may have confidence: this is the potential result for saved people when they face the judgment seat of Christ. However, they must fulfil the condition (that) of abide in him.

and not be ashamed before him at his coming: this will be the result of all saved people who refuse (and not be) to abide in him.

In our sentence we see two Steps and the First Step must be done before we can do the Second Step. We must abide in him, in this current present world, before we can not be ashamed before him at his coming.

Please see the note for Romans 10:11 for references where the Bible tells us that our belief / faith makes us not ashamed.

Please see the note for 1Corinthians C7S9 about the word abide. The functional definition is: 'To continue; to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely'.

Please see the note for 2Corinthians 5:10 about the word appear. The functional definition is: 'To come or be in sight; to be in view; to be visible'.

Please see the note for Philippians 1:3-7 about the word confident. The functional definition for this word is: 'Having full belief; trusting; relying; fully assured. This is how the saved are to trust God'.

Please also see the note for Hebrews 3:6 about the word confidence. The functional definition for this word is: 'A trusting, or reliance; an assurance of mind or firm belief in the integrity, stability or veracity of another, or in the truth and reality of a fact'. This word is also found in this Bible book in: 1John 3:21 a nd 1John 5:14.

Please see the notes for Romans C5S2 about the word ashamed. The functional definition for this word is: 'effected by shame; abashed or confused by guilt or a conviction of some criminal action or indecorous conduct, or by the exposure of some gross errors or misconduct, which the person is conscious must be wrong, and which tends to impair his honor or reputation'. Please also see the note for Romans C10S12 about the phrase faith makes us not ashamed. Please also see the note for 1Corinthians 6:7 for links to every sentence in this epistle which use any form of the word shame. The functional definition is: 'A painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt, or of having done something which injures reputation; or by of that which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal. Shame is particularly excited by the disclosure of actions which, in the view of men, are mean and degrading. Hence it is often or always manifested by a downcast look or by blushes, called confusion of face'. Please see the note for Romans C5S2 which has a discussion of the Biblical use of shame along with links to several other verses. Basically, if God has to make us ashamed then it will probably be at the judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10 and 2Corinthians 5:10-11) and that shame will last for eternity.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'little. 1Jo 2:1 when. 1Jo 3:2; Mr 8:38; Col 3:4; 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 4:8; Tit 2:13; Heb 9:28; 1Pe 1:7; 5:4; Re 1:7 have. 1Jo 3:21; 4:17; Isa 25:9; 45:17; Ro 9:33 at his. Mal 3:2; 4:5; 1Co 1:7; 15:23; 1Th 3:13; 5:23; 2Pe 3:4-12 General references. exp: 1Jo 3:21'.

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C2-S36 (Verse 29)

If ye know that he is righteous,
ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him..

Please see the Message called Born of God for how this sentence fits with others within 1John to tell us the lifestyle which truly shows that someone is Born of God.

This sentence starts with If ye know that he is righteous. The only way that a saved person does not know that he is righteous is if they have not experienced His righteousness working in their life to cause God's life to be manifest through their life. Such a person is newly saved or has been living in direct disobedience to what God has shown them to do. However, anyone who has truly experienced His righteousness working in their life to the extent that God's life has been manifested through their life knows that such things are possible only through God's working. Since God only works that way through a saved person's (born of him [God]) life, it is simple for such a person to personally (ye) know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him (God).

This is the final conclusion from John on this chapter which warns us about antichrists. Basically, if you are misled by these people then you have not let the Son of God work in and through your life for you to know the way that God wants you to know Him. As said in the prior sentences, we must let the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ the righteous abide in us for us to know the way that God wants us t.

Please see the note for Matthew 1:16 about the word born. The functional definition for this word is: 'Concieved life is brought into the world'. Webster's 1828 defines this word as: 'pp. of bear. baurn. Brought forth, as an animal. A very useful distinction is observed by good authors, who, in the sense of produced or brought forth, write this word born; but in the sense of carried, write it borne. this difference of orthography renders obvious the difference of pronunciation. 1. to be born, is to be produced or brought into life. "Man is born to trouble." A man born a prince or a beggar. It is followed by of, before the mother or ancestors. Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Job.14. 2. to be born, or born again, is to be regenerated and renewed; to receive spiritual life. John 3'. Please also see the note for 1John 3:9 about the phrase born of God. Please also see the note for Colossians 1:15 about the word firstborn. Please also see the note for Hebrews 1:5 about the word begotten. The functional definition is: 'Procreated; generated'. Please also see the note for Galatians C4-S17 about the words birth / birthright / birthday.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge provides Bible references for this sentence as: 'he is. 1Jo 2:1; 3:5; Zec 9:9; Ac 3:14; 22:14; 2Co 5:21; Heb 1:8-9; 7:2,26; 1Pe 3:18 ye know. or, know ye. That every. 1Jo 3:7,10; Jer 13:23; Mt 7:16-18; Ac 10:35; Tit 2:12-14 is born. 1Jo 3:9; 4:7; 5:1; Joh 1:13; 3:3-5; Jas 1:18; 1Pe 1:3,23; 2Pe 1:4 General references. exp: Pr 12:28'.

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Special Word Studies in 1John

The following words have a special section within this book Study due to the significance these words have within 1John.
Know, Life, Light and Darkness, Love, Manifest / Seen / Heard, Sin, Word and World.

Know in 1John

The word know / knew appears 717 times in the Bible and 28 times within 23 verses of 1John. The world and religion will give us a different definition for know that the Bible uses. People who use the world's definition or religion's definition end up with erroneous doctrine.

Genesis 4:1 tells us And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. Luke 1:34 tells us, Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? We can see from these verses, and others, that the Biblical definition includes the idea of (God's ) life being put in us which results in a birth which can be seen by the entire world including lost people.

I have heard preachers say 'I know that I know that I know that I know that...(I'm saved, etc)' as if repeating this claim multiple times will make it true. However, repeating this claim is not some magic formula to make it true. Instead, they need to display God's life that has been birthed in their life. Many times people are taught to claim that they 'know' that they are saved because they received God's Word into their heart. However, the dirty little secret is that many of these people who 'received God's Word into their heart' later claim that they really were not saved or live a life that makes their claim a lie. As taught in the 'parable of the sower' (Matthew 13; Mark 4 and Luke 8), much of the seed that was received by the earth did not result in life and some life failed to reproduce or be effective. This same concept is taught many places in the Bible. We need to teach people to stop claiming that they 'know' a Biblical truth until they have the Biblical evidence of Biblically knowing, which is a birth of God's life through their life and is evident even to the lost people of the world.

Know is used 38 times in 31 verses in 1John. links to the notes for those sentences are: 2:3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, 29; 3:1, 3:2, 5, 6, 14, 15, 19, 20, 24; 4:2, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16; 5:2, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20.

Please see the notes for Romans C10S25; 1Corinthians C1S11 and Galatians C3-S9 about the word know. The functional definition is: 'A clear and certain perception of that which exists, or of truth and fact; and the perception of the connection and agreement, or disagreement between various truths and acts. Within the Biblical usage is the knowledge that comes only from personal intimate experience'. Please see the notes for 2Peter 1:2-LJC; 2Peter 2:20-LJC and Philippians 1:9-11 about the word knowledge. Please see the note for Romans C11S4 about the word foreknow. Please see the note for Romans C6S5 about the phrase Know ye not. Please see the note for 1Corinthians C16S17 about the word acknowledge. There are different levels of knowledge which can vary based upon their source, how the knowledge is obtained and more. True Biblical knowledge includes the most intimate and personal type of knowledge which comes from personal experience.

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Life in 1John

The word life appears 699 times in the Bible and 12 times in 1John. There are many forms of life in the world and in the Bible (plant, animal, human, spiritual, etc). We need to be rightly dividing the Word of Truth by looking at the context and making sure that the type of life which is in the verse is the same type of life that we apply the verse to. Please see the context of each sentence and the note associated with each to verify the type of life that John is talking about in that particular instance. links to the notes for those sentences are: 1:1, 1:2; 2:16, 2:25, 3:14, 3:15, 3:16; 5:11, 5:12, 5:13, 5:16, 5:20.

The phrase eternal life is used 6 times in 1John in:

1:2 : in this sentence this phrase is used to identify Jesus Christ Who was with the Father and manifested to men.
2:25 : this sentence tells us that God the Father hath promised us, even eternal life.
3:15 : says, no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Please realize that there is a difference between what the Bible recognizes as an accidental killing and murder.
5:11 : says, And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. No one is saved (has eternal life) separate from receiving it from God's Son and that requires them fulfilling His requirements, not just their doing a religious act.
5:13 : tells us that each of us personally may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God, but this requires us accepting what John has written unto us in this epistle.
5:19-20 : these two sentences are part of John's summary of this epistle and they tell us that eternal life is only in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. Please also see the references and related notes in the Relational Preposition Study for the phrase in him.

Please see the note for each sentence listed above for more details on each usage. In addition, we also find the phrase eternal life in: Matthew 19:16; Matthew 25:46; Mark 10:17, 30; Luke 10:25; Luke 18:18; John 3:15; John 4:36; John 5:39; John 6:54, 68; John 10:28; John 12:25; John 17:2-3; Acts 13:48; Romans 2:7; Romans 5:21; Romans 6:23; 1Timothy 6:12, 19; Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7; Jude 1:21. Please also see the note for Romans 2:7 which has additional verses which teach the same thing while not using these exact words.

Please see the notes for 2Corinthians 2:15 and Philippians 1:19-20 about the word life. The definition from the Easton's Bible Dictionary is: 'generally of physical life (Ge 2:7; Lu 16:25, etc.); also used figuratively (1) for immortality (Heb 7:16); (2) conduct or manner of life (Ro 6:4); (3) spiritual life or salvation (Joh 3:16-17,18,36); (4) eternal life (Mt 19:16-17; Joh 3:15); of God and Christ as the absolute source and cause of all life (Joh 1:4; 5:26,39; 11:25; 12:50)'. Those notes also have definitions from other dictionaries and links from other commentaries. Please also see the note for Romans C10S15 about the phrase belief changes life. Please also see the note for 1Corinthians C6S16 about the phrase kingdom of God rejected by lifestyle sins. Please also see the note for Matthew 9:10 about the word sinners. Please also see the notes for Hebrews 1:8-LJC and Philippians 1:27-LJC about the phrase life everlasting. The functional definition is: 'God's life in me'.

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Light and Darkness in 1John

Light and darkness are contrasted against each other in the first two chapters of 1John.

Light and Darkness are used in two general areas of 1John. Since each of those places involve several sentences, the commentary of those places is below and not within the Sentence-by-Sentence section. Light and Darkness are used 7 times in 1John. The usage is symbolic in nature and the symbolic meaning can only be understood by looking at every usage in 1John. Light is used in 1John in:

1:5 (This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.). Here, light is used to tell us the character of God and that this character has nothing of evil (symbolic darkness) in it. Things which are in physical light can be easily seen and are not hid. Thus, we know that God does not hide anything of His character from the saved. This lets us know that people who claim to have 'special knowledge or special revelation that God gave only to them' are liars. That would require God putting the saved into darkness about this so-called 'special knowledge or special revelation'. Yes, places like Deuteronomy 29:4; Psalms 10:17; Isaiah 50:4; Jeremiah 25:4; Ezekiel 12:2; Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9; Matthew 13:43; Mark 4:9; Mark 4:23; Mark 7:16; Luke 8:8 and Luke 14:35, let us know that God hides some things from the lost and the spiritually immature, but God makes those things available to any people who meet His requirements of getting saved and spiritually maturing. Thus, God is only protecting people from knowledge that they can't handle and not restricting that knowledge like we see when a being is in darkness. Also, there are some places like Romans 16:25 which tell us that God hid things until we had the indwelling Holy Spirit Who could teach us their true meaning. However, this is just one more example of God is protecting people from knowledge that they can't handle.
1:7 (But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.). Here, light is used to tell us how to walk ('take small repeated steps' 'which represents the little things of everyday life'). Therefore, we see that we are symbolically told to let God's character control 'the little things of everyday life'.
2:8 (Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.). Here, light is used to tell us that God provided a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path (Psalms 119:105). Therefore, we are expected to use it and to follow it.
2:9 (He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.) Here we see that our life must back our mouth or we are a liar. Once more we see that light is used to tell us how to act in thus physical world and the attitudes that we are to have.
2:10 (He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.). Here, we see that having light prevents us from acting wrong against our brother. We can act wrong against our brother, but we must first leave the light and enter darkness.

In general, we can say that light is: 'The spiritual gift from God that overcomes spiritual darkness from sin and Satan. Spiritual light allows us to see and understand things from God's view. Spiritual light allows us to see how to walk, work and live in this world in a Godly way.' Please also see the note for Romans 13:12 for links to every place in the New Testament where the word light and the word darkness are both used, along with further notes about related verses.

Please be sure to see the sections below the notes on the verses which use the word darkness. Those sections have contextual requirements and show how the sentences work together to teach the doctrine that John is teaching. They also show how John contrasts light to darkness.

Darkness is used in 1John in:

1:5 (This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.) Here, darkness is used symbolically to tell us that there is nothing evil in God. Titus 1:2 says, In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Hebrews 4:15 says, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 1John 3:9 says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. thus, we see that no darkness at all can be equated to cannot lie and cannot sin.
1:6 (If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth). Here, darkness is used spiritually to tell us that 'if the small things of our everyday life are not as God directs, while we say that we have fellowship with him (God) then we lie, and do not the truth'. Now some might think that I go to far but consider: Romans 14:23 says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. James 4:17 says, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 1John 5:17 says, All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. thus, we see that these verses cover pretty much everything that people might think is not sin but is part of darkness. This verse is only half of this sentence with the other half being the polar opposite Equivalent Section. When we consider the entire sentence together, as done below, there can be no doubt that if we walk in darkness then we are sinning and that breaks our fellowship with God.
2:8 (Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.). Here, darkness is used symbolically for the time before the church age when God's people did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead them in their everyday life. Since, during the Church age, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead us, the darkness is past. Thus, we see that darkness includes sins of ignorance.
2:9 (He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.) thus, we see that the condition of our heart is revealed by our attitudes and actions. Within our verse, darkness is used symbolically to identify a heart that is turned away from God.
2:11 (But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.) Here, we see that darkness is used symbolically to represent spiritual things which prevent us from seeing what the guidance from God. We already saw that Psalms 119:105 tells us, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Yet, 2Peter 3:16 tells us that they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Therefore, the darkness that the unlearned and unstable are in will cause them to wrest (with) the scriptures, unto their own destruction and to knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his (spiritual) eyes. Putting it all together, we see that hateth our brother causes us to walketh in darkness and wrest (with) the scriptures, unto our own destruction.

Please also see the note for Romans 13:12 for links to every place in the New Testament where the word light and the word darkness are both used, along with further notes about related verses. In addition, please also see the note for Hebrews 12:18-24 about the word darkness. That note has the full definitions from three dictionaries and links from other commentators. The functional definition, for the word darkness is: 'the physical manifestation of evil spiritual influence'.

1John 1:5-7

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth : But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

This sentence starts out with This then, which means 'as a result of what was said in the prior verses'. There we are told that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He manifested that eternal life, which was with the Father. Further, John and others had fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. John also said that he was writing to us that ye (each and every one of us personally) also may have fellowship with us (God the Father, Jesus Christ and the true saints of God) and that this fellowship will allow that your joy may be full. In order to have this fellowship and joy, we have to receive This message that comes from God the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. The message is that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Therefore, since John's whole book is written from a spiritual perspective, John is using light to indicate the Spiritual nature of God in us and he is using darkness to indicate the spiritual nature which is opposite of God and comes from sin in us. John tells us a considerable amount about sin, as seen in the part under Sin in 1John. As seen there, sin comes from the influence of the world (1John 2:2, 15, 16, 17; 3 :1, 13, 17; 4 :1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 14, 17; 5 :4, 5, 19), the flesh, (1John 2:16; 4:2, 3) and the devil (1John 3:8, 10). Further, 2:16 tells us, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Most people understand that lust and pride are from sin and what John calls darkness. The difference between sin and darkness is that sin is an act or attitude that violates God's Law (1John 3:4) and darkness is the influence that encourages (tempts) us to sin. This first occurrence of darkness in 1John tells us that God has nothing to do with anything that influences us to sin and that God's influence is light. Just as light overcomes all darkness, so also does God's influence overcome the influence that encourages us to sin. However, as seen in the sentences before this sentence, we must maintain our fellowship with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the true saints of God in order to remain in God's light.

The next sentence (1:6-7) continues this thought which helps to create the foundation of John's epistle. As seen in the Sentence-by-Sentence section of this study, this sentence is divided into two Equivalent Sections by a colon. It is also explained in the part on Sin in 1John. As noted above, darkness influences us to sin, which is seen in this sentence (If we...walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth). As also noted the Sentence-by-Sentence section, the colon followed by a but makes the two parts of this sentence polar opposites. At the one end we have those people who say that (they) have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness. At the other end, we have those people who walk in the light, as he is in the light. Then we have the majority of people who fall between the two extremes such as those who walk in darkness but do not claim to have fellowship with him or those people who walk in the light but they don't do it as he is in the light. We can tell if we are part of these in-between groups if we are not lying about our fellowship with him but also do not have the results promised to those who walk in the light, as he is in the light. As noted elsewhere, many people do not experience that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Religious error claims that we have to 'claim this promise by faith' but 1John is about evidences in this world which let us how that we have a spiritual truth. We need to verify according to what we are told in 1John instead of 'claiming this promise by faith'. In the case of cleanseth us from all sin, the sin no longer has control over us and we stop doing it (Matthew 1:21; John 19:11; Romans 6:7-22; 8:22; 1Peter 4:1; 2Peter 2:14; 1John 1:7; 3:8). In particular, 3:8 tells us: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. So long as sin has control over us He has not destroyed the works of the devil in our life. Therefore, while saved people are still struggling with a particular sin, they do not walk in the light, as he is in the light with regard to that particular sin.

1John 2:8-11

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

The next place that we see Darkness and Light is 2:8. John started Chapter 2 with, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. John continues with an explanation that we must keep his commandments and makes a distinction between those who really keep his commandments and liars who claim to do so but really do not keep his commandments. Further, as explained in the Sentence-by-Sentence section, John's commandments are based upon the Bible and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Our sentence in 2:8 is part of John's explanation that his new commandment is to follow the indwelling Holy Spirit. John says the darkness is past to indicate that the time when God's saints had to live under the influence of sin ended when the true light now shineth. John 3:34 is part of the testimony of John the Baptist and tells us, For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. the colon in John 3:34 lets us know that the two parts are equivalent and that Jesus speaketh the words of God because (for) God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

Jesus used the Holy Spirit to tell us the words of God and He declared I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (Romans 13:12; John 8:12, also John 9:5; Mark 5:14; 2Corinthians 4:4). We also see the children of this world contrasted to the children of light in Luke 16:8 and we saw in John's first use of darkness that he equated darkness to the influence of sin, including the influence of This world. Hopefully the reader can see the Biblical basis for my claim that in our current verse, John uses the true light now shineth for the influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit within our life and John uses the darkness for the influence of sin in our life which includes the influence of This world. John clarifies this further in the next two sentences where he says, He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. In our first sentence, we see the same structure as 2:4 where John called these people liars and liars are in darkness according to this epistle. Further, John is contrasting hateth his brother to loveth his brother. Further, John equates hateth his brother to is in darkness and equates loveth his brother to abideth in the light because hateth and loveth are manifestations in this physical world of the spiritual influence of darkness and light.

As I said before, John is speaking about spiritual things and telling us how we can tell the influence of the spiritual by the attitudes and actions that people have in this physical world. John ends this teaching on darkness and light with 2:11 which tells us, But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. Someone who is blinded cannot see the light even when it is all around him. Notice that between is in darkness and abideth in the light (in 2:9) are those who go back and forth between the two and there is some occasion of stumbling in them. John is warning these people (in 2:11) that while they keep playing with darkness, they are risking being blinded and, even as saved people, may lose their chance to abideth in the light.

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Love in 1John

Please also see the Message called The Love of God for the application of these verses in the life of the believer.

There is a song called 'The Love of God' which does an excellent job of explaining how impossible it is to define God's love. John tells us God is love and it is impossible to define God. Therefore, it is impossible to define God's love. Further, in order to properly express God's love, one must have a gift of Biblical wisdom that many preachers have far more than I have. I will leave the fuller definition to others and only give this inadequate qualifier: Biblical love is an action word which requires us to act in a way that demonstrates God's love to the most unlovable people. In addition, God's love always considers what is the best long-term result for the other person. That's why God's love includes punishment, including the sin unto death, which this epistle mentions.

Many people call 1Corinthians 13 The Love Chapter'. However, that chapter is talking about charity. Every word in the Bible has a unique Biblical definition. While love and charity can have similar applications, they must have different definitions. The fact is that love acts towards people we know while charity acts towards strangers. Therefore, 1Corinthians 13 and other Biblical references to charity can be used for the application of love. Those references can not be rightly used for the definition.

The true 'Love Chapter' in the New Testament is 1John 4.

Please also see the notes for Romans 8:39-LJC; Galatians C5-S14; Philippians 1:9-11 and 2John 1:3-LJC about the word love. Please see the note for 1John C3S26 about the phrase love one another. Please see the note for 1John C4S13 about the phrase perfect love. Please see the notes for Romans C9S23 and Colossians C3S8 about the word beloved. Please also see the note for Matthew 17:5 for links to every place where the phrase beloved Son is applied to Jesus. The true Biblical doctrine of this word is very complex since it is a character trait of God. That said, a simple functional definition is: 'Doing what brings the greatest ultimate good to another being without any consideration of cost to self and not consideration of any response by the other and a willingness to even bring short-term pain if that is what is required in order to bring the ultimate long-tern good'.

Forms of the word love are used in this epistle 51 times in 29 verses. Below are links to each sentence where John uses this word within this epistle along with a short note about each usage. In addition, John uses the word beloved in: 3:2, 3:21; 4:1, 4:7 and 4:11.

Please also see the notes for Romans 8:39-LJC; Galatians C5-S14; Philippians 1:9-11 and 2John 1:3 about the word love. Please see the note for 1John C3S26 about the phrase love one another. Please see the note for 1John C4S13 about the phrase perfect love.

The following sentences use the word love:

2:5 tells us that we must have a lifestyle of keeping God's word in order to have His love perfected in us. In addition, this is what gives us our assurance of 'eternal security'.
2:10 tells us that when we loveth our brother that keeps us in God's light and keeps us from stumbling.
2:15 tells us to not love things which lead us into sin.
2:15 tells us that if we do love things which lead us into sin then we will not retain the love of the Father in us.
3:1 tells us that God the Father demonstrated His love for us by calling us the sons of God.
3:11 tells us that we must 'keep on keeping on' loving and we must 'keep on keeping on' doing righteousness if we are to prove that we are not the children of the devil and that we are the children of God.
3:14 tells us that from the beginning we heard that we are required to love.
3:16 tells us that the fact that we love the brethren is the evidence that we are saved.
3:17 tells us that if we refuse to love the brethren, then we abideth in death.
3:18 tells us that the Son of God demonstrated His love when He laid down his life for us and that he expects us to do the same for the brethren.
3:23 tells us that our love must be real.
4:7 tells us that loving one another is just as important to our salvation as believing on the name of his Son Jesus Christ is.
4:8 tells us that loving one another makes us like God and proves that we are saved.
4:9 tells us that if we refuse to love the brethren, then we really don't know God.
4:10 tells us that God manifested His love when He sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
4:11 tells us that true love is defined by the action of God and demonstrated when He sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
4:12 tells us to love one another like God loved us.
4:16 tells us that when we love one another then God's love is perfected in us.
4:17 tells us that when our love made perfect (then) we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
4:18 tells us that when we have perfect love then we will not have fear.
4:19 tells us that if we have fear, then we are not yet made perfect in love.
4:20 tells us that we can love because God first loved us.
4:21 tells us that someone is a liar if they claim to love God while they hate their brother.
5:1 tells us that if we are saved then we must love Jesus Christ just like we love God the Father.
5:2 that we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
5:3 tells us that This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

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Manifest / Seen / Heard in 1John

The note for 1:1 has a substantial explanation of the Biblical use of the word manifest.

These words are grouped together because they deal with our physical senses and the evidence in this physical world of spiritual influences. Many people deny the evidence of God and of spiritual things but closing our mind to the evidence does not make it go away. Most of us have had times when we wanted to deny the start of a new day and just stay in bed. But, our desire for denial did not make the day go away. Further, most of us have experienced misunderstandings but a wrong understanding did not change the truth. Therefore, what we see in this epistle is that we must not only recognize and accept the evidences of spiritual influences which are available to our physical senses, but we must properly understand them in order to have God's truth.

Manifest / handle / heard / look / seen / shew are used 29 times in 1John. Each of these words are expressing the use of physical senses to determine reality within the physical world with the word manifest encompassing all of the rest. links to the notes for those sentences are: 1:1, 2, 3, 5; 2 :7, 18, 19, 24; 3 :2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11; 4 :3, 9, 12, 14, 20; 5 :14, 15, 16.

Please see the note for Romans C16S33 about the word manifest. That note has the full definition from Webster's 1828 as well as links from other commentators. The functional definition is: 'made available for extensive examination that uses multiple means to accomplish the examination'. Please also see the note for Romans C3S20 about the word manifested.

We find forms of the word handle occurring in: Genesis 4:21; Judges 5:14; 1Chronicles 12:8; 2Chronicles 25:5; Psalms 115:7; Proverbs 16:20; Song 5:5; Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 46:9; Jeremiah 50:16; Ezekiel 21:11; Ezekiel 27:29; Ezekiel 38:4; Amos 2:15; Mark 12:4; Luke 24:39; 2Corinthians 4:2; Colossians 2:21; 1John 1:1. Webster's 1828 dictionary defines this word as: 'Touched; treated; managed'.

Please see the note for Philippians 2:4 about the word look. The functional definition is: 'To direct the eye towards an object, with the intention of seeing it'. Please also see the note for Galatians C6S6 about the phrase LORD looketh on the heart.

Please see the notes for 1Corinthians C13S9; 2Corinthians 2:17 and Colossians C1S6 about the word see / sight. The functional definition is: 'The act of seeing; perception of objects by the eye; view. This word is often used symbolically for spiritual understanding'. Please also see the note for John 6:40-LJC about the phrase see the Son.

The functional definition, for the word shew, is: 'To exhibit or present to the view of others'.

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Sin(s) in 1John

As this epistle tells us, sin is a violation of God's Law. That means that there are two parts to it: the actual deed and the legal consequences. Most of the misunderstanding about sin is because people don't understand that there are these two parts and that God deals with each part separately.

Sin(s) is used 16 times in 9 verses within 1John those translate to 13 sentences which are: 1:7, 8, 9; 2:1, 2, 12; 3:4, 5, 8, 9; 4:10; 5:16, 17.

The verses in 1John, which tell us about sin, cause confusion and controversy because some people take them out of context of what John is saying in each place where John talks about sin. Those people that take the verses out of context have confused others. Trying to figure out the verses without God's help has confused other people. James 1:5 tells us to ask God for help if we want wisdom.

Different chapters of 1John have different subjects. The subject of each chapter and the surrounding verses qualify John's statements within a given chapter. Taken out of context, John's statements appear to be saying something different than what they are actually saying. Therefore, John's statements about sin must be studied within the context that they are presented in.

There are two different Greek words used for sin in 1John (see below). The one can also be interpreted as 'offense' and the other can also be interpreted as 'error'. The word for an offence indicates a conscious, deliberate wrongdoing (Romans 5:15-19). It is a deliberate violation of God's law. The word for an error indicates a mistake that would have been avoided if the person were conscious of the mistake before doing it. Within the Bible, both 'error' and 'offense' are considered sin. Therefore, using these words does not change the meaning of 1John but can help clarify what John is saying. The use of these words, along with the context of the chapters, help making sense of what John is saying about sin.

The word offense brings in the concept of law, judgment, and the penalty of violating the law. In fact, sin is first and foremost a violation of God's law. (Please see notes for Chapter 3 in this section on sin.) It is not just a violation of some religion's law. It is not just a violation of some man-made moral code but is a violation of God's law. As such, we must see what the Bible says about God's law when we are considering sin. John's discussions of sin are made within this context. Understanding the Biblical concepts of God's law is necessary for understanding John's comments. While we can go into great detail about these concepts, all that really needs to be stated are the basics concepts.

Our first chapter tells us that everyone sins and that the Son of God cleanses us from our sin so that we can have fellowship with God the Father, God the Son and other saints. Then Chapter 2 tells us that the Son of God made the legal payment for our sins and also for the sins of the whole world. People think that they have eternal security because their sins are forgiven. However, if that were true then we have problems with what C2-S2 says, because He paid for the sins of the whole world.

The truth is that while the Son of God paid the debt for everyone's sins, God does not record that payment against their personal account, in the great white throne judgment system, until they accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord. However, Romans 3:24-25 says, that Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus...for the remission of sins that are past. It does not mention 'present and future', like many preachers claim. In fact, the word 'future' is not in the Bible. In addition, as the righteous judge of all the earth, God always acts righteously, especially when dealing with legal principles. A basic legal principal is that a court can not consider a matter until it is formally and legally brought before the court. We can not be charged with a crime before someone does the crime. That means that we can not be charged in God's court for a 'future sin' and that God can not forgive 'future sin' because God can not righteously and legally deal with a sin that is not brought before His court while it has not been done yet.

Chapter 2 tells us that the payment has been made for 'future sins', but that payment is not applied until it is legal to do so. We have 'eternal security' because of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and not because our sins are forgiven. When our sins are forgiven, we no longer have the legal consequences. (That does not mean that we can keep whatever we stole because we still need to make things right in the physical world.) However, we need to realize that God has two legal systems: the judgment Seat of Christ (Romans C14S16 and 2Corinthians 5:10) for the saved and the great white throne (Revelation 20:11) judgment for the lost.

We all start out in the great white throne judgment system. There, all of our sins are blotted out (Acts 3:19 and Colossians 2:14) when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord. We are legally adopted by God and are moved to the judgment Seat of Christ legal system, which is why Chapter 3 says, that Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin in 3:9. The context of Chapter 3 is what happens legally in the great white throne judgment system. Since the saved are removed from that legal system, they can not be charged with sin in that court system. However, what happens there is different from the judgment Seat of Christ legal system.

The judgment Seat of Christ legal system is for the family of God and is different than the great white throne judgment system. In particular, all of our sins are not blotted out as soon as we ask but Jesus Christ wants to cleanse us. Therefore, He does not remove the legal record until we 'stop our sinning'. The unforgiven sins are what gives saved people the terror of the Lord as a result of the judgment Seat of Christ (2Corinthians 5:10-11).

The truth is that our 'future sins' can not be blotted out before they are done and have God remain righteous. In addition, we can sin while dying, so there can not be any true 'eternal security' that is based upon forgiveness of sin. Our true 'eternal security' is based upon the relationship that we have with the Son of God. He, as a person, provides our 'eternal security'. No one-time act by God or man can do what He can do as a person.

God is the judge of the world (Psalms 9:8, 96:10, 96:13, 98:9, John 8:26, Acts 17:31, Romans 3:6) and God's judgment punishes sin (Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:10-15). Just as there are two parts to the judgment of felonies in this world, there are also two parts in God's judgment. In the U.S., a felon spends time in jail and then has a record that follows him for the rest of his life. While the amount of time spent in jail varies according to the crimeans the judgment, the record that someone committed a felony is the same for all. After a felon gets out of jail, his record prevents him from getting certain things that someone without a felony record can get. One example is a high-security job. Another is getting bonded. In addition, these things are denied regardless of the crime he did. A bank robber and a murderer are treated the same. Both are denied because of the record, not because of the specific crime.

In Revelation 20:10-15, we are told that all sinners are thrown into the lake of fire and there is no consideration of one sin being worse than another when it is determined who goes there. (There are variable levels of punishment based upon God's judgment of the seriousness of the sin but that is different from if someone goes there or does not go there. In all legitimate court systems, the determination if a crime was done and the determination of the level of punishment are two different considerations by the court and they are never combined.) Revelation 20:15 says, and whosoever was not found written in the book. Thus, we see that it is the record that condemns them. While the exact punishment received for a given crime/sin may be different than the punishment received for a different crime/sin, that comes into consideration only after it is determined that they will go to jail/Lake of Fire. in this world and in the here-after, there is a penalty for having done any crimeans any variableness of the penalty is added on top of the basic punishment that is given for all crime. All who are not found written in the book, when they appear before God, will go to the Lake of Fire regardless of what that particular act of sin might have been.

Another example that people may understand better is a credit record. If you don't pay your debits, you get a mark on your credit record. You may then pay the debt and a penalty (extra interest), but that doesn't erase the record and doesn't eliminate the consequences (low credit score) of the record.

As we look at 1John, remember that the crime (sin), punishment, judgment and the record are all separate subjects and that taking care of the punishment does not remove the record.

The Greek words used for sin in 1John are:

hamartia, ham-ar'-tee'-ah; from G264; sin (prop. abstr.):--offence, sin (-ful).
hamartano, ham-ar-tan'-o; perh. from G1 (as a neg. particle) and the base of G3313; prop. Tomiss the mark (and so not share in the prize), i.e. (fig.) to err, esp. (mor.) to sin.--for your faults, offend, sin, trespass.

Please also see the note for Romans C7S26 about the word sin. The functional definition is: 'a violation of God's law' please also see the notes for Sin in 1John; Romans C2S4; 1Corinthians 8:11-LJC and Galatians C3-S26 about the phrase sin unto death. Please also see the note for 1Corinthians C6S16 about the phrase kingdom of God rejected by lifestyle sins. Please also see the note for Matthew 9:10 about the word sinners.

Chapter 1

The beginning of 1John set the context of these verses which talk about how we walk. That is, the way that we live our daily life and go about doing the things we do all day long. The context of these comments is this world. No one can say that they lived in this world and never once broke God's law and never made a mistake.

1John 1:5-10

Verse 7 says that if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, then Jesus' blood will take care of any violations of God's Law that are recorded against us. It's easy for people to ignore the middle part of this verse. The if applies first to we have fellowship one with another. You can't expect saints to fellowship with you while you are involved in willful sin.

Romans 6 discusses the willful sin from God's perspective. 1Corinthians 5 discusses the church's responsibility to the willful sinner. Other places also talk about church discipline including chapter 5 of 1John. Several places talk about how we as individual believers should deal with another believer's sin. However, this verse states a truth that a believer can count on fellowship with other believers if they are walking like Jesus does.

After talking about the fellowship of believers, verse 7 says and. This means 'in addition to'. It does not mean that willful sin removes God's forgiveness, even though it can seem like that happens. Certainly, it is within the teaching of the Bible (Parables in Gospels, Romans, etc) that the consequences (in this world) of the believer that willfully sins will be greater than those of a believer that sins in error. One of those consequences can be losing fellowship with Jesus and the joy of our salvation (1John 2:3-5, Psalms 40, 51:12, etc.). In addition, proper interpretation of this verse requires the proper interpretation of cleanse. Cleansing and forgiveness are two different words and actions, as can be seen in two more verses.

When John says that God cleanses the person, he is not saying that God removes the consequences of sin. In fact, Ephesians 2 tells us to stop our sinning and act right. Tounderstand the word cleanse, think about a bedpan. After it's been used by a sick person, no one wants to use it to cook supper no matter how many times it's cleaned. The same way, no one wants to trust a thief even if the thief claims to have stopped stealing. However, when God cleanseth us from all sin, He gets people to stop doing that sin and then (after they stop their sin) God gets other people to forget that we once did that sin. God also (eventually) removes the sin from our conscience, but only after He removes it from our lifestyle . In addition, God does this only for people who are saved and are obeying Him (if we walk in the light, as he is in the light). Even after we start obeying, it takes time to see the change in this world.

Another part of that cleansing is when God removes the record in Heaven. We won't have to live with a reputation there. The Bible says that God imputes Christ's righteousness on us (Romans 4), but that is a separate discussion.

Chapter 2

1John 2:1-2 says, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1John 2:12 says, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

We need to keep the context in mind while we consider these references. Chapter 1 told us how sin affected our fellowship with God the Father, God the Son and with other saints. Chapter 3 tells us about the legal considerations when we get into God's court in Heaven. Chapter 2 is a 'bridge' between the two subjects in the surrounding chapters. Chapter 2 tells us how Jesus Christ the righteous removed the legal considerations so that we can concentrate on our fellowship, while here in this physical life, instead of worrying about future legal considerations. Thus, the main message of Chapter 2 about sin is that Jesus Christ the righteous took care of things so that we have to trust Him and stop worrying about what He took care of. That is called having faith in Him.

In addition, to the main message for the saved, John also tells us that he is the propitiation...for the sins of the whole world. I am not going into the argument about God knowing everything and, therefore, could have selectively paid only for the sins of the saved. There are a lot of problems with that argument which can not be answered and we are told: But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. (2Timothy 2:23). Instead, I will state the Biblical truth that Jesus Christ the righteous paid for the sins of the whole world but that His payment is selective applied only to those people who call upon the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21; Acts 22:16; Romans 10:13; 2Thessalonians 3:1-LJC; Ephesians 5:8-LJC). Lots of people want to speculate on how they would have done things but that is pride which will be judged by God. The point is that we do not know everything and that there are considerations which God knows and that we can not know. Therefore, we need to accept that God knows best, accept the truth presented here, and move on after we accept that God did right.

Chapter 3

1John 3:1-3 says, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

This is the part that people have the most trouble with because they either don't notice the context or deliberately ignore it. John starts out by saying, we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. We don't get some certificate that states that we are sons of God and that everyone in the world recognizes. In fact, John explicitly states that Jesus' position wasn't recognized by the world and that our position isn't recognized. Therefore, these comments are set in the location where our status is recognized. That is, these comments are talking about our status in Heaven. These comments are also talking about the way we are to act whether we receive recognition from the world or not. As seen in the Lord Jesus Christ Study, the Bible uses Son for someone who has the same character as the Father.

When John says now are we the sons of God, he means that right now we are to act in a way that shows the world how God would act. As seen in the study called Jesus used the Power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was our example of how to live in this flesh by the same power that He gave to all saved. The question of 'What Did Jesus Do?' is valid. However, instead of listening to all of the lies from the world we need to search the Bible for our answer to that question. John continues with and it doth not yet appear what we shall be whereby he explicitly states that the world does not recognize (does not appear) our status. John continues with comments about how we will appear after getting to Heaven. Even though God has not yet given us the outward appearance, God still expects us to have the inward character which can be seen in our actions and lifestyle . With all of these comments, John clearly sets the stage of the chapter in Heaven. Therefore, his comments about sin in this chapter are comments about the Heavenly view of our sins. They are not about how sin affects us in this world.

John starts out his discussion of sin with a general comment of And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. the he in this verse is Jesus. John's qualifier of every man that hath this hope in him limits his comments to the saved since the hope that John refers to is being a son of God. This was discussed in more detail in the Sentence-by-Sentence section.

When we think about purifying ourselves with Jesus as the standard, especially in consideration of sin, we are talking about how God sees us and not how the world sees us. As John said earlier, the world didn't recognize Jesus' purity and said He had a devil. Therefore, John is again setting the stage of his comments in Heaven. The only part of sin that's in Heaven is the record book of people's sins. This is like the record of felons or our credit record as mentioned in the illustrations at the start.

These comments by John would be directly opposed to his comments in the first chapter of this same book if the context of the two chapters were the same. Chapter 1 is set in this world and is talking about our actions and attitudes of sin and the effect of them in this world. Chapter 3 is set in Heaven and is talking about the record of our sins in Heaven. With the context of these verses clearly defined, we can move into a verse by verse look at these verses and clarify the confusion that some people have. Several of these verses have additional information in the parts for Sentence-by-Sentence, Know in 1John and Manifest in 1John.

Chapter 4

1John 4:10 says, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Once more we see the propitiation for our sins, which was covered in the note for Chapter 2 above.

Chapter 5

In the end of Chapter 5, John is finishing up his letter and tying up lose strings. In the beginning of Chapter 5, John is summarizing what he said throughout this epistle. Throughout this epistle, John has been making a distinction between the actions and spirit of the saved verses the actions and spirit of the lost. One of the lose strings that John has to deal with is when the saved act like the lost. The clearest message of this part is that there is a sin onto death. God never takes salvation from His children. However, if one of God's children goes so far that God can't redeem their testimony and still use them as a witness in the world, then God removes them from the world by death.

One thing we can know from this passage is that if we're still alive, then God believes that He can still use us. Sometimes we think we are beyond redemption but the child of God is never beyond redemption while he is alive. There are Bible passages that indicate that God turns His back on the lost. There is some disagreement between Christians as to whether God kills the lost or leaves them here to tempt others after He turns His back on them. However, those passages do not apply to the Christian. This is one area that God makes a difference between the Christian and the lost. As 1John has clearly taught before this, God treats the sinning Christian different than He treats the sinning lost person. God continues to forgive the Christian until He removes the Christian from this world. Once removed, the Christian can't do the acts of sin any more.

Many people want a division between actions which are sin unto death and those which are not. However, all throughout this epistle John has emphasized the spiritual motivation behind our attitudes and actions in this world. That is what God uses to make this distinction. A major message in this epistle is that the true child of God will get as far as he can from anything that might be considered a sin unto death. Anyone who is not willing to do that needs to try the spirits and verify what God says is their true relationship to Him.

The Bible speaks of the sin unto death in: Romans 5:21; Romans 6:16; Romans 7:5; Romans 7:13; 1John 5:16-17. It also speaks about it in other places but these links should get the reader a good understanding of this sin.

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Word in 1John

We find forms of the word word 1701 times in 1583 verses of the Bible, 341 times in 318 verses of the New Testament. The Bible makes a major distinction between the words of men and the word of God. Please see the note for Romans C10S22 about the phrase word of God.

The Bible also tells us: man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:3; Proverbs 30:5; Matthew 4:4; Matthew 18:16; Luke 4:4). The note for 3:16 explains the difference between the word of the LORD and the word of Christ. The note for Romans C10S22 has links to every place in the Bible where we find the exact phrase of the word of God along with a doctrinal discussion of the Biblical usage of this phrase. Please see the note for Colossians 2S2 about the word word. The functional definition is: 'a single component part of human speech or language'. However, the word of God is the holy scriptures and in the English language, it is only the KJV-1611.

Please also see the notes for Romans C10S22 and Word in 1John about the phrase word of God. Please also see the note for 1Thessalonians 1:8 about the phrase word of the Lord. Please note that the word of the Lord is a sub-set of the word of God. The word of God contains all of God's written truth including recording the lies of Satan. The word of the Lord is that part of the word of God which will be used to judge us. The lies from Satan are not included within the word of the Lord.

The capitalized Word only appears in John 1:1; John 1:14; 1John 1:1; 5:7; and Revelation 19:13. When Word is capitalized, it is the word of God and another formal name for the Son of God just like Jesus, Christ and other names. When word is not capitalized, it is talking about a figure of human speech. However, the definition of words within the Bible MUST conform to every usage within the Bible when the word is considered within context. This is the same limitation imposed by human laws and technology. The result is that the definitions of words used in Law, technology and in the Bible are often different than the definition used in common language and the more specialized definition is always correct.

Word is used 7 times in 1John. links to the notes for those sentences are: 1:1; 1:10; 2:5; 2:7; 2:14; 3:18 and 5:7.

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World in 1John

The word world appears 288 times in the Bible. Other usage in the Bible matches the usage found in 1John. The world is not the earth but is all of the people in the earth and often is used for the majority opinion / thought process. That opinion / thought process is the result of lost people thinking that they know better than God does and believe Satan's lie (ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil [Genesis 3:5 ]). Most of what John says about the world, in this epistle, is found in chapter 4. The word world is used 23 times in 17 verses of 1John, which are: 2:5, 7, 14; 3:18; 5:7.

Please see the notes for Romans C16S33; 1Corinthians C1S19; 1Timothy 1:15 and 2Timothy C1S5 about the word world. The functional definition is: 'The world is not the earth but is all of the people in the earth and often is used for the majority opinion / thought process. that opinion / thought process is the result of lost people thinking that they know better than God does and believe Satan's lie'.

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Epistle theme: Jesus Christ is the Son of God

Chapter 1 Ordered by Sentence

links to sentences in this chapter:

Chapter Summary from Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge

Chapter 2 Ordered by Sentence

links to sentences in this chapter:

Chapter Summary from Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge

Special Word Studies in 1John

Know in 1John

Life in 1John

Light and Darkness in 1John

Love in 1John

Manifest / Seen / Heard in 1John

Sin(s) in 1John

Word in 1John

World in 1John

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