Jesus Christ In The Writings Of John
WALKING IN THE LIGHT

Lesson Text:
1 John 1:5-10; 2:1-6 (KJV)

Subject:
Walking in the Light of God

Golden Text:
“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.” (1 John 1:7)

Lesson Plan:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE MESSAGE FROM HEAVEN – GOD IS LIGHT (V. 5)
3. FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD – IN THE LIGHT (V. 6)
4. FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRISTIANS – IN THE LIGHT (V. 7)
5. CLEANSING FROM SIN (VS. 7-10)
6. THE SAVIOR WHO ENABLES US TO WALK IN THE LIGHT (VS. 1, 2)
7. THE TEST WHETHER WE ARE WALKING IN THE LIGHT (VS. 3-6)
8. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS

Setting of the Lesson:
Time: This Epistle was written somewhere between A.D. 70 and 96. It was after the destruction of Jerusalem, not far from the same time the Gospel of John was written; probably toward the close of John’s life, A.D. 90.
Place: Ancient tradition places the writing both of the Gospel and the Epistle at Ephesus.
Rulers: Domitian, last of the 12 Cesar’s, emperor of Rom, A.D. 81-96; Argicola, governor of Great Britain.
Author: The apostle John, the beloved disciple, author also of the Gospel and Revelation. He died probably about A.D. 98-100.>

Inductive Study of the Lesson
A most interesting study of this lesson can be made by comparing the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew, where Jesus teaches His disciples for what they should pray for themselves, with the Lord’s Prayer in John, where is recorded what Jesus desired for them. Take each phrase and petition in the Lord’s Prayer, and find its correlative in this chapter. For instance: <
For Whom Written: Not to any particular church, but to a circle of churches, composed of Gentile Christians, in immediate connection with John.
Character: This Epistle is the most perfect example in the New Testament of the indissoluble connection between doctrine and duty; the doctrine always underlying the duty; doctrine and duty being exhibited together; duty being the end and consummation of doctrine (Schaff). The subject of the Gospel of John is the Son of God; the subject of the Epistle of John is the sons of God. The whole Epistle is divided into two parts: the first (chs. 1, 2) shows us the family with their Father; the second (chs. 3-5) gives us the family in their life in the world (William Lincoln).

1. INTRODUCTION

The first four verses of this Epistle are an exordium or introduction. As Ellicott points out, “it contains object and purpose of the apostolic preaching – the setting forth of the historical Christ for the spread of human fellowship with the Father and the Son (vs. 1-3); design of the Epistle – fullness of joy for those who should read it (v. 4).”

2. THE MESSAGE FROM HEAVEN – GOD IS LIGHT

1:5 … “This then is the message.” Ellicott points out that “the attention is aroused, as by the silence before the thunderstorm, to expect a central and fundamental notion of the utmost importance.”

1:5 … “Which we have heard of him.” From Him, that is, from Jesus Christ. When? During His three and a half years on earth (John 1:4, 9; 8:12). Perhaps also at times not recorded and by later revelation through the Spirit.¹ The thought grew clearer and clearer to the apostles as they rose to the loftier heights of Christian experience and insight. John heard this from Christ, not only in express words, but in His acted words, viz., and His whole manifestation in the flesh as “the brightness of the Father’s glory.” Christ Himself was the embodiment of “the message,” representing fully in all His sayings, doings, and sufferings – Him who is Light.

1:5 … “And declare [announce] unto you.” Note the apostle’s intense conviction that the message which he has to deliver is received from the lips of Christ; that it is not the conclusion of an argument, but a revelation; and that its delivery implies a commission. Cook points out that “we announce” implies grandeur and importance in the message, earnestness and commission in the messenger. 1:5 … “That God is light.” Not, as Luther, “a light.” Light is purely predicative, indicating the essence of God, just as when it is said in 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” There, it is true; the predicative is purely ethical, and thus literal, when used of God Who is Spirit, whereas here, light being a material, not an ethical object, some amount of figurative meaning must be conceded. But of all material objects, light is that which most easily passes into an ethical predicative without even the process, in our thought, of interpretation. It unites in itself purity, cleanness, beauty and glory, as no other material object does – it is the condition of all material life, growth and joy.

“And the application to God of such a predicative requires no transference. He is light, and the fountain of light material and light ethical. In the one world, darkness is the absence of light; in the other, darkness, untruthfulness, deceit, falsehood, is the absence of God.” (Alford)

1:5 … “And in him is no darkness at all.” Strong negative. Greek, “No, not even one speck of darkness,” no ignorance, error, untruthfulness, sin or death.

God is Light:
a. Light is the best symbol of God we can have. Light is immaterial, mysterious in nature, ineffably bright and glorious, everywhere present, swift-winged, undefiled, and undefilable. Light is the source of life, beauty, manifested reality, warmth, comfort, joy, health, and power. No plant or animal can live in health without sunlight; no power is so destructive of disease-germs.

“Every tree, plant, and flower grows and flourishes by the grace and bounty of the sun. Leaving out of account the eruptions of volcanoes and the ebb and flow of the tides, every mechanical action on the earth’s surface, every manifestation of power, organic and inorganic, vital and physical, is produced by the sun. Every fire that burns, and every flame that glows, dispenses light and heat which originally belonged to the sun. The sun digs the ore from our mines; he rolls the iron, rivets the plates, boils the water, and [drove the steam-locomotive]. Thunder and lightning are also his transmuted strength. And remember this is not poetry, but rigid, mechanical truth. Look at the integrated energies of our world. What are they? They are all generated by a portion of the sun’s energy, which does not amount to one two-thousand-three-hundred-millionth of the whole.” (Tyndall)

b. God is our intellectual light. Everything is clear and plain to Him; nothing is hidden from Him. In His mind are the ideals after which all things strive. He is the source to us of knowledge, wisdom, clear views, broad views, of the truths we should know, of the way we should go.

c. God is our moral light. He is to our spirits what the natural light is to the world. He is the source of life, truth, activity, power, purity, comfort and joy of holiness, of spiritual beauty and glory.

3. FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD – IN THE LIGHT

1:6 … “If we say that we have fellowship with him.” If we reckon ourselves among His friends, or, in other words, if we profess to be like Him; for “a profession of religion involves the idea of having fellowship with God” (Barnes). “Communion with God is the very innermost essence of all true Christian life” (Luther). Fellowship is the abiding in God, and God in us, which makes us one with Him in feeling, work, sympathy, love, nature, and finally in His glory and home.

1:6 … “And walk [live, act, move, have our being and sphere of action] in darkness.” The exact opposite of the light in which God is. It is sin, error, falseness, insincerity – all the deeds of darkness, if we are unacquainted with the new life from God.

1:6 … “We lie.” We say what is entirely false, for it is not possible to have fellowship with God, and yet continue to do the deeds of darkness. We cannot be in midnight and noonday at the same time. We cannot be in love with sin, in sympathy with evil, vicious, selfish, and yet be in fellowship with God.

1:6 … “And do not the truth.” Alford pointed out that “not a mere repetition of ‘we lie,’ but an independent proposition, answering to ‘walk in darkness,’ and asserting that all such walking in darkness is a not-doing of the truth.” The truth is conformity with the nature and law of God – righteousness, holiness, heavenliness.

4. FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRISTIANS – IN THE LIGHT

1:7 … “But if we walk in the light.” Walking in the light may include the three following things:

a. Leading lives of holiness and purity;

b. Walking in the truth, that is, embracing the truth in opposition to all error of unbelief and infidelity, and having clear, spiritual views of truth, such as the unrenewed never have (see 2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Cor. 2:9-15; Eph. 1:18);

c. Enjoying the comforts of religion, that is, as Barnes pointed out, “having the joy which religion is fitted to impart, and which it does impart to its true friends (Ps. 94:19; 2 Cor. 1:3; 13:11).”

“God is in the light eternally, perfectly; we walk in the light, moving onward toward perfection. Notice that this is no mere imitation of God, but is an identity in the essential element of God’s eternal being.” (Alford)

Illustration
Spiritual life declines by not keeping in fellowship with God.

“When visiting a gentleman in England, I observed a fine canary. Admiring his beauty, the gentleman replied, ‘Yes, he is beautiful, but he has lost his voice. He used to be a fine singer; but I was in the habit of hanging his cage out of the window; the sparrows came around him with incessant chirping; gradually he ceased to sing and learned their twitter, and now all that he can do is to twitter, twitter.’” (Moody)

On the other hand, a canary was taught to sing “Home, Sweet Home,” by hearing only that tune. We become like those in whose presence we continually are, and with whom we sympathize.

1:7 … “We have fellowship one with another.” Since we all partake of God’s nature and feelings, live for the same ends, enjoy the same joys, love the same things, we must have fellowship with one another, being one in sympathy, love, character, purposes. This truth is an application of the mathematical axiom, “things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another.” There is no other way in which we can have fellowship with Christians, and therefore it is true that we may know that we love God because we love the brethren.

5. CLEANSING FROM SIN

The next fruit of walking in the light of God is salvation from sin.
1:7 … “And the blood of Jesus.” The sufferings and death of Jesus making atonement for us. The blood of Jesus expresses the love of God and of His Son for us, since suffering is the visible measure of love. Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to suffer and die for us to save us from sin.

1:7 … “Cleanseth [purifying] us from all sin.” The purification thus effected is twofold. It implies justification, by which we are brought back into communion with God; sanctification, by which the power of sin is gradually abolished. “The red rose of pardon and the white rose of purity (if we may venture to use such language as mystics have loved) grow upon one stem and spring from one root.” (Alexander)

“The Son will bring about that whatever sins we may still be betrayed into by the infirmity of our nature and the malice of the devil, from them the blood of Jesus purifies us day by day.” (Alford)

1:7 … “Cleanseth us from all sin.” “By keeping us from known sins, and by atoning for sins of ignorance.” (Binney)

“And by taking away the disposition to sin, removing the old nature, and replacing it with the new. Nothing will do for a Gospel that leaves any trouble incurable, any sorrow uncomforted, and any sin beyond forgiveness. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, all its kind, and all its degrees.” (Huntington)

The blood of Jesus is the only instrumentality ever discovered by which there can be a free offer of forgiveness and yet not increase the amount of sin. Wherever it is easy to escape from sin, where no heavy penalties are laid on it, wherever a people can sin and yet be received into respect and honor, there sin always multiplies. But the blood of Jesus, while offering free forgiveness, and a welcome into heaven, yet at the same time cleanses from the sin itself. How? A new life is imparted; a new nature is given.² In that blood is found every motive for a holy life. Through that blood comes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It shows the terrible evil of sin while it forgives. It cleanses from the tendency to sin.

1:8 … “If we say we have no sin.” In other words, if we say that we are absolutely sinless, and need not the application of Christ’s cleansing blood (Biblical Museum). John is writing to people whose sins have been forgiven; and therefore, necessarily, the present tense (we have) refers not to any previous state of sinful life before conversion, but to their now existing state and the sins to which they are liable in that state. And in referring in this way, it takes up the conclusion of the last verse, in which the onward cleansing power of the sanctifying blood of Christ was asserted: as if it were said, “this state of needing cleansing from all present sin is veritably that of all of us, and the recognition and confession of it is the very first essential of walking in the light.” (Alford)

Illustration
A young girl was sweeping a hotel room, when she went to the window and hastily pulled the curtain. She was heard to say, “It makes the room so dusty to have sunshine coming in.” Tyndall found by a ray of light through a glass tube, that air, which was supposed to be perfectly free from all life-germs, still possessed them. The beam of light was the most perfect test. So God’s light will show us sin in our hearts where we had not supposed any to exist.

1:8 … “We deceive ourselves.” Not God, Who knows our innermost hearts, but ourselves. We have measured ourselves by a wrong standard. No man knows himself who supposes that in all respects he is perfectly pure. Dreams of perfection in the flesh would be little entertained if men kept clearly in view the distinction between what we are in Christ and what we are in ourselves. To be in Him is to be saved at once and forever from the condemnation of sin, but, as the lives of the highest and the lowest saints alike testify, not immediately from the presence and in-working of sin. “Christ had sin on Him, though He had no sin in Him. And just in proportion to the completeness of our abiding in Him by communion and obedience will we be free from sin within, as He is from sin on Him.” (Gordon)

1:8 … “And the truth is not in us.” That truth respecting God’s holiness and our own sinfulness, “which is the very first spark of light within, has no place in us at all.” (Alford)

If it is asked what then is the difference between a Christian and a sinner, the answer is:

a. That the Christian repents, and the sinner does not;
b. The Christian is forgiven, the sinner is not;
c. The Christian has a new life in him, which is conquering the evil, the sinner has not;
d. The Christian sometimes falls into sin, but hates it, and strives, and prays against it, the sinner’s main life is without God, and he chooses not all sins, but some sins. Sin in the sinner is the main current of his life; sin in the Christian is an eddy contrary to the main current.
e. The Christian feels himself more sinful than the sinner, because he measures himself by a higher standard.

1:9 … “If we confess our sins.” To God, with words, but such as spring from true repentance in the heart; involving also confession to our fellow-men of offences committed against them. The mere confession in abstracto that we have sin, would be without truth and value unless it be attended by the perception and acknowledgment of concrete particular sins. “It is much easier to make pious speeches concerning repentance and the greatness of the misery engendered by sin, than in a specific case of sin to see one’s wrong, admit and repent it: John requires the latter.” (Mombert)

1:9 … “He is faithful and just.” Faithful to His promises, to His holy nature that loves men; and just, because in forgiving men for Christ’s sake, God’s justice and righteousness are satisfied so that God may be just, and yet the Justifier of all who believe in Jesus. God is just as well as merciful even in forgiving men.

1:9 … “And to cleanse us.” He would not be just if He forgave without purifying us from sin. Now He is just in making us also just. He forgives in such a way as to meet His own sense of justice, and create justice in us.

1:10 … “If we say that we have not sinned.” “Not a mere repetition, but a confirmation and intensification of v. 8; this verse is related to v. 9, as v. 8 is to v. 7. The perfect tense, so far from removing the time to that before conversion, brings it down to the present.” (Alford)

1:10 … “We make him a liar [because it contradicts His Word and His mission to sinners through His Son Jesus, Who came to save us from sin], and his word is not in us.” “His word” is “the truth” (v. 8). Our rejection of “his word,” in respect to our being sinners, implies as the consequence our rejection of His Word and will, revealed in the Law and Gospel as a whole; for throughout these rest on the fact that we have sinned and have sin.

6. THE SAVIOR WHO ENABLES US TO WALK IN THE LIGHT

“In this verse, John seems definitely to have had in mind the possible perversion of the teachings he had just written. ‘If we can never in this life be done with sin, why strive after holiness?’ and ‘If escape is so easy, why dread falling into sin?’ The promise of forgiveness of sins (1 John 1:9) and the mention of its universality (1 John 1:8, 10) might indeed, on the surface, be thought to encourage a light view of sin” (Coffman). Orr wrote, “Some might say, ‘I may as well commit sin; everyone else does; God will forgive me; what else is he for?’ John contradicted all such false views. Furthermore, the force of this passage may not be diminished by the interpretation that ‘sin’ in this passage means ‘a life of sin.’ Both verbs are aorists; acts of sin, rather than a sinful course of life, are in view.”

2:1 … “My little children.” John was aged and experienced, and those to whom he wrote were far younger in Christian experience and knowledge, if not in years.

Commentators are sharply divided on the meaning of this expression in this chapter. While it is generally admitted that John here used "little children" as a designation of the whole congregation, “the repeated use of the word, especially the use of two different words for children (paidia and teknia) seems to suggest a different meaning later in the chapter. Paidia is the word used in 1 John 2:13 and 1 John 2:18. The other word is used in 1 John 2:12, 28; 1 John 3:7, 18; 1 John 4:4, and 1 John 5:21. By John’s use of ‘little children’ as a reference to the whole church, some have concluded that John was an old man when he wrote this.” (Coffman)

2:1 … “These things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” This is the great and blessed end – sinlessness, like that of the sinless One.” “This,” Calvin says, “is not only a summing-up of what goes before, but, so to speak, a recapitulation of the whole Gospel; that we should cease from sin.” This agrees with what he said in 1 John 1:4, i.e., that he wrote these things that their joy may be full; for only as we are free from sin can we be full of joy. Despite the fact that John had just admitted that no one was able to be sinless, he nevertheless stated without equivocation that, “The hallmark of the Christian life is the absence of sin.”

2:1 … “And if any man sin.” If anyone fails and slips in his efforts to be without sin, if he is wounded in the battle, if he is conscious of his imperfections and errors.

2:1 … “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The word here translated Advocate was translated Comforter in John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7. Of course, in those passages, the Comforter refers to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send to be “with the Christians,” especially the apostles; but here the Comforter is the Christ who is “with the Father.” Some critics have tried to make a big issue out of this so-called difference; but, as Coffman points out, “there is no difference at all. In both cases, the Comforter is for the advantage and encouragement of Christians, Christ with the Father, and the Holy Spirit with Christians. Furthermore, did not Christ Himself make this perfectly plain when He said, ‘He shall give you another Comforter’ (John 14:16)? Even in that passage, it is clear that Christ Himself is the other One.”

It sometimes means one who takes up his client’s cause to carry it through by pleadings and acts – an advocate; sometimes one who goes forth to make peace between two parties, beseeching for an offender – an intercessor; sometimes one who stands by the sinking sufferer, uttering words of consolation and strength – a comforter. “All these offices concur in Jesus Christ, Who is our Advocate to urge our cause, an Intercessor to make our peace, our Comforter to fill us with joy.” (Alexander)

2:2 … “And he is the propitiation for our sins,” i.e., the Propitiatory – one who makes propitiation;³ who propitiates in the sense of making pardon possible by a righteous God, consistently with due regard to the law which sin has broken, and the sacredness of the penalty which the transgressor has incurred. “The way being thus opened, the infinite love of God flows out naturally and mightily in the freest forgiveness of the penitent who accepts for himself the atonement made by Jesus.” (Cowles)

“This rendition is to be preferred to ‘expiation’ in subsequent versions. Although it is true that expiation is a synonym of propitiation, the latter meaning is a little different. Although this word appears frequently in the Septuagint (LXX), it is found only here and in 1 John 4:10 in the whole New Testament. The objection to ‘propitiation’ is purely ‘theological.’ It is said to conjure up ideas of vengeful and vindictive pagan deities who had to be ‘appeased’ by offerings and bribes, ideas which, of course, are foreign to any true ideas of God. Nevertheless, despite the scholars’ support of their preference with ‘linguistic arguments,’ there is a sense in which the anger and wrath of Almighty God were indeed turned away by the sufferings of Christ. The Greek word to be translated by one of these words (propitiation, or expiation) is hilasmos, the primary meaning being ‘the removal of wrath.’ It is this element of the meaning which some would like to get rid of. However, there is a divine wrath against every form of sin (Rom. 1:18), and God’s forgiveness is not merely the ignoring of this wrath. ‘Expiation’ carries the meaning that Christ’s blood indeed procured for people the forgiveness of sins, but it leaves out the connection with God’s wrath. Full agreement here is felt with Stott, Morris, and others who preferred ‘propitiation.’ There are implications in the atonement wrought by the death of Christ that are completely beyond any total understanding by finite intelligence. ‘Propitiation’ means the ‘removal of wrath,’ and ‘expiation’ means the ‘removal of guilt’; but in view of the fact of God’s wrath being a reality mentioned countless times in the New Testament, it would appear to be far better to retain the word that includes ‘removal of wrath’ in its meaning.” (Coffman)

2:2 … “But also the sins of the whole world.” The atonement is large enough to take in all men in all ages. Its nature is such that what is enough for one is enough for all. The way is prepared, and the entire world can walk in it if they will. He is the only propitiation for the world. There is no other way of salvation provided, and any who are saved must be saved by this Savior. Therefore, this Savior should be preached to the whole world. Salvation is dearer to every Christian, because it is not narrow, but broad; not for a few, but available to all.

Inherent in a statement like (the “sins of the whole world”) is the fact that the same basis for forgiving one sin is also the basis for forgiving all sins. There was no limit whatever to the satisfaction that Christ provided as the basis for forgiving sins. Of course, it is not implied here that sins are forgiven unconditionally, either those of persons now saved or of the whole world in general. We must therefore reject such a notion as this: “Multitudes may be saved through this redemption who never heard of Christ.” Universalism is an attractive thesis for many, but there is no hint of such a thing in the New Testament.

7. THE TEST WHETHER WE ARE WALKING IN THE LIGHT

2:3 … “Hereby we do know that we know him.” With the experimental knowledge of love and fellowship, the knowledge that comes from abiding in Him and He in us. He now gives us an infallible test.

Hereby we know – similar words are used several times in this letter to introduce “tests” by which the validity of one’s faith might be tested (1 John 2:5, 29; 1 John 3:19, 24; 1 John 4:2, 6, 13, and 1 John 5:2). In other words, it is keeping the commandments of the Lord, walking in the light, doing the truth, obeying the word, etc., all of which are the final determination regarding whether one is saved or lost.

2:3 … “If we keep his commandments.” Which commandments are meant? All of them; there is no way to limit these to the ethical or moral commandments; those relating to the worship of God are likewise included. To keep God’s commandments is equivalent to keeping his word, “And this means the truth of God as it is in Christ.” The obligation extends to the entirety of the New Testament revelation.

Contrary to the criterion accepted by some in determining if they are saved, this denies that a person's “feelings” in such a question can be trusted. It is too easy to fall into illusions about ourselves, especially if we make too much of our religious feelings. Keeping the commandments of God is the prerequisite; the test either of loving God (John 14:15) or knowing God. Coffman points out that “Macknight supposed that John was teaching against ‘the Nicolaitans and Gnostics who affirmed that the only thing necessary to eternal life was the knowledge of the true God.’”

“To keep preserves its peculiar meaning of watching, guarding, as some precious thing” (Alford). The natural outflow of a knowledge of God that comes from being like Him is the same kind of action as God’s, which is expressed in His commandments. Therefore, obedience is the proof of this knowledge, as the shining of the rays is the proof that the lamp is lighted. If it is lighted, it must shine.

2:4 … “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar.” He declares what is not true, and what cannot be true. The outflow from the heart proves what is in the heart. If the plant bears thistle-blooms or bramble-briars, it cannot be a grape-vine.

This verse is the negative of the same teaching in 1 John 2:3. Here, John's converse statement of the same principle is blunt, powerful, and incapable of being misunderstood. It reminds us of Jesus' saying, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21).

All talk of knowing God, loving God, or even of “believing” or “having faith” is meaningless in the mouths of people who dishonor the commandments of the Lord through disobedience and failure to do the “work of faith.” It is even more than meaningless; it is falsehood.

2:5 … “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” This is identical in meaning with “if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). The commandments of God are the expression of perfect love, what perfected love would naturally do. Therefore, when our lives, in thought and word and deed, are in perfect accordance with God’s Word, we know that our love to God is perfect; complete. We cannot claim perfect love till we have a perfect life in every respect conformed to God’s Word. Then, too, God’s love to us has perfected its work in us.

2:5 … “The love of God has been perfected.” “The love of God” is objective, referring not to God’s love of us, but to “our love to God.” Here is another glimpse of that absolute perfection that is the goal, or should be the goal, of our Christian living (mentioned by Jesus in Matt. 5:48, and referred to by all the New Testament writers). Although unattainable by humans in their own strength, it can nevertheless be achieved in us and for us by means of our being “in Christ” and thereby partaking of the absolute perfection of the Savior Himself (Col. 1:28). Significantly, the necessity of being in Christ is the concluding thought of this verse.

2:5 … “Hereby we know that we are in him.” Although the grammatical structure makes “God” the antecedent of “in him,” still the meaning is “in Christ.” Being “in God” and “in Christ” are one and the same. This thought comes to the foreground a number of times in this letter. John placed the same importance; the same priority on this conception that is given to it in the writings of the Apostle Paul who used the expression “in Christ,” or its equivalent, some 169 times.

The idea of the corporate body of Christ was never developed by either Paul or John, but is derived from the Lord Himself, Who gave the foundation of it in such teaching as that of the vine, the apostles being the branches, and all Christians abiding “in him,” “in the true vine.” (John 15).

“We are in Christ not by spiritual enjoyments, not by ecstatic absorption into the divine abyss, such as later and degenerate mysticism delighted to describe, but by the power to do His holy will in absolute self-surrender and consecration, do we know that we have union with God.” (Pope)

2:6 … “In him.” At first glance, these words seem to refer to being “in God;” but as Morris noted: “The reference to walking in this verse shows that ‘in him’ means Jesus Christ. In any case John regularly associates the two in the closest possible fashion, and it is often difficult to be quite sure which is meant.”

2:6 … “Ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.” Christ is not only the principle of holiness, but also the pattern of holiness to His people. “They that say they abide in Him must walk as He walked” (Caryl). How did He walk? The answer is written at large in the Gospels (Cook).

Claiming to be “in Christ” carries the obligation of the claimant to exhibit the true likeness of Christ in one’s behavior. Obedience, not feelings, is the true test of union; and the Christian who is really such has least to tell of experiences and special visitations.

8. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS

a. v. 5: God is light and love, the two most beautiful and desirable things in existence.

b. God’s power is like light, so gentle that the most delicate insect floats delightedly in its rays, yet so mighty that it is the source of nearly all the known power in the world.

c. Sin is darkness; it tends to ignorance, error, every form of evil, sorrow, death.

d. v. 6: He that has fellowship with God is necessarily in the light; he that walks in the light enters into fellowship with God.

e. v. 7: Christians are like one another so far as they are like God; are near to one another when near to God.

f. The qualities symbolized by light have a natural tendency to unite those who possess them in love, in action, in sympathy.

g. Fellowship brings with it great blessings, comfort, mutual help, love, sympathy, higher lives, broader knowledge, more successful work, fullness of joy.

h. Two great needs of men – forgiveness and cleansing.

i. v. 8: The more fully we come into the light of God, the more conscious we are of our impurity and imperfection, as a great artist or musician sees defects in his work unnoticed by amateurs, or even imagined to be virtues.

j. vs. 1, 2: The object of the Bible is to deliver us from sin.

k. The Gospel salvation is large enough for the whole world.

l. The test of perfect love is a life perfectly conformed to God’s Word.

Footnotes:
¹ For more information on the Spirit, see God the Spirit in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
² For more information on salvation, see God’s Salvation in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
³ For more detailed information on propitiation, see God’s Salvation in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.

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