1 John 2

OK, Confession time: I got carried away in that last lesson and ran on into the next one. For your convenience, I copied and pasted that part again below. If you remember it and want to, skip to the Antichrist! You may have to wait an extra week until I have time to work in Chapter 3, because the quarterly we are using skips that chapter.

:15 – 17 – Don't love the world – don't become attached to it. Paul says at the beginning of Romans 12, “Don't be conformed to this world.” JB Phillips' translation says “Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.” I really like that, because the world tries to make us conform. Current Political Correctness is becoming a school of ethics demanding all surrender. The big current example keeps knocking down any walls of sexual boundaries. So far only child abuse and outright rape are the only things they consider sin. Everything else you may want to do is ok, as long as the participants agree. Of course, underlying this is a deep resentment of morality that would stifle one's slightest whim. Both Paul and John command us to resist this. Indeed, you love either the world or God. You cannot love both. Note that “world” here refers to humans in rebellion against God, not planet Earth.

Compare verse 16 with Genesis 3:6:

the lust of the flesh – the fruit of the tree was good for food

the lust of the eyes, - pleasing to the eye

the pride of life – desirable for gaining wisdom

Almost certainly John had that comparison in mind. And not the results. “their eyes were opened.” And what was this new wisdom? They discovered they were naked! Like duh!

Likewise, the path of sin today still leads to major crashes. We've all been there. But the good news is that the sacrifice of the cross, brings redemption. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and go on cleansing us from every bit of unrighteousness!”

This world is temporal as is its political correctness. But the Kingdom of God is eternal. Our most important citizenship is in His Kingdom. So let's live as citizens of that Eternal Kingdom!

ANTICHRIST(S) – All my life I've heard the Antichrist is coming. First some said it was Hitler, the Stalin, then Hussein. I've even heard Bush and Obama accused of being the “man of evil,” though obviously not by the same people. Both groups need to get more into this love thing.

People getting caught up in Revelation and related apocalyptic works conveniently ignore 1 John. But if they're going to pick and choose from Corinthians and Thessalonians, why not 1 John. After all, most believe he's the same dude that wrote Revelation. He says some shocking things if you take him seriously.

This is the last hour. THEN? Around 80-90 AD? The quarterly writer suggests that all time between the Ascension of Christ and the end of the world can be called the last hour. Others suggest the early church expected Jesus back any day. Other writings had projected that a sign of the end would be the appearance of Antichrist. John now says there's not just one, but a whole host of antichrists and that proves it's the last hour. In verse 22, he defines the antichrist as whoever claims that Jesus is NOT the Messiah. That denial of the Son results in also denying the Father. The two go together. Believers know that Jesus was God in the flesh. Anything else is a lie, and the one uttering it is an antichrist.

Remember the churches were in an early stage. They were determining what was true and what was false about Jesus. All sorts of idea emerged, and the churches leaned heavily on the authority of the apostles, the men who had been with Jesus. They had been there, so their witness was valid. Churches valued writings by these men. John here is affirming that Jesus and God go together, and Son and Father.

We have had the NT all our lives, so it's easy to forget that John's first readers did not have the entire NT, and we don't know which books they did have. Most of those books had been written by this time, but now every church had all 20+ of them. I've read a number of other books that the church refused to accept as scripture, and they show there were many ideas competing out there. They are very diverse, and some are just plain weird. So it's no wonder that the church leaned strongly on apostolic testimony including Paul.

In verse 20 John says they know the truth because they have an anointing from the Holy One. Likely he meant they had the leadership of the Holy Spirit that would lead them to the truth in fact he writes them precisely because they are believers and he wants to confirm them in their faith.

KEEP THE FAITH

He repeats his theme from verse 1. Remember what you heard from when you became a Christian? Right from the beginning? As you stay with that, you will also stay connected to Jesus and to the Father. That reminds me of Jesus's challenge in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches. The branch draws its life from the vine, so it much remain connected or it withers. Indeed, in verse 25 John claims exactly that – eternal life. Also remember that eternal life is not only everlasting life, a quantity. Eternal life is also a quality of life, life as a citizen in the Kingdom of God. Compare the beatitudes in Matthew 5 and the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.

1 John 2

OK, Confession time: I got carried away in that last lesson and ran on into the next one. For your convenience, I copied and pasted that part again below. If you remember it and want to, skip to the Antichrist!

:15 – 17 – Don't love the world – don't become attached to it. Paul says at the beginning of Romans 12, “Don't be conformed to this world.” JB Phillips' translation says “Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.” I really like that, because the world tries to make us conform. Current Political Correctness is becoming a school of ethics demanding all surrender. The big current example keeps knocking down any walls of sexual boundaries. So far only child abuse and outright rape are the only things they consider sin. Everything else you may want to do is ok, as long as the participants agree. Of course, underlying this is a deep resentment of morality that would stifle one's slightest whim. Both Paul and John command us to resist this. Indeed, you love either the world or God. You cannot love both. Note that “world” here refers to humans in rebellion against God, not planet Earth.

Compare verse 16 with Genesis 3:6:

the lust of the flesh – the fruit of the tree was good for food

the lust of the eyes, - pleasing to the eye

the pride of life – desirable for gaining wisdom

Almost certainly John had that comparison in mind. And not the results. “their eyes were opened.” And what was this new wisdom? They discovered they were naked! Like duh!

Likewise, the path of sin today still leads to major crashes. We've all been there. But the good news is that the sacrifice of the cross, brings redemption. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and go on cleansing us from every bit of unrighteousness!”

This world is temporal as is its political correctness. But the Kingdom of God is eternal. Our most important citizenship is in His Kingdom. So let's live as citizens of that Eternal Kingdom!

ANTICHRIST(S) – All my life I've heard the Antichrist is coming. First some said it was Hitler, the Stalin, then Hussein. I've even heard Bush and Obama accused of being the “man of evil,” though obviously not by the same people. Both groups need to get more into this love thing.

People getting caught up in Revelation and related apocalyptic works conveniently ignore 1 John. But if they're going to pick and choose from Corinthians and Thessalonians, why not 1 John. After all, most believe he's the same dude that wrote Revelation. He says some shocking things if you take him seriously.

This is the last hour. THEN? Around 80-90 AD? The quarterly writer suggests that all time between the Ascension of Christ and the end of the world can be called the last hour. Others suggest the early church expected Jesus back any day. Other writings had projected that a sign of the end would be the appearance of Antichrist. John now says there's not just one, but a whole host of antichrists and that proves it's the last hour. In verse 22, he defines the antichrist as whoever claims that Jesus is NOT the Messiah. That denial of the Son results in also denying the Father. The two go together. Believers know that Jesus was God in the flesh. Anything else is a lie, and the one uttering it is an antichrist.

Remember the churches were in an early stage. They were determining what was true and what was false about Jesus. All sorts of idea emerged, and the churches leaned heavily on the authority of the apostles, the men who had been with Jesus. They had been there, so their witness was valid. Churches valued writings by these men. John here is affirming that Jesus and God go together, and Son and Father.

We have had the NT all our lives, so it's easy to forget that John's first readers did not have the entire NT, and we don't know which books they did have. Most of those books had been written by this time, but now every church had all 20+ of them. I've read a number of other books that the church refused to accept as scripture, and they show there were many ideas competing out there. They are very diverse, and some are just plain weird. So it's no wonder that the church leaned strongly on apostolic testimony including Paul.

In verse 20 John says they know the truth because they have an anointing from the Holy One. Likely he meant they had the leadership of the Holy Spirit that would lead them to the truth in fact he writes them precisely because they are believers and he wants to confirm them in their faith.

KEEP THE FAITH

He repeats his theme from verse 1. Remember what you heard from when you became a Christian? Right from the beginning? As you stay with that, you will also stay connected to Jesus and to the Father. That reminds me of Jesus's challenge in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches. The branch draws its life from the vine, so it much remain connected or it withers. Indeed, in verse 25 John claims exactly that – eternal life. Also remember that eternal life is not only everlasting life, a quantity. Eternal life is also a quality of life, life as a citizen in the Kingdom of God. Compare the beatitudes in Matthew 5 and the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.