The Epistle of 1 John – Part Seven

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

This is the seventh part of a series on the epistle of 1 John written by John the apostle. In this series we will cover the basic concerns John had for writing this letter to Christians. Included are the fourteen reasons he wrote these epistles of 1, 2 and 3 John as well as the eleven assurances we have that establish our salvation as a Christian.

 

In 1 John 2:27 we see a curious statement by John regarding the Holy Spirit that lives within each Christian. It says,

 

“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit — just as it has taught you, remain in Him.”

 

Does this mean that we don’t need to go to church to hear pastors preach sermons? Does it mean for us to forget any inclination we might have to participate in a small group Bible study fellowship? No it does not. There are many scripture verses that instruct us to fellowship with other Christians so we can support one another in our Christian walk by teaching each other, but also so we can learn more about who God is and how to walk in His commands more effectively.

 

Romans 12:4-8

“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

 

Romans 15:4

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

 

Colossians 3:16-17

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

 

We also know that many scriptures describe how pastors and teachers were blessed with gifts to instruct and lead people in the faith. This was God’s plan for the church, that various individuals with gifts of teaching, preaching and instruction would grow His children in their knowledge of the faith and help them understand how to apply it appropriately in their lives.

 

Ephesians 4:11-13

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

 

1 Corinthians 12:27-28

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration,”

 

Titus 2:1-5

“You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

 

What John is saying in this verse is that since God places within each believer the Holy Spirit to guide them in truth, they will have some discernment about what is true and what is false. If the Christian is listening for the Holy Spirit to guide them in their life and if they “remain” in Christ, that is, stay in close fellowship with Jesus, they will be able to discern truth from error. John knows that the teaching of Christians is a necessity in God’s church fellowship, but he also knows that there is a special anointing that Christians have because God’s Spirit lives within them. This anointing is the Holy Spirit who will convict us of error if we are willing to respond to His direction. It is the instruction and guidance He gives which will show us the proper path to take or decision to make if we are submissive to His advice which is often spoken to us with scripture references. It is of course obvious that the more we read and study scripture, live by what it says, pray for direction and cultivate a relationship with our Heavenly Father, the more perceptive we will be of the Holy Spirit’s direction through this anointing.

 

In the next verse John makes another curious statement.

 

“And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”

 

How would we be ashamed at the coming of Jesus Christ? Why would be fail to have confidence in the quality of our faith when we see Jesus return? We might possibly sense shame because we would not have been living according to His example. Maybe we would feel shame because we had not been making choices and decisions based on His Word and the influence of the Holy Spirit. John is expressing his concern that those who follow Christ be always ready for the return of their Savior and Lord.

 

All of us should live with a daily expectation of the return of Jesus Christ to earth. It would be to our benefit that we always be ready at any moment for this event to occur. If we live our lives in loving obedience to Jesus’ commands and if we truly strive to die to self and let the Holy Spirit lead us, then we will be able to stand before Jesus with an unashamed heart and conscience. It would be a true blessing to hear from Jesus, “Well done true and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21) It would be quite another experience to stand before Christ, knowing we are saved and going to Heaven, but also being aware that we did not live our best for Him.

 

One very important comment I would like to make about being ready for the return of Christ is this; readiness for the return of Christ also means we will live in the condition of blessing and reward that comes from living in obedience. We are called to obey God out of our love for Him not only because it gives God glory and honors Christ, we also lovingly obey because it is in our best interest. God knows we will never be happier, more joyful, more fulfilled then when we are living in obedience to His Son, listening to the Holy Spirit and abiding by His Word.

 

In verse 29 we have the obvious conclusive observation that is pure holy common sense.

 

“If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.”

 

John is saying here that we know Jesus was holy, perfect and righteous and anyone who has truly accepted Him as Savior and Lord will do what is right according to His example, the Word and the Holy Spirit. This verifies that we are born of the Spirit and anyone else who claims to be a follower of Jesus and does what is right according to the commands of Jesus is born of the Spirit as well.

 

1 John chapter 3 begins with a most glorious expression of amazement by John. He states in verse 1;

 

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

 

John is using the most descriptive words he can here to express his absolute and overwhelming amazement concerning the blessing of God’s love being expressed towards us when He accepts us as His children. John gives us the impression that the depth and passionate intensity of God’s love for us is incomprehensible. Our Heavenly Father lavishes upon us a love of great magnitude. We were rebellious, sinful and imperfect, but He loved us so much He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that He could have a relationship with us and that we could be blessed by the purifying blood of Christ upon our lives. His love includes guidance and instruction on how to live not only to bring Him honor and glory but to protect us and bring us ultimate godly happiness. He even went beyond anything we could even imagine and places within us His Holy Spirit as a sealing gift to verify we are saved. The Holy Spirit also is given to us to serve as a guide, comforter and encourager. When you consider how we were in our unsaved state and that God made the first move to touch our lives with His love and reach out and save us, it truly is amazing.

 

But there is also a warning in this verse for us. John tells us that because we become a part of God’s family when we submit to the Lordship of Christ, the world will not know us. The world will rarely understand us. The world will even seek to do us harm at times because it does not know our Heavenly Father because they do not know His Son. Because they do not know the Father or the Son, they do not have His Holy Spirit. John wants us to know why the world will often not want to know us or may seek to persecute us. Our mission and ministry is despite their lack of knowledge of God, we are to share who God is with them so they might know Him as we do.

 

So because as a Christian we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit we can discern truth from error. But with this anointing comes the responsibility of living holy so we will not be ashamed at the return of Christ. Our knowledge of the fact that God loves us as His children is truly amazing. Praise God!