1 John chapter 1
1:1 John here and below alludes to his eyewitness status. That of which he speaks, he has witnessed personally.
His witness pertains to the Word of life, which is the proclamation concerning the One in whom was life (John 1:4).
1:2 Was manifested means "appeared." The life John and others saw (John 14:6) is what 1 John seeks to convey
to its readers. John says this life, which is summed up and was shown forth in Jesus Christ, was with the Father;
this statement echoes John 1:1 and points to Christ's preexistence, His eternal presence and oneness with God
the Father.
1:3 John seeks to establish, or perhaps to broaden, the fellowship between himself and his readers. "Fellowship"
here means "a close association or relationship"; in Christian terms this means mutual acceptance of and
submission to the verities of Christian faith. It means sharing in personal knowledge of and heartfelt obedience to
God through Jesus Christ.
1:4 The major purpose of 1 John is stated in 5:13, but another purpose is stated here: for the recipients, and no
doubt John as well, to enjoy and share in the deep sense of satisfaction and purpose that knowing Christ and
walking with Him brings.
1:5 Again John implies his eyewitness status, having heard of him, that is, Jesus. John passes on to the church
teaching he first received from Jesus. Light and darkness here have ethical overtones. John is saying that God is
perfect and good; there is thus no sin or evil in Him. This will have implications for followers of this God in the
following verses.
1:6 Walk in darkness means walking in sin. John may have had in mind people who claimed to be enjoying a close
relationship with God, but whose lives were clearly characterized by sin. Such a state of affairs, John says boldly,
is impossible; such persons are lying.
1:7. "God is the light" ( v, 5): To walk in this light, which is to live free from bondage to sin (cf. Romans 6:18), is to
make true communion between believers possible. Jesus' violent death on the cross, which is what blood signifies,
is the initial antidote for and ultimate defense against sin's presence and power.
1:8. Others seem to have been claiming that they had no sin. Jesus had taught that those who owned up to their
sin could find forgiveness, while those who were blind to their sin would be left mired in it (cf. John 9:41).
1:9. This is a restatement of verse 7. We ought not to deny our sins ( v, 8 ), but rather con fess them before God.
This opens the door for His forgiving and cleansing light to purify our hearts. Unrighteousness is another way of
saying "sin".2:1. My little children indicates John's deep concern for his readers. In preceding verses he had been
concerned with erroneous notions that some may have held and advocated; now he turns directly to his
addressees. Advocate is a legal term for "one who intercedes for another.
1:10. To deny one's sinfulness ( v 8 ) or sins is not just to deceive oneself; it is to make God a liar by denying His
Word. Both Old and New Testaments stress the universality of man's sin ( e.g.., Job 4:17; Ps. 14:3; Is. 53:6;
Romans 3:10-18, 23).
1 John Chapter 2
2:1. My little children indicates John's deep concern for his readers. In preceding verses he had been concerned
with erroneous notions that some may have held and addvocated; now he turns directly to his addressees.
Advocate is a legal term for "one who intercedes for another.
2:2. Propitiation is here an atoning sacrifice. Jesus bore in His body the punishment due us for our sin; in so doing
He propitiated God, satisfies God's just demand that sin be punished. Thus Jesus is both the advocate for for
sinners ( v 1 ) and the sacrifice for their sins.
2:3. John writes so that his readers may not sin ( v 1 ). Now he sets forth a characteristic of geniune knowledge of
God: obedience to His commandments. This is a major teaching of Jesus. see note on 2 John 6.
2:5. Perfected is in the perfect tense. John refers to the decisive and enduring effect of the indwelling love of God.
But the test of knowing God's love is keeping His Word.
2:6. Even as he walked refers to Jesus' earthly days. While no one can or need duplicate Jesus' atoning ministry,
His disciples are called on to imitate His devotion to God and compassion for others. see John 13:15; I Peter 2:21.
2:7, 8. John's commandment is both old and new. This commandment, as is clear below, is to love one another.
Jesus called it "new" in John 13:34, though it appearsin similar form in Leviticus 19:18. By late in John's life it is no
longer so new; yet in the sense that it continually transforms and renews the lives of Christians, it is and ever shall
be new indeed.
2:9. Doctrinal truth about spiritual matters means nothing without compassion for others. For John, hateth seems
to mean simply "fails to love."
2:10. He who truly loves (not "he that saith," v. 9) abideth in the light, that is, the presence of God. He does not
stumble, nor does he cause others to stumble. John stresses actions, not mere words (cf. 3:18).
2:11. Walketh means "lives." He habitually spends his life in darkness, or sin. See Corinthians 4:4 for the blinding
effect of Satan and sin.
2:12-14. John addresses different groups and assures them of their steadfastness in the true faith, contrary to
many of those with whom his letter must deal. Little children, fathers, young men, and so on, may refer to actual
age groups. Or it may have reference to spiritual maturity or level of responsibility in the fellowship, for example, to
new Christians being "children."
2:15. Love not the world is a command implying that action now in progress must cease: "Stop loving the world!"
There is, of course, one sense in which Christians should love the world, since God Himself did and does (John
3:16). But in the sense of pledging personal
2:16. World for John signifies the evil desire and sin so much a part of human existence.
2:18. In verse 17 John has stated that the present evil order of things is passing away. This leads to his
affirmation that it is the last time. Antichrist appears in the whole New Testament only here and in verse 22, 4:3,
and 2 John 2:7. He is the ultimate opponent of God, God's plans, and God's people. (See also 2 Thess. 2:1-12;
Mark 13:14.) The presence of so much false teaching, John implies, reminds believers of the constant threat
posed by evil to believers. Yet they need not fear; they need only be diligent and not slack.
2:19. Some in the church, but now departed, were never really part of it. Here is a clear distinction between those
who merely appear to be Christians, based on outward affiliation, and those who really are, whom the Lord knows
and claims as His own (1. Cor. 8:3; Gal. 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:19).
2:20. Unction means anointing. John refers to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14-16.) Yet
Scripture does not suggest that God's Spirit works in hearts apart from God's Word (e.g., James 1:18, 21). This
unction, then, predisposes John's readers to recognize and respond to God's truth, but not to arrive at it
independently of the biblical and apostolic Word. Had the readers been capable of knowing all things apart from
written and spoken instruction, 1 John would not need to have been written.
2:22. Literally, the liar. He is the epitome of a lying deceiver who claims to represent Christianity (as John's
opponents, probably Gnostics, were doing), but who accords Jesus Christ less than His full due as Savior and
coequal partner with the Father. These should be sobering words for modern understandings of religion and
Christianity which deny Christ His scriptural status by making Him less than fully divine.
2:23. Because God has chosen to reveal Himself definitively in Christ, it is not possible to know God personally
and truly without fully acknowledging Christ in the fullness of His power and being.
2:24. John exhorts his readers to persevere in the face of false teaching and belief. The Greek text emphasizes
the readers, in contrast to those who have gone out (v. 19): "You, therefore, let what you have heard from the
beginning abide in you."
2:26. John makes it clear that much of his treatise has been called forth by opponents of orthodox teaching.
2:27. Ephesians 4:11-16 indicates that the Spirit often uses human instruments to fulfill His role of enabling
believers to distinguish between truth and error. In any case it is the Word of God that furnishes the believer with
knowledge, and which the Spirit then makes relevant and applicable in the believer's life. See Romans 10:17.
2:28. Wishing to please the Lord, and not to be ashamed before him at his coming, ought to motivate believers to
stand firm, to abide in him.
2:29. The idea seems to be that he who practices what is right, being born of God (3:9), need not fear Christ's
coming (v. 28). Spiritual rebirth is stressed in John. See 4:7; 5:1, 4,18; also John 1:13:3-8.
1 John Chapter 3
3:1. Bestowed is in the perfect tense, suggesting the enduring effect of the love God has given. Believers are
children of God by virtue of being born of Him (2:29). Jesus stressed a connection between how the world related
to God and how it would in turn relate to Christ's true followers (John 15:18). After God the phrase "And we are"
should be added, according to many ancient manuscripts.
3:2. At Jesus' coming (2:28) we shall be somehow transformed into His likeness. This process has already begun
in the believers' life (2 Cor. 3:18).
3:3. At Christ's coming His followers will be transformed, but in the meantime they need to be diligent in growth in
holiness-he is pure, and it is the "pure in heart" who shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
3:4. John turns from stress on Christ's and Christian purity to the need for believers to abstain from sin. The verse
means: "Everyone who sins is indulging in unlawful behavior; sin is in fact lawlessness."
3:5. He was manifested: Christcame to take away sin; this is another reason why Christians should not practice sin.
3:6. To abide in Christ is to be dead in sin (cf. Rom. 6). The one who habitually lives in sin has never been
transformed by Christ's life-changing power and purity.
3:7, 8. There could well be a temptation to water down God's Word at this point. John resists such a move. Sin is
of the Devil. Christ came to destroy the Devil's deeds. To do the Devil's deeds is to declare allegiance to him, not
to Christ. Thus sin and being a Christian are mutually exclusive.
3:12 See Genesis 4:8. Of that wicked one refers to a child of the Devil (verse 10). Cain killed Abel because of
their conflicting allegiances (Cain to Satan, Abel's to God) were plain to see by their respective actions. John
seems to be saying: "If even wicked Cain could see that a man's character is revealed ultimately, not in the what
he says he believes, but in what he does, should not Christians be able to see this as well?"
3:13 Jesus warned His followers that they would be despised (John 15:18-25).
3:14, 15 Death and life here symbolize unbelief and saving faith, respectively. A murderer (one whose heart is full
of hate or even destructive apathy) can, of course, be forgiven of such sin--but one who is truly forgiven will no
longer abide in his murderous nature.
3:16, 17 The standard of our love is God's love in Christ, who died for us. Love that observes need, and does not
act to minister to it, is no love at all. Bowels of compassion in modern English would be "heart," proceeding from
our inward core of awareness and action.
3:18 In tongue refers to mere talk.
1 John Page 2