2011 Black Stump Festival Bible Study (session 3 of 3)

If God is Love, Then We Are…

[before proceeding, please read 1 John 3:11–5:12]

In part 2 of this series we discovered how important it was for John to protect his followers from opponents who were tearing the community apart due to their belief in their own sinlessness and their refusal to accept that Jesus was God.  John sought to encourage his followers that holding fast to the beliefs they learned from him, as a direct witness of Jesus, rather than the ‘new’ teachings of his opponents, secured their identity as children of God and was the path to eternal life.

John also began to highlight how their bond as a community, how they interacted with and behaved between one another, was an important aspect of right thinking and behaviour.  This theme of the Love of God becomes prominent in the last major section of 1 John.

Review: Part 1 (1:5–3:10)

A natural break in 1 John occurs at 3:11.  This makes a two-way division of this letter helpful for a couple of reasons: 1) It gives near balance to the letter’s two halves (1 Jn 1:5–3:10 and 1 Jn 3:11–5:12); 2) It fits the opinion that The Gospel of John was a model for the structure and content of the letter; and, 3) 1 John 3:11 contains the phrase, “This is the message you heard from the beginning,” a near copy of 1 Jn 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from him”.  In each verse the word “message” is the Greek word angelia, which occurs only at 1 Jn 1:5 and 1 Jn 3:11.  Furthermore, the noun angelia can be translated “gospel”, indicating that for the purposes of this letter John defined “the gospel” as light and love, the twin themes of his letter.

As with John’s gospel, the first section of his letter deals with his opponents, what they believe and their detrimental influence on the community.  John sought to protect his followers, that remained in the community, and so gave them encouraging instructions: 1) To resist sinfulness; 2) To obey God’s commands; 3) To defy the world and its allure; 4) To renounce those who distort the truth; and, 5) To live like God’s children.  This is the way for the children of God to walk in the Light of God, so as to enjoy the Life that God gives through his Son.

As with John’s gospel, the second section of his letter then moves to dealing with the unity and health of the community.

God is Love —And We Should Walk Accordingly

The key to the theme of this second section is Love:

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)

James, the Lord’s brother, one of the “pillars” in the church in Jerusalem, wrote, “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (Jas 2:17).  John has been making much the same argument to protect his community from his opponents, but also to not fall into the same trap of bitterness and division.

John likewise felt pain at the division within his church and wanted to prevent it from causing further disintegration.  Despite whatever anger or disappointment John at his opponents, and what they had done to his community, he encouraged his followers to not be like them by loving them and each other.  This final section demonstrates what that looks like with a series of examples, both negative and positive, so as to make his appeal for love in action, rather than simply with words.  All of this to conclude with a reminder that we can be certain we are pleasing God when we live right and well.

1. Love One Another in Practical Ways (3:11–24)

What does it look like for a community to love one another?  It doesn’t look like what Cain did to his brother in murdering him.

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. (1 John 3:12)

Cain did not love his brother because he was jealous.  Because he harboured that jealousy, Cain fell into sin and murdered his brother.  This a negative example from John of what loving one another does not look like.

Unfortunately that sort of attitude may be directed at the children of God; in fact, John’s community was experiencing that sort of hate.  But John’s followers were not to be like that.

Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (1 John 3:15)

Jesus stated precisely the same thing in regards to lust: To harbour a sinful attitude is as bad as committing a sinful action.  The children of God do not hate brothers or sisters in faith because that is to follow the example of Cain, it might as well be murdering them.

Instead of harbouring negative thoughts towards others, the children of God should instead follow the example of Jesus:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)

One way to do this is by sharing with others from our resources (1 Jn 3:17).  Love must take the form of actions more than words, especially since it was words which tore the community apart.

Loving in practical ways is the right thing to do because it is a command of God (1 Jn 3:23).  Again, the children of God walk in the light of God by loving others as God commands.

2. Beware of False Prophets Who Would Deceive You (1 Jn 4:1–6)

As the children of God, we believe that God has given us his Spirit, and John’s community emphasized this anointing (1 Jn 2:20, 27; 3:24; 4:1–3, 13).  Nevertheless, we cannot be so naïve as to think that everything that a brother or sister tries to tell us is true.  We must “test the spirits”.

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. (1 John 4:2)

Believers have the Spirit at salvation, but it is another issue altogether to claim “new knowledge” from the Spirit.

This section brings up the concept of spiritual warfare.  In John’s hints, there are two spirits active in the world, “the Spirit of truth” and “the spirit of falsehood” (1 Jn 4:6).  There is the Spirit who comes from God, who glorifies and elevates his Son, Jesus Christ (Jn 16:14), and there is the spirit of antichrist (1 Jn 4:3), which is welcomed by the world (1 Jn 4:5) and sabotages the truth about Jesus (1 Jn 4:2).  John provides two tests so that Christians will be able to discern the difference.

This section tells us more about John’s opponents: not only did they see themselves as sinless, not only did they deny that Jesus was the Christ of God, but they claimed spiritual authority for their teachings.  They claimed that God was speaking through them by the Spirit, in contrast to John who simply shared what he knew of the One he knew.

The first test to tell genuine spiritual authority was

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 John 4:2–3)

It almost goes without saying that the true Spirit would not deny Jesus; the Spirit will always glorify the Son.

It is interesting to compare 1 Jn 4:1–3 with 1 Jn 2:18–22, where having a right relation with the Father leads to a correct view of the Son.  In today’s section, having a right relation with the Spirit leads to a similarly correct view of the Son.  In each case knowing Jesus is central to knowing God.  Jesus is the point of contact and communication between God and humankind.

The second way to test the spirits is to recognise who accepts the teaching.

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. (1 John 4:5–6)

John wrote that if the world accepts a prophecy/teaching, then it is likely false.  If the community is uncomfortable with the teaching, they it is likely false because the world is uncomfortable with the Church.  We can trust the judgement of believers who together seek to discern the Spirit.

3. Love One Another As God Loves Us in Christ (4:7–21)

Perhaps the better test is found in the next section.  Those who have the Spirit will live in the Light of God and will love their brothers and sisters.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God … (1 John 4:7)

To love is to know what God in his essential nature.  God has provided the purest expression and example of what it means to love by sending Jesus (1 Jn 4:10).  To love others then is to demonstrate ourselves that we are in fact the children of God, that we have the life of God in us (1 Jn 4:12).

Even here though, there are dangers.  When verse 8 says “God is love” (cf. 1 Jn 4: 16), it is important to note what John has not said.  He has not wrote that “God is loving” (though this is true).  Nor is one of God’s activities is “to love” us (though this is true as well).  John has wrote that God is love, that “all of his activity is loving”  Love is the essence of his being but the reverse is not the case.  We cannot say, in other words, that “love is God”, as if any display of affection suddenly qualifies as divine.  John has carefully defined the character of who God is and what it means to live in relation to him.

We can know this love and live this love because when we become children of God the Spirit of God becomes present to and in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit … If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. (1 John 4:13-15)

More importantly than any ability to claim spiritual authority, when we love we are demonstrating that God lives in us.  By loving others we are demonstrating that we know God (1 Jn 4:19-21).

4. Obey God and Thereby Conquer the World (1 Jn 5:1–4)

To love is to do as God does and as God did first.  To love is to defy the world and its lure and to say “No!” to those who try to deceive, both in the world and in our church.  To love is to overcome the world, to claim victory.

In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:3–4)

Some may be tempted to hate or dismiss others because of how they have wronged us.  John’s community would certainly have struggled with this as they faced opposition and division.  Yet, this is precisely when the command of God becomes important: love because God expects you too.  But even this “duty” should not feel like a burden.  It is the path to victory!

The victory of the Christian life, therefore, is not about us as we are in the world.  It is about power —transformation through the life of God— and about how that power defeats the world’s impulses that once controlled us.

5. Never Compromise Your Testimony (1 Jn 5:5–12)

The victory and love that John described should bring about a reconciled community.  Yet divisions remained.  When do we do when we don’t agree?

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. (1 John 5:1)

For John, it all comes back to what we believe about Jesus.  If we agree on this core/central teaching, then most else is secondary.

Even this central needs some clarification.  Again another hint is provided of the issue John faced with his opponents: they denied some aspect of the cross.

This is the one who came by water and blood —Jesus Christ.  He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.  And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. (1 John 5:6)

For John, Jesus’ death (i.e. blood) is just as important as his life/incarnation (i.e. water).  Water here is a reference to his validation as the Christ of God at his baptism.  Jesus’ identity and mission summarised, phrase known to his community, as “water and blood”.  Further to this, the Spirit is now in the world, “convicting the world of sin …” and “reminding us …” (Jn 16:8-9; Jn 14:26).  These three together confirm what we know about Jesus; nothing and no one should distract us from what we know about Jesus.

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11–12)

The testimony of the Father has to do with life, eternal life (1 Jn 5:11–12).  Since life comes to us through the death of the Son, to deny Jesus is to puts our own salvation in jeopardy.

What Relevance For Today?

John has written his letter with an express purpose in mind:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

The division in and opposition to John was threatening the confidence and life of his community.  But he wanted them to feel confidence as the children of God.

To walk in the light and love of God is to have his life through his Son.  The world will distract us, some will fall away and even turn on the community, but we are to remain firm in our conviction and confidence, even praying for those falling away.

Something To Think About

Prayerfully consider how you show your love for God in and to your community.  How do these actions contribute to the building up of the community?  How do they contribute to the love of God experienced and shared?

Prayerfully reconsider your testimony.  What is the story of your experience with God?  Is it about facts and figures or about a real experience with God?  Write out your story and share it with someone with whom you’ve not told about your faith before.

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2011 Black Stump Festival Bible Study (session 2 of 3)