Tests from 1 John: Test 2
Paul Watson
August 2, 2020
TEST #2: OBEYING HIS COMMANDS
I John 2:1-6
Now that John has established the difference in principle between the church and the world, he gives a second test, this time oriented around differentiating the behavior of the church from the world.
I. Foundational Principle: Christ the Advocate, Christ the Propitiation (v. 1, 2)
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John has just said that all people are guilty of sin, and has said that believers are cleansed of their sins if they confess them. But lest anyone think that John is giving anyone a license to sin he says he is writing these things so that they may not sin.
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Christ the Advocate (parakletos)
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Christ the Propitiation (hilasmos)
II. The Test: Keep His Commands (v. 3)
A. Here is the test: keep his commands.
i. This isn’t just an intellectual or emotional experience, this is an entire way of life.
ii. We are changed by Christ in that our sins our forgiven, but we are also changed in that we become better at not sinning over time.
B. There is an idea in I John that Christians might be identified by what they know.
i. The light gives light to our lives and we come through faith to knowledge most people can’t or won’t accept.
ii. One of those things is that while anyone can serve God, serving God leaves a permanent mark on the servant.
iii. Christians not only know the truth but they orient their entire lives to that truth in a floor-to-ceiling way that is unmistakable.
iv. So if the first test was, “What is your life full of, life or dark?” the second test, in a few words, is, “Who do you follow/obey? Christ or the world?”
III. Reversal: The One Who Does Not Keep His Commands (v. 4, 5)
A. But knowing God and following God isn’t just intellectual. John shows two reversals of this test to prove that.
i. If someone claims to know God but does not obey his commands, that one is a liar.
ii. If we DO keep his commands, God’s love is made complete in us.
IV. Reiteration: A Call for Self-Examination (v. 6)
A. If we say we are Jesus followers, than there should be a clearly visible pattern of following the example of Jesus.
B. The word for “live in” literally mean “to remain, or to abide.”
C. There is an element of eschatology in here as well, because those who abide in him will abide in him forever.
John says they will abide with God forever because they have escaped the world and its desires.