Three Questions
1 John 2: 3-11 & 18-27
The Letters of John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Max A Forsythe
Introduction:
A Pastor
Barnes, writing in the well known and excellent Welwyn Commentary Series
would remind us that this first letter of John is all about assurance and at
the beginning of this section in his book, he asks the question “How can we know who is a Christian? How can you know you are a Christian? Robert Murray M’Cheyne used to advise, ‘For
every look at self, take ten looks at Christ!’
That is still the best place to start, for Christ must be both in our
justification and our sanctification.”
Then, just as other commentators allow, he goes on to suggest the wisdom
contained in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves,
that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
John, it appears in writing this letter gives three
test questions so that people who call themselves Christians may evaluate their
place in Christ's Kingdom! Today, we
will briefly consider all three questions, then as we follow the remaining
chapters, we will examine each question is some depth and then tidy things up
with several related issues including the assurance that can be yours as you
perceive the Lord and continue to grow in grace. So that you don't get too
nervous, I'll do for you what I do for my students and outline the questions in
advance. Quite simply, the three
questions are these: First, there is a
question about obedience, in other words - a moral question. Second, there is a question about love, or a
social question. And last, there is a question about belief, or a doctrinal
question.
Development: Let's look
carefully at the third verse of chapter two. "And
by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his
commandments." Now, in
John's time there were Gnostics who claimed that they had deeper knowledge than
common Christians. Several spurious
books were even written and substituted for Scripture itself. John agrees that knowledge of God is
important, but he insists that no religious experience is valid if it does not
have moral consequences. It is not the
person who claims to be a Christian and to know God, who is presumptuous, but
he whose claim is contradicted by his conduct. He is a liar as John observes in
verse four. John tells us quite clearly
that we may know we are Christians only if we keep God's commandments. Only if
we obey Him can we claim to know Him. But, you may well wonder, how can any of
us know God, because not one of us is perfectly obedient?
John Calvin solves this dilemma for us: "He does not mean that those who wholly satisfy the Law
keep His commandments ... but those who strive, according to the capacity of
human infirmity, to form their life in obedience to God." Yes, the law as the Scripture tells us makes
us aware of sin, but it is by grace that we are given the fruits of the Spirit.
Still, we must regularly struggle and strive to become obedient. And within any
sincere evangelical church, most people will have some area of life where they
must regularly struggle to put on holiness to better reflect the Glory of God.
One Church member was once asked what was so special about her Church. She
thought about it and said, “her Pastor must be a great
sinner because he was always struggling with sin and encouraging the members to
wrestle with it as well!”
Aye, and that we all are, sports coaches exercise
the bodies of their teams to increase their capacity for endurance and
performance. The team’s performance on
the playing field then enhances the reputation of the team and the credibility
of the coach. “No
pain, no gain” has been a popular saying down through the years for
managing and manipulating the physical body.
However, how few there be who would give even half that attention to
their own soul?
Much of the church, as well – is slow to coach the
members and adherents in this personal regard.
A recent editorial in a Christian weekly magazine observed that it was
the late syndicated secular advisor, Ann Landers – who personified the ever
faithful advisor – dispensing good and bad advice mixed together week by week
for the last half century. Of course, we
may well object to any and all such secular advisors, since they seldom uphold
the fundamental basics of biblical counsel!
John Calvin takes a better tack in this regard, he advises us “John then takes this principle as granted, that the
knowledge of God is efficacious. He
hence concludes, that they by no means know God who keep not his precepts or
commandments.”
We may conclude that there is significance to any
regular, ongoing obedience to the laws of God – because to have Christ is to
love God and to love God is to honor Him in every way possible. We may also conclude in this regard that any
“believer” or “congregation” of Christ that excuses wicked behavior is very far
from the Kingdom of the Spirit.
Especially, any church that approves and advocates abortion, adultery
and a whole host of related offenses against our righteous and holy God is no
church of the Living Father God – but nothing more than a
Our second question involves a social question
about love. Let us look at verse nine of chapter two. "Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother
is still in the darkness." Here we may know that the
genuineness of a person's faith is seen in his right relationship to both God
and man. If the fact of the vertical relationship with God is real, then we are
obligated to show that same love in our horizontal relationships with each
other. Christ's great commandment was that we must love one another even as He
has loved us. We are told from the mouth
of our Lord Jesus Christ that upon this point hung the whole teaching of the
law and the prophets.
Strong passions in Christians must be tamed and
applied appropriately. We cannot have excessive negative feelings for any
person. J.R.R. Tolkien's tale of the Hobbits, Men, Dwarves and Elves in his Lord
of the Rings cycle gives the leading characters brief control of a sworn
enemy. Shall they take His life even as He plotted ill will to them? No, he may
only be held captive, since His life's end is not theirs to determine. Now, what we are talking about here does not
hold us back from applying the death penalty in our fallen world. There are
principles and procedures for determining when that is appropriate. But, what
John is getting at here is that it is not ours to even wish death upon
anyone. A story is told about a
communist leader who relished and enjoyed his "calling" to persecute
the Christians in his assigned area. He enjoyed it so much that even his
communist friends turned against him and avoided him as much as possible.
Finally, the chief persecutor grew old and fell ill. Who took the trouble to
visit him in the hospital and to bring him food fit to eat? Who do you suppose?
The people of the Church came and ministered to him! Would we have enough
gumption to welcome such a Saul into our fellowship?
Would that we could pray for our brothers and
sisters in other less loyal denominations?
When it comes to our relationships with other brethren in Christ, there
is a very fine line that we have to walk.
We must always presume that individual Christians are sincere in their
claim to know Christ, until we see how they do in regards to the three
questions asked by John in our passage for today. Then, before we become too judgmental – we
must determine if their observable errors in obedience, love and belief are
accomplished through ignorance or down right pig-headed rebellion. The news media and courts have made a big
deal in distinguishing whether or not the feeble minded should be executed for
committing murder? While – we all know
that any lawyer worth his pay will explore any potential excuse for his client,
we must also be capable of distinguishing not only the difference between
manslaughter and murder, but also able to comprehend where supposed believers
are coming from because of what they have been taught in some other doctrinal
climate.
Admittedly, in our time, I see more hope and
opportunity for spiritual growth amongst former Catholics than those raised in
the modernist liberal doctrines whereby all of the essentials are relevitized
beyond any meaningful spiritual comprehension.
But, we must always be ready to give our work and witness in this regard
the very best effort we can muster. I
remember once talking to a young pastor who wanted to come over to the Presbyterian
Church in
Our last question concerns beliefs or doctrine.
Look at verse twenty-two of chapter two: "Who
is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the antichrist,
he who denies the Father and the Son" This is the question that
got me into trouble years ago. You see, in the liberal climate of 1971, those
of us in Seminary were allowed to believe in anything, just so long as it
wasn't something! Creeds and Confessions had become by 1967 only separate
offerings from the smorgasbord of history.
At the time of John even as we know today, there were teachers who
taught that Jesus was not God Himself. Like the Muslims and countless others,
Jesus was seen as only a very good man, a mere sage or prophet. The Pastor that
told me this question shut him out of the Kingdom argued that at the time of
the Chalcedon Creed, the wrong party won. He was working on a book to expose
the whole tawdry mess of theology gone wrong.
I knew enough about
One of the interesting things about early Reformed
writings is the continual outcry against the scions of the Roman Catholic
hierarchy. There is a bitterness there
that I can well relate to because of the struggles I had to survive coming into
the ministry. However, I am convinced
that none of the errors of Romanism are quite so deadly to the faith as the
large body of doctrinal denials advanced in the liberality of the major
denominations in our day. And yet, even
within their political borders, are believers who hang on and hold on, hoping
for some prospect of improvement.
In the twenty-third verse John has this to say
about anyone who denies that the man Jesus is the Lord's Anointed. Both Father
and Son are denied in such a misunderstanding. Look carefully at that verse: "No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father
also." The Bible is very
clear, God reveals Himself in the Son, and just as the Jews dug their own
graves when they refused to accept Jesus as God incarnate, so too is the fate
of anyone today who denies that Jesus is God.
Conclusion:
Of course, I trust that most of you here today have
no troubles with this doctrinal test. After all, we have always been very
careful about with Christ's doctrines. I am also encouraged that very many of
you have become competent at discerning theological error. I remember some
students who visited our Bible Study several years ago. In the course of the
evening they espoused some less than adequate theology. I was surprised at how
quickly the group reacted. I do think a kinder and gentler confrontation might
have been in order! Why is it, that the
liberals are ever so much more lovely and attractive to many people? Of course
there are providential reasons for people preferring sugar coated poison. And
yet, I think it is important for us on the evangelical edge to covet a better
application of all three of these questions in our work and witness. As we
probe further into these questions, may we be led by the Spirit to comprehend
how we each may better grow in grace and wisdom. Amen.
Resources Used:
Barnes, Peter. Welwyn
Commentary Series: Knowing Where We Stand.
Calvin, John. The
Comprehensive John Calvin Collection (Ages Software).
Stott, John. Tyndale
New Testament Commentaries: Epistles of John.
Good News Publishers. The
Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
Copyright (C) 2002 Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian
Church in
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