Answer: In this chapter we have the soul hungering and thirsting after something to satisfy its need. In verse 35, Jesus said unto them, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (see also verse 51). The Lord further states that it is eating His flesh and drinking His blood that gives eternal life. Verse 35 says that we have to come to Him, and believe on Him to get this blessed satisfaction. It is what God has provided for us by sending His Son to die as an atoning sacrifice for sin (see 1 John 4:9, 109In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9‑10)), believing on Him who died for our sins, we receive eternal life and forgiveness, so that eating His flesh and drinking His blood is making His death to apply to our lost condition, thus telling us that we have eternal life through His death, eternal salvation. (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
Question: Are we in Christ dead and risen? A.
Answer: We are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:11There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1); 1 Cor. 1:30, 230But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)
2Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2) Cor. 12:2). That is our standing before God where no condemnation can ever come. (See also John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
But the Scriptures say that we are dead with Christ; buried with Christ; risen with Christ, not in Chris. The Scriptures teach that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (Rom. 6:66Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)), so that our faith can lay hold on the fact that we, as men in the flesh, have died with Christ, and are buried with Christ, and risen with Christ (Col. 2:20,12; 3:120Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Colossians 2:20)
12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)). Sin is in us still, but we are to reckon ourselves “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:1111Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11)). Like Paul, we may say, I am crucified with Christ, and now Christ lives in me. A new life, a new object and a new power to life, is ours.
Answer: The children of God are in the light. If they do wrong a cloud comes over their happy communion with the Lord, and the Holy Spirit in them is grieved.
This should, and often does, lead them to feel that they have done wrong, and then lead them to confess to the Lord their wrongdoing. He is their Advocate with the Father (2:1), ever maintaining them before the Father as His children, and this assures them that the sin is forgiven.
Then the words, “and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness,” is to cause a deeper exercise in their souls, so that they may ask themselves, What was the cause of my failure? Then they find that prayer and watchfulness had been neglected, and their eye being off the Lord, they were allowed to fall, to teach them to keep Him before their hearts so that such falls would not happen again, and thus it cleanses them from all unrighteousness.