1 John 1:9-2:11
Paul had to do it, and did it with delight. One has but to face the difficulty in the strength of the Lord, and it is gone. When the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (Jordan), it fled (Josh. 3:15). But what if we yield (ver. 9)? An act or word, which would not trouble a natural man, will break the heart of a true child of God. What then shall he do? Sit down, like Lot in Sodom with a vexed soul, or rise up, like Abraham in Egypt and get back to the Lord (Gen. 13)? Jonah-like “he has forsaken his own mercies;” but “salvation is of Jehovah” (Jonah 3). God is God, let sin bring even a prophet into the lowest depths. “He is faithful and righteous” in His estimate of the work of His Son to forgive His returning child (see further in chap. 2:1, 2): then why not return speedily? The light which convicts us, reveals God thus waiting to be gracious, waiting for our confession, for the pouring out of our hearts before Him; waiting to reassure those hearts, and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness: i.e. inward cleansing, a fresh, sweet, powerful sense of grace which fills the soul with peace, and makes the light beautiful, and welcome, and loved; an ever increasing joy to abide in it, and walk in it.
The last case supposed is, “If we say we have not sinned (10).” This is the expression of self-satisfaction which sets aside the word of God, the need of atonement, and the ground of all God's dealings with men in judgment. The first expression of human religiousness, recorded in the scriptures, was based on this assumption of righteousness. Cain's offering was no acknowledgment of sin, but a display of what he had wrought in the earth; and “the way of Cain” is approved of, and taken, by many a professor of Christianity who mistakes it for the path of life; and it is often coupled with hatred of those who, like Abel, confess themselves sinners, and trust only in the blood of Jesus. Solemn beyond conception will be the time when God shall deal in truth with those who have given Him the lie. “If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
Thus then the apostle opens his address. He treats profession seriously, encouraging truth, but setting all who make a profession in the full light of the unveiled presence of God, where what men say, whether in creed, in formularies of devotion, in hymns, or in religious services, is put to the test. “The very basis of communion with God is reality.” “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7).
The second chapter of the Epistle opens with a title of affectionate endearment, “My children.” All the household of God are before the apostle's mind; yet he sees them in their various stages of spiritual growth, “fathers,” “young men” and “little children” (vers. 13, 14, 18), each needing a special word to encourage, or warn, in the various details of life. But his great concern as to all is, “that they may not sin.” He uses plain words, never softening down what is so hateful in the sight of God. Still He adds, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.” The eye has wandered from Him, and the heart has followed it; the attractions of present things have overcome the man, and he has yielded to them. Grace must first, then, turn the eye back to Christ. Where would Peter have gone, had not his eye thus met the Lord's (Luke 22:61)? The love of Jesus is as real to each of His own as to Peter, and now that He is on the Father's throne, as when He was bound a prisoner in the high priest's palace. He is ever the same, yesterday and to-day and forever: our one necessity, and our perfect sufficiency. And when we have no defense and can say nothing in our own behalf, He is our “Advocate with the Father;” and our cause is safe and must succeed, for it is in His hands.
Yet there must be exercise of soul in the one who has sinned. It is one thing to acknowledge that we have sin (chap. 1:8); it is another thing to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation and get drawn away by it. When a child of God sins, it is against light and love, known love, the love of the Father and of the Son; and all fellowship is forfeited. There is no change in the Father and the Son; the whole change is in the child. How profound then is the wisdom! how rich the grace! that begins the work of restoration by recalling the sufferings and death of Christ for sins. Truly in the short sentence, “He is the propitiation for our sins,” we have a volume of truth, the most peace-speaking, the most precious to a wounded conscience. Would that it were ever before us, engraved on our hearts! In the forsaking of Jesus and His death, our sins, each and all, met with full and final judgment; and, while it is unmingled grace to us, it is righteousness to Him, that not only should our standing in Him before God be perfect (see 2 Cor. 5:21), but that His advocacy should avail if, in our walk, we fall and sin. Indeed, there is infinite worth in the propitiation. It would meet the need of the whole world, if believed in. Hence Mark 16:15.
Thus we learn that, while provision is made in the rich mercy of God, if His child disobey, for his restoration to communion, and that in a way which thoroughly condemns his sin, yet to preserve him from such a fall is surely of the first importance. How this may be is declared in ii. 3-11. The commandments of God by Jesus Christ are set before us for the direction of our every step in life. We are not left to the pious thoughts of pious men. The authority of God is supreme, and all that is esteemed to be morally right or wrong by even good men must be tested by His word. And above and beyond all, we have set before us the perfect walk of Christ, His obedience even to death, the death of the cross (Phil. 2); and this is to rule our obedience. “He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (ver. 6). In immediate view of the cross, Jesus said, “That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do” (John 14:31).
Love therefore, we next see, is to be with us the motive, as the commandments are the guide, or we cannot walk as He walked. What a “light of life” we have in Jesus! And how it brings into view our limited fellowship with Him, and the deep need every day of such prayer as in Col. 1:9-11! May God keep us in the sense of it.
Ver. 4 sets in a solemn light the moral condition of Christendom, boasting in its knowledge of God, yet wanting in obedience to His declared will. Where the essential characteristic of eternal life (the new nature) is wholly wanting, everyone who makes this boast is a liar. In ver. 5 we have the contrast to this, the true Christian giving to the word of God its place and authority: “a doer of the word, and not a hearer only, deceiving himself.” “In him verily is the love of God perfected,” its end and purpose is attained. Obedience to the word keeps him from going with the world, and casts him more and more on the love of God to bless him in spite of the world's opposition; and he proves His love to be perfect, and realizes his nearness also. He knows that he is “in Him.” The fullness of this blessing is so great that the soul needs time to apprehend it: “in Him, even in His Son Jesus Christ” (chap. v. 20). “Is HIM” is the inexhaustible fountain of all blessedness, of all that is holy and good; and the effectual resource against every evil, and affliction. If we dwelt on these words as written, how it would enlarge our interest in them! They are not “light food.”
In ver. 7 we should read “Beloved,” not “Brethren;” for the writer's heart was warmly engaged in those whom he addressed, and he would have them as warmly interested in each other. It is true that our experience and walk are lower than our “standing,” but our standard is not to be lowered. Confess this, and all difficulty as to the meaning of vers. 7, 8 disappears. “The old commandment which we had from the beginning” is found early in the New Testament. The first word of our Lord, recorded in the Gospel, is “Follow me” (John 1:43), and the last is the same but more emphatic, “Follow thou Me” (21:22). The characteristic of His sheep, each and all, is that they hear His voice and follow Him (John 10). And, as to love, “He giveth us an example that we should do as He hath done to us,” and “love one another as he hath loved us” (John 13:15-34). We have examples, and bright examples, of obedience in the O. T. They shone as lights in the world in their day, but they disappear in the brightness of “the true light” (Christ) which “now shineth.” Where is there anything written which, as to moral power, can compare with Phil. 2:5-8? Obedience and love after that sort were never seen before; yet “the thing is now true in us;” for Christ is our life, and we have the supply of His Spirit. Indeed nothing short of this is true Christian obedience. (To be continued, D.V.)