I John 1.5-2.2: A Fellowship Based Upon Death

A Fellowship Based Upon Death
I John 1.5-2.2

As we dive into our second lesson in the book of I John, and review of the prologue is in store. John began by establishing his authority as an eyewitness to the Word of Life, the gospel of Jesus Christ. John’s purpose for writing was so that his readers might partake in the fellowship he enjoyed with fellow believers, and also with Christ. He wrote so that their joy may be complete. The language he uses is that of an older father to his kids, and with the authority of a lawyer in a courtroom. The scene of a courtroom is very prevalent especially in these first couple of paragraphs (eyewitness, advocate, etc). He talks of three walks the believer will take and these are all different phases of our journey. Walking in the light (where we’re going), walking in sin (where we are), walking with the advocate (how we get to the end result).

The first journey he takes us on is found in verse 5-7. He discusses believers walking in the light. What John is discussing is fellowship with God. He talks of light having no fellowship with darkness. The theme of darkness in connection with sin is readily apparent throughout the whole Bible. Jesus said in the gospel of John, that he is the light of the world. Light is used in reference to Jesus and God, and the life they bring. He compares the two opposing sides. John’s language here indicates that in the eternal state, the life to come. In this life, light will never have fellowship with darkness, on Earth or in Heaven. If there is a perpetual state of darkness, we may need to re-examine our salvation experience.

John in his writings is addressing heresies that were taking over the teaching of church. Many were probably teaching that you could have fellowship with God and live however you please. This however is a false teaching that John quickly refutes. See Jesus died for those sins, and it was those very sins that sent him to the cross to die. If it were not for this death, we would have no hope. The Liberty Bible Commentary makes this statement concerning this verse, “if it were not for the atoning (atonement: reconciliation of mankind to God) death of Jesus Christ, fellowship with God would be impossible.”

Secondly, John talks about us that are walking in sin. This is the state we continually live in. Romans 3.23 discusses that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” All of us are sinners and are in need of a savior. Because of this sin, we live in darkness, and are in need of light. John doesn’t end there, but goes on to say “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins”. This is a direct comment on dealing with sin. No one wants to deal with sin, but we NEED TOO! To confess our sin is to acknowledge our sin, and allow God to cleanse us. God is faithful in two aspects: 1) He is faithful to deal with our sin, and accept the sacrifice; 2) He is faithful to acknowledge the sacrifice that was made by Jesus.

The third way in which John describes our journey, is to explain how we get from where we are (sinners v.8-10) to where we’re going (fellowship with God v.5-7). He talks here of walking with the Advocate. He starts by saying “My Little children”. He is not speaking of literal children, but it is rather a term of endearment to the church in which he is writing. He tells us he’s writing so that we won’t sin, but if we do sin, we have an advocate. The courtroom vocabulary takes over and John starts discussing how we have an advocate, who is Jesus, with the father (Judge). See when we sin we incur the wrath of God upon us; we are GUILTY. Our sentence, Romans 6.23, “the wages of sin is death…” Because we sin, we deserve to die. However v.2 tells us that He (Jesus) was our propitiation or our payment for the “fine” we accrued against God. This completes the verse in Romans, “for the wages of sin is death…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.