1 Prologue That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have witnessed with our eyes, that which we contemplated and our hands handled John could hardly be more emphatic as to the certainty of what he’s going to write—he’s an eye-witness, an ear-witness, a hand-witness, a mind-witness, . . . with reference to the word of the Life The text has the definite article with ‘life’, and from verse 2 it seems clear that the reference is to the Son (compare John 1:4).
2 —oh yes, the Life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and declare to you that eternal Life who was in the presence of the Father and was manifested to us—
3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, so that you also may have fellowship with us; Note that the fellowship is to be based on historical fact, not someone’s sub-culture. indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
4 Yes, we write these things to you so that our The manuscript evidence is badly divided between ‘our’ and ‘your’, roughly 60:40%. The best line of evidence, in my view, is with the majority in favor of ‘our’; it is easy to see how many copyists could make the change (a change in only one letter). The more people we bring into the fellowship, the greater our joy. joy may be fulfilled.
5 The conditions of fellowship God is light Now this is the message that we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and there is no darkness I suppose that ‘darkness’ here refers to sin and Satan; presumably it follows that there is no light in Satan. at all in Him.
6 If we claim that we have fellowship with Him while walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light just as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 God forgives confessed sin If we claim that we have no sin, I take the reference to be to the sin nature; of course someone without a sin nature would have no need of a Savior, nor of regeneration. Anyone who really thinks that they don’t have one is most certainly self-deceived, if not satanically deceived. we are deceiving ourselves and the Truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us those sins and to cleanse If He forgave without cleansing us, we would still be dirty. But He only forgives when we confess. (Don’t forget Proverbs 29:1). us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim that we have not sinned, The reference here is to individual acts of sin. To contradict God, who affirms that we do in fact commit sins, is to make Him out to be a liar—probably not a good idea. we call Him a liar and His Word is not in us.
1 Jesus Christ is our Advocate My dear children, I am writing these things to you so that you not sin; if someone does sin, we have an Advocate in the Father’s presence, righteous Jesus Christ—
2 also, He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; Now there is a good deal! Having Himself paid my debt, when the Son pleads my case before the Father, I will be cleared. Thank you, Lord! The term ‘propitiation’ is not so well known these days, but it has a specific theological content that needs to be preserved. It refers to an atoning sacrifice that is required to satisfy God’s outraged character, outraged by our sin. not concerning ours only but also concerning those of the whole world. “The whole world” cannot be limited to the elect, if language has verifiable meaning. Just because many do not avail themselves of the propitiation (most have never heard about it) does not mean it is not available.
3 We must keep His commandments Now by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, “I have come to know Him”, yet doesn’t keep His commandments, is a liar and the Truth is not in him. A statement both strong and uncomfortable, yet true. Deliberate sin indicates an inadequate knowledge of God.
5 But whoever keeps His Word, God’s love has truly been perfected in him: by this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who claims to be abiding in Him really needs to act just like He acted. I imagine John was remembering the upper room—John 14:12.
7 An old/new commandment Brothers, Some 15% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘beloved’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). I am not writing a new commandment to you but an old one that you have had from the beginning; this old commandment is the word that you have heard from the beginning.
8 Again, I am writing a new commandment to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness I take ‘the darkness’ to be a reference to Satan’s kingdom, while “the true Light is already shining” would refer to the outworking of Christ’s victory, which in a certain sense turned all old commandments into new ones—the indwelling Holy Spirit enables us to do what we couldn’t, before. Darkness is merely the absence of light; to introduce light in any situation reduces the darkness, which is why the world hates us. is passing away and the true Light is already shining.
9 He who claims to be in the Light while hating his brother is in the darkness until now.
10 He who keeps loving his brother is staying in the Light, and there is no occasion for stumbling in him.
11 But he who keeps hating his brother is in the darkness and keeps walking in the darkness; he doesn’t know where he’s going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 Look out for the enemy! A bit of poetry Dear children, I am writing to you because your sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake Verse 12 is an introductory cover statement; in verse 13 John divides the cover group into three sub-groups; in verse 14 he returns to the first two categories [I confess that I don’t understand the purpose of verse 14, unless it be that John wanted to enlarge on what he says to the young men but didn’t want to pass over the fathers].
13 —fathers, I am writing to you because you have come to know Him An increasingly adequate knowledge of God has everything to do with spiritual maturity. who is from the beginning; young men, I am writing to you because you have overcome the evil one; Spiritual warfare is not for ‘children’. children, I am writing to you because you have come to know the Father—
14 fathers, I have written to you because you have come to know Him who is from the beginning; young men, I have written to you because you are strong, and the Word of God remains in you, For the Word to abide in you, you have to abide in it (John 8:31). and you have overcome the evil one.
15 We must not love the world Do not love the world, neither the things in the world; The crucial issue is the values that the surrounding culture seeks to impose on us—materialism, relativism, humanism; these values are directly opposed to the Father’s values, and therefore to His love. if anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.
16 Because everything in the world—the craving of the flesh and the craving of the eyes and the pretension of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. The world system is controlled by Satan (5:19), so that system with its values is against the Creator. As the Sovereign said in Matthew 6:24, it is impossible to serve two masters—the more so if one is God and the other is Satan!
17 The world, with its craving, is passing away, but he who does God’s will remains forever. Note that we have to do the will. “Whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, my sister, my mother” (Mark 3:35). The Sovereign also said that it is a son who abides in the house forever (John 8:35).
18 A bunch of little antichrists Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared, by which we know that it is the last hour. One gets the impression that the early Christians expected the Lord’s return within their lifetime. The Creator is not bound by our notions of time.
19 They went out from us but were not of us, Those who have left the Christian community are often nastier than those who have never been a part of it. for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us—they left so that they might be exposed, that none of them were of us.
20 You have an Anointing from the Holy One and understand all.
21 I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the Truth. The Spirit of the Truth cannot lie (John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13; Titus 1:2), just as Satan can’t tell the truth (John 8:44) [if he ever does it is distorted so as to deceive].
22 We must abide in the truth Who is the liar The Text has the definite article—behind every liar is the father of lies. Those who claim that Jesus was only a good man, a great teacher, are on Satan’s side. but the one denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son.
23 Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either. Some 20% of the Greek manuscripts add, “whoever confesses the Son has the Father also”, as in most versions. I take it that John is making the point that to deny either the Father or the Son is to deny them both—the addition is unnecessary. The 80%, including the best line of transmission, are correct. Note that John rejects Unitarianism (Sabellianism, modalism).
24 So you, let what you have heard from the beginning abide in you; if what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Father and in the Son.
25 This is the promise that He Himself promised us—the eternal life.
26 I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you;
27 but really, you don’t need anyone to teach you because the Anointing that you received from Him abides in you; further, as the same Anointing teaches you concerning all things, and it is true and no lie—well just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
28 Remember the accounting at our Lord’s return And now, dear children, do abide in Him, so that whenever He appears we One might expect ‘you’ instead of ‘we’, but evidently John is concerned about the results of his labors, as was Paul (1 Thessalonians 2:19). may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
29 If you have understood that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been begotten by Him.
1 “We are children of God” Consider how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God! Some 15% of the Greek manuscripts add ‘and we are’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The addition is out of place here, since John takes up that point in verse 2. The Father took the initiative in bestowing His love upon us; it is up to us to ‘consider’ and respond. The world does not acknowledge us Although perhaps 64% of the Greek manuscripts read ‘you’, the best line of transmission is with the 36% in reading ‘us’. John is making a general statement, so it is properly inclusive—first person. for this reason: it did not acknowledge Him.
2 Dear ones, right now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is This verse is directly relevant to the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:10-12.
3 —everyone who has this hope upon him purifies himself, even as He is pure. We will be completely exposed in His presence, and be fully conscious of it, so to avoid a bad scene we need to get a head start on the purifying.
4 “Whoever abides in Him does not sin” Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness as well; yes, sin is lawlessness. Lawlessness is rebellion against a known standard.
5 And you know that He was revealed in order to remove our sins—in Him there is no sin. An important statement—that’s why He can be our Savior.
6 Whoever is abiding in Him does not sin; In order to sin one must stop abiding. indeed, whoever is sinning has neither seen Him nor known Him. An uncomfortable statement; again, deliberate sin indicates an inadequate knowledge of God.
7 Dear children, let no one mislead you; he who keeps doing righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
8 He who keeps doing sin is of the devil, God demands holiness. Belonging to God involves living a holy life (see verse 10 below). because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose: to undo Many versions render ‘destroy’, but I prefer ‘undo’—to undo a work involves undoing its consequences as well. In John 20:21 Sovereign Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” So we are here to undo Satan’s works—there is certainly no lack of opportunity or challenge! However, Satan doesn’t take kindly to any such attempt, so you need to know who you are in Christ, and be living in submission to the Holy Spirit. the devil’s works.
9 Whoever has been begotten by God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him; actually, he is not able to sin, because he has been begotten by God. This statement appears to be so contrary to our experience that it has given rise to all sorts of evasive action. When explaining this verse in a church I ask all who have been born of God to raise a hand (raising my own)—most do. I then ask, “When were you born of God, from your mother’s womb?” “Oh no”, they will say, “it was when I was saved / born again.” I then ask for a volunteer who was saved as an adult—‘John Doe’ offers, saying he was saved when he was 30. So I say, “Tell me, John, for the first 29 years of your life you were John Doe, right? Your family, your friends, everybody knew you.” “That’s right.” “So when you were saved at 30 did you stop being John Doe? Nobody knows you any more?” “Everybody still knows me.” “So for 29 years you were John Doe and you continue to be John Doe?” “That’s right.” “Ok, so what do you have that was born of God? It can’t be anything that was there during the first 29 years.” Well, the answers will vary according to the theological sophistication of the person, but the Bible speaks of a ‘new man’ or ‘new nature’ that the Holy Spirit produces in us. It is that new nature that is God’s ‘seed’ within us, and that seed cannot sin. But the old nature still exists, and it does indeed sin—recall the Apostle Paul’s struggle (Romans 7:13-25).
10 Children of God X children of the devil In this the children of God and the children of the devil are distinguished: whoever isn’t doing righteousness is not of God, also whoever isn’t loving his brother.
11 Because this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another
12 —not like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
13 My brothers, don’t be surprised if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have transferred out of the death into the life because we love our brothers; he who doesn’t love his brother remains in the death.
15 Whoever is hating his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding within himself. Note the “is hating”—someone who murdered in the past can repent and be saved.
16 Love in deed and truth We know the Love by this: He laid down His life in our behalf; we also are obligated to lay down our lives in behalf of our brothers.
17 Now whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart toward him—how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My dear children, let us not love in word or with the tongue only , but in deed and truth
19 —yes, by this we know that we are of the Truth and may put our hearts at ease in His presence,
20 and that, if our heart should condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all. Well, the heart is ‘deceitful above all things’, so presumably Satan can use it to accuse us falsely, but the Righteous Judge has all the facts.
21 Confidence toward God Dear ones, if our heart doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence toward God,
22 and whatever we may ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
23 Now this is His commandment, that we believe in the name With reference to salvation the Text always has ‘believe into Jesus / His name’—a change of position is involved, from being outside to being inside, which also involves commitment. Here John is writing to those who are already inside, so it’s ‘believe in the name’. John was with Peter in Acts 3:6, 16 and 4:10, and may be calling on us to make similar use of the Name. of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded.
24 He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. This is how we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit whom He gave us.
1 Various instructions Test the spirits Dear ones, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this the Spirit of God is known: Both the Textus Receptus and the eclectic (‘critical’) text have ‘ye know’, with 25% of the Greek manuscripts, so almost all versions so read. I wonder if this has contributed to the use of this passage as a ‘litmus’ test for demonization in some quarters. A better procedure is to use the discernment the Holy Spirit gives us. If we are to test spirits, then they most certainly exist! every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ as having come in flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that doesn’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as having come in flesh is not of God; indeed, this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming—actually, it is already in the world right now. The ‘spirit’ of antichrist, an expression of Satan himself, has been around for a long time.
4 Dear children, you are of God and have overcome them, What is the antecedent of “them”? Presumably either the false prophets in verse one or the spirits of antichrist in verse two, or both. Well, the next verse seems to point to the false prophets. because He who is in you is greater than the one in the world. Jesus is greater than Satan.
5 They are of the world; that’s why they speak of the world, and the world listens to them.
6 We are of God: he who knows God listens to us; he who is not of God doesn’t listen to us—by this we know the Spirit of the Truth and the spirit of the deception. Well now, this would make a good litmus test, but we had better be walking with God if we try to use it!
7 Love one another Dear ones, we must love one another, because the love is of God and everyone who loves Of course this refers to agape love, not emotional or physical love. The world knows nothing of agape love, and Satan represents the opposite. has been begotten by God and knows God.
8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love.
9 God’s love was made real within us by this: God sent His only begotten Son into the world in order that we might live through Him.
10 In this is the love, not that we loved God but that He loved us—He even sent His Son as the propitiation for our sins.
11 Dear ones, since God loved us in this way we are obligated to love one another, really.
12 As He is so are we in this world No one has ever looked at God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is being perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 Yes, we have observed and do testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. There is a big difference between ‘profess’ and ‘confess’; to confess Jesus is to submit to Him.
16 Yes, we have come to know and believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in the love abides in God, and God in him.
17 The love is perfected with us for this: that we may have confidence in the Day of judgment, since just as He is so are we in this world. An important statement—note that it is in this world, not the next. But who is the antecedent of “He”? Verse 13 mentions the Holy Spirit, while verse 14 mentions the Father and the Son, so perhaps it is God the Trinity. As the body of Christ we represent the triune God in this world.
18 There is no fear in love There is no fear in love; rather perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment; so he who fears has not been perfected in love. So why do we fear? Usually fear is directly tied to our self-centeredness—it is because of what may happen to us that we are afraid.To the extent that we identify with the interests of God and His Kingdom, we will be less concerned about ourselves.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God”, while hating his brother, he is a liar. Well, how can he love God whom he hasn’t seen, while not loving his brother whom he has seen?
21 Indeed, this commandment we have from Him: he who loves God must love his brother also.
1 Our faith overcomes the world Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; I suppose that John would say that ‘knowing’ and ‘believing’ are different things. Satan certainly ‘knows’ that Jesus is the Christ, but it doesn’t do him any good. How we act shows what we really believe, so to ‘believe’ that Jesus is the Christ requires that we submit to Him. also, whoever loves the Begetter should love the one begotten by Him as well.
2 In this we know that we love the children of God, whenever we love God and keep His commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; The appropriate ways to demonstrate love differ according to the specific relationship involved; to demonstrate love for God is to obey Him. His commandments are not burdensome,
4 in that whatever has been begotten by God overcomes the world; this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
5 Who is he who overcomes the world if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 Receive the witness of God This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the Truth;
7 actually there are three who bear witness Those who use the AV or NKJV are used to: “There are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.” The words in italics are only found in five late Greek manuscripts (less than 1% of the total) and part of the Latin tradition, from which they came. To be more precise, the manuscripts are: (61)[16th], (629)[14th], (918)[16th], 2318 [18th], 2473 [17th], wherein the cursives in ( ) all differ from each other; the two that agree verbatim with TR were probably copied from it. The only one that is clearly early enough to have served as TR’s exemplar, 629, is far too different—it lacks the seven last words in TR, omits another five, changes five and adds two—19 out of 40 words is too much; the Textus Receptus is not based on cursive 629, so it must be a translation from the Latin (or its exemplar is lost). The shorter reading makes excellent sense. [Those who make ‘the three heavenly witnesses’ a litmus test for orthodoxy are either ignorant or perverse (or both).]
8 —the Spirit, the water and the blood—and the three are to one effect.
9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which He has testified concerning His Son.
10 He who believes into the Son of God has the witness within himself; he who doesn’t believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning His Son.
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
13 I have written these things to you who believe into the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life, really believing into the name of God’s Son. A person’s name represents that person.
14 Our confidence Now this is the confidence that we have toward Him: if we should ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we may ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.
16 Sins not leading to death If anyone should see his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, let him ask, and He will give him life for those who do not sin unto death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should make request about that.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. The way John phrases this, ‘there is sin not leading to death’, almost gives the impression that most sin does lead to death. Well, “the wages of sin is death”, both physical and spiritual. Christ’s sacrifice can save us from spiritual death, but not the physical. So is John referring to a premature physical death? But verse 16 is about a ‘brother’ sinning. Consider what is said in Hebrews 10:26-31.Because, if we deliberately keep on sinning after having received the real knowledge of the Truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 just a certain fearful anticipation of judgment and fierce fire that is ready to consume the hostiles. 28 Anyone who rejected Moses’ law died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be deemed worthy who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has regarded as unholy the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “‘Vengeance is up to me’, says the Lord, ‘I will repay’.” And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God!Note the ‘after having received the real knowledge of the Truth’ and ‘by which he was sanctified’ (see also verses 32-36). I fear that what I was taught in Seminary on this subject does not square with the Text. I am not aware of any passage that spells out the sins that do and/or those that don’t. I suppose that a request about a sin leading to death simply will not be granted.
18 We know that whoever has been begotten by God does not sin; This statement is very similar to the one in 3:9—please refer back to the note there. rather the one who was begotten by God preserves himself, and the evil one does not touch him. “The evil one does not touch him” has given rise to the catastrophic idea that Christians cannot be demonized; but let’s analyze the situation a bit. Wherein might the “touch” in the Text consist? It can’t be temptation, because Christ Himself was tempted (Mt. 4:1-11); it can’t be an attack on the body, because the Apostle Paul was so attacked (2 Corinthians 12:7); it can’t be an attack on the mind, because the Apostle Peter was so attacked (Matthew 16:22-23). So wherein might the ‘touch’ consist?Consider Ephesians 6:12—“our wrestling match” is against wicked spirits (wrestling is direct, physical, violent—it is impossible to be in a wrestling match and not be “touched”). Consider also 1 Peter 5:8—why “be vigilant” if that lion can’t touch us? You may be absolutely certain that believers can be and are demonized! The crucial thing is a conscious submission to the Holy Spirit (while controlled by the Spirit you will never be controlled by a demon).But just who is it that the evil one doesn’t touch? The one begotten by God, or born of God—but who is the “born of God”? Since only Jesus was literally born of God from His mother’s womb, the rest of us receive the “new man” at regeneration, so the believer as a whole person is not in view. Please refer back to the note at 3:9.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The verb ‘lie’ here is used for lying on a bed—your whole weight is resting on it. A bed has no volition, but Satan does; the picture is one of control. All human cultures have features that serve Satan’s purposes, but some have more than others. Any true follower of Sovereign Jesus needs to evaluate the culture that surrounds him and reject those features that are contrary to God’s values.
20 Conclusion We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the genuine God, and the Life eternal.
21 Dear children, guard yourselves from idols. The most dangerous ‘idols’ are not made of wood, plaster or stone. Things like money, power, prestige, social standing and non-biblical worldviews are more dangerous. Amen.