Tests of fellowship: obedience, love, faith
Seeing Jesus ● Tests of fellowship: Obedience, Love, Faith ● Tests for Deceivers ● Assurance of Eternal Life (Edition 02)
A four part series in 1 John
Note: underlined Scripture passages are links to full text at bible.com (YouVersion, ESV). Underlined words are links to articles or other information.
This is a four part series in the First Epistle of John presented to encourage believers in assurance of their salvation (1 John 5:13) in Jesus Christ, the God-man. John’s First Epistle also clearly lays out the basics of Christian commitment - fellowship, 1 John 1:7, and love for one another, 1 John 2:10.
The broad outline of the four lessons:
Seeing Jesus the God-man, 1 John 1:1–2:2 ← August 7th [link to post]
Tests of fellowship: obedience, love and faith, 1 John 2:3-27 ← August 14th
Tests to expose deceivers, 1 John 2:28—4:6
Assurance of our eternal life with Jesus, 1 John 4:7—5:21
John’s aim in this letter is to encourage the churches of Asia Minor in and around Ephesus as they encounter opposition from false teachers and false prophets (1 John 4:1-2).
The danger posed by these false teachers and false prophets was not merely theoretical — John knew they deceived some Christians to wander from the truth (“if we say…” 1 John 1:6, 8; “whoever says…” 1 John 2:4, 9; “whoever hates his brother…” 1 John 2:10, 11 — all “if” conditionals allow for actual incidents; all pronouns may be actual people).
Rather than taking his flocks to the rhetorical woodshed, he reminds them of truth they already received and, by a light-vs-darkness metaphor, lays out the logical consequences of straying from it. Remember, John sets forth the person and work of Jesus Christ as the truth (or reality) by which all other human philosophies and man-made religions must be evaluated and measured (1 John 1:8 ; 1 John 2:21).
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck…
The Christian life is a miracle. God created us, pursues us, and convicts us of sin. When we respond to God’s work in our life by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, a transformation begins that defies human understanding.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV 2016)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
John knew his flocks in and around Ephesus were in danger from false teachers and false prophets, yet he was confident the believers possessed the living word of God to overcome them (1 John 2:21).
But false teachers and false prophets spread lies in the church. These are antichrists — opposed to the triune God and His word. This, coupled with the ever present temptation of an anti-God, evil world around them, too often caused believers to believe the lies of antichrists and subsequently fall into moral failure.
How is a Christian to test others to recognize a counterfeit from the real thing?
So John’s pastoral heart overruled, and he penned the epistle of 1 John to remind his little children of the truth proclaimed to them, and to reassure them of their present possession of eternal life in Jesus Christ (1 John 5:13).
In 1 John 2:2-27, John offers three tests of fellowship — obedience, love, and faith — to help his readers recognize false teachers and false prophets in their midst — as well as their false doctrine. Doctrine is what we believe about God, and bad doctrine results in bad conduct of life.
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (study the context!)
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 Corinthians 15:33). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
The old saw “if it look like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck — it must be a duck” applies to this situation. The saying means that something with convincing duck characteristics on the outside must logically be a duck. But looks can deceive, a walk can be imitated, and a talk can be surreptitiously simulated. Tests are required to analyze the duck to ascertain its genuineness!
2.0 Tests of fellowship: obedience, love, and faith
Christian fellowship is vital to a healthy walk with God and the building up of the church, the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:21-26).
In simpler terms, the Christian needs the church and the church needs committed, individual believers. This interdependence is critical for the Christian life and the mission of God’s church.
All healthy interpersonal fellowship in the church depends on the believer’s genuine fellowship with God (1 John 1:6-7). The gift of eternal life and salvation from sin is received by faith in Jesus Christ. Any other basis for salvation is a lie.
So how do we assess true fellowship with one another and with God?
2.1 Obedience to God in our daily walk, 2:3-6
Proof of a genuine faith is obedience
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 2:3–6). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
In typical John style, he lays out the proof of a genuine walk with God by faith. There is no middle ground. Disobedience does not have a place in the life of a believer who claims to know God — “know” is an intimate knowledge of God in a close, abiding relationship. Remember, “knowledge” was also a vocabulary word of the false teachers (Gk. gnosis of the Gnostic heretics)! For Christians, rolling out this intimate relationship on Sunday, but ditching it on weekdays, does not cut it — it is hypocrisy on a grand scale.
A non-theological meaning of the word “keep” is “to retain a prisoner in custody” (the guards — or keepers — of Matthew 28:4). Here, the word “keep his commandments” derives directly from the Old Testament concept of keeping the commandments of God in Torah. It implies { holding; observing; fulfilling; paying-attention-to } the word of God, keeping it close to the heart (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), and allowing it to provide light to the path of life (Psalm 119:105-112).
The liar is one who claims to know God but the life habitually disproves it. The love of God is “perfected” — or made complete — in the one whose life validates the claim, “I know God”. This validation is by leading a life of morality, living in accord with the way of the Lord (Proverbs 10:29), and exhibiting love for God’s word and obeying it.
Pulse Check
Do you strive to obey God’s word? To obey His word, we must know Him — believe in Him (John 3:16) and His word — so reading the word of God is paramount. Develop a habit of daily reading. Take time out to study a verse or passage and restate it in your own words to grasp the message of the author. The foundation of obedience is a step to loving one another.
2.2 Love for God and for one another, 2:7-11
John returns to the motif of light and darkness in 1 John 1:5 [link to post]. This is used through the next section to contrast the righteous walk of the genuine believer with the unrighteous walk of the one who claims to walk in light, but hates his brother (or sister).
John is very clear: walking in the light is a moral way of life (compare the way of wisdom in Proverbs 10:29; Proverbs 4:11). It is a life of faith in God and obedience to His word.
A new commandment (John 13:34), an old commandment (Leviticus 19:18)
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness (Psalm 112:4; Proverbs 2:13; Isaiah 9:2; Isaiah 50:10), and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 2:7–11). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
John appears to be confused about the command to love one another, but his vacillation is a literary technique to draw attention to the long history of this command — “love one another” — from the days of Moses and the law to their present day in the early history of the church — and to our day.
A profession of love for your brother or sister is validated by your walk in the light, that is, a righteous walk by faith in God where acts of love done by deed and in truth (1 John 3:18) outweigh mere lip service. By an unrighteous walk in darkness, hate is manifested instead.
John is presenting an either-or situation. Our habitual walk is either in the light or we are blinded (a remarkable word picture) by darkness! There is no grey area where a believer may harbor love for one but hate for another. God is not capricious, hating some and accepting others in love, and neither should we manifest such hypocrisy in our daily walk.
Let us love one another - a look ahead to 1 John 4:7-11
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation (Leviticus 17:11 ; Hebrews 2:17) for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 4:7–11). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Memory verse: 1 John 2:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.
Out motivation to love one another does not come from membership in a social club, or even sharing membership in a local church, but it is based on our new relationship of fellowship by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
God took the initiative in this relationship. John’s unconditional love (repeated eleven times in this section, Gk. agape [Strong's G26]) is not “that we have loved God”, but “that he loved us” by sending His Son as the perfect God-man to carry out a mission of salvation in Jerusalem on our behalf.
Propitiation (verb form) occurs in the New Testament with two fields of meaning based on usage (Gk. hilaskomai, BDAG s.v. ἱλάσκομαι, [Strong's G2433]):
to eliminate impediments that alienate the deity; expiate; wipe out Hebrews 2:17
to cause to be favorably inclined or disposed; propitiate; conciliate Luke 18:13
Propitiation (noun form [Strong's G2434]) only occurs in 1 John (here in 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:10). The blood sacrifice of Jesus met the requirement of the Mosaic law for a perfect sacrifice, and Jesus Christ willingly gave up His life on the cross IN OUR PLACE (a substitutionary sacrifice). See this article on the “mercy seat” [link to article].
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ also reconciled us to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) and indeed eliminated the dividing wall between us (Ephesians 2:13-16). Only through the perfect and willing sacrifice of the Son of God could humankind “meet” with God in reconciliation.
Our duty of love is based on God’s gracious and merciful display of love for us in His Son Jesus Christ: “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v. 11).
Pulse Check
How is love for one another displayed in our routine Christian life? If we understand the background of John’s command “let us love one another”, how does it temper our relationships in our circle of friends both inside and outside of the church? How does this guide our attitudes and actions toward those who are difficult to love?
2.3 Side bar — epistle’s purpose in God’s church, 2:12-14
John’s encouragement to the church
12 I am writing to you, little children (Gk. teknia),
because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children (Gk. paidia),
because you know the Father.
14 I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 2:12–14). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
In this section, John addresses three groups in the church, but not by age, rather by stages of development (see J. W. Stott, TNTC 1-3 John, section 3. c.).
Two statements are made about each stage of development.
The little children or children are assured that their sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ and that they know the Father. The newborn Christian must have this assurance of salvation in their relationship with the Father.
The young men (or young women) have advanced past childhood and are battling the temptations of the world and seeking to walk in the light. They have overcome the evil one by the word of God and
are strong [Strong's G2478]
the word of God abides in them
and have overcome the evil one (repeated from v. 13 b.)
John’s words encourage believers in this young stage to continue in the battle against sin and overcome the evil one.
But for the fathers, John recognizes their advanced maturity and only reminds them "you know him who is from the beginning”. Here, “from the beginning” looks back to their first encounter with the word of God and their first steps of faith in Jesus Christ. Their walk in Christ covered many miles and experiences, and they have proven the words of Jesus Christ to be certain and true in life. God is constant in His faithfulness and unchanging in His character.
Pulse Check
Review the stages of your own Christian experience. Can you relate to the stages of Christian maturity laid out by John? Are you advancing in the battle against the evil one or have you “failed to launch” from childhood? Has your life experience proven the faithfulness of God or do you — like many — need a Helper (John 14:16 Gk. paraclete; “advocate” in 1 John 2:1) to come alongside and encourage you in the Christian life? This is where fellowship is vital.
2.4 Side bar — do not love a fading, hostile world, 2:15-17
Here, John is not using “the world” in the sense of the fields ready for harvest, that is, as the target of the gospel of the kingdom of God (Matthew 28:18-20).
Instead, John uses the meaning “the world, and everything that belongs to it; appears as that which is hostile to God, i.e., lost in sin, wholly at odds with anything divine; ruined and depraved” (Gk. kosmos, BDAG s.v. κόσμος, section 7. b.). For similar uses, see 1 John 5:19; John 8:23; 18:36; 1 Corinthians 3:19.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 2:15–17). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
For some, this is akin to the hard sayings of Jesus. There is no middle ground. The world contains “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life“ and is antithetical to God and Jesus Christ. It, like lost, sinful humanity, is passing away (BLB ESV "passing away") — producing nothing of present righteousness or of eternal value.
“But whoever does the will of God abides forever” (v. 17). This is a striking contrast to the dying, world system. The Christian pursuing and fulfilling the will of God abides forever — one who bears lasting fruit and is useful to God in his eternal Kingdom.
2.5 Faith in the teaching of Jesus through God’s word, 2:18-27
Antichrists in our midst
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 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. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 2:18–27). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
This final section contains a massive amount of theology, but it condenses into very practical points to complete the three tests of fellowship in the church.
Obedience to God’s word
Love for one another
Faith in the received word of God to overcome deceivers
The eschatological (end times) doctrine of this passage is debated, and the issues are numerous, but simple observation might help a basic understanding.
Points to ponder
John writes “it is a last hour” — eschatological term (“last days” 2 Peter 3:3; 2 Timothy 3:1)
John has taught the flocks about an antichrist that is coming (Matthew 24:5, 24; remember John penned Revelation 13!)
An antichrist is coming, but many antichrists have already come
The antichrists are false teachers and false prophets who deny Jesus is the Christ
In my opinion, John’s focus is not on the eschatology, but on the singular characteristic of an antichrist — they teach that the human Jesus is not the Christ (Messiah). They also deny the Father and the Son. Recall that some false teachers attacked not only Jesus the Christ but also questioned the Trinity! This was in an attempt to exalt their false Messiah — an esoteric, secret knowledge — above the Creator. Their knowledge is portrayed as true salvation in a man-made, religious system that denied sin and discounted the corruption of immorality.
Now John knows the apostolic teaching that was handed down to the churches and reinforced by his own writings and ministry. This is the bedrock of the Christian faith. Without the sacrifice and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ, Paul states, “we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).
An anointing
The concept of anointing of the Spirit of God in this context is directly related to the knowledge the church possessed about Jesus Christ the God-man. John writes about this role of the Spirit of God in John 14:26.
John 14:26 ESV
But the Helper (Gk. parakletos, [Strong's G3875]), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
A good source for this passage is Charles Ryrie’s book The Holy Spirit. While one may find countless books on this topic, Ryrie is unmatched for his accuracy, clarity and completeness rolled into a small package.
The anointing of the Spirit is not the same as the indwelling of the Spirit (at salvation, 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 John 4:12-14), or the baptism of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), or the filling of the Spirit (Spirit’s control in our life, Ephesians 5:15-21) or the sealing by the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).
In the passage, the anointing is teaching from the Spirit of God to the believer. The written word was not widely available, but certainly the oral, apostolic teaching was continually recited and studied in the church, and the teaching of the Spirit of God gives the church — as believers abide in that teaching — victory over the lies of antichrists.
Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (v. 24)
Faith in the word of God is the final test of fellowship. The word was proclaimed to the church (the message of the gospel, 1 John 1:2, 5), the apostolic teaching was distributed to the churches, and the churches received it as the word of God (see 1 Thessalonians 1).
The anointing directly taught the church about Jesus Christ, and the church abides in that teaching, and so abides in him.
But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (v. 27)
This passage generates an avalanche of secondary questions, but John’s point is simple: the church has the everlasting word of God, is taught by the Spirit of God, and is able to overcome the lies of the antichrists. This was John’s confidence in his flocks.
Pulse Check
What have you learned about the three tests of fellowship? Are there things that must change in your life? How do these three tests impact you own personal commitment to prayer, gathering for worship, and obediently living out the word of God in life?
Remember John is not laying out an impossible life, but he clearly reveals the consequences of habitual sin. We know sin is real, and sin happens in the life of the believer. But we have a gracious and merciful God who forgives sin (1 John 1:9), restores us to fellowship, gives us the Spirit of God, and guides us in all truth.
Appendix
NOTES
Underlined Scripture passages are links to full text at bible.com (YouVersion, ESV).
DEFINITIONS
BDAG - A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed.
ca. or circa, “about”
Gk. or “Greek”
Strong’s - Strong’s Concordance, URL https://strongsconcordance.org [link]
TNTC - Tyndale New Testament Commentary
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