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11 1st John 3.1-4
June 5th 2016
Meat
So we left off with John saying, But . . .
1. the anointing which ye have received of him 2. abideth in you,
3. and ye need not that any man teach you:
4. but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
5. and is truth,
6. and is no lie,
7. and even as it hath taught you,
8. ye shall abide in him.
Let’s break this verse down a bit before we move on.
Last week we learned that John is writing to those who were the cream of the crop and that he was writing to warn them again those who had come to seduce them with doctrines that denied the Messiah and even the relationship He has with the Father.
In summary John said:
1st John 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
And now at verse 27 says: BUT!
“the anointing which ye have received of him
The word for anointing is “Chrismah” and as we’ve said could mean everything from a smearing of an ointment to a special “enduement or endowment of the Holy Spirit.”
Because John describes this anointing as being “in them” we know it is not referring to a special smearing outwardly of an holy ointment but something that has happened in their hearts, that they have been abundantly washed in their hearts by the Holy Spirit.
We also note who gave this anointing of the heart – Him, which I believe is speaking of Jesus for whom they courageously stand.
“the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you,”
It is in you – meaning He is in you – meaning “he that is in them is much much stronger than that which is outside of them seeking to seduce them away.
We could get semantical here and ask who is that which is in them and I think we can say its God, Jesus and/or the Holy Spirit and we would be right.
Because of other passages of scripture I think we would be most correct if we said that John was telling them that Jesus was in them by the Spirit.
I find this idea really comforting and a reality in my walk and am reminded when I am loving and full of faith and trust in God I am only responding to Jesus who is in me by the Spirit.
John tells them that he “abideth in you,” apparently as a way to affirm to them that His influence on their heart and life which God has anointed will keep them from error so dangerous that they could face destruction and loss if they embrace it.
However, John also seems to be assured that with this abundant internal anointing they would not fall. In addition to this reassurance he adds:
“And ye need not that any man teach you.”
Now, we know this is not an indictment against teaching and teachers – we are called to teach and there is far too much evidence in our own experience that suggests otherwise.
We are blessed by others insights and teachings and grow thereby so this is not a call to total independence.
But there is a difference between a teacher presenting information and relying on a teacher to tell you how and what to think.
To this later point John admits that anyone possessing the anointing of the Holy Spirit has absolutely no need to be TOLD how and what to think.
I personally wish that we as believers would take this line more to heart, that we would realize that if God is in us by His Spirit we do NOT need anyone to take charge of us and didactically tell us what we must believe and accept and what we must not.
We don’t need to worry as we trust that God is (in fact) in charge.
And this stance, once really embraced, would naturally lead to the deconstruction of all denominational lines and interfaith divisions.
Doesn’t mean that teachers wouldn’t warn and teach to the best of their abilities – providing information to all – but when dealing with people who have God abiding in them I personally believe that all matters of faith are between the individual and the Lord of their lives.
John goes on and to me affirms what I just said, saying:
“But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things.”
Meaning, the Spirit of truth teaches us what is true, not men, not our own interpretation of scripture – the Spirit.
And I think when John writes that the same anointing that abides in us teaches us of all things that this spirit of truth affirms only the things that are absolutely true.
And where I might differ with others on this I believe that because John uses the term “pas” here purposefully that the Holy Spirit does teach us all truths – no matter what field the truth may exist.
Others suggest that John was saying that the Anointing teaches all things relative to the things of God or heaven but I am of the impression that the anointing will open our eyes to all truths we seek no matter where they lie – the only caveat seems to be whatever the spirit teaches it must be true – and for it to be considered true it must be completely true, as supported by what John says next:
“but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie . . .”
In other words the anointing abiding in us always “leads to truth and never to error, lies or any form of obscurity.”
I think John says this to help protect his reader from the persuasive arguments of the Gnostics against Christ. He is warning them that the spirit of truth is exactly that – it points to, leads to, and supports truth with a capital T.
“and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
The term it refers to the anointing and or the Holy Spirit as the gender is in the neuter. No he, in other words.
Even as the Spirit has taught you (not men, not philosophy but the Spirit) “you shall abide in him.”
Meaning the Lord and Savior. And of course this concurs with the teachings of Jesus in John 15 where he says:
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
So on to verse 28 where John gives a straightforward directive, saying:
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
John told his audience at that time and in that day (in verse 18) “it is the LAST time” the eschatos hoo-rah” – we are at the end of all things scripture has made manifest.
With the end of all things we are seeing anti-Christs and the anti-Christ, and as prophesied we are seeing ourselves surrounded by a great falling away.
These last hours associated with anti-Christs will be accompanied by the return of Jesus.
And so here in verse 28 he says:
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
The term translated confidence here, as in “when he shall appear we may have confidence,” is PAH-RAY-HEE SEAH” and it is translated in other versions as
Boldness (it also means assurance) openness, plainness, even a calm but strong assurance that comes from the fact that someone has been faithful.
I think in this setting John was telling them that as they abided in Jesus they would not be overwhelmed and confounded at the coming of the Savior amidst the confusion, destruction, and by and through their hopes and faith being shown true.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
I take this as a warning – especially to those who were once of their group that had abdicated the faith and turned from belief in Jesus as the Messiah.
The time was at hand. The end of all things near and they were about to have all that they turned from and even mocked proven to be true – which would certainly cause them to be ashamed at His coming.
So John reiterates,
“Abide in Him,”
(so) that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
The word for ashamed is “ahee schoo no” and means “self-distain.”
The reality of the statement is simply profound and I believe absolutely irrefutable.
For the saints in that day John was reminding them to abide so as to avoid self-distain at His coming which he has clearly said the hour was there.
For readers and believers today the reality is not one whit diminished because every single one of us – actually believer and non-believer alike – will too face Him at the last hour of our lives – and will all find ourselves confident and bold in our faith or full of self-distain.
I cannot express how much I believe this to be the case and an absolute reality relative to the believers in those days with his eminent physical arrival and ever since with every individuals spiritual arrival at death.
The scripture is replete with examples of this saying in
Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
And again
Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
And
1st Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
And then John adds a wrinkle, and it is certainly a wrinkle to this otherwise pressed down and clear statement but something that MUST be included in the state of being bold and confident in the meeting of Christ (verses ashamed or self-distaining). He says
29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
It’s not like John is wondering if Jesus is righteous. That’s not the point being made in my opinion. It’s more like he is calling to their attention that this is a well known, like:
“Since you know that Jesus is righteous.”
Now the term for righteous is interesting – it’s dee-kai-os and comes from the Greek root dee-kay, which means just, right, an execution of what is equitable and absolutely fair.
Dee-kai-yos best means equitable. We use righteous today and it means something a little bit (shall we say) different – especially in this state righteous is often described as morally clean and without sin.
And it might include this description when everything is said and done. But the term from the Greek is better understood as equitable – equal, fair.
Let me re-read this last verse again using equitable in the place of righteous or righteousness:
If ye know that Jesus is equitable, ye know that every one that doeth “diak os oo nay” equitably is born of him.
Is after Him, is His offspring, is He Son, joint heir.
In other words if our God is purple with steam coming out of his ears and this is His most distinguishing characteristic then those who are His – who are actually born of Him would naturally also be purple and emit steam from their ears.
But since God is light, and love, and goodness, and Truth (equitable) then it only stands to reason that those who have truly been born of Him are also equitable.
In other words, as a means to be truly regarded as His, and as a means to then avoid being filled with self-distain at His appearing before us, believers do as He did, or as John puts it:
“every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”
Again, doeth righteousness is a term that can be greatly misappropriated and abused by religiously minded people.
In addition to John telling us flat out that obeying the commandments means to believe on Jesus and love in the next chapter we are also given insight into what the phrase means when we look at the better definition of Greek – “to do equitably – justly.”
“He is equitable, therefore those born of Him do equitably.”
This hearkens back all the way to the Old Testament book of Micah where we read the following summation:
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
In the Hebrew the term “justly” is “mishpawt” and it means “properly.”
. . . to do justly; to give to all their due. In the Old Testament this meant to:
To give God his due –which is to give thy heart, body, soul, and spirit; wisdom, understanding, judgment.
(Summarized in)
“To love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength,” the first and great commandment. This is what we owe Him.
Then to give our neighbor his due which is to do to him as we would want done to us – which in the end always means to have mercy and forgiveness and love for them – the second great commandment which is like unto the first.
So, in my estimation, we can reword the passages to say:
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is loving of God and of Man ye then know that every one that doeth the same – loves God and loves neighbor – rendering unto them what they are due, what is equitable – they are born of him.
In the end we might ask ourselves, “What IS properly and justly fair and equitable for all followers of Christ to render to their neighbor?”
Some still believe in “an eye for an eye.”
Some believe in getting everything off their chest regarding the failures of others.
Scripture tells us that we are obliged to communicate, and to go to those who have offended us.
It tells us that we are to have longsuffering, patience, kindness, gentleness.
It tells us we are to suffer injustice. That we are to return evil with good. That we are to turn the other cheek. Etc. etc. etc.
I would suggest that as a sure-fire means to
Be confident at our meeting Jesus after the life.
As a means to not be filled with self-distain at this same meeting,
And as a means to know that we are born of Him
That believers and followers of Christ seek to equitably give God his due (which is everything) and to give our neighbors theirs (which is only love by the Spirit since that is what all of us have received from Him).
And this brings us to chapter 3 where we will cover a few verses. But first let’s look at its general construction.
John begins by informing his reader that “Christians are now the sons of God”
(verses 1-3).
And as such the world will not appreciate their character nor will it understand the reasons of their loving conduct.
In verse 2 he says that when He will appear “We shall be like him.” And that believers will purify ourselves under the influence of this hope (verse 3).
Then John lets us in on a wild fact – that those who are adopted children of God do not commit sin. (1st John 3:4-10) and amidst this claim we learn that:
(1.) All sin is the transgression of the law, 1st John 3:4;
(2.) Christ was manifested to take away our sins, 1st John 3:5;
(3.) that he that commits sin is of the devil, 1st John 2:8; and,
(4.) then, as a matter of fact, he who is of God does not commit sin, 1st John 3:7,9,10.
From verse 10-18 John addresses what we might call true religion and how it is manifested by love (specifically to the Christian brotherhood).
Under this topic we will learn that
(1.) As a man who is not righteous cannot be a true Christian, neither can he who does not love his brother, 1st John 3:10.
(2.) It is the solemn command of the Lord Jesus that his followers should love one another, 1st John 3:11.
(3.) The importance of this is seen by the opposite conduct of Cain, 1st John 3:12 (which should be an interesting discussion) and (AGAIN)
(4.) Love to the brethren furnishes the most certain evidence that we have passed from death unto life, 1st John 3:14.
John goes so far as to say . . .
(5.) A man who hates another is in fact a murderer, and, of course, cannot be a true child of God, 1Jo 3:15.
(6.) We should be stimulated to the love of the brethren by the example of the Savior, who laid down his life for us, 1st John 3:16.
(7.) and if we see a brother in want, and have the means of aiding him, and do not do it, we cannot have the love of God dwelling in us, 1st John 3:17,18.
He then goes on and provides us an example of what this love looks like, saying (at verses 19-21)
That is it often manifested in our outward acts towards his friends.
At verse 22-23 he tells us that if we keep his commandments our prayers will be answered
And the chapter wraps up with John saying that we may know that we abide in God by the spirit which he has given us, as well as by keeping his commandments, (3:22-24).
In the end, this chapter really springboards off the last verses of chapter 2 which talk about the proof that a person has been born of God is love.
So let’s read the first three verses of 1st John chapter 3
1st John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1st John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
John left off telling in in chapter two that
“every one that loves as Jesus loved – meaning they love God and neighbor – rendering unto them what they are due, what is equitable – they are born of him.
Here in chapter three he steps back a bit and says:
Look at the type of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
A man is out about town and sees a refugee. The man gives the refugee a box of food and drives on. That’s love.
The next week the man takes the refugee into his car, gets him some clothes, buys him lunch, and hands him a twenty.
That’s more love.
The following week the man gets the refugee a job at Seven Eleven and promises to pay for his education at the community college – that is greater love.
But at months end the man takes the refugee into his home, adopts him as his own son, makes him a joint heir with his other children and gives him all the access and benefits to he and his estate that the others have by birth –
What manner of love the Father has the Father bestowed upon us! John exclaims.
Think about this – especially in light of our proclivities toward rebellion, godlessness, and sin!
God, head of the Universe and over the human and animal family has done more than create us, He has called us His Son’s and Daughters.
We know from Romans 8 and 1st and 2nd Corinthians that God has willingly done this by adoption based on faith.
Then John points out that as a result of this (“Therefore” he says) “the world knoweth us not.”
Our father who adopted us as His children is of the light, is love, is truth, and righteous, is all things good – as His children the world cannot and does not understand these principles as they exude from us.
It operates on a completely different operating system and when it witnesses Him in the mix it is often confused, troubled, even angered.
I suppose we could go so far as if to say that it would view us as zealous, fanatical, too soft, too not of this world.
John reiterates what Jesus taught, saying that it will not know us (or understand us) “because it knew him not.”
The world of Jesus could not relate to or accept His true character as being from above, being God with us, being the anointed one.
It mistook him for an impostor and if they mistook our King they certainly will misunderstand us.
John adds come hopeful and yet comforting words here and says:
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
“Beloved, we now possess the rank and dignity of being sons of God – here, on this earth – and we will not be understood.
“But it does not yet appear what we shall be . . .”
We cannot fully understand nor has it been revealed what we will be hereafter or what will be the full result of being the children of God.
We don’t know what all this faith and study and love and walk will amount to, John says, however, he adds:
“we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him.”
Paul says in Philippians 3:20-21
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
Additionally we read in
1st Corinthians 15:43-44 that our bodies are
“sown in dishonor; but raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; but it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And then we also learn from 2nd Corinthians 3:18, though this seems to be speaking of growing from glory to glory while in this life that
“ . . . we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
In any case what John says is while we might be sons here and now we will change upon meeting Him.
And by all accounts that change seems to mean that we will be made in the same glory as Christ.
In this they had hope in that last hour and in this we have hope through our last hour. John adds
“For we shall see him as he is.”
This statement implies that upon seeing Him these believers would then and there be changed and made in His likeness.
This is the basis I have for believing that everyone who dies since the destruction of Jerusalem as a believer will, upon seeing Him as He is also be immediately changed and transformed into His image (meaning they will receive His glory into their image) when the shift from this natural world to the spiritual.
And John concludes our study today with
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
In the last verse of 1st Corinthians 13 Paul says:
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
And it is here where the importance of hope is detailed for us a bit meaning, that as we look with hope to the day of our coming face to face with the risen Lord, we, in expectation of this, allow ourselves to be purified by the Spirit from the things of this world, even as He was pure from them.
In other words the expectation of this event helps us let God abide in us and cleanse us from the unrighteousness that thrives in our flesh.
In a crude analogy, we might liken our expectant hope of being transformed upon meeting Jesus to the promised trip we will be making to Hawaii in seven months to learn to surf.
The expectant hope for this event motivates us to lose some weight, get fit cardiovascularly and get ready to be out in the sun without wearing much for two solid weeks.
John seems to be saying that the hope or expectancy of our being changed by the very sight of Christ into a state where we share His glory might serve to motivate us to cleaning up our acts, to rely more upon the hagias pneuma instead of our own fleshly will and ways.
Let’s wrap it up here for today.
Q and A
