1/25/2025 – Prologue – The darkness has blinded their eyes thus they have no idea where they are going. [1 John 2:11b] ‘People of the Lie was, by far, the most difficult study to prepare, as we will see. Think also of the weeks, months, and years leading to the US Election 2024. How do we interpret Trump’s Inaugural statement of leading us into the sunlight. Did he mean Sunlight or Sonlight?
[1 John 2:3-14] – God’s New Commandment – Writing style moves to the forefront in John. This is most true if one reads Paul and then moves to John. John becomes repetitive and we might become impatient. Please use caution. Repetition is more acceptable in lyrics, then poetry and least in narrative writing. We miss the entire value of this letter if we trip over John’s style. The major theme of these verses is God’s commandments. We may think - Ten Commandments and why we need to be reminded to keep them. And we have been taught we are forgiven. We have been taught the entire point of the NT is, we are free from the law. Do not respond too quickly. The commandments were directional, aiding us when we came to forks in our journey and if we made the correct decisions they led to a genuine, fruitful human life. Many were terrorized by this knowing they could not and did not keep them and yet they hung about seeking God’s coming day. Seeking the life of His age to come and then the present age met the future age – Jesus. It will be through Him that we will discover the reality toward which the commandments pointed.
For John, Paul and mostly Jesus the commandments can be summed in one word – love – Love, of God’s New Age. The details of what to do and not to do flow from this love. The love is revealed in Jesus and God wants this love to be revealed in and through those who follow Jesus. [v. 2-11] The remainder of this letter explores what this means. Think of the long story of Israel. [v. 1.1-2:2] If Moses heard Jesus talk about love, he would have said, That’s it!? But, in life in God’s New Age we can taste love andpractice it. It is difficult – it is easier to backslide, to live in the ways – of suspicion and hatred. Among our brothers and sisters in Christ hatred cannot prevail for we share the love for the same heavenly father. John’s dealing with darkness is captivating. To hate a brother is walking in dark-ness and unable to see the truth.[v. 9-11] In these verses love is a command and promise. It means going into the light. Overcoming suspicion and hatred is costly and difficult. John turns his attention toward ‘young children’ [v. 13-14] claiming ‘you have conquered the evil one’. Only those who are truly children, who know Jesus as their savior, can walk as Jesus walked and love one another as Jesus loved them. This note is cautionary: as a child we love and are vulnerable. Soon we become sophisticated – elite. John will go deeper later. N. B. God’s love is not sappy or easy; it demands victory over the evil one, and his vices. The evil one may do his best work through human hatred.
[1 John 2:15-29] – People of the Lie – What causes dysfunctional behavior or basic unhappiness? Bad things happen to good people. They are maltreated by others; to the point of serious trauma; they make bad decisions and suffer negative consequences. Many students and professionals of unhappiness/dysfunctional behavior (UDB) fail to take the role of evil in their observations. This is an error. Those laboring with UDB lie to themselves, lie to others, lie to family and begin to believe and live those lies. John puts his finger on this lie and he warns us of ‘the people of the lie’. He claims they are a corrupting and dangerous influence. Further, those who do not believe the lie must trust God’s work in themselves, i.e., the work that helps them believe the truth and to hold on tightly.
John [v. 18] begins a discussion of the ‘antichrist’. That characterization is often misused over the millennia, in every decade. We have variations: anti-messiah, false messiahs, false prophets, false shepherds or false teachers. These terms are used to describe both individuals and organizations representing religious and political movements. In the 1st C. these events were called political as much as they were called religious, for governance was theocratic applied under the ruling system of the Romans. This challenges historians. After Jesus' ascension, Christians would hear of events in nearby towns and wonder if Jesus had returned. John addresses this because many of Jesus’ followers did go off and were distracted. He reminds them that Christ alone provides forgiveness, contentment, and peace. His prayer is “Father, in heaven, do not let the desires of our sinful, selfish flesh reign over us.” [v. 15-17] What is interesting is that John ponders whether they came from within our ‘fellowship’. This is a point of concern. The term ‘not one of us’, could be self-justification; but John dives deeper. A true follower of Jesus the Messiah has been anointed by Jesus’ Holy Spirit, [v. 20] a real change of heart and character has happened. Thus, destabilization in one’s life may be devastating. The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is the precise recognition that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the son of God. The loss of that belief is an unmitigated disaster. When one joins the ranks of the ‘people of the lie’ they begin to perpetrate the greatest lie of all, the ‘denial of the Father and the Son, Messiah’. [v.20] Among the false teachers are those who claim the basic Christian confession is a mistake. Jesus was not God’s last word to His people. There is someone new. Give it up, come with us! (Islam and others)
No one who denies the Son has the Father. We have the Father only through the Son. [v. 23] John says, Do not do it, you are being deceived. [v. 26] We know this because the ‘anointing’ remainswithin us - without anyone teaching us from the outside we know the truth within. Despite the argumentation and rationalizations, the lie you proclaim is, in fact, not a lie. It is truth! [v. 27] Here is the grotesque truth: with the denial of God or Jesus, the Messiah or both we deny all that makes us who we are. This lie, if integrated into our heads, will eat away at the vitality and heart of the individual Christian or church. Let us review the expectations of Jesus’ return/His royal appearing. [v. 28] When he ap-pears (coming), do not think that at the present time He is far away. He is very near, but hidden. When He appears, He will transform the whole of creation. Then the present world will disappear. [v. 17] That is why we are commanded not to love the world. [v. 15] What does it mean to renounce the world in every sense? Are we totally evil? Do we try to love as pure spirits? That is not John’s idea; Paul’s implication placed the world over God. The world is God’s good creation and we are to enjoy it with thanksgiving. [1 Cor. 10:25-26; 1 Tim. 4:4-5] Do not think dualistically: God good – creation bad. That leads to the denial of Jesus as human flesh. Demeaning. ‘Not to love the world’ does not mean the physical stuff, but the world as in its rebellion against God. Those things draw us from God: idols which draw more and more from those who worship them. Idolatry draws us into the lie and then The Lie. Celebrate all goodness in the world, God’s goodness to us within His creation. But do not worship that, but thank God for it. Then watch and pray for the day when it will be transformed by the reappearing of His Son. Amen
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