Commentary on the First Letter of John, Chapter 1
The writer of these three letters is John, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. He is also the writer one of the Gospel which bears his name and as well as the book of Apocalypse or Revelation. It is pleasant to read these letters because there are not difficulties of understanding, and it is also very instructive to strengthen our faith in the hope of everlasting life, by means of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (John 3:16,36). Each important idea written by the Apostle John will be introduced by a simple comment. Afterwards, there may be a comment that will allow to see how we can expand the meditation and the understanding linked to the teaching of the apostle John.
The first letter of the apostle John
Chapter 1:
The introduction of the letter simply explains the purpose of bearing witness of fellowship with God and his Son Jesus Christ, in view of the hope of everlasting life by means the sacrifice of Christ: « That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have observed and our hands have felt, concerning the word of life, 2 (yes, the life was made manifest, and we have seen and are bearing witness and reporting to you the everlasting life that was with the Father and was made manifest to us), 3 that which we have seen and heard we are reporting also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message that we heard from him and are announcing to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him. 6 If we make the statement, “We are having fellowship with him,” and yet we go on walking in the darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 However, if we are walking in the light as he himself is in the light, we do have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin » (verses 1-7).
Some people say that they have no sin and therefore they do not need the atonement value of the blood of Jesus Christ to obtain the forgiveness of sins: « If we make the statement, “We have no sin,” we are misleading ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we make the statement, “We have not sinned,” we are making him a liar, and his word is not in us » (verses 8-10).
Jesus Christ during his discussion with the teacher of the Law, Nicodemus, said that those who refuse to exercise faith in his sacrifice, would incur the anger of God, and therefore would not have the everlasting life: « For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life. (…) The one who exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; the one who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him » (John 3:16,36).
It is possible that the people, who claimed to have no sin, thought that one can be righteous (with no sin) toward God, by a good conduct and thus obtain salvation, by deserved and without exercising faith in the sacrifice of Christ. Maybe some Jews of that time who did not exercise faith in Jesus and thought that salvation is only by means a good application of the Mosaic Law. Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote regarding this idea: « We who are Jews by birth, and not sinners from the nations, recognize that a man is declared righteous, not by works of law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. So we have put our faith in Christ Jesus, so that we may be declared righteous by faith in Christ and not by works of law, for no one will be declared righteous by works of law » (Galatians 2:15,16).
In addition, the sinful condition does not only depend on the good or bad behavior toward God, but also, the fact that the sin is in the man, in his flesh, in his genes inherited from our common ancestor, Adam. In doing so, even if some people claim to have no sin because they would have good behavior toward God, that would not prevent them from undergoing the physical law of sin in them, in their flesh and in their genes, which leads them irretrievably to death: « That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because they had all sinned. (…) For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord » (Romans 5:12; 6:23). Therefore, to get out of this dark tunnel of sin that leads to the grave, there is no other choice than to recognize our sinful condition and to exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ, to obtain the everlasting life (reasoning with the mind of practical wisdom).
***
John is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. He is also the writer one of the Gospel which bears his name and as well as the book of Apocalypse or Revelation…
***
Table of contents of the website
Reading the Bible daily, this table of contents contains informative Bible articles (Please click on the link above to view it)…
Table of languages of more than seventy languages, with six important biblical articles, written in each of these languages…
***