1 John 2
1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for[a] the sins of the whole world.
3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love[b] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him[c] to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12I write to you, dear children, because your sins
have been forgiven on account of his name.
13I write to you, fathers, because you have known
him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you have
overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
14I write to you, fathers, because you have known him
who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,
because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
Do Not Love the World
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Warning Against Antichrists
18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[d] 21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.
26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
Children of God
28And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
Footnotes:
a. 1 John 2:2 Or He is the one who turns aside God's wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours but also
b. 1 John 2:5 Or word, love for God
c. 1 John 2:10 Or it
d. 1 John 2:20 Some manuscripts and you know all things
3 comments:
1 John 2
5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love[b] is truly made complete in him.
Being made complete! Pretty awesome thought. One of the pastors preached on contentment this last Sunday and made an analogy about what a person is made of. He said, if you peel back the layers of someone, he used circles inside of circles, as an example of how we are made up. Basically, the bottom line is that only Christ should occupy the central circle. All of our problems start when we force something else other than Christ into that circle and look to it for fulfillment/approval/etc. Pretty simple concept, but extremely accurate and difficult to do.
Father fill our circle with You alone. Push everything from this world outside and make us complete. Continue to watch over JWS and JRS.
In Christ,
cas
1 John 2
15Do not love the world or anything in the world.
What a struggle this is. Even I am not a car guy, but tonight after softball game 2 of my daughter's best friends got into cars with their fathers (1 Lexus, 1 Infinity). EAch car was easily 8-10 times the value of my car. Why do I care? I can't explain it. I try not to, but I do care.
My flesh, no I, love things in this world. And there are certainly things in this world that I love more than cars.
Father keep me from yielding to the desires of the flesh. Make my desires your desires and your will my will.
jmb
1 John 2
I liked cas analogy of being a Christian onion, and hope that the core really is Christ, or that I can continue to conform to that idea.
I continue to be comforted/intrigued/spurred on to know that the same trials we fight with today in our lives, in our society are similar issues that we fought against years and years ago. I think that this chapter points out again, that we know the Father, that we know those things we need to from the Word, we just need the self discipline to put them into practice.
14I write to you, fathers, because you have known him
who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,
because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
Thank You, Father, that we know You. Help us to live out those other things You have taught us in our daily life. In Jesus' Name,
Amen
crb
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