CHRISTIANS ON CAMPUS
BIBLE STUDY
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
The Fellowship of the Divine Life
I. The Fellowship of the Divine Life
1:1-2:11
A. The manifestation of the divine life
B. The divine fellowship
C. The condition of the divine fellowship
1. Confessing our sins
2. Loving God and the brothers
2:3-11
3 And in this we know that we know Him, if
we keep His commandments. 4 He who says,
I know Him, and does not keep His
commandments is a liar, and the truth is not
in this one; 5 But whoever keeps His word,
truly in this one the love of God has been
perfected. In this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself
also to walk even as He walked. 7 Beloved, I
am not writing a new commandment to you
but an old commandment, which you have
had
from
the
beginning;
the
old
commandment is the word which you heard.
8 Yet again a new commandment 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 He who says he
is in the light and yet hates his brother is in
the darkness until now. 10 He who loves his
brother abides in the light, and there is no
cause of stumbling in him; 11 But he who
1hates his brother is in the darkness and
walks in the darkness and does not know
where he is going, because the darkness has
blinded his eyes.
Footnotes:
1 John 1:7, note 3, blood
When we live in the divine light, we are under its
enlightenment, and it exposes, according to God's
divine nature and through God's nature in us, all our
sins, trespasses, failures, and defects, which contradict
His pure light, perfect love, absolute holiness, and
excelling righteousness. At such a time we sense in our
enlightened conscience the need of the cleansing of the
redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus, and it cleanses us in
our conscience from all sins that our fellowship with
God and with one another may be maintained. Our
relationship with God is unbreakable, yet our
fellowship with Him can be interrupted. The former is
of life, whereas the latter is based on our living, though
it also is of life. One is unconditional; the other is
conditional. Our fellowship, which is conditional, needs
to be maintained by the constant cleansing of the Lord's
blood.
In this section of the Word there is a cycle in our
spiritual life, a cycle formed of four crucial things--the
eternal life, the fellowship of the eternal life, the divine
light, and the blood of Jesus the Son of God. Eternal life
issues in its fellowship, the fellowship of eternal life
brings in the divine light, and the divine light increases
the need for the blood of Jesus the Son of God that we
may have more eternal life. The more we have of
eternal life, the more of its fellowship it brings to us.
The more fellowship of the divine life we enjoy, the
more divine light we receive. The more divine light we
receive, the more we participate in the cleansing of the
blood of Jesus. Such a cycle brings us onward in the
growth of the divine life until we reach the maturity of
life.
1 John 1:7, note 5, cleanses
The tense of this verb in Greek is present and denotes
continuous action, indicating that the blood of Jesus the
Son of God cleanses us all the time, continuously and
constantly. Cleansing here refers to the instant
cleansing of the Lord's blood in our conscience. Before
God, the redeeming blood of the Lord has cleansed us
once for all eternally (Heb. 9:12, 14), and the efficacy of
that cleansing lasts forever before God, so that that
cleansing need not be repeated. However, in our
conscience we need the instant application of the
constant cleansing of the Lord's blood again and again
whenever our conscience is enlightened by the divine
light in our fellowship with God. This instant cleansing
is typified by the purification with the water of
impurity mixed with the ashes of the heifer (Num. 19:210).
Text and footnotes taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible
1 John 1:7, note 6, sin
The New Testament deals with the problem of sin by
using both the word sin (singular) and the word sins
(plural). Sin refers to the indwelling sin, which came
through Adam into mankind from Satan (Rom. 5:12). It
is dealt with in the second section of Romans, 5:12—
8:13 (with the exception of 7:5, where sins is
mentioned). Sins refers to the sinful deeds, the fruits of
the indwelling sin, which are dealt with in the first
section of Romans, 1:18—5:11. However, in this verse
sin in the singular, used with the adjective every, does
not denote the indwelling sin but every single sin we
commit (v. 10) after we are regenerated; each such sin
defiles our purged conscience and needs to be cleansed
away by the blood of the Lord in our fellowship with
God.
Our sin, the indwelling sin in our nature (Rom. 7:17),
has been dealt with by Christ as our sin offering (Lev. 4;
Isa. 53:10; Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26). Our sins,
our trespasses, have been dealt with by Christ as our
trespass offering (Lev. 5; Isa. 53:11; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet.
2:24; Heb. 9:28). However, after our regeneration we
still need to take Christ as our sin offering for the sin in
our nature as indicated in v. 8, and as our trespass
offering for the sins in our conduct as indicated in v. 9.
blood of Jesus, forgives us because He must be faithful
in His word and righteous in the blood of Jesus;
otherwise, He would be unfaithful and unrighteous.
Our confession is needed for His forgiveness. Such
forgiveness of God, which is for the restoration of our
fellowship with Him, is conditional; it depends on our
confession.
1 John 1:8, note 1, do not have sin
I.e., do not have the indwelling sin (Rom. 7:17) within
our nature. This was what the Gnostic heresy taught.
The apostle was inoculating the believers against this
false teaching. This section, 1:7—2:2, deals with the
believers' sinning after their regeneration. Such sinning
interrupts their fellowship with God. If after
regeneration the believers do not have sin in their
nature, how could they sin in their conduct? Even if
they sin only occasionally, not habitually, their sinning
is adequate proof that they still have sin working
within them. Otherwise, there would be no interruption
in their fellowship with God. The apostle's teaching
here also condemns today's teaching of perfectionism,
which says that a state of freedom from sin is attainable
or has been attained in this earthly life; and it annuls
today's erroneous teaching of the eradication of the
sinful nature, which, misinterpreting the word in 3:9
and 5:18, says that regenerated persons cannot sin
because their sinful nature has been totally eradicated.
1 John 2:1, note 3, may not sin
This word and if anyone sins in the succeeding
sentence indicate that the regenerated believers can still
sin. Though they possess the divine life, it is still
possible for them to sin if they do not live by the divine
life and abide in its fellowship.
1 John 1:9, note 3, cleanse us
To forgive us is to release us from the offense of our
sins, whereas to cleanse us is to wash us from the stain
of our unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9, note 4, unrighteousness
Unrighteousness and sins are synonyms. All
unrighteousness is sin (5:17). Both refer to our
wrongdoings. Sins indicates the offense of our
wrongdoings against God and men; unrighteousness
indicates the stain of our wrongdoings, which causes us
not to be right with either God or men. The offense
needs God's forgiveness, and the stain requires His
cleansing. Both God's forgiveness and God's cleansing
are needed for the restoration of our broken fellowship
with God, that we may enjoy Him in uninterrupted
fellowship with a good conscience, a conscience void of
offense (1 Tim. 1:5; Acts 24:16).
1 John 2:1, note 7, Father
Here this divine title indicates that our case, which the
Lord Jesus as our Advocate undertakes for us, is a
family affair, a case between children and the Father.
Through regeneration we have been born children of
God. After regeneration, if we sin, it is a matter of
children sinning against their Father. Our Advocate,
who is the sacrifice for our propitiation, undertakes for
us to restore our interrupted fellowship with the Father
that we may abide in the enjoyment of the divine
fellowship.
1 John 1:9, note 2, faithful
God is faithful in His word (v. 10) and righteous in the
blood of Jesus His Son (v. 7). His word is the word of
the truth of His gospel (Eph. 1:13), which tells us that
He will forgive us our sins because of Christ (Acts
10:43); and the blood of Christ has fulfilled His
righteous requirements that He might forgive us our
sins (Matt. 26:28). If we confess our sins, He, according
to His word and based on the redemption through the
Text and footnotes taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible