Chapter 2 of 1 John picks up where chapter 1 leaves off. The exhortation of John is that we may not sin. Again, this is clear teaching on Christian perfection and that it is possible to not sin. To those who believe it is not possible to stop sinning, 1 John challenges this belief. That we may not sin means that we can and should avoid sin.
There is a verse in chapter 3 which goes into more detail, so we will reserve further discussion on not sinning until then.
If we do sin, we ought to fly to Christ in that moment. I think one of the hesitations we face is that sin is intentional and deliberate and asking Christ for forgiveness can seem disingenuous. We should still fly to Christ, but we should also allow the Lord to examine our hearts and help us surrender problem areas to Him.
Verse 2 is one of a number of verses which plainly state that Christ died for the whole world and that it is God’s will that the world would be saved. 1 Timothy 2:4, Isaiah 42:6, 2 Peter 3:9, John 3:16, 12:32, Titus 2:11, Ezekiel 33:11, Revelation 3:20 Our Reformed friends will say that only those who are elect can be saved and that God predestined certain people to commit evil, who cannot be saved. According to these verses, the election and predestination of some is against God’s plainly stated will. I agree that not everyone will be saved, but it is not because God refuses them. It is the other way around. There is universal opportunity, and no one is left out from the promise of 1 John 2:2.
This word propitiation is equivalent to “atonement” in the Old Testament and signifies an appeasing sacrifice. Through Christ, we are made acceptable before God. The context is that we be blameless before God. Genesis 17:1
Verses 3 through 8 speak to our obligation to keep the commandments of Christ. We know those who are truly in Christ by their obedience to Christ. Our obedience to Christ is the pathway to the imitation of Christ, for the commandments He calls us to follow are the same commandments He followed. If someone does not keep the commandments of Christ, this is how we know they are not of Christ, despite what they may say.
Again, abiding in Christ is imitating Christ, and we are called to both abide in Him and imitate Him.
Then, in verses 7 and 8, John discusses the new covenant and its relationship to the Law of Moses. The commandments given to us by Christ are not new, but they are deepened. Where the law of Moses was primarily outward, the commandments of Christ are to be obeyed from the heart. That is not to say that the law of Moses was not to be obeyed from the heart. God rebuked Israel for not softening their hearts. Our obedience has always sprung from the heart.
We’ll close this post with an overview of verses 9-14. John once again demonstrates that we cannot walk both in light and darkness at the same time. We cannot hate our brother and walk in the light. Jesus said hatred of another person is equivalent to murder, which is a violation of the Ten Commandments. We’ll discuss the word “love” in the next post.
A good example here would be road rage. We cannot both exhibit road rage and be obedient to Christ. Road rage is a form of hatred, and it gets us in the dark. We also cannot despise someone close to us or harbor bitterness and hatred. These are opposed to Christ.
Abiding in Christ is the main point of verses 12-14. When we abide in Christ, His word abides in us, and we have overcome the evil one. Notice the “you have overcome.” This is worth a post in and of itself. He does not say we will overcome or that we should overcome. He writes that we “have overcome.” By abiding in Christ, obeying His commandments, and walking in the light, we have already overcome the evil one.
As people who commit to loving God with a pure heart, we live as overcomers!
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