Time Well Spent Bible Study with Cornelius F. Warren

John, the beloved apostle, has long known and enjoyed the Lord. He writes 1 John to help out his spiritual brothers and sisters in their walk with the God who is light, love and life. John wants them to be grounded in assurance of their salvation, experiencing victory over sin and the full joys of the Christian life. He reminds them that all these gems can be dimmed by false teaching, so John reminds the reader that belief should be based on the facts about Jesus Christ’s incarnation and that every believer has the responsibility to walk like Christ.

John is combating the erroneous teaching and practice of some heretics. They said, “We have fellowship with God,” but John says that they are walking in the darkness, lying, and not practicing the truth. Those who experience true fellowship with God walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light. The heretics were saying that they had no sin and that they had not sinned. John says that they are deceiving themselves and making God to be a liar.

But John does not want his readers to conclude that Christians are characterized by sin. So before he says, “If anyone sins…” he clarifies his purpose, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” “These things” refers to the message that God is holy and to the importance of walking in the light, not in the darkness. It also refers to what he writes in 1 John 2: 1-2. John reflects both his pastoral heart for them and his longer experience as an old man. He cares for them as a father or grandfather does for his little ones. He has lived longer than they have and speaks with experience about how to live a holy life. So we should pay close attention to his message:

The key to holiness is to understand God’s grace as seen in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins.

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