Lesson Number Two
Text: 1 John 2:3-17
This article is the second of ten drawn from the book of I John – the first published in the January, 2025 edition of the Gospel Herald. These were originally presented as lessons in a Bible class and have been revised for publication. Each article centers on one portion of John’s letter, covering the entirety by the end of the series.
The goal is to highlight many of the teachings and encouragements provided by John as they are all important and continue to guide in matters of doctrine and motivate us from day to day.
The first article introduced the book of I John, and covered chapter 1:1-2:2. You may wish to review the introduction in the first article.
By way of summary:
John’s teachings refute the basic tenets of Gnosticism – a philosophy which taught that spirit is inherently good, and matter (including the human body) is entirely evil. Thus, according to these teachings, Christ, being Divine Spirit and good, could not have come in the flesh – that is, in matter – which is evil. Also following from this teaching were two alternatives for how life was to be lived – as a spirit trapped in matter.
- While the body is evil and the spirit is good, these two do not coexist such that, what is done in the body has no effect upon the spirit. So, we are free to behave any way that we choose.
- The other alternative is that since the spirit is trapped by the body, the spirit of a person should not hesitate to hand out harsh treatment to the body to bring it into line with its own goodness.
Neither of these views are compatible with Christianity, and John writes in large part to address the Gnostic heresy that was making inroads into the early church. He does so by reiterating fundamental principles of Christianity, which is an excellent way for us to evaluate and refute anti-Christian teachings that we will encounter.
I John 2:3-17
John writes that knowing God means more than knowing that He exists. It is also more than just knowing what God wants and what he forbids. We must embrace the character of God by keeping His commandments. This allows us to experience what God is like – from the inside out. And that level of personal experience on our part is pleasing to God and honours Him. This is what Jesus did. He did it so successfully that he could say: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9, NASB).
We know God if we keep His commandments (2:3).
To know God in this way means that God’s love has been brought to fruition in us. We have turned our lives in God’s direction by consciously seeking to do God’s will. This doesn’t mean that we always succeed. When we sin, and then repent, we must still rely upon Jesus’ sacrifice which by God’s grace provides ongoing forgiveness.
Keeping God’s word means, amongst other things, that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that we love others as Jesus has loved us. Love is the foundation of God’s word – His love for us – and when we choose to show that love to others, then His love is shown in our actions. His love has been planted, has grown, and has come to maturity – to fruition.
John then writes a seemingly contradictory statement about an old commandment which is a new commandment. This commandment is that we are to love our brother. I understand John’s words here about a commandment “that is not new yet is also new” as meaning:
- It is not new to John’s readers: the commandment has already been given to them, and John isn’t passing on anything they didn’t already know.
- Yet it is a new commandment because Jesus raised the standard when he gave it as a new commandment. This new commandment is not found in the Law of Moses, although it extends the one that was in the Law. John records Jesus saying, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB)
This is a love which is outwardly visible and is in fact a primary way in which people will see a difference in us. We have learned to love in a new and different way and that sets us apart from the world. So it is that the presence or absence of this kind of love is the chief indicator of whether someone who says that they are a Christian, truly is. John writes that a person who hates is still in the darkness. They are blind to their condition and unsaved. By contrast, the one who loves, is in the light – the light of Jesus and of God and has eyes opened to follow God’s path.
Starting in verse 12, John reassures his readers that their salvation in Christ was secure. They had become unsettled by Gnostic teaching which cast doubt upon their faith. It suggested that their form of insight could do what faith in Christ had not quite accomplished. But John assures them again, as he did in the first chapter, that they are saved (assuming of course that they are walking in the Light, so that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin (1:7))1
We might note that John addresses his readers as ‘his little children’ (Teknion). This designation pertained to all of them, as they had either come to faith as a result of John’s work or were now a part of the ‘flock’ that he was shepherding.
In either case, this first group includes everyone in the church and takes in all those mentioned separately in verses 13-14. So, John writes to affirm the full participation of each group in God’s salvation.
Thus, he is writing to:
- His little children (whole church) “because your sins have been forgiven you on account of His name”
- The fathers “because you know Him who has been from the beginning.
- The young men “because you have overcome the evil one”
- You children (paidia) (literal children or young in the faith ) “because you know the Father”
While expressed in different words, John is affirming essentially the same thing about each group. Each of the things known by one, was known to them all, as each description is logically equivalent to the others.
John repeats this sequence in verse 14 with fathers and young men – implying that he could keep doing it over and over. But since they get the point, it is not necessary. From those who lead households to those being led, from the eldest to the youngest, all have been saved and are kept saved by the certainty and completeness of their knowledge of God. Thus, those things pertaining to their salvation are true of the whole church and of every member within it.
This is consistent with what we know from other scriptures. Access to salvation, and enjoyment of it, is the same for all men and women. As Paul writes, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26-28 NASB).
The apostle Paul used the term ‘sons’, in an all-inclusive sense. In Christ, each inherits equally. Among the ‘sons of God’ were those with whom John had a relationship – making them his ‘little children’.
John continues in verse 15 to say, ‘Do not love the world nor the things of the world.”
Now John is not saying, “Don’t love the creation” nor “Don’t love what God has created.” After all, it was God Himself who pronounced the creation ‘good’. We find this stated repeatedly in Genesis chapter one, where at the end of each day God “saw that [what He had created] was good.”
John used the word ‘world’ in John 3:16 to refer to the world of men and women. Jesus came to earth to save people who are guilty of sin. But in this passage, John’s use of this term is more like Paul’s, who wrote to Timothy that “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim 4:10)
So, in 1 John 2:15, John’s focus is on those things in the world of rebellious men, those things that we are not to love, nor set out to acquire. John explains what he means by the ‘love of the world’ by identifying three negative aspects of it: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Each of these is a corruption of something God originally created to be right and proper.
The lust of the flesh:
When God made us, he did so in a way that causes us to desire the things that our bodies need. Because of hunger and thirst, we eat and drink. We build shelters and make clothing for protection against the elements and for modesty’s sake. Sexual desire and aesthetic sensibility combine to build a healthy attraction between the sexes. God made us male and female and intended for the human race to populate the earth. God-given physical attraction, when acted upon according to God’s will, leads to marriage and family, both being a blessing from God. The Song of Solomon speaks highly of physical love between spouses. It approves genuine affection and commitment in marriage.
But Satan has perverted this attraction and its healthy expression in marriage. He has redirected it into pornography, promiscuity, fornication, and rape. And he has perverted it into homosexuality and bestiality. All of Satan’s alternatives are selfish and most treat others as objects to be used and discarded – instead of people to be loved and served. They leave a trail of sickened minds, broken relationships and social decay. It is not the world that God created, nor the one he wants for us.
Job knew the dangers of the lust of the flesh. He was a man described by God as upright and blameless (Job 1:8), and as a righteous man Job consciously worked to avoid these perversions: “I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1 NASB).
The lust of the eyes:
When God created us in his image, he shared His aesthetic sense of beauty. He did this so that we could visually appreciate all things beautiful and know the joy and pleasure He had when He declared them ‘good’. Physical beauty in God’s creation suggests the importance of beauty to God and implies the greater beauty of the Spiritual being who made them. In this way, God has given us all that we need to sustain our physical bodies and has gone beyond, to include an appreciation for beauty to satisfy our souls. He intended for us to exercise ‘dominion’, as a joy and not a burden.
Thus, we read: “The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food” (Gen 2:8-9 NASB).
Satan has twisted this ability and made it selfish. We look for the purpose of owning and using. An exercise of dominion has been turned into personal conquest, becoming acquisitive, exploitative, and often destructive. Caesar put it well when he boasted, “Veni, vidi, vici”, “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
The boastful pride of life:
When God created us in His image, He took satisfaction in what he had done. He wanted us to share in that kind of pleasure, finding contentment in a job well done. As divine image bearers, we also enjoy the capacity to purpose, to plan, and to choose (volition). But the job that God has given us can only be fulfilled as His servants. He wants us to choose to honour Him, serve Him and obey Him.
Satan has twisted this capacity into a self-willed form of pride. It begins with the idea that God is not in charge, and so I will live my life as I see fit. When I succeed, the credit is mine. I am self-made, self-sufficient and free. Life is all about making a name for myself, carving a niche, making a reputation, and leaving a legacy. “Glory is mine say I.“
This is a rogue form of life – fresh from Satan’s playbook. It promises glory and honour, riches and praise, right now. No need to wait or take handouts from God. Those who say ‘yes’ to Satan are never content. There is never enough wanting and never enough getting.
How sobering then when John reminds his readers that this world along with everything in it is passing away. Not only are our lives on earth temporary, but so is the world itself.
James makes it clear that when we sin, the fault is our own: “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15, NASB). Satan is certainly active, but God leaves the final decision up to us.
We have a choice. We can go back to God’s original plan and His stated intentions for the creation and for us. We must choose to live that way instead, doing His will, so that His good intentions for us in eternity may be received by us in his eternal kingdom.
Far from a teaching that it doesn’t matter what we do in the body, what we do has eternal implications.
Kitchener, Ontario.
1Note the equivalences here in how John addresses each group of his readers: Sins forgiven is equivalent to knowing Jesus, which is equivalent to overcoming Satan, which is equivalent to knowing the Father, which in turn is equivalent to being strong in the word of God.