1 John 2:1

1 John 2:1 says, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  John referred to those he was writing to here as little children, and I believe he may have been referring to those who were newborn Christians as well as who were actual children.  He said that they shouldn't sin, which should be the goal of all Christians, but that if they did, they had an Advocate in Jesus Christ the Righteous.  We will always fall short of not sinning, but when we do, if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, He will wash away our sins.  

Verse two adds, And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  John said that Jesus was the propitiation for our sins as Christians, but not only for ours but for the sins of the whole world.  Many people will go to hell having Jesus Christ die for their sins but never accepting His gift of salvation.  There is no one that Jesus Christ didn't die to bring redemption to, but everyone must accept His redemption for it to benefit them.  

Verse three continues, And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  John then said we can know that we know God by keeping His commandments.  We cannot be saved by the Law of God, but if we are saved, we should keep His commandments because of our faith in Jesus Christ.  

Verse four states, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  John went further here, saying that if we claimed to be saved by knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord but didn't keep His commandments that we are liars.  Salvation does not free us from obeying God's law, but it simply removes the death sentence when we do sin as long as we have truly put our faith in Him.  

Verse five adds, But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.  John said that anyone who kept God's law after being saved had the word of God perfected through what that person does.  He added that by keeping God's word that we can know that we are a part of God's kingdom.  Keeping the Law does not save us, but once we are saved, we should obey God's law. 

 

1 John 1:5

1 John 1:5 says, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  John said that the message that he received from God and proclaimed to them is that God is Light and in Him there is no darkness.  If we are going to proclaim God's word, it must come from Him, and we can never accuse God of doing anything evil.    

Verse six adds, If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:  John then said if we profess to follow God and walk in the darkness of the world, that we lie and God's truth is not in us.  If we are a true follower of Christ, we cannot continue to willfully sin at all times, though we might occasionally be guilty of some temporary sin, and if we are, we need to confess it to God and ask His forgiveness and turn away from the sin.  

Verse seven continues, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  John then tells us that if we walk in the Light, and Jesus Christ is the Light, then we have fellowship with other believers.  We all do this by putting our faith in Jesus Christ, Who's shed blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness or sin.  We are cleansed from all sin for all time if we put our faith in Him.   

Verse eight states, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  John tells us that if we say we have no sin in our lives to be forgiven, then we lie to ourselves and the truth of God is not in us.  Not only did Jesus say He was the Light, He also said He was the truth, so if we do not ask Him for forgiveness from our sins, the Truth cannot be in us.  

Verse nine adds, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  John tells us that if we confess our sins and accept God's redemption through faith in Jesus Christ, that God is faithful to forgive us.  We cannot be a part of God's kingdom if we say we have never sinned and have no need of forgiveness.  

Verse ten continues, If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  John then added that if we say that we have not sinned, then we make God a liar, since He said all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, except for one Man, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:1

1 John 1:1 says. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;  This verse states more than one truth.  That which was from the beginning refers to the fact that Jesus Christ existed before anything else, because He is the eternal God.  James then added that they, the people who lived at that time, had heard of him, especially the disciples, of which Johne was one.  John said that they had heard and touched Jesus, since He was also a man like us, except without sin.  John concluded by saying that Jesus Christ is the Word of Life.  His word brings life.  These things are still true, except for the fact that we see, hear, and touch Jesus spiritually instead of physically, but we do acknowledge that He was a man and God.  

Verse two adds, (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.   John then spoke about the eternal nature of Jesus Christ, Who was with the Father, but was then made manifest to John and others.  Jesus Christ existed before the world was created, and He still exists today, but no longer physically.  He came so that we might have everlasting life by putting our faith in Him.   

Verse three continues, That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.  John said that he and those who had seen Jesus Christ and heard what He taught and how He died and rose again they now declared to the lost people of world around them.  They did this so that lost people might accept God’s gift of salvation and become a part of the fellowship of believers.  This is still our purpose in sharing the gospel today, to all people and not just to certain people.  

Verse four concludes, And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.  John said that they wrote these things to others so that the joy of others might be complete by putting their faith in Jesus Christ, which is the only way to find real joy.  We can either see John saying we as the royal or third-person use of we, or we can see it as his speaking of the writings of other men inspired by God as well as himself.  I am inclined to believe the latter. 

 

James Review

James wrote a lot about works and faith.  We often want to make them opposing ideas, but as he taught by God’s inspiration, God expects us to do good works of faith once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  We are saved by faith alone, but our faith should lead us to do the good work that God calls us to do.

James also wrote about lusting for what other people had.  He warned us that as followers of Christ, we should not do this but should pray for God to provide us with what we need.  This is the opposite of what some Christians proclaim today.  

He also taught that lust and envy can lead to wars, and we see a lot of wars today because people of another country have what we lust for.  Of course, we also see this with people within our country lusting after what others have and fighting with them over it instead of praying to God for Him to meet our needs and help us overcome our lust and envy.  

James said that we have not because we ask not, or that we asked amiss.  If we pray to God for our needs to be met, that is all we need to do.  We don't need to pray that our wants and desires will be met. 

James warned us about becoming rich with no concern for others and putting our faith in our riches instead of in God.  He said we cannot be faithful to God and faithful to the material things of this world at the same time.  As Christians, we can never put the things of the world ahead of being obedient to God and be faithful to Him.

James warned us about controlling our tongue, which is but a small part of our body but is often very hard to control.   He said it is like a bit in a horse’s mouth or a rudder on a ship, both being small things that controlled the direction of much larger things.  He said that the tongue can be the same way for people, determining how we react to other people.  He also that cursing and blessing cannot come out of the same mouth.  We should use our tongue to proclaim God’s love to all people and not to curse or condemn others, even lost people of the world.

James warned us about the brevity and uncertainty of our physical life, saying we shouldn't make plans that assume we will always have another day, but should put our future in God's hands.  

James also tells us if we know to do good and don't do it, that is a sin.  It is not just the things that we do that are against God's will that is sin, but the things that we know we should do and then don't do as well.

Next, we will look at 1 John.