Year 2, Week 51, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 51, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 1 John 4-5; 2 John.

Today’s reading covers the last two chapters of 1 John. The Book of 1 John is a letter written by John the Apostle. John wrote a letter to believers in which he posited a series of “tests” for believers to discern the genuineness of their relationship with Jesus Christ. John offers three factors that must be evident in true faith: a doctrinal test, an obedience test, and a love test. 1 John 4 touches on the doctrinal element of true faith: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2); but also the love element: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). 1 John 5 touches on the obedience element of true faith: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3). 1 John 5 concludes with a statement concerning the purpose of the letter: "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13). Today’s reading also covers the Book of 2 John. The Apostle John issues this short letter (it’s the short Book in the New Testament), to commend and recommend adherence to the sound doctrines of the Gospel: “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever…I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father” (2 John 1-4). And one of the sound doctrines is love: “that we love one another” (2 John 5b).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the language of victory that John uses: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5). Believers are described as those whose life can be characterized as overcomers. The fact that true faith exists in the heart of a believer is meant to stress a sense of victory over the world. Believers are identified as victors and overcomers. Such an identity associated with trusting in Jesus is not a self-acquired identity, but one supplied through the new birth that the Spirit of God imparts into the souls of those who belong to Jesus Christ: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him” (1 John 5:1). Being born again results in trusting in Jesus, and such trust is evidence that God has done a work in the heart and soul of the one who believes in Jesus. Such work is a life-transformative work to the point that notions of victory over sin, the world, and the devil come to shape the life that a believer lives: “I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one…I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:13b,14b). Such a life that would now be shaped by notions of victory will not be completely realized instantly; nevertheless, the realization of absolute victory when Christ returns, begins a direction of life prompted by incremental progress: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

Such talk of victors and overcomers can often sound unlikely and not likely to believers who feel the full import of remaining vestiges of the sinful flesh, which all too easily crumble before the enticements of the devil and the allurements of this world. But such notions of identifying as victors and overcomers is to be experienced through faith in Jesus Christ, who is the Overcomer: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33); and the Victor: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54b-57). Jesus is the Victor and Overcomer. But now, all who trust in Jesus, have already been made new as the Spirit of the Victor and Overcomer dwells in them. Faith unites a person to the One who: “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15). Thus, because of union to Jesus, believers have been given a new way of seeing themselves, which is to result in a new way of living: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). The One who triumphed over rulers and authorities by disarming them at the Cross, is the One who graciously declares that His people are “more than conquerors.” Jesus, the Conqueror has incredible promises for His people as He enables them to conquer: “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe