July 2014

As Reformed believers we can rightly become very excited about discovering the depths of the biblical riches of God's grace. But as a result of wrong thinking about this, many of our churches avoid talking about obedience. One reason is that many have been burned in the past by legalistic churches or another is that they may be afraid of compromising the crucial doctrine of justification through faith alone. Those are good things to avoid but passages like Titus 2:12 teach "us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age." In fact the New Testament is full of divine commands or imperatives. True if taken in the wrong way, these commands could be construed as legalism or justification by works, but when regeneration is understood aright, the renewed heart, where the Spirit is at work, makes these commands part of our inner delight in living for Christ. We obey because the Spirit has united us to Christ and inclined our hearts toward holiness .... not in order to be saved but because we are saved. All obedience needs to be grounded in grace ... that is springs from Christ's work, not something we do in order to deserve Christ's blessing.  Our motive for obedience shows whether we understand the gospel or not. 

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 1 John 5:16-17

John has taught his readers to imitate Jesus by obeying the Father, as He has obeyed (2:6, 3:6), and by showing love to our brothers as Christ has shown love to us (3:16). Here he calls on them to intercede with God for those who are sinning. This is an indirect call to imitate Jesus as He is an intercessor, He pleads with God on our behalf. As the Apostle Paul says, “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us (Romans 8:34).” It is not our intercession that gives life. It is God that gives life (v. 16), and His righteous anger is only turned aside by Christ’s propitiation (2:2). But John is talking about brothers, those who are already followers of Christ. So, in a sense, their sin is already forgiven in Christ, and God is pleased to hear our requests because of Him.

John warns that there is an exception, though, in the “sin that leads to death.” This must be spiritual death, of the type Jesus talks about in the Gospel of Mark:

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,  but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin (Mark 3:28-29).”

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. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

There are various things we must overcome in life: hardships or trials, difficulties or troubles. All of these have negative connotations. So what does John mean when he says that “those who have been born of God have overcome the world”? Most of us have overcome something, like illness or negative attitudes. But to overcome the world either seems wildly ambitious, or paints the world in a pretty negative light.

In fact, John does paint the world in a negative light. But the world he is referring to is the fallen world, characterized by sin and corruption. It is the world governed by the devil, and is opposed to the love of the Father (2:15). It is the world that is the source of the lust of the flesh, eyes, pride of life (2:16), and which is passing away (2:17). This world does not know God (3:1), and hates those who do (3:13). It is filled with false prophets (4:1) and antichrists (4:3). Nevertheless, Christians can take heart, because He who is in us is greater than him who is in the world (4:4). In fact, Jesus was sent and came into the world (4:9) precisely to be the savior of the world (4:14).