1:5
The gnostic types had their high falutin ideas, but the apostles had direct experience of Jesus and preached a simply effective message. “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. This would counter some of the gnostic nonsense. We need to remember that the glory of the gospel is that it works.
1:6
God is light, so if we claim to have fellowship with God then we too must live in the light. The lives of the gnostics were questionable, to say the least. If we live in darkness, yet claim to be representing God we are liars and know nothing of the truth.
1:7
Instead we must walk in the light as He is in the light. Then we have fellowship with one another. Two key aspects to being true disciples of Christ are (i) fellowship with Christ; (ii) fellowship with fellow believers. We are purified by the blood of Jesus,
1:8
Claiming perfection immediately identifies us as liars and know nothing of the truth.
1:9,10
This verse always amazes me. “He is faithful and just” The gospel is a gospel of forgiveness, Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteousness. The cross is the perfect and complete answer to our sinfulness. But it is not just a matter of forgiveness, but of changing us as well, “purifying us of all unrighteousness”. If we think that because of forgiveness we can do what we want and be forgiven, then this only serves to demonstrate that we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel, we have missed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment