1 John is for believers, rather than skeptics

By John Pearring

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010221.cfm
1 John 2:22-28
John 1:19-28

According to scripture commentators, 1 John is an example of intense Christian religious conviction rather than a scripture that explains the inner workings of Christian theology. A re-read of the letter confirms that assertion. Rather than explain and studiously discuss a listing of Christian tenets that almost all Christians take as truth, the letter simply repeats them, over and over again. It’s a running scripture of mantras for believers.

And it’s a comforting read, if you are already a believer.

It’s our times that make this conviction-centered letter seem a little bit off when we hear it’s blunt words. We live in a constant state of explaining ourselves, rather than standing for our convictions. Factions of thought police seem to be everywhere. The proof of such policing can be found in the redefinition of words to match a new morality. Abortion is identified as woman’s health. Safe sex presumes that sex is required in our youngest generation, including same sex activities. All sex is simply a rite of passage. And that’s just the sexual arena. 

We’re especially forced to explain ourselves regarding our religion. Religious faith is logical to those who have faith. Logic in the sense of the practical, physical, hard facts world. 1 John is written for that logic purpose — a statement by statement account of the truths of our faith. Whether we’re a child preparing ourselves for the gift of faith, or an adult who has yet to accept the gift, the statements of faith ground us.

I find 1 John both comforting and confirming. There’s no hesitation. No mincing of words. And why not have such a set of scripture? What’s wrong with the truth?

Well, the truth isn’t certain, many would say. We live in an era (probably not much different from all others, actually) of competing, warring ideologies. Ideologies today turn quickly into cults. Rather than a body of doctrines and beliefs that guides us, ideologies today are fractured groupings of political agendas. Ideologies trump ardent certainty — which is a really good thing to have — by exacting force upon others who disagree with us. Truth no longer matters when the source of truth shifts from God to a cultic, banner waving damnation of those who disagree with you.

We are driven by all kinds of things when we shift into cult-like thinking. Cults follow an elevated personality, a financial leveling of the field, or some political or philosophical phrase. When vehement ideologies compete they either set aside God as the source as all authority, or re-define the divine to fit their objectives. Class warfare, setting the wealthy and poor against each other, and fixing people into groups, assures the mounting of armies for whichever ideology one belongs to. Our goals for political or philosophical superiority eventually justify any means to reach some end. To win, we can morally allow cheating, because the competing morality is so heinous and awful. There’s no other way to win. God is no longer the source of our authority, nor capable of helping us to meet our goals.

Such is manufactured faith. Faith manufactured by us becomes cult-centered. Faith given to us from God bears no resemblance to this competition for ideologies. It is sacrificial, not a weapon. It is authority born from love, rather than boots on the necks of the non-compliant.  

This ever present conflict of cult-like ideologies is now what takes up all the oxygen in religious conversations. Religions are unfortunately drawn into the ideological conflicts, even forgoing God’s involvement altogether.

The faith instilled in our hearts by God, when we accept that the Holy Spirit can live in us isn’t just a set of rites, rituals and rules. Faith isn’t the grounding. Faith is the relationship. When the gift of faith fills our hearts and minds, the grounding of rites, rituals and rules makes sense. 

For instance, without allowing the gift of faith we’re probably hit with a funny feeling when we read 1 John. It sounds like arrogance, but it is confidence. Through the eyes of faith, it’s simply the truth. 

Who is the liar? 
Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. 
(1 John 2:22)

Not much room there for argument. That statement requires the gift of faith for the one reading it. Faith isn’t about arguments. It’s about the truth. Believers hear the truth in the statement. Non-believers see arrogance and condescension. 

John is saying that one who knows who Jesus is, and then denies him, is a liar. Because they know who Jesus is they are lying that he’s not the Messiah, the Christ. That’s perfectly logical. If someone doesn’t know who Jesus is, they aren’t lying if they don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah. This is an important part of the confidence of faith. The conviction of truth instilled into us by faith resets our morality, our relationships to God and each other. 

Believers act out their faith with certainty and confidence. People of faith are on the front lines, demonstrating how Christians think about things by living out their faith. And, second, believers can argue their faith’s logic as a path of evangelization. Both of these approaches to faith witnessing will take on the ideologies of culture, government, finance, and every other arena of public discourse. Believers witness a Christian perspective by living in the world and by discussing our faith. 

That’s the purpose of 1 John. Our interactions witness Christian understanding of everything from citizenship to entertainment. We can argue the morality of all relationships — family, work, and service — by asserting the presence of God, the promises of eternal life, and the importance of prayer and worship.

Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. 
If what you heard from the beginning remains in you,
then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. 
And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. 
(1 John 2:24-25)

This admonition is for us, the believers. We live with this in our mind and our hearts. We have heard from God. He has spoken, and he lives in us. Religious conviction is simply the way we must live. That living out has an effect upon us that goes beyond everything else.

I write you these things about those who would deceive you. 
As for you,
the anointing that you received from him remains in you,
so that you do not need anyone to teach you. 
(1 John 2:26-27) 

I love that an “anointing” is the “it” that forms our grasp of the truth. We didn’t get some special degree, or some purchased insight. We are anointed by the hand of God. This makes no sense to the un-anointed person in the world. How could a distant God reach from his or her divine realm into our space and time? The concept of putting his “Word” into our hearts and minds is ridiculous to them.

The result of a godless order will necessarily and eventually act out of a sin. In a society driven without a loving God, a creator who can’t or won’t intervene, it’s up to folks who are the elite — there by hook or by crook. Sacrifice of self becomes an appointment rather than an anointing. Leaders and authorities move people like chess pieces, because in their mind no God is going to help them.

They don’t realize usurping God is sinful. John addresses the problem of deceit from a world which fashions morality and ethics according to something other than God’s prompting. How else could we get the moral injection of abortion, the execution of an innocent child? No matter how that child is conceived, through love, rape, or incest, their innocence is clear. Yet, a morality has been manufactured in order to exterminate the child.

There is a difference between witnessing the faith and explaining the faith. We express our conviction of faith by our intense religious conviction. We explain the faith through everything from conversation to teaching.

The way John presents this letter certainly comes across as conviction statements. He does little explaining, because he’s making strong statements about who Jesus is. This letter is for believers, rather than skeptics. 

And now, children, remain in him,
so that when he appears we may have confidence
and not be put to shame by him at his coming.
(1 John 2:28)