JOHN
CHAPTER 1
Saints gain fellowship with God by obedience—We must confess our sins to gain forgiveness. [ 1st John is a sermon that is kind of meant to be
circulated around. Like a copy of the Liahona, that it's filled with advice and teachings from Church leaders and they could share that with groups wherever they were. ]
1 THAT which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, [ John is saying I was there, I witnessed this. ] which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
[ So right off the bat we need to ask why is he writing this
particular letter to all of the churches in this area? The answer is found in 1
John 2:26, when he says, 'These things have I written unto you
concerning them that seduce you or that are deceiving
you." It's interesting, in 2:19, he says, "They went out from
among us." So what you have is you have these Johannine
churches that are connected closely with it appears the
Apostle John, and there's people within those
congregations that are leaving and trying to deceive them. ]
2 (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;)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [ What does fellowship mean to you? What do you think it looks like? Moses 7 and in Doctrine and Covenants 45, that God's people are of one heart and one mind. I don't think
unity means sameness, harmony is being different together. John is suggesting here that fellowship includes a unity, and we have a group of people in the church who are trying to break it up because of their deceiving ways. How hard it must have been for a young church trying to get it's feet on the ground and to have all of these different people try to interject their ways and influence into the mix. some did it to get power and gain to look respected, some did it because of tradition, some just did it unknowingly; but no matter the reason it would have been hard on the young church with so many teachings you might be asking how could they decide which was right and which was wrong. Wow; is there any possibility that we are just like them in many ways? Do we have people teaching things in the church today that are a little off the beaten path? some of the teaching of their day might have been Well if Jesus really was a God then he would not have died. Most were Jews and as such they did not believe in the concept of sin. So we have John speaking to those very things in the very first verse here. Testifying that he has seen him, that he knows that he is a God, as he was there he was a first hand witness. In addition the greek philosophy of the time, included the idea that all matter is unrefined and coarse, vile. So why would you want to be resurrected? Why would you want a body anyway? The notion that having
a spirit is more transcendent so it's better. So here John is saying that you
have to confess that Christ came in the flesh, and He really did
have a body. Therefore without the resurrection, what have we got?
For him and for all of us could see why that's important to
John and maybe that's why it's important for Satan who is fighting against the idea of God having a body, and then if God doesn't have a body then the body is something to have disdain for. Satan will twist in every way that he can. ] is with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ.
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, [ D&C 50:23, Hank, "That
which is of God is light; and he or she that continueth in
God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter
and brighter until the perfect day." So we have the idea that is God is the source of light that we need, we must continue to go toward God, the source of all light even when things are not going good. If you're looking for more light, you don't discontinue the
source of all light. so, you continue in God. If you have questions, great, own them and continue in God because that's where the light is. ] and in him is no darkness at all.
7 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.
8 If we say that we have no sin, [ This was a belief of the Jews, that they were without sin. To
understand Jewish culture is to understand that forgiveness is between
God and the individual. If one confesses his sins to God then they are
gone, they disappear, they did not happen (kish-kish). Therefore they
have no need for a Savior to remit their sins for them - since if they
will only confess they are in simple legal terms aquitted of the sin.
In their view only God himself can "forgive
sin", only God himself can "atone for sin". ] we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
[ sometimes when we sin, I think Satan is trying to push us to one side or the other. Pushing us off on one side he says to us, "That really wasn't sin. No, that really was okay." If we say we have no sin, we just deceive ourselves. sometimes it's we're rationalizing because maybe repentance feels uncomfortable or scary and we'd like to avoid it. We'd like to not need that. Maybe we are afraid of change that would need to happen. Maybe we are afraid of losing face or losing status in admitting we did something wrong. To the other extreme "Oh, it's so bad what you have done, you are so bad. You are so wrong. You're broken. and there is no way to fix you." Both are lies. ]