Download discussion questions:  1 John 2:1-11

In the passage last week, John had a lot to say about spiritual maturity and how our claims can be measured by our conduct (1 John 1:5-2:2).  This week we picked up with the beginning of chapter 2.  John’s desire for writing, “so that you may not sin,” applies to both what he wrote before in chapter 1 and what we looked at in chapter 2.

Our discussion started with the question, “What words in this passage are unusual?  What words get your attention?  Are there unfamiliar words or words that surprise you?”  Too often we can read through a passage and simply skip over words that are not part of our usual vocabulary.  Paying attention to those words can be important to understanding the passage.

Perfection and Propitiation

“Perfected” in verse 5 was mentioned, as well as “propitiation” in verse 2.  We agreed that “perfect” could have nuances of meaning such as whole, or complete, or mature.  One person suggested “demonstrated” as an option.  As to what John was saying was perfected (or matured, or demonstrated), “the love of God” might be taken two different ways.  Did John mean God’s love for us, or did he mean our love for God?  The context (always important) was “whoever keeps His word” (v. 5).  One person commented that God’s love is always perfect, so how could John mean that it was God’s love for us that was perfected?  After some discussion, it seems most likely that the writer’s point is that our love for God is most perfectly demonstrated in the person who keeps God’s word.

The unusual word “propitiation” was a bit more challenging.  We suggested it meant forgiveness of sins, but one member added a theological perspective to improve that answer.  He explained that it is important to recognize the difference between paying for sins and dealing with God’s anger over sins.  He used a simple but clear illustration.  If I break your window, then I should pay for your window.  But even after I pay for the window, you may still be angry with me.  (I’m sorry I don’t remember the exact illustration used, but my broken window story still makes the point.)  Paying for the window, or paying for our sins against God, is described by the theological term expiation.  The term propitiation addresses God’s wrath.  Our group member further explained that expiation (payment for past sins) would still leave God angry with us, requiring us to continually try to make Him happy with us.  Propitiation means that not only has the work of Christ paid for our sins, but it has also removed any trace of God’s wrath or anger toward us who have believed.[1]  He is already happy with us, and we can experience the joy and fellowship with the Father and with His Son that John described (1 John 1:3-4).  (That explanation from a member of our group was a great illustration of why we need to explore unfamiliar or unclear words in the text!)

Commandments

Then we went back to the passage as a whole to see what John had said about “propitiation” and about being “perfected.”  Several people pointed out the numerous repetitions of certain words in the passage.  Two especially stood out:  commandments (v. 3, 4, three times in 7, 8) and darkness (v. 8, 9, and three times in 11).  A person commented that John seems to use the word “word” (v. 5, 7) almost as a synonym of commandment (“the old commandment is the word which you heard” in v. 7).

One observation suggested a possible problem.  Did John contradict himself?  “I am not writing a new commandment to you” (v. 7)…”On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment “ (v. 8).  Did he change his mind?  Did he start writing one thing and then think of something else?  Or perhaps he wanted to get the attention of his original readers (as he got our attention).  He may have simply wanted to stress the point that what he had to say was nothing new (an “old” commandment”), but it had a fresh meaning (a “new” commandment).  (Sometimes we hesitate to point out possible problems or seemingly contradictory comments in Scripture.  However, those “problems” usually lead to better understanding of a text as we think and discuss how to resolve them.)

Several people suggested what commandments John had in mind.  The Ten Commandments would have been familiar to the members of the congregation with a Jewish background.  Some of the former pagans may have heard of the Jewish laws.  However, John used the singular “commandment.”  He seemed to be pointing to a particular idea that he expected all his readers to know.  He was reminding them of one instruction that would crystalize or summarize the teaching he wanted to communicate.  A member of our group mentioned John 15:12, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”  Jesus earlier had made almost the same statement in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”  The “old” commandment might refer back to what Jesus called the greatest commandment:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40, from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

The old and new commandments that John had in mind were about love:  love for God and love for one another.  This suggestion is confirmed by his extended contrast between loving and hating a brother (v. 9, 10, 11).  The evidence (“by this we know” in v. 3 & 5) of God’s work in us and our fellowship (“knowing” Him, v. 3 &4) is a supernatural love for others.  The joy in fellowship “with the Father and with His Son” (1:3-4) overflows into a new attitude toward others, especially those we may not be naturally drawn to.  The new believers from Jewish and pagan backgrounds could hardly have been more different.  Yet John encourages them to see a growing love and care for each other as the clear evidence of their growing fellowship with God, walking in His light, keeping His commandment.

Darkness

The other word our group focused on was “darkness,” used five times in the last few verses of the passage.  In Scripture and in our usual thinking, darkness if often associated with evil or sin.  However, one member of our group suggested that the end of verse 8 eliminates that possible meaning.  “The darkness is passing away,” but we are not seeing a reduction in evil or sin in our world.  Another meaning of darkness could be “ignorance.”  The message of Jesus carried on by John was “new knowledge” as one person described it:

• The new knowledge of propitiation, that we no longer have a need to fear God’s wrath.
• The new knowledge that when we sin we have an Advocate, someone on our side.
• The new knowledge that we can have fellowship with the Father and with His Son.
• The new knowledge that we can love others in spite of former divisions.

The “new knowledge” that was dispelling the darkness was no secret, open only to a few (as some pagan mystery religions claimed).  The new knowledge was open to all who believed the message.  John eagerly and affectionately wanted them to share in the fellowship and joy (1:3-4).

Grace

We ended our discussion on the topic of legalism.  Even our basic assumptions sometimes need to be questioned, and those questions can sometimes be awkward.  Was John suggesting a return to commands and rules with all his emphasis on keeping commandments and walking in the light?  We certainly would not want to think so.  Do we just assume that he had grace and mercy in mind when he wrote about abiding and walking in the light?  The words “grace” and “mercy” don’t appear anywhere in this passage.

Asking awkward questions is another way to explore the depths of a passage.  As long as we are asking sincerely (expecting to find truth) and not as cynics (showing contempt for truth), no question is too awkward.  The question, “Why doesn’t John talk about grace here?” is not too awkward.

John’s emphatic description of God’s amazing grace is in verses 2b-3:  “if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”  Imagine this passage without those sentences:

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. … By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments…

Without John’s words about propitiation (no fear of wrath) and our Advocate (dealing with the reality of our present sins), this would be a truly frightening passage:  “Don’t sin, and here is the list of rules.”  Instead, he provided the perfect solution to encourage his readers.  He offered the liberating truth of propitiation and our Advocate to free us from fear of wrath and despair over our failures.  Instead, in this “new knowledge” we are free to enjoy knowing God and each other, “so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:4).

[1] For some helpful additional comments on propitiation see:
R.C. Sproul:  https://www.ligonier.org/blog/two-important-words-good-friday-expiation-and-propitiation/
John Piper:  https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/jesus-christ-is-an-advocate-for-sinners
J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Illinois:  Intervarsity Press, 1993), 180.