Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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1 John 2:9-11 | The Gospel Scandal

1 John 2:9-11 | The Gospel Scandal

9 He who says he is in the light yet hates his brother is in darkness even until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling-block (scandalon) in it. 11 But he that hates his brother is in darkness and in the darkness walks and does not know where he goes because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:9-10

Having established that keeping God’s word/commands is the fruit of God’s love within (2:5), John now turns to love of neighbor. “Brother” here should be understood as fellow saints. Initially, this might seem like a narrowing of what Jesus widened. Jesus famously taught (to his Israelite audience) that your neighbor isn’t just fellow Jews, but mankind in general. We should recall that Jesus was making way for the Gentiles (even the hated Samaritans) to be welcomed into the covenant blessings of Israel (while unbelieving Jews would be cast out). 

John, however, is writing to a mingled audience of believing Jews and Gentiles. This new Israel must recognize that the loyalty and love which arises from the Gospel begins between brothers in Christ (i.e. those “born of God”). As this love take holds amongst God’s children it bleeds outward and infiltrates all other loyalties––familial,  national, and ethnic. John is building on what Christ taught, not restricting it. The only way for us to show love to mankind in general is to begin by love for those ”born of God.” This is the light that is shining, which John anticipates will soon illumine the whole world. 

Once more, John continues the illustrative conversation, i.e. “He that saith…”. This time the lie being spun is a claim to dwell in the light (Cf. 1:6-7) while detesting one’s brother. If you hate your brother, you dwell in darkness, not in the true light which is now shining. This is contrasted with the one who truly dwells in the light. The one who dwells in the light loves his brother.

There is a striking phrase used here that bears a lingering remark. The one who loves his brother demonstrates that he truly dwells in the light of God; thus, there is no stumbling-block in him. The word used by John here is scandolon. This is where we get the word scandal. Human history is littered with a constant ebb and flow of constantly escalating scandals. It starts with small slights, gnawing envies, and minor infractions. But the scandal, like rivulets joining into rivers, always grows. 

Human history is littered with a constant ebb and flow of constantly escalating scandals. It starts with small slights, gnawing envies, and minor infractions. But the scandal, like rivulets joining into rivers, always grows. 

Think of a child playing contentedly. Another child arrives, and grabs a toy that the first child hadn’t been playing with. However, now that toy now has captured the first child’s attention, and he’ll rush over to try to take it. The second child will then grip tighter, and then the whole situation escalates to screams, bites, and punches. This is what mankind has done on a large scale since Cain crushed Abel’s skull (note that John will use this very OT episode in 3:12 when he expounds on what is introduced in this text).

The scandal is that our envies and lusts have trapped us in a constant battle with our fellow man. It is a stumbling-block. Here, however, the path of escape from this fallen system of living is shown. Mankind need not remain in darkness, for the true light now shines, inviting man (whether Jew or Gentile) out of the darkness of the scandal, into the bright light of the Gospel scandal: Christ laid down His life for us. 

The Accuser’s lies, which we have participated in spreading and believing, are undone by our Advocate (2:1). He says of us, “This one is mine, it is for this one that I shed my blood.” Thus, Christ is the great scandal that renders all the scandals powerless. Their grip is lost. The light shows us where the stumbling blocks are, thus, in essence,  removing them. Because Christ forgave us and has brought us into fellowship with God, we are now able love our brother. The steeds of rivalry and contention are all hocked. The engines of envy and covetousness seize up. 

Hating those for whom Christ died and has redeemed by His blood demonstrates that no matter how loudly you say otherwise, you still are walking in darkness. This is the condition of the fallen man. He walks around in the darkness of hatred. They stumble over all the scandals, big and small. The darkness has blinded them, and they have no way to know where they are going. But not so with those who have seen the ultimate scandal: God, in Christ, has forgiven you and begotten you––and all the elect saints––as his children. 

There is some debate as to whether the last phrase in verse 10 should be translated that there is no stumbling block in him (the one who loves his brethren), or in the light. I prefer to render it according to the latter line of thinking. In other words, those walking in darkness have seen a great light indeed. Once we dwell in the light, as He is in the light, we see the stumbling blocks––the scandals––for what they are, and by the Light of Christ they are all removed.

1 John 2:7-8 | Nothing New, But All is New

1 John 2:7-8 | Nothing New, But All is New

7 Brothers, it is no new commandment I write unto you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, this is true in Him and in you, because the darkness has passed away and the true light now shines. 

1 John 2:7-8

Given the discussion in 1 John 1:6-10 on the believer’s relationship to sin, it’s unsurprising that the next question to be answered, particularly for believing Jews, would be in regards to their relationship to the commandments. Believers in Christ are not “let off” from commandment keeping. Rather, it is only by Christ that we can be true commandment keepers (Cf. 1 Jn. 2:3).

Christ gave a new commandment, in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” The light which has shined into the darkness (Cf. Jn 1:5) is the converting light of the Gospel. This light is the birthright and experience of every true saint. When we’re converted by the heralded Gospel, we can truly say, “This is nothing new, but now everything is new.” The scales have come off, the day has dawned, the clear light is shining.

The commandment is the same as ever: love God, and love your neighbor. But there is new light shining, illuminating new glories in the old commandment. John isn’t giving a new command, but an old one which they had heard from the beginning. The phrase “the beginning” here is the same construction as in 1 Jn. 1:1, but here it is in reference to the beginning of their hearing of the Gospel which had been from the capital “B”Beginning.

The newness however, is that of a newly discerned glory. It’s as if under the OT the saints held a diamond, but in the dim light could only vaguely perceive the beauty of what they held. As soon as the rays of Gospel light caught in the prism, a new glory was revealed. This wasn’t a novel idea, nor did it just appear out of thin air. The newness is not that of recency, for it is from the beginning; it is a newness of quality.

The newly unveiled glory is that by dwelling in Christ, and thus being invited into the loving fellowship of the godhead, we’re not only receivers of this marvelous love (1 Jn. 3:1), we’re also empowered to actually love God in return and love the brethren. This is true “in Him”, because Jesus was indeed the Christ and thus enjoyed this perfect love, and now by Christ we might enjoy the assurance that God receives our love to Him (for He first loved us, 1 Jn. 4:19), and we are able to love and be beloved by our fellow saints. This is the glory which has come forth from the old commandment. All the enmity with God and our brother is settled in the substitutionary atonement of Christ on our behalf.

This is true in Christ, and it is true in us. It is only true in us, however, because we are in Christ. Thus, as John proceeds, he will show that union with Christ’s love makes enmity with one’s fellow saint an impossibility. As one ancient Christian commented: “The commandment is true in him because he loved us so much that he died for us, and it will be true in us also if we love one another.”⁠1

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1 Hilary of Arles. James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude. Compiled by Gerald Lewis. Bray. Downers Grove (Ill.): InterVarsity, 2000. Pg. 180

1 John 2:3-6 | Knowing that You Know

1 John 2:3-6 | Knowing that You Know

3 And by this do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and in him the truth in not. 5 However, he who keeps His word, assuredly in him the love of God is perfected; by this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides/dwells in Him is bound to walk even as He walked.

1 John 2:3-6

Christ our Advocate promises propitiatory grace to us, but many wonder how to know that they know that they know that it is really for them. One of the most common questions a pastor is asked is how someone can really know that they are saved. This has given rise in some circles to a bad habit of naval gazing. 

John raises this theme of knowing and will return to it numerous times throughout John’s epistle. This is why this epistle is often called the epistle of assurance. Here is how we know that we know Christ; and thus, we can know that all His  forgiveness and fellowship is ours as well.

The answer to how do you know if you know Christ isn’t to stare inward; John tells us that our assurance arises as we keep His commandments. In other words, it isn’t by gazing inward, but by hearing Christ’s commands and obeying. If you can’t hear His commands, or you refuse to obey them, well, then there’s your answer chump. 

John goes on to expand on what it means to keep Christ’s commands (vv7-11, 5:3), but for now the equation is simply that we can know that we know Christ by obedience to Him. Those who know Christ obey Him. Those who don’t know Christ spend too much time staring at themselves in the mirror. This is John weaving in Christ’s teaching in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

In 2:4 we have an echo of the liar of 1:8. In the prior passage, denying sin’s presence is self-delusion, and thus proof that truth doesn’t dwell within. In this chapter, the liar claims to have the knowledge which comes through close fellowship, while demonstrating through his actions that he doesn’t in fact know how Christ would have him behave. This evinces that truth doesn’t dwell in such an one (and thus is the mark of a false teacher); this sets the stage for the later discussion of anti-Christs (2:18, 22).

Of note, John makes keeping Christ’s commandments synonymous with keeping Christ’s word. A beloved confidant of the King will do as the King commands, and by this obedience it is seen that the King’s love truly rests upon and in him. God’s love is perfected, or fulfilled, in us by keeping Christ’s word. A second assurance is added here, that keeping Christ’s word shows that we are indeed in the fellowship with the Father & Son described in 1:3.

Again, declaring that you dwell in God obligates you to conform your life to His. Calvin points out that John “does not simply exhort us to imitate Christ; but from the union we have with him, he proves that we ought to be like him.⁠1” In other words, it isn’t just “grit your teeth and be like Jesus.” Rather, on the basis of our covenantal union with Him we must indeed be like Him.

This is, after all, what Christ himself taught John, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love (Jn. 15:10).” Our old covenant head (Adam) has been replaced by a new head (Christ). Just as Christ submitted to the Father’s will, and now the Father has given the government of the world into Christ’s hands, so to Christ’s own must walk in submission to His commands because of their covenantal union with Him. As A.A. Hodge once put it, “True [assurance] leads to constant aspirations after more intimate fellowship with God.”⁠2

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1 Calvin, Jean. Calvins Commentaries. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999. Pg.176.

2 Hodge, Archibald Alexander. The Westminster Confession: A Commentary. Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 2002.

1 John 2:1-2 – Christ Our Advocate

1 John 2:1-2 – Christ Our Advocate

My children, these things I write unto you in order that you may not sin; and if anyone perchance sin, we have an Advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also the whole world.

1 John 2:1-2

John now moves from the plural “we” to the singular “I.” This shift is deliberate, and is an example of how the Gospel is the common proclamation of the Apostolic witness, but then must be applied personally. 

This Gospel is proclaimed in order that those in fellowship with Christ might not sin. Leonard Ravenhill once pointed out, and I tend to agree, that it says if we sin, not when we sin. While there’s a tendency in some Christian circles to take a statement like that and begin assuming a sinless perfectionism (which is a doctrine which has stumbled many an immature believe and is not a millstone I want hanging around my neck), the point is helpful if rightly used. Christ has delivered us from sin, we are united with Him, and we enjoy His overcoming power. John builds this out later on in 1 Jn. 5:4. But it is here in seed form. 

The saint is delivered from sin. This should be the underlying assumption of the saint in regards to their relationship with sin. John has just stated that the presence of sin isn’t to be denied (Cf. 1 Jn. 1:8, 10); but we also shouldn’t cede territory back to sin by operating as if Sin still has dominion. Thus, the comfort for the believer is that their gracious Savior has freed them from and forgiven them for their sinful state and past sinful actions; furthermore, the comfort extends forward so that if the saint sins in the future, the Lord Jesus remains as their faithful Advocate. The Greek word here means, ”one summoned to your side”, implying coming to your legal defense.

Our Accuser is cast down, as John’s apocalyptic vision assures us. Which means you need not heed the Accuser’s voice, when the Advocate’s voice is declaring that the Gospel reckons you forgiven, cleansed, and pardoned. This forms the foundation of Christian assurance. We need not sin, because we’ve been given a new nature; but if we sin, we are no less a saint for Christ the Righteous is our eternal Advocate before the Father.

The word propitiation here is a “bible-ese” word that doesn’t often feature in modern vocabulary. But it is a word of great importance, and so is worth a brief explanation. Propitiation simply means covering. This concept comes down to us through the Mosaic Law’s emphasis on the atoning power of sacrificial blood. One theologian––remarking on this significant aspect of the Sacrificial system of the OT––gives these insightful comments: 

“We also understand the covering of sin in the sacrificial worship as a covering by which the accusatory and damnatory power of sin its power to excite the anger and wrath of Godis broken by which in fact it is rendered both harmless and impotent And understood in this sense the sacrificial covering was not merely an apparent conventional expiation of sin which would have been the case if it had been merely removed from the sight of Jehovah but a process by which it was actually rendered harmless which is equivalent to cancelling and utterly annihilating.”⁠1

J.H. Kurtz

So, in plain words, Christ being our propitiation gives us assurance that the wrath of God which sinners are justly deserving of, is covered and absorbed by Christ. Furthermore, this glory is not reserved just for the individual saint, as verse 2 goes on to expound. This covering grace is for the entire world (the word in the Greek here is kosmos). 

John asserts that Christ has not only covered our sins, but the sins of the entire world. Calvinists have the odd habit of resembling a Circus side-show contortionist when confronted with verses like this. They twitch at sounding either like a universalist or an Arminian. This verse doesn’t overthrow the doctrine of definite atonement, rather it helps establish it. That doctrine, in short, is that Christ’s blood is only effectual for atoning the elect. 

Here is why this verse is a boon, not a burden, to this doctrine. As one insightful commentary points out, “The world that Christ formed (1 Jn. 1:1) is the very world for which he died.”⁠2 Since Christ purchased the world, with His own blood, He’s King of it. Those are the rules. Jesus overthrew Satan (Cf. 1 Jn. 3:8, Rev 12:10). The Father gave the government of the whole world into Christ’s hands. In that sense, the entire cosmos is now the rightful inheritance of Christ. The atonement which covers the individual saint is here promised to the Church entire, throughout the whole world, through all time. What John is asserting here is that the propitiatory power of Christ’s blood is not restricted merely to the Apostles and their followers. Rather, this atoning blood is efficacious for all the scattered elect both in his day and in all ages to come. The Church shall one day overrun the planet. In this way, the world will indeed be saved.

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1 Kurtz, J. H. (John Henry). Sacrificial Worship in the Old Testament. Minneapolis, MN: Klock & Klock Christian, 1980. Pg. 70

2 Beale, G. K., and Benjamin L. Gladd. The Story Retold A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2020. Pg. 454

1 John 1:9-10 – Forgiven & Not Guilty

1 John 1:9-10 – Forgiven & Not Guilty

If we confess the sin [in] us, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and shall cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us.

1 John 1:9-10

Denying the presence of sin isn’t how a believer addresses their sin. John has established a distinction between what it means “to have sin” (ἁμαρτίαν ἔχειν) in 1 Jn. 1:8, and “to sin” (αμαρτανειν).⁠1 In other words, there’s both a sinful nature and sinful actions which are the fruit of that nature. Both are dealt with by confessing to the One who is faithful and just.

Verses 8 and 10 echo each other. Saying you don’t have sin is self-delusion, and proof that the truth isn’t dwelling in you (v8); saying that you have not sinned makes God (who is the truth) out to be a liar, and demonstrates that His Word doesn’t dwell in you (v10). Refusing to acknowledge the sin nature and the sins themselves are not only the project of self-delusion, but it is also a slander against God’s Word. 

Sandwiched between these statements regarding the false ways of addressing our sin is the simple explanation for how the Christian deals with both the sinful root and the sinful fruit. We confess the sin in us, and God forgives our sins. The root is confessed, and not only is the fruit forgiven, but our unrighteousness is cleansed. Confession here is ὁμολογῶμεν (homologomen), which simply means to say the same thing as another. Of course, in this context we are agreeing with what God says about our sinful condition and our sinful actions. The conditional promise here is that if we confess our sin He not only forgives our sins, but he reckons us as righteous. He not only passes over our sin, but declares that we are not guilty.

This promise is one of the most golden passages of Scripture. In this simple promise the Gospel is held forth in all its profound glory. Sinners who confess their sinfulness, find in God a God who maintains His standard of justice, and yet forgives sinners because their unrighteousness is cleansed by the covering of another (1 Jn. 2:1-2).

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1 Smith, David. The Expositors Greek Testament. Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. Vol. Five. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979. Pg 172

1 John 1:8 – Deluded or Delivered

1 John 1:8 – Deluded or Delivered

If we say we have no sin, we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:8

Back in verse 6 John begins a rapid fire set of “if/thens.” Verses 8-10 continue that rhetorical tack. John is setting sail in the glorious sea of Gospel conquest. The first question that arises in setting out on that voyage is obvious: how should the one who is now in fellowship with God understand their relationship with sin (αμαρτια)? Are they still under sin’s dominion if they still commit sinful actions? 

John is interested in proclaiming the Gospel which deals with sin. The Gospel doesn’t turn a blind eye to sin, neither does it redefine sin so as to get us off the hook. Two tendencies frequently arise in church history, either legalistic self-righteousness or permissive self-indulgence. One insists that everything is a sin, the other that nothing is. Legalism tries to overcome indwelling sin by looking to one’s own righteousness, and thus must redefine their sin in clever ways, they call it ”holy indignation” instead of an outburst of wrath, or a ”mistake in judgement” rather than an act of selfishness. 

The libertine denies there is such a thing as sin at all, clearing the way to indulge in every vice. along with thinly veiled allusions to God’s overwhelming love and kindness. One spits in the face of Christ’s righteousness, the other spits in the face of God’s justice. Both are fundamental misunderstandings of the saint’s relationship to sin.

Though we are delivered from the power of sin and the penalty of it through Christ’s precious blood, yet there remains indwelling sin which must be resisted and overcome. Later on, John will flesh out how the saint overcomes the world (1 Jn. 5:4). What is being established here in the beginning, however, is that denying the presence of remaining corruption in the believer’s life is self-delusion. It is like poking holes in the bottom of the ship and wondering why it ended up in the bottom of the harbor. The Westminster Confession of Faith is profoundly eloquent on this point: “In which war [with sin], although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome: and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (Chapter 13, Sec. III).”

All this to say, denying your sin while professing to be a believer is to prove that you are not a believer. Truth doesn’t dwell in you. The saint acknowledges their sin (the very next verse, 1 Jn. 1:9), and so proves that they are a child of the True God. God’s people are those who bring their sin into the Light of God’s truth.

1 John 1:7 – Fellowship in the Light

1 John 1:7 – Fellowship in the Light

But if in the light we habitually walk, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:17

Again, John rocks back and forth between contrasting ideas. Having just noted the impossibile arrangement of the Nicolaitan heresy––and others like them in history––who sought to remain in the dark and maintain their dark deeds while claiming to be in fellowship with God the light, John goes around to the contrasting arrangement: that of walking in the light.

The Greek, and in my translation I seek to bring this out, underscores that the “walking” is continual and habitual. Remaining in the light, or as John puts in His Gospel, “abiding in the vine”, is the basis for our fellowship with each other. There is no fellowship between branches which have been severed from the vine, and those still on the vine. There is unity, however, between the fruitful branches.

However––and this is a point upon which I must wave my hands vigorously so as to ensure that you not miss the point––we walk in the light “as He is in the light.” The basis for our walking in God’s light is Christ’s obedience. Being in Christ ensures that though we are dark as midnight in our sin, we have been brought into the light. This procures for us two things. 

1) Fellowship with the brethren. 
2) Being cleansed, by Jesus’ blood, from all our sin.

In other words, we are reconciled with our neighbor, and with our God.

1 John 1:6 – Do the Truth

1 John 1:6 – Do the Truth

If we say that we have fellowship with Him but walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth.

1 John 1:6

John is concerned about a few errors which have cropped up in the early days of the Christian church. John shows us a wonderful example of the truth that fighting wolves is doctrine in action. The first wolf he fights is that of the Nicolaitans. Their namesake, Nicolas, was––according to the early church father Irenaeus⁠1––one of the first seven deacons. They believed they could follow God while indulging in all sorts of fleshly and carnal activities; most notably, they practiced ”spouse-sharing”. In Revelation, we’re told the Lord hates the deeds and doctrine of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:6, 15).

So, John in continuing the contrast of light and dark of verse 5 points out that since darkness is not at all in God, it is nonsensical to think that we His children can walk in darkness and still have fellowship with the Light. The Hebrew word for “walk” הלך, carried the idea of one’s manner of life. That sense is continued here in the Greek.

Through the Life manifested in the flesh, Jesus the Christ, we enjoy fellowship with God who is Light. John is teaching that our union with God will result in moral reformation in our “walk” or manner of life. To put it in more systematic theological terms, our justification leads to our sanctification, and to claim that you have fellowship with God while continuing the pursuit of your dark deeds of lust is a lie. We should also note that this lie is presented not doing the truth. An application of this verse is that the truth is something which we should act upon. We should “do the truth” by not walking in darkness, and presuming to also enjoy fellowship with the triune God.

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1 Against Heresies –  Chapter XXVI.3

Ben Zornes