Monday
1 John 2.18-19a “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.
This is a Christian community in trouble. Those who claim to belong to Christ don’t behave in ways that hurt or weaken the fellowship of the faith community. Here John uses the word antichrist to describe those “who deny that Jesus is the Christ…” One of the tests of Christian faith, is the faithfulness and fellowship of those who belong together in Jesus’ name. What we believe about Jesus defines us. John made that very clear. The Word of life appeared – we have seen it! In Jesus God’s light and love blazed into the world. To deny that, denies what matters most in Christian faith.
Tuesday
1 John 2.19 “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”
Schism, division, breaking fellowship, splitting a community of people who belong together in Jesus’ name, is a wound to the Body of Christ. To deny that Jesus is the goal and centre of God’s redeeming purpose is to question the foundation stone of Christian faith. “They went out from us” doesn’t only mean they physically went elsewhere; it also means that they had already in their hearts left the very basis of belonging within the community of faith: “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1.4) To deny that Jesus is the Son of God is to be antichrist; it means denying the life-giving truth of the Word of Life who appeared in Jesus.
Wednesday
1 John 2.20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.”
Truth is crucial. In the church visible there are real members and apparent members; only God knows who truly belongs in the church invisible. How do we know we belong? The anointing from the Holy One is what makes the difference. The word anoint is the same word as lies behind the title ‘Christ’. Perhaps Paul gives the best help in understanding John: “He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit…” (2 Cor 1.21) And John himself recalls Jesus’ words: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” These are words of “Blessed assurance” based on personal experience and the glad confession of faith, “Jesus is mine!”
Thursday
1 John 2.22-23 “Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
It’s no small thing to call someone a liar! John’s language is urgent, uncompromising, and as clear as he can make it. If this community is to survive it can only do so by its faithfulness to Jesus as the Son of the Father. John’s concern is about maintaining the truth-based foundations of faith, acknowledging the Son and the Father. Out of such truth comes assurance of everything else: God is light, God is love, the Son is our Advocate with the Father, reconciliation by the cross, forgiveness of sins, God’s love in us perfecting our faith, new life that has the quality and promise of eternity.
Friday
1 John 2.24 “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.”
“From the beginning” is a phrase John uses repeatedly. In fact it’s the first sentence of his letter. Truth founded on the testimony of witnesses is confirmed in the experience of those who were there at the beginning. He means the pillars of faith are plunged deeply into the eternal purposes of God in Creation and Redemption. We are established by truth believed in the heart. John’s word is used by Jesus in the Gospel: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”
Saturday
1 John 2.24b “If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.”
The older word for remain is ‘abide’. It is still the best word, because it suggests taking up residence, making somewhere a long-term home and permanent dwelling place. We inhabit the truth we believe. To acknowledge the Son and the Father is a lifelong commitment of faith, love and hope in Christ; it is to remain in the Son and the Father as our true and lasting home. It is to abide in the love of God in Christ.
Sunday
1 John 2.25 “And this is what he promised us – even eternal life.”
This is the only use of the word ‘promise’ in all of John’s writings, and it is linked to one of his favourite themes – eternal life. For John, eternal life is the reality of the life of heaven which has already begun here, in those who abide in Christ and Christ in them. “Blessed assurance Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine.” Eternal life is to live in the grace, fellowship and love of God as our abiding place now, with the secure promise of our completion and fullness in the eternal life and presence of God beyond earthly life. This is what it is to know the Father and the Son.
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