Category: 1 John - Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry

1 John 3:1-3 - Lectionary for All Saints' Day

10/27/2021

10/27/21
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

My family has a culture, with its own special traditions, holidays, and values. Your family does too. You might not understand mine, and I don't understand yours. That's perfectly fine. And the excitement around ritually covering the coffee table with coasters as fast as possible at a certain time of one day each week doesn't need to make sense or be meaningful to you.

In 1 John chapter 3 the apostle calls us children of God. His family, his household, has a series of traditions also. As we have been adopted into this family, we are taken into those traditions, that liturgy of life, in which we live day to day, year to year.

While some would minimize that element of the Christian life, often saying it is disconnected from the daily concerns we share with the world all around us, I am convinced we need to rather pour ourselves into the rhythms, the traditions, the sacred priorities of the historic Christian family life. It is there we find our place as God's children.

Though the body of Christ has an extensive and rich body of traditions, I want to urge our recommitment to just a few.

1) Prepare eagerly for and attend regularly to worship on the Lord's Day. It is in the Divine Service that our Lord gives us direction and comfort in the Word of God and his gifts of nourishment to eternal life in the Sacrament of the altar. God's priceless gifts are for us, as they have been for Christians in every age.

2) Train your family and yourself in God's Word. Learn His precepts and talk with one another about how they relate to every area of life.

3) Take advantage of the seasons and occasions of the Church year. They walk us systematically through the life of Christ and of the earliest Christians. They provide a framework for understanding our priorities.

We are children of God. Let us therefore live as participants in His household.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 1:1—2:2 - Lectionary for St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

12/28/2020

12/28/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

We often use John 1:1-2:2 to speak vividly about the sensory evidence of the Christian faith. John talks boldly about the content of his witness - what we have heard, seen, and handled. The years the apostles spent with Jesus were full of real, sensory experience. They got sore feet and legs with Jesus walking up from Jericho to Jerusalem. They got cold on those windy cold days. We don't have the Bible verse that says it, but Jesus, completely human, shivered and sweated.

There's no doubt about that. However, what I want to focus on today is his little, unassuming statement. We proclaim it to you.

The Gospel is passed on through eyewitnesses. This is the heart and center of the idea of Christian tradition. Tradition, after all, means literally passing something on. Trading it. God's majesty is dwelling in God the Son, Jesus. Jesus shows his majesty and glory to the apostles through what he says and does. The apostles then show others. It's apostolic tradition. One of the ways they establish this tradition is through the written word, though there are hints throughout the New Testament of sayings and acts of Jesus which didn't end up in the written Gospels.

What is the tradition John is passing on to us here? It is that Jesus, the living Word of God, the one who John could hear, see, and touch, is the one who forgives our sins.

Which sins are those? All the sins we confess, in fact, all the sins we have, period. Jesus is the one who is able to rescue us from every sin. He's the propitiation for our sins. He's the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.

Why is the tradition so important? It reminds us that we didn't make up the savior. The Christian faith is not of our own devising. It isn't a cleverly invented plan by which people can be made to toe the line and behave themselves. It is an eternal plan of God, delivered through the prophets and apostles, codified for us by eyewitnesses to the events. We can trust that it is true. The witnesses who delivered it to us are reliable.

What we receive, then, we pass on to others. Christ has come to redeem us from sin! He is the savior, not just for us, but for all sinners everywhere. His desire is that all should repent, believe, and know the mercy of God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 4:7-16 - Lectionary for Christmas Eve (12/24)

12/9/2020

12/9/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

As I promised when we had readings for St. Thomas (December 21) posted some time early, there's now a flurry of special observances that will keep us busy for a while. I may even go to posting more than four days a week at some point. Here's what we have on the docket: Christmas Eve 12/24, Christmas Midnight 12/24, Christmas Dawn 12/25, Stephen 12/26, John the Evangelist 12/27, Holy Innocents, Martyrs 12/28, Eve of the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus 12/31, Circumcision and Naming of Jesus 1/1, then Epiphany ⅙. When people called the end of December "the holidays" that was part of what they were talking about.

Of all the world religions, it is Christianity that is focused on a God who created everything and chooses to be merciful to his creation. Let me say that again in a different way as it sinks in. Only Christianity understands a merciful and all-powerful creator God. Nobody else has one of those. Go ahead. Prove me wrong.

This is revolutionary. Over the last two thousand years it has inspired countless acts of charity, countless adoptions, the founding of hospitals, schools, and burial societies. Do you know what a burial society is? These came about in antiquity and still exist, in one way or another, today. If you have paid into the society, either using money, time, or both, often by attending the funeral of others in the society, you can know that when you die, there will be mourners around and you will have a decent and reverent burial yourself. It's kind of like life insurance with a personal twist.

Christians do works of mercy because God is merciful. He showed his love (v. 9) by sending God the Son, Jesus, so we could live in him. As we live in the love and mercy of God, we naturally show love and mercy to others.

Now we know that it doesn't always work out very well. Christians have normally been among the first to admit that there is such a thing as a fallen and sinful nature, and that we sin. But by the mercy of God we also know how to find forgiveness.

Our text for this week describes that too. In verse 10, love is seen in the fact that God loved us and arranged for "propitiation." This is a difficult theological word. It could be unpacked all day and probably not shed much light on the matter. As a thumbnail sketch, though, let's just say that in propitiation, someone does something to cover and quench righteous anger. God is angry at sin. We have plenty of sin to make him angry. Jesus covers the anger of God, diverting it from us to himself.

This takes care of our big problem - the problem of a sinful nature. It also allows us to ask God's forgiveness when we sin against others. We realize we also need to ask the person we sinned against to forgive us. That's difficult. But it's also exactly the point. God in Christ has forgiven us. We show mercy and forgive one another.

It's all rooted in the mercy and love of God. His love knows no bounds. It is sure, steadfast, and dependable.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

Indicators of Early Composition

8/28/2020

Piper, Otto A. “1 John and the Didache of the Primitive Church” Journal of Biblical Literature 66 (1947), 437-451.

Piper observes a “peculiarity” of 1 John in which the author refers to truth claims which are held by himself and his readers. The practicality of the Christian faith is taken as an authoritative reality (Piper 1947, 437). Piper details ways in which these references are introduced. He then discusses these beliefs which are considered to be held in common, categorizing them in five groups.

First, Peper lists the credal statements (Piper 1947, 438-439). He makes no significant comments, rather he simply provides the Greek text and reference. He then moves to theological axioms (Piper 1947, 439). These are followed by eschatological prophecies and convictions. Pe\iper notes that these would be like the theological axioms but have a stronger implication of personal piety (Piper 1947, 439). There follow moral commandments and ecclesiastical rules (Piper 1947, 440).

Piper makes it clear that many of hte propositions are introduced as things which the reader has heart. He also notes that there is no reference to written authority but that 2:27 referst o Jesus’ teaching. In his opinion this “may be taken as an indirect confirmation of the fact that we are here in the presence of oral tradition” (Piper 1947, 440). He strengthens this case by noting passages in which various authorities express identical ideas while using different verbal devices. This enhances a concept of orality rather than literary transmission. Piper lists numerous passages in which parallel ideas are expressed in very different words (Piper 1947, 441).

A good deal of the difference Piper observes in these passages of parallel idea but divergent language usage can be explained by regional and dialectical differences. People with different backgrounds express themselves differently (Piper 1947, 443). Piper speaks at some length about Semitisms, such as the unusual use of λύειν meaning “to nullify” (Piper 1947, 443-444).

Piper not only sees the text of 1 John as indicating the oral traditions of the day, but he also considers the vocabulary usage as an indication of an early date. Theological terms which were later associated with the ideas in the Epistle are not used consistently. This suggests the terminological development was still under way (Piper 1947, 445).

Piper analyzes Bultmann’s criticism of the Epistle in some detail. In sum, Piper considers Bultmann to make stylistic differences bear too much significance in terms of analysis of form and redaction (Piper 1947, 448-449).

Piper’s overall conclusion is that 1 John represents an early state of the development of Christian doctrine. The terminology has not yet become stable and much of the work seems to assume a Christian life based largely on obedience to practical rules (Piper 1947, 450).

1 John 4:16-21 - Lectionary for Trinity 1

6/10/2020

6/10/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Our reading from 1 John 4:16-21 is a corrective about our general inclinations when we think about love. After all, we think, we all know what love is. Right? All you need is love. And if you hang something on your wall about love being a deep feeling of affection for those who are special to you, you must not be too far off, right? Live, love, laugh, and all that?

What is God’s love for us. His love is the kind of love that finds us when we were still sinners. It is the kind of love that makes us able to live in God’s presence. It is the kind of love that takes away all fear because it has negated punishment. Oh, yes, there’s still punishment but it is for those who are not in Christ. In Christ, there is no fear of anything.

Is true love something we do? Not at all. We love because he first loved us. We would have no capacity for genuine love except that God has initiated it in us. And we have an inkling that the love of God is working in us because we develop the kind of care God has shown us for others in our lives. We love our brother, who we have seen, and it is a sign of love for God who we have not seen.

Does that mean that we also engage in no judgment, that everything anyone else would do is all right? On one level, we leave judgment up to God. However, he has given us a lot of clear statements in Scripture about what is acceptable and unacceptable in his sight. We love our neighbor enough to help him see when he is in danger of God’s judgment. While we ourselves aren’t hostile about it, the ideas may well be perceived as hostile and result in retaliation by those who are in danger of God’s judgment and react in fear, seeking to avoid punishment by punishing us. That’s a very real possibility, which happens to countless people every day.

Yet our attitude remains the same. As we are secure in Christ’s love for us, we are free to love our neighbor. And our love for our neighbor might just help that neighbor see God’s love for him in Christ.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 3:1-3 - Lectionary for Easter 4

4/29/2020

4/29/20 Read the passage here.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

It’s easy to dream about being king for the day, or, better yet, for a few weeks. There are all sorts of things we might be tempted to try, given a possibility of abundant resources and power. Forget the fact that most kings throughout history haven’t had anything like limitless resources or power. It’s still interesting to dream.

1 John 3:1-3 speaks of being the children of God. Those who believe on Christ are called God’s children, heirs of all the riches of God. As we read the Scripture carefully, we realize that does mean limitless resources and power. Or does it?

We read in Philippians chapter two about Christ humbling himself rather than grasping to the power of the Godhead. This is a telling attitude about power and authority, sadly an attitude that many Christians are slow to adopt. Jesus is exactly the kind of God and Lord who humbles himself, takes on our frailty, and even gives his life for our good.

When we act like people who deserve privilege, who should be able to trample on others, who should have all sorts of advantages, all we are doing is denying the way Jesus came to save us. Jesus comes for sinners. He comes as a meek and lowly person so as to lift us from our fallen and desperate condition.

Now, just because he has lifted us up, given us his righteousness, freed us from bondage, and told us we are to be heirs of his kingdom, we might think our lives would change! And they do, they change for the better, but not because of authority or power that we gain, not because of a promise of divine resources, but because he gives us the care for the lost and downtrodden that he himself has.

What does a child of God act like? He lays down his life for his neighbor who is in need, just like God in Christ has done. What if you are king for the day? Will you help your subjects who are in need? That’s what our Lord does.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 5:4-10 - Lectionary for Easter 2

4/15/2020

4/15/20 Read the passage here.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Jesus boldly tells his disciples that he has overcome the world, and so they can have peace, without fear (John 16:33). Here, in 1 John 5:4-5, the apostle says that everyone born of God overcomes the world. That’s fine and good, but we all know that overcoming the world is something that’s pretty hard to put our finger on precisely. What does it mean? Monetary wealth? No, by the time Jesus died he had only one decent garment - his underwear, and they took that away from him. A happy, healthy family? No, again, at Jesus’ death he gave guardianship of his widowed mother to John the apostle possibly because he couldn’t trust his brothers. Health? Jesus seemed to have that until Maundy Thursday, but they took that away too. Respect? Sorry, that was also taken away. In the end, the way Jesus overcame the world wasby living a life without sin, dying for the sins of others, and rising from the dead.

That will do fine. Jesus overcame the normal course of the world by transferring the natural order of the world, the death of sinful humans, to himself, then not being held by death, the way all humans who died before him were. Jesus overcame the world.

How does this serve to take away our fear and make us overcome the world? Very simply, we who believe on Jesus are passive recipients of that transfer. The penalty for our sins has been transferred to Jesus and we become partakers of his resurrection. It’s nothing we do. It’s all about his work for us.

Would you like to overcome the world? Believe that Jesus has already done so for you. In the last day, even if you have no riches, even no clothes, no fulfilling and happy family, no dignity, even if you are deprived of physical life (as well expect at some time down the road), you also will overcome the world. This is God’s promise for you.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1, 2, 3 John

9/6/2018

Thursdays are for the New Testament
9/6/18
Carson, D.A., and Douglas Moo An Introduction to the New Testament - Second Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005. "New Testament Letters" Carson & Moo pp. 331-353
“1, 2, 3 John” Carson & Moo pp. 669-87

1 John, without a personal introduction stating who the recipient may be, and without a concluding section addressing immediate plans and bringing greetings, is not of the same nature as the letters of Paul. Carson and Moo suggest that the letter may have been intended to go to a number of congregations and have a more personal note to accompany it. They suggest that 2 John may be one such note, though 3 John does not seem to fit the “cover letter” pattern as well. There are references to the Johanine epistles by the end of the first century, though specific references to them as written by John do not appear until the middle of the second century. Scholars remain divided as to the authorship and dating of the letters. However, Carson and Moo tend to lean toward the epistles being written by the apostle John, as there is not adequate evidence to support a strong case for any other author. If the letters were written by John late in his life, the most likely source is Ephesus, where early tradition reports John settling. Dating of the letters is closely tied to the date of John’s Gospel. The epistles seem to have come after the gospel, as they make what seems to be passing reference to matters discussed in the gospel. Since 1 John also is alluded to in some subapostolic fathers, it seems to fit best in the early 90s, if not slightly earlier. The addressee of 1 John is not stated. 2 John appears to be addressed to a Christian congregation, not a particular person. 3 John is addressed to a Gaius, one of the most common names in the Roman Empire. Thus we have no clear identification of an addressee.

1 John speaks to certain errors in the Christian faith, errors which include denial of Christ’s bodily being. These errors are found in Gnosticism, though it is not fully-formed until the second century. They are found particularly in the Docetic beliefs, and can also be found, at least in part, in the heresy propounded by Cerinthus, someone known to John in Ephesus, where the two had a noted dispute.

The text of the letters is generally quite well documented, except for 1 John 5:7-8a which is not found in any early manuscripts but is found in some commentaries. 1 John was accepted in the canon quite early, though 2 and 3 John were accepted with more hesitancy. Recent scholarship has focused on identifying the community which may have written the letters in John’s name. Literary and rhetorical elements have also sparked interest among scholars. The theme which has contributed a great deal to Christian belief and practice is that innovation is dangerous. We are well advised to hold fast to that faith which was passed to us by the Lord through the apostles.

1 John 5:9-15 - Lectionary for Easter 7B

5/9/2018

5/9/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

What’s the role of internal testimony in the life of the Christian? The conservative Reformation emphasized God’s work extra nos - “outside of us.” Our perceptions of an internal change of heart and mind are subject to all sorts of corruption and error. For this reason, many will downplay the role of emotion and feeling. Yet 1 John 5:9-15 points us directly to an internal testimony, especially in verse 10 but also in verses 13-14. Our confidence here seems to be placed on some sort of internal testimony.

Reconciling the idea of an internal testimony and a truth of the Gospel outside of us is not actually very difficult. It may seem so at first glance, but as soon as we consider the fact that the Bible speaks of our belief in Jesus’ ability to save us as central, we realize that the internal testimony John is speaking of is whether we believe Jesus or not.

Would you like to know the riches of God’s love for you in Christ? Maybe it doesn’t seem like much, but the internal proof is that you want to know and that you believe he has done it. Would you like to have an internal testimony that knocks your socks off? How about the understanding (an internal thing) that Jesus has promised never to leave you, and a knowledge (another internal thing) that the accounts of his teaching are shown to be reliable in other matters?

This kind of internal testimony causes no concern whatsoever in the minds of the Reformers. Christianity isn’t confirmed because I feel a particular way, spiritual, moral, socially changed, or whatever. It’s confirmed because I believe that the true, documented facts about Jesus are for my sake. What if I don’t feel particularly emotionally moved by it at every moment? That’s all right. It doesn’t mean it isn’t true or that Jesus’ life hasn’t been applied to mine. It simply means that I am living in a world full of ideas and feelings. We have different emotional responses to all kinds of things, whether true or not.

Jesus gives us an internal testimony. We believe that Jesus’ death on the cross is for us, that his resurrection from the dead will be applied to us, and that he doesn’t intend to leave us out in the cold. That’s great! And sometimes it even moves us deeply, which is also super. Regardless of our momentary reaction, we are responding to the extra nos work of Jesus for us.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 5:1-8 - Lectionary for Easter 6B

5/2/2018

5/2/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our reading from 1 John 5:1-8 points us to the attitude of the Christian. Those who love God will love others who are born of God. This is a sign of the keeping of God’s Law, which may be summed up by calling us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we love God, we will adopt his priorities, including love for our neighbor.

In verse 4 we read that this kind of faith overcomes the world. It is a conquering sort of faith, a conquering sort of love. The love of God confronts sin and death. It confronts everything that would bring harm. It tells the truth. And it seeks to draw others into that truth.

Sometimes Christians are criticized for telling others what to do, making demands on them, and all sorts of other things which could be construed as a desire to dominate or even oppress. This has been on my radar screen lately, as I have more often been ready to criticize certain political and social groups for making what I consider to be unreasonable demands or expectations on others. What’s the difference?

I’m still working on this, and I hope maybe for some dialog about it, but I think a key distinction is the enduring or temporary nature of moral claims or requests for life change. The actual demands of God for life change as described in the Bible strike me as being those with very long-term effects. For instance, ideas of marital faithfulness, prohibition of theft, murder, or taking others’ things by deception, the requirement of honoring and thus learning from authorities, all this leads to a society which will, in the long-term, have greater health and has been shown to have greater happiness. On the other hand, many demands for life change are for fleeting, temporary things. When we talk about certain types of policies, within Christianity and outside of it, such as diet, exercise, financial arrangements, or even many environmental regulatory issues, these are matters which might not have such an enduring influence on society. They are relevant insofar as they exemplify loving and serving our neighbors.

How do we sort all this out? It will take many lifetimes. In the meantime, as we seek to love God and adopt his values, we can show love and concern for those around us, especially those who believe on Christ but also for all our neighbors. This is a love which overcomes the world. It will also help us sort out all those other struggles.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 4:1-11 - Lectionary for Easter 5B

4/25/2018

4/25/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our Epistle reading for this week os 1 John 4:1-11. If we look at verses 10 and 11 we find an answer to a deep and enduring question. At least it is a question we ought to have. What’s love really like?

Our world will make many different attempts to answer this problem. We generally think we know what love is. We’re pretty sure we know what it isn’t. But it becomes difficult when we actually try to define it.

John’s definition is also a little circular in nature. What is love? It’s that Jesus loved us, not that we loved him. Very well, that’s not helpful. It didn’t give any sort of definition. But it does give us an illustration.

How did Jesus love us? He laid down his divine authority and power. He became man for my sake. He found a way of taking my sin upon himself. He who knew no sin became sin for me so that I could become God’s righteousness in him. He asserted that it would be accomplished by grace through faith, not of any of my works. And he took care of everything. By his resurrection he showed that he conquered death. There’s the show of love.

We seem all too willing to talk about Christianity in terms of our love for God. But the Scripture always talks about it in terms of God’s love for us. That’s the heart of Christianity. Without God’s positive regard for his people we would have no reasonable hope.

What do we do, then? We love others. We pour out our lives in love and care for our neighbor, because Jesus has first loved us. It’s in this way that all will come to know that God has demonstrated his love for the world in Christ. It’s by our loving words and deeds for others that they will find out that Jesus loves them also. There’s love. It starts in God, then spreads to the world.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 3:16-24 - Lectionary for Easter 4B

4/18/2018

4/18/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

How do Christians love one another? 1 John 3:16-24 is quite specific. We love people not only in word but also in deed. If we see a Christian brother or sister suffering for lack of something we have and can share, then we share it.

This passage can condemn all of us in many ways. Yes, we’re almost always ready to skip loving one another in words. We seem awfully good at having harsh words for others, condemning attitudes toward others, and pursuing our desire to have things our way. When God makes demands in the Law, very specific demands at that, we like to minimize them. We may often confuse pointing others to God’s demands for their good with simply attacking people. We’re almost always ready to run someone else down, just in case he needs it.

The love of Jesus should rather compel us to care for others. We love because he first loved us. We give because he gave. We serve because he came to be the servant of all.

How about our failures? There are always plenty of people around us willing to point those out. If you can’t find anyone who is ready to criticize you unfairly, let me know. I’ll refer someone to you. It’s no problem, really. But what are we going to do about it? Thanks be to God that this reading is the continuation of the same letter in which John told us that when we confess our sins God in Christ forgives them. He is the one who confronts us with our sin and failing so as to bring us to repentance and work forgiveness in us. That’s godly confrontation. It’s restorative.

Our prayer, then, is that we may be instruments of God’s restoration as we care for one another. It’s a really nice picture. Maybe we can get a glimpse of it now and then.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 3:1-7 - Lectionary for Easter 3B

4/11/2018

4/11/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Those of us who are parents are well aware of this scenario. It happens when we least expect it. Our child, whom we love, respect, and trust, does something that’s incredibly stupid. Frequently it happens in the privacy of our own home, or the home of a good friend. Sometimes it’s rather more public. Wherever it is, and whatever the specifics, something goes wrong. Someone’s hurt, offended, embarrassed. It will certainly cost time, often money, sometimes reputation, sometimes even health or life. And occasionally, we’ll be accosted by the other parent. “Do you know what YOUR child did today?”

Hmm, I thought this was our child, together. I wonder what happened that she’s suddenly just mine? We talk, we shake our heads, we pray, sometimes we confront and correct, and hopefully there’s a time of repentance, forgiveness, restoration, and life goes on.

What happens when we are confronted by the fact, from 1 John 3:1, that we are God’s children? How have we made him shake his head? How have we done things that cost him in reputation? How have we pushed the loving, gracious, and compassionate Lord of all to show love, grace, and compassion? Yes, he delights in caring for his children. But wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t seem to need it quite so much? Wouldn’t it be great if God’s reputation were built up by our actions, rather than being torn down?

The world doesn’t really know Christians for what we are. Their image of God is also warped because they somehow expect that Christians will reflect God’s character well. The fact is, we often don’t appear exactly like the holy people the Lord has called us. We seldom show the Lord’s character very accurately. The text says it clearly. What we will be is not yet revealed.

As we wait for our true identity in Christ to be revealed, may we walk, day by day, in repentance, looking to Jesus, who confronts our sin, takes it upon himself, and gives us his righteous character. It doesn’t seem to fit very well yet, but given time, we trust that we will eventually be like him.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

1 John 1:1-2:2 - Lectionary for Easter 2B

4/4/2018

4/4/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

In just twelve short verses, the beginning of 1 John lays out a tremendous number of important points. 1:1-4 tell about the centrality of Jesus, the Word of life, who draws us into fellowship with God and one another. 1:5-10 speak of many ways God has reconciled people to himself through forgiveness. The forgiveness we have moves us from wandering in the darkness to walking deliberately in the light. It shifts us from being lost to being found.

By the end of 1:10 we may well be wondering how we can be worthy of the care of God. It seems lavish. It seems that it should be available only to those people who live a perfect life. And 2:1 does say that we receive these words so that we should not sin. How can that be? We realize based on 1:8 and 1:10 that either we are sinful or that God was lying when he said we were sinful. What are we going to do? We have no positive case to make before God.

1 John 2:1b says, “if anyone does sin.” I’d like to take issue with the translation. It isn’t actually wrong, but it isn’t quite as clear as it could be. Unfortunately, to make it work more clearly, we have to mangle the English expression, which is probably why very wise Bible translators have used the word “if.” “If anyone does sin [and that’s what we’re going to expect to have happen because it never happens any other way], we have an advocate with the Father.” Or maybe we could say, “Since anyone is certainly going to sin…”

When we look into the Word of God we find it working partly as a mirror, showing us all our own failings, all our own sin. But we also see Jesus, the light of the world. He makes our sin visible. But he also shows that he is the advocate. He is the one who begs for our forgiveness. He is the one who has a sure case for our defense. He can exonerate us, because he is the one who became sin on our behalf. He is all the advocate we need. Therefore, we don’t deny our sin, but we confess that our sin is forgivene in Christ.

There’s our hope. It’s the eternal life we read about in 1 John 1:2. It’s there for you and me. We have an advocate. Thanks be to God.

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