I. Obedience Produces Confidence (1 John 2:28-29)
a. The Command (1 John 2:28a)
We are to abide in Christ. To abide = to remain (meno). This is not optional, it is an imperative. It is also a present active. This is something we are to be continuously doing. What does abiding in Him look like?
• 1 John 4:15 – A confession
• 1 John 2:6 – An Imitation
• 1 John 3:6, 9 – An Abstinence
• 1 John 3:24 – An Obedience
• 1 John 4:16 – An Attitude
b. The Motivation (1 John 2:28b)
The motivation John gives for abiding in Christ is preparedness for the appearance of Christ. We do not want to be caught unready and shamed when Christ reveals Himself.
When will Christ reveal Himself?
For believers, it will be during an event called the Rapture:
• John 14:1-3 – When He comes to receive us to Himself
• 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 – When we are raised with an imperishable, immortal body
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 – When we meet Christ in the air and go to be with Him
Play on words – confidence (parrisian) and coming (parousia).
c. The Principle (1 John 2:29)
If you know (understanding a universal fact – oida) that He is righteous, you know (experiential knowledge – gnosko) that those who practice righteousness are born of Him.
II. Confidence Produces Purification (1 John 3:1-3)
a. The Peculiarity of God’s Children (1 John 3:1)
The love of God has made us children of God. This has caused a substantive change in who we are. We are no longer recognizable, or knowable to the world. Our identification with the one the world could not know has made us unknowable.
• 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 – We cannot be understood by the world
• Hebrews 11:13 – Strangers and exiles
• 1 Peter 1:1 – Aliens
• 1 Peter 2:11 – Aliens and strangers
b. The Promise for God’s Children (1 John 3:2)
This verse is a mixture of the known and the unknown. We have not yet seen what is coming, it has not been revealed. But, we do know something about what we will be like when Christ comes.
We will be like Him. In this context this refers primarily to His righteousness. Only perfect righteousness can behold perfect righteousness.
• Isaiah 6:5 – The unclean cannot behold God
• Romans 8:21, 29 – this will be the freedom of the glory of the children of God
• Philippians 3:20-21
• Colossians 3:4
At the revelation of Jesus Christ, those who are dead in Christ and those who are alive will all receive the transformation of their bodies which enables them to see Jesus Christ as He truly is, because we will be truly like Him.
c. The Purification of God’s Children (1 John 3:3)
Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope in the Bible is a confidence in something you don’t yet see or possess that drives you to action. Thus, the one who hopes in Christ is the one who is fully committed to Christ, who is the one who is abiding in Christ, who is the one being purified. The greatest test of our salvation is not our words, but our actions. If we are being purified from the inside out, that is the work of God.
* Here is a helpful article: Faith, grace and works in James and John: an illustration
