The Sunday School

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 47.

The Sunday School

International Series.

LESSON XII.—SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1897.

JOHN'S MESSAGE ABOUT SIN AND SALVATION.

NOTE.—It is thought by most commentators that this epistle was written when John was an old man, on account of the form of expression used in addressing those to whom he wrote. The exact date is uncertain, as is also the place from which it was written; but the epistle itself is the embodiment of certainty. John knows whereof he speaks. He knew God and his Son Jesus Christ. He had been with the Lord during his years of earthly ministry, suffered with him the scoffs and jeers of Jew and Gentile, leaned upon him, learned of him, loved him and was loved by him. Now he tells us what he knows of the Lord and his will concerning us. He has given us a divine commentary upon the law of God, and answers in no uncertain way any charges that might be made in regard to its abolition. The whole epistle should be read in connection with the study of the lesson. Learn the following texts: 1 John 2: 4, 12, 15; 3: 1-3, 16, 18, 24; 4: 7, 10, 11; 5: 3, 4, 11, 12.

Lesson Scripture, 1 John 1: 5 to 2: 6, R. V.

5 "And this is the message which we have heard from him, and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no 6 darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, 7 and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us 8 from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our 9 selves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 10 from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his Word is not in us.

1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with 2 the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole 3 world. And hereby know we that we know him, if we keep 4 his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoso keepeth his Word, in him verily hath the love of 6 God been perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him; he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked."

Golden Text: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." 1 John 1:9.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) Who is the source of the message which John gives? Verse 5. (2) What is that message? Same verse. Note 1. (3) What is said of him who claims fellowship with God while walking in darkness? Verse 6. (4) What relation do our deeds then have to the truth? Same verse. Note 2. (5) What relationship do those sustain to one another who walk in the light? Verse 7. (6) What is the result to those who do this? Same verse. (7) What is the true condition of those who claim to be without sin? Verse 8. (8) What will the Lord do for us if we confess our sins? Verse 9. (9) What are we doing if we claim that we have not sinned? Verse 10. Note 3. (10) What then is our condition? Same verse. (11) For what purpose did John write these things? Chapter 2, verse 1. (12) But what provision was here for those who had sinned? Same verse. (13) How complete is the atonement he has made for sin? Verse 2. Note 4. (14) How may we know that we know God? Verse 3. Note 5. (15) What does God through John say of those who claim to know him and do not keep his commandments? Verse 4. (16) What does the same authority say of the relation between the truth of God and such a person? Same verse. (17) In whom is the love of God truly perfected? Verse 5. (18) What knowledge does this keeping of the commandments give us? Same verse. (19) What is incumbent upon him who claims to abide in Christ? Verse 6. Note 6.

NOTES.

1. God is light.—"The expression is not a metaphor. Light is immaterial [in the sense of the gross material that mortals know], diffusive, pure, and glorious. It is the condition of life. Physically, it represents glory; intellectually, truth; morally, holiness. As immaterial, it corresponds to God as a Spirit; as diffusive, to God as love; as the condition of life, to God as life; as pure and illuminating, to God as holiness and truth."—Vincent. He who lets into his life this light of God will see in the Word of God beauties of whose existence he had never dreamed. In him is no darkness at all.—This whole epistle is written to counteract, by teaching the truth, the false doctrines and practices which were coming into the church in John's time. Paul alludes to these in 2 Thess. 2:7 in speaking of the "mystery of iniquity," which was working in the church in his day. Many of the mysteries of the old heathen worship, were brought into the church in its early history only slightly modified, and the church has not rid herself of them to this day. The object in bringing them in as they did was to make the step from heathenism to Christianity appear not so great or so hard to take, thereby bringing more into the fold of the church. The result proved the correctness of their view as far as it regarded increase in numbers; but the church was fairly swamped with the heathenism they brought with them, and the culmination was the great apostate church, whose material warfare against true Christianity ceased only when Rome lost her power to persecute. Her theological and polemic warfare is still waged, and when against unscriptural Protestantism, with success.

2. Do not the truth.—With God's light shining in our heart we may teach the truth; but if our life is consistent with that teaching, we will do the truth. Without that light, we must necessarily walk in darkness; we can not teach the truth, we can not walk in harmony with it, and therefore can not do the truth. By our words we may teach the truth; by our lives we may do the truth. To claim fellowship with God while

we are walking in darkness is to accuse God of having fellowship with darkness, and every wicked act we perform while making such claim gives the enemies of God an opportunity to reproach him.

3. If we say that we have not sinned.—The fact that Christ gave his life, shed his blood, for us, proves that in God's sight we have sinned. The sacrifice of Christ means that we have sinned. God's call for repentance, and his offer to forgive our sins if we repent, would be deceitful if we had not sinned. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23.

4. For the whole world.—The disciples had not learned this when they began to preach the Gospel of Christ. It is recorded of those who went from Jerusalem to Antioch at the time of Stephen's death that they preached to none but to the Jews only, and various other instances are recorded which show that they had not grasped at that time the fact that the Gospel was to go to every "nation, kindred, tongue, and people." They had heard the "whosoever" in the Saviour's teachings, but did not then understand its significance as they learned it in later years—that Christ died for the sins of the whole world.

5. If we keep his commandments.—There is no uncertainty about this. John's trumpet was not one which gave an uncertain sound. He is positive, and he gives us a rule by which we may be positive, that we know God. It is not a few of his commandments, some of them, nor most of them, but all of God's commandments that are to be kept. How do we know he means all? "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:18, 19. See James 2:10. He who would know God must keep his commandments, the whole ten; and who keeps the whole ten must keep the fourth, the Sabbath commandment, and the day which it designates.

6. Ought himself also to walk even as he walked.—The discussion in the latter part of note 2 will also apply to this verse. Those whom we claim to represent are judged according to our representation of them. If we claim to be Christians and are doing what Christ never did or sanctioned, we are wronging him and deceiving ourselves and our neighbors. How does our relationship to the law of God compare with his as shown in the reference given in note 5? Do we rest upon the day upon which he rested?