I John 1-5;
II John 1:1-13;
III John 1:1-15
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
I John 2:1-2
Most of the above (i.e., from “If anyone does sin…” onward) should sound quite familiar to Anglicans, as it is quoted in the “Comfortable Words” following the “Absolution” in our liturgy. Probably less familiar is the first sentence, the part where John says he is writing these things to you so that you may not sin. It seems to me that while we love the part that is quoted in the liturgy, many (most?) of us largely disregard this first sentence. Oh, sure, we know that we are not supposed to sin, but we are nonetheless perfectly content to accept a certain level of underlying sin (i.e., daily, constant, continual, habitual sin). We resign ourselves to this “everyday” sin as our “normal human condition”, so normal that we don’t bother confessing it as sin, and so normal that we never really repent. And in the end we just cozy right up to sin and love the things of the world, contrary to I John 2:15-16.
But is that the life that John describes? If God is light, are we to hang out in the shadows? Do we imagine that the purpose of the Cross is to remove the penalty of sin so that we can continue sinning? Are we not to be dead to sin and alive to righteousness? (Romans 6:11; I Peter 2:24) Let’s not try to explain away I John 3:4-10, supposing that those verses apply only to overt or “big” sins like murder or robbery or sexual immorality. Those verses are just as applicable to all that “everyday” sin we so casually tolerate within ourselves.
It’s time to take sin seriously. It’s time to repent. It’s time to really believe in the Son of God and receive all that He has done for us, freeing us from our bondage to sin, not just its penalty. It’s time to abide in the resurrected Christ.
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
I John 5:11-13
It’s time to live this life now.
See also: