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Leviticus 1:4, Hebrews 2:9

Acceptable to God!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 7, 2023

I’ve enjoyed watching the Tom Hanks movie, “The Terminal,” several times. He’s an eastern European whose country has been engrossed in a civil war. His visa and passport have been invalidated. He’s stuck in the terminal for about a year, according to the story. I hear it’s based on true events, but I’m not sure about that. One of the best scenes involves his daily reporting to the security desk to fill out an application for admission into the United States. The female security guard looks at his form and stamps it “Unacceptable.” She is astounded that he shows up day after day, even when she tells him that he will remain “unacceptable.” He points to the two stamps. The red one says “unacceptable,” and the green one says “acceptable.” He argues that every day he has a fifty-fifty chance of being accepted.

Leviticus gives us instructions regarding the sacrificial offerings the Israelites had to make to atone for their sin. Without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness of sin. The sacrificial animal had to be brought to the priest, and the presenter would identify with the beast by laying his hands on its head, and that would make atonement for his sins. Leviticus 1:4 says, “He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” In the book of Hebrews, we read that one of the purposes for the incarnation was to become the perfect offering that will make all those who believe in Him “acceptable” to God. Hebrews 2:9 says, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Pentecost explains, “Jesus Christ became incarnate that He ‘might taste death for everyone.’ The penalty for man’s disobedience to God was spiritual death; that is, the separation of the soul from God. And before one who is dead can be restored to life, to fellowship with God, the penalty for his disobedience must be paid. Jesus Christ came to offer a payment to God on behalf of the sin of the human race. He came to offer Himself as the sinner’s substitute in death. And to be man’s substitute, He must be identified with man. Thus the Incarnation was necessary that Jesus might offer Himself an acceptable sacrifice to God on man’s behalf, as humankind’s substitute. Jesus Christ came into the world specifically that He might die.”[1] According to Leviticus, one could not offer a sacrifice that was not perfect in any way. Any marks, scars, broken bones, or any other deformity meant that the sacrifice would be stamped “unacceptable.” Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, was wrapped in swaddling clothes at his birth to ensure there was no damage to him. He lived the perfect life and was the only living being never to have sinned. One blogger observes, “A permanent sacrifice for sin is needed to deal permanently with our sin problem. The Levitical sacrifices could not deal permanently with our sins; however, the once-for-all perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross dealt with our sins permanently. There will never be a need for another sacrifice for sin. The blood of Jesus Christ wipes the record clean forever.”[2] With a clean record, we are now “acceptable” to God through faith in Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

[1] Pentecost, J. Dwight, and Ken Durham. 2000. Faith That Endures : A Practical Commentary on the Book of Hebrews. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

[2] http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/heb10v1-18jesusonlytruesacrificesin.html

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Exodus 1:8-9

No God-No Peace. Know God-Know Peace

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 6, 2023

As God continued blessing His chosen people as they occupied their appointed lands in Egypt, Pharaoh took notice and didn’t like what he saw. It was a different Pharaoh than the one that took advantage of Joseph’s gifts to bring prosperity to Egypt. This Pharaoh felt threatened by Joseph’s descendants. Exodus 1:8-9 gives us his reaction, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.’” The problem that this new king had was that he didn’t know Joseph. You’ve heard it said that what you don’t know can’t hurt you! That’s not true in this case.

The new king didn’t know Joseph, and it greatly directed the course of Egypt’s future. I saw a license plate the other day that said “NOGDNOPC.” I took it to mean “No God, no peace.” This is a pretty familiar saying for Christians. But I like a different spelling of the word for “NO.” It’s “know” God, know peace! They are both true, and because Pharaoh did not “know” Joseph and Joseph’s God, he had “no” peace. There are many agnostics in the world who fall short of being outright atheists but say that they “do not know God.” Some even say you “can’t” know God. I like the way the Living Bible Paraphrases 1 Timothy 6:21, “Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life—they don’t know God.”

Not knowing Joseph and Joseph’s God brought some great suffering upon the nation of Egypt. Because of his ignorance concerning Joseph, Pharaoh saw him as an enemy instead of an ally. Butler observes, “He looked upon the Jews with disdain when he should have looked upon them with delight. Likewise, when one is ignorant of Jesus Christ, he will despise the good and dignify the bad, which is the habit of our society today. What you love and what you hate depends upon your knowledge of Jesus Christ, and by the looks of things, most of our society is ignorant of Jesus Christ.”[1] Because of Pharaoh’s ignorance of Joseph and Joseph’s God, Egypt was ruined. His ignorance resulted in the awful plagues which fell upon the land at the hand of Moses, God’s servant. It ruined the Egyptian economy that Joseph had saved in the past. The forced labor he imposed upon the Israelites brought much death and sorrow to the land.

Butler concludes his discussion on Pharaoh not knowing Joseph by using the situation as a metaphor for our day in America. He writes, “Because of his ignorance of Joseph, the king made a bunch of laws that tried to kill the Jews, which were his biggest blessing. So it is with our government. They oppose God, and the courts decree periodically that God cannot be allowed in certain places. How stupid to not want God around and to make laws to that extent. The laws allow all sorts of evil to be taught in our schools, but they will not allow Christ to be even mentioned in many cases. Such laws reflect ignorance, not wisdom. Education that excludes Christ is not education. Laws that exclude Christ from a land are bad laws and laws that curse, not bless.”

[1] Butler, John G. 2014. Sermon Starters. Vol. 2. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

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Genesis 7:4-5

No One Knows!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 5, 2023

After God gave Noah the instructions regarding the number and kinds of animals to bring into the ark, male and female, God informed him that the coming rain, which would bring about a worldwide flood, was about to start. It will happen in the next week. We learn more about the event with each paragraph beginning in Chapter 7. Hughes writes, “Each of the brief paragraphs reveals something more about the event. Verse 2, which commands Noah to ‘Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals,’ anticipates Noah’s offering sacrifices at the end of the voyage and also anticipates the sacrificial system that would develop after the flood. Noah and his family were sinners who would carry into the new world the sin of the old. Verse 4 records God’s final spoken sentence before the flood, one of total destruction: ‘… and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.’” In Genesis 7:4-5, God tells Noah, “For in seven days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.  And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.”  Hughes also believes that the seven-day warning was to give them time to mourn the death of Methuselah. He died in the year of the flood as predicted by his very name, which means “when he dies it will come.”[1]

Noah was told exactly when the floods would come. He had a year or more to prepare the ark, and now he’s told when the catastrophe will begin. Now he is told that it will begin in exactly seven days. According to the Bible, another great day of destruction awaits us, but when Jesus was questioned regarding when that would happen, he made it clear that no one knew when except God the Father. But Jesus did give us some things that would give us a clue as to the cause of the coming events. The gospel writers tell us that Jesus told his disciples that the coming of the Son of man would be like the days of Noah. There are two things we might look for in a society that could be a sign of the coming of the end. The first thing is that nobody believed it would happen. They would just be eating their dinner, marrying and burying, and living their life as if everything is just fine. It would be a surprise. This is how it was in Noah’s day. No one believed it would actually happen. It wasn’t until the rains started that society began to question their unbelief.

The second thing we might look for is the increase in violence in society. You will remember that in Genesis chapter six, God explained that it was the atrocities that man committed against one another that caused God’s heart to fill with pain. It was then he purposed to bring an end to it all. A web blogger writes, “A major reason for God’s bringing the great Flood was that the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:13). Consider the age we live in. There’s been an alarming increase in global violence just in the past 100 years. Wars in the past 90 years killed more people than during the previous 500 years combined. An estimated 203 million people were killed by wars just in the 20th century. Between 170 and 360 million people were killed by governments in the 20th century, apart from war. Recently, more civilians have been dying in armed conflicts than combatants themselves, accounting for 90 percent of casualties since 1945. Just in the last decade, war has claimed the lives of an estimated 2 million children and has disabled another 4 to 5 million children.” This Web blogger adds, “A silent form of violence is perpetrated around the world by deliberate abortions of innocents. Each year about 44 million abortions are performed globally.”[2] We do not have the luxury of knowing exactly when the Lord will return as Noah did, but we have Jesus’ exhortation in Mark 13:33, “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”

[1] Hughes, R. Kent. 2004. Genesis: Beginning and Blessing. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[2] https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/end-times/as-in-the-days-of-noah/

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Revelation 1:2

The Truth, The Whole Truth & Nothing But The Truth!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 4, 2023

The second verse of Revelation chapter 1 needs a little grammar discussion. It begins with the word “who.” Looking back at the first verse, we see that the relative pronoun might take as an antecedent either John or the angel who brought the vision to John. The verse says, “Who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

Since John will speak in the first person in the course of the book of Revelation, I think it’s safe to believe that John is speaking of himself as the one who is bearing witness to God’s word and the testimony of Jesus. He is an “eyewitness” to what he writes about, and he assures his readers that it is all reliable. It comes from God and is verified by Christ Jesus. The Word of God and the testimony of Christ certify the accuracy of what John is writing. Osborne observes, “Throughout the book, these two phrases frequently emphasize the actual source of everything written down in it. The emphasis is on the trustworthy nature of these God-sent communications. These are not subjective dreams or imaginative stories but visions stemming from God in heaven. They are absolutely true, and the church must carefully study the book’s message.”[1]

There is a focus on what was seen, not on what was said. Most prophets in the Old Testament would say, “thus saith the Lord.” Although there are some comments to be recalled, the brunt of John’s Revelation concerns what was “seen.” The phrase “I saw” appears about 45 times in the book of Revelation. But we don’t have the visions only the verbal descriptions of them. John is a living eyewitness to what he testifies to. There is nothing “hearsay” about John’s communication to us. The validity of the New Testament is attested to often. The Father bears witness from heaven to his Son. He opens the heavens and declares, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.” The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. Archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing good tidings to Mary. That Jesus was born of a virgin bears witness to the fact that he was the Messiah promised in Isaiah. Now, in the book of Revelation, John testifies on the witness stand. McGee says, “He was an eyewitness to the visions. What John saw, he made pictures of, and the Book of Revelation is television, friend. It was the first television program ever presented, and it is one you would do well to watch. It came from heaven from God the Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, and it was given to an angel who gave it to John, who wrote about what he saw. Not only did John hear, he also saw, and these are the two avenues through which we get most of our information. I sometimes wonder if John didn’t smell things just a little bit, too, because there are parts of this book where you catch the odor also.”[2] You might say that John is swearing in before he takes the stand. He is taking a lawful oath. A lawful oath, even in our culture, is calling upon God, who alone knows the heart, to bear witness to the truth and to punish me if I swear falsely. Thus, an oath that appeals to the name of God should impress on an oath-taker that he is to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This is what John does in the book of Revelation.

[1] Osborne, Grant R. 2016. Revelation: Verse by Verse. Osborne New Testament Commentaries. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

[2] McGee, J. Vernon. 1991. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Prophecy (Revelation 1-5). Electronic ed. Vol. 58. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

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Jude 1:3-4

A Matter of the Heart!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 3, 2023

After his introduction and personal greeting, Jude explains how much he wished to be able to just fellowship with his fellow believers at the feet of Jesus. But there was a more vital need in the church that he felt he had to address. Their common salvation was that they all stood on level ground at the foot of the cross. They were all, Jude included, just sinners saved by grace. The Gospel was the “truth” that was once and for all delivered to them at the beginning. In the third verse of his letter, Jude writes, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude refers to his gospel as “the faith.” He means the doctrine that we are all sinners saved by grace. Being sinners saved by God’s grace makes us “beloved” and brothers and sisters who can enjoy each other’s company and share sweet fellowship. But something was happening in the church that inspired an urgency in Jude’s address to the believers. He needed to call them to action.

The call is an exhortation to “contend” for the faith. Helm argues that this phrase is the theme of Jude’s entire letter. He writes, “The theme is an appeal to ‘contend for the faith.’ After that we are clued in that verse 4 supports the theme by the little word ‘for,’ and reading on it becomes obvious that the occasion for the letter rests in Jude’s knowledge that the faith is being challenged by opponents he only will call certain people.”[1] That this is Jude’s theme in his little epistle helps us understand the urgency of his plea. Whereas Jude wanted to sit by the fire and talk about our common love for God and the good things of life that come to those who share a common faith in Jesus as their savior, he was compelled to focus on a less edifying subject. With his call to “contend,” the alarms go off, and we go to battle stations (Navy terminology). Helms finishes his comment by saying, “Urgency and immediacy move him. He wants contenders, and he wants them now. And with this letter, he means to raise them up. If Jude were to write a letter to the church in our day, he wouldn’t change a thing.” Jude calls all believers to contend with a particular heresy.

We don’t know who these people were, but Jude describes them for us in Verse 4. He says, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”  Whereas Paul does battle with those who attempt to draw Christians from the bosom of God’s love into the tyranny of the law and the performance trap, Jude (and James) does battle with those who want to turn unconditional love into license. Paul tells us that Christ has set us free from the law. However, He writes in Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.” Peter makes a similar request in 1 Peter 2:16. He tells his readers, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” Jude insists we contend against those who will pervert God’s grace into license to sin. There has been a historical struggle between being free from the law and still being obligated to some moral standard. Around 400 AD, Theodore of Mopsuestia recognized this struggle and described it, “If we find ourselves outside the law, there is nothing to stop us from doing what we like, but if there is some way of determining what should and should not be done, then we are back under the law again.”[2] The resolution of this dilemma is resolved by looking at our heart. The Psalmist instructs us to “delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” God’s grace works to align our hearts with his. It’s a perversion to think that God wants us to pursue things that will harm us, like immorality, envy, lust, gluttony, etc.! No, the perversions associated with the desires of our flesh are transformed into a glorious passion for living for God and others. Jeremiah speaks to us of a new covenant during which the law will be written on our hearts rather than on stone tablets.

[1] Helm, David R. 2008. 1 & 2 Peter and Jude: Sharing Christ’s Sufferings. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[2] Bray, Gerald, ed. 1998. Romans (Revised). Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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3 John 1:5=6a, Various

Love From the Inside!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 2, 2023

The Apostle John is delighted to hear the good news that his disciples in Gaius’ church are holding on to the truth. They continue to walk in the light of the reality of their own sinfulness and in the reality that only by faith in Christ and His perfect righteousness can anyone find favor in God’s eyes. It is the truth of our sinfulness that makes possible genuine love for one another. This is the Gospel message that works its way out as we live together from the inside. John commends the believers that meet in Gaius’ church in 3 John 1:5-6a. He says to them, “Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.” That believers did not work up from within themselves, the motivation, the energy, or the desire to be better people and care for others. They found that in the truth of the Gospel, hearts are opened to true love for others. Max Lucado seems to have grasped this idea well and said, “Do-it-yourself Christianity is not much encouragement to the done-in and worn-out. Self-sanctification holds little hope for the addict.… At some point, we need more than good advice; we need help. Somewhere on this journey home, we realize that a fifty-fifty proposition is too little. We need more.… We need help. Help from the inside out.… Not near us. Not above us. Not around us. But in us. In the part of us, we don’t even know. In the heart, no one else has seen. In the hidden recesses of our being dwells not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but God.”[1]

It’s clear to us all, if we’re honest about it, that the law is powerless to change our life. It only focuses on the externals. We need to be “born again” through personal faith in God’s love expressed to us all on Calvary while we were yet sinners. Max Anders wrote, “The grace of Christ is powerful because it changes us from the inside out. Every person struggles with selfishness. We get preoccupied with our finances, our families, our loneliness, our time crunches, and our aches and pains. Yet all around us are people sharing the same problems. They are so overcome by difficulties that often, they are emotionally and spiritually down. Grace frees us and empowers us through the Holy Spirit to reach out to them and to turn their heart light on through simple expressions of love. They simply need us to love them in word and deed.”[2] This is what the disciples were doing, and the Apostle John commended them for it.

John was at war with the gnostics of his day. They professed something special that they had above and beyond the others. You had to come to them for this special revelation in order to gain God’s acceptance. It was a matter of secret “knowledge” or “wisdom.” But several times, the bible teaches us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. True reverence for God is found only in those who realize their own impotence. As life teaches us the limits of human wisdom and understanding, we learn to marvel at God’s omnipotence and omniscience.   In 1 Corinthians 8:2, Paul wrote, “And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” True wisdom involves coming to know that we don’t know very much. Before 1950 it was said that the world’s knowledge more than doubled every 50 years. Today the amount of the world’s knowledge is doubled every other year. Along with man’s limitations comes the reality of man’s sinfulness. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 ended with the indictment of the entire human race as sinners. Every man and every woman has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard.  When we walk in this truth, we can walk in love for God and others.

[1] Lucado, Max, and Terri A. Gibbs. 2000. Grace for the Moment: Inspirational Thoughts for Each Day of the Year. Nashville, TN: J. Countryman.

[2] Anders, Max. 1999. Galatians-Colossians. Vol. 8. Holman New Testament Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

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3 John 1:3-4

Sinners Saved by Grace

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 1, 2023

 It’s all about “truth.” John is writing to those who have it, those who are walking in it, and his joy in hearing about it all. 3 John 1:3-4 says, “For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” John is really interested in the concept of “truth.” Nothing makes John happier than to see the people he loves living in accord with the truth. Truth is mentioned in these two verses three times. The main thing we must understand is what John means when he speaks of “walking in the truth.” What is the “truth?”

John had some major issues with the “Gnostics” during his ministry in Ephesus. They were complicating the simple message of the gospel by arguing that there was a special kind of “knowledge” that one could have which would elevate them in some way above the ordinary people. There are so many varieties of Gnosticism that it isn’t important to explain them all or to understand them all. The Encyclopedia Britannica says, “Consensus on a definition of gnosticism has proved difficult. The groups conventionally classified as gnostic did not constitute a single movement with relatively homogeneous organization, teachings, and rituals. Even the self-designation gnostic is problematic, since it is attested for only some of the traditions conventionally treated as gnostic, and its connotations are ambiguous.”[1] Let it be enough to understand that each brand carries a specific insight into truth that others don’t have. Each of these philosophies, regardless of the specifics, proved to be divisive. It wasn’t a movement that brought people together. It was rather ideas that separated them. The “truth” that John talks about in his Gospel, as well as his three letters, is a truth that brings people together and contributes to the mindset of love for each other.

It seems clear to me that the truth John is excited about is the simple truth of the Gospel that brings people together. That truth, as I’ve often argued, is the truth that each and every one of us is a sinner. We have nothing at all in our characters, behaviors, or knowledge that can elevate us above anyone else. This is the first part of the truth of the Gospel. Without this truth, there is no true fellowship. There is only competition. Recognizing and admitting our sins, as well as our sinfulness, qualifies as repentance. Without this admission, we end up in relationships where each of us has to be declared “right” to make it work. The truth we need to bow to is that we all need to grasp our personal culpability in all situations. In The Handbook for Bible Prayers, we read, “Not only does saying ‘sorry’ remind us who God is, but it also reminds us who we are. We can so easily lose a proper perspective of ourselves and become convinced of our own importance and indispensability. How fortunate the company is to have us working for them! How blessed the church is to have us as a member. But owning up to our sin and saying ‘sorry’ to God has a way of healthily putting things back into perspective again by reminding us who we really are—just sinners saved by grace.”[2] This is the first half of the “truth” that John is speaking of. The second half is the remedy of our sinfulness: Jesus Christ! Stephen Neil explains this well. He writes, “Much popular theology and Christian devotion is based on the idea, not clearly expressed but unmistakably revealed by careful analysis, that someday, perhaps not in this world and only after long purgation, we shall reach a condition in which God will be able to approve of us as we are in ourselves. This is a fatal theological error.… A time will never come when we shall be able to depend on our own righteousness as that which can commend us to God. To the end of all eternity, the highest situation to which we can aspire is that which already we have, that of sinners saved by grace.”[3] This opens the door to genuine Christian fellowship. The ground at the foot of the cross is perfectly level. No one stands taller than anyone else. Jesus, and only Jesus, is our source of righteousness.

[1] Gnosticism | Definition, Texts, Movements, & Influence | Britannica

[2] Manser, Martin, and Mike Beaumont. 2020. Handbook of Bible Prayers. Manser and Beaumont.

[3] Stott, John. 2018. The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott. Edited by Mark Meynell. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

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2 John 1:4, Various

Walking in the Truth

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 31, 2023

John’s second epistle is a very personal one. It’s either written to a particular woman or a particular church that he refers to as “a woman.” Whichever this is, we see that John is extremely delighted with what he has heard about them. In 2 John 1:4, he says, “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.” The commentators seem to default to the understanding that “walking in truth” means to live pure, holy lives. It means to follow the ten commandments, take stands against certain practices, engage in other religious practices, give generously, and avoid all appearances of doing wrong. It’s certain that we have a need for this kind of life in our society. Since truth is that which accords to reality, it’s intimately connected with God. God created mankind “male and female.” Only women can have children. God is the one who decided and established this truth. But today, there are even arguments against that. I like what one web blogger says, “In the Bible, truth is closely connected to God. Apart from Him, there is no absolute truth – as many philosophers and scientists have experienced. Apart from God, we can’t get beyond truth as a subjective, cultural construct. Therefore, many consider truth an invalid and outdated concept. And that has huge consequences for ethics, to name just one field, since there is no longer an absolute starting point on which to base our moral decisions. Without absolute truth, there is no absolute right or wrong, good or bad.”[1]

Butler, who shares a Navy background with me, writes, “It is not easy to walk a holy life. No one will help you or encourage you. Sometimes even Christians are no help to walking in the truth. Most Christians I met in the Navy were head and shoulder above others in their conduct, but there were some who tried to live a double life. It was no encouragement to a good stand for Jesus Christ.”[2] I’m not sure that this is how John wanted us to understand his phrase about “walking in the truth.” Brannan observes, “Manuscripts are split between ‘walking in the truth’ and ‘walk in truth.’ In the first, the author has a specific truth in mind, while in the second, the truth may be of a general nature.”[3] I would argue that a specific truth is in John’s mind, not the general idea of truth.

John’s truth concerns two important things. First is that we are all sinners. This truth is something we walk in. We don’t walk through it into a sinless life. That never happens. Even the Apostle Paul recognized that when he wanted to do good, he found himself failing. When he tries not to do bad, he finds he has failed in that as well (See Romans 7). We walk into this room of the realization and acknowledgment of our sinfulness, and we stay there! We don’t pass on to the “perfect” room. The other part of John’s truth is that Jesus Christ is the only remedy for that problem. The only way we move from sin to righteousness is for God to attribute Christ’s righteousness to us. We will never attain righteousness on our own. Keeping this truth foremost in our lives, walking in it, makes the ground at the foot of the cross perfectly level. We all stand as sinners saved by grace. I’m no better than others. We are all in the same boat. These truths open the door for real Christian living. The call throughout the bible is to “repent.” That means entering into the room of the truth about our human condition. As Paul told the Philippian jailor who wanted to know how he could be saved, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” I think this is the commandment that John was referring to in this short letter. He says it more clearly in 1 John. In 1 John 3:23, John describes the commandment that Jesus gave us. He says, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”

[1] https://www.biblword.net/what-does-it-mean-to-walk-in-the-truth/

[2] Butler, John G. 2014. “Character.” In Sermon Starters, 5:205. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

[3] Brannan, Rick, and Israel Loken. 2014. The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible. Lexham Bible Reference Series. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

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