Teaching & 1 John, Pt.2: Righteous Character
Introduction
This blog series is a result of my study in preparation to
teach a class on First through Third John, and actively teaching that class for
the last three weeks has only intensified the lessons the Holy Spirit taught me.
In First John especially, the Apostle sets forth tests for his readers to help
them discern true and false teachers. They were facing a particularly virulent
blend of heresy that denied human sinfulness (1 Jn. 1:8, 10), the necessity of
Christ’s physical death (1 Jn. 5:6), and ultimately his true humanity (1 Jn. 4:2;
2 Jn. 7).
Lest his beloved spiritual children be led astray by such spiritually
debilitating lies, John explained that true teachers worthy of following must,
above all, believe the true Gospel which includes Jesus’ true Deity and true
humanity – they must preach the true Christ! Yet this is not the only test, for
the Apostle claim that true belief will be shown in true practice, especially
in righteous character and love for fellow believers. It is to the first of
these two evidences that I now turn.
“God is Light”
After inviting his readers to fellowship with him in God, John
moves on to what I believe is the core doctrinal point in his epistle: “God
is light and in him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). In saying this, the
Apostle is not beginning a brand-new topic, however. Instead, he insists that this
truth is the message about God which he came to know through his earthly time
with Christ and his subsequent apostleship.
1 John 1:5 “This is the
message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in
him is no darkness at all.”
At the core of this letter is not the issue of false
teaching, righteous living, love, or any other practical issue. Though these
are all important topics, the hinge upon which these practical theology discussions
turn is one: what is the character of God?
John is neither the first nor the only writer of Scripture
to associate God with light. Indeed, God has been revealing himself through
light since he first uttered the words “Let there be light” at the
creation of the cosmos (Gen. 1:3). He appeared in the trappings of light to Abraham
(Gen. 15:17-21), then to Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:3), to Israel in the fire
on Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:18; 24:16-17), and in the pillar of fire that guided
them (Ex. 13:21-22). His glorious, shining presence fills the Tabernacle (Ex.
40:34-48), the Temple (1 Kgs. 8:10-11), and the heavenly throne room which they
both picture (Rev. 4:5; 11:19). Paul says that God “dwells in unapproachable
light” (1 Tim. 6:16) and James calls him the “Father of lights”
(Jas. 1:17). One of the main ways the Bible uses the word “glory” is to
describe the shining radiance of God’s presence (Ex. 24:16-17; Lev. 9:23-24;
Isa. 10:16-17; Ezek. 1:26-28; 10:3-4).
More to the point, in John’s Gospel Jesus is “the true
light” (John 1:4-9; cf. 3:19-21), and one of Jesus’ famous “I am”
statements is, “I am the light of the World” (John 8:12; cf. 9:5;
12:35-36). At the end of the Bible, John notes in Revelation that New Jerusalem
needs neither sun nor moon because “the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev.
21:23). God is light, and Jesus is God, so Jesus is the unapproachable light
made approachable.
But what does it mean that “God is light”? John goes
on to elaborate that God’s nature is such that “there is no darkness in him
at all” (1 Jn. 1:5), therefore those who “walk in darkness” do not have
fellowship with God (1 Jn. 1:6). On the other hand, those who “walk in the
light as he is in the light” have fellowship with one another because they
share a connection to God through the forgiveness gained in the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 1:7). John explains these pictures in the rest
of this letter. “Walking in darkness” consists of hatred for others (2 Jn. 2:9)
and sin-induced moral blindness (1 Jn. 2:11) which come from rejecting God to imitate
Satan (1 Jn. 3:10) and live according to the desires of the World (1 Jn. 2:8; cf.
2:16-17), all of which evidence that one does not know God (1 Jn. 2:4-5; 4:8). “Walking
in the light” is living like Jesus (1 Jn. 2:6), “the true light” (1 Jn.
2:8), especially in obedience to God and love for others (1 Jn. 2:10), all of
which evidence that one does know God (1 Jn. 2:3; 4:7) and is born of him (1
Jn. 3:9). In short, to “walk in the light” is to pass the test of being
a true teacher, while to “walk in darkness” is to fail that test.
Lies about Fellowship
But John’s was not the only voice offering fellowship with
God. The false teachers (whatever their exact beliefs) were claiming to have
fellowship with him as well. Building upon the thesis that “God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all,” John turns next to dismantling the lies
of the false teachers in three pairs of conditional statements, all of which
show that only those who evidence knowing God through their behavior should be
followed as teachers. These lies are three.
Lie #1: I can truly claim to know God while living in unrepentant sin
In this first conditional couplet, John says, negatively,
that someone who claims to know God but lives in ongoing sin is a liar and does
not know Him; positively, he reminds believers that their righteous living is
evidence of their salvation.
1 John 1:6-7 “If we
say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from
all sin.”
It seems that these false teachers were claiming to have
fellowship with God and further to invite others into that fellowship, all the
while excusing or denying their own sin. “Walking” is an ongoing action
depicting a pattern of life, not an isolated indulgence for which one
immediately repents. These false teachers claimed to know God while actively
denying his character in their actions.
For me as a teacher, this lie looks like claiming to know
God without evidencing growth before my students. Teachers must internalize John’s
warning and examine themselves. We must be careful that, even as we claim to be
godly examples for our students, we do not falsify our own testimony by our
actions, as the false teachers in John’s day did.
Diagnostic question: Do I evidence my fellowship with
God before my students in righteous character? This is how God has commanded
them to discern whether I am worth following or not.
Lie #2: I am not a sinner like others
In counteracting the second lie, John clarifies that denying
one’s own fallenness is self-deception, while confessing one’s sins brings
forgiveness.
1 John 1:8-9 “If we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.”
John not only points out the lie but brings the Gospel to
bear on the situation; he preaches not only the bad news of my sinfulness but
the good news of the cleansing and forgiveness available through Christ. The
false teachers, in denying their sinfulness, were not only deceiving themselves
but undermining the heart of the Gospel message: my sinful condition is so debilitating
and ensnaring that I need a Savior!
For Christian teachers especially, it is tempting to believe
that we have reached a higher plane of spirituality which makes us immune to
certain temptations, especially when we are daily faced with the spiritual
immaturity of our students. But this repeated exposure should lead us to love
and serve our students more, not elevate ourselves above them. We need to
maintain daily patterns of self-examination and repentance in our private
prayer lives so we remain humble before God and our students.
Diagnostic question: Are there ongoing, unrepented
sins in my private life? These will hamper my ability to point my students to
Christ.
Lie #3: I have not committed sin against others
The third pair of conditions spans the chapter break, with 3:1-2
providing the positive condition that pairs with the negative one given in
2:10. Here, John is not addressing general fallenness but specific acts of sin:
to deny my own sin is to accuse God of lying, whereas to run to Christ in
confession is to find a Defender who has already paid the price for my sin.
1 John 1:10-2:2 “If we
say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 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.”
God makes it clear in Scripture that “all have sinned”
(Rom. 3:23), so the Judge stands against me and finds me not only guilty but in
contempt of court if I deny my sin, which serves only to hasten my sentencing. But,
continuing the legal picture, Jesus stands as the Advocate – the defense
attorney, if you will – who not only pleads my case but has taken my sentence
upon himself so that I am exonerated of my guilt before the Holy Judge. “I am a
great sinner and Christ is a great Savior” (John Newton).
We teachers are sinners, and while it is not an excuse, it
is a reality this side of glorification that we are not yet free from the
presence of sin in our lives. We need to come to terms with the fact that we do
sin against our students, and when we do so we must model humble repentance by
running to Jesus, our Advocate and Propitiation – the one who pleads our case
and takes our penalty. At the school where I teach, student have the
opportunity to give feedback in anonymous course evaluations at the midpoint
and end of every semester; acknowledging my own sinfulness means that I must
evaluate whether the criticism I receive in these evaluations exposes sin in my
heart. I have had to repent to my classes after receiving evaluations before. It
is humbling. But not only do my students usually respect such a response, more
importantly they remember it and, I hope, go on to imitate it.
Diagnostic question: Are there ongoing, unrepented
sins in my classroom deportment or in my one-on-one interactions with students?
They not only disqualify me as a credible source of spiritual knowledge, but
they also mar the Gospel and so undermine the whole goal of Christian teaching.
Application to Teaching
As I worked through these truths from 1 John over this past
summer, the Holy Spirit convicted me about several specific areas in my
teaching. Perhaps the truth I have expounded above has affected you
differently, but I include these points for your edification.
We must seek to live righteous lives before our students
The consequences are dire: If we fail to live righteous
lives before our students, the Bible tells them not to listen to what we have
to say about the Christian life. John tells his readers:
1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from
God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Our students have been warned by God that they need to discern
whether we are people they should imitate, and we need to live righteously to
earn the privilege to say, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1
Cor. 11:1).
Paul almost always coupled this call with a recounting of
his readers’ own observation of his righteous character when he was among them
(1 Cor. 4:16-17; Phil. 3:17; 4:8-9; 1 Thess. 1:4-7; 2 Thess. 3:7-10). The onus
is on the observer to determine if a person is worthy of imitation; it is not a
given that even an Apostle is worthy of imitation (Gal. 2:11-14), much less a
teacher.
We must model confession to our students
Even as we recall the need to live out the righteous
character of Christ in obedience and love, teachers must also remember that our
goal is not to model sinlessness to our students – we cannot! James’ words seem
particularly apropos:
James 3:1-2a “Not many of
you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be
judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways.”
Instead, we must model consistent sanctification, and
repentance when we fail.
It has been my general experience (though there have been
some few exceptions) that students don’t expect us to be perfect – and that is
a blessing! However, they do cry “foul” when we sin against them and do not
confess and repent. More importantly, when we refuse to confess and repent, we
deny our students the opportunity to see the power of the Gospel at work in our
own lives, modeling confession that is confident of forgiveness based upon the
finished work of Christ, our Advocate and Propitiation.
We must invite our students to fellowship with us in God
As I defended in my first post, this is the goal of the
Christian teacher: that our students would “glorify God and enjoy him forever”
through a right relationship with Christ. But this invitation is carried out
not only through our words but also through our actions that back them up.
We must not only speak the Gospel but live the gospel before
our students – through success and failure – but such is only possible through
Spirit-empowered faith and humility before God and others, and that work of the
Spirit is evidence that I truly do know God.
1 John 3:24 “Whoever
keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that
he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”
If I am to invite others to fellowship with God, I must
first experience that fellowship myself by regularly turning from sin to Christ
– by “walking in the light.”
Conclusion
I again find myself stirred and challenged as I type these
words, for again I am reminded that the potential for reward is high – leading a
new generation to know God! – and yet the potential for misleading is equally
high, as I may fail to live out Gospel truth before my students in consistent
sanctification and confession. If I am to lead them to know God, I must point
my students to the Advocate and Propitiation that enables such fellowship
through cleansing and forgiveness of sins. It is ultimately not me but Christ whom
then must see: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
While meditating on these truths, I “happened to come to”
(Ruth 2:3) this prayer from Augustine, in which he petitions God that he might
point his hearers away from lies and toward a truer understanding of God
himself while humbly acknowledging his own sinfulness. It has become my prayer
as well.
"Lord from your bread give me words to answer those in your family who may not hunger and thirst for righteousness but who are already full from a poor copy that is not your truth. I certainly know how many fabrications the human heart can give birth to. My own heart is a human heart! But, God of my heart, I pray that I would not pass off any fabrications as solid truths. Let me only teach what the breath of your truth has breathed into me – even if I were cast off from the sight of your eyes, striving from a distance to return by the path which the divinity of your only begotten Son has made for us through his humanity. I drink in your truth, changeable though I am. And see nothing changeable in your truth: neither in place nor in time. For your essence has nothing at all that is changeable - not in eternity, nor in truth, nor in your will. Your truth and your love are eternal. Your love is true, and eternity true. Amen.” ~Augustine
All Scripture verses come from the ESV.
Comments
Post a Comment