“Now that we’re children of God,” 1 John 3:2, we’re in the process of being “purified from every sin” 1 John 1:7. And being purified is our great hope, so that “when he appears we shall be like him,” 1 John 3:2.
So when we finally get to “see him as he is” (2), and we meet Jesus face to face, there’s no fear, no guilt, and no thinking we’re not good enough. Instead, being purified means we’ll be just “like him,” so we’ll be totally comfortable in his presence as family and friends forever.
It’s not surprising, then, that “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself,” 1 John 3:3. And in so doing start experiencing now what it’s like being in “fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ,” 1 John 1:3, and “with one another” (7), because, according to John in verse 4, that’s what “makes our joy complete.” Purification, then, is the source of fellowship, and fellowship is the source of joy. Experience that now and we’re getting a head start on experiencing eternity. No wonder purification is our great hope.
So what is purification? John explains in 1 John 2:1, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.” Purification means we stop sinning all together. That’s John’s aim. But how is it possible, when “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1:8)? We’ll never be “without sin” in some form or other in this life now, so how on earth can we be purified from sin – while still sinning?
John’s answer? 1 John 2:1 – “if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” So “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). In Greek, “purify” here mean cleanse, and “unrighteousness” means wrong doing. On forgiving us, then, Jesus also wipes our slate clean.
This is how, then, “we walk in the light as God is in the light,” 1 John 1:7. God being “in the light” means he can see everything clearly, so he never takes a misstep. And that’s the light John is saying we can be in too, even as sinners, the aim being that there’s “nothing in us to make us stumble” or take a misstep either (2:10). And when we stumble we have forgiveness, but it’s right back to walking we go, because purifying is about “Walking in the light”….(next blog)
