In 1 John 1:3, John writes that “our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” And that was something John really understood, because in the years he’d spent as a disciple, watching and learning from Jesus, he’d come to love Jesus very much, and he knew Jesus loved him too (John 13:23).

John also understood that fellowship is with both the Father and Jesus, because in “knowing Jesus,” he wrote, we “know the Father as well” (John 14:7). It was also John who quoted Jesus saying that “the Father himself loves you because you loved me” (16:27). Again, fellowship was with both Father and Son. So it’s not surprising that John was the one gifted to write about “fellowship with the Father and Jesus,” as to what it means, the joy it creates, and how we get to experience it too.

Having experienced that fellowship himself for possibly up to eighty years already, John writes like a wise old grandfather when starting out in 1 John 2:12, “I write to you, dear children.” These are the people at the very start of their journey into fellowship with God, the “newly hatched” Christians beginning their new life as newborn members of God’s family.

What brings them into fellowship with God – at this point in their lives – is “knowing your sins have been forgiven on account of Jesus’ name.” What kickstarts anyone at any age into an awareness of God is “the blood of Jesus purifying us from all our sin” (1:7).

John is talking about how “fellowship” with God is created and the crucial starting point, which is realizing and acknowledging that because of Jesus’ death our past life is no more. Whatever stupid and awful things we’ve thought, said and done, are no longer held against us in God’s eyes. And as literal children in a human family that’s where fellowship begins too, when as kids we said or did something we knew was wrong, but we heard our parent say, “You’re forgiven.” 

That’s the point when a real awareness of love begins, in being undeservedly forgiven, followed by the joy of a conscience relieved, a relationship restored, and learning what being a family is all about.

Because it’s into God’s family that we’re being brought and learning what it’s all about now too. Which, as John adds next, comes from “Knowing the Father”….(next blog) 

In 1 John 2:13, John writes “to you fathers, because you have known him (Jesus, 1:1) who is from the beginning (has always existed).”

What John meant by “knowing” he’d explained already in chapter 1:1-4, that “We’re writing to you because we saw and heard the very Word of life himself, the One who’s always existed with the Father, our point being that you too can know him and the joy-filled fellowship with him that we had when he was here with us in person.” So joy for John was these “fathers” who for years had known and experienced Jesus too. 

And it must have meant a lot to John because he writes exactly the same words to these fathers a second time in 2:14 – because they’d proved his point. From their years of experience they could say of Jesus, “I know him, I truly do,” having taken to heart what Jesus said in John 10:10, “I came to give you life to the full (Greek perissos, meaning  ‘a surplus’, over and above abundance into superabundance, a life beyond what we can even imagine).” 

Like John these fathers believed that when Jesus appeared this was the life he came to make visible and real, 1 John 1:2. And by the word “life,” Jesus meant “eternal life” (2), the life he’d lived forever with his Father (3). The life, therefore, that “we proclaim to you,” John writes in verse 2, “is the eternal life.” Not the utopian fantasies the world dreams up, but life as the Father and Jesus enjoy together, that we can enjoy with them, and with each other.

Which all sounds wonderful, but what’s the key that unlocks this life for us now? John answered that back in 1 John 2:13, when he said, “you fathers have known him.” The key is knowing Jesus. 

But what brings us to the point that we too can say, “I know him, I truly do”? John answered that in verse 3: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” And in verses 5 and 6, “We know we’re living in him (really knowing him) when we’re walking as he walked.” Which makes sense, because Jesus’ commands and his “walk” were both based on love. To obey his commands and walk as he walked is to love as he loved and live as he lived. And doing that for many years, like those “fathers” did, we too can say, “I know him, I truly do.” 

And having done this for many years himself, John knew what it was like, therefore, to have “Fellowship with God”….(next blog)

By the time John got around to writing 1 John, he was a very old man, maybe a hundred years old, which explains why he often addresses his readers as his “dear children” (2:1). But like a Grandpa he’s got a lot of wisdom and experience to pass on, having possibly been with Jesus since he was a teenager, and definitely having lived what he’s writing about for seventy years or more already.

So, what does the Grandpa in him want his “children” to grasp? It’s remembering who they are: that they’re not just his children they’re primarily the children of God. Remember for always, then, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. Because that is what we are,” 1 John 3:1.

And because that’s what we are, John gets us remembering what that means in 1 John 2:12-14. That, first of all, verse 12, “our sins have been forgiven on account of his name.” Because that’s the bedrock we base our Father’s love for us on. We see his love in Jesus, that “name.” In that name, the Father has given us a bell to ring in our heads any and every time we’ve stepped out of the light into the darkness, and been stumbling around being idiots. Because what Jesus does when that happens is “speak to the Father in our defence,” verse 1. 

So here’s Jesus presenting himself to the Father on our behalf, mentioning us by name, of course, which is embarrassing in itself, but even more so when mentioning what we’ve said or done required Jesus to have himself murdered for us being idiots, rather than us. 

But also knowing that’s the set up the Father put in place to get the point across as to how much he and Jesus love us. They have a conversation together that results in the sin being forgiven, which is somehow relayed to us so we don’t jump off a cliff in our disgust at ourselves, and out of the darkness we step into the light again, our fellowship with our Father restored, which could then lead to restoring fellowship with any fellow human we mangled by our stupidity as well.

It’s amazing, because as children of God, it means there’s no problem that cannot be worked out. Thanks to Jesus the problem caused is forgiven and the wrong righted (1:9). And for John, having experienced Jesus doing this in his own life again and again over a span of seventy years nonstop, he could say of Jesus, “I know him, I truly do”….(next blog)

In 1 John 2:10, “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light,” which fits in perfectly with verse 5, that “God’s love is truly being made complete in us” – because the proof of his love growing in us is the startling ability we now have to love each other, no matter how imperfect or different from each other we are.

And it really is startling too, because with God’s love, verse 10, “there is no cause for stumbling in it.” The Greek for “cause for stumbling” is skandelon, meaning an object in the path that could cause a stumble or trip, like a rock, or a slip on ice. Put in the context of love for a fellow human, and it takes on a very special meaning, that there’s nothing in us that would cause a brother to trip, or slip, and fall. 

In other words, God’s love removes all hindrances and pitfalls in our relationships with others. There’s nothing in us that would even think of causing another person to trip and fall. That’s the light of God’s love that we walk in, where we’re so sure footed in our love for others that we get really good at avoiding situations that could cause hurt. And love does that, it sharpens our senses to possible pitfalls and awkward situations.   

And in this world that’s an amazing gift to have, because as John goes on to say in verse 11, “whoever hates his brother is stumbling around in the darkness, with no clue where he’s going because the darkness has blinded him.” All around us, then, are people we’re in contact with who stumble and fall very easily, where situations constantly arise that make them feel angry, offended, anxious, frustrated, jealous, bitter and hateful, causing many a hurt relationship, and lasting damage to their own state of mind too, especially when hounded by grievances that never heal. 

There are two opposite states of mind, then, and John makes it clear in these two verses that when it comes to relationships with our fellow humans we’re either walking in the light or in the darkness. It’s either love or hate. And with God’s love there’s no room for hate, because it not only causes others to stumble, it messes up our own minds too.

And “the truth of this” is now being made plain for all to see, because, verse 8, when God’s love is in us, it can be seen that “the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” And that’s the gift for others that we carry with us wherever we go. Which is kept alive in our minds by “Remembering who we are”….(next blog)

The first thing God created was light, because in his eyes “light was good,” Genesis 1:3-4. But then he “separated the light from the darkness,” creating an opposite to light, and a clear distinction between the two, which he must’ve had reason for. 

John gives the reason in 1 John 1:5 when describing God, that “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” So in God himself there is a clear separation between light and darkness as well – which John sees special significance in, because he sees that separation between light and darkness in God describing us too – as either “walking in the darkness” or “walking in the light,” verses 6-7. So there’s a clear distinction made between light and darkness in us too.

And because light and darkness are such total opposites by God’s design, it’s obvious, then, if we’re walking in the light or in the darkness. Which John touched on back in John 3:19, when he wrote that “Light has come into the world” – referring to Jesus (1:1-9) – “but men loved darkness instead of light.” So when Jesus came into our world it was like another Genesis creation, where light and darkness were separated again, but this time describing the two opposites in us humans, those who “hate the light” (20) and those who “come into the light” (21).

The difference between the two can “be plainly seen” too, verse 21, in “whoever lives by the truth,” because living by the truth is so noticeably and extraordinarily different that it can only be of God’s making (21). And that’s John’s point in 1 John 1:6 too, that “living by the truth” we’re “in fellowship with God,” and being in fellowship with God means we’re “walking in the light as he is in the light” (7). We’re “lit up” like him. So, obviously, it can “be plainly seen.”  

But how do we know we’re walking in the same light as God? It’s when we’re “walking as Jesus walked,” 1 John 2:6, because, verse 5, “if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.” God’s love “lights up” in us. So anyone who recognizes that Jesus is the Light sent by God to open up the way to “eternal life” (1:2) and sets out to walk in that light by walking as Jesus walked, obeying his word, will come to love as God loves. 

And there’s our proof we’re walking in the light – and especially in where that love is shining at its brightest in us too: it’s in “Whoever loves his brother”….(next blog)

“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)

Job and Jesus shared one thing in common, that the devil tried to expose them as frauds. Was Jesus really the “Son of God”? And was Job really as “blameless and upright” as God said he was? 

To expose them as frauds the devil had to get them to sin. In Job’s case the sin would be getting Job to “charge God with wrongdoing” (Job 1:22). In Jesus’ case the sin would be getting him to obey the devil (Matthew 4:3-10). And the devil was sure he could get them to sin too, because he’d easily got Adam and Eve to sin and prove they were frauds unworthy of ruling the world as God intended, because under the devil’s testing they couldn’t even rule their own selfish appetites. 

So Adam and Eve failed where Job and Jesus didn’t. What was it in Job and Jesus, then, that the devil had no power over? And where did Adam and Eve go wrong?

The devil’s testing, or tempting, revealed the answer: under severe testing Jesus obeyed God and trusted him, and so did Job, and that’s what broke the devil’s power over them. 

And that’s crucial for us to know because one day, 1 John 1:17, “The world and its desires pass away, but the person who does the will of God lives forever.” So God intended a period of time for the devil to use “the world and its desires” to test our obedience and trust, because the reward for obeying and trusting God is eternal life. 

Which is why God allows the devil to be very good at what he does, because it’s eternal life that awaits those who overcome him. And God set this in motion back in Genesis 3:15, when he said the devil and humans would be at war. But it’s through that process that we learn what Job and Jesus learnt, that when we obey and trust God the devil has no power over us.

God also assured us in Genesis 3:15 that he won’t let the devil destroy us. As with Job, God told the devil he can do anything to Job but take his life (Job 2:6). And the same with us, because Jesus died to “destroy him who holds the power of death, the devil,” Hebrews 2:14, so that under the devil’s testing we can live free of fear, knowing God will never let the devil’s testing be more than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). Meaning that we can concentrate on what life as children of God is for now. Which, according to John, is becoming “Purified from every sin”….(next blog)

In 1 John 3:8, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Not destroy the devil; just his “work.” So the devil lives on, but his work, of controlling us through our sinful nature (Romans 7:5), has been broken. It means, then, that we can “overcome the evil one.”

Which is staggering in itself, that we can now “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). A good example of which was Jesus himself, who was “led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” With God’s full approval, then, the devil was let loose on Jesus, with Jesus in a highly fragile state physically too. Echoes of Satan being let loose on Job come to mind, when Job was in a highly fragile state too (Job 2:7). 

The devil also used the same tactic on Jesus as he did on Job. In Job’s case the devil challenged God’s definition of Job as “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil,” Job 1:8. “Is that so?” the devil says to God – “Then let me loose on Job so I can destroy everything he holds dear and I bet he’ll curse you to your face” (1:11, 2:5). 

Could anything have been more unfair, more unjust, and more crushing of one’s confidence and trust in God than that? Job was struck to the heart: “What I dreaded most has happened to me. I have no peace, quietness or rest, only turmoil” (3:25-26). It looked like the end of him. 

The devil then tried the same tactic on Jesus, challenging God’s definition of Jesus as “my Son, whom I love” (Matthew 3:17). “So prove you’re the Son of God then,” the devil says to Jesus in Matthew 4:3. And there’ll be no peace for Jesus either, unless he can turn stones into bread, throw himself off the temple for angels to catch him, and acknowledge the devil’s superiority (5-6, 8-9). 

How tempting it must have been for Jesus to prove he was the Son of God in a show of power, being protected by angels, and putting this vicious, sneering little pipsqueak and his narcissistic God complex in his place. 

But that’s not how Jesus overcame the evil one. Nor Job either. They overcame the devil, yes, and in Job’s case the devil only lasted two chapters and that’s the last we hear of him. And in Jesus’ case, “the devil left him” after only three attempts to destroy him (Matthew 4:11). From their examples, then, “What is it the devil has no power over?”….(next blog)

God certainly has a way of stirring our imagination and throwing our thoughts for a loop, especially when faced with Satan being the devil from the start, and therefore it was God who created such evil.

But evil had to come from somewhere, and Scripture quickly indicates the source of it, because who was it who created a tree whose fruit would kill if eaten? It was God. And who created the crafty serpent that got Adam and Eve to eat off that ‘death’ tree too? That was God too. 

And who allowed the crafty serpent, later identified as the “devil and Satan” (Revelation 12:9), to bring the world to a state so evil in Genesis 6:5 that God was all for wiping humans off the map (7)? Again, it was God. You’d think, then, that God would have ended the evil, but he didn’t. So evil continued to destroy people’s lives all through the Old Testament, and God never put an end to it. Why on earth not? 

Because he made a prediction in Genesis 3:15, that “I’m making you (the devil) and the woman (humanity) into enemies, and it will remain so with your offspring too” – the devil having offspring too (John 8:44). 

So God was announcing an ongoing war between humanity and the devil. And he meant it to be this way, because in the end humanity would prevail: the devil would “strike the heel” of humanity (Genesis 3:15), representing a crippling wound, but humanity would “strike a deadly blow to the head” of the devil. Evil exists, then, for humans to fight against and win. 

But for what purpose? It’s to make us “strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” Ephesians 6:10, which comes from “wrestling against the unseen powers controlling this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil,” verse 12, “so that when evil strikes,” verse 13, “you’ll still be standing strong, no matter what the devil throws at you.” 

This is how God is “bringing many sons to glory,” including his own Son (Hebrews 2:10, 5:7-10). We learn, just as Jesus did, that through obedience to God’s word and trust in his power we can rule over evil, to prepare us perfectly for being “crowned with glory and honour and ruling with Jesus over the whole world” in the future (Hebrew 2:6-8). In the meanwhile, then, we can get used to “Overcoming the evil one” again and again….(next blog)

How could the thought even be entertained that the devil was God’s idea? But Colossians 1:16 states that, “All things were created by him, everything in the heavenly realm and here on earth, both the things we can see and what we can’t see, like the thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.” 

But did God make the devil a good angel to begin with, who then became evil? Not according to Jesus who said “the devil,” John 8:44, “was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.” The devil didn’t start life as a good angel, he started off as “a liar and the father of lies.” That’s “his native language,” Jesus said (same verse), meaning the devil’s always been this way. And the same thing is said in 1 John 3:8, that “the devil has been sinning from the beginning.” Not a good angel who then sinned. Sinning is what the devil has always done. 

And according to Genesis 3:1, he was created that way by God, as a “serpent who was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.” And who, or what, was this “serpent” God made? Revelation 20:2 says it was “the devil and Satan.” From the very beginning, then, God made the devil to be the devil.

God made him an angel, yes, and a powerful angel too, able to make “war in heaven,” Revelation 12:7, where “Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back. But the dragon and his angels were not strong enough (8), and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (9). They were also “the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world” too, the “spiritual forces of evil,” Ephesians 6:12, who at this very moment are “at work in those who are disobedient” (2:2), “blinding the minds of unbelievers,” 2 Corinthians 4:4. 

And all this was somehow God’s idea? That in among the millions of angels he created, a whole flock of them would be led by a devil with such murderous intent they’d try to kill off the other angels, kill off the humans God created, and manage to get Jesus killed too. Which begs the question: “Why did God create such evil?”….(next blog)