1 John 4:19-21
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

John doesn’t mince words here: if you hate another human being, who is your sibling in the family of God, then you aren’t showing true Christian love to anyone.

This is an extremely hard truth to realize, especially since most of us have prejudices of some sort when it comes to other human beings. But given that all genuine love comes from God, if I refuse to show love to another person, I’m refusing to show God to them. And if I refuse to show God to another person, how can I call myself a Christian?

This verse hearkens back to two other places in the Bible–John 13:34, when Jesus commanded His disciples to “love one another as I have loved you,” and even back to Mosaic Law in the Old Testament. We are not only commanded to love our families and friends to show God to them, but to love each person as a brother or sister in Christ…even if they haven’t quite made it into the fold yet.

This is a simple command in words, but very, very difficult to live out. It’s part of the reason that being a Christian can be a struggle; our human natures want to hate those who have hurt us, inconvenienced us, or crossed us, but God commands us to love and forgive. It takes diligence and a daily commitment to behave like God has commanded, but it’s necessary if we want to show God’s love to the world.

1 John 1:1-3
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Given that “the Word of life” references Jesus, we can see how John sets up Jesus’ identity as both divine and human. Jesus was indeed “that which was from the beginning,” having always existed and being one with God (see the Gospel of John’s opening lines). And yet, Jesus lived on earth in a fleshly body as well, and the disciples could look at Him, see Him, even touch Him; He lived a mortal, human life. He was truly both–God in flesh, God come to earth.

This is what the disciples could “testify” to firsthand–that they saw Jesus live (and die) as a human, but also saw Him rise from the grave, talk to them, and ascend to Heaven some days after. They had eyewitness testimony of their experiences walking alongside Christ, both before and after His crucifixion; they knew only the Messiah, the Savior, could do this. This is what John is joyfully “proclaiming”–the truth of what they all saw. And they share about this experience because they want others to know the reason for their joy. The Savior has come, has died for our sins and risen again, and the gift of salvation is ours to claim if we so choose.

These days, we want more than eyewitness testimonies to believe something; we want scientific studies, empirical data, DNA samples, anything that is concrete and incontrovertible “proof.” All of that scientific innovation is wonderful, and it has its place in our society’s workings. But faith asks that we take a step beyond what is absolutely provable, opening our minds just long enough to admit the idea of God. We may not be able to get a DNA sample from Jesus or measure God’s footprint, but if we even temporarily allow that God exists, we might just be able to grasp what John’s talking about here, and to believe.

1 John 1:1-3
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

In this set of verses, which reads very similarly to the opening verses of the Gospel of John, much of Christian doctrine is explained and shared in brief, but in a joyful manner.

For one, John characterizes the Word of life as “eternal,” having always existed, and having become flesh in the form of Jesus Christ. Second, he characterizes Jesus as this Word of life, because He personally lived for a time on earth, brought the hope of salvation to us through His death and resurrection, and is sovereign over life itself. Thirdly, he introduces the living disciples as “witnesses” to Jesus’ life, ministry, and teachings, and invites the readers into joyful “fellowship” with them.

It’s important to know at this point that this small New Testament book was written primarily to battle early Gnosticism. Gnostics taught a few strange, not-quite-Christian ideas, among them the following:

• Spirit is good, flesh is evil;
• Because flesh is “evil,” Jesus was never really made flesh;
• Jesus was actually two different people–human Jesus and spiritual Christ, which separated right before crucifixion.

These ideas are considered heresies by the church today, since they do not actually reflect the teachings of Scripture. First, flesh is quite susceptible to sin, but not inherently evil, not even according to God. Second, Jesus was indeed made flesh, according to Luke 2 (Jesus’ birth story, which definitively involves the Virgin Mary, a human woman, in His birth). Third, where is the Scriptural evidence that Jesus was actually considered two separate entities, when from the beginning He called Himself “Son of Man” just as much as “Son of God?”

In this little book, John sought to correct these “kinda-sorta-not Christian” ideas; however, he also demonstrates a peaceful, celebratory style of witnessing that is little seen in today’s world. Today, many Christian churches are known for preaching messages of “fire and brimstone,” talking more about the damnation of sinners and burning judgment. This turns off many people who might otherwise want to learn about Jesus–all they hear is how much their sin is sending them to hell, and they’re NOT hearing what makes Christian living so much better.

If we all could witness to others as John is doing here, sharing the joy and life of Christ (as well as true doctrine) with others instead of sharing tales of damnation and judgment, then I think we might have more listeners. We need to be able to share what makes living in Jesus’ light a much more awesome and wonderful existence. I’m not saying we lie and pretend there’s no punishment for unbelievers, but shouldn’t people should know how much better life is with the Savior first?

1 John 2:4-6

4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

John doesn’t beat around the bush: he’s describing a type of Christian believer who claims to be saved, but does not act in obedience to God’s commands.

Though this book of the Bible was written 2,000 years ago, this passage is still unfortunately relevant to Christians today. We all know of so-called “Christians” who act as if they’ve never cracked the Bible open in their lives. These are the kind of people who seem to revel in their own personal sins, but pass judgment on others’ sins as if they alone have God’s express permission to act in His capacity. While forgetting their own sins (or shoving them under the rug), they throw their holiness around and use it as a weapon against other people. Monday through Saturday, these people act fully like the world; Sunday mornings, however, they’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in church services–and they’re likely not to let you forget it!

…Now, I’ll admit something to you. While I may not throw holiness around like a mace, I do have my own personal sins that keep me from being perfect. We all do, as a matter of fact. Each of us has his or her own stumbling block of sin; Jesus’ sacrifice for us leaves us free of the burden of paying for that sin, but we still have to try to remove it so that we can be more Christlike.

In studying this three verses, it’s not the Christian who sins that is at fault. The Christian who has forgotten that he/she can still sin is at fault, instead. If you’re trying to live for Christ, but you occasionally stumble in that walk, that’s okay–you’re still doing your best to be obedient, and God sees that. But if you’re putting on an act of salvation, pretending to be all holy and righteous, while still committing (and conveniently forgetting) all kinds of sins against yourself and your fellow human beings, that’s not okay. Verse 6 is straightforward: “If you’re gonna talk the Jesus talk, then walk the Jesus walk.”

1 John is an eye-opener, much like the book of James, and it reminds us of the “best practices” of Christianity. If we choose to follow God, it’s not just a Sunday-morning or Wednesday-night commitment–it’s a 24/7/365 commitment. Pretending that sinning, without any tries at obedience, is okay because we’ve been “saved?” That’s just lying to ourselves, and lying to God. We have to at least try to follow God’s commands, even if we slip up occasionally; it’s the trying that keeps us faithful and keeps us aware of the grace we’ve been given.