Today it is so windy that I thought I would be blown away. I think windy days are my least favorite. It was so windy today that it blew a little kid off of his feet as he was going into the library this morning.
In last week's message we focused our attention on the various interpretations of Jesus' coming by water and the blood. Without going through all that again, I said that I believe that this refers to Jesus' baptism and crucifixion.
This week, we find another controversial section in I John. It is actually one of the more controversial passages in the entire New Testament.
Before we get into that, let's start with verse 13. John states that we can know that we have eternal life. That's actually been John's theme throughout this entire epistle. There are characteristics that identify the true follower of Jesus. The follower of Jesus does not habitually commit sin. When a sin is committed, the true follower of Christ confesses his sin and receives forgiveness from the Lord. Also, the true follower of Jesus believes in the deity and true humanity of Christ. Finally, the true follower of Jesus obeys the commandments of the Lord. John has spoken of these characteristics of Christians over and over again in this epistle.
Verses 14 and 15 once again take up the subject of prayer and receiving what we ask for when we ask for that which is in accordance with the will of God.
I said what I had to say on this subject in a prior message. This whole subject is hard for me to understand, as I mentioned before.
Now we come to the controversial section of the chapter in verses 15 through 20 where John talks about sins that are not unto death and the sin that leads to death.
There are several theories as to what the sin unto death is. First of all, Roman Catholic scholars use this section of Scripture as proof of the existence of venial and mortal sins. A venial sin can be confessed in general confession, but mortal sins lead to spiritual death and must be confessed to a priest. I am not a Catholic, so I do not believe in this interpretation. I believe in the priesthood of the believer. Any sin that we commit can be directly confessed to God. John himself says this in the first part of this epistle. If we are in Christ, we have direct access to the Father. No human being needs to stand between the believer and God.
Another interpretation of this passage holds that the sin unto death is the failure to accept Jesus as one's Savior before death. Those who's names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life will experience eternal damnation because they failed to recognize their need for Christ during their lifetimes.
I don't think that this view makes any sense at all. John commands that we shouldn't pray for someone committing the sin unto death. We are supposed to pray that the lost will come to know Jesus. It is not Jesus' will that any should perish but that all come to repentance.
The denomination that I was raised in had a view of this passage I've not heard anywhere else. They believed that a Christian could sin and lead a carnal life to the point that they were unrecognizable as a believer. They also believed in the doctrine of eternal securtiy. They believed that the sin unto death occured when God took the life of a habitually sinning Christian so that person would not sin to the point of losing their salvation.
I don't believe this theory at all. The whole point of John's epistle is that if a person is habitually sinning, this demonstrates that they are not a true follower of Jesus in the first place. The true follower of Christ obeys and does not follow the ways of the world in a consistent manner.
Finally, another view held by many, and the one that I hold, is that this passage refers to the unpardonable sin referred to by Jesus during the time of His earthly ministry. The unpardonable sin is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit occurs when someone attributes the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. This is what the pharisees did when that said that Jesus cast out demons and performed miracles by the power of the devil.
How can this be done today? I think that this sin can be committed today when people call certain manifestations of the Spirit the work of the devil. For instance, some people say that speaking in tongues is of the devil. I don't believe that tongues is the evidence of the baptism of the Spirit, but I do believe that it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. I would never say that it was of the devil.
I'm sure that there are many other opinions about this passage. I leave it to you to study the issue further.
John concludes his letter by warning his readers to stay away from idols. We should keep our eyes on Jesus and worship Him alone.
With that we have come to the end of I John. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to share my thoughts on this book with you. I hope that you've been blessed by this study.
I'm not sure what I'm going to focus on in the coming weeks. I'm considering going through I Peter or the Sermon on the Mount or possible just studying various Psalms. If anyone has a preference, let me know. May God bless you. Amen.
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