1st John is one of the six small letters along with 1st and 2nd Peter, the other two smaller letters written by John, John 2nd and 3rd, and Jude which are all found in in the end of our New Testaments. 1st John only has one hundred and five verses and is clearly written to the believers as seen below.
1 John 2:12-14, 12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven onaccount of his name. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
In this short letter to believers, the apostle John uses the word “if’ twenty-one times to state a conditional point that is a truthful, positive or negative fact in a believer’s life. The meaning and uses of the word “if” in 1st John are, “introducing a conditional clause” which is based “on the condition or supposition that or in the event that” which relates to a believer in Christ who does or does not do something or believes or not believes something.
At the end of this article are listed all of the twenty-one verses in 1st John that contain the word “if” and its conditional or qualifying clause that applies to every believer in Christ.
Why did John use the word “if” in this particular way in these twenty-one verses specifically talking to believers? John knew that some believers in Christ in his day and as it is still the same today, were not living a life and experiencing in their relationship with Christ many of these truths. Some believers live a life with Christ in a compromised way. These Christians are not experiencing the reality and truth of what they should be experiencing with Him.
Out of all the many different points concerning our relationship with Jesus and how John applies the conditional aspect of “if”, the topic of sin in a believer’s life is referred to the most onthe list. The topic of sin is the point that will have the most negative affect and will be the most damaging in the believer’s life and relationship with Jesus if not dealt with. Out of the twenty-one verses that contain the word “if”, the first six refer to sin and the believer in Christ. Five of which appear in the first chapter and the sixth in the first verse of the second chapter. Also, the word “we”follows the word “if” in the first five of these verses, indicating that John is including himself with the believers in Christ who he was writing to.
I
1 John 1:5-10
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 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, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Why is sin the first spoken topic when using the word “if” as a conditional or possible aspect in a believer’s life in Christ life? Was John in his old age pessimistic, skeptical or distrustful of the spiritual lives and relationship with of his readers Jesus? No. If we continue reading in 1 John 2:1-2 we clearly see John’s heart and motive of why he talked about the topic of sin first before anything else. 2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
In verse five John uses the term “darkness” which refers to sin. In verse six when he says “walk in the darkness…” he is referring to the life of a believer who is living with sin in their lives. This is a sad reality in the lives of some believers in Christ living a life with unconfessed sin. 1 John 1:6 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. (New Living Translation)
We also need to take note what John said in 2:1, “My dear children, I write this to you…”, he is referring to what he had already said in the previous verses concerning sin in a believer’s life.
In 2:2, what did John mean that Jesus is our “atoning sacrifice for our sins”? Hayford’s Bible handbook, ATONEMENT—the act by which God restores a relationship of harmony and unity between Himself and human beings. Through God’s atoning grace and forgiveness, we are reinstated to a relationship of restored unity with God, in spite of our sin.
John also knew that the issue of sin in a believer’s life first needed to be dealt with before he could go on to talk about any other topic.
“Sinning saints are not mentioned in the Bible to discourage us, but to warn us.” Warnings are given for our protection and benefit; they are intended not to criticize or offend us. Living a lifewith Christ that God intends us to live of peace and freedom from the guilt and consequences of sin, begins with the confession and cleansing of the sin in our lives. 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
In conclusion, take note to what the commentator Warren Wiersbe says the following in relation to theses verses that talks about sin.
“The life that is real in Christ has an enemy, and we read about it in this section. This enemy is sin. Nine times in these verses John mentions sin, so the subject is obviously not unimportant. John illustrates His theme by using the contrast between light and darkness: God is light; sin is darkness.
But there is another contrast here too – the contrast between saying and doing. Four times John writes, “If we say” or “He that saith” (1 John 1:6,8,10; 2:4). It is clear that our Christian life is to amount to more than mere “talk”; we must also “walk,” or live, what we believe. If we are in fellowship with God (if we are “walking in the light”), our lives will back up what our lips are saying. But if we are living in sin (“walking in darkness”), then our lives will contradict what our lips are saying, making us hypocrites.
The New Testament calls the Christian life a “walk.” (1 John 2:6, Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.) This walk begins with a step of faith when we trust Christ as our Savior. But salvation is not the end – it’s only the beginning – of spiritual life. “Walking” involves progress, and Christians are supposed to advance in the spiritual life. Just as a child must learn to walk and must overcome many difficulties in doing so, a Christian must learn to “walk in the light.” And the fundamental difficulty involved here is this matter of sin.
Wiersbe continues. “Why do you keep preaching to us Christians about sin?” an angry church member said to her pastor. “After all, sin in the life of a Christian is different from sin in the life of the unsaved person! ” “Yes,” replied the pastor, “it is different. It’s much worse!” All of us, therefore, must deal with our sins if we are to enjoy the life that is real.”
Pastor John
Romans 6:6-7
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
