BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesusਨਮੂਨਾ

Things are all good or all bad. People love, or people hate. You’re living in light, or you’re lost in darkness. Speaking in absolutes is rarely helpful, as black-and-white thinking ignores nuance and important complexities. But when a little child chases a ball toward traffic, we scream: “Stop! That will kill you!” not “Hey friend, let’s process the pros and cons of chasing that ball.”

John’s epistles are notorious for their blunt, black-and-white, all-or-nothing logic. You can almost hear him yelling, “I’m loud because I want you to live!”

John opens with an absolute: “God is light.”Very clear. Then he cranks it up, declaring that people who claim to love God but refuse to walk in God’s light, opting instead to walk in the darkness, are liars. If you think you can blend a little dark into the light, you’re deceiving yourself. This statement is bold and loud.

However, he also calls his readers “my little children,” a term of endearment and compassion. He assures them that he only speaks this way to prevent them from sinning. When you do sin and find yourself fearing punishment, don’t worry, John says, because Jesus will atone and advocate for you. In tomorrow’s reading (1 John 3-5), John will remind his readers that this adventure with Jesus is about being so complete, so perfected in love that we no longer fear punishment (1 John 4:18). So John is loud and loving.

Watch today’s video to see the beauty and deep concern behind this sermon-esque letter. For John, knowing Jesus means walking in the light and emitting God’s love while navigating the current darkness of our world.

Reflection Questions

• The book of 1 John includes repetition, hyperbolic sayings, and stark contrasts. How do these rhetorical devices amplify the message of the letter?
• Meditate on 1 John’s opening lines. How might they encourage recipients who face hostility from those who deny that Jesus is the Messiah? What evidence, according to 1 John, supports the historical reality of the risen Jesus?