First John: 1 John 2:28a-The Command to Live in Fellowship with Jesus Christ Lesson # 91
First John • Sermon • Submitted • 53:53
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1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. (ESV)
“And now, little children, abide in him” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) adverb of time nun (νῦν), “now” (3) vocative neuter plural form of the noun teknion (τεκνίον), “children” (4) second person plural present active imperative form of the verb menō (μένω), “abide” (5) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (6) dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “him.”
The conjunction kai means “correspondingly” since the word is functioning as a marker of correspondence which means that the command which it introduces here in 1 John 2:28 corresponds to the command issued in 1 John 2:27.
The adverb of time nun means “now” emphasizing the circumstances of the recipients of this epistle when they read it indicating that John wants his readers to immediately take action upon his command to continue making it their habit of living in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
As was the case in 1 John 2:1 and 12, the noun teknion here in 1 John 2:28 is a term of affection John employs for the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.
He uses the word as a term of endearment for his spiritual children in the Christian community and the word indicates the care and nurture he has for them.
As was the case when the word appeared in 1 John 2:6, the verb menō here in 1 John 2:28 means, “to live” since the word pertains to experiencing fellowship with Jesus Christ.
The second person plural form of this verb means “each of you” since the word refers to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions in that each person is required to obey this command without exception.
The dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos means “Him” is not referring to the Holy Spirit even though the Spirit is mentioned in 1 John 2:27.
Rather, it is referring to Jesus Christ which is indicated by the rest of the statements which appear in 1 John 2:28.
This intensive personal pronoun autos is the object of the preposition en, which means “in fellowship with” since the word is functioning as a marker of association expressing the idea of living in association with or in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The present imperative form of the verb menō is a customary present imperative, which is a command for action to be continued, action that may or may not have already been going on and is often a character building command to the effect of “make this your habit.”
It is expressing the idea that recipients of this epistle must continue making it their habit of living in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:28 Correspondingly, each one of you dear children must now continue to make it your habit of living in fellowship with Him so that each one of us would possess confidence whenever He has been revealed. Consequently, each one of us would not experience shame because of Him at His arrival. (My translation)
1 John 2:28 marks a transition to the fifth major section of the epistle.
The first major section of the epistle is 1 John 1:1-4, which serves as the prologue to the epistle.
The second major section is 1 John 1:5-2:2, which addresses the subject of making God out to be a liar by one’s conduct.
The third major section appears in 1 John 2:3-17, which speaks of the old or familiar commandment to love one another.
The fourth is 1 John 2:18-27 which addresses the existence of many antichrists or false teachers when John wrote this epistle.
The fifth is 1 John 2:28-3:10, which teaches that the recipients of this epistle will have confidence at the rapture of the church and subsequent Bema Seat Evaluation of the church by continuing to make it their habit of practicing righteousness, which is the direct result of living in fellowship with the Trinity.
1 John 3:19-24 parallels 1 John 2:28-3:10 because of the chiastic structure of the epistle which is manifested by the fact that both sections speak of the recipients of this epistle possessing confidence at the rapture of the church and subsequent Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.
1 John 2:28-3:10 teaches that this confidence will be the result of practicing righteousness.
On the other hand, 1 John 3:19-24 teaches that this confidence is the result of practicing love.
To love one another is equivalent to practicing righteousness since practicing righteousness speaks of fulfilling one’s obligation to one’s fellow believer and to love one’s fellow believer fulfills this obligation.
Even though 1 John 2:28 marks a transition in the epistle, this does not mean it is not linked to 1 John 2:18-27 since the command in 1 John 2:28 is linked to the command in 1 John 2:27.
Specifically, the command in verse 28 corresponds to the command issued in verse 27.
The latter required that each of the recipients of this epistle continue making it their habit of living in fellowship with the Holy Spirit by obeying John’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching.
The former required that each of them continue making it their habit of living in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the correspondence between these two commands is that living in fellowship with the Spirit is equivalent to living in fellowship with the Son.
Consequently, John is connecting the concepts of living in fellowship with the Spirit by obedience to his Spirit inspired apostolic teaching and living in fellowship with the Son.
Thus, he is teaching that by living in fellowship with the Spirit by obeying his Spirit inspired apostolic teaching the recipients of this epistle would also be living in fellowship with the Son.
Now, the command in 1 John 2:28 required that each of the recipients of this epistle continue making it their habit of living in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
The recipients of this epistle were already obeying this command since the apostle John affirms in 1 John 2:12-14 that the recipients of this epistle were remaining faithful to his apostolic teaching and thus were already obeying this command which he more than likely had taught them many times in the past.
In this command in 1 John 2:28, “Him” is not referring to the Holy Spirit even though the Spirit is mentioned in 1 John 2:27.
Rather, it is referring to Jesus Christ which is indicated by the rest of the statements which appear in 1 John 2:28.
The result clause which follows this command in 1 John 2:28 states that the referent of this intensive pronoun will appear, which cannot be the Father or the Spirit but rather the Son since He is the only member of the Trinity who became visible by becoming a human being (cf. John 1:18).
Furthermore, this appearance is a reference to Jesus Christ appearing at the rapture or resurrection of the church to remove the church from the earth prior to Daniel’s seventieth week (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:50-57; Phil. 3:20-21).
This appearance at the rapture or resurrection of the church is also called in 1 John 2:28 the Lord’s “coming.”
Also, the shame mentioned in 1 John 2:28 speaks of the shame the unfaithful believer will experience at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church as a result of losing rewards because of unfaithfulness (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10-12).
This evaluation of the church will be conducted by Jesus Christ according to Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 5:10.
1 John 2:6 echoes this command in 1 John 2:28 since they both contain the same language and speak of the recipients of this epistle living in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
As was the case in 1 John 2:6 with the prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him,” the prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him” in 1 John 2:28 refers to the state of experiencing fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ by means of obedience to His teaching.
Although John does not employ the noun κοινωνία, “fellowship” in 1 John 2:6 and 28, these prepositional phrases do refer to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, in both prepositional phrases the preposition en is functioning as a marker of association expressing the idea of living in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
They are synonymous with our Lord’s expression “in Me,” which appears in His Vine and the Branches Metaphor recorded in John 15.
We must not confuse this prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him” in 1 John 2:6 and ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him” in 1 John 2:28 with the prepositional phrases “in Him,” “in Christ,” “in Christ Jesus,” “in the Beloved,” which appear in Paul’s epistles since the latter describe something that is permanent and the former something which is dynamic.
These prepositional phrases in Paul’s writings speak of the church age believer’s eternal union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father, which is static meaning it can never change due to sin.
On the other hand, the prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him” in 1 John 2:6 and ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him” in 1 John 2:28 refer to fellowship with Jesus Christ, which is a dynamic meaning that this fellowship is lost due to sin but restored through the confession of sin and maintained by obedience to the Word of God.