Walk in the same manner as He walked

1 John 2:1-17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

³ By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; ⁵ but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: ⁶ the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

⁷ Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. ⁸ On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. ⁹ The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹ But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹² I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. ¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. ¹⁴ I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Verse 6 in today’s text is a vital, lynchpin verse, both for this text and really for our Christian walk. It says:    The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.    Obviously, to walk as Christ Himself walked is no easy thing. In truth it is impossible if we do not abide in Him to walk as He walked. So abiding in Christ is the avenue upon which we walk in Christ, as He walked.

John begins by saying:   I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.      So first, to walk as Jesus walked is to walk without sin. Hebrews 4:15 says:   For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.   Jesus walked in a human body, and so He was tempted in all the same things we are. Yet He was without sin. If we abide in Him, then we too should walk without sin. John says that if we sin, Jesus is our Advocate with the Father. Romans 8:34 says: Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.   Jesus is more than a priest, as Hebrews 4:15 says. A priest offers prayers and sacrifices on behalf of those who sin. As our Advocate, our defense attorney, Jesus presents our case to the Father. What evidence does Jesus submit to the judge on our behalf? Jesus intercedes for us by presenting Himself and His act of intercession, the finished work of the cross, on our behalf. John says:    He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.     Jesus, who walked without sin, died on our behalf, to free us from the judgment against sin, not that we would continue to walk in sin, but that we could walk as He walked, without sin.

John says:   By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  Jesus says:       "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments…"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:15,23)    Which commandments of Christ are they that we are to keep? Is it the ones which appeal to us or line up with our own doctrine? The commandments of Christ that we are to keep, if we love Him and if we want to abide in Him, are all of His commandments.   Jesus says:    “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)    He also says: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)   These are the commandments Jesus walked in, they are the commandments we too should keep, all of them.  John says:  I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.  The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.  The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.  But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.   Jesus says:   “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)      To walk in Christ, to walk as He walked is to walk in love and in light. They are inseparable in Him.

John ends today’s text saying:   Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.     James 4:4 says:   You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.        To walk as Christ walked, we are to love our neighbor, we are to love our brother, these things are commanded. We are though not to love the things of the world, the lusts of the flesh or the eyes. It’s not just John and James who say this. In John 15:17-25, Jesus Himself says:  “ This I command you, that you love one another. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’       If we abide in Christ, if we walk as He walked, we should not be surprised if the world hates us without cause. We should not give them cause to hate us, but if walk as He walked, love as He loved, speak the truth of God’s word as He did, still the world will hate us.

Jesus says:  “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You that You have overcome the world. You have freed us from sin by Your great love on the cross. Holy Spirit fill me, abide in me, empower me to walk as Jesus Himself walked, in love and in light.   Amen