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.

James 4:17 says:  To one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.    It is not enough to know what is right. We must also do what we know is right. In today’s text John says:  By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 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; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.   There is no deep revelation of doctrine or theology in what John says. It is not a doctrine of man, but rather it is simple truth. It is simply repeating the words Jesus Himself says in John 14:15;23-24: “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. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”  John says:  By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says:   “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”     John gives us a way to measure if we truly know Christ. Jesus tells us what will happen if we aren’t truly known by Him.

Of course none of us will be able to fully walk in the same manner as He walked.  Jesus was tempted as we are because He had a human mind and body, but He was without sin, because He remained one with God, fully submitted to His will. In John 5:19 Jesus says:  "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”  If we are to walk in the same manner as Jesus, then that needs to be our goal also, not only in doing great things for God, but also in all that we do. Again we will fall short and John encourages us saying:  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; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.   Propitiation also means atonement or at-one-ment.  We should think of it this way. Jesus became at one with our sins so that we could be at one with God. He is our advocate with the Father. If however we are not known by Jesus because we practice lawlessness rather than keeping His commandments, we will need another advocate or we ourselves will be our own advocate with the Father. There is a saying: He who represents himself, has a fool for a client. Surely that is never more true than when speaking of our representation before God.  In John 14:6 Jesus says:  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”   There is no one else who can be our advocate, no one else who can represent us before the Father concerning our sin, than Jesus Christ the Righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.   If we are at one with God, if we would walk in the same manner as Jesus, we must be righteous.

In today’s text John says:  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.   What is the will of God? How do we do His will so that we might live forever? How do we fully walk in the same manner as Christ that we might show that we love Him? In John 16:5-15 Jesus says:  “Now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”    It is by the Holy Spirit of God, whom God the Father gives us to dwell in us when we know Christ, that we can know and do the will of the Father; that we can keep the commandments of God and Christ. It is by and through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are known by Christ; we are at one with Him and can walk in the same manner as He did.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, the Righteous, the propitiation for my sins and precious Holy Spirit my teacher and guide, the one who knows the will of God; thank You that You made the way that I could be at one with You. I love You, help me not to love the things of the world. Help me to know You, to do Your will; to walk in the same manner as You walked and even more, may I be known by You; by Your righteousness.  Amen.