THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

The cross in 1 John

As do the writers of Hebrews and 2 Peter, John uses the metaphor of cleansing or purification through the cross. “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” (1:7). The tense of the verb “purifies” here has the meaning “keeps on purifying”. Denney has a relevant quote on this emphasis:

The forgiveness of sins has to be received again and again as sin emerges into act. But when the soul closes with Christ the propitiation, the assurance of God’s love is laid at the foundation of its being once for all. It is not to isolated acts it refers, but to the personality; not to sins, but to the sinner; not to the past only, in which wrong has been done, but to time and eternity.

There will inevitably be in the Christian life experiences of sinning and of being forgiven, of falling and of being restored. But the grace which forgives and restores is not some new thing, nor is it conditioned in some new way. It is not dependent upon penitence, or works, or merit of ours. It is the same absolutely free grace which meets us at the cross. From first to last, it is the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, which cleanses from sin. The daily pardon, the daily cleansing, are but the daily virtue of that one all-embracing act of mercy in which, while we were yet sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.

Jesus illustrated this truth beautifully when he said to Peter at the Last Supper, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean” (John 13:10). In other words, the feet need daily cleansing as you walk about in sandals in a hot climate, but once you have truly accepted Christ as your Saviour you may stay in the bath. Confess sin whenever you are conscious of it, thanking him for that cleansing. Keep short accounts with God. Maintain the fellowship. That’s what it means to “walk in the light”.

As Paul does in Romans 3:25, John uses one of the terms in the “propitiation” word group. “He is the atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (2:2—also 4:10). We explored the meaning of this term earlier under the subheading Propitiation in the chapter “Benefits of the cross”.

Like Paul, John speaks of the love of the Father in sending his Son to die for us. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins” (4:10). And it is the cross, above all else, that should motivate us to love one another. “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (4:11, 12). It is interesting to compare this last verse with John’s statement in his Gospel, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son…has made him known” (1:18). In both verses he states that no one has ever seen God. But in the Gospel he says we can see what God is like by looking at the Son, whereas in his first letter he says that people should be able to see his love by looking at us, those who claim to be recipients of his love given to us through the cross.

The other references to the cross in 1 John occur in 5:6, 7 where he says that Jesus came “by water and blood” and that “the Spirit, the water and the blood” testify to the truth. The “water” in this instance is usually taken to refer to Jesus’ baptism. Both in submitting to baptism by John at the very start of his public ministry (he had no need of repentance—Matthew 3:13-16) and through his death at the end, Jesus identified fully with sinful humanity. These acts testify to his great love and the main purpose of his coming. No doubt John also had in mind the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, both of which testify to the significance of the cross.

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