Over the holiday break I took some time out of all our limes, and made some time to study. My book of choice was 1 John. I happen to really love this book. It is on my favorite books of the Bible list...along with about 65 others! I also have always wanted to do a word study on the “ifs” of this book. That is exactly what I did this time.
I will be posting my notes one chapter at a time over the next (including this one) five Saturdays. I will include the definitions of the word “if” in each post so you can have easy access to them. Please feel free to add your comments if you have any. I hope that this will bless you in some small way as it blessed me much while I was studying.
What does if mean? From Dictinary.com…
If
Conjunction
1. in case that; granting or supposing that; on condition that: Sing if you want to.
2. even though: an enthusiastic if small audience
3. whether: He asked if I knew Spanish.
4. used to introduce an exclamatory phrase: If only Dad could see me now!
5. when or whenever: If it was raining, we had to play inside.
Noun
6. a supposition; uncertain possibility: The future is full of ifs.
7.a condition, requirement, or stipulation: There are too many ifs in his agreement.
There are two Greek words for if used in 1 John.
They are: ean and ei.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines ean as:
A conditional particle, which makes reference to time and to experience, introducing something future, but not determining, before the event, whether it is certainly to take place; if, in case.
And ei as:
First a conditional particle, if; secondly, an interrogative particle, whether.
If, quite a word that is. So much can hang on those two small letters.
Now for the if’s.
Chapter 1
Verse 6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”
If—ean
If we say that we have fellowship…we are saying that we profess to be like Him, that is God. We are to be like Him, and by doing so we are in fellowship with Him. But, we are taking a lot on when we say that we have fellowship with God.
…and walk in darkness…This is referring to living in sin. Throughout the Bible light refers to God, and the Christian way of living, and darkness refers to the life of sin, without God. We cannot live in fellowship with God, and be in sin.
…we lie, and do not the truth…simple, if we are saying that we are in fellowship with God, and are living in sin, then we are liars. We cannot do this and have the truth in us. We must either be in fellowship with God not living in sin, or be out of God living in sin. You cannot do both.
Verse 7 “But if we walk in the light, and he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
If--ean
I really love this verse! There is so much hope and promise in it…it makes me feel happy inside…but at the same time…there is a lot in it!
But if we walk in the light, and he is in the light…if we walk in the light…that one statement is powerful. We MUST be in the light! He, that is God is in the light and we want to be there with Him. If we are not in the light…well…we are not with God. Sad thought that. But what happens if we are in the light with God?
...we have fellowship one with another…fellowship with each other. I love to fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ! It’s probably my favorite thing to do. Seriously, we would not enjoy that bliss of fellowship outside of Christ. It’s important to be in Christ! But this is not all…
…and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin…not only do we have the bliss of fellowship, but we also have the forgiveness of sins. And not just some…all sin. Every single one. We must stay in the light to continue to receive this forgiveness. If we step outside of the light, we will not have access to that forgiveness.
Verse 8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
If--ean
This verse is actually quite simple…if we say we have no sin…Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Not a single person in history has been perfect (except Christ). But if we say that we have no sin…
...we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…we become liars, which is a sin. We cannot lie about our sin, and still be in the truth. We must rid ourselves of sin and walk in the truth. And staying in the truth is the only way to stay in fellowship with God.
Verse 9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
If--ean
This is another verse that has so much in it…and it’s special in a way. I remember memorizing it years ago for Bible class…and it has stuck with me all these years. God is willing to forgive us, no matter how “big” the sin is. But it is really up to us if that sin is forgiven. If we are willing to confess our sins, only then will God forgive us. This verse really brings out the importance of the word if to me. If we don’t confess our sins….we will remain unforgiven, thus living in sin, thus not in fellowship with God. That is a scary thought. To gain forgiveness we MUST confess our sins to God.
Verse 10 “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
If--ean
If we say that we have not sinned…it is impossible for any to make this claim. As we already saw in Rom 3:23 all have sinned. And if we dare to make the claim that we are without sin…
…we make him a liar, and his word is not in us…when we claim to have no sin, we are calling God a liar, and we know that He is not a liar…there is nothing but truth in Him. And not only do we make Him a liar, we do not have His word in us. We can only know how to be right with God if we are in His word, admit that we are sinners and confess our sins to Him.
This chapter and the ifs in it have taught me that 1) salvation is conditional, 2) we cannot lie about our sin and be right with God and 3) that one must be willing to confess to gain forgiveness. These ifs may be small…but they carry great importance to the Christian life.
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