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 ifsin 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.
Chapter 2
Verse 1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”
If--ean
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not...I believe that that is referring to the above verses, thus chapter one. If we follow the teachings in chapter one, we will be close to God, and thus far away from sin.
…And if any man sin…If we sin. We will sin, for we are human. Sin will happen, even to the best of intentions on our part to be pure. We must strive daily to be sinless, but at the same time, we must understand that we are going to sin. When we do…
…we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…we have an avenue of prayer with our God. But, we must pray to Him through Jesus. Jesus will plead our case before the Father. This advocate here is Jesus, but in John 14:16-17 we see that a comforter or advocate is promised to come speaking of the Holy Spirit. But here in 1 John, Jesus is our advocate, making our relationship with God and Jesus, much more personal.
Verse 3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.”
If--ean
This is a big if. A lot hangs on it. If we keep His commandments…we will know that we know Him. We CAN know that we know Him, but again, this is conditional. We cannot make the claim to know Him if we do not keep His commandments. This should show in our lives. People should be able to look at me and say...”There is a Christian, someone who knows God.” This is very humbling. It’s a lot to live up to. But, at the same time, if we truly want to know Him, we must stick to it and obey His commandments. The reward at the end will be worth it!
Verse 15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
If--ean
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…We are given an instruction here to not love the things nor the things of the world. This includes all things ungodly. Movies, music, food, riches, stuff we collect, and the list can go on forever.
But we see that…If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him…letting this love of the world cloud our lives, we block out the most important love that exists. That is the love of God. Without the love of God, we are nothing. We would have no hope of eternal life with Him. Life would be very bleak actually. But again, this love is conditional. God loves all and would that all men would some to salvation (2 Pet 3:9). We have to couple this verse with so many others and we will find that we must do our part to gain salvation. This begins with us changing our love from the world to God. Then, and only then will we have the love of the Father in us.
Verse 19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
If--ei
This verse follows a thought that introduces a warning against the antichrists. In this verse we see that…They went out from us, but they were not of us…These antichrists were among the church, but yet were not truly of the church. This proves that some in the church are not sincere and are not true Christians. These also could be those who had apostatized, once being faithful but fell away.
...for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us…here is the if. If they had been faithful unmovable Christians, they would not have fallen away and thus would still be with us, the church.
But instead of sticking it out to the end…they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us…these antichrists went out from the church and by doing this they became known as those who had departed from the truth. They could be those that left on their own initiative or those that had been withdrawn fellowship with. I find the phrase be made manifest to be interesting. Because they had left the truth, they were then made manifest that they were no longer part of the one true church. By doing this, they then showed the world that they were no longer part of the church which completed their manifestation.
Verse 24 “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.”
If--ean
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning…what have we had from the beginning? Looking back to chapter one verse 5, that God is light and in Him is no darkness. God and Jesus were also from the beginning. These things must abide with us.
…If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father…there is the condition. If...we have to have this truth (God is light…He has always been) in us forever. Then and only then shall we be able to continue with the Son and Father.
Verse 29 “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”
If--ean
If ye know that he is righteous…If we know….can we know? Well yes! We can know! Remember that God is light…there is no darkness in Him. Only that which is righteous can be light…so therefore following logic, God is righteous. The ‘if’ does not mean that there is doubt that God is righteous. It is simply calling our attention to the fact that God is indeed righteous.
…ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him…because He is righteous…that being God…we know…we do not doubt…but know…that all that doeth righteousness are of Him. This would include all Christians, those who are born of God and are walking in His light. But, as we have seen from verses above, we must stay in this light and there remain to secure our eternal life.
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