All Christians should strive, by His grace, to live up to bearing the name of God and answering to Him; “the royal priesthood,” a candidate of the love of God – part of God’s family.
According to 1 John 2:23, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” Anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father. Without one, no one can have the other because Jesus is Lord. Baby Christians can only grow into this understanding when they give themselves a chance to grow in the word and the Spirit. The Father-Son-Spirit bond cannot be broken. The essential requirement for being in the Spirit and gaining eternal security is accepting Jesus as the avenue to get to the Father and being in fellowship with Him; “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him” (John 14:6-7).
Whosoever abides in God does not sin, and anyone who does not walk in light does not know Him either. The key to fellowship with God is having the knowledge of Him and abiding in Him. This could be realised when a man or a woman gives the totality of themselves unto God, submitting to His mentoring and discipleship. John wrote in 1 John 3:6 that the way to walk with God is to be willing to fellowship with Him and be in alignment with His will and commands. All Christians should strive, by His grace, to live up to bearing the name of God and answering to Him; “the royal priesthood,” a candidate of the love of God – part of God’s family.
According to Yarbrough (2008:182), the affirmation in this section of the epistles of John is that freedom from sinning has been offered “to everyone who abides in Christ.”
The cardinals of the Christian faith are also considered here. Yarbrough (2008:183) mentioned in his argument that “The doctrine of the true believer’s existence lies in a positive response to God in Christ doctrinally (faith), ethically (works), and relationally (love”).
Yarbrough (2008:195) argued that John assumes that God’s “seed,” His true descendants, reflect His Character in their actions. Anyone born of the Father will not sin and even dwell in sin for any reason. According to Dr. Hayes, the sinners do not have a chance of fellowship with God if they do not walk away from their sins, forsake them and turn to God for communion. Some pretend to be sheep, but they are wolves. Though, they are fooling themselves and not God because He sees the heart. “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged of his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:9). 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Matthew 16:23, Mark 14:68. All these corroborate the above truth. Let us now begin to walk in this truth, especially as we gradually progress in the year as we walk with the Father. May His grace keep and sustain you in this new month of February.
Happy New Month!
