1 John 2:6 - Exposition

Great professions involve great obligations.

Connecting link: In the fifth verse the apostle had just declared that a life of obedience to God certifies to the believer that he is in Christ. In this verse that thought is as it were turned round: not only is it true that, if a man diligently obeys, he has in that fact the proof of a living union with Christ, but it also follows that, if a man avows to others that he is living in union with the Son of God, he is bound to justify that avowal by a life in entire harmony therewith. Hence we get the following theme— The avowal of a Christian life demands a Christ-like walk. Two lines of remark are here suggested.

I. HERE IS A GREAT DECLARATION SUPPOSED . "He that saith he abideth in him." It has been not unfrequently remarked that old words and phrases which had long been employed in pagan terminology have to put on a new meaning altogether when used in Christian teaching. Not only is this true, but much more. There are in Christian teaching absolutely new phrases used. This is one of them: "in Christ." It is entirely new, (1)because no one ever sustained such a loving relation to the human soul as Christ sustains to it; and therefore

1 . That he worships him as the ideal and real Head of' the entire human race.

2 . That he recognizes the supreme Lordship of Christ.

3 . That he relies upon the atonement made by Christ.

4 . That he receives power from Christ every day and all the day long.

5 . That he has no other conception of a worthy object in life than that life should be wholly for Christ.

6 . That for life or death, for time or eternity, he commits his all to Christ.

7 . And lastly, that the life he lives now, that the life he hopes for hereafter, is received from Christ himself, and can be sustained by him alone. For there is no such hypothesis in the text as that a man can be out of Christ one moment and in him the next, and vice versa, thus alternating perpetually. The phrase is "abideth in him." It is not, however, necessarily supposed here that the man is in Christ. The only supposition is that he declares such to be the case. Hence the question arises—How is this declaration supposed to be made? Nothing can be clearer, both from the Gospels and the Epistles, that open confession of faith before the world was expected of believers, and was indeed the natural outcome of such faith. £ There was the broader confession, when disciples were admitted to Christian training by the rite of baptism. There was the far fuller and deeper one when the ranks of believers gathered together around the table of the Lord, declaring that Christ was the Life of those that believe. In a word, while, in mingling with the world and in ordinary conversation, it was quite possible for a man openly to confess his Saviour, go where he would, yet the recognized public avowal of his faith and hope as a Christian was to be found in his taking his place among the ranks of the faithful, and in pledging himself to be everywhere true to his Saviour and to his fellow-believers, when he gathered with them around the Eucharistic board!

II. AN AVOWAL SO GREAT DEMANDS A CORRESPONDING WALK . "He that saith … ought himself," etc.

1 . How ought he to walk? "Even as he walked." The outward walk ought to correspond with the verbal avowal. But who can suitably describe how Christ walked? Expansion of this is not possible within our assigned space. We can but hint. See Christ's purity, devotedness to God, love of communion with God, pity, benevolence, daring, patience, self-sacrifice, resistive force even to the death. A man who says he abides in Christ ought to reproduce that life in his own! We are not required to follow him in the waters of baptism, nor in the forty days' temptation, nor in his wondrous works; but in his Spirit and his life he has left us an example that we should follow his steps. He stands historically at the head of the human race, its most heavenly Inspirer, its noblest Figure, its most luminous Example.

2 . Why ought the walk to be conjoined with the avowal? Dr. Westcott aptly calls our attention to the fact that the word here used is not δεῖ , denoting a "must" in the nature of things, but ὀφείλει , which expresses a special, personal obligation. To whom, then, does the avower owe it to "live like him whom he avows as his Lord and his Life"? Certainly

We are well aware that a preacher's fidelity on this matter will be met by—

Objection (2): "Impossible! too high!" Reply: It is too high for a Christless man, but not for "a man in Christ." Note: When life and profession harmonize with each other, and both harmonize with a perfect ideal, the life is what it ought to be, and all that it can be.