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In 1 John 2:5-29; 3:5-8, 24 and 4:9-15, we see that we may enjoy Christ, who is a living person, as our abiding place.
First John 4:9 says, “In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him.” In this verse we see God’s intention and goal in sending the Son: God sent the Son so that we might live through Him. Living through the Son implies having the divine life. If we did not have life through Him, we could not live through Him. Therefore, living through the Son implies that we have received Him as our life. God sent His Son, and we have received Him as life. Now we live through Him.
God came to be a man so that we could have His divine life. If He had never been a man, He could not come into us and we could not have Him as our divine life. Incarnation was for the impartation of the divine life into us.
In verse 9 John says that God sent His Son, the only begotten, into the world. As in 1 Timothy 1:15, the “world” here refers to fallen mankind, whom God so loved that, by making them alive through His Son with His own life (John 3:16), they may become His children (1:12-13). We have seen that in 1 John 4:9 John tells us that God sent His Son into the world that we might live through Him.
We, the fallen people, are not only sinful in nature and conduct (Rom. 7:17-18; 1:28-32) but also dead in our spirit (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13). God sent His Son into the world not only to be a propitiation for our sins that we might be forgiven (1 John 4:10) but also to be life to us that we might have life and live through Him. In the love of God, the Son of God saves us not only from our sins by His blood (Eph. 1:7; Rev. 1:5) but also from our death by His life (1 John 3:14-15; John 5:24). He is not only the Lamb of God who takes away our sin (1:29); He is also the Son of God who gives us eternal life (3:36). He died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3) that we might have eternal life in Him (John 3:14-16) and live through Him (6:57; 14:19). In this the love of God, which is God’s essence, has been manifested.
In 1 John 4:10, John goes on to say, “Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.” The word herein refers to the following fact: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins. In this fact is the higher and nobler love of God.
The word propitiation indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 9:28), not only for our redemption but also for God’s satisfaction. Through His vicarious death and in Him as our Substitute, God is satisfied and appeased. Hence, He is the propitiation between God and us.
We had a problem in our relationship with God. Therefore, God sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins in order to restore our relationship with Him. God did this because of His love. Although sin caused a problem in our relationship with God, we had no thought of dealing with our sin in order to restore our relationship with God. Even if we desired to restore this relationship, we would have had no ability or way. However, God’s love caused Him to send His Son to accomplish this matter for us before we even had such a thought.
Since our sins brought us under the requirements of God’s righteousness and holiness, God could not receive us or abide with us peaceably. Therefore, God’s love caused Him to send His Son as a propitiation for our sins so that He could receive us and abide with us peaceably according to the requirements of His righteousness and holiness. God’s love fulfilled all the demands of God’s righteousness and holiness.
In 1 John 4:9 we see that God sent His Son in order that we might live through Him. In verse 10 we see that God sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins. If we consider these verses together, we will see that God’s sending His Son as a propitiation for our sins is not the goal. Rather, this is a procedure for arriving at the goal, and the goal is that we may have life and live through the Son. Therefore, God sent His Son as a propitiation for us with the intention that through His Son we may have life and live.
First John 4:14-15 goes on to say, “We have beheld and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.” As in verse 9 and John 3:16, world here denotes fallen mankind. The Father’s sending of the Son to be our Savior is an external act, so that through our confessing of the Son He can abide in us and we in Him (1 John 4:15). The apostles have beheld and testify this. This is the outward testimony. In addition to this, God’s internal act toward us is the sending of His Spirit to dwell in us as inward evidence that we abide in Him and He in us (v. 13).
In 1 John 4:9, 10, and 14 the apostle John says three times that God has sent His Son. God sent the Son that we might live through Him, He sent the Son as a propitiation concerning our sins, and He sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
God the Father sent His Son as the Savior of the world (v. 14) that men may believe in Him by confessing that Jesus is the Son of God, so that God may abide in them and they in God. But the heretical Cerinthians did not confess this; hence, they did not have God abiding in them, nor did they abide in God. Whoever confesses this, God abides in him and he in God. He becomes one with God in the divine life and nature.
We may have expected John to say that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God has the forgiveness of sins or has eternal life. However, here John says that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. We should use this verse in preaching the gospel. We should tell people that if they believe in the Lord and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, they will be forgiven of their sins and will be saved. We should also tell them that if they confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God will come into them and abide in them, and they will be able to abide in God. This is the highest preaching of the gospel.
This matter of dwelling in God and God dwelling in us is repeated several times in 1 John. Again and again, the New Testament points out that God dwells in us. We are even called God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19) and His dwelling place, His house (Eph. 2:22; 1 Tim. 3:15). God houses Himself in us. Ephesians 3:17 indicates that Christ is making His home in our hearts.
First John 2:12 says, “I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you because of His name.” The forgiveness of sins is the basic element of God’s gospel (Luke 24:47; Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38). Through this, the believers who receive Christ are regenerated and become the children of God (John 1:12-13).
John realized that forgiveness of sins is a basic factor in our becoming God’s children. In 1 John 2:12 John tells the little children that their sins have been forgiven because of the Lord’s name. They have believed in this precious name and have received the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins is the first basic element in the gospel. If we believe in the name of the Lord and call on His name, the first blessing that we receive is the forgiveness of sins. Through forgiveness, we have been justified and have become the children of God. Regeneration, therefore, is based on the forgiveness of sins. This is the reason that the apostle John regards forgiveness of sins as the basic factor in addressing the recipients of this Epistle as little children.
According to verse 12, our sins have been forgiven because of His name. This verse does not say that our sins will be forgiven but that they have been forgiven because of His name, not because of our works or anything of ourselves. If forgiveness was dependent on our works or anything of ourselves, we would need to wait until we worked it out before the matter could be decided. But this is not the case. Instead, forgiveness is because of His name. Once we believe in and confess the Lord’s name, we participate in His name and become related to His name; therefore, because of His name our sins have been forgiven. When we confess the Lord’s name and possess His name, our sins are forgiven at that time because of His name. Thus, God has forgiven all our sins. We do not need to wait for them to be forgiven in the future. At the time that we believed, He forgave us. Moreover, He has forgiven all our sins and all our evil, not just a certain portion of our sins. Thus, once we believe, all our sins are forgiven, and we are saved.
In 1 John 2:23 we are told that “everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.” Since the Son and the Father are one (John 10:30; Isa. 9:6), to deny the Son is to be without the Father, and to confess the Son is to have the Father. Here to deny the Son is to deny the deity of Christ, to deny that the man Jesus is God. This is a great heresy.
In 1 John 2:23 John first says that anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. If the Son and the Father were not one, how could those who deny the Son not have the Father? In this verse John goes on to say that he who confesses the Son has the Father also. Whoever denies the Son has neither the Son nor the Father. But whoever confesses the Son has both the Son and the Father. Both the negative side and the positive side of this verse indicate that the Son and the Father are inseparable. Because the Father and the Son are one, we cannot separate the Son from the Father nor the Father from the Son.
We need to pay attention to the words either and also in verse 23. John says that whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. Then he says that whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. These words indicate that the Father and the Son are one and inseparable. Therefore, to deny the Son is to deny both the Son and the Father, and to confess the Son is to confess both the Son and the Father.
First John 2:24-25 continues, “As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise which He Himself promised us, the eternal life.” The expression that which you heard from the beginning in verse 24 refers to the Word of life, that is, the Word of the eternal life that the believers heard from the beginning (1:1-2). Not to deny but to confess that the man Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (2:22), is to let the Word of the eternal life abide in us. In so doing we abide in the Son and in the Father and are not led astray by the heretical teachings concerning Christ’s person (v. 26). This indicates that the Son and the Father are the eternal life for our regeneration and enjoyment. In this eternal life we have fellowship with God and with one another (1:2-3, 6-7) and have our being in our daily walk (2:6; 1:7).
Notice that here John speaks of our abiding in the Son and in the Father. In John 15:4 the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you.” This verse speaks of a mutual abiding: we abide in the Lord, and the Lord abides in us. But in 1 John 2:24 John refers to the Word of life abiding in us and says that if the Word of life abides in us, we abide in the Son and in the Father. By this we see that the Word of life is actually the Lord Himself. According to John 15:4, when we abide in the Lord, the Lord abides in us. Here it says that when the Word of life abides in us, we abide in the Son and in the Father. Once again, John puts the Father and the Son together as one, for the Father and the Son are one.
In Christ we have an abiding place which is an eternal person, and in this abiding place we may enjoy the eternal life. Christ, the eternal person, is our abiding place, and eternal life is our enjoyment.
In 1 John 2:25 John does not say, “They promised us”; he says, “He Himself promised us.” The singular pronoun He in verse 25, referring to both the Son and the Father in the preceding verse, indicates that the Son and the Father are one. As far as our experience of the divine life is concerned, the Son, the Father, Jesus, and Christ are all one. It is not that only the Son, and not the Father, is the eternal life to us. It is that Jesus, being the Christ as the Son and the Father, is the eternal, divine life to us for our portion.
According to verse 24, if we take the Son as the way to reach the Father, eventually we reach both the Son and the Father. In this verse John speaks of abiding both in the Son and in the Father. It may sound logical to say that Christ as the Son is the only way for us to reach the Father as the destination. Therefore, if we do not take the way, we will not arrive at the destination; if we take the way, we will reach the destination. However, verse 24 suggests that if we take the way, we will have not only the destination but also the way. Here John indicates that we will abide not only in the destination but also in the way, that is, both in the Son and in the Father. This proves that both the Son and the Father are the destination. Not only is the Father the abiding place, but the Son is also. This means that the Son is both the way and the destination, both the way to enter into the dwelling place and the dwelling place itself.
Verse 25 says, “This is the promise which He Himself promised us, the eternal life.” In the Gospel of John eternal life is promised in such verses as 3:15; 4:14; and 10:10. In Titus 1:2 Paul speaks of “the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the times of the ages.” This promise of eternal life must be the promise made by the Father to the Son in eternity. It must have been that in eternity past the Father promised the Son that He would give His eternal life to His believers.
According to the context of 1 John 2:22 through 25, the eternal life in verse 25 is Jesus, Christ, the Father, and the Son; all these are a composition of the eternal life. Hence, the eternal life also is an element of the all-inclusive compound indwelling Spirit, who moves within us.
The eternal life in verse 25 is the Word of life, and the Word of life is Jesus, Christ, the Father, and the Son. Here we have six matters: Jesus, Christ, the Father, the Son, the Word of life, and eternal life. From the Bible, especially from 1 John, we know that Jesus is the Christ, that Christ equals the Father and the Son, and that this One is also the Word of life and the eternal life.
Together Jesus, Christ, the Father, the Son, the Word of life, and eternal life are a divine compound. All these six are elements that have been compounded into a single ointment. In Jesus we have humanity, with the Father we have divinity, and with Christ we have the anointed One. With Jesus we have the incarnation and crucifixion, with Christ we have the resurrection, and with the Son we have life. Therefore, with these elements we have all the ingredients of the compound ointment: divinity, humanity, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and life.
First John 2:27 says, “As for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.” The anointing is the moving and working of the indwelling compound Spirit, who is fully typified by the anointing oil, the compound ointment, in Exodus 30:23-25. This all-inclusive life-giving Spirit from the Holy One entered into us at the time of our regeneration and abides in us forever (1 John 2:27); by Him the young children know the Father (v. 13) and know the truth (v. 21). As we abide in Christ, we enjoy the divine anointing, which is a wonderful person, the Spirit, moving and working in us. As this anointing abides in us and teaches us, we abide in Him.
The anointing is the moving and working of the indwelling compound Spirit to apply all the ingredients of the processed Triune God and His activities into our inner being so that we may be fully mingled with Him for His corporate expression (vv. 20, 27; cf. Eph. 4:4-6). Moreover, the anointing, as the moving and working of the compound Spirit within us, anoints God into us so that we may be saturated with God, possess God, and understand the mind of God.
The Greek word for “Christ” is Christos, which means the “anointed One,” and the Greek word for “anointing” is chrisma. Both words are derived from the same root. Now we must go on to see that Christ as the anointed One becomes the anointing. Because He is the anointed One, He has an abundance of ointment with which to anoint us. Eventually, the anointed One becomes the anointing One. In fact, He even becomes the anointing.
In 2 Corinthians 1:21 Paul says, “The One who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God.” Because we have been attached by God to Christ, the anointed One, we are spontaneously anointed with Him by God. Christ has been anointed with the divine ointment, and the ointment that is upon Him now flows to us. This is pictured in Psalm 133, which says that the anointing oil runs down, or flows, from the head of Aaron to his beard and even to the hem of his priestly garments. This indicates that Christ has an abundance of the anointing oil. God has poured the ointment upon Him. Through that anointing, Christ has received the ointment, and eventually He, the anointed One, became the anointing One. When He entered into us as the anointed One, He became the anointing One in us. Actually, the anointing that dwells in us is the anointed One becoming the anointing One and also the anointing.
God’s intention is to work Himself into us as our life and our everything to make us His counterpart for the expression of Himself. In order to accomplish this, it was necessary for God in Christ to pass through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. When He entered into resurrection, He became the compound, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is actually Christos, the anointed One, becoming the life-giving One. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we received Him into us. The One we received is the anointed One, who through death and resurrection has become the anointing One. Furthermore, this anointing One is the all-inclusive indwelling Spirit. As soon as we believed in Him, He as the Spirit entered our spirit. Now He is within our spirit to anoint us with the element of the Triune God. The more we are anointed with the Triune God, the more the element of the Triune God is transfused into our being. Through this anointing, the fibers of our being will be saturated with all that the processed Triune God is. This is the anointing, which is the reality of the entire New Testament.
Concerning the indwelling of the Divine Trinity (John 14:17, 23), we do not need anyone to teach us. By the anointing of the all-inclusive, compound Spirit, who is the composition of the Divine Trinity, we know and enjoy the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as our life and life supply.
The teaching of the anointing is not an outward teaching by words but an inward teaching by the anointing through our inner spiritual consciousness. This teaching by the anointing adds the divine elements of the Trinity, which are the elements of the anointing compound Spirit, into our inner being. It is like the repeated painting of some article: not only does the paint indicate a definite color, but the addition of repeated coats adds the elements of the paint to the thing being painted. It is in this way that the Triune God is transfused, infused, and added into all the inward parts of our being that our inner man may grow in the divine life with the divine elements.
This anointing is constantly moving and working within us. The purpose of this moving is to add the element of God into us. We understand God’s will and God’s leading not by an explicit word in letters but through the inward anointing. Today the inward moving and anointing of the Holy Spirit causes us to have more of the element of God. When God’s element increases, we understand more of what God wants, and we are clearer about God’s leading.
According to the context, the expression all things in 1 John 2:27 refers to all things concerning the person of Christ, which are related to the Divine Trinity. The teaching of the anointing concerning these things keeps us that we may abide in Him (the Divine Trinity), that is, in the Son and in the Father (v. 24).
John concludes verse 27 with an exhortation to abide in the Triune God. The Greek word translated “abide” is meno, a word that means “to stay (in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy); hence, to abide, remain, and dwell.” To abide in Him is to abide in the Son and in the Father. This is to remain and dwell in the Lord (John 15:4-5). It is also to abide in the fellowship of the divine life and to walk in the divine light (1 John 1:2-3, 6-7), that is, to abide in the divine light (2:10). We should practice this abiding according to the teaching of the all-inclusive anointing so that our fellowship with God (1:3, 6) may be maintained.
The fellowship of the divine life depends on the anointing. This means that maintaining the fellowship of the divine life depends on abiding in the Lord and in the light. To abide in the Lord and in the light is equal to abiding in the Triune God.
The anointing has much to do with our abiding in the Lord. We enjoy the fellowship of the divine life so that we may abide in the Lord. This abiding is altogether a matter of the Lord as the Spirit dwelling in our spirit. Apart from the anointing, we cannot abide in the Lord. If we do not abide in the Lord, we cannot maintain the fellowship. Furthermore, if we do not maintain the fellowship, we cannot enjoy the riches of the divine life. We may also say that to enjoy the riches of the divine life, we need to maintain the fellowship; to maintain the fellowship, we need to abide in the Lord; and in order to abide in the Lord, we need to take care of the inner anointing, which is the moving of the indwelling Spirit in our spirit.
This abiding is the fellowship; to abide in the Lord is to fellowship with the Lord. We are kept in this fellowship, this abiding, by the anointing, which is the moving of the Holy Spirit as the ointment within. This kind of anointing brings us into life. The more anointing we enjoy, the more life we have; the more life we have, the stronger the fellowship we are in; the stronger the fellowship we are in, the more light we have; and the more light we have, the more cleansing of the blood we need. Then more cleansing of the blood brings us into more anointing, and the more anointing we enjoy, the more we have life. This is a cycle. When we have life, we are in the fellowship; in the fellowship we are in the light; as we are in the light, we sense the need of the cleansing; under the cleansing we enjoy the anointing; and the anointing brings us more life.
If we quench the Spirit and neglect the words of the Lord, we will come out of the Lord. But if we neither quench the Spirit nor neglect the instant words of the Lord, we will abide in the Lord. When we abide in the Lord, spontaneously we can exercise our spirit, pray, and give thanks in everything. This is a practical way for us to abide in the Lord.
To abide in Christ is to dwell in Him, to remain in fellowship with Him, that we may experience and enjoy His abiding in us (John 15:4-5; 1 John 2:27). To abide in Christ is to live in the Divine Trinity — taking Christ as our dwelling place (vv. 6, 24, 27-28; 3:6, 24; 4:13). To have Christ abiding in us is to have the Spirit of reality as the presence of the Triune God abiding in us (John 14:17). We abide in Christ so that He may abide in us by caring for the inward teaching of the all-inclusive anointing (1 John 2:27). We abide in the divine fellowship with Christ by experiencing the cleansing of the Lord’s blood and the application of the anointing Spirit to our inner being (John 15:4-5; 1 John 1:5, 7; 2:20, 27).
The Lord’s abiding in us and our abiding in Him are altogether a matter of His being the life-giving Spirit in our spirit; by the bountiful, immeasurable Spirit in our spirit, we know with full assurance that we and God are one and that we abide in each other (1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:19; John 3:34; 1 John 3:24; 4:13). The way to abide in Christ as the empowering One so that He may be activated within us as the inner operating God, the law of the Spirit of life, is by rejoicing always, praying unceasingly, and giving thanks in everything (Phil. 4:13; 2:13; 1 Thes. 5:16-18; Col. 3:17). We abide in Christ so that He may abide in us by dealing with the constant word in the Scriptures, which is outside of us, and the present word as the Spirit, which is within us (John 5:39-40; 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6; Rev. 2:7). By the outward, written word we have the explanation, definition, and expression of the mysterious Lord, and by the inward, living word we have the experience of the abiding Christ and the presence of the practical Lord (Eph. 5:26; 6:17-18). If we abide in the Lord’s constant and written word, His instant and living words will abide in us (John 8:31; 15:7; 1 John 2:14). We abide in Him and His words abide in us so that we may speak in Him and He may speak in us for the building of God into man and man into God (John 15:7; 2 Cor. 2:17; 13:3; 1 Cor. 14:4b).
