Focus: Verse 29
King James Bible
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
New International Version
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
New Living Translation
Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.
Study Notes:
What a profound truth and powerful lesson this chapter offers, serving as a profound confirmation of my personal faith. For so many years, addiction was merely my retreat—a way to hide from the agonizing uncertainty of whether I even possessed a soul. I spent decades fleeing from my own shadow, leaving neither time nor desire to turn toward the light.
Trapped in the shadows of alcohol, cocaine, and meth, asking for help felt impossible. I resisted listening to solutions for the mess I had made, convinced that my fate was already sealed. I was betting on total nonexistence, yet fearing a hell I tried hard to deny. Whenever subtle signs hinted I was wrong, I retreated deeper into my own self-made torment—preparing to confront what I claimed wasn't real while clinging to fleeting moments of delusion.
I have always known, deep down, that hell is real. From an early age, I was told it was my inevitable fate and completely beyond my control. So, why bother resisting? Ironically, the Bible itself was used as the primary tool to condemn me and validate their words. It was not a matter of lacking the will to challenge their claims by opening 1 John to affirm what I originally believed. Rather, my hope was stripped away through enduring violence and hardship. While my trajectory could have been different, how can a child who is persuaded he is beyond redemption ever be expected to seek salvation? I do not mean for these reflections to seem like an attempt to shift responsibility for my own failings, as there is plenty of fault to share. What truly weighs on me today is wondering how many others have walked this same path without ever discovering that subtle way out. Viewing life from the outside looking in now brings a deeply bittersweet perspective.
Doctrine Challenge
The church's firm stance on the origin of salvation appears increasingly dangerous to me. Based on my reading, they are heading down a very hazardous path. In verse 29, we are reminded once more that a relationship with Jesus involves conditions. What should prompt most people to pause and reflect here is the word "everyone".
Takeaway
Fresh out of active addiction, I turned to daily scripture study as an anchor to keep me grounded and safe. Yesterday found me in the first chapter of 1 John. Today, just five lines into chapter two, I am struck by a deep wonder: how much lost time might I have spared myself if I had read these words forty years ago? I have reached a place where my hunger for the Word is so intense, it feels like being a nine-year-old child with a brand-new train set on Christmas morning. Only now, the object of my awe and devotion is the Bible, and I am a 58-year-old man.
--BSB
Jesus Our Advocate
2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.
4 If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:
6 Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.
7 Beloved, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old one, which you have had from the beginning. This commandment is the message you have heard.
8 Then again, I am also writing to you a new commandment, which is true in Him and also in you. For the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining.
9 If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven through His name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
17 The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.
20 You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
21 I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth.
22 Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.
23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.
24 As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.
26 I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
27 And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.
28 And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
29 If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.