OVERCOMING EVIL ON OUR SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE

Study of 1 John 2:12-17

12 I am writing to you, dear children,

because your sins have been forgiven on account of 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.

14 I write to you, dear children,

because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,

because you are strong,

and the word of God lives 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, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

 Outline

There are three different stages of spiritual pilgrimage. The children are those who are newborn in Christ. The young men are more developed Christians, strong and victorious in spiritual warfare; while the fathers possess the depth and stability of ripe Christian experience.

The newborn Christian rejoices in the forgiveness of his sins through Christ and in his consequent fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit within him makes him aware of his adoption and causes him to cry ‘Abba! Father!’ John sees all those in his churches as his spiritual children.

The fathers are those who have progressed into a deeper communion with God. Their knowledge of God ripens with the years. They know Christ as him from the beginning: the immutable eternal God who does not change as men change, with advancing years, but who is forever the same. Time hurries on, but in all generations they find refuge in him who from everlasting to everlasting is God. They are already consciously living in eternity.

The young men are fighting the enemy. The forgiveness of past sins must be followed by deliverance from sin’s present power, so they have overcome the evil one. The secret of the young men’s victory is due to the fact that their strength derives from ‘the word of God living in you’. They have grasped the revelation of Christ and are seeking to follow Christ as his disciples.

Overcoming the evil one means not loving the world. What is the world? The world here is seen as under the dominion of Satan. He is the prince of this world and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. The world is his sphere of influence. The world therefore is an inclusive term for all those who are in the kingdom of darkness and have not been born of God. The world and the church are portrayed in sharp contrast to each other, two entirely separate and distinct groups of people, the one under the dominion of Satan, the other born of God and knowing God. Since the world’s prince is cast out and judged, it stands to reason that the world itself is doomed. Already it is passing away. God so loved the world so how can we not love it also? Viewed as people, the world must be loved. Viewed as an evil system, organized under the dominion of Satan and not of God, it is not to be loved. Love for the Father and love for the world are mutually exclusive.

The lust of the flesh describes the desire of our sinful and fallen nature. It is the flesh that strives against the spirit in our lives. See Galatians 5:16-25.

The lust of the eyes indicate temptations which assault us not from within, but from without. This is the tendency to be captivated by the outward show of things, without enquiring into their real values. It will include the love of beauty divorced from the love of goodness. It is to covet what we don’t have, to be discontent with our state in life, to be materialistic.

The pride of life is an arrogance or vainglory relating to one’s external circumstances, whether wealth or rank or dress, the desire to impress or boast. It is to love money, status and power.

The world and its desires pass away, they are transient, they will not last. God’s will and he who does it and chooses to do it are eternal. They will last.

Questions for Discussion 

1. At what stage on your spiritual pilgrimage are you?
2. How important is affirmation in giving you assurance and confidence in your faith? How affirming are you of others?
3. How would you describe the characteristics of your Christian life in the light of these reasons (“because”)? Why would John write to you because……?
4. How do we overcome the evil one? See Ephesians 6:10-18.
5. How do we distinguish between the world God loves and the world we are not to love?
6. How does this description of the world differ from the description of revolutionaries who view the economic and social and political systems of the world as corrupt? They identify the evils of this world as institutional: political elites, corporations, the rich, people other than themselves.
7. Whom should we blame for the evils of the world?
8. The ‘world’ and the ‘church’: two different entities. How does this dualistic view affect the way you view your life?
9. How can we identify that which is permanent and eternal from that which is transient and temporal? What do we invest our lives in? See Matthew 6:19-21.