John writes this letter so that we may have unity and fellowship with God the Father, Jesus His Son, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus’ Church. This fellowship is established by means of the cleansing blood of Christ Jesus who laid His life down for us as the propitiation—the pleasing sacrifice—for our sins so that we may become the children of God—partakers of this unity and fellowship.

The full magnitude of this unity and fellowship is set before our eyes as this letter closes. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ—not just a man, not just a wise teacher, not just a miracle worker—but the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One of God—everyone who believes this has been born of God.

When the apostle Peter confessed Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you… For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” It is as if Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you, for you have been born of God.” Therefore, blessed are you, brothers and sisters in Christ, who believe that Jesus is the Christ, for you have been born of God. You are children of God. Brothers and sisters of Christ. And brothers and sisters of one another in God.

Of course, this also means that if we love the Father (and that’s part and parcel to believing that Jesus is the Christ) we are going to love our fellow believers. It’s as natural as a healthy tree bearing healthy fruit. So, where there is conflict or strife, we should be reconciled to one another as God has reconciled Himself to us in Christ.

Those who love God and do His expectations know in their heart of hearts that they love God’s children—their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Because, as I’ve said, when John writes of God’s expectations, he means more than rules. Law and Gospel are the content. For the ability to love doesn’t come from us, it comes from Christ and His atoning death on the cross. Faith and love belong together. Scripture says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” It’s equally true to say, “Without faith it is impossible to love God.”

So, the Lord our God fills you with His love in Christ who laid down His life for you. The Lord your God gifts to you faith that believes Jesus’ death forgives you of all sins. Faith in Christ and the love of God empower you to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. This isn’t a burdensome thing, but living as God’s children. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” As Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

So, yes, we can love our brothers and sisters in Christ as we love ourselves. We can love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We can cherish His expectations by receiving and believing what He’s done and by our godly living. Yet, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

Through Jesus Christ and His victory on the cross, you have overcome the world! Jesus says, “In this world you will have tribulation; but take heart, I have overcome the world.” And because Christ has overcome the world, so have you. Paul writes, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” The victory comes through faith, and not just any faith, but faith in Christ Jesus God’s Son, who is Himself victorious on your behalf.

Three witnesses testify to the victory of Jesus Christ the Son of God. One is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would take what is His—His victory over sin, death, the devil, and hell—and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit brought to the apostles’ remembrance all that Jesus did and taught so that they would be faithful witnesses to Christ, having seen what He did, heard what He said, and able to fully recall it in the days following His ascension. The Holy Spirit is the Truth just as Jesus is the Truth, because both are of one substance with the Father. There can be no falsehood in the Holy Spirit who testifies to Christ Jesus in whom there can be no falsehood.

The other witnesses are the water and the blood specifically, for the water and blood testify to Jesus’ identity in His Baptism and death on the cross. The water bore witness to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world when Jesus underwent Baptism. The Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove, anointing Him into His office as Savior, while the heavenly Father declared, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”

The blood bore witness to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world when Jesus suffered His passion. Having poured out His blood for the life of the world in sacrifice, the Lord declared, “It is finished,” and gave up the Spirit. Though the heavenly Father said nothing at His death, the darkness, earthquake, and opening of graves showed that judgment had been rendered. Our sins had been atoned. Jesus paid our debt to God.

There is no reason to deny Jesus’ humanity, Jesus’ deity, or Jesus’ death for the sins of the world—for our sins! Consider how we receive the testimony of other people on a daily basis for even important things—how much more so should we believe the testimony of God!

John reminds you that the testimony of God is life—eternal life—in His Son. “For God so loved you that He gave His only Son, that you who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Through faith in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, you have eternal life.

Whoever doesn’t believe doesn’t have life, because the one who doesn’t believe hasn’t just rejected the message, but that person has actually called God a liar in refusing to believe the True News of the Good News. But you believe, and so you have the truth of God, eternal life, and Christ Jesus within you. And no one can snatch that from you, because Jesus has overcome the world.

St. John wrote his Gospel so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” The purpose for writing this letter is a step further. John has written this letter for you so that you know in your hearts and minds that you truly do have eternal life through faith, through belief, through trust in the name of the Son of God—Jesus, a name that means “the Lord saves.” The world tells you otherwise, but God has promised it—and the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Baptism, and Jesus’ death have borne witness to the truth that the Lord has redeemed you.

So, as God’s children in fellowship and unity with the Father, His Son Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and one another as Jesus’ Church, we can pray for all our needs with boldness and confidence. We can know that He hears us and will answer us according to what we need as He best knows what we need—and many times He gives us more than what we ask for!

We can even pray for each other, especially that God would forgive the sins of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ by granting them continued repentance and faith. John writes, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life.” Now, if this sounds weird, remember that we pray through the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We pray that God not only forgive us our trespasses, but also the trespasses of one another who trust the cleansing blood of Christ.

In the context of which John writes, the sin that leads to death is the specific rejection of Christ’s cleansing blood, either by denying that we have any sin or by denying that Jesus’ blood cleanses from sin. Sin that doesn’t lead to eternal death is sin that is confessed to God, which God is faithful and just to forgive through the blood of Christ Jesus.

John wraps us up this letter with three reminders of the things we know. First, everyone born of God doesn’t keep sinning. Again, as I’ve stressed numerous times, he can’t mean that the Christian stops sinning, because John has already written, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” John is saying in a different way what Paul says in the book of Romans, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Everyone born of God doesn’t want to sin, but seeks to live for God, and the One who was born of God—Christ Jesus God’s Son—guards and keeps us from the evil one who goes about like a roaring lion, trying to devour us.

We also know that we are from God, because we’ve been born of God through water and the Word that joins us to Jesus. So, we are differentiated from the world. The world hated Jesus and still does. The world can’t help but hate us, because it abides in the devil’s power. The world is enslaved to sin, death, and the devil, but Christ through His Word is strong to save sinners out of the world unto eternal life.

The third thing we know—Jesus, the Son of God, has come and given us understanding so that we may know the Father, so that we may have union and communion and fellowship with the Father, such as Jesus enjoys, and in God’s Son we are in the true God, His Father. Jesus says, “If you have seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” It’s not that they are the same person, but they are of the same divine substance along with the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who teaches anything contrary to what John has taught in this letter is following idols. Anyone who rejects repentance from sin, faith in the cleansing blood of Christ, the love of one another, etc., has rejected Jesus and the Father. They have committed idolatry. Let us keep ourselves from this. Let us keep ourselves from idols, and instead fix our eyes on Jesus. Amen.