We are at 1 John 2:23. The reader has been told that only the people who acknowledge the son (Jesus) have the father (god). If the reader keeps remembering what he has heard from the beginning (whatever that was), he will remain in the son and the father. Plus, he will have eternal life.
The author says he is writing about people who will try to lead the readers astray, aka anti-christs. The readers received an anointing from Jesus (what the heck is that?), so they don't need anyone to teach them. The anointing teaches them to remain in Jesus, and it is not a fake. (Then why does the author need to write this letter?) They are to continue in Jesus so they won't be ashamed when he comes back.( Just when is that? ) If they know that he is righteous, they know "that everyone who does what is right has been born of him." What about the christ deniers who do right? Or is denying christ one of the things on the naughty list? Does one bad mark cancel out all the good?
We are now in chapter three. The author is in raptures over the love of god the father. Aren't they so lucky to be his children! They don't know what their eternal form will be like, but they know it will be like god's. Yippee! When god shows up, they will get to see him. Everyone who wants to do this purifies himself, just like god is pure. Sure, set an impossible standard for mere mortals.
Here we go: "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." How does he define sin? Lawlessness. What law is he talking about? The law of Moses? This person doesn't write like a Jewish believer in the law. He says that Jesus appeared to take away their sins. Anyone who lives in him doesn't keep on sinning. In fact, anyone "who continues to sin has neither seen him or known him." But what about back in chapter one, when we were told that everyone sins and if we just confess, Jesus will forgive.
We now have this circular argument: When you sin, you break the law. When you break the law you are lawless. When you are lawless, you are a sinner. Here comes another: When you do what is right, you are righteous. Jesus is righteous (therefore Jesus must be right.) Here is another argument: When you sin, you are of the devil. The devil is a sinner. Sinners are children of the devil, not the children of god. The children of god do not sin.
Why doesn't the child of god sin? "Because god's seed remains in him.....he has been born of god." What is god's seed? Well, "seed" usually refers to physical children. In the ancient view, a male human "plants his seed" in the female human, like a sower sows seed in the ground. The female is either barren or fertile ground. At that time there was no knowledge of the female contribution of an egg to be fertilized. Of course the author is using this as a metaphor. God's seed here is Jesus. When Jesus is in a person that person becomes born of god. It's a bit squicky to think about and doesn't actually work as a metaphor either. The person being implanted with the seed is also the person being born. A bit confusing, don't you think?
The passage ends with "Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of god, nor is anyone who does not love his brother." This compounds the confusion in my mind. Who is responsible for the "seed of god" here? It doesn't seem like god is taking responsibility for how well his seed produces offspring. Instead, he is saying that anyone who isn't like him, must not be his child, but someone else's, namely the devil's. He doesn't even allow for the possibility that his seed could be bad and produce birth defects.
Till next time.
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