Little Children - 1 John 2

2:1-2 - John addresses his readers multiple times as “My little children” which the IM explains is a term of endearment. His goal in writing is “that ye sin not.” There’s a critical JST saying, “But if any man sin and repent, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The KJV translation says, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” This is a very important addition because without it, there is no accountability for our actions. The KJV makes it sound like “but don’t worry, if you sin, you’ll be forgiven” where the JST clarifies, “if you sin you can repent and then be forgiven.” The process of repentance is omitted from the first one and really, that would be a huge win for Satan, if he could convince us that it doesn’t matter if we sin, Jesus will cover us either way. Not only is Jesus our advocate with the Father, but “he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” The IM says, “A propitiation is a sacrifice made to regain God’s favor or goodwill. The Savior endured the suffering due for the accumulated sins of the whole world; however only those who truly repent will receive the full benefits of the Savior’s Atonement.” So I guess anciently, the animal sacrifices performed in Judaism, the animals would have been the propitiation in that case. 2:3-6 - There’s an interesting part where John says that we will know “that we know (God), if we keep his commandments.” He continues that if someone professes to know the Savior, but doesn’t keep his commandments, that person “is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” But the interesting part is that John says “whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” The part that struck me when reading this was the difference between those who profess to know God and those who just do what’s right. I think the main difference for me was that God abides in the person who does the right thing, treats other kindly, etc. regardless of who claims to know him. By that token, there are non-members who are good, kind people who have “the love of God” in them, whereas there are many members who do not. 2:7-11 - Here’s another clarifying JST, even though it doesn’t change the doctrine that much. John writes a “new commandment unto you, but it is the same commandment which ye had from the beginning.” I’m not exactly sure what commandment John’s talking about here, but he goes on about light vs. darkness and knowing who is in the light and who is in the dark based on who “loveth” or “hateth” his brother. I never really connected with the “light vs. dark” thing because I actually prefer the dark, nighttime hours, the coolness, etc. But John does make a good point, “that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” Visibility is lessened in the dark. The IM comments, “When we love others, we invite the light of Christ to illuminate our lives.” 2:12-14 - John speaks to literally “little children” and “fathers” and “young men,” because “ye have known him that is from the beginning.” But with the “young men” he makes an interesting statement, “I write unto you, young men, because he have overcome the wicked one.” This is an odd statement to me because young men haven’t lived a very long life yet, so to announce that their fight again evil has finished is premature in my opinion. And the other part of this that is odd to me is that being a young person is when a lot of temptation is just getting started because there are all types of hormones and frustrations and a lack of life lessons, etc that are constantly plaguing you. So not only have they not finished their battle with Satan at this point in their lives, it’s really just getting started. I wonder if this was an intentional strategy to express confidence in their abilities to withstand temptation in the future, kind of like “if I say they are strong, they will be” kind of thing. I’m not really sure, just thought it was interesting. 2:15-17 - John condemns love of the world and the things in it, saying that it is contradictory to “the love of the Father.” The same for “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” I’ve heard this before but it never really hit me until I read it here when John says, “and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” How do we love the world? We seek for the approval of people who don’t matter, we want better things, we want more money and more influence, we focus on “the lust of the flesh,” but ultimately, that stuff goes away. You can’t take the money with you, and having it can be corrosive to being a good person. People get old and the lust stuff doesn’t matter anymore, but those who “doeth the will of God abideth forever.” Those who focus on keeping the commandments instead of getting more and more money, etc. are the ones who are investing in their eternal future. 2:18-29 - Just like Paul and Peter, John warns of “antichrist” that will come among the people trying to teach them things that are not doctrine. He even notes that “they went out from us, but they were not of us,” which indicates to me that most of the people causing the problems were apostate Christians who had left the church and tried to start their own thing. Or even if they just left in their mind, or strayed and wanted to take other people with them. But he says that he wrote to them about these “antichrist” because they “have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” I have no idea what an “unction” is but thankfully the IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “Literally, an unction is the act of anointing, as with oil for medicinal purposes; figuratively, it is an anointing from on high, meaning that those so endowed receive the gift of the Holy Ghost… that is, they receive the Holy Ghost so that the spirit of revelation and knowledge rested with them.” People who say they know God but do or teach things contrary to His laws, can seem pretty convincing and it would be easy to follow them, especially if they say what seems easier or better to us, even if just subconsciously. It’s kind of “by their fruits you shall know them” kind of situation, and discernment by the Spirit as well.