I Don’t Know, But Maybe He Does…

I'm trying to come up with something to write about today. It's hard. Sometimes I just don't know what to write about. I get the old "writer's block". It's like a brick wall is built up in front of me. I keep swinging the hammer, trying to knock it down, but I promise you the harder I swing, the bigger the wall gets. I just don't know what to write.
It's not that I don't know anything. My brain seems to be full of ideas at times. The inspiration to write, though, sometimes comes at times when I don't have any way to get the idea down so that I can remember it. Oh, what a problem!

Fortunately for us, though, the inspired writers of the New Testament (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17) never were short for the words to write. They knew a lot of things, of course by the knowledge supplied to them by God (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12-13; 2 Peter 1:16-21). They always had the right words to write.

This is certainly the case for John. When we read 1 John we see that John knew a lot of things, and wanted us to know them as well. Thus, he wrote.

If you do a quick search (using the English Standard Version) you see that the word "know" is found in 1 John some 34 times, as well as being in 28 verses of the text. Now keep in mind that there are about 105 verses in 1 John. That means that about 25% (actually 26.66666666….%) of the letter deals with John discussing things that he knows, and that we can know as well. What are some of these things?

1. John writes about how we "know" that we "know" God. In 1 John 2:3 we read that we know that we have come to know him not by some extra sensory perception of knowledge. In fact, it's quite simple. We know God if we keep His commandments. We know that we know Him if we do what he says to do. On the other side of that, if you want to know God, that's the way to do it. To keep his commandments.


2. John writes that they could know and that we can know the "last hour" is here. In 2:18 he writes about the last hour, and antichrists. We can know that this is the last chance for all of us to make ourselves right with God. There is no other doctrine that is going to come along. It's the new covenant for us now, and that's what we are going to be judged by (cf. John 12:48). Not only that, but we can know that this notion of "The Antichrist" that many people have today is a false one. At that time there were already many antichrists that had gone out. Verse 19 clarifies this further in stating that they had even gone out from among Christians. The modern pre-millennial view of the end of time just doesn't fit this mold.


3. John writes that it is possible to know the truth. In 1 John 2:21he writes that they knew the truth. If this was true for them, why couldn't it be true for us as well? Of course it is. Just as they knew the truth, we can know the truth. No lie is of the truth.


4. John writes about how we can know that the world just simply isn't going to recognize us for who we are: Christians, Children of God. In 3:1 he writes that those in the world just aren't going to fully understand who we are. Why? Well, it's hard to understand who someone is and what they believe if you don't even believe or "know" of the God that they are children of in the first place. The world is just never going to understand, unless someone comes out of that world to knowledge of God (cf. 2:3-5).


5. John writes about how we can know love. In 1 John 3:16 John writes a good companion to John 3:16 that's easy to remember because of the chapter/verse divisions. How do we know love? Christ showed it to us, by laying down His life for us. We ought to follow his example of sacrifice.


6. John writes about how we can know whether we love the children of God: by loving God and obeying his commandments. It's more than just an emotional thing. In 5:2 he writes that we love by doing: especially by doing the things that he has commanded for us to do toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. We ought to love in deed and in truth (cf. 1 John 3:18).


7. John writes that we can know that we know what we know. In 5:20 we read that from God we gain understanding. We gain that understanding through Christ, and through learning more about Him and his coming. Knowledge of God and Christ is not something that is mystical, or that we can't grasp. Christ came and gave us the understanding that we need! We know that he is true, and we know that he is the true son of God. He is the true God and eternal life. We can surely know that whatever comes from Him is the truth, and that we can stand firmly on that foundation.

There are obviously a lot of things that I didn't mention that John mentions. My purpose is to write a blog post, not a commentary. But isn't wonderful to know that we can know some things. Especially in a time where people try to say that no one can really know the truth. No one can really be right. Every person is just as right as the next person. Well, John writes to us that we can know the truth. And we can know it outside of the realm of moral relativism.

"…And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." – John 8:32 (ESV)

• Daniel Howell