And now, children, abide in him, that if he be manifested we may have boldness, and not be put to shame from before him at his coming.
The chapter has warned about people who left the faith. John answers that danger with one short instruction — abide — and points to the day Christ appears.
The chapter has just sorted believers into fathers, young men and babes. Here that sorting stops. John's word now takes in every believer, whatever their growth.
With verse 28, the Apostle speaks again to the whole family of God. He speaks to all His children, whatever their spiritual growth or state. He had just told the babes that the Anointing was theirs, and that they could therefore "abide in Him." Now he urges the whole family to "abide in Him." What is good for the babes is good for all. This abiding is the way of all spiritual fruitfulness and growth. When we drift from Him, and our affections and interests settle on the things of the world, then we are feeble and unfruitful.
Abiding is practical. It touches the will, our weakness, and God's word.
To abide in Him, then, means more than the practical surrender of our wills and distrust of ourselves. It also means clinging to Him in love, leaning on Him in our weakness, and fellowship with Him in His thoughts, as His word makes them known.
The drift John warns about had already begun.
Remember that this departure was then going on. It began with Judas — or if not with Judas, then with the many disciples who turned back and walked with Him no more. They left from the time He showed that His coming in the flesh and His death are the food faith cannot do without... Confess Him if you believe; confess Him if your hearts rest on Him for life eternal. And not merely confess Him, but, whatever the pressure, abide in Him.
Some translations read "if He be manifested" instead of "when." That is not doubt about whether He will come.
The word "if" does not refer to the time "when." It refers to the reality of the event, whenever the time comes for Christ to appear. There is no doubt about the future fact. It is not a question left hanging whether it is to be. But if He appears — and He surely must — He would have the saints abide in Him, and not be turned aside. Then we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
John does not say you may have confidence. He puts himself inside the sentence, and commentators take that in two ways. One reading hears a teacher's concern for the people he taught.
If they did not abide in Him, the apostle had lost all his work. It would have been to that extent his shame. You get the same thing in the second epistle (v. 8): "Watch yourselves, so that we may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward."... The apostle here is pressing them to abide in Christ, so that he may not be ashamed of his work.
Others read the "we" as John including himself among all believers. On that reading, the shame falls on someone who only claimed to have life, never on a true child of God.
If the life is not there, then of course there is no abiding. Someone who has only assumed that he has life will be exposed when the Lord appears, and "put to shame from before Him at His coming." This cannot refer to a true believer. The believer "abides in Him," and he will not be treated as an unbeliever at the Lord's coming.
If salvation is certain, does a believer's conduct still matter?
As in 1 Corinthians 3:15, so in 1 John 2:28, it is only a question of the Lord's dealings about their labours, and not about their righteousness. Some fear that pure grace and the certainty of salvation would let people follow their own will. But suppose a father said to his son, "You are my son; you will always be my son." Would he add, "So you can do whatever you like"? No. He would say, "You ought to behave as my son."
- Everyone. The address widens from fathers, young men and babes to every child of God. What John said to the youngest believer, he says to all.
- Abide. It means a surrendered will, distrust of self, dependence in weakness, and fellowship with Christ through His word.
- Against drift. People were already leaving. John's call is to confess Him and stay with Him whatever the pressure.
- Certain. The "if" in some translations raises no doubt at all. Christ will appear; the word points to the reality of that day, not to its date.
- Shared outcome. John says "we," not "you." Commentators differ: the shame may fall on the worker whose labour was lost, or expose a life that was never real. For believers, it touches their labours and reward, not their righteousness.
If ye know that he is righteous, know that every one who practises righteousness is begotten of him.
The closing verse of 1 John 2 sets a plain test: righteousness lived out shows where a person's life came from. Two questions follow: who is the "He" who is righteous, and what righteousness John means.
One writer calls the verse a test, and says plainly what it is not for:
Verse 29 mentions the test of righteousness. It is an acid test. But its purpose is not to question whether their salvation is real, or to make them doubt. The test is there so that they can reject a false profession.
John does not name the person he calls righteous, and readers have long divided over the answer. One commentator says the letter itself leaves the answer open:
"If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him." This righteous practice proves the source of the new life that walks this way. We may ask, who is "He"? Almost every Christian here would say "Christ," and he is quite right. But quite a few answer that "God" is the one called "righteous" here, because being born of Him in the same sentence points to God... But readers have overlooked a very striking feature of this letter: you cannot say for certain whether it means God or Christ. The ground of this is very precious, because Christ is God.
John does not argue from birth forward to behaviour. He argues from behaviour back to birth:
Verse 29 and chapter 3:1-9 present righteousness... John reasons like this: the fruits of life are there, so the life itself must be there too.
God sets the standard for this righteousness, not human opinion. One life on earth displayed it perfectly:
Righteousness is a divine trait, and everyone who practises righteousness is born of God. This is not righteousness of human standard, but what is of God. Law tested man for righteousness, and the verdict on all was, "None is righteous, no, not one." But God has a family on earth. Each one is born of Him and bears His character. We could never show the fruits of righteousness unless we were born of God. Jesus on earth showed righteousness in its perfection, with nothing mixed in. He is Jesus Christ the Righteous.
The word "righteousness" is easy to misread here. One writer explains what it means, and what it does not:
The child will be like Him of whom he is born. Having the same nature, it will bear the same fruits. But we must take great care to grasp what righteousness means. As the apostle Paul teaches, God makes every believer His righteousness in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21)... This gives him a perfect standing before God. John in this scripture does not speak of our standing. He speaks of our life down here — the display of the eternal life we have in Christ. So the righteousness he speaks of is practical.
Righteousness and obedience overlap, yet one writer draws a fine line between them:
Righteousness is always obedient. But in itself it expresses more than submission to God's authority. It also expresses consistency with the relationship we stand in.
Up to this point John has asked where a person walks — in light or in darkness. From here the question shifts:
The light that came into the world in the Person of the Son of God brought into being a people who bear the moral character of God. From this point (chapter 2:29) to the end of the letter it is not so much a question of where a man is, but of what he is. It is not, "Is he in the light?" or, "Is he in the darkness?" but "What is he?" Is he a child of God or a child of the devil? ... The great mark of one born of God, the thing that shows he is born of God, is that he practises righteousness. He is not only in the light, he is the fruit of the light, and he walks according to the light.
- Source. No one produces this righteousness out of himself. Where it shows, the life behind it came from God.
- Nature. To be born of Him is to bear His character. A child is like the one who gave it life.
- Fruit. John reasons from the fruit back to the life — the fruit is showing, so the life must be there.
- Test. The verse is not there to unsettle believers. It exposes a false claim, not the safety of God's children.
- Question. From this verse on, the issue is no longer where a person walks but what he is — a child of God, or not.