Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today’s lesson from the epistle 1 John contains a beautiful integration of faith and works, that larger topic discussed in multiple letters of St. Paul and in St. James’ epistle.

If Paul’s dense discussions tend to prioritize faith and James flatly states that “faith without works is dead,” St. John’s first epistle presents a powerful iteration of both realities under the broader theme of love. (Don’t get me wrong, Paul and James also integrate both subjects; however, they go about it with unique emphases.)

One of John’s concerns, perhaps his great concern, is to emphasize that Jesus is the divine Son of God, through whom we have salvation. One cannot absorb this passage nor this short epistle without confronting this message.

The Spirit, along with the elements of water and blood, together testify that Jesus is God’s Son, and the Spirit is the truth. Together, these three elements also help us remember the sacraments that sign and seal God’s presence to us: the oil of chrismation (confirmation in the West), the water of baptism, and the blood of communion. ‘And these three are in agreement.’

The starting point here for us is to recognize that Jesus is the Christ, and to believe in him. Such a recognition means that we are ‘born of God’ and share an identity as God’s children.

However, that recognition quickly blossoms into a life, a way of being, and John sums up this praxis by this phrase: love God and obey his commandments. This way of life is inspired by our encounter with a real Person.

Our response of love and “keeping the commandments” flows from our experience of God as Father, and from our faith in the Son. Through the Son, John tells us, we have life.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin