Here are a few thoughts on the final chapter of this lovely short letter of 1 John. Like the gospel of John, this letter rewards a fairly quick read with encouragement about life with God. And it also has depths which can be found with more time and attention to what John is saying. So, I encourage you to read it through again as a whole, stopping along the way to think and pray when something grabs your attention.
In this final chapter, John sums up his thoughts about his main themes. He refers to the assurance that everyone has who believes in Jesus, that we have the Spirit of God and participate in God’s victory over the world. He contrasts this with those who are against God and make God out to be a liar. As disciples, “we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true” (v.20).
John refers again to sin, and, perhaps confusingly (see my earlier comments on chapter 3), to Christians’ inability to sin. He refers to the assurance we have that God always hears us when we ask “according to his will”. And he says again that the love of God is to obey his commandments.
These have been John’s themes throughout the letter, and he sums by saying that we know:
- That we are God’s children
- That the Son of God came and gave us understanding of what is true
- That we are living in Jesus, who is the true God and eternal life.
And then he adds a final sentence: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
How is this connected with the rest of the letter? Is this an extra something John thought of as a ‘PS’ after he thought he’d finished? Idols are not mentioned earlier in the letter, so why bring it up now?
I think it’s another summary of what John’s been saying, and is designed to make us think and go back over what he’s said before. An ‘idol’ is not necessarily a statue of another god, or indeed anything physical. It can be anything which becomes the focus of our worship – our attention, or something that our lives revolve around – in place of Jesus.
John’s emphasis has been on a life focussed on Jesus – a life in which sins are forgiven, we live in the good of God, and in which we live out the love of God – and anything which distracts from that is an idol. Let’s keep ourselves from such things.