After telling his readers that the presence of antichrists in the world indicates that the last hour has arrived, John went on to describe these individuals in terms of their relation to Christ's body -His Church-, His person, and His Father. His description is both chilling and surprising- while many Christians think of antichrist in terms of a particular -end-times- ruler who is an open enemy of Christ and His people, John spoke of numerous individuals who were embraced as brethren by Christ's saints - followers of Jesus who seemed, to some, to have a superior insight into the Messiah.

After reaffirming for his readers who they are in the Messiah, John proceeded to exhort them to live out their new identity faithfully and authentically. They had been given the mind of Christ, and they needed to govern their thinking accordingly. This involved discerning antichrist - not a person as such, but the principle of deception and delusion concerning the Messiah that was already exerting its influence in the Christian community.

Christians are sharers in Jesus' resurrection life and, by His Spirit, are being transformed in His likeness. They are part of God's new creation in the Messiah, and thankfulness is a preeminent quality of this new creation. But this means that Christians must rethink thankfulness, for, set within the human renewal in Christ, it is other than what human beings naturally believe it to be.

John's address in 2-12-14 served to remind his readers of who they were as Christians. This self-understanding was vital if they were to live out their identity as children of light in the present darkness. And so his address laid the foundation for a series of exhortations and warnings that followed, the first of which pertained to their relationship with the world.

This epistle reflects the love and passion of the writer toward his children in the faith. Thus it has him reminding them of who they are as children of God and disciples of Jesus, and then also exhorting them to live out the truth of who they are. The present passage provides just such a reminder, but in the form of a two-fold address to the children, fathers, and youth among John's readers.

Testifying to Jesus involves bringing His light into the darkness of a world that doesn't know Him or recognize Him. This message concludes this three-part excursus by considering the challenges of testifying to the light in contemporary American culture, both religious and secular.

This message considers some of the challenges in testifying to Jesus as the Messiah to Jews who know their Scriptures and have a messianic hope derived from them. The simple reason Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah is that they don't find Him satisfying the scriptural portrait of Messiah and the messianic work. This is partly due to Jewish expectations, but also to the way Christians represent Jesus. Too often, the Christian -Jesus- bears little resemblance to the Messiah revealed in the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament.

John was concerned that his children in the faith -walk in the light,- showing themselves to be -children of light- in truth. In this way, their lives will illumine Jesus, the true light, in a world still submerged in darkness. This three-part excursus takes a practical look at the Christian obligation to be a light-bearer in a dark world, what it entails and the challenges inherent in it.