Living A Pure Life (First John 2:28-29)

Once again John starts a point with "little children", his term of affection for his audience. He's making a point and by addressing them this way, seems to be wanting to really get their attention. He wants to talk about having confidence when Christ appears. Let's look at those two points; Christ coming and us having confidence at that time.

The New King James reads, "when He appears."The Critical Greek Text words it, "if He appears". If instead of when was in the Greek. This indicates John's uncertainty as to when. This confirms Mark's teaching in Mark 13:32. John knows this will happen. He just obviously doesn't know when.

When that appearance does take place we should, have confidence (New King James) or boldness (American Standard and others). We also should not be ashamed. Confidence or boldness comes from the Greek word parresia meaning freedom of speech, the right to speak out as one thinks. This was an important concept in ancient Greece. It was used to talk about their privilege as free citizens which was something they cherished. The point here is that when Christ returns we will be able to stand confidently before God and know we're free to express our position. That's a pretty unbelievable thought for us isn't it? We think of the return of Christ as being something that would leave us speechless. Yet we have the right to feel the way John expresses in this verse.

The word ashamed here comes from a word which means to grow pale or to change color out of shame. Those not prepared to meet God as described in Second Thessalonians 1:7-9 only have this to look forward to. Not much of a choice is it?

At first glance it seems that verse 29 is talking about Christ. Never in scripture however is one ever described of being born or begotten of Christ. It's always God. (First John 3:9, 18 and 4:7) This is telling us that the person who does right is doing it as a child of God; not to become one. If you've read the earlier posts about the Greek verb tenses I'll bet you can guess what tense is used here. It's a present active verb again meaning it's something ongoing; something we continue to do. We must keep on doing good. That should be pretty easy if we know it will result in us having confidence on that final day when so much of the world will be left without a defense.