International Sunday School Lesson January 4, 2026
Hi, I am Donnie Bryson. Welcome to another edition of our treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Today’s lesson is for January 4, 2026. It’s taking from 1 John 1:5-2:6. The epistle is the longest of the Apostle John epistles. They were written late in his life. There were two major heresies John was addressing in this epistle. One was Gnosticism. Gnostics were deluded into thinking they had greater knowledge than those around them. They held in low esteem of the physical universe. Many of them didn’t believe it was important to avoid sinning. They believe salvation was dependent on knowing secret knowledge. They believed if you knew the secret get-out-of-hell codeword you could do whatever you wanted and go to heaven. Docetism was another heresy developing during the time of John. Docetism taught that Jesus only appeared to be in the flesh. It taught that Jesus was actually only a spirit and not a physical person. John doesn’t name these groups by name but points out there errors very specifically.
Step into Spiritual Light
God is light. J Vernon McGhee divides this epistle into three sections by using three definitions of God. God is light. God is love. God is life. I like Dr McGhee’s divisions.
1 John 1:5–7 NIV
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
John starts his gospel out in John 1:4–5 “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Friends, God is light. Light is self-revealing. Light brightens the darkness. Light reveals imperfections. Those are characteristics of God. God brightens our way. God reveals our imperfections. God shows us which way we need to go.
Confess for Cleansing
There are still groups that believe they live above sin. Friends, no, no, no. None if us live above sin. That doesn’t mean we should live anyway we want. It merely means that we drop the ball ever so often.
1 John 1:8–10 NIV
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Thank God that he forgives our sins. Proverbs says in Proverbs 28:13 “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
Christ Our Advocate
The Lord Jesus is our intermediatory, our advocate. This word in Greek is parakeltos which is helper, intermediate, counselor, mediator, or encourager.
1 John 2:1–2 NIV
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The apostle John calls his readers dear children multiple times in the epistle. That may be because of his advanced age when he wrote the epistle. The elder John the beloved is leaving us with this beautiful thought — we have an advocate. Thank God we have an advocate. Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,”
Obey Out of Love
There is a balance in this section of scripture. One point makes it plain that no one is above sin. The other point makes it plain that everyone that is a Christian lives a changed life. Put them together and we know that we are changed but not perfect.
1 John 2:3–6 NIV
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
Paul said in Titus 1:15–16 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”
Concluding Thoughts
A couple of concluding thoughts. First, everyone sins. There is no one perfect in the sense we use the word perfect now. During the time the King James Version of the Bible was translated, the word perfect meant mature. It did not mean without error. When we use the word “perfect” we mean something is flawless. We should be mature but none of us can be flawless. Second, real Christians have a change in their life. We are not working for our salvation. But, an experience with Jesus makes a difference in how we life our lives. Well friends, good Lord willing, I’ll be back with you next weekend.
Leave a Reply