“And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
abides forever
All Christians will live forever, so John is not talking about eternal life when he uses the phrase “abides forever.” His point is that those who walk in fellowship with God enjoy doing something that will last forever. We want to be an asset, not a liability, to the cause of Christ in time, for when we do that, it will last forever.
The word “abides” connotes the idea of permanence. The will of God is the one principle of permanence on which the believer can fasten himself. He does not attach himself to something temporal when he does the will of God but to something enduring. He lives for eternal purposes when he does the will of God. There is a lot of mutation in this world, but there is no mutation when we live for God.
PRINCIPLE:
The person who lives in the will of God lives for immutable values.
APPLICATION:
The right kind of love leads to a life of permanent values. Living for eternal values pays eternal dividends. Why not invest in eternal things?
All things are transient, but he who does the will of God builds on eternal foundations. There is no “passing away” for what that believer does.
Christianity cannot accommodate the world because it revolves around an absolute God of permanent values. God cannot change; He is immutable. Man is mutable; therefore, man must orient to the will of God. God will never adapt to our will.
Christians cannot accommodate their faith to the prevailing opinions and practices of men because he lives for an immutable God and His immutable values. We live above the fray, doing the will of God. This world is not our home. We are pilgrims passing through. That is why we do not adjust our standards to the world. We walk like speckled birds against the crowd of accommodation.
2 Co 4:16-18, 16 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Morning! I am studying 1 Jn 2:17,with a couple of guys, and the phrase :the will of God” will be coming up soon in our study.
I need some direction. To this point in Jn’s letter, he has been speaking about fellowship/communion/relationship/IN HIM….the question then: “the will of God”, is it referring to His Moral Will in how we live , (vertically and horizontally) or is there a reference to a more “personal, individual, will of God for one’s life? i.e. employment/ministry/marriage etc. Playing this out, if more individual will of God for me, how then will I know definitively if I am working my job within His Will, doing ministry in His Will, wouldn’t want to bring this up with my wife, but if I married the woman according to His Will for me. How far wrong would I be if I leaned towards GOd’s Moral Will for my life vs. an Individual Will. Or are those items I mentioned, employment/marriage, etc come under His Sovereign Will??
Enjoying your commentary.
Hello Lawrence, good to hear from you. Did you miss the previous study in 2:7c? http://versebyversecommentary.com/1-john/1-john-217c/ There I indicate that the will of God is His generic purpose for our lives, or, as you say, our moral purpose. However, I believe it is more than a moral purpose but a will that is inclusive of our entire being.
Also, I do not believe that God gives a specific, projected will of God to the believer, such as God wants me to marry one woman exclusively as over against another, or go to Africa in 2016. His will is that we marry a Christian and that she is compatible with our personality (which is a choice we make). God gives us the freedom through our free moral agency to make those kinds of decisions. We do not need to pray about marrying an unbeliever for that is clear in 2 Co 6. That is the generic will of God.
The freedom of free agency is limited because God superintends everything about our lives. He may allow us to do certain things and He may not allow other things. But within His sovereignty He gives us freedom.
By the way, God interfaces with our free agency and His sovereignty by the doctrine of concursus, or, the doctrine that God concurs with certain of our choices and does not with other choices.
Yes, I did miss the comments of 2:7c. I am now up to speed. Thanks for the clarity of your response. Reading your answer which included the doctrine of “concursus”…it was like a blast from the past….30+yrs!!!. How soon one can forget.
Grace and Peace to you ….
…..whoever does the will of God “abides” forever.
We don’t usually use the word abide in everyday English except for this phrase – abide by the rules.
Would these words be appropriate?
…..whoever does the will of God stays forever.
…..whoever does the will of God remains forever.
…..whoever does the will of God lasts forever.
You wrote this at the beginning of your comment.
All Christians will live forever, so John is not talking about eternal life when he uses the phrase “abides forever.” His point is that those who walk in fellowship with God enjoy doing something that will last forever.
What other words would you use?
James, the word “abide” in Greek means “remain” carrying the idea of persist.