The World According to Jesus
The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:6
In The Same Manner – Here’s an interesting phrase: kathos ekeinos. Literally, it means “according to the same.” It comes before the verb “walk” in the Greek text. This places the emphasis on the duplication of the way Jesus conducted Himself. Of course, you have probably heard this exhortation dozens of times. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself what it means?
The typical answer to the question, “What would Jesus do?” is based on some moral or ethical presupposition that fits our contemporary religious persuasion. In other words, we are not likely to actually do what Jesus did. We are likely to interpret what Jesus did through our own religious filters and then develop a principle of action. So, we say that Jesus acted with agape love and we apply that principle to our own circumstances. But what if John has something else in mind – something far more pragmatic and definitive? What if John is not pointing us toward ethical principles but rather toward specific, obedient actions?
John is a Jew. By the way, so is Jesus. That means that the word “walk” has a very special significance in the thinking of both John and Jesus. To “walk” is to form a habitual pattern of actions that determine and describe someone’s life. To walk in God’s way, the goal of every observant Jew, is to form a habitual pattern based on the Torah. It is to do, over and over and over, precisely what the Torah prescribes in every circumstance of life so that eventually my reaction and my character are determined and described as godly. Now, here’s the catch. From a Jewish perspective, it isn’t possible for me to derive a general principle of life that will guide me to this conclusion. I am intrinsically and fundamentally confused and belligerent. The only hope I have of walking in this way is to conform my life to God’s revealed truth, not to my own conclusions about God’s truth. This is precisely what Jesus did. He conformed His life, in every respect, to Torah. He walked in God’s way.
Not surprisingly, John recommends that we do the same thing. Does that mean that we have to be puzzled about what Jesus would do in any given circumstance? Does it mean that we need instruction books on contemporary Christian ethics? No! What we need is to bring our lives into compliance with the same set of walking instructions that Jesus used – the Torah! If we are going to walk kathos ekeinos, in the same manner, as Jesus, then we will be as Torah-observant as He was. How could it be any other way? Jesus did not sin. That means He must have been perfectly Torah-observant, right? And if John tells us that we should walk according to the same way as Jesus, how is it that we generally ignore most of what He did to remain sinless? John wrote this verse decades after Jesus’ ascension. Does John imply anywhere that it is no longer necessary to walk like Jesus in observance of Torah? I don’t think so!
Topical Index: Obedience
