Book Review: Anderson's Maximum Joy and 1 John

Introduction

Anderson's (2016) Maximum Joy is an application of 1 John to one's life — a navigational map of sorts to help one engage with the fact and gift of salvation offered by Christ through the cross. Where Luther and Calvin ran into the stumbling block of how or whether a sinner could still be saved, Anderson attempts to use 1 John to explain what it means to have a relationship and, most importantly, a fellowship with God. This review provides a summary and critique of Anderson's book and shows that Anderson touches upon something quite important in religious studies: God wants His children to enjoy their relationship with Him.

Summary of Maximum Joy

John is often described as the Apostle who loved Jesus most. That love comes through in the first epistle of John, as Anderson (2016) points out (p. 16). The epistle is from one child of God to another: it is heart to heart, and that is where Anderson starts his reflection. 1 John is about love, Anderson notes; it is about intimacy and how intimate we are with God. The major stumbling block to intimacy is selfishness. Anderson gives the example of a husband and wife: the husband wants to feel admired; the wife wants to feel secure. Each wants something from the other and feels unfulfilled if he or she does not receive it. But does either focus more on giving? On being selfless instead of selfish? On living to make the other happy? That question gets to the heart of the matter: God gave Himself so that we would have the opportunity to be happy with Him in Heaven. To take that opportunity requires us to be selfless in the way He was on the cross.

While selflessness might not seem an enjoyable task, Anderson explains that it can be and will be, the closer we move towards God. Anderson (2016) describes Peter being unwilling to have his feet washed by Christ at the Last Supper, and Christ admonishing Peter by saying that unless he allowed himself to be cleansed of sin he could have no part — no intimacy — in God (p. 20). Anderson goes on to make the point that this moment is not about establishing a relationship with His followers. He already has a relationship with them. It is about establishing a fellowship — about establishing intimacy. He is not content merely to have followers. He wants them to love Him. He wants them to love others. He wants love to be the force that binds them together. Peter resisting Christ's act of humility was an act of selfishness — a resistance to love. Resisting love is akin to resisting Christ.

Anderson shows that Christ uses our senses to draw us to Him. We hear first; then we see; then we look more deeply; and then we touch God. The closer we come to God, the more irresistible the force of love becomes. In response, we are motivated to declare His glory and His power not just to ourselves but outwardly to the world. It is the kind of love that motivated St. Francis Xavier to go into the world as a missionary for Christ. St. Francis Xavier did not love God simply because of the promise of Heaven but because God loved him first from the cross. St. Francis Xavier recognized that love and adored Christ as his loving King in return.

Anderson pursues this line of thought throughout each of the book's 22 chapters, concluding each chapter with a list of questions for the reader to ask himself so as to facilitate reflection. In this way, the book is not just an epistle to Anderson's readers but also a manual for deeper meditation and examination of one's own relationship and fellowship with God.

Anderson tackles various issues that prevent one from developing fellowship with God. He discusses the feeling of living in darkness, the cancer of sin, and how it keeps one in a state of selfishness. He discusses pride, vanity, and self-love, all of which act as barriers between oneself and God. He does not dwell only on the obstacles, however. He also gives his readers a sense of how to overcome them — namely by way of prayer, which is quite simply conversation with God (Anderson 2016, p. 101). He observes that without prayer, no one comes to God.

Each chapter is based on a specific passage of John's first epistle, and thus each chapter deals with a select issue addressed by John. For instance, Anderson (2016) extrapolates from 1 John 3:7–10 the roots of sin (Satanic pride) and also the nectar of life (love of God and love of one's fellow man). 1 John 3:7–8 states: "Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." In these two verses Anderson identifies who causes the mischief in our lives that prevents us from loving God — the devil. He also identifies the reason Christ came to us in the first place: to destroy the work of the devil and to offer Himself as our way to Him, which is the greatest gift any man could ever have or ask for.

1 John 3:9–10 continues: "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister." In these two verses, Anderson (2016) identifies what it means to have fellowship with God: it is communion, a life of grace, a desire to avoid sin, a desire to flee from evil because it is displeasing to God and prevents one from being with God. One has to want to be with God to resist evil, and to want to be with God one has to realize the greatness of the gift that is Christ. Unless one realizes that greatness, one will not turn from evil. One will not become God's child. One will, instead, remain a child of darkness.

In darkness is maximum sadness; in God's light is maximum joy, and that is the point of 1 John as well as of Anderson's book. Joy comes not simply from having a relationship with God but more importantly from having fellowship with God (Anderson 2016, p. 287). Anderson concludes his book by noting that John's Gospel is a book with the main theme of relationship and a subtheme of fellowship, while John's first epistle is a letter with the main theme of fellowship and a subtheme of relationship.

Anderson's Approach to Fellowship and Love

Anderson's approach to fellowship is consistently rooted in the distinction between knowledge of God and love of God. Relationship, in his framing, involves proximity and recognition — the way a follower is close to a leader. Fellowship, by contrast, demands genuine intimacy: an active, selfless love directed toward God and toward one's neighbor. This distinction drives the entire argument of the book and shapes how Anderson reads each passage of 1 John.

Anderson also situates his argument within a broader New Testament context. He asks readers to move beyond 1 John and engage with Paul's letter to the Romans, particularly Romans 5:5–10, to reinforce that love is not a theme unique to John but is central to the entire New Covenant. This cross-referencing enriches his thesis and shows that fellowship — understood as love in action — is a consistent demand of the Christian life, not merely a Johannine preoccupation.

Conclusion

All in all, Anderson's Maximum Joy is a good book that describes an important point about man's relationship with God — namely that man needs not just relationship but also fellowship, and fellowship most of all. Anderson makes the claim that fellowship is what matters for one's salvation because fellowship is about love whereas relationship is about knowledge. One is asked to do more than know God and have some proximity to Him the way a follower is close to a leader; one is asked to be intimate with God, to love God — for it is in that act of love that one finds or achieves true salvation.

The stumbling block of sin that affected Luther and Calvin is thus resolved in Anderson's work, where it is shown that man may turn away from God to follow sin from time to time but can always turn back to God if he is able to turn back to love, turn away from selfishness and pride, and once more realize that it is Christ Who loves him more than any other. It is this realization that must motivate the person to move toward love of God and love of neighbor, for it is in this act of love that one becomes a child of God.

Bibliography

Anderson, David R. Maximum Joy: First John — Relationship or Fellowship? Grace Theology Press, 2016.