Category: 1 John

1 John

~ Patricia ~ Leave a comment

The author is never stated, but it is obvious. 🧐

Verse 1:That which was from the beginning….5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 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.

Sound familiar?  Look back to his book: John (Gospel):

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Chapter 1-sets the stage for the rest of John’s letter. The concepts of truth vs. falsehood, light vs. darkness, and rightness vs. self-deception are spoken throughout the book. John was an eyewitness to Jesus (see overview).   The book dives right in with how serious this subject is.

You may notice the phrase “If we proclaim…” these are the rebuttals to the false teaching that is being spoken.

  • If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness,
  • If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
  • If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us.
  • If anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.
  • If anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them

Chapter 2:

21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.

This verse spoke dearly to me:

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.

I know some of you are in catch-up mode, so I will keep this short (ish).  It can be confusing when you read a chapter like this to think that we aren’t measuring up.  I read it at first and thought, “Good Grief! “I am from the devil!!  Such as:

6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.

I am not trying to “free you up,” but reflect on this :

18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

 

“If”- you are under conviction of the Holy Spirit and repent….  Something to reflect on.  Or do you keep sinning?

 I just read chapters 4 and 5, and my head exploded.  Did yours??  If you ever don’t know what to read in 2022- put your bookmark at chapter 4 and just sit quietly and read it.

I would LOVE to just study 1 John verse by verse one day.

 

1 John Overview

~ Patricia ~ 2 Comments

I know it is Christmas night, and you may have some catching up to do tomorrow…but this is a book that stands on its own!  You will love it even if you missed a few books this week. It’s OK!

John.  This is the same John that is the author of:

  • the Gospel John,
  • 1 John,
  • 2 John,
  • 3 John,
  • and Revelation. (I CAN’T WAIT TO READ THIS WITH YOU)

The book of 1 John was likely written between A.D. 85-95.

1 John is a summary that assumes the readers’ knowledge of the gospel. This epistle indicates that the readers were confronted with Gnosticism, which became a more serious problem in the second century.  This led to two false theories concerning the person of Christ:

  • Docetism—Docetism was an early Christian heresy that promoted a false view of Jesus’ humanity. Docetism comes from the Greek dokein, which meant “to seem”; according to Docetism, Jesus Christ only seemed to have a human body like ours. (Basically, he was like a ghost).  Docetism taught that Jesus had a “heavenly” body of some type but not a real, natural body of flesh. Docetism was closely related to Gnosticism, which viewed physical matter as inherently evil and spiritual substance as inherently good.
  • Cerinthianism—making Jesus a dual personality, at times human and at times divine.

Once again, another letter dealing with problems related to false teachers.

Takes take a look at today:

Top 10 religions in the world 2020 - The Lasting Education

This book is written with a loving tone.  Words like Father, Children, My Beloved are used often.  John speaks from the heart because he has seen and experienced a lot!  He listened to:

  • the Olivet Discourse,
  • the Sermon on the Mount,
  • seen miracles,
  • heard parables,
  • was at the Last Supper
  • witnessed the Transfiguration
  • and the Death and Resurrection of Christ.

So he takes it to heart that TRUTH is under attack more so than any other Epistle writer has seen.  The temple has been destroyed, and now teachers are trying to destroy Truth.

This book will teach that Christians should:

  1. Be in fellowship with one another (True relationships with each other)
  2. Be happy and joyful
  3. Be holy (set apart)
  4. Have discernment
  5. Have confidence that they are saved.

#5 is something we all think about from time to time.  Am I really Saved??

  • Did I have a cultural conversion?  (I live in the Bible Belt-doing churchy stuff can be a culture)
  • Did I have a ceremonial conversion? (I took the right “steps,” rituals)
  • Did I have an emotional conversion? (I was wrapped up in the emotion?  Someone gave me a reason to do it?
  • Or am I Different??

How do you know?  This book will give you the confidence to know!  Ask yourself…

  1. Are you obeying God’s Word?  (I know we are not perfect, that is the point of the Word: to show us what sin is) 2:3
  2. Do you believe in the Truth?  Do you believe what the Bible says? 4:2
  3. Are you expecting Jesus to return? 3:3
  4. Are you conforming over time to His standards and not the world’s? 3:24
  5. Do you love? 3:19

I hope you have a Peace and a Hope that you are one of His children after reading this book. ❤️