1 John 5

Greetings once again,

Our CMS in 1 John concludes today with 1 John 5. One nice bonus of this study is that I learn how many chapters are in each book. Often that is little more than a trivia answer (for I have yet to hear of major doctrines hinging on chapter numbers), but sometimes it is helpful. Thus, a bonus.

1 John 5 has 3 sections according to the ESV pericope sets, but I have combined the second and third by unifying the main verses from each. The outline (the 'E' of abidE) is Everyone born of God overcomes (1-5) and Eternal testimony(6-22).

The memory passage for this chapter is
1 John 5:4-5, 11-13 (ESV)
4For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
11And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

I often (or never) list which part of the memory passage goes with which section. I guess I assume that even a quick study would reveal that information. I'm also working on different resources to accompany this study; printable/editable memory cards, chapter info cards, and visual memory cards, fyi.

The first section of 1 John 5, 'Everyone born of God overcomes' (by the way, I racked my brain trying to figure out a different or better outline phrase, but this is what I landed on. Feel free to share any better ideas), is a very concise and clear test for our hearts. 'Everyone who believes in Jesus has been born of God, loves God, and loves fellow believers. It boils down to loving God and loving others. Being born in Him (by believing Jesus) also gives us the victory in overcoming the world.'

So, this summary could be summarized; 'Believe Jesus, Love God, love people, keep His commandments.'

As I studied this second section (vv6-22), the theme of 'the testimony' kept appearing (the word appears 8 times). Thus I titled it 'Eternal testimony'. Verses 6-10 are about the testimony, and I believe the memory section (11-13) summarize the testimony well.

God's testimony concerning His Son is greater than any other testimony. Jesus came by water and blood, which many see to mean the wholeness of Jesus' Christ-hood during His entire life on earth. A Gnostic heresy of the time was that the Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism and left before He died. John is confirming the testimony that Jesus was Christ before His baptism and through His death (the beginning and ending of His earthly ministry). John adds a third testimony, Holy Spirit, to end the debate. These three testify, and they agree. This testimony is in us if we believe in the Son of God; while those who do not believe make God out to be a liar and thus is without the testimony (and the promise of the testimony).

Verse 11 is about as straight-forward as you can ask for; 'And this is the testimony...' The core of the testimony is the Gospel; God sent Jesus, His Son, so that we could have eternal life. If you have the Son, you have life; if not, then you don't. Then, to drive it home, we can KNOW that we have eternal life if we believe in the name of Jesus Christ. John continues to pound nails into the argument-coffin of the Gnostics (who only 'know' that we can't fully know).

But how does this knowledge play out? Knowing that we are born of Him, His children, believers and followers of Christ, we can come to Him confidently in prayer. And as we know Him more and follow Him more closely we know more (and can follow more) of His will (Paul's prayer in Col 1:9-10). Our prayers are seamlessly transformed to His will, and not only does He hear us, but He delights to move in our lives as we seek Him in His will.

Verses 16-17 have been much-discussed. It does not appear that we know (or should even worry about) what exactly the sin (or sins) leading to death are. Whether it is a sin that leads immediately to death or the sin of grieving the Holy Spirit....honestly I would need to study this more. The bottom line for me (since this follows a section on prayer) is that we need to watch out for each other in the body (Gal 6:1-2). Praying for and confronting sin in the body is a way we love God and love people, as He has commanded.

Those truly born again of God have a new, pure heart that is good. The devil cannot touch the heart of a believer. And while the deceiver dwells on earth, we dwell in the Truth (and He in us); God has revealed Him self so that we can know Him and His Son and by knowing Him we have eternal life. John reminds us to love Him and only Him.

How does this affect my worship?
John's final warning in this letter concerns idolatry. When I first read through this chapter I thought that little phrase seemed out of place. Or maybe just perfunctory. But as I studied it, I see that it really has to do with the direction our lives take toward truth. He is the Truth, His testimony is true, and we have an enemy bent on distorting the truth. If the deceiver can get us focused on anything other than God, even if we don't actively 'worship' it, we settle for something less than God has intended for us; Himself. If we have been born of Him by faith in His Son Jesus Christ, we should remain (abide) in Him and His truth. Spending time abiding in other things leads on the path to idolatry. Beware; the devil will use whatever it takes to draw us from God to....anything else.

How does this affect my discipleship?
I'm struck by how much John uses the term 'beloved'. He really loves and cares for these people. He doesn't just through information and warning at them. He truly wants to help them and save them from doing dumb things. It's very practical and understandable. He really really wants them to get it. His relationship with these people drives his desire for them to live out their born-again-ness. I should take that same approach in my own discipleship. My love for God and my love for the person across the table should be manifest in my willingness to walk with them on their (our) journey of following Jesus.

May you abide in Him, and overcome the world today,

Ethan

1 John 4

Greetings in the grace and peace of our Lord,

The Chapter Memory System continues this week in 1 John 4. As a review (for any new readers....any myself), the Chapter Memory System is basically the product of the way I have been studying the Bible. I take one chapter per week, produce an outline for that chapter (based on the overall outline for the book), pick out memory verses (usually between 3 and 6) that typify each main outline section (and usually contain the key words for that section), and then write a summary of the whole week's study in this blog.
The goal is simple; Hear His Word (Rom 10:17), Hide His Word (Ps 119:11), and Heed His Word (James 1:22). (I study and quote from the ESV unless otherwise noted)

The Outline themes for 1 John 4 (the 'd' in A.B.I.D.E.) are Distinguishing spirits and Discerning God is love.

The memory passage is;

1 John 4:1-2, 7-9 (ESV)
¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

The first section (vv 1-6) focuses on how we are to test, or discern, from where a spirit originates. We are not to just believe every spirit (if they were to speak or reveal themselves) but are to give them a simple test; 'does (or will) that spirit confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?' If not, the spirit is from the antichrist and is false (evil); if so, the spirit is from God (even the Spirit of God). These false spirits (who may reveal themselves through false prophets) will sound like the world and the world will listen. These spirits will most likely make a lot of 'sense' in worldly terms and will appeal to our flesh somehow. But that accents the necessity of testing the spirits to make sure we listen only to God and not to a spirit of error.

John gives us tremendous encouragement in v4; 'we have God in us and are on His side, and He has won the final victory.'

The word 'love' appears 27 in verses 7-21, which makes the theme of this section abundantly (and thankfully) obvious. (writers note; I would have 'loved' to have the outline be 'God is love' or 'Love from God', but neither of those start with the letter 'd'. Just to let you know, in my original study I tried to get around this by using the Spanish phrase 'Dios es amor', which DOES start with 'd'. But alas, if I go down that road, there's no stopping me. So I changed it to the current outline title, 'discerning God is love')

Verses 7 and 8 have been running through my head off and on for probably about 30 years (and I'm not much older than that). The only problem is that it's from a song (calypso, I believe) that directly quotes the King James. So the 'unlearning' of this verse was just as hard as the 're-memorizing'.

'Beloved (fellow Christ-followers), we need to love each other do show that we have been born of God and know God. God showed His love for us first by sending Jesus, the Savior of the world, to satisfy the debt of sin we owed; that we might now live through Him. The way we display His abiding in love in us and His abiding life in us (and us in Him through Holy Spirit) is by loving each other.'

Verse 15 begins a new strain of thought in which the 'love' theme of this section collides with the the 'abide' theme of the whole book. 'If you confess that Jesus is the Son of God, He abides in you and you in Him. We know and believe God's love for us; that whoever abides in His love abides in Him, and He in us. This abiding and love give us confidence, not fear of punishment, for the day when our actions as believers will be weighed by Christ.'

John concludes this chapter with a final thought about loving each other. If someone hypocritically says that they love God but then turn around and hate a brother, he is a liar. For this there is a commandment; love God, love the brothers.

(at the end of my study I typically ask myself a question or two. The default questions are 'How does this affect my worship' and 'How does this affect my discipleship'. But sometimes I am led to ask myself a different question)

How does this affect my heart?
Honestly, with all this talk about love, I have had to guard against getting numb to my heart. Love on paper is safer than love played out. But I am thankful to this text in that it gives me clear instruction and a clear evaluation. Like a good teacher, John packages this issue with clear objectives and a very clear rubric. 'If I claim to be born of God and to follow Christ, is that evident in how I interact with the brotherhood?' My love for and abiding in God (if it is genuine) must show itself in love for others who have been born of Him and are following Him. The question is, do I love others as much as I love myself? The Lord continues to impress on me the need to walk humbly with Him and walk humbly toward others (1 Pet 5:5-6). I think I am reminded that it is equally (or more) important to walk in love with Him and walk in love toward others (the greatest commandments, Matt 22:37-39).

Help me, Lord, to walk in love and humility with You, and teach me how to walk in love and humility with others.

Grace and peace,

Ethan