| 1 John is a difficult book for most people. Most people are initially biased toward believing 'this is about behavior'; if this is your bias, you might try another one instead...try 'this is about belief and unbelief' or 'this is about the gospel'. | |
| 1 John 2:28-3:10 (New American Standard Bible) | |
| 28Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. | Who is a child of Him? Believers. Will the sins of believers be held against them, or are their sins completely paid for by Jesus Christ? Completely paid. Who can have confidence when He appears? Believers. If a believer feels distant from Him, will they be confident when He appears? No. If a believer consciously knows he 'abides in Him', will he be confident? Yes. |
| 29If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. | Who knows that Christ is righteous? Believers. Can unbelievers do righteous things or is their best just 'filthy rags'? Filthy Rags. So who can do righteous things? Believers. Who is born of Him? Believers. |
| 1 John 3 | |
| 1See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. | Who is a child of God? Believers. Who knows Him? Believers. |
| 2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. | Who is a child of God? Believers. Where will believers see Him? Heaven. Who goes to Heaven? Believers. |
| 3And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. | Who fixes their hope on Him? Believers. Who is pure? Believers? Who are as pure as Him? Believers? |
| 4Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. | In this context, what is 'sin'? The disobedience of unbelief. Is it lawlessness to not believe? Yes. Is it obedience and lawfull to believe? Yes. |
| 5You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. | Who is in Him? Believers. Who has no sin? Believers. |
| 6No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. | In this context, what is 'sin'? The disobedience of unbelief. Can a human not believe (sin) and 'abide in Him'? No. Do beleivers 'abide in Him'? Yes. Do unbelievers 'see Him' or 'know Him'? No. Do believers 'know Him'? Yes. |
| 7Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; | Who is a 'child of God'? Believers. In this context, what are the likeley types of 'deception' this could mean? Could the false teaching be that 'believing in Christ does not make you righteous'? What makes you righteous? Believing. How righteous? As righteous as Him. |
| 8the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. | Who are 'of the devil'? Unbelievers. What sin makes them unbelievers? The disobedience of unbelief. Among his many works, do the works of the devil include inspiring unbelief? Yes. |
| 9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. | Don't ALL believers sin in some form or another? Yes. Do all believers (that is, people 'born of God') believe (that is, not 'sin')? Yes. 'His seed' abides in whom? Believers. If someone is a believer ('born of God'), do they commit the disobedience of unbelief? No. |
| 10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. | Who is 'of God'? Believers. In this context, what does it mean to 'practice rightesousness'? To believe. If people believe, if they 'practice righteousness', are they 'of God'? Yes; they are believers. Is 'love' part of the 'New Creation' package? Yes. Did God poured out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit? Rom 5:5. Whose love compels us? 2 Cor 5:14. Is love included in the fruit of the Spirit? Gal 5:22. Does God make love increase and overflow? 1 Thess 3:12. Who is given sincere love for the brothers? 1 Pet 1:22. |
Saturday, August 7, 2010
1 John 2:28-3:10
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you are right ; they are difficult to understand.. people can easily think them about behaviors, e.g., do not sin, purify yourself, and be rightous - so that you can be loved and a child of God. their tone of voice is pretty strong, serious, and scary..
ReplyDeletebut my question is, why the authors of the bible wrote in this confusing way? they could have been clearer ... so that more people could enjoy living in gospel
i miss my jagi
i've wondered the same thing...
ReplyDeletei think they understood the context better then we do; what appears complicated to us was easier for them.
i also think that the initial misunderstanding is useful for getting the right understanding later on, for really getting the gospel later on.
i'm wondering if this is a good place to say that i heard from a source that the new testament began after Jesus died and rose again. So when i read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John part of the old covenant and not before the new covenant. Could it be that is why it is so difficult for us to misunderstand
ReplyDeletein Hebrews, we are told that no covenant begins without blood. the New Covenant could not begin until Jesus shed His blood.
ReplyDeleteit is unclear where, exactly, we can say it begins. for instance, i would not claim it was the moment He first shed a drop of blood, or the moment He dies, or the moment He was raised or the moment the Spirit came on the disciples... that's really not too important to me.
i would, however, claim that the New Covenant did not begin until after Jesus had shed blood; i feel certain of that.
so, yes, i do not think that most of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John took place under the New Covenant. i find strong Old Covenant tendencies there - particularly in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
John feels about a billion times better to me, though, than Matthew, Mark or Luke; it feels really different. John's gospel was written last, and John had seen many years of false teachers trying to infect the minds of Christians. i believe John wrote in part with the intention of assuring Christians, of helping their faith in the finished work grow stronger.