Tag Archives: 1 John 2

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2023 Bible Study — If You Walk in the Light, You Will Love Others by Your Actions

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 John 1-5.

The writer tells us that God is light and that there is no darkness within Him.  Therefore, he says, those who walk in darkness do not have fellowship with Him.  Anyone who walks in darkness and claims to have fellowship with God is a liar, separated from the truth.  What does all of that mean?  Those who walk with God, fellowship with their fellow believers in love.  We cannot harbor hate for others while we walk in God’s light.  If we wish to walk with God, we must love others, and not just in words.  Our love must be expressed by our actions.

There is a lot more to this passage, but I cannot write about it without taking away from what I just wrote.  So, I am going to leave you with this.  If you want to walk with God, you need to not hate others, but love them… and if you want to love others, you need to walk with God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2022 Bible Study — Allowing Christ To Purify Us From Sin

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 John 1-5.

John makes several points in this letter, which I want to touch on.  First, he writes that Christ purifies us from all sin.  I think from the context that John means two things by that.  He means that the blood which Christ shed on the Cross covers over the sins which we committed before we came to accept Jesus as our Lord, but he also means that Christ living within us leads us to not sin.  He also writes that anyone who claims to be without sin deceives themselves and does not have the truth within them.  Yet, later he writes that no one who lives in Christ continues to sin.  John also writes that if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with God in Jesus.  So, John appears to be answering those who say, “I am saved by God’s grace, so it is okay if I go on sinning,” and those who say, “Anyone who has truly accepted Christ will never sin again.”  John tells us that we should live our lives without sin, but ever time we fall into sin we can pick ourselves back up and try again to live up to God’s standard.  Every time we sin. we hurt ourselves and often others.  God calls us to love others, so we should strive as a minimum to not hurt them by our sins.  Even where our sins may not directly hurt others, it will hurt them to the degree which they love us and bringing hurt upon ourselves brings hurt to them.  So, let us strive to love others by doing that which makes their lives better and by not hurting them by sinning against them or against ourselves.  But, when we do sin, let us once more turn to God and request again that His Holy Spirit transform us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2021 Bible Study — Love Of God Means Love Of Others

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 John 1-5.

Those who claim to know God must live as Jesus lived, loving those around them and hating no one.  Hate will blind us to the light of God’s love.  John here presents a variation of what Jesus said concerning serving two masters.  Just as we cannot serve God and money, so we cannot love both God and the world.  Love of the world leads us to lust and away from humility.  Love of God leads us to love those around us and away from sin.  I find what John writes about Believers and sin to be both comforting and challenging.  He writes that if we claim to be sinless we are calling God a liar.  When we do sin, God will forgive us ours sins if we are willing to confess them.   However, that does not mean that we can sin with impunity.  John writes that no one who lives in Christ will just keep on sinning and that no one who continues to sin knows Christ.  I find this comforting because I know that I am a sinful man, but that God will forgive me if I confess my sins.  I also find this challenging because there are some sins I struggle to avoid.  For me the key in understanding this dichotomy comes from the connotations of the word “confess”.   In order for our confession of sin to be genuine it must involve an understanding that what we did was wrong, it must involve a regret that we did it…not a regret that we got caught.  If we truly regret doing something we will strive to not do that something again, we will avoid putting ourselves in the situations where we are likely to repeat the action which we regret.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2020 Bible Study Living In the Light of God’s Love

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 John 1-5.

John uses the metaphor of light for goodness and it is really a good metaphor.  In his metaphor, the sun is kind of like God.  Just the sun pushes aside all darkness, so God pushes aside all evil, all sin.  If we live in God’s light, God’s love, we will love all of those who also live in God’s light.  Furthermore, there is no room within God’s light for hate.  In fact, John really focuses his letter on two points. First, he emphasizes the importance of loving one another.  We cannot truly claim to be obedient servants of God if we do not love our fellow believers.  Second, John repeats the point that those who live as children of God will not live in sin.  I have always found John’s way of putting it comforting.  If we do sin, we have Jesus to intercede for us with God.  So, John’s point seems to be that while we may sin after accepting Christ as our Savior, we cannot think, “Oh, that’s OK, God will forgive me,” and just go on sinning.  On the other hand, he also does not want us to despair when we do sin.

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2019 Bible Study — You Cannot Hate Someone and Love God

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. This picture is from a year ago today when those of my siblings who were in the area got together with my Mom in the skilled care unit she had moved into a few months previous.  It was a sad time because we all new she would not be with us much longer, but it was also a time where God showed me that we can serve Him until the very end.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 John 1-5

The writer makes two points which can be considered contradictory, but can be reconciled with a little thought.  Those who have fellowship with God do not continue in sin, but anyone who says that they have not and do not sin is a liar.  The clarifying comment comes when the writer tells us that he wrote this letter so that we would not sin, but if we do sin Jesus Christ will plead our case before God.  In writing this the writer reiterates a theme which comes up again and again in the New Testament.  We should seek the Holy Spirit’s transformation of our lives so that we do not sin again, not count on God’s forgiveness as we commit sin after sin.  If our faith does not give us a desire to no longer sin, it is not really faith. 

Closely tied into that is the fact that our faith will lead us to love others the same way that God does.  If we love God we will love those whom He loves.  We cannot hate someone if we love God. So, if we love God we will not hate anyone.  I think looking at this gives us a clearer understanding about what the writer wrote about sin.  I do not know anyone who hates someone for absolutely no reason. It may not be a good reason, but it is a reason nonetheless.  So, from time to time we will find ourselves developing a hate for someone, perhaps for something that most people would say justifies our hate.  When we realize that we have come to hate someone we have a choice.  We can continue to hate them, continue to sin.  Or we can seek the Holy Spirit’s transformative power and begin to love them instead.  If we do the former, we are choosing to separate ourselves from God.  If we do the latter we are embracing God’s love and following in Christ’s example.

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2018 Bible Study — Sin is contrary to love

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 John 1-5.

John tells us that he wrote this letter so that we will not sin.  However, he also tells us that if we do sin, Jesus will act as our mediator with God and plead our case with Him so that we receive God’s mercy.    Further, John reminds us that each and everyone of us has sinned, and probably will again.   He makes the important point that, even though we will probably sin in the future, those who follow God do not make a practice of sinning.   If we confess our sins to God, He will forgive us, but that does not mean that we can sin with impunity.  As we continue to sin we turn ourselves over the devil as his possessions.  It is only by seeking to live righteously by the power of the Holy Spirit that we become God’s possessions.  <br>

John wrote that the key to living righteously is to love our fellow believers.  It is not enough to say that we love them, our actions must show it.  If we have enough to live well and do not help those who do not, we do not truly love them.  I believe that John makes it clear that providing for the material needs of those unable to do so for themselves is just the starting point of showing our love for others.  John tells us that as we grow in the love which God has given us we will cease to fear.

I want to bring up one final point that John makes in this letter.  God hears us when we ask Him for things that please Him, and will grant those requests.  The more we act in love for those around us, the more our requests of God will please Him and the more we will see His power expressed in this world in answer to our prayers.

 

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2017 Bible Study

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 John 1-5.

    The thing which makes this such a key letter for understanding living a Christian life are the two related, but seemingly contradictory, ideas which it contains regarding sin in our lives. First, John writes that if we claim not to have sinned we are fooling ourselves and calling God a liar. Later, he writes that if we live in Christ we will not sin. Now, the easy way to reconcile these two things is to say that we sinned before we were saved, before we experienced Christ’s saving grace, but once we are saved we will not sin again. However, if that is the case, I know few, if any people, who qualify as saved. It also seems contradictory to things written elsewhere in the New Testament. In addition, that reading seems contrary to what John says when he writes that his purpose in writing was that we do not sin, but if we do, we have an advocate who pleads our case with the Father. So, what do I think John means here? First he is telling us that we will sin. From time to time we will give in to temptation, but when we do God will forgive us if we confess our sins. Important point here: we need to admit that what we did was indeed a sin. Second, he is telling us that even though we know that we will sin we cannot just accept sin as part of our lives. If we are truly living in Christ we will feel pain and shame each time we do sin. We will strive to purge our lives of the desires which lead to sin.

    John offers us instruction on how we can overcome sin. We become susceptible to sin when we love the pleasures of this world. We become ever more able to overcome temptation to sin as we love the things this world offers less and less and desire the things which God offers more and more. This world offers material goods, achievements, and honors. God offers the opportunity to make other people’s lives better, to know that we have done His will. There is another point which John makes which I do not see how to connect to these other points, although I believe that it is connected. John tells us that there is not a singular individual who is The AntiChrist. Rather he tells us that there are, and will be, multiple antichrists. Again and again, people will rise up who will offer salvation in competition with that offered by Christ. Anyone who denies that Jesus is the author of our salvation, or who offers himself as our savior, is an antichrist.