A Home Church Ministry
VERSE 9: Hate Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. “Hates”: John’s metaphor of darkness is the foundation used to introduce the supreme unholy attribute of hate in the same way that his metaphor of light is the foundation used to introduce the …
VERSE 9: The Darkness Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. John uses the mechanism of repetition to create, clarify, and consummate meaning in his writings, and we find the metaphor of darkness employed in three sets of repetition: 1st John 1:5-6 (CSB) …
Verse 8: The True Light Shining Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. This commandment was not new because its seed had already been planted in the Old Testament, but because of the …
Verse 7: The Message Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. John’s affectionate address marks a clear transition in the progression of his letter and signals that John is not merely writing …
NET: Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments. 2:4 The one who says “I have come to know God” and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 2:5 But whoever obeys his word, truly …
Verses 5b-6: The Second Test This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. The apostle John loves using repetition to build and clarify his points. So in this way, what we’re calling his second test is really a continuation of the first …
VERSE 5a: The Love of God Perfected But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. This verse contrasts John’s negative exposition (v. 4) of his second proposition (v. 3) with two positive expositions (v. 5a; v. 5b-6). I’ve divided this verse because it properly presents two thoughts: 5a: …
VERSE 4: A Liar Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. This verse begins unfolding the second proposition of John’s first epistle in verse three. John assumes the most fundamental realities of the nature of truth: Truth liberates the …
VERSE 3: The First Test This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands. The proof that someone knows the Word of Life, who was from the beginning, whom John heard, saw, and touched, and who he is now proclaiming in this apostolic epistle is that they keep the commands …
VERSE 2: The Atoning Sacrifice He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. Verses one and two explain God's redemptive plan and function as the crescendo of John's gospel message: Christ's sacrifice on the cross was necessary to restore our lost …
A Dedicated Faith 