Insights into 1st John Chapters 1-2 Thank you for your interest in the Scriptures and God's Love for us. In our newsletter, we proceed quickly through the scriptures a book at a time adding the context and historical setting and other significant meanings of the passages. Our desire is to provide a condensed, intense summary of each chapter. Last week we finished up with Acts chapter 14, but Acts it is so long, we thought it would be best to take a break and dive into the three short epistles of John which are amaizing before finishing Acts! We've covered the books of Matthew, Luke, John, Romans, Hebrews, and James. If you missed any of them, send us an email at update@onepathpublishing.com and it will be our pleasure to send them to you via email attachments. Our response time is typically 12 hrs or less. 1st John Overview John the Apostle, beloved by Jesus, desires that we enjoy the same fellowship that he enjoys in God: That God is the God of light, love, and life. Since God is light in order to have fellowship with God we must walk in light and not darkness. As we walk in the light, we need to confess our sins allowing the blood of Christ to continually cleanse us. The two major stumbling blocks hindering this walk will be falling in love with the world and following the lies of false teachers. Since God is love we must walk in love. In fact, Johns says that if we do not love then we do not know God. Love is expressed in actions of giving and not just words. Since God is life, anyone who wishes to fellowship with Him must have Spiritual life which begins with a spiritual rebirth which occurs through faith in Jesus Christ. John tells us why he is writing this epistle: - So that our life with Christ will be filled with joy. A life of joy (quality of the spirit) is in direct relationship with your fellowship with God. Happiness (quality of the flesh) is a variable related to the outward circumstances. (1 John 1:4)
- The second reason is to tell us that we are not to sin any longer (1 John 2:1)
- The third reason is that we know that we have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)
John points to Jesus as our example: - Our example of our relationship with God (1 John 1:7)
- Our example of how to walk with God (1 John 2:6)
- Our example of how to walk in purity (1 John 3:2)
- Our example of righteousness (1 John 3:7)
- Our example to Love one another as Jesus has (1 John 3:23)
- Our example of how our love is made perfect following Christ’s example (1 John 4:17)
False professions that man make: - If we say we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness, we are lying (1 John 1:6)
- If we say we have no sin, then the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8)
- If we say we know Him and don’t keep His commandments (1 John 2:4)
- f we say we abide in Him and don’t walk as He walks (1 John 2:6)
- If we say I love God and hates his brother, we are lying (1 John 4:21)
John tells us how we have assurance of what we know: - We know Him if we keep His commandments (1 John 2:3)
- His love is being perfected in our life (1 John 2:5)
- Because He laid down His life for us (1 John 3:16)
- By our deeds we are of the truth (1 John 3:19)
- By His Spirit that indwells within us (1 John 3:24)
- Every spirit that confesses that Jesus came in the flesh is of God (1 John 4:2)
- If a person will listen to the truth, then He knows God (1 John 4:6)
- If we love one another, His love is perfected within us (1 John 4:12)
- If we keep His commandments (1 John 5:2)
1st John Chapter 1 The Apostle John wrote the Books of John in addition to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd epistles of John. The first few verses of 1st John continue and expound where the first few verses of the book of John started. The first verse in Genesis states “In the beginning God”, and the first verse of the book of John, John the Apostle writes “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He continues to tell us that it was Jesus Christ that was the creator of everything (John 1:3-4) and he equates Jesus to “the Word” and also equates Jesus to “God”; therefore “the Word IS God”. v. 1-4: 1st John 1 starts with this understanding (Jesus = Word = God) and declares “that which was from the beginning”, meaning Jesus who created all things, came into the world so that John and others’ heard, saw, and touched Him, who is the “Word of life”. He’s declaring that God became flesh, and John tells us that he is writing these things so that we may have fellowship with them, with the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ that our joy (quality of the Spirit) may be full and complete. v. 5-10: John tells us that Jesus told them that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with God and we walk in darkness we are lying. John tells us that we will still sin (being human) but we are to continuously confess those sins, and Christ is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (John 1:9). 1st John Chapter 2 v. 1-11: John tells us that he wrote this epistle to let us know that we must live our lives as free from sin as possible and that we never intentionally sin. Our sins separate us from God. God cannot fellowship with anyone who intentionally sins. We must have power over sin through the abiding of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we do sin (and we will on occasion as he states in chapter 1), then we have an advocate Jesus Christ who is at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. John 14 says that the person who keeps God’s commandments is someone who Loves God. If you love God, then you also love your brother and has compassion on your brothers and help them. Anyone who does not love his brother does not have the love of God in Him and lives in darkness. v. 12-17: John addresses Christians in their growing levels of maturity from initially being born from above (little children) to being mature (young men). He addresses little children (your sins are forgiven), to the fathers (you have known Him), and young men (overcome the wicked one as God’s Word abides in them). The secret to overcome the wicked one is to have the Word of God written in our heart (memorize and live the Scriptures). John warns us to NOT love the world because if we do then God’s love is not in us. We cannot serve two masters. We must choose one. The world includes the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. This world will pass away and so will all the things’ that people lust after, but he who does the will of God will go to heaven. v. 18-23: John tells us that there are many Antichrists and by this we know that we are in the last days. The spirit of the antichrist denies that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in the flesh. We know that Jesus is the son of God because we have His Spirit in our hearts. Trying to explain to someone “how we know” is probably quite impossible because they don’t have the spirit in their heart to understand how we could “know”. [John declares one way that we know if the spirit of the Antichrist has infiltrated your church if the pastor doesn’t declare that Jesus, the son of God, came in the flesh. A 2022 study shows that only 37% of all pastors in the U.S. have a biblical worldview but blend Biblical teachings with other worldly views.] v. 24-29: At the beginning of your faith, you were taught that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to save the world and that through your faith in Him and following Him you will have eternal life. John declares that you do not need any man (or pastor) to teach you, but instead be led by the Holy Spirit (1 John 1:27). John tells us that we need to continue in that initial understanding and not fall away from it. The Holy Spirit will teach you all things and will guide you in all righteousness. We cannot learn apart from the Holy Spirit. Since He is righteous then everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Do you Want to Know God More? We Must Read His Word. I would like to suggest that every Christian obtain a copy of The Pure Word New Testament and use it alongside your favorite Bible version to see the original meanings and open your eyes like never before. It is not a translation but a Pure extraction or substitution from Greek into English using the original meaning of each root word as closely as possible as it existed at the time of Jesus Christ and the Apostles Watch the official intro video to see how The Pure Word is an invaluable resource that should be used by every Christian, pastor, and Bible study group. Experience the gospel as they did in the first century, during the time of Christ, the Apostles, and the birth of the Church! Click Here for just a few of the thousands of reviews of The Pure Word. Revealing the Original Depth of Meaning as Written by the Apostles Over 1,900 Years Ago! | 
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