1. We Know: _________________________________________!

1John 2: ³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.   ⁴The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.   ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love  is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:   ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. NIV

(Titus 1:16; 2Timothy 3:5-7; Ecclesiastes 1:16-17; Proverbs 9:10; John 14:15, 23,24)

2. We Know: _________________________________________________!

1John 2:¹⁸Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. NIV

(2Thessalonians 2:3-12; Matthew 24:3-5; 1John 4:1-3)

3. We Know: _________________________________________________!

1John 4: 7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. NKJV

(1John 4:9-11)

4. We Know: _________________________________________________!

1John 5: ¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. NIV

(John 20:31; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1John 5:20)

Chapter 4

1    Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world – Every spiritual experiences must be tested according to the Word of God (Cf. 1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

7    Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God – “dear friends” is literally, “those who are loved.” “Those who are loved, let us love one another” (agapetoi agapomen).

8    Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love – God is love NOT “Love is God.”

19   We love because he first loved us – “Now remember, we never make ourselves love Christ more by flogging ourselves for not loving him more. We come to love those better whom we love by knowing them better . . . If you want to love Christ more, think more of him, think more of what you have received from him.” (Spurgeon)

Chapter 5

3    This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome – Cf. Matthew 11:28-30

5    Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God – Cf. John 16:33; Revelation 3:21-22

“Look at any Greek lexicon you like, and you will find that the word [faith or believe] does not merely mean to believe, but to trust, to confide in, to commit to, entrust with, and so forth; the very marrow of the meaning of faith is confidence in, reliance upon.” (Spurgeon)

7    For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement – The NKJV reads:

⁷For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. NKJV

See notes on next page:

“Comma Johanneum”

The passage is absent from every known Greek manuscript except eight [all of which date from the Middle Ages], and these contain the passage in what appears to be a translation from a late recension of the Latin Vulgate. Four of the eight manuscripts contain the passage as a variant reading written in the margin as a later addition to the manuscript.( Bruce M. Metzger)

When [the Dutch Christian humanist scholar and contemporary of Luther Desiderius] Erasmus prepared his printed edition of the Greek Testament, he rightly left those words out, but was attacked for this by people who felt that the passage was a valuable proof-text for the doctrine of the Trinity. He replied (rather incautiously) that if he could be shown any Greek manuscript which contained the words, he would include them in his next edition. Unfortunately, a Greek manuscript not more than some twenty years old was produced in which the words appeared: they had been translated into Greek from Latin. Of course, the fact that the only Greek manuscript exhibiting the words belonged to the sixteenth century was in itself an argument against their authenticity, but Erasmus had given his promise, and so in his 1522 edition he included the passage. (History of the Bible in English [F. F. Bruce New York: Oxford University Press, 1978], 141–42)

From Erasmus’s Greek New Testament the passage found its way into the Textus Receptus, the Greek text used by the King James Version translators. That this passage is not part of the inspired text does not affect the biblical doctrine of the Trinity, which does not rest on this spurious insertion. (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1-3 John Copyright © 2007 by John MacArthur)

14   This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us – Cf. John 15:7

16   If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that – Cf. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5); 1Corinthians 11:29-30.

20   We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life – “Everything depends on His deity, and his deity means no less than this, that as the Father who made known to us by Him is the only real God (1Thess 1:9), so also His Son Jesus Christ “is the real God” and eternal life. If the Son is less, if He is not real God even as the Father is real God, then this entire epistle and all that it declares about His blood, expiation, our fellowship with God, etc., are futile.” (Lenski page 542)

21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols – If they are not worshipping the real Jesus of the Bible, they are worshipping idols.

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1. Are You  _________________________________________?

1 John 2: ¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. NIV

(1John 5:10; Ephesians 2:1-2; 2Cointhians 10:3-5; John 3:12; Genesis 4:8-22; Mark 4:18-19; Colossians 3:1-2; Revelation 13:8)

2. Do You Resemble _________________________________________?

1 John 2: ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. NIV

(Genesis 3:6; Romans 8:6)

3. Do You Desire ____________________________________________?

John 2: ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. NIV

(Isaiah 13:11-13; Genesis 13:9-13)

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Chapter 2

2    He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world – “sacrifice” (hilasmos) is the noun form of a word that in the New Testament means “to atone” or “to expiate.”

3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands – Cf. 1Thessalonians 5:16-22.

8    Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining – Cf. John 13:34.

12   I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name – “Dear children” (Teknion) literally means “little born ones” = all Christians.

13   I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father – “Dear children” here is a different word (paidion) and carries the idea of “immature ones”.

15   Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him – “love” is agapaō. The Greek word for “world” is kosmos. It means the ordered world system.

“Worldliness is not so much a matter of activity as of attitude. It is possible for a Christian to stay away from questionable amusements and doubtful places and still love the world, for worldliness is a matter of the heart.”  Warren Wiersbe

16   For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world – Cf. Genesis 3: 6.

18   Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour – Paul wrote about this in 2Thessalonians 2:3-10. The prefix anti means against but it can mean “the opposite of” or “instead of” or “an imitation of.” The Antichrist is the “imitation of Jesus”; the “instead of” Jesus. The word ‘antichrist’ occurs in the Bible only in the letters of John (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3; 2 John 7).

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth – “know” (eidō) knowledge by intuition. “Anointing” (charisma) usually refers to the pouring of olive oil on a person’s head. This word means “to smear on”. Used of gifts of the spirit.

Chapter 3

2    Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is – Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12.

7    Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous – “Dear children” (Teknion) literally means “little born ones” = all Christians.

12   Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous – Cain went out from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 4:1-16; Hebrews 11:4).

15   Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him – Cf. Matthew 5:21-22.

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1. The Right _____________________________________________!

1 John 1: ¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. NIV

2. The Right _________________________________________________!

1John 1: ³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. NIV

3. The Right _________________________________________________!

1John 1^{: 5}This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. NIV

• He was the first to follow Jesus (John 1:35-37);
• He was the closest to Jesus during the Last Supper (John 13:22-25);
• He followed Jesus to his trial (John 18:15);
• He only went to Jesus’ cross and was given a direct command from Jesus to care for Jesus’ mother (John 19:26-27);
• He outran Peter to the empty tomb and was the first apostle to believe in Jesus’ resurrection (John 20:1-8);
• He was the first to recognize that it was Jesus appearing to them in his Galilean visitation (John 21:7).

John wrote his gospel somewhere around 80-85 A.D. These three letters were written in about 90-100 A.D. from the city of Ephesus making them some of the last documents of the N.T. to be written.

The church at Ephesus had been founded about 52 A.D. by Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19-21). The church then flourished and became a strong spiritual community under the ministry of Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila (Acts 18:24-26).

Outline

1. God Is Light (1:5), Chapters 1:1–2:2
2. God Is Love (4:8), Chapters 2:3–4:21
3. God Is Life (5:12), Chapter 5

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Chapter 1

1    That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life – One of three places to speak of the beginning Cf. Gen 1:1; John 1:1-3.

2    The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us – Jesus is Eternal Life!

3    We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ – Fellowship = (koinōnia) partnership, participation, communication, communion, distribution, fellowship.

1. Grounded in the testimony of God’s Word.
2. Mutual, depending on the unity of believers.
3. Renewed daily through the Holy Spirit.
4. Demands adherence to truth.

4 We write this to make our joy complete – Cf. John 15:10-11; 16:24; 17:13; Gal 5:22.

5    This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all – Cf. Job 9: 32-34.

1. God is light;
2. God is love; and
3. God is life.
4. God is Spirit – Gospel of John 4

Cf. Genesis 1:3 ; John 8:12; 1 Timothy 6:16; Matt 17:2

7    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin - Notice, John does not say: If we walk according to the light. He said if we walk “in” the light. Purifies is in the present tense – continual cleansing Cf. (Romans 3:23) (John 13:10).

9          If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness – The word confess (homologeō) literally means “the same thing said.”