Alive To God

For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here.

Chapter 4 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

On Denying the Incarnation, 4:1-6 NIV

v. 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.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “4:1-3. To begin with, the Spirit of God must be distinguished from false spirits. … The touchstone … is their attitude toward the incarnate person of Jesus Christ.”

(Life) “4:1-2 … we shouldn’t believe everything we hear just because someone says it is a message inspired by God.” Other tests: 2:19, 3:23-24, 4:6.

(ESV) “Christian faith is not spiritual gullibility. … The unseen spiritual influences … can be ‘tested’ by observing their doctrine and conduct as well as by the gift of spiritual discernment.” (Recovery) “The expressions every spirit and the spirits refer to the spirits of the prophets, which are motivated by the Spirit of truth, and the spirits of the false prophets, which are actuated by the spirit of deception.”

For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here.

What Love Does for Believers, 3:19-23 Bible Knowl Comm NT

v. 19, And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “probably refers back to verses 17-18. By practical acts of love in which the needs of others are met, Christians can have a basic assurance that they are participating experientially in the truth.”

v. 20, for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. (Bible Knowl Comm NT) “If he has been engaged in the kind of practical acts of love which John enjoined, his guilt-ridden heart can be persuaded by realizing that God is well aware of his fundamental commitment to the truth.”

For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here.

What Love Is Bible Knowl Comm NT

v. 16, By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “So far is it from the spirit of murder that its essence lies in giving one’s life for others rather than taking lives. This was exemplified in Jesus Christ.”

(Moody) “3:16-19. A common way of demonstrating affection is assisting the needy materially.”

(Life) “How can we lay down our lives? By serving others with no thought of receiving anything in return.” (ESV) “Jesus’ path to the cross marks the selfless, self-giving way of life to which his followers are called.”

For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here.

The Imperative of Love, 3:10-14 NKJV

v. 10, By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “3:10a. … Because a child of God is sinless at the core of his being, he can never be ‘manifest’ through sin as can a child of the devil. While an unsaved person can display his true nature through sin, a child of God cannot. When a Christan sins, he conceals who he really is rather than making it manifest.” (Bible Knowl Comm NT) “3:10b. Rather than taking verse 10a as introductory to verse 10b, it is better to regard 10a as the conclusion of the previous paragraph.” “ ‘of God’ … a person so described does not find the source of his actions in God. … By joining together the idea of righteousness … with love .. John formed a ridge to a new discussion. … Love is righteousness in action.”

For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here.

Sin and the Child of God, 3:4-9 NKJV

v. 4, Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “(Lit., the first clause in v. 4 is, ‘Everyone who commits wickedness.’) Sin must not be taken lightly.”

(Moody) “Those who make a practice of sin disregard the divine standard and resort to their own measuring stick.” (Life) “A believer who commits a sin repents, confesses, and finds forgiveness.” An unbeliever is not sorry and doesn’t confess and receive forgiveness.

For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here.

Chapter 3 (ESV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

The Children of God, 3:1-3 NKJV (cont. from 2:28)

v. 1, See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) We are to see how great is God’s love because we are called His children. The world doesn’t see us that way. “This kind of perception about others [the world not knowing us] is a distinctively Christian perception.” (Life) “As believers, our self-worth is based on the fact that God loves us and calls us his children.” This “should encourage us to live as Jesus lived.”

Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

The Children of God

 v. 28, (Bible Knowl Comm NT) “now he introduced the new thought of being confident before Christ at His coming. … a word that can signify a bold freedom of speech. …” They could have boldness of speech when they meet the Lord. “How this can be so is the subject of 2:29-4:19.” Not abiding presents the possibility of shame at His coming.

(FSB) “Honor and shame were major cultural motivators in the first century … Graeco-Roman society (compare John 3:23).” (Moody) “A result of retaining the truth and maintaining one’s relationship with the Lord is living righteously. Membership in God’s family can be recognized by family resemblance. … everyone living righteously is born of Him”

Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

 v. 27, As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “They needed to remain … in Him (the pronoun can refer to the anointing) and rely fully on His continuing instruction.”

(Life) “Christ had promised to send the Holy Spirit to teach his followers and to remind them of all that Christ had taught (John 14:26). … To stay true to Christ, we must follow his Word and his Spirit. … John uses this same idea in John 15:5, where he speaks of Christ as the vine and his followers as the branches.”

Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

Let Truth Abide in You (Moody) “2:24-26. To protect their relationship with God, the readers have an objective (v. 24) and subjective (2:27) safeguard.” Objective: to remain “in the truth of the incarnation” and “realize eternal life.” Subjective: “the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”

Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

Deceptions of the Last Hour

v. 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.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “The false teachers who were present were worldly to the core.” John warns the readers to keep alert regarding members of the church, for “Antichrist … would display his traits of hostility toward god’s Christ.”

Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

Do Not Love the World

v. 15, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

(FSB) “2:15-17 In these verses, John exhorts believers to oppose the values of the evil one. He also remind his audience that those who love and obey God have the gift of eternal life.”

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) The world “as an entity hostile to God… is always a seductive influence which Chrisian should continually resist. … The world competes for the love of Christians and one cannot both love it and the Father at the same time.”

(Cultural) “God summoned Israel to love him and be consecrated as holy to him, rather than following the pagan values of the nations around them (Lev 20:23-26; Dt 18:9). Likewise, Jesus’ followers must avoid any values in their cultures that conflict with his interests.” (Life) “2:15-16 Worldliness is also internal because it begins in the heart and is characterized by three attitudes. … When the serpent tempted eve (Genesis 3:6), he tempted her in these areas. Also, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, these were his three areas of attack (see Matthew 4:1-11). … Do your actions reflect the world’s values or God’s values?”

Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

v. 5, But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “…obedience to God’s Word (‘His commands,’) v. 3) results in a rich and full experience of God’s love: God’s love is truly made complete in him. …an obedient believer has a deep full-orbed acquaintance with ‘God’s love.’ ”

(Moody) “perfected” = “matures. … Love for God expresses itself in obeying His commands.”

(Vincent’s II) “Keepeth His word. Note the changed phrase: word for commandments. The word is the revelation regarded as a whole, which includes all the separate commandments or injunctions.” “Is the love of God perfected. … the obedient child of God is characterized, not by any representative trait or quality of his own personality, but merely as the subject of the work of divine love…” “The phrase the love of God … It is not possible to settle the point decisively, but I incline to the view that the fundamental idea of the love of God as expounded by John is the love which God has made known and which answer to His nature. … This interpretation does not exclude man’s love to God. On the contrary, it includes it. The love which God has is revealed as the love of God in the love of His children toward Him, no less than in His manifestations of love to them. The idea of divine love is thus complex. Love, in its very essence, is reciprocal. The perfect ideal requires two parties.” Footnote: “the genitive case, of God, of the Father, represents God as the subject of the emotion.” (Cultural) “obeys his word. To do so had always been a way of showing love for God.”

Chapter 2 (NIV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)

The Test of Knowing Him

v. 3, We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “It seems obvious that a life of fellowship with God in the light ought to lead to knowing Him. … Jesus promised His disciples a special self-disclosure that was predicated on their obeying His commands (John 14:21-23).” This is how readers can know “whether their experience of fellowship with God has led them really to know Him in a personal way.” By obedience.

(Moody) “Obedience is … a fruit evidence, or result of regeneration.”

(Life) “2:3-6 … “True Christian faith results in loving behavior; that is why John says that the way we act can give us assurance that we belong to Christ.”

(Vincent’s II) “We know. Or, perceive. By experience, from day to day; distinguished from we know, expressing absolute immediate knowledge of a fact once for all. Compare 1 John iii. 2.” “That we know. … literally, have come to know.” (Wiersbe) “2:3-5 Jesus taught His disciples what belonging to Him means—to live in Him. … Just as the branch gets its life by remaining in contact with the vine, so believers receive their strength by maintaining fellowship with Christ.”

The Basis of Fellowship with Him (NKJV)

v. 5, This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “As Light, God both exposes man’s sin and condemns it. If anyone walks in darkness, he is hiding from the truth which the Light reveals.”

(Vincent’s II) “God is light. … Not a light, nor the light …” It is “in His very nature.” It “is not a metaphor.”  “In Him is no darkness at all. It is characteristic of John to express the same idea positively and negatively.” Greek: “And darkness there is not in Him, no, not in any way.”

(Moody) “This summary … assesses three false claims in 1:6-2:2.” (Life) “If we want to have a relationship with God, we must put aside our sinful ways of living. To claim that we belong to him but then to go out and live for ourselves is hypocrisy.”

I thought I would change up my morning times by looking up the note sin advance for passages I’ll meditate on, all taken from my various study Bibles and commentaries. On these pages I am adding the notes above the meditation, followed by the meditation itself, so you’ll see both in the blog.

Here is 1 John 1:1-4. Let me know what you think of the idea and layout. By including the notes, we’ll both be on the same page with the meditation, although my own life history will make its way into the story. I expect to follow this format through 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John on Fridays until done.

On this page, at the bottom, are listed all of my sources.