Obey His Commands

1 John 2:3-4 - We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

John 14:15 - "If you love me, you will obey what I command.

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Titus 1:16 - They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

1 John 3:6 - No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

1 John 4:8 - Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Conclusions:

• Love, like faith, cannot be separated from obedience
• Faithful and just is a single concept
• Faithful and just indicates that God’s response toward those who confess their sins will be in accordance with His nature and His gracious commitment to His people
• God is faithful to His promise to forgive
• God will provide the forgiveness that restores the communion with Him that had been interrupted by sin
• The false teachers stood condemned by the test of personal conduct
• Right knowledge is extremely important, because it leads to godliness
• Paul maintained a remarkable balance between doctrine and practice
• John is not asserting sinless perfection, but explaining that the believer’s life is characterized not by sin but by doing what is right
• Only those who are to some degree like Him truly know Him
• In His essential nature and in all His actions, God is loving
• John similarly affirms that God is spirit and light, as well as holy, powerful, faithful, true and just

Application:

• Do you love Jesus?
• Have you confessed your sins?
• Do you claim to know God? Do your actions deny Him?
• Is your life characterized by doing what is right?
• Are you to some degree like Him?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Atoning Sacrifice For Our Sins

1 John 2:2 - He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Conclusions:

• He is the One who turns aside God’s wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours but the world’s
• God’s holiness demands punishment for man’s sin
• God, therefore, out of love, sent His Son to make substitutionary atonement for the believer’s sin
• In this way the Father’s wrath is satisfied; His wrath against the Christian’s sin has been turned away and directed toward Christ
• Forgiveness through Christ’s atoning sacrifice is not limited to one particular group only; it has worldwide application
• Forgiveness must be received by faith
• 1 John 2:2 does not teach universalism, but that God is an impartial God
• God so loved the world is the great truth that motivated God’s plan of salvation
• The world is all people on earth—or perhaps all creation
• Although believers are also called sons of God, Jesus is God’s son in a unique sense
• Lamb of God is an expression found in the Bible only in John 1
• Many suggestions have been made as to the precise meaning of Lamb of God
• Lamb of God seems to be a general reference to sacrifice, not the name for a particular offering
• John was saying that Jesus would be the sacrifice that would atone for the sin of the world

Application:

• Has God's wrath been turned away from you?
• Are you a son of God?
• Has Jesus atoned for your sins?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Darkness

1 John 1:4-8 - We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 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. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

John 8:12 - When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Hebrews 9:14 - How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Proverbs 20:9 - Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?

John 8:44 - You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Conclusions:

• It is also true that God is light
• And as Jesus followers reflect the light that comes from Him, they too are the light of the world
• Darkness is both the darkness of the world and that of Satan
• God is light; but Jesus is also the light from God that lights the way for life—as the pillar of fire lighted the way for the Israelites
• He was the one who offered the sacrifice, and He was the sacrifice itself
• Christ was unblemished in the entirety of His being, not just superficially
• To cleanse our consciences means to remove sin’s defilement from the very core of our being
• No one is without sin—but those whose sins have been forgiven have clean hands and a pure heart
• The Jews relationship to Satan was stated explicitly
• Jesus clearly excluded the idea of the universal fatherhood of God
• The Jews problem was basically spiritual, not intellectual
• Being oriented toward Satan, the Jews were bent on murder and eventually would succeed
• Truth is foreign to Satan and those who are his

Application:

• Do you reflect the light that comes from Jesus?
• Have you removed sin's defilement from the very core of your being?
• Do you have clean hands and a pure heart?
• Do you have spiritual problems?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Fellowship With Us

1 John 1:3 - 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.

1 Corinthians 1:9 - God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

John 15:2,4-5 - He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Colossians 1:18 - And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Conclusions:

• “Fellowship with us” means participation with us in our experience of hearing, seeing and teaching the incarnate Christ
• Fellowship is the spiritual union of the believer with Christ—as described in the figures of the vine and branches and the body and the head—as well as communion with the Father and with fellow believers
• God may be trusted to do what He has promised, namely, to keep believers strong to the end
• “Cuts off” is a reference to judgment
• Pruning produces fruitfulness
• In the New Testament the figure of good fruit represents the product of a godly life or virtues of character
• The believer has no fruitfulness apart from his union and fellowship with Christ
• A branch out of contact with the vine is useless
• Jesus is emphasizing that He is the vine
• A living union with Christ is absolutely necessary; without it there is nothing
• Christ is the beginning of the new creation
• Christ was the first to rise from the dead with a resurrection body
• Elsewhere Paul calls Him the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep
• Others who were raised from the dead were raised only to die again

Application:

• Do you have a spiritual union with Christ?
• Is God keeping you strong to the end?
• Is your life godly or virtuous?
• Do you have fruitfulness?
• Do you have a living union with Christ?
• Is Christ your head?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Word Of Life

1 John 1:1-3 - 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. 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. 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.

John 1:1-2,4 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

John 11:25-26 - Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

John 14:6 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

1 Timothy 3:16 - Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

Conclusions:

• Fellowship is the spiritual union of the believer with Christ—as described in the figures of the vine and branches and the body and the head—as well as communion with the Father and with fellow believers
• The Word was distinct from the Father
• Jesus was God in the fullest sense
• Christ is the light of the world, who holds out wonderful hope for man
• Jesus not only is life but conveys life to the believer so that death will never triumph over Him
• Jesus is the way to God
• Jesus is not one way among many, but the way
• In the early church, Christianity was sometimes called the Way
• The Holy Spirit enabled Jesus to drive out demons and perform miracles
• Most importantly, the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead and thereby vindicated Him, showing that He was indeed the Son of God
• Christ was seen by angels at His resurrection and ascension

Application:

• Are you in spiritual union with Christ?
• Is God's Word meaningful to you?
• Is Christ your hope?
• Does Jesus convey life to you?
• Do you see Jesus as the only way?
• Does Jesus Christ produce piety in you?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Covers Over A Multitude Of Sins

James 5:15-20 - And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8 - Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Conclusion:

• Love forgives again and again

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Elders

James 5:12-14 - Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned. Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Psalm 50:14-15 - Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Psalm 23:5 - You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

1 Timothy 5:17 - The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

Conclusions:

• God is honored with praise in the fulfillment of the vows—and, implicitly, with obedience to His covenant law
• The word of Christ refers especially to Christ’s teaching, which in the time of the Colossians was transmitted orally
• But by implication, the word of Christ includes the Old Testament as well as the New Testament
• Some of the most important doctrines were expressed in Christian hymns preserved for us now only in Paul’s letters
• Psalms refers to the Old Testament psalms, some of which may have been set to music by the church
• Psalm could also describe a song newly composed for Christian worship
• A hymn was a song of praise, especially used in celebration, much like the Old Testament psalms that praised God for all that He is
• A song recounted the acts of God and praised Him for them, much like the Old Testament psalms that thanked God for all that He had done
• The heavenly Shepherd-King receives David at His table as His vassal king and takes him under His protection
• In the ancient Near East, covenants were also included with a meal expressive of the bond of friendship; in the case of vassal treaties or covenants, the vassal was present as the guest of the overlord
• Anointing the head with oil was customary treatment of an honored guest at a banquet
• All elders were to exercise leadership and to teach and preach, and all were to receive honor
• Those who excelled in leadership were to be counted worthy of double honor
• This was especially true of those who labored at teaching and preaching
• Such honor should include financial support

Application:

• Are you obedient to God's law?
• Does the word of Christ dwell in you richly?
• Are you under God's protection?
• Do you honor your elders?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible