Spirit Of Truth

1 John 4:5-6 - They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

John 17:14 - I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

John 14:16-17 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Mark 13:5 - Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you.

Conclusions:

• The world is those hostile to God and God’s people
• Those not of the world do not have the mind-set of the world, i.e., hostility to God, for they have been born of the Spirit and are children of God
• In essence and in action the Spirit is characterized by truth
• The Spirit brings people to the truth of God
• All three persons of the Trinity are linked with truth
• The world takes no notice of the Spirit of God
• The Spirit was with Jesus’ disciples and would be in them
• Some believe the indwelling relationship anticipates the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost
• It is clear from such words as “Watch out”, “You must be on your guard”, “So be on your guard”, “Be on guard! Be alert!”, “Therefore keep watch” and “Watch!” that one of the main purposes of the Olivet discourse was to alert the disciples to the danger of deception

Application:

• Are you born of the Spirit and are you a child of God?
• Have you been brought to the truth of God?
• Are you alert to the danger of deception?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Teach

1 John 2:25-27 - And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 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.

John 15:4 - 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.

Matthew 28:19-20 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

1 Corinthians 12:28 - And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

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.

Conclusions:

• Since the Bible constantly advocates teaching, John is not ruling out human teachers
• At the time when John wrote, Gnostic teachers were insisting that the teaching of the apostles was to be supplemented with the higher knowledge that the Gnostics claimed to possess
• What readers were taught under the Spirit’s ministry through the apostles not only was adequate but was the only reliable truth
• The teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit develops the capacity to appreciate God’s truth already revealed—making the Bible meaningful in thought and daily living
• The believer has no fruitfulness apart from his union and fellowship with Christ
• A branch out of contact with the vine is uselsss
• Matthew ends with the reassuring and empowering words of Him who came to earth to be God with us
• The apostles and prophets were part of the foundation of the church, and teaching was associated with the pastoral office
• Any act of helping others may be the product of a spiritual gift, though the primary reference in 1 Corinthians 12:28 is probably to a ministry to the poor, needy, sick and distressed
• Those with gifts of administration were enabled by the Holy Spirit to organize and project plans and spiritual programs in the church
• Word of Christ refers especially to Christ’s teaching, which in the time of the Colossians was transmitted orally
• Some of the most important doctrines were expressed in Christian hymns preserved for us now only in Paul’s letters
• 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

Application:

• Do you appreciate God's truth already revealed?
• Do you have fruitfulness?
• Do you obey everything Jesus commands?
• Do you help others?
• Do you teach and admonish others?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Know My Father Also

1 John 2:21-24 - I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

John 8:19 - Then they asked him, "Where is your father?" "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."

John 14:23 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

John 15:4 - 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.

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.

Conclusions:

• John makes it clear that the Word was with God and was God and reveals God
• Jesus stresses that the Father is known through the Son and that to know the one is to know the other
• Love and obedience are linked
• The believer has no fruitfulness apart from his union and fellowship with Christ
• A branch out of contact with the vine is useless
• “Fellowship with us” is participation with us in our experience of hearing, seeing and touching 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

Application:

• Do you know Christ?
• Do you obey Jesus teaching?
• Do you have union and fellowship with Christ?
• Are you in union with Christ, the Father and fellow believers?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Anointing

1 John 2:19-20,27 - They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth…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.

Jeremiah 31:34 - No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

John 14:26 - But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Acts 2:26-27 - Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

Acts 22:14 - "Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

Conclusions:

• Since the Bible constantly advocates teaching, John is not ruling out human teachers
• At the time when John wrote, Gnostic teachers were insisting that the teaching of the apostles was to be supplemented with the higher knowledge that the Gnostics claimed to posses
• John’s response was that what the readers were taught under the Spirit’s ministry through the apostles not only was adequate but was the only reliable truth
• The teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit does not involve revelation of new truth or the explanation of all difficult passages of Scripture to our satisfaction
• The teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit is the development of the capacity to appreciate and appropriate God’s truth already revealed—making the Bible meaningful in thought and daily living
• “All things” are all things necessary to know for salvation and Christian living
• When the Lord has done His new work, there will no longer be among His people those who are ignorant of Him and His will for human lives
• True knowledge of the Lord will be shared by all—young and old, the peasant and the powerful
• Know the Lord refers to experiencing the Lord, not knowledge of the Lord
• The Holy Spirit is the Counselor’s normal title in the New Testament emphasizing His holiness, rather than His power or greatness
• Both the Father and the Son are involved in the sending of the Holy Spirit
• The Holy Spirit “reminding you of everything I have said to you” is crucial for the life of the church—and for the writing of the New Testament
• It was the resurrected Jesus that had convinced Paul of the truth of the gospel and that became the foundation of his theology

Application:

• Do you have the capacity to appreciate God's truth?
• Have you experienced God?
• Does the Holy Spirit teach you and remind you of all things?
• Do you have an anointing from the Holy One?
• Is seeing the resurrected Jesus important to you?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

A New Command

1 John 2:8 - 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.

John 13:34 - "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Romans 13:12 - The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 - You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

Conclusions:

• In a sense a new command was an old one, but for Christ’s disciples it was new, because it was the mark of their brotherhood, created by Christ’s great love for them
• Our standard is Christ’s love for us
• The night is the present evil age
• “Is nearly over; the day is almost here” is a clear example of the New Testament teaching of the nearness of the end times
• These texts do not mean that the early Christians believed that Jesus would return within a few years.
• The early Christians regarded the death and resurrection of Christ as the crucial events of history that began the last days
• Since the next great event in God’s redemptive plan is the second coming of Jesus Christ, the night, no matter how long chronologically it may last, is nearly over
• The day is the appearing of Jesus Christ, which ushers in the consummation of the kingdom
• In Semitic languages, to be the “son of” a quality meant to be characterized by that quality
• Christians do not simply live in the light; they are characterized by the light

Application:

• Is your standard Christ's love for you?
• Have you put aside the deeds of darkness?
• Are you characterized by light?

All scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

New Command

1 John 2:6-7 - Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 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.

1 Corinthians 10:14 - Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

1 John 3:23 - And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

John 13:34-35 - "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Leviticus 19:18 - " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Conclusions:

• Corinthians Christians had come out of a background of paganism
• Temples for the worship of Apollo, Asclepius, Demeter, Aphrodite and other pagan gods and goddesses were seen daily by the Corinthians as they engaged in the activities of everyday life
• The worship of Aphrodite, with its many sacred prostitutes, was a particularly strong temptation
• God’s command has two parts: (1) Believe in Christ, and (2) love each other
• In a sense a new command was an old one, but for Christ’s disciples it was new, because it was the mark of their brotherhood, created by Christ’s great love for them
• Our standard is Christ’s love for us
• Love is the distinguishing mark of Christ’s followers
• Love your neighbor as yourself is quoted by Christ, Paul and James
• The stricter Pharisees added to this command what they thought it implied: Hate your enemy
• Jesus reaction, “Love your enemies,” was in line with true Old Testament teaching and was more in agreement with the middle-of-the-road Pharisees
• Rabbi Nahmanides caught their sentiments: “One should place no limitations upon the love for neighbor, but instead a person should love to do an abundance of good for his fellow being as he does for himself.”
• Neighbor does not merely mean one who lives nearby, but anyone with whom one comes in contact

Application:

• Do you flee from idolatry?
• Do you believe in Christ? Do you love others?
• Is your standard Christ's love for you?
• Is love one of your distinguishing marks?
• Do you love to do an abundance of good for your fellow being?

All Scripture references taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

God's Love Is Truly Made Complete In Him

1 John 2:5-6 - But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

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

1 John 4:12 - No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

John 17:20-21 - "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Conclusions:

• Love, like faith, cannot be separated from obedience
• Since our love has its source in God’s love, His love reaches full expression when we love fellow Christians
• The God whom no one has ever seen is seen in those who love, because God lives in them
• The unity of believers should have an effect on outsiders, to convince them of the mission of Christ
• Jesus prayer is a rebuke of the groundless and often bitter divisions among believers

Application:

• Do you love Jesus?
• Do you love fellow Christians?
• Are there divisions between other believers and you?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible