Nov 29 2015

Sin That Leads to Death – 1 John 5

The last chapter of John’s first epistle contains a passage that confuses many. Verses 16-17 state:

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

This inevitably conjures up Matthew 12:31, which speaks of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. But we are assured that God forgives all sin that we repent of (1 John 1:9). John is simply telling us that it does no good to pray for someone who rejects God and rejects repentance.

/Bob’s boy

Bible Reading Schedule for this month
Click links below to read or listen to audio of one of this week’s chapters in Colossians and Luke

1 John 5, 2 John, 3 John, Rev 1, Rev 2

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please visit this site’s menu item “The Author’s Books” for info on the author’s books, website, and Facebook page.

All of my comments in this blog are solely my responsibility. When reading any commentary, you should always refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word.

Nov 24 2015

Walking In the Light – 1 John 1-2

The first chapter of 1 John begins with words for which one can hardly mistake the author, for it sounds a lot like the beginning of John’s gospel.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us…

In chapter 2, John calls Christ “our advocate” in the same way that he is spoken of in Hebrews 7:23-28. In verses 7-11, he also stresses emphasis on the importance the Lord places on brotherly love. The “antichrists” he writes about in this chapter are not some end-times figure. He was speaking about people, some of whom had been believers with them, who had lost their way and were now teaching lies rather than the truth. He makes that plain in verse 26, when he says that he is writing about “those who are trying to deceive you.”

/Bob’s boy

Bible Reading Schedule for this month
Click links below to read or listen to audio of one of this week’s chapters in Colossians and Luke

John 21, 1 John 1, 1 John 2, 1 John 3, 1 John 4

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please visit this site’s menu item “The Author’s Books” for info on the author’s books, website, and Facebook page.

All of my comments in this blog are solely my responsibility. When reading any commentary, you should always refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word.

Jun 15 2014

God is Love – 1 John

There is no convincing evidence that the thee epistles that we call 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John were written by any other person than the apostle John who wrote the fourth gospel. In fact, the literary style and key elements are much too similar to think otherwise, and the early church fathers all agree that it was he who wrote them. It is widely believed that he wrote them after leaving Jerusalem, which is believed to be around 67 A. D., before the Roman destruction.

John is supposed to have written this letter from Ephesus, and it may well have been intended for the church there, as well as some of the same churches that the Book of Revelation was written for – Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The letters could have been written after the 70 A. D. destruction, but are generally considered to have been delivered before 90 A. D.

The writing style and tone of the opening part of this first letter is highly similar to the opening of John’s gospel, and is highly indicative of an eyewitness account, as seen here:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you…”

The theme and message of this epistle includes the character of God (God is love – 1 John 4:8), what it means to have been born again, and “born of God”(1 John 2:29, 1 John 5:1), and most importantly, what God’s love for us means in terms of our daily lives (1 John 3:16, 1 John 5:11).

(This year’s reading plan for Luke, Acts, and 1 and 2 Chronicles averages just 15 verses per day – 5 days per week!)
Schedule for this week

/Bob’s boy

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility. When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.