Saturday, June 11, 2011

1 John 5:1-21

Chapter 5:1-5
   The theme of love continues by John speaking on ultimately whoever believes in God is His child and He loves His children. The term "child of God" literally means "has been begotten by God." In verse 2 it talks about how if we are children of God then we need to love all children of God. By doing this act of love it is necessary that we keep His commandments because they are not burdensome for us. Even though no one is able to keep the commandments perfectly He still enables us to try. Verse 5 speaks about "faith that overcomes the world". This isn't just any kind of faith, but faith in Jesus as the Son of God.
Chapter 5:6-12
   There is some dispute about what verse 6 is actually talking about when it says "came by water and blood". The 1st theory is that it refers to baptism and the Lord's Supper (these don't really fit with John's words). The 2nd is that it is symbolic for the water and blood that came from Jesus' side on the cross after He was speared. The 3rd which fits the context of the passage the best is that the water refers to when Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit came down on Him and the blood is when Jesus died on the cross. The second part of verse 6, John is  once again disputing the Gnostic doctrine. They taught that Jesus was born an ordinary man, God "adopted" Him at baptism, and dismissed Him at the cross. So when it says "not with water only" this is what John is referring to. In verse 12 the scripture is written in an either or matter when it comes to salvation. You either have life with Jesus or you don't, there is no neutral ground.
Chapter 5:13-15
    Verse 13 is the main theme of 1 John and what he really wanted the readers to remember. That Christians would have assurance that they are a child of God and with this assurance they would have encouragement and boldness to pray to Him for anything.(14)  There are two main things to remember when we pray; not to  ask in selfish demand and not to ask timidly with no real expectancy that God will answer.
Chapter 5:16-17
   These verse are surrounded by alot of questions as to what John actually was talking about when he says "sin leading to death and sin not leading to death" We are not sure if he was speaking on spiritual or physical death. Within each of those topics there are even more questions but to continue on I am afraid that I will either confuse you more or just bring up unneeded questioning. To the best of my knowledge it would seem that he is speaking on blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by an unbeliever. It would be best if you looked at these verses and thought about them yourselves. (Hebrews 6:4-8;10:26-31  James 5:19-20  Acts 5:1-11  1 Cor 11:30)
Chapter 5:18-21
    These verses are mainly focused on assurance again in the Lord. In verse 18 when it says that "the evil one does not touch him" these doesn't mean that we won't ever be tempted but that Satan can never cause permanent harm to us. (John 10:28) The ending of this epistle is very strange if you just read the words and don't think about it. John closes by saying "guard yourselves from idols." If you really think about it, anything we put in front of God is considered an idol. This isn't just talking about material things but could also be geared toward false teachings and other mental things. By having any form of an idol would be breaking the first commandment and we would be going against what John has spoken about throughout these past five chapters.

* I am so thankful that I have assurance in Him and know that He is always with me. I will start 2 John and 3 John tomorrow.

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