II John 1:1-6

The elder to the elect lady and her children… (v. 1a) Bible scholars ask whether John was writing this letter to a particular woman or whether the “elect lady” reference was meant to be a greeting to an entire church body. I would argue that John is writing to a particular person. In verse 4 he writes “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth…”. This phrasing seems strange for someone writing to an entire church body – with the writer commenting that only “some” of the members were “walking in the truth”? Wouldn’t we expect all members of a church body to be …walking in the truth? But I find it perfectly appropriate for someone to direct that comment to a personal friend. We commonly ask one another, “How are your children?” And we especially like to hear reports of our friends’ children who have moved away. Our Christmas letters are full of references to our children and grandchildren. John also in the very next verse refers to “dear lady”. So I think the reference is more personal than public.

In this second letter, the apostle John maintains the same two basic commands that he wrote in his first letter – …love one another …<and>… walk according to His commandments (vv. 5b-6a). Simple enough, right…??!!

Slava Bohu!

I John 5:13-21

Just a week ago (12/20) we engaged in an RTB discussion on the “practice of sinning”, specifically that we could not be “born again” if we continued a “practice of sinning”. The sum of it all, knowing the presence of daily sin in every believer’s life, lay in the importance of confession and repentance in the believer’s life. So today John engages in a similar conversation, contrasting sins “not leading to death” and sin “that leads to death” (v. 16). Clearly John had spent time with the recognition of sin in his own personal life, as did his friend Paul who wrote, “For I do not that good which I will; but the evil which I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15) Again my Study Bible lent clarity to the difference between sins “not leading to death” and sin “that leads to death”. They spoke of “unrepentant sin” as that sin that leads to spiritual death. This notion of “unrepentant sin” makes a strong connection to the practice of sinning and sin that leads to death. For both it’s clear that confession and repentance are fundamental in the believer’s life.

John closes this letter with three “We know…” statements in three verses: We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning;… that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one; …<and> that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him. (vv. 18-20) GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!

I John 5:6-12

Occasionally some translations can vary dramatically from others. Both the ESV and the NASB give the first translation below, while the second translation is from the NKJV (I’ve emboldened the differing text):

For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. (vv. 7-8, ESV and NASB)

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. (vv. 7-8, NKJV)

Notes in all three Bibles mention that the NKJV translation comes from later manuscripts, that the words in bold do not appear in the original Greek. Clearly the NKJV is lining up the three witnesses “in heaven” with the three “on earth” – the Father with the water, the Son with the blood, and the Holy Spirit with the Spirit. If you have been following our church sermons lately, especially Michael Matlock’s latest sermon on December 20, you’ll see these two verses from I John in our “three streams, one river” teachings: the Spirit relates to the Pentecostal stream of the church, the water relates to the Evangelical stream, and the blood relates to the Catholic (and Anglican/Lutheran) stream.

The Catholic stream has the longest history, with apostolic succession going all the way back to St. Peter. The Evangelical stream rose with the Reformation (Martin Luther and others) beginning in the early 16^th century. The Pentecostal stream is the newest, rising in the United States (in Kansas) in the early 20^th century. John Sherrill’s book, They Speak with Other Tongues, provides a brief history of this stream. Our being in a “three stream” denomination (ACNA) is a full and complete blessing which we should never take for granted!

Slava Bohu!

I John 5:1-5

Christmas 2020!! Interesting: the word “commandments” appears three times in today’s reading (vv. 2-3) ; likewise, the word “overcome(s)” also appears three times (vv. 4-5). I was wondering if there was a connection, but I don’t see one directly. Naturally if we keep His commandments we will be overcomers. I reflected back to what I posted a few days ago (12/21), about righteousness and love and how they were connected: 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. (v. 3:10) So righteousness and love are connected, but not directly. Likewise, the same with commandments and overcomers…

It’s easy to get confused when John writes about “commandments”. Is he talking about the Law, the Ten Commandments? Or is he talking about Jesus’ “new commandment”, that we love one another (John 13:34-35)? Or is John thinking about that “new commandment” we read about a few days ago – that “new commandment” being an enhanced understanding of who Jesus is and what He did? See my post from 12/17. No doubt, these three reflections on “commandments” are also themselves fully interconnected!

Frankly, verse 2 sums it up best: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. Love God. Obey His commandments. Straightforward. Simple enough. Then why is it so hard??!!

Slava Bohu!

I John 4:12-21

So many well-known verses…!! So today we have 16b, 18a, and 19. Probably the best is verse 19: We love because He first loved us. Verse 19 is “best” because it explains at the most fundamental level – we only know about and feel love at all because God is the source of all love. His essence is love! As verse 16b says, God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. The first three words: “God IS love!”

Slava Bohu!

I John 4:1-11

I can hear Bill Gaither singing, “Greater…, greater…, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” (v. 4b) And another oft-quoted verse: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (v. 10)

My Study Bible reported that beginning with verse 7, for the next 18 verses the word “love” is written 32 times!! (And 43 times in the whole letter.) Maybe there’s a lesson there…??!!

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. (vv. 2-3a) John makes it pretty clear! If you are speaking with Mormons or JWs it’s an easy question to ask: “Is Jesus Christ the Son of God?” Done.

Slava Bohu!

I John 3:16-24

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (vv. 17-18) I think I’ve mentioned before that St. Francis of Assisi is credited with the proverb “Preach the gospel, and if necessary use words.” I think this is what John is saying also in these two verses. These verses also take us back to James’ epistle (James 2:14-17).

… for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. (v. 20) Credit to my Study Bible for opening this verse for me. In their interpretation, essentially we are condemning ourselves for too many little things, what they refer to as “an oversensitive conscience”. But God’s love for us is greater than our self-condemnation; with that we can rest more easily! A nice thought to bless my day!

Slava Bohu!

I John 3:10-15

John has used the word “righteous/righteousness” five times in yesterday’s and today’s readings, plus twice more in the last verse of chapter 2 (the immediate precedent to yesterday’s reading) – so seven times over a span of thirteen verses. Which begs the question, “What does it mean to be righteous?” An online definition says “to be morally right or justifiable”, with synonyms good, virtuous, upright, upstanding, decent, etc. Continuing with the same online page, “The word righteous in the New Testament … means observing divine laws or upright, faultless, innocent, and guiltless.” I think we’re back to where we were yesterday – if you make a “practice of sinning”, you are being unrighteous. Righteousness on the other hand calls for confession, repentance, surrender. So where do we stand? John answers for us in verse 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. Righteousness. Love.

Slava Bohu!

I John 3:1-9

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. (v. 9) We (I) often speak of being “born again”. We make that claim because we have accepted Jesus as our (Lord and) Savior; He has forgiven us our sins and brought us to eternal life. But we cannot be “born again” if we continue a “practice of sinning”. So what does John mean by a “practice of sinning”? We commonly accept that we sin every day, countless times every day. We engage in judgment and condemnation instead of acceptance and forgiveness, pride and arrogance instead of humility and gentleness. We maintain our “self-control”, unwilling to surrender our will over to the One who created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. So have we continued a “practice of sinning”?

I went online to try to get a handle on this. Basically the authors that I read pointed to the ubiquity of sin and our constant need for confession, for true repentance. One author writes:

Pride is among the most obvious, daily habit of sin seen in our lives. It’s where we say, “I don’t need you God, I’ve got this on my own …” With such great daily sin, daily confession is necessary. It is by our daily confession that we demonstrate to the world that we abide in Jesus.

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/practice-sinning/

So it’s probably not wrong for us to claim that we are “born again”. But let’s not get smug about it. I don’t imagine that we’ll lose our salvation, but we could be living life more fully!

Slava Bohu!

I John 2:18-29

I tend to notice Trinitarian verses and references when they appear in the epistles, and I saw that today in John’s writing – but with a bit of a challenge. Consider that the Father and the Son are mentioned together in verses 22, 23, and 24. But where is the Holy Spirit? He is mentioned implicitly with “anointed/anointing” comments in verses 20 and 27 (twice). But then Jesus is mentioned alone in verses 27-29 as “Him/He” pronoun references. So the Trinity is all there, but as bits and pieces, not as “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost”. Just that…

And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. (v. 28) I have sometimes imagined what it might be like when Jesus returns. I’ve always pictured a fully universal return, such that every single person on earth will see His coming. And I have found myself imagining my own awe and reverence at His return, having that full “confidence” that John mentions in this verse. But in all my imaginings I have not thought about those people who will …shrink from Him in shame at His coming. But they are around; they are with us every day; and they will indeed “shrink”, since we know that …at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11, NASB). Yes, GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!