TRUTH & ERROR - False teachers encouraged believers to remove moral restraints, saying the physical body doesn’t matter. These charlatans also said Jesus wasn’t really a man, and that salvation comes from having some mystical knowledge. The result of these bogus teachings was that people become detached from reality and indifferent to sin.
God is truth and light, so the more time we spend with him daily the better we will know him. That way we will be able to keep our focus on the truth. We must check the message for its validity; test the claims they’re making. Don’t allow yourself to be led astray by any teaching that denies Christ’s deity or humanity.
ASSURANCE - Our God is in complete and total control of both heaven & earth. Because God’s word is absolutely true we can have the assurance that eternal life shall become a reality and that we can be victorious over sin. By faith and trust in God we can be certain of our eternal destiny.
Assurance of our relationship with God is a promise; however, it is also a way of life. Our confidence is built by reading and trusting in God’s Word and in Christ’s permanent solution for our sin.
_______________________________________________________________________
John counters two major threads in the false teachings of the heretics in this 1st letter. They denied the existence of sin. John says that if we continue to sin, we cannot claim to belong to God. If we say we have NO sin then we cannot claim to be a part of God’s family. If we say we have no sin, we only kidding ourselves and refusing to live according to God’s truth.
The false teachers also denied that Jesus was the Messiah - God in the flesh. The apostle John said that if we believe that Jesus was God incarnate and trust him for our salvation, than we are children of God.
JOHN’S WRITING STYLE - One of the distinct features of his writing style was his habit of noting both sides of a conflict. He wrote to show the difference between real Christianity and anything else. Here are some of his favorite contrasts ... Light & darkness - The new commandment & the old commandment - Loving the Father & loving the world - Christ & Antichrist - Truth & lies - Children of God & children of the devil - Eternal life & eternal death - Love & hatred - True prophecy & false prophecy - Love & fear - Having life & NOT having life. You will find these throughout his letter.
Next we will take a quick look at the heresies that the early churches guarded against. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing.
In His Name & for His Glory,
Richard Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
Source: The Life Application Study Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment