The false prophet teachers were teaching:

• The material world of matter is evil.
• Christ could not come to the earth in human flesh.
• He came in Spirit and only seemed touchable in human flesh.
• Jesus was not the Son of God.
• Since salvation means deliverance from the physical world, including the physical body, it does not matter how a person behaves in their body.
• Since sin is part of the material world, sin does not exist for the Christian.We (false  prophets) are sinless.
• We (false prophets) have special insight from God’s Spirit to see these deeper truths.

 
GREETING
2 JOHN
1 The elder:

• John is believed to be the author who writes all 3 letters from Ephesus.
• This could have been written to a specific church in the Roman Province since that was John’s main area of ministry.

To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not only I, but also all who know the truth--

• John is likely referring to an entire congregation.
• These children believe in Jesus within a specific local church though it is certainly applicable to all believers.
• All who believe in Jesus have an inborn love for all who love the truth of God’s grace.
• John is writing from this indwelling love for other Christians.
• Unbelievers do not have the same natural agape love for truth because they are incompatible with truth until they have received the Gospel.

2 because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever.

• Contrary to the message John speaks to unbelievers (1 John 1:9) John does not hesitate to remind believers that they are in the truth and that the truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, lives in them forever.
• They have believed the Gospel and have been perfectly forgiven and cleansed from all sin.
• Because they have believed in the Gospel, they will forever be one with the grace, mercy, and peace offered by God the Father and Jesus Christ.

3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

• Grace is not a buzzword for popular teaching movements.
• Grace is the entire framework of God.
• Because of God’s grace, there is mercy from God.
• God decides to not condemn us even though we deserve it.
• This grace and mercy lead to a peaceful relationship with the Trinity.
• There is no longer enmity between believers and God.
• God is not ticked off.
• This is a reality regardless of our feelings and emotional experiences.

 
TRUTH AND DECEPTION
4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father.

• Some of the members of the church were having trouble maturing in God’s grace.
• This is what John means by walking in the truth.
• Notice that these people have already received the command from the Father to believe in the Son.
• This commandment is not new.
• It is God’s pleading for us to believe in His goodness and love and transmit this love to others.
• Love is the defining characteristic of Christians.

5 So now I ask you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 This is love: that we walk according to his commands.

• John is not referring to the Old Covenant law but rather the command to believe in Jesus and love one another (1 John 3:23).
• These are the New Covenant laws: Believe and love.
• We receive God’s love for us in Christ and transmit it to others.

This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love.
7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

• As with 1 John and the Gospel of John, the apostle is combatting the Gnostic heresy that Christ did not come in the flesh.
• This matters because God’s love was manifested in the flesh in Christ.
• If Jesus was merely an illusion, then God’s love was not truly manifested.
• Jesus Christ died physically and truly in a human sense so that He could defeat the very death that plagues us.
• If we remove that from the Gospel, then we have no Gospel at all.

This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

• The antichrist is evidently not a singular figure according to John.
• The antichrist is a group of people who are rejecting Christ’s humanity.
• We see this also in 1 John (see 1 John 2:18).

8 Watch yourselves so that you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.

• John is talking about the benefit of knowing God’s love in this life.
• He does not want anyone to fall short of understanding God’s love.

9 Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God.

• There is a difference between being confused about God’s love and being so far from understanding it that one is not truly saved.
• However, John does leave room for people to be so far from the Gospel that they are not saved.
• In the context, this is referring to Gnostics, but John did not want anyone on the fence about Jesus to be deceived into their heresy.

The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.

• True Christians will have an abiding faith in Jesus and consequently will forever be in relationship with the Father and the Son.
• Jesus died and rose again because He wanted us to forever know that He loves us and likes us.

10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and do not greet him; 11 for the one who greets him shares in his evil works.

• John wanted believers to keep a large relational distance from the false teachers.
• This would ensure that they were not deceived by the false teachings.
• John is not talking about distancing ourselves from friends or family members who have rejected Christ.
• He is specifically addressing a group of people who were trying to deceive this church by coming directly to their homes.
• Apparently, there was enough temptation being faced by Christians to warrant this command.[1]
  
  

FAREWELL
12 Though I have many things to write to you, I don’t want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your elect sister send you greetings.[2]

GREETING
3 JOHN
1 The elder:
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2 Dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.

• Could imply that he had been previously ill.

3 For I was very glad when fellow believers came and testified to your fidelity to the truth—how you are walking in truth.

• It is clear that Gaius’ entire life was wrapped up in the truth.
• True living comes from the living truth.

4 I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.

• It is possible that John is the one who shared initial Truth with Gaius and pointed him to salvation in Jesus.
  
  

GAIUS COMMENDED
5 Dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers. 6 They have testified to your love before the church.

• In practical ways, he assisted those who were ministering the Word.
• We have no indication that Gaius himself was a preacher or teacher, but he opened his heart and home to those who were.[3]

You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, 7 since they set out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from pagans. 8 Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be coworkers with the truth.

• Carmel House Man - Ralph Burke – Hockey game
• Ketchup Man – Kevin Andrews
• Panera Guy - William Joyner
• Scott Long – Ravenswood minister
  
  

DIOTREPHES AND DEMETRIUS
9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive our authority. 10 This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering us with malicious words.

• Accusing John of false and empty charges.

And he is not satisfied with that! He not only refuses to welcome fellow believers, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

• The church members who received John’s associates were dismissed from the church!
• Again, it was guilt by association.
• Diotrephes had neither the authority nor the biblical basis for throwing these people out of the church, but he did it.
• Whenever a church has a resident dictator in its membership, there are bound to be problems because people who are spiritually minded will not tolerate that kind of leadership.
• The Holy Spirit is grieved when the members of the body are not permitted to exercise their gifts because one member must have his own way.

11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. 12 Everyone speaks well of Demetrius—even the truth itself. And we also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

• Demetrius was a man worth imitating because he had a “good report” (witness) from the church fellowship.
• All the members knew him, loved him, and thanked God for his consistent life and ministry.
  
  

FAREWELL
13 I have many things to write you, but I don’t want to write to you with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

• John had warned that he was going to visit the church and confront Diotrephes, and no doubt both Gaius and Demetrius would stand with John in opposing the “dictator.”
• They were the kind of men who would support the truth and submit themselves to authentic spiritual authority.
• Because they followed the truth, they could safely be imitated by other believers.[4]

15 Peace to you. The friends send you greetings. Greet the friends by name.[5]

[1] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 2 John.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Vol. 2. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Vol. 2. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

1 JOHN 5
1 Everyone (universal invitation) who believes that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah; the heart of the problem for the false teachers) has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.

• Jesus or other believers?
• This encapsulates John’s arguments thus far.
• John has repeatedly said that all who obey God’s commands (1 John 3:23) are born of God.
• These commands are to believe in Jesus and love fellow Christians.
• Those who believe in Jesus love the Father and consequently love His children.

2 This is how we know that we love God’s children (reality test… reality show): when we love God and obey his commands.

• Not sentimentally but action.

3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,

• Love goes both ways: we obey & His commands are good for us.
• Old Covenant – The Law formed the basis of the relationship between God and man.
•  New Covenant – The law flows out of the relationship between God and man.
• Skittles Illustration
• John’s problem with the false teachers is that they either had no rules (antinomian) or too many rules (legalists).
• Christmas vs Xmas
• The Old Covenant law was burdensome because it could never be kept perfectly.
• But in the New Covenant, God has rigged the system.
• He has made the commandments centered on Christ.
• This does not mean that there is not crossover between the Old and New Covenants.
• The crossover is the nature and character of God, not every specific law.
• Therefore, in the New Covenant, we express the character of God who lives within us as opposed to following external laws.

4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world.

• Human society acting apart/independent from God

This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.

• Overcome=Nikos- Nike – goddess of victory
• Believers are on a specific trajectory that cannot be stopped.
• God will carry our salvation to completion.
• We can fail to experience the beauty of the New Covenant to some degree if we choose to live law-based lives.
• But this does not remove us from the path that we are on.
• Our faith has overcome the world.

 
THE CERTAINTY OF GOD’S TESTIMONY
5 Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes (trusts) that Jesus is the Son of God?

• The Gospel is simple: We need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God to be saved.
• This means we do not need to perform for God for salvation.
• We experience transformation through faith in Jesus.

6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood.

• He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death – The Message)
• There are two views of this.
• John could be speaking of Jesus’ water baptism and his crucifixion.
• However, another view is preferable.
• John is likely speaking of Christ’s physical birth being born of flesh and water.
• This makes sense in light of John arguments against the Gnostic belief that Jesus was only spirit and lacked physicality.
• Jesus was born of both a woman and the Spirit.
• Therefore, Christ is both fully man and fully God at the same time.
• This means that God’s divinity is compatible with our humanity, and our humanity is compatible with his divinity.
• This is why the Gnostic rejection of Christ’s humanity is so problematic.

And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

• John 16:7-15 -Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
• “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.[1]
    1) Reveals the Gospel/Truth
    2) Convicts the world of sin
    3) Leads to Christ
    4) Baptizes into Christ
    5) Forms Christ in us
• I… as your pastor… am not responsible for you!

7 For there are three that testify:, 8 the Spirit (the dove at Jesus’ baptism), the water (the actual immersion), and the blood (the crucifixion) —and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human testimony (the false teachers), God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son.

• Matthew 3:17 - And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”[2]

10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself (the internal Spirit or the Gospel of Truth).

• We often worry about having more faith and needing to somehow keep our faith alive.
• And yet God has poured His testimony into our hearts.
• We know God at the cores of our beings and nothing can interrupt this.

The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed

• Personal indictment on those who are unredeemed – How is one redeemed? Belief

in the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

• God’s testimony is that all who believe have eternal life.
• This means that we can’t lose our salvation.
• We may feel like we lost our salvation, but our salvation is not based on our emotions.
• Our salvation is based on God’s testimony.
• There is no eternal life apart from Christ.
• Salvation is not a ticket to heaven or a thing: Salvation is the Son of God.
• If we have the Person of Christ living within us, then we have salvation.

12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

• John 17:3 - This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.[3]
• One cannot be in fellowship with the Father without personal faith in the Son![4]

13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

• Assurance of salvation
• 1. Believers have eternal life.

14 This is the confidence (boldness or freedom) we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

• John is not talking about naming and claiming in prayer.
• He is not concerned with material items or health and wealth.
• To the contrary, God gives us according to His will.
• God’s will is not an ambiguous concept.
• He desires for us to believe in Jesus and express Jesus.
• Therefore, God’s will is ultimately a person who is our salvation and our eternal life.
• If we ask God for salvation, He will deliver it to us in Christ and come to live within us.

15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

• 2. God hears believer’s prayers
• 3. God answers believer’s prayers
• Psalm 37:4 - Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.[5]

16 If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should ask, and God will give life

• abundant life… not referring to eternal life.

to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t lead to death. There is sin that leads to death.

• John is speaking of the unbelief in Jesus.
• God will not forgive unbelief because salvation is tied to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• Consequently, John states that we are not to pray for people to believe because God will not make someone believe.
• He does not force His union but rather stands at the door and knocks.

I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn’t lead to death.

• 2 Peter 2:1-10 - There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. 3 They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.
• For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment; 5 and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;, 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.[6]
• John could be referring to sins that deal with:
    1) Fellowship with God
    2) Fellowship with other believers
    3) Fellowship with the world

 
CONCLUSION
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God

• 4. Believers are born of God
• All who believe in Jesus are born again.
• Therefore, while believers can still make mistakes they will not be characterized by these sins.
• We are no longer compatible with sin which means we cannot perpetually celebrate and continue in sin.

does not sin, (continue in the practice of sin) but the one who is born of God keeps him, (Christ sustains us) and the evil one does not touch him (cannot condemn). 19 We know that we are of God,

• 5. Believers are of God

and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

• Satan controls the entire world.
• However, he does not hold control over believers.
• All who believe in Jesus have been delivered from the power of the evil one. [7]

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one.

• 6. Believers know the Messiah has come and given us understanding

We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

• 7. Believers know the True One – Either the Father or the Son

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.[8]

• sin… false teachers.

 
Assurance has become a denominational issue
1. John Calvin based assurance on God’s election. He said that we can never be certain in this life.
2. John Wesley based assurance on religious experience. He believed that we have the ability to live above known sin.
3. Roman Catholics and the Church of Christ base assurance on an authoritative Church. The group to which one belongs is the key to assurance.
4.      Most evangelicals base assurance on the promises of the Bible, linked to the fruit of the Spirit in the life of the believer (cf. Gal. 5:22–23).[9]

[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (238). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 5.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (239). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.

Remind them:

• This is a letter to the Church warning them about the teaching of Gnostics.

 
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH AND THE SPIRIT OF ERROR
1 JOHN 4
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

• John is not talking about supernatural spirits here.
• He is talking about human spirits.
• Each human spirit is about something being in Adam or Christ.
• * DO NOT - This is a PRESENT IMPERATIVE with a NEGATIVE PARTICLE, which usually means to stop an act already in process.
• Christians tend to accept:

1) strong personalities
2) logical arguments, or
3) miraculous events as from God.

• John is writing both to combat the false teachers and to encourage the true believers.
• John is encouraging believers to test the intentions and substance of teachers that come into the church, like Gnostics.
• Gnostics denied that Jesus came in the flesh and, therefore, were not of God.
• John calls those who reject Christ’s humanity the antichrist.
• He does this by using several tests:

a. the doctrinal test (belief in Jesus, cf. I John 2:18–25; 4:1–6, 14–16; 5:1, 5)
b. lifestyle test (obedience, cf. I John 2:3–7; 3:1–10, 22–24)
c. the social test (love, cf. I John 2:7-11; 3:11–18; 4:7–12, 16–21; 5:12)[1]

• Through the incarnation, God announces that His divinity is compatible with our humanity.
• Therefore, if a teacher eliminates the humanity of Jesus, they eliminate the possibility of divine compatibility with humanity.
• This would be a distant God, not one who seeks union with His creation.

2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

• The Holy Spirit always magnifies Jesus.
•   1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. [2]

3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

• This is the essential doctrinal test for the false teachers (i.e., Gnostics) whom John was combating in this book.
• Its bare assertion is that Jesus is fully human (i.e., flesh) as well as fully God (1:1–4; II John 7; John 1:14; I Tim. 3:16).
• The PERFECT TENSE affirms that Jesus’ humanity was not temporary but permanent.
• This was not a minor issue. Jesus is truly one with humanity and one with God.[3]

4 You (believers) are from God, little children, and you have conquered (overcome) them,

• John is concerned with the Christian’s victory over sin and the devil.
• He uses this term six times in I John (2:13, 14; 4:4; 5:4, 5), 11 times in the Revelation, and once in the Gospel (cf. 16:33).
• This term for victory was used only once in Luke (11:22) and twice in Paul’s writings (Rom. 3:4; 12:21).

because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

• The term “world” in I John always has negative connotations (i.e., human society organized and functioning apart from God).
• The term “world” is used here in the sense of fallen human society trying to meet all its needs apart from God.
• It refers to fallen humanity’s collective independent spirit!
• An example of this is Cain (3:12).
• John is addressing spiritual warfare in this Gnostic context.
• He affirms that believers have overcome Satan because Christ indwells them, and He is stronger than the Devil.
• Christians, therefore, can only be attacked externally through lies and false teachings like Gnosticism.
• They cannot be afflicted by Satan internally. 

5 They (false prophets) are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

• The Gnostics were not of God.
• This was seen in their rejection of Jesus’ humanity and the reality of sin (1 John 1:9).

6 We (John & disciples) are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

• Believers can recognize true preachers/teachers by both the content of their message and who hears and responds to them.

 
KNOWING GOD THROUGH LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another (lifestyle) because love is from God (not human philanthropy, pity, or emotion), and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

• The term “knows” reflects the Hebrew sense of ongoing, intimate fellowship.
• It is the recurrent theme of I John, used over 77 times.
• All who believe in Jesus have the love of God poured into their hearts (see Romans 5:5).
• Whereas lost people can be loving and have moral and ethical standards, Christians have God's eternal life poured out within them.
• We can love fellow Christians in a way that the world will never love.

8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

• Love is God’s nature.
• Everything He does comes from love.
• This love is manifested fully in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the event in human history when God’s love is revealed fully (Romans 5:8).

9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

• All of God’s benefits come through Jesus. What are the benefits?)
• Forgiveness is only half of the Gospel.
• The other half is life in Him.

10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

• Jesus Christ’s work completely satisfied God.
• He has removed our sins perfectly because His sacrifice is not an atonement covering as was the case with the temple sacrifices of the Old Testament, but a total removal of our sins.
• God is completely satisfied with Christ’s finished work.
• The NT is unique among the world religions.
• Typically, religion is mankind seeking God, but Christianity is God seeking fallen mankind!
• The wonderful truth is not our love for God but His love for us.
• He has sought us through our sin and self, our rebellion and pride.
• The glorious truth of Christianity is that God loves fallen mankind and has initiated and maintained a life-changing contact.[4]

11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.

• False prophets claimed to have a vision from God or of God.
• Being with Believers is as close as we can get.

13 This is how we know that we remain (abide) in him (Jesus/Trinity – 1 of 3) and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit (Trinity – 2 of 3). 14 And we have seen and we testify that the Father (Trinity – 3 of 3) has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God.

• The inclusive term “whoever” is the great invitation of God for anyone and everyone to come to Him.
• God promised redemption to the human race in Gen. 3:15.
•  His call to Abraham was to reach the world (Gen. 12:3; Exod. 19:5).
• Jesus’ death dealt with the sin problem (John 3:16).
•  Everyone can be saved if they respond through faith.
• God’s word to all is “Come” (Isaiah 55).[5]
• Confess - This term implies specific, public,  vocal acknowledgment of one’s affirmation     of and commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.[6]
• If we believe that Jesus came in the flesh and that He was nailed to the cross for our sins, then we are given the right to become children of God.
• This is not a feeling.
• We can feel all types of things, including losing our salvation.
• But these feelings do not reflect reality.

16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 In this, love is made complete (perfected)

• This is from the Greek word telos.
• It implies fullness, maturity, and completion, not sinlessness.[7]

with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,

• boldness before the throne.

because as he is, so also are we in this world.

• Being a child of God is a reality for all Christians.
• We are born of God and have a new nature.
• This means that we can be confident on the day of judgment because we are as righteous as Jesus is righteous.
• We are no less righteous than Christ Himself.
• If Christ is not judged, then neither are we judged.

18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

• What starts in fear, punishment, ends with no fear.
• The perfect love of God in Christ casts out fear because Jesus has removed all of our sins.
• If our sins are completely removed, there is no need to fear condemnation.
• God is set on maturing us into His love so that no lingering fear remains.

19 We love because he first loved us.

• God always takes the initiative.
• We must take the initiative with others… as God did for us.
• This is from the Greek word telos.
• It implies fullness, maturity, and completion, not sinlessness.
• Love indwells Christians because God, who is love, indwells Christians, and has loved us first.
• Love originates from God, and we only love God or one another because God loves us in Christ.
• God initiated a relationship with us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar.

• Conflict is possible, but settled hatred is not.

For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.[8]

• THE LAST VERSE = SUMMARY
• Love is the non-counterfeitable evidence of a true believer.
• Hate is the evidence of a child of the evil one.
• The false teachers were dividing the flock and causing conflict.[9]
• God’s commands are to love Him by believing in the Son and loving fellow Christians (1 John 3:23).

He has rigged the system so that our love for Him is and receiving and transmitting of His love for us.[10]

[1] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (228). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (229). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[4] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (231). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[5] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (232). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[6] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (229). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[7] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (232). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (233). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[10] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 4.

Review 1 John 2:15-29…
      - Believers stood secure against the false teaching of the antichrists because of three sources of strength.
      1) They had the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This provided the capacity to understand spiritual things (v. 20).
      2) They had made a personal commitment to the Christian message (vv. 24–25).
      3) They lived in union with Jesus Christ (v. 28). 
 
- Ayden Fisher – Who is his daddy? Why do you know this? What affirms this? What is Ayden going to be like when he grows up? Do we know fully what his future will be? What two parts do you, as believers, see in Ayden? (Earthsuit & spiritual being). Which one is eternal?
 
1 JOHN 3
1 See (look, pay attention to, concern oneself with, understand, experience) what great love (agape – sacrificial love, fellowship, love feast) the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!

• Not only are we “called children of God” but we are! Claim it! Live it!
• John is writing this letter to affirm the identity of Christians as God’s children.
• All who believe in Jesus are actually, truly, children of God.
• John emphasizes our adoption as God’s children multiple times in this passage because it is such a significant reality.
• We are told to see, in faith, this reality of God’s love that has been so freely given to us. 

The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

• John is talking about behavior.
• People are not purifying themselves in their hearts.
• God has given believers a new heart and nature.
• Instead, John talks about Christians living from their new nature and identity as God’s children.
• Christians have every power to live pure and righteous lives.
• But these righteous lives come not from following rules and regulations but from trusting in the person and character of Jesus Christ.
• Romans 8:23 (NLT) - 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.[1]
• Philippians 3:21 (NLT) - He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.[2]

4 Everyone who commits (practices – NASB) sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

• Unbelievers practice sinful behavior.
• This sinful behavior is total and complete chaos when compared to the peaceful fruit of the Spirit.

5 You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him.

• In contrast to the Old Testament sacrifices which only acted to cover sins, Jesus actually took away all sins by His own death.
• The believer’s sins are completely taken away.
• This means that there is no divine judgment for the believer.
• God will never bring up our sins because He remembers them no more (Hebrews 8:12).
• Therefore, Judgment Day for the Christian is not a reflection on our past sins.

6 Everyone who remains in him does not sin (keep on sinning – NIV); everyone who sins (continues to sin – NIV) has not seen him or known him.

• I John 1:8 - If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.[3]
• The question is not, “Does he sin?” but, “Does he make sin a habit?”

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

• Why is that? It is the new nature of the redeemed.

8 The one who commits sin (practices – NASB) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.

• Even before Genesis 3.

9 Everyone who has been born of God does not (practice – NASB) sin (continue to sin – NIV), because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, (he cannot go on sinning – NIV) because he has been born of God.

• Whereas unbelievers practice sinfulness, believers practice righteousness.
• This does not mean that believers never sin.
• It does, however, mean that they are practicing how to live righteously as opposed to practicing how to sin.
• This is because we have been fundamentally changed at the cores of our beings.
• We have been set free from the old sinful nature and enslaved to the new nature of righteousness (see also Romans 6:18).
• This is what it means that God’s seed remains within His children.
• We are born of God and are no longer of the world.
• Therefore, we are not predisposed towards the ways of the world.
• There is a trend within believers that has been reversed.
• If we are in Christ, we will have trouble sinning.
• Christians are no longer good at sinning.
• When we become Christians, the battle with sin begins because of this reality.
• The fact that a battle exists within us is proof of our new natures.
• Romans 6:6 – For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,[4]
• Ephesians 4:22 - to take off, your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,[5]

10 This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.

• All who are in Christ love Christians.
• This does not mean that we like everyone, but it means that we love and affirm the Christian’s identity in Christ.

 
LOVE IN ACTION
11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

• These are choices they made based upon what they believed.
• At this point, Abel was only credited with righteousness… similar to Abraham in Genesis
• - Abram believed the Lord, and He

 credited it to him as righteousness.

• Love does not do harm to its neighbor.
• Christians love fellow believers at the cores of their beings.
• Therefore, we are to express this love in behavior.

13 Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come![6]

because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.

• Loving Christians is a sign that we have been truly saved.
• Not only are we completely forgiven but we have been given new life.
• This new life manifests in love for fellow believers.
• Whoever does not love Christians abides in spiritual death and needs eternal life in Christ.
• This is the core issue with humanity: People need eternal life, not perfected moral living.

15 Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

• This is an identity issue – identified with sin, Cain, Adam, death, etc.
• John is speaking of those who are inherently murderers, or those who are still enslaved to sin.
• Paul had a history of murdering Christians.
• Likewise, the thief on the cross had a rather difficult past.
•  But both experienced a nature change through the grace of Christ.

16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

• There is no atoning value in this like Christ’s death for us, but it is the supreme proof of who we have become in Christ.
• Christians are to receive the servant love of Jesus and transmit it to fellow believers.
• This does not mean having poor relational boundaries where we never say “No.”
• But it does mean that we have the chance to love one another as Christ loves us.
• If this love is absent, then we have not crossed from death to life.

17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

• Agape love
•       The Message – 17 If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.[7] (ZING)
• Love is to be tangible.
• Love is not simply words but actions.
• This loving action assures our hearts that we are God’s children and are in Christ.
• When we see love coming from us, we can know that we have passed from death to life.
• Our hearts, or consciences, can condemn us even if God does not condemn us.
• This is why John affirms that God is greater than our hearts.
• His realities transcend any negative emotion or flavor of shame that we experience.

19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him

• NIV – 19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:[8]

20 whenever our hearts condemn us (pass judgment); for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God

• The Message – 21 And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God![9]

22 and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

• This is not naming and claiming certain things in life.
• God is answering our prayers based on His New Covenant commands: believe in Jesus and love one another (1 John 3:23).
• He wants us to believe more fully and to love relentlessly.
• He will always help us to grow and mature in our faith in these ways. This is God’s will for us in Christ.

23 Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us. [10]

• If we have believed in Christ, we are one with the Holy Spirit.
• He has poured His love into our hearts (see Romans 5:5) and has therefore made us to keep His commandments perpetually within our new natures.[11]​

[1] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Peterson, Eugene H. 2005. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
[8] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[9] Peterson, Eugene H. 2005. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 3.