Did your parents ever tell you something that you believed, and when you got older, you realized it wasn’t true? Like when your mom told you that if you made an ugly face, it would stick that way? I once heard a dad say to his daughter, “No, sweetie, the ice cream truck plays music…
Read MoreCategory: Bible Study
Lessons and studies from the Bible
That You May Know…
Remember that famous line in the movie Field of Dreams that goes, “If you build it, they will come”? You have no doubt that line was in the movie. However, the line is, “If you build it, he will come.” Or in the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, you just know the Evil…
Read MoreGod’s Rules are Not a Burden
We’ve been talking about John’s use of the three tests he gives his readers — the Doctrinal, Love, and Obedience tests. These are designed to help them evaluate the false teachers who have left the church. Now John rolls all three tests together into one paragraph. And, as usual, he gets right to the point: …
Read MoreLoving Others and Assurance of Salvation
Throughout this letter, John provides three tests by which his people can evaluate the teachers who had left the church. Their doctrine differed greatly from John’s, so the readers wondered who was right. Which teaching was the truth? In 4:13-21, John combines the Doctrinal test (see also 2:18-27 and 4:1-6) and the Love test (…
Read MoreBelieving Rightly and Loving Greatly
“It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” Those words from Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix are as relevant today as they were in John’s day. No one in the early church was choosing between red and blue pills, but they were choosing between the…
Read MorePut Your Love into Action
If someone evaluated your salvation based on the love you show to fellow believers, how would they rate you? Could you point to your love as proof of your relationship with God? In 1 John, the Apostle is giving his readers guidelines for evaluating true teachers from false teachers, and he’s already told them that…
Read MoreWhen Doing Confirms Being
I learned early on that I don’t like rules, at least most rules. I like rules that other people need to keep so they don’t hurt me or my loved ones. Those rules are great. It’s just that I don’t like rules for me. I don’t like the speed limit on most roads. I don’t…
Read MoreLet the Holy Spirit Teach You
Throughout this letter, John repeats three tests designed to help his readers evaluate teachings and teachers, especially helping them evaluate some people who had left the church and were trying to draw the readers to follow them. He’s already mentioned the Moral (2:3-6) and Love (2:7-17) tests, and now he turns his attention to the…
Read MoreLove God, Not the World
When my son played rec league baseball, his league named its teams after professional clubs. He played for the Rays, Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, and a few more. Each year, I bought the baseball cap of his team and wore it to his games. Of course, I’d wear those caps even when I wasn’t at…
Read MoreHow’s Your Love Life?
If you could pick one trait that should characterize a Christian, what would it be? If I asked you to write down one word that would define what a Christian is like, what would you write? As we study John’s first letter, remember that he’s dealing with a crisis of faith in his church. A…
Read More