Bible Study 1 John Chapter 5 Identity & Overcoming Power

This is the last chapter of 1 John and John is summarizing the key points.

Qualifications to be Children of God
Whoever believes in Jesus as the Christ (Messiah, 1Jn 5:1), as he Son of God has eternal life (1Jn 5:13). That is all there is. Just believe. So easy. You don't need to be highly educated to understand it. You don't need to do anything good to earn it.  Good acts will come later. It comes by first receiving Jesus who paid the penalty and gave us the new godly life.

Evidence for our Faith
John is not asking us to believe in hearsays but in true evidences of blood, water and Spirit (1Jn 5:6-10). The God in the flesh is testified by John in 1Jn 1:1-3.

How can One be sure?
When we love God by obeying His commandments, we get to know (by reality of experience) Him more and His love for us. John points out that His commandants are not burdensome as others and the devils would like us to believe. James call those commandments the Laws of Liberty. I called them the opened secrets of success in life. See Principles & Insights from the Ten Commandments

A Digression about Laws and the Giver of Laws
There are preachers that tell us to know the author behind the principles rather than the principles themselves which may lead to legalism. Such kind of message is true in one aspect (to love the giver rather than the gifts, the author rather than his/her books) but create distortion in another aspect as if the principles are to be thrown away and not be followed. Such kind of one sided message can be easily exploited to justify sinning (don't follow the laws or principles, follow the author). Not only those messages are misleading, they are shallow and irresponsible. They are emotional charged. They sounded good but really lacked wisdom. How do we truly know the authors without his principles? Aren't the principles a reflection of the character of the author. Let see what Jesus say.

• John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey my commandments.
• John 14:21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
• John 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

We know the author of the principles by obeying the principles. By following, we get to experience that the principles are for our good and we may know His love deeper and His wisdom towards us. We don't follow the principles per se for justification. We follow the principles to experience the love and trustworthiness of God. Are God promises true and trustworthy? Are God true to His words? Does His words really work? We can only tell by following and acting them out in faith.

Don't listen to preacher and messages who preach one-sided messages. Truth is holding extremities in balanced or in tension. God is both love and just. There is justice and truth in love and truth has love in it. Get rid of simplistic A or B narrow minded thinking that forces one to take side, create strife and leads to heresies and cults . Any issue is multi-faceted and we need to adopt a better thinking approach. Learn to appreciate the differences and have discernment.

True Children of God Overcome

Children of God overcome three things:

1. The Devils. Earlier chapter 4 says we have overcome them because of the Holy Spirit in us. 1Jn5:18 says that we are protected by Jesus and devil cannot touch us. We can boldly go out to conquer (Eph 6:15 shoes of gospels, Isa 52:7, Rom 10:15).
2. The World. Instead of being tempted by the world as in 1Jn 2:16, we leads the world in glorify God. We take leading positions in influencing the Arts & Entertainment, Businesses, Churches & Religions, MeDia & News, Education, Family and Government bringing God's Kingdom practices in them.
3. The Sins. Does not keep on sinning 1Jn 5:18.

True Children Get their Requests Answered - A Life of Faith in Action
By obeying God's commandments in practice, we get to know the heart and mind of God and we grow in our confidence in Him. We will also get to think and feel like God and will ask things according to His will and get the answers from Him. (1Jn 5:14-15). Fruit of the Spirit takes time to produce. The answer to the request for patience comes in the form of greater irritations and delays. It is not that God did not answer us immediately but that we fail to perceive His answer!


True Children Love their Brothers & Sisters -  They are their Brothers Keepers
A typical tendency we find in churches are the quickness to gossip about the wrong or bad behaviors of brothers and sisters behind their backs but not having the guts to confront their wrong doings. They did not give them a chance to explain themselves. By their gossiping behind their backs they already pass the judgments. This is not what John tell us to do here. We are to ask God first and get guidance to bring life back to him. (We are the likely agent God uses to give life back). God can give revelation to the person so that he can be awaken and face up to his sin. There is much discussion about what the "death" means. I will just take it physical death. Persistent in sinning without repentance will bring forth physical death see 1 Cor 5:5. It is our responsibility to correct our brother in the right ways but we cannot be responsible for his repentance.

Final Summary of the Greatest Truth for Life
John re-summarized the gospel again. Jesus, the Son of God, the Eternal Life, came to us so that we may know Him and have eternal life too. Jesus is the true God and we need not seek other idols. For the present days, the typical idol is money and it could disguise as career. Watch for the warning of 1 John 2:16.


Questions of Reflections & Applications

1. What do the believers overcome?
2. What does each overcoming mean?
3. What difference does it make to your life? How can you reap the benefits?
4. Give a one line statement of the Good News according to John. 
5. What are you going to do about the knowledge of the Good News?

See also Bible Study 1John 5 Identity & Overcoming Discussion

Bible Study 1 John Chapter 4 Discernment & True Love

Discernment first then Love (4:1-6)
A major part of this chapter talks specifically about true love (vs our common love that is self-centered and performance based). However, it begins with discernment first. It is telling us that we need to discern first before we blindly love. In the world of increasing complexity and exploitation of good heartedness, where robberies use people in distress to lure and rob kind people  who come to help, we need discernment.

When people are fed up with hypocrisy and seek a true spiritual experience, they are likely and easily be deceived by the evil spirits disguised as angels of light. John tells us how to discern the spirit - whether it is from God or from the anti-Christ. Here is the list:

1. confession of Jesus Christ as Son of God and existed as a man (come in the flesh) v2. (v14 shows John testifying the real man Jesus that is from God as in Chapter 1).
2. worldly and Godless mindset  v3 (they speak from the world).
3. following the Bible or not v6. (listen to us).

Christians tend to focus too much on the coming anti-Christ rather than anti-Christs, the false prophets, now. John is very clear about the anti-Christs existence all through the times. v3 says they are now in the world already!

The spirits work through man and hence we must discern the spirit behind the man. This was made obvious in Jesus' rebuke of Satan that was behind's Peter's words (Mat 16:23).  

We may have to fight the evil spirits behind the person. John assured us in 4:4 that the Holy Spirit within us is greater than the evil spirit outside. We can love a person but not his/her life styles, thoughts or definitely not the evil spirits instigating him/her. Be wise and discerning so that we don't unknowingly become the instruments or victims of the evil spirits behind the people. We cannot be more loving than God. God hates evil. We are in a spiritual battle (Eph 6:12) not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces. Wise up!

True Love

1. It is from God and we love with and as God's love v7. God is love v8.
2. God's love is planted in us through Jesus v9
3. It is pro-active. It initiates. It loves first. It is not a respond or reaction to love. v10,19
4. Love is unconditional. It is not based on your performance or the value you provide. God loves us while we were yet sinners. Our good behavior is good for us. Our sinful behavior is bad for us. Our behavior does not cause God to love us more or less but does cause us to be joyful and free or not.
5. Love brings love. We love with God's love v11
6. Love is action in the tangible and visible world of one another human beings. v12,21
   Anyone who hates his brother cannot say he has love. Loving our living people reflects our love for God v20.
7. As we love in practice, we get to know and experience love more and our love grows towards perfection v12.
8. Assurance of His Spirit in us is through our love. Love is abiding in God. v 13
9. God set the example by giving His only Son to the world to pay for our sins v9-10.
10. We CAN LOVE because (there is no excuse for us)
• We are of God (of LOVE) v15,16
• We believe the Love of God for us. v16
• As He is so are we in this world v17.
• LOVE has no fear. Perfect love cast out fear. We can boldly love. v18
• God loves us first then we may in turn love others v19.

Discern the right spirit and love the person in the right way. Love is truth. Love is other-centered. Love has no fear ( It has decided on the price to pay).

Questions for Reflection

1. How do you discern the spirit of God or spirit of Anti-Christ?
2. What are the attributes of True-Love?
3. What is not true-love?

Questions for Application

1. From the above list, what specific actions do you need to take in building a harmonious relationships? Who-What-When-How-Where. Why is answered - because you are love. Love wisely and rightly.

(Please be careful about how you love. You should not impose your own standard on others and insisting on people doing exactly as you like. There are culture, personality differences. May be your 'love' is too imposing and a loving act to do is to give space. Love wisely - according to the loved culture and preferences in the context of truth and Godliness).

See also Bible Study 1 John 4 Discernment & Love Discussion

Next: Bible Study 1 John Chapter 5 Identity & Overcoming Power

Bible Study 1 John Chapter 3 Believers Behave Like Their Father

Believers are Children of God
1John 3 begins with a declaration that we are children of God v1. We are like Him in appearance (as glorious as Him when he comes) and we should naturally behaves like Him.

The Behavior of Him
There are two aspects of His behavior pointed out in this chapter. Namely,

1. Purity - Righteousness - Sin free and hence Sin NOT (v3-10). Sinning is of the devil (v8) and righteousness is of the God(4,6,9). Our outward behavior is the result of our inward character. He who is born of God will not enjoy and stayed in sin. Sin should be unnatural to him.
   
2. Love one another in deeds & truth (v11-24)
• Jesus set the example by laying down His life for us. We are to do likewise 3:16
• Love not just in words but in action (v18)- 2 types of action:
• Giving to those in Needs (3:17) according to our ability.
• Correcting those in sin (5:16)
• Love is in Truth (v19) according to the Word of God. 
• put on the breastplate of righteousness Eph 6:14. Eph 4:24 ...to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
• Let the Word of God rules our hearts that we ask according to His will and receive the result from Him (3:22). God cannot give us things that violate His character and His words. We cannot force God. We follow Him.

The Greatest Commandment of God for Man- Believe Jesus and Love like Him
This topic is so important that I put it into a new paragraph. We are supposed to follow God's will. What is God's greatest desire and commandment for us? It is to believe His Son Jesus Christ and love one another (1 Jn 3:23). Our believe in Jesus is shown in our following all His commandments and thereby abiding in Him or more specifically in His LOVE (v24). We love as and with His love for us. The following chapter goes into a detailed discussion of the True Love of Jesus. This commandment is the upgraded version of OT love God and love others as yourself. To put it in internet term:

Commandment 1.0 - Love God and love others like yourself.
Commandment 2.0 - Believe in Jesus Christ and love others like Him with His love.

Jesus does not ask us to do things without giving us the power to do. He rebirth us with His Spirit and give Himself to us that we may be like Him by living out the Christ in us.

Questions for Reflection:

1. In what ways are we like our Father?
2. How can you tell you are of your Father?
3. What is the greatest commandment for man now?

Questions for Application:

1. How do we love one another?
2. List down some specific actions you need to take in the coming week for any member or your family, friends or even your enemy.

See also Bible Study 1 John 3 Discussion
Next: Bible Study 1 John Chapter 4 Discernment & True Love.

Bible Study 1 John Chapter 2 The Stages of Spiritual Growth

Stages of Growth
John tells clearly that there are three main stages of spiritual growth - little children, young men, and fathers. The implications of the stages of growth are:

1. Different levels of maturity - Not all believers are at the same level. Don't treat everyone the same way.
2. All start from the beginning stage. There is no shortcut or skipping step.
3. We can be stuck at a stage, or even regress to a lower stage.
4. Growth is a process that takes time and practice, to move from one stage to higher stages.

Stage 1 Little Children

1. Forgiven & righteous & holy. If we sin, we don't hide it but come boldly to God because we have Jesus who paid for our sins and is our advocate. We are forgiven not because we are great but because God is love. We don't earn or could even work for our salvation. Rebirth is by the grace of God only. (1John 2:1-2, 12)
2. Abide in Him - Know Him through Obedience. A key part of this stage is to know Christ through listening to Him and obeying Him - keeping His words. Obedience is the way to growth - the process of perfecting us to be like Christ. His Words for us are simple - love and hate not (2:9-11), stay and walk in righteousness (2:6, 2:29), and truth (2:4).
3. Know the Father (2:13). We know the Father through Jesus. The Father sent His Son Jesus for us. Knowing and experiencing the Father's love and presence is the ultimate aim of life. Jesus came to bring us back to the Father. Let the love of our Father so comfort us that we forgive and let go of all bitterness and simply cling on and enjoy His love. The Father's love brings deliverance, peace and joy, and overflowing love to others. Children must grow up in an environment of love so that they can be secure and become strong young men. Focus on the Father alone and not on any other (1 John 5:21).

 Stage 2 Young Men

1. Overcomer - Overcame the evil one. We are overcomers through abiding in the Word of God (2:14) and not through our physical or mental strength. The Word of God is internalized in us through our obedience in stage 1. 
2. Love the Father and NOT the World (2:15-17) 
• The world has 3 temptations for us to distract us from loving our Father.
1. Desires of the Flesh - There is nothing wrong with having pleasures of life. Our Father wants to give us that. But we are tempted to have pleasures outside the boundaries of God and go on to the extremes and be held in bondage rather than the promised satisfaction. e.g. sexual, drug, gambling addictions, etc. The senses of our flesh are the doors opened to temptations from the world and devils.
2. Desires of the Eyes - We see and we want them no matter what. We put our faith in things that are seen (and temporary 2:17) instead of unseen things that are spiritual and of eternal value. 
3. Pride in possessions and of Life - We put our value and esteem on what we get and possess. We seek glory and power from the abundance of things we own, specifically money. We are distracted from putting trust in God and we want to be our own God. Of course, we can never be God. It is only the devil's lie to us since the time of Eve.
3. Do the Will of God - Abide in God (2:17,24)
4. Have Knowledge & Discernment
• Know the enemy - the anti-Christ (2:18-23) and deceivers(2:26). There are many anti-Christs, not just one, throughout history and into the future. Know their lies - denying Christ had come in the flesh.
• Know the Truth and our Identity (2:20-25)
• Anointed of God - Holy Spirit within us 2:20,25-27
• Eternal Life (Zoe's, God's kind of Life) 2:25
• Listen to the Holy Spirit within us.

Stage 3 Fathers

1. Know the Heart of the Creator Father (2:13, 14). We have grown up to be a father, spiritual or earthly, and know the responsibilities and heart of being a father. 
2. True Love : The Father's love for us is true love. It is a love without conditions and is proactive, and sacrificing. There are additional things that we shall study in Chapter 4. 
3. Considering Paul's concept of "More than Conqueror", in The Meaning of "More than Conquerors", we can perhaps says that 'Young Men' are 'Conquerors' (winning by force of God) and the 'Fathers' are the "More than Conqueror"( winning by the transformation of the heart through the love of God).

Questions for Reflection:

1. What are the Stages of Growth? 
2. What are the characteristics of each stage?

Questions for Applications:

1. Which stage are you presently in?
2. What actions will you take to grow up into the next stage?
   What are the obstacles? What help do you need?

next:  Bible Study 1 John Chapter 3 Believers Behave Like...

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圣经学习约翰一书第2章属灵成长的阶段

成长的阶段

• 约翰明确指出属灵成长有三个主要阶段：小孩子、少年人和父老。
• 这些成长阶段的涵义是：
• 不同程度的成熟度 - 不是所有信徒都在同一水平上，不要同样对待每个人。
• 所有人都从起始阶段开始。没有捷径或跳跃。
• 我们可能停滞在某个阶段，甚至退化到较低的阶段。
• 成长是一个需要时间和实践的过程，从一个阶段迈向更高的阶段。

阶段1 小孩子

1. 蒙赦免、义和圣洁。如果我们犯罪，不要隐藏，反而要大胆地来到上帝面前，因为我们有为我们的罪付了代价并且是我们的拥护者的耶稣。我们得到赦免，不是因为我们伟大，而是因为上帝是爱。我们不能赚取或甚至努力为我们的救恩工作。重生只是上帝的恩典。
2. （约翰一书2:1-2，12）常在祂里面 - 通过顺服来认识祂。这个阶段的关键部分是通过听从耶稣并顺服祂 - 遵守祂的话语来认识基督。顺服是成长的途径 - 完善我们成为基督样式的过程。祂对我们的话很简单 - 爱别恨（2:9-11），停留且行在义上（2:6，2:29），并行真理（2:4）。
3. 认识天父（2:13）。我们通过耶稣认识天父。天父为我们差遣了祂的儿子耶稣。认识并经历父神的爱和同在，是生命的终极目标。耶稣来将我们带回父神那里。让我们父神的爱如此安慰我们，以至于我们宽恕和释放一切苦毒，单单依附并享受祂的爱。父神的爱带来解脱、平安、喜乐以及向他人的满溢的爱。孩子们必须在充满爱的环境中成长，这样他们才能够得到保障并变得强大。专注于仅有的父神，不要追随其他（约翰一书5:21）。

阶段2 少年人

1. 得胜者 - 藉着坚守神的话语（2:14），我们通过坚守神的话语而成为得胜者，而不是依靠我们的肉体或智力。
2. 爱父神，而不是爱世界（2:15-17） 世界有三种诱惑来分散我们对父神的爱。
1. 肉体的欲望 - 拥有生活中的快乐并没有错。我们的父神想要赐予我们这些。但我们被诱惑超越了上帝的限度去追求生活中的快乐，走向极端并被束缚，而不是所承诺的满足。例如：性、药物、赌博等上瘾。我们肉体的感官是敞开受到世界和魔鬼引诱的大门。
2. 眼目的贪恋 - 我们看到并想要不顾一切得到它们。我们将信仰放在所见之物（并且是暂时的2:17）上，而不是属灵且永恒价值的不可见之物。
3. 物财的傲慢和生命之傲 - 我们把价值和尊荣放在我们获得和拥有的事物上。我们寻求来自我们拥有的丰富事物，特别是金钱，的荣耀和权力。我们分散了对上帝的信任，而想成为自己的上帝。当然，我们永远不能成为上帝。自从夏娃时代以来，这只是魔鬼对我们的谎言。
3. 成就上帝的旨意 - 常在上帝里面（2:17，24）
4. 拥有知识和辨别力:
1. 认识敌人 - 反基督（2:18-23）和欺骗者（2:26）。历史上以及将来会有许多反基督，不仅仅是一个。认识他们的谎言 - 否认基督以肉身降临。
2. 认识真理和我们的身份（2:20-25）
1. 被上帝膏立 - 圣灵在我们里面2:20，25-27
2. 永远的生命（Zoe，上帝的生命）2:25
3. 听从我们内心的圣灵。

阶段3 父老

1. 认识造物者父神的心（2:13，14）。我们已经成长为父亲，不论是属灵的还是肉身的，了解做一个父亲的责任和心态。
2. 真爱：父神对我们的爱是真爱。它是无条件的爱，积极主动的，且是为人牺牲的爱。在第4章中，还有其他一些内容需要我们深入研究。
3. 考虑保罗关于“超越胜利”的概念，在《'超越胜利'的意义》一文中，也许我们可以这样说，'少年人'是'征服者'（靠上帝的力量获胜），而'父老'则是“超越胜利者”（通过对上帝的爱心来转变而获胜 - 把敌人变为朋友）。

思考问题：

• 什么是成长的阶段？
• 每个阶段的特点是什么？

应用问题：

• 你目前处于哪个阶段？
• 你将采取什么行动来进入下一个阶段？
• 有什么障碍？你需要什么帮助？

Bible Study 1 John Chapter 1 Walk in Fellowship with Jesus

Who is Jesus?
John began his letter with a clear statement on who Jesus is. He is with the Father (i.e. God), the Word of Eternal Life and He came in the flesh that he could touch, see and hear. Jesus came in the form of a real human being. God visited His creation.

The Gospel and Its Purpose
The good news, proclaimed by John, is that we can have fellowship Jesus, the Father and us (human beings) forever. We all can enjoy the goodness of God through Jesus.

Fellowship with Jesus is the Key for Victorious Living and staying sin free
A key attribute of God is Light (1:5). There is no darkness or sin with God. The key point is for us to come the light. The light will expose our sins. We can then confess our sin. without fear, to God because God is love and through Jesus' completed work on the cross Jesus has already saved us from our sins. There is no fear in love. We can be honest with God and with ourselves. Admitting our sins allows us to face it boldly and with Christ's grace be changed and be freed for victorious living. See Heb 4:16. Facing our sins allows us to be freed from them through applying the power from God. The secret for breaking away from sins is to walk in the light, have close relationship with Jesus.

Focus on fellowship and walking with Jesus keep us freed from the influence of sin.

Don't focus on the sin but focus on Jesus. Our preoccupation with Jesus will free us from the temptation of sin. Nevertheless, if we do sin, we can face it immediately and be freed from it. We cannot continue in our sin if we want to have fellowship with Jesus.

While Jesus has paid for and forgive our sins, the society that we live in does not. While spiritually there is no punishment for our sins, we still have to pay the penalties that our society levies on us for our sins. A thief can be forgiven in Christ but he may still need to face the punishment of imprisonment or fines.

v1:9 has been used by some to say that unless we confess our sins, our sins will not be forgiven. But v9 follows from v7 which says that as we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.  My personal view on confession of sin is that we must admit and face it to change and it was not for forgiveness as Christ had redeemed us from all sin. There are sins that we are not aware (unless someone or the Holy Spirit tell us), and hence we are not able to confess them. Does that mean if we die we could not go to heaven because of unconfessed sins? Certainly not. But unconfessed sins hold us in bondage and defeat. As we grow up into maturity in the likeness of Christ, we shall be aware of our other inadequacies as we conquer over them, one step at a time.


Questions for Reflections

1. Who is Jesus?
2. How do we have fellowship with Jesus?
3. What is the secret of victorious sin-free living?

Questions for Applications

1. What can I do to have closer fellowship with Jesus?
2. Write down an action plan to develop the relationship with Jesus. Be outcome(fruit of the Spirit) focus rather than just effort focused. 

For the discussion, see Bible Study 1 John 1 Walking in the Light Discussion
Next: Bible Study 1 John Chapter 2 The Stages of Spiritual Growth

Bible Study 1 John God is Light & Love

1 John is a first hand experience report of Jesus, God in the flesh, that visited the earth. A creator of the universe, larger than the universe He created, came into this little earth, as a man to communicate and save us. This is almost unimaginable. But John declared to us that the One, whom he touched with his own hands is the Word of Eternal Life that was with the Heavenly Father.

Christianity differs from other religions in one key aspect - Jesus Christ. If you remove Jesus Christ, Christianity is void. All other religions can still stand without their founders.

The main themes of 1 John are about Jesus Christ the Eternal Life, the Light and the Love. We who has fellowship with Jesus must walk in the light and in love. By walking in the light, we stay away from sin. Sin is revealed by the Light. Sin breaks fellowship. Sin and its effects, however, are removed by our confession. It is also about exposing the evil and staying away from the lusts of the world. Fellowship with Christ is also about love in action. Love is proactive - it acts first. Love is about obedience. Love is without fear. Our loving deeds assure us that we are of God who is Love.

I find John writing to be a bit repetitive. He tends to say the same thing in different ways. It shows that our language are too restrictive to explain the greatness of Jesus and His love.

The main title for the 5 chapters are :

1. Jesus, True God Came 
2. The Growth Stages
3. Believers Love like Their Father & Sin not
4. Discernment & True Love 
5. Our Identity & Authority

 It is exciting to discover the Love that Jesus had for us. It is also revealed slowly in our own life as we grow up from a child, young man and to fatherhood that we come to understand the Love of God. Let start with chapter 1... Bible Study 1 John Chapter 1 Walk in Fellowship with Jesus