This week, we shall be finishing the study of the book of 1 John, 2 John and 3 John in the New Testament.
Testing the “Spirit”
(1) Reread the closing verses at the end of the last chapter (3:23-24).
a. How do we know that Christ lives in us who “believe in the name of God’s Son, Jesus Christ”?
b. How does the Apostle Paul reinforce this truth in the book of Romans 8:15-16?
c. Do you really know now that Christ lives in you? Why or why not?
(2) There are many who knock at our door and claim they are Christians and that their belief system is quite biblical.
a. Are they necessarily Christians?
b. What if they can even perform miracles? (Mk. 13:22)
c. What should we do? (4:1)
(3) How does John teach us to test if the “spirit” is from God? (4:2)
(4) This one-sentence test has actually three parts:
a. “Jesus Christ”: What does it mean for the spirit to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ?
- What if Jesus is not the Christ? (See today's Meditative Article.)
b. “has come in the flesh”: What does it mean for the spirit to acknowledge that Jesus Christ has “come in the flesh”?
- What if Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh (“the Word became flesh”; see Jn. 1:14), but simply appeared in the form of a man, as the Angel of the Lord often did in the Old Testament?
c. "is from God": What does it mean for the spirit to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is from God?
- What if Jesus was just a man?
(5) What results if any spirit does not acknowledge part or the whole of the statement in v. 2?
a. Is this spirit from God?
b. What spirit is it?
(6) We read in the Gospels and in Acts that evil spirits often appeared and spoke through people that they possessed (e.g. the slave girl in Acts 16:16-18).
a. Should we be afraid of them?
b. Why or why not? (v. 4)
(7) Why do cults, like Jehovah Witness and Mormons, attract so many followers? (v. 5)
(8) Should we still try to evangelize them? Why or why not? (v. 6)
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” (1 Jn. 4:2)
Sometimes, I wonder why people are so gullible that they can believe in cults like the Jehovah Witness or Mormonism. How would one believe in the claim of their leaders of having received special revelation? Why would one pay attention to these new claims that surfaced only in the last two hundred years, and only in America?!
For one, the Apostle John reminds us that these follies are not the mere work of men, but that behind them is the “spirit of the antichrist” (4:3). Therefore to counter these fallacies is not just a work of theology, but a spiritual battle. As Paul puts it, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph. 6:12). They are tools that the devil is using to lead people astray, away from the true knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.
Should we then evangelize those who believe in these cults? Should we seek to convert those who knock at our door? Certainly, we should seek to evangelize all, except the devil himself. However, given the spiritual nature of this battle,
- We need to equip ourselves with a thorough understanding of the Scriptures.
- We need to understand the follies of their belief systems, not simply by reading a book or two about them, but by receiving proper training and research in these areas. (I believe, such training is best done through a Bible study setting and with a lot of prayer support.)
The reason that I prioritize equipping ourselves with a thorough understanding of the Scriptures is because the members of a cult often throw out a word or two of biblical original language to support their misinterpretation of the Scriptures. They do this especially in the area of who Jesus is. If we are not well equipped in this respect, it is difficult for us as lay Christians to convince them of their errors.
The spiritual nature of this battle is seen in the zeal of these cults as they seek to convert others with their unusual investment of time, money and energy and to reach every corner of the world just as Jesus has predicted: “You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Matt. 23:15)
After a little detour in addressing the spirit of the antichrist, John jumps right back to something he obviously sees as of utmost importance to his hearers: It is to love one another.
(1) What is its importance in the following areas?
a. Our Christian life
b. Our relationship with God
c. The community of believers (i.e. the church)
d. Our witness of the gospel that we preach
(2) John gives several aspects of the love involved. (vv. 7-8)
a. The source of love (v. 7a):
- Where does love come from?
- Does it mean that those who do not know God or belong to God cannot love?
b. It is natural (or rather supernatural)(v. 7b)
- In what way is “loving one another” part of our new nature?
- Why is it a mark of those who know God?
c. The flip side (v. 8a):
- Is it true that “whoever does not love does not know God”?
- Why or why not?
d. Which of the above speaks to you most? Why?
(3) If none of the above moves us to love another, John then uses the most powerful of all to speak to us. (vv. 9-12)
a. What is the supreme example of love? (v. 9)
b. Use the following questions to understand the supreme definition of love. (vv. 9-10)
- Who is God?
- Who is Jesus?
- Who are we?
- What do we deserve?
- What does God desire for us?
- What did God do?
- What did Jesus do?
- What is the result?
c. How then would you define God’s love?
d. Since love was “not that we loved God” (v. 10),
- How then should we love God now?
- How then should we love one another?
(4) In our effort to evangelize the world, would it help if the world could somehow see God?
(5) In essence, John is saying that God can be seen. How so? (v. 12)
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” (1 Jn. 4:12)
On different occasions when I shared the gospel with agnostics, they challenged me to show God to them. If convinced, they said they would “then believe”.
Of course, if God shows Himself to them, it is not faith anymore; and since God is absolutely holy and majestic, no one may see Him and live. (Exod. 33:20) On the other hand, I can also understand their desire to see the God we proclaim, because there are so many religions and so many claims these days that some kind of “epiphany” would certainly help.
In a rather interesting way, the Apostle John seems to agree that “seeing is believing”. It is not totally impossible as he says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” (1 Jn. 4:12) In other words, he is saying that God does desire Himself to be seen and He can be seen, but not in the way of an epiphany, but by the very lives of those in whom He dwells. How then can we make God visible in our lives? John answers, “if we love one another”.
This was exactly what the believers in Charleston, South Carolina did. After a white young man went into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a primarily black church and shot to death nine people who were attending a Bible study, many of the family members of the victims, instead of reacting with anger and hatred, offered forgiveness to the young man. One of them urged the killer to give his life to Jesus Christ. God’s love has indeed been made complete in them. There is no way that this young man cannot see God in them!
Under the command of love, John reiterates two main emphases that he just made: (1) God lives in us and we in Him, and (2) Love is made complete in us.
4:13-16—God in Us and We in Him
(1) Once again, John reiterates that we do know we live in God and He is us (v. 13)
a. How do we know this?
b. What does it mean that “we live in Him and He in us”? (3:24)
(2) How then can we have Him live in us and we in Him? (v. 15)
(3) Why is John so sure who Jesus is? (v. 14)
(4) Can we live in God and not in love? Why or why not? (v. 16)
4:17-18—Love Made Complete
(5) How is love made complete? (vv. 12, 16)
(6) What is meant by love being made “complete”?
(7) What is the result (or benefit) of having love made complete in us? (v. 17) Why?
(8) Are you afraid to face God on judgment day? (v. 18)
a. If one is not afraid, what is the basis of his/her confidence?
b. If one is afraid, what is the reason?
4:19-21—Love Made Visible
(9) What is difference between love that has nothing to do with God and love that is based on God’s love? (v. 19)
(10) How can we prove whether we truly love God? Why? (v. 20)
(11) V. 21 concludes this admonition about love by stating that it is a “command”. What is the difference between a mere suggestion and a command?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” (1 Jn. 4:17)
It is difficult for us to understand how God’s love is made complete in us (4:12), in that God’s love is already perfect, how can it be made more perfect? Also, how can we contribute to the perfection of God’s love? (Note: The Greek word, “made complete” carries the meaning of “achieved its goal".)
As amazing and as perfect as the love of God is, love always needs an object. One cannot love in a vacuum, and so neither does God’s love! And God has chosen us, who are sinners, as the object of His love, by the sending of His Son into the world to save us from sin, death and eternal damnation (4:14; and Jn. 3:16). It would be more than a mockery to His love if we do not respond to His sacrificial love by believing in His Son and accepting His love; it would also mean His love has failed, in the sense that it has been spurned.
And thus, when we believe in His Son and accept His love, He dwells in us and we in Him and His love has achieved His purpose and is perfected (4:16-17). However, John reminds us powerfully that His love is truly perfected in us only if we truly love Him who is invisible by loving one another (the visible people)! (4:20-21)
Has God’s love been perfected in you?
5:1-5—Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God
(1) How do we show our love for God? (v. 1)
(2) How do we know we love the children of God? (v. 2)
(3) If we love God, does it mean we are necessarily able to carry out His commands? (vv. 3-4)
(4) What is the key to overcoming the world? (v. 5)
(5) What is the flip side of not believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? (vv. 1, 5)
5:6-12—Who is Jesus?
(6) “Water” likely refers to the baptism of Jesus Christ (see Note below).
a. According to John, is the Jesus who was baptized the same Jesus who died on the cross? (v. 6)
b. What is the meaning of the baptism of Jesus Christ?
c. What is the meaning of His death on the cross? (4:10)
d. How are His baptism and death on the cross related?
e. How does the Holy Spirit testify about who Jesus is at both events? (Matt. 3:16-17; Eph. 1:18-21)
(7) John calls the three—the Spirit, the water and the blood—witnesses. In what ways are the three testimonies one? How are they in agreement? (v. 8)
(8) How do the three witnesses still testify today? (vv. 7-8)
a. The Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:16)
b. Believers’ baptism (Rom. 6:3ff)
c. The Holy Communion? (1 Cor. 11:26)
(9) Human testimony versus God’s testimony—Since the Bible is the Word of God, why is it that most people are more inclined to believe in human testimonies (as in science and philosophy), and not the testimony of God?
(10) According to John, what is the ultimate testimony of God in the Bible? (v. 11)
(11) What then is the definition of eternal life? (vv. 11-12)
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
As previously explained, John is combating early Gnostic heresies, notably those of Cerinthus who “held that the heavenly Christ descended upon Jesus at his baptism but withdrew from him before his death, so that it was only the earthly Jesus who died and not the heavenly Christ” (Marshall, 232).
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 Jn. 5:11)
These days as we seek to evangelize our loved ones and our friends, some love to emphasize the joy and peace that comes with the forgiveness of sin; others love to talk about finding meaning and fulfillment in life, but few talk about the gift of eternal life.
As I have the chance of conducting evangelism training from time to time, people give one common reason for not talking about eternal life, and that is it appears to be too vague and too remote from people’s life.
The problem is, if we simply lead people to Christ for the sake of joy, peace, meaning and fulfillment of life, or even the forgiveness of sin, these can be purely temporal benefits. Not only that, if they do not see that because of their sins, the person “stands condemned already because he does not believe in the name of God’s one and only Son” (Jn. 3:18), they will take the believing in Jesus Christ as an improvement project, not a deliverance from eternal damnation to eternal life (Jn. 3:16). If eternal damnation in hell is not such a certainty and such a horrible fate, why would the Son of God, Jesus Christ bother to become a man, to suffer and to die such a horrific death on the cross for us?
Throughout this first letter of John, John repeats again and again the “must” of believing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, not only to refute the Gnostic kind of heresies, but because it is the only way to eternal life; and eternal life is not just a warm and fuzzy feeling or only something in the future, but it is the very life of the risen Christ (1:2). When we confess our sins, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His resurrected life — that everlasting life — comes in and dwells with us. This is eternal life, and therefore John reiterates here and says, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (5:12).
In other words, eternal life begins the very moment we receive Christ Jesus into our life.
(1) John has given various reasons for writing this letter, and in his “concluding affirmation”, he ends with another, perhaps, the most important reason for his writing (as Howard Hendricks says, “Last words are lasting words”).
a. What is this reason for his writing? (v. 13)
b. How important is it?
c. Do you know that you have eternal life? Why or why not? (see 5:11-12)
(2) One of the results of having the eternal life of Christ (1:2) is the privilege to approach God in prayer as His children:
a. Does God necessarily answer whatever we ask for?
b. Why or why not?
c. What is meant by asking “according to His will”? (v. 14)
(3) In talking about asking according to God’s will, John seems to have intercession in mind in particular (vv. 16-17):
a. For whom and for what does John want us to intercede?
b. What can we expect God to do with such an intercession?
c. Since all wrongdoing is sin, what kind of wrongdoing belongs to the kind that leads to death within the context of this letter? (1:10; 2:18, 22; 4:3)
(4) Who is in control of this world right now? (v. 19; Jn. 14:30)
a. Whom can the evil one harm and whom can he not harm? (v. 18)
b. Why? (4:4)
c. What is the sign that we are born of God? (v. 18)
(5) Now John reiterates who Jesus is. (v. 20)
a. Who is Jesus?
b. What are the results of our believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the true God and the eternal life?
(6) Why does John end his letter by admonishing his hearers, “Keep yourselves from idols.”?
a. How may this exhortation apply to you today?
(7) How does this “concluding affirmation” (5:13-21) wrap up the entire letter?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. “ (1 Jn. 5:13)
I have learned and conducted Evangelism Explosion training for many decades and I am very thankful for Dr. Kennedy for coming up with this method of evangelism. Apart from the fact that it focuses on what the gospel really is (the salvation of souls from eternal damnation into eternal life which is so neglected these days by the church), the two introductory diagnostic questions are so helpful in determining whether a person has the assurance of eternal life or not, and in particular, if they rely on good works for their salvation.
The two diagnostic questions are:
“Have you come into the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die today, you would go to heaven, or is that something you would say you’re still working on?”
“Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven?’ what would you say?”
I encourage you to try it in your introduction to the gospel, and if you ask prayerfully, sincerely and tactfully, you will not only not offend the hearer, but you will be doing him or her immense good, causing them to face the most important question in their life.
Often, I would receive a response saying, “I do not believe in heaven” or “I am not sure there is eternal life.” To such an answer, I would say, “But you do not know for sure that there is no heaven, right? And if there is a heaven, wouldn’t it be great that you could know in the here and now that you do have eternal life?”
In many decades of asking this question, there is yet to be one who does not agree that it would be wonderful to be able to know for sure that we have eternal life now. In fact, there are times that the hearers are so eager to know if that is possible, and I would quote these words from 1 John, “I write these things to you…so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 Jn. 5:13) The fact that we can know if we have eternal life now is such great news that most hearers would be eager to listen to the rest of the gospel message.
Do you know that you have eternal life?