1 John 4:7 - 5 NLT

Outline*

• Introduction: The Reality of the Incarnation (1:1-4)
• The Christian Life as Fellowship with the Father and the Son (1:5;2:28)
  • Ethical Tests of Fellowship (1:5;2:11)
    1. Moral likeness (1:5-7)
    2. Confession of sin (1:8;2:2)
    3. Obedience (2:3-6)
    4. Love for fellow believers (2:7-11)
  • Two Digressions (2:12-17)
  • Christological Test of Fellowship (2:18-28)
    1. Contrast: apostates versus believers (2:18-21)
    2. Person of Christ: the crux of the test (2:22-23)
    3. Persistent belief: key to continuing fellowship (2:24-28)
• The Christian Life as Divine Sonship (2:29;4:6)
  • Ethical Tests of Sonship (2:29;3:24)
    1. Righteousness (2:29;3:10a)
    2. Love (3:10b-24)
  • Christological Tests of Sonship (4:1-6)
• The Christian Life as an Integration of the Ethical and the Christological (4:7;5:12)
  • The Ethical Test: Love (4:7;5:5)
    1. The source of love (4:7-16)
    2. The fruit of love (4:17-19)
    3. The relationship of love for God and love for one's fellow Christian (4:20;5:1)
    4. Obedience: the evidence of love for God's children (5:2-5)
  • The Christological Test (5:6-12)
• Conclusion: Great Christian Certainties (5:13-21)

* Copyright © 1985, the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

1 John 4 NLT

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 

8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 

10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 

12No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 

14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 

15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 

17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 

18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 

19 We love each other because he loved us first. 

20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 

21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

1 John 5 NLT

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 

2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 

3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 

4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 

5And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 

6 And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross —not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. 

7 So we have these three witnesses —

8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree.

9 Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. 

10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son. 

11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 

12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. 

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

14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 

15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. 

16 If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. 

17 All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death. 

18 We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. 

19 We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one. 

20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life. 

21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.