Sunday, March 26, 2017
SIN CONSCIOUSNESS
SIN CONSCIOUSNESS
SIN consciousness is Satan's chief hindrance to faith. It is his
oldest device. Today it springs from an ignorance of the Substitutionary work
of Christ. The ministers, in attempting to separate the congregation from the
worldly influences and build them up in a "Holy Life," have
industriously preached sin rather than Righteousness, Redemption and Sonship.
There are almost no sermons preached on Righteousness as defined in the Pauline
Revelation, or on Fellowship. The fact is, that only a few recognize the distinction
between Fellowship and Relationship.
Our relationship is horn of God. He is the Author of it. Man
cannot sever his relationship with the Father, but he may do that which will
cause the Father to sever it. Our relationship is like a legal marriage. The
law married the couple, they cannot unmarry themselves. They may do that which
will compel the law to separate them. Let it be fully understood that God is
the author of our union with Himself. Jesus said, "I am the vine and ye
are the branches." The branch possesses no ability to separate itself from
the vine. That ability is in the hands of the Husbandman.
It is easy for us to break fellowship with the Father. The epistle of John was written to show us the secret of maintaining fellowship with the Father and with one another.
It is easy for us to break fellowship with the Father. The epistle of John was written to show us the secret of maintaining fellowship with the Father and with one another.
The word "back-slide" does not occur in the New
Testament. Why? It describes Israel. The first Covenant people who were the
servants of Jehovah would "back-slide" or leave Jehovah for another
God. They did not have Eternal Life. They were not sons, only servants. They
had never been recreated. They were servants of the Abrahamic Covenant, and of
the Law of that Covenant.
We should never use the word "back-slide" in referring
to a Christian who has broken fellowship. We should teach him clearly what
fellowship means. 1 john 13-4 "That which ewe have seen and heard declare
we unto you also, that ye may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship
is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ: and these things we write,
that your joy may be made full." You see, joy is one of the riches of the
New Creation. Very few of us have ever made a study of it. There is a vital
contrast between joy and happiness. Happiness comes from our surroundings,
environment, health and money. Joy is something that only children of God
possess. It is the fruitage of a rich fellowship with the Father, the Word, and
with one another.
1 John 1:5 "And this is the message which we have heard
from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at
all." Notice the next verse, "If we say that we have fellowship with
him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth."
Remember Col. 1:13-14 "Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love." Darkness is Satan's dominion.
Remember Col. 1:13-14 "Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love." Darkness is Satan's dominion.
The Law of the New Covenant is given to us in John 13:34-35.
"A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another even as I
have loved you." The word love there is "Agapa," the new kind of
Love.
That commandment is to govern the walk of the believer. If we step out of love by criticizing one of the brethren or saving something we ought not to say, or doing something we ought not to do, we mar our fellowship and go into darkness. It is amazing how many people are attending Church regularly every Sunday, who know they have been Born Again, but who have had no fellowship with the Father for years.
That commandment is to govern the walk of the believer. If we step out of love by criticizing one of the brethren or saving something we ought not to say, or doing something we ought not to do, we mar our fellowship and go into darkness. It is amazing how many people are attending Church regularly every Sunday, who know they have been Born Again, but who have had no fellowship with the Father for years.
They are living in spiritual darkness as far as the Word is
concerned. They have no feeling for lost souls. They give as a duty, and attend
church as a habit. The joy they once knew in their spiritual life is gone. They
are living in spiritual darkness.
Notice I John 1:7, "But it We walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin." God is Light. When I am walking in fellowship. I am walking in the light of the Word, the light of the Spirit. I am in fellowship with my own spirit. I am in fellowship with the brethren. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, keeps me clean from sins of ignorance which I may have committed. (I have not yet grown up to know that they are sins.) The next verse says "If we say we have not sinned we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." We have lost our fellowship and are walking in darkness.
Notice I John 1:7, "But it We walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin." God is Light. When I am walking in fellowship. I am walking in the light of the Word, the light of the Spirit. I am in fellowship with my own spirit. I am in fellowship with the brethren. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, keeps me clean from sins of ignorance which I may have committed. (I have not yet grown up to know that they are sins.) The next verse says "If we say we have not sinned we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." We have lost our fellowship and are walking in darkness.
The next verse clears it up, "If we confess our sins he is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." This is not for the unsaved man, but for the believer.
That means He will restore our fellowship. Righteousness means the ability to
stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, inferiority or
condemnation. You remember Romans 8: 1. "There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." There is no sense of guilt
for we are enjoying the fulness of His fellowship. Note this: if we confess our
sins, he at once forgives us and restores to us our standing and privileges in
Christ. It is wrong for you to condemn Yourself after He has forgiven you. You
are never to think of it again.
I John 2:1 "My little children these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." He is the family Lawyer. He is the Attorney General of the Family of God. When we break fellowship and ask the Father's forgiveness, our Advocate immediately takes up our case and restores our lost fellowship. It is vital that we know this. There is only one basic sin that the believer commits. When that sin is committed, it may throw the door open for a thousand others. That sin is breaking the love law. We are to walk in love.
I John 2:1 "My little children these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." He is the family Lawyer. He is the Attorney General of the Family of God. When we break fellowship and ask the Father's forgiveness, our Advocate immediately takes up our case and restores our lost fellowship. It is vital that we know this. There is only one basic sin that the believer commits. When that sin is committed, it may throw the door open for a thousand others. That sin is breaking the love law. We are to walk in love.
I John 4:16 gives us a remarkable exposition of love. "And
we know and have believed the love which God hath in our case. God is love; he
that lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. I like this translation,
it has that intimate touch, it brims us into such vital consciousness of our
union with Him. The word "perfect" occurs several tunes in this
Epistle. In 1 John 4:12, "No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love
one another, God abideth in us (we can see God in each other.) and His love is
perfected in us." 1 John 2:5 "But whoso keepeth his word, in him
verily hath the love of God been perfected."
1 John 4:17 "Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the clay of judgment." 1 John 4:18 "He that feareth is not made perfect in love." You may never he perfect in faith or wisdom, but you may be perfect in love. Why? Because His nature has made us what we are. We are New Creations by nature, and that nature is love.
1 John 4:17 "Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the clay of judgment." 1 John 4:18 "He that feareth is not made perfect in love." You may never he perfect in faith or wisdom, but you may be perfect in love. Why? Because His nature has made us what we are. We are New Creations by nature, and that nature is love.
Now we can understand that sin consciousness comes from stepping
out of the Love Realm into the realm of darkness, or selfishness . . . out of
the Light of Love, into the darkness of Sense Knowledge.
The reason Sin Consciousness has dominion over the believer is because there has been no clear teaching in regard to the New Creation. "Wherefore if any man is in Christ there is a New Creation, the old things are passed away; behold they have become new. But all things are of God who reconciled us unto himself through Christ." One of our graphic translators gives it like this, "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new self." Man is a spirit, he has a soul or reasoning faculties, and he lives in a body. Ezek. 36:26 tells us this, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh."
The reason Sin Consciousness has dominion over the believer is because there has been no clear teaching in regard to the New Creation. "Wherefore if any man is in Christ there is a New Creation, the old things are passed away; behold they have become new. But all things are of God who reconciled us unto himself through Christ." One of our graphic translators gives it like this, "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new self." Man is a spirit, he has a soul or reasoning faculties, and he lives in a body. Ezek. 36:26 tells us this, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh."
If He puts a new spirit within you, He puts a new self within
you. There is going to be a new kind of love and a new self dominated by this
new kind of love. He is going to take the stony heart out. The stony heart is
that natural human spirit that is full of hatred, born of selfishness. Not only
that, but He says, "I will put my spirit within you." He is not only
going to make a new self out of me, but He is going to come and make His home
in my body. My body will be His temple, His sanctuary. Col. 3:10 "And have
put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him
that created him."
Our spirits are called "the hidden man of the heart."
In 2 Cor. 4:16 we are called " the inward man." In Romans 7:22 we are
called the "inward man." This "new man" has been created in
Christ Jesus. He is created in Righteousness, holiness and truth.
This New Man is a New Creation; he is born of God. The Word has never had its place in our lives. We approach it with mental assent. We lack that steady assurance in this living message from the Father. I believe that the basic reason for unbelief is the fact that Satan, our former master (whose nature we once had), is a liar. Because of this Satanic nature unregenerate man is a liar by nature. Go anywhere among people who have never had Eternal Life and you will find that they are liars.
This New Man is a New Creation; he is born of God. The Word has never had its place in our lives. We approach it with mental assent. We lack that steady assurance in this living message from the Father. I believe that the basic reason for unbelief is the fact that Satan, our former master (whose nature we once had), is a liar. Because of this Satanic nature unregenerate man is a liar by nature. Go anywhere among people who have never had Eternal Life and you will find that they are liars.
The hardest problem that faces our Government is to deal with
Nations that have worshipped a lie. They have no truth in them. When they lie,
they reflect a part of themselves, for they are liars. When we came out of
Satan's family into God's family, the most difficult habit to give up was that
of lying. We have lied in a thousand ways when truth would have been a great
deal easier. Because the natural man is a liar by nature, if after he becomes a
child of God he breaks fellowship, this old sin sometimes takes the reins and
rules him. Ding is so prevalent that it is difficult for us to put confidence
in the Word. We have never been able to depend on the words of individuals. We
are not in the habit of relying on what others say, therefore it is difficult
to rely on what God says.
You see, we have been dominated by Sense Knowledge, and the thing we have called faith has been Sense Knowledge faith. Faith in the unseen and unknown is a difficult problem, but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, and our fellowship grows rich and strong, our confidence in the lather becomes as natural and normal as breathing.
You see, we have been dominated by Sense Knowledge, and the thing we have called faith has been Sense Knowledge faith. Faith in the unseen and unknown is a difficult problem, but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, and our fellowship grows rich and strong, our confidence in the lather becomes as natural and normal as breathing.
We have never been told the difference between the two kinds of
truth: Sense Knowledge truth and Revelation truth. One said to me last night,
"If I should confess that I was healed, I would be lying, because the pain
is still there in my body."
We must remember the difference between the two kinds of truth. Sense evidence is Sense Knowledge truth. The pain is still there, hut what does the Word say? "By His stripes I am healed." That is Revelation truth, God's truth. I have learned that no Word from God is void of fulfillment. He watches over His Word to make it good. Jesus and His Word are one; the Father and His Word are one. Then I dare say, "In the Name of Jesus I am perfectly healed. The Father laid my diseases and my pains upon Jesus when He was upon the cross. He became sick with my sickness and He put my diseases and sins away, for He was wounded for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquities, the chastisement of my peace was upon Him, and with His stripes I am healed."
We must remember the difference between the two kinds of truth. Sense evidence is Sense Knowledge truth. The pain is still there, hut what does the Word say? "By His stripes I am healed." That is Revelation truth, God's truth. I have learned that no Word from God is void of fulfillment. He watches over His Word to make it good. Jesus and His Word are one; the Father and His Word are one. Then I dare say, "In the Name of Jesus I am perfectly healed. The Father laid my diseases and my pains upon Jesus when He was upon the cross. He became sick with my sickness and He put my diseases and sins away, for He was wounded for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquities, the chastisement of my peace was upon Him, and with His stripes I am healed."
In the mind of the Father disease and sin are one. They are
spiritual infirmities. Sin manifests itself in my conduct, disease manifests
itself in my body. Before I can be healed of my sickness, I must be convinced
in my spirit that God laid that disease on Jesus. If He laid it on Jesus, and I
accept that Substitute as mine, then my sins are remitted and I stand before God
as though sin had never been. The same laws holds true in regard to diseases.
Disease is spiritual, but it has manifested itself in my physical body.
I have accepted the Substitutionary work of Christ on my behalf, so I boldly say (while pain wracks my body), "I am healed," just as the sinner says, "I am saved" when his breath is tinged with his last debauch. He has accepted Christ and God has accepted him. Now his conduct will come into harmony with his recreated spirit. I have been made a New Creation. I have been made physically a perfectly well and healthy man. That is a spiritual fact, manifested in my physical body. The Word is a spiritual fact and is manifested in my conduct and my confession. Understand this thoroughly: that confession precedes possession. You make your confession before the Father acts in your personal case.
I have accepted the Substitutionary work of Christ on my behalf, so I boldly say (while pain wracks my body), "I am healed," just as the sinner says, "I am saved" when his breath is tinged with his last debauch. He has accepted Christ and God has accepted him. Now his conduct will come into harmony with his recreated spirit. I have been made a New Creation. I have been made physically a perfectly well and healthy man. That is a spiritual fact, manifested in my physical body. The Word is a spiritual fact and is manifested in my conduct and my confession. Understand this thoroughly: that confession precedes possession. You make your confession before the Father acts in your personal case.
You confess that you are perfectly healed while the disease is
making full headway in your body. Your confession starts God's machine in your
body. We have never given confession its place. You become a slave to your
confession. You never grow beyond it. Your faith is held in bondage by your
confession. You grow in grace and power as you confess it. If you confess
weakness, you sink to the level of it. You should confess that the
Substitutionary Sacrifice of Jesus has met every need of your spirit, soul and
body.
Sin consciousness loses its dominion over you the moment your confession glorifies the Father.
There is no room for sin consciousness when we know that we are New Creations created in Christ Jesus, and when we know that we are seated together with Him in the heavenly places, and know the reality of our oneness with the Father and Christ.
Sin consciousness loses its dominion over you the moment your confession glorifies the Father.
There is no room for sin consciousness when we know that we are New Creations created in Christ Jesus, and when we know that we are seated together with Him in the heavenly places, and know the reality of our oneness with the Father and Christ.
john 15:7 illustrates it, "if ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you." He
caused you to abide in Christ. We cause the Word to abide in us. It is living
and doing the Word. We rely upon the integrity of this Word. We know that no
Word from God can be broken. We know that Jesus is the Word. We knew that the
Word is backed up by the Throne, the Father and the Master.
We know that the great mighty Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling in us, unveiling the Word to our hearts. He is unveiling the reality of the Living Word, and the reality of our relationship and His Indwelling. He is showing us the reality of our perfect deliverance from disease and weakness. There should be no sin consciousness in the heart of the believer, for "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin." We stand complete in His completeness. "Of His fulness have we all received and grace upon grace."
We know that the great mighty Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling in us, unveiling the Word to our hearts. He is unveiling the reality of the Living Word, and the reality of our relationship and His Indwelling. He is showing us the reality of our perfect deliverance from disease and weakness. There should be no sin consciousness in the heart of the believer, for "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin." We stand complete in His completeness. "Of His fulness have we all received and grace upon grace."
THE HIDDEN MAN
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Saturday, March 25, 2017
1 John 1- 2:11 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)
The Christian Life as Divine Sonship (2:29;4:6)The Christian Life as an Integration of the Ethical and the Christological (4:7;5:12)Conclusion: Great Christian Certainties (5:13-21)
1 John 1 NLT
1 We proclaim to you the one who
existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our
own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.
2 This one who is life itself was
revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you
that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was
revealed to us.
3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves
have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4 We are writing these things so that
you may fully share our joy.
5 This is the message we heard from
Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at
all.
6 So we are lying if we say we have
fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not
practicing the truth.
7But if we are living in the light, as God
is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of
Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are
only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
9But if we confess our sins to him, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
10 If we claim we have
not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in
our hearts.
1 John 2 NLT
1 My dear children, I am writing this
to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate
who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly
righteous.
2 He himself is the sacrifice that
atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
3 And we can be sure that we know him
if we obey his commandments.
4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but
doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the
truth.
5 But those who obey God’s word truly
show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in
him.
6 Those who say they live in God should
live their lives as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new
commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very
beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you
heard before.
8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the
truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is
disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the
light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness.
10 Anyone who loves a fellow believer is
living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.
11 But anyone who hates a fellow
believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know
the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
Friday, March 24, 2017
Summary of the Book of 1 John
Summary of the Book of 1 John
This summary of the book of 1 John provides information about the title, author(s), date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the Book of 1 John.
Author
The author is John son of Zebedee (see Mk 1:19-20) -- the apostle and the author of the Gospel of John and Revelation (see Introductions to both books: Author). He was a fisherman, one of Jesus' inner circle (together with James and Peter), and "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (Jn 13:23; see note there). He may have been a first cousin of Jesus (his mother may have been Salome, possibly a sister of Mary; cf. Mt 27:56; Mk 15:40 and note; 16:1; Jn 19:25 -- this view assumes that "his mother's sister" in Jn 19:25 refers to Salome; some further assume that "Mary the wife of Clopas" there stands in apposition to "his mother's sister," which would mean that this Mary and Salome were one and the same person).
Unlike most NT letters, 1 John does not tell us who its author is. The earliest identification of him comes from the church fathers: Irenaeus (c. a.d. 140-203), Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215), Tertullian (c. 155-222) and Origen (c. 185-253) all designated the writer as the apostle John. As far as we know, no one else was suggested by the early church.
This traditional identification is confirmed by evidence in the letter itself:
- The style of the Gospel of John is markedly similar to that of this letter. Both are written in simple Greek and use contrasting figures, such as light and darkness, life and death, truth and lies, love and hate.
- Similar phrases and expressions, such as those found in the following passages, are striking: 1 JohnGospel of John
- The mention of eyewitness testimony (1:1-4) harmonizes with the fact that John was a follower of Christ from the earliest days of his ministry.
- The authoritative manner that pervades the letter, seen in its commands (2:15,24,28; 4:1; 5:21), its firm assertions (2:6; 3:14; 4:12) and its pointed identification of error (1:6,8; 2:4,22) is what would be expected from an apostle.
- The suggestions of advanced age (addressing his readers as "children,"2:1,28; 3:7) agree with early church tradition concerning John's age when he wrote the books known to be his.
- The description of the heretics as antichrists (2:18), liars (2:22) and children of the devil (3:10) is consistent with Jesus' characterization of John as a son of thunder (Mk 3:17).
- The indications of a close relationship with the Lord (1:1; 2:5-6,24,27-28) fit the descriptions of "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and the one who reclined "next to him" (Jn 13:23).
Date
The letter is difficult to date with precision, but factors such as (1) evidence from early Christian writers (Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria), (2) the early form of Gnosticism reflected in the denunciations of the letter and (3) indications of the advanced age of John suggest the end of the first century. Since the author of 1 John seems to build on concepts and themes found in the fourth Gospel (1Jn 2:7-11), it is reasonable to date the letter somewhere between a.d. 85 and 95, after the writing of the Gospel, which may have been written c. 85 (see Introduction to John: Date).
Recipients
1Jn 2:12-14,19; 3:1; 5:13 make it clear that this letter was addressed to believers. But the letter itself does not indicate who they were or where they lived. The fact that it mentions no one by name suggests it was a circular letter sent to Christians in a number of places. Evidence from early Christian writers places the apostle John in Ephesus during most of his later years (c. a.d. 70-100). The earliest confirmed use of 1 John was in the Roman province of Asia (in modern Turkey), where Ephesus was located. Clement of Alexandria indicates that John ministered in the various churches scattered throughout that province. It may be assumed, therefore, that 1 John was sent to the churches of the province of Asia (see map No. 13 at the end of this study Bible).
Gnosticism
One of the most dangerous heresies of the first two centuries of the church was Gnosticism. Its central teaching was that spirit is entirely good and matter is entirely evil. From this unbiblical dualism flowed five important errors:
- The human body, which is matter, is therefore evil. It is to be contrasted with God, who is wholly spirit and therefore good.
- Salvation is the escape from the body, achieved not by faith in Christ but by special knowledge (the Greek word for "knowledge" is gnosis, hence Gnosticism).
- Christ's true humanity was denied in two ways: (1) Some said that Christ only seemed to have a body, a view called Docetism, from the Greek dokeo ("to seem"), and (2) others said that the divine Christ joined the man Jesus at baptism and left him before he died, a view called Cerinthianism, after its most prominent spokesman, Cerinthus. This view is the background of much of 1 John (1:1; 2:22; 4:2-3 and notes.
- Since the body was considered evil, it was to be treated harshly. This ascetic form of Gnosticism is the background of part of the letter to the Colossians (Col 2:21,23 and notes.
- Paradoxically, this dualism also led to licentiousness. The reasoning was that, since matter -- and not the breaking of God's law (1Jn 3:4) -- was considered evil, breaking his law was of no moral consequence.
The Gnosticism addressed in the NT was an early form of the heresy, not the intricately developed system of the second and third centuries. In addition to that seen in Colossians and in John's letters, acquaintance with early Gnosticism is reflected in 1,2 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Peter and perhaps 1 Corinthians.
Occasion and Purpose
John's readers were confronted with an early form of Gnostic teaching of the Cerinthian variety (see Gnosticism above). This heresy was also libertine, throwing off all moral restraints.
Consequently, John wrote this letter with two basic purposes in mind: (1) to expose false teachers (2:26 and note) and (2) to give believers assurance of salvation (5:13and note). In keeping with his intention to combat Gnostic teachers, John specifically struck at their total lack of morality (3:8-10); and by giving eyewitness testimony to the incarnation, he sought to confirm his readers' belief in the incarnate Christ (1:3). Success in this would give the writer joy (1:4).
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)
- The Christian Life as Divine Sonship (2:29;4:6)
- The Christian Life as an Integration of the Ethical and the Christological (4:7;5:12)
- Conclusion: Great Christian Certainties (5:13-21)
* Copyright © 1985, the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.
From the NIV Study Bible, Introductions to the Books of the Bible, 1 John
Copyright 2002 © Zondervan. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Copyright 2002 © Zondervan. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
2nd Peter Chapter 3
Outline
Greetings (1:1-2)Exhortation to Growth in Christian Virtues (1:3-11)The Purpose and Authentication of Peter's Message (1:12-21)Warning against False Teachers (ch. 2)- The Fact of Christ's Return (3:1-16)
- Conclusion and Doxology (3:17-18)
2nd Peter Chapter 3
1 This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.
2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.
4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.
6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.
7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
10But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live,
12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.
13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
15 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—
16 speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
17 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.
18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.
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