Frameworks:
1 John 4 & 5
(The
objective of these ‘Frameworks' is to provide an easy-to-read
layout of the text in order then to use these individual verses
for verse-by-verse study or meditation. To focus each
verse we have also added in italic a simple comment of what is
happening)
(To
go to Chapter 5)
FRAMEWORKS:
1 John 4: Discernment & the Way of Love
v.1-6
Test Opposing Spirits
v.7-11
God's Love energizes our love
v.12-16
Expressions of God's Life in us
v.17-21
Principles of Love
[Chapter
Synopsis: The
presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling us distinguishes us from
unbelievers as through us He extols Jesus and attracts other to
believe. But it is His presence in us that enabled us to be born
again, born to love as Jesus loves, for God is love, and as He
expresses Himself we will love others. Without that love our relationship
with Him is questionable.]
v.1-6
Test Opposing Spirits
v.1
(test out who
and what is false) Dear
friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have
gone out into the world.
v.2,3
(when the Spirit
leads, He will glorify Jesus but anyone who denies Jesus is of
the enemy) 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, but
every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is
coming and even now is already in the world.
v.4
(we are overcomers
because Jesus [who is Lord of all] lives in us) You,
dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the
one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
v.5
(unbelievers
express the attitudes and ways of ‘the world' we considered earlier)
They
are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the
world, and the world listens to them.
v.6
(because we
come from God, others from God will listen to us, but others won't!)
We
are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever
is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize
the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
[Passage
Synopsis: This
is about ‘behind-the-scenes' realities, the Spirit who resides
in us and the spirit of the enemy who rejects Jesus.]
v.7-11
God's Love energizes our love
v.7
(back to the
basics – love – to be expressed among us, which is the natural
flow in those who have been born again) Dear
friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
v.8
(no love = no
God. A key declaration – God IS love) Whoever
does not love does not know God, because God is love.
v.9
(God demonstrated
His love by sending Jesus ) This
is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only
Son into the world that we might live through him.
v.10
(it's not that
we loved Him but that He loved us first, seen in Jesus' sacrifice)
This
is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
v.11
(with this love
in mind, let's love one another) Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
[Passage
Synopsis: The
same message keeps on coming through – God loves us so we can
love one another.]
v.12-16
Expressions of God's Life in us
v.12
(our love for
one another as believers, is an expression of God living in us)
No
one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in
us and his love is made complete in us.
v.13
(we know we
are united with Him by His Spirit He has given us) This
is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given
us of his Spirit.
v.14
(so we testify
to these truths – Jesus is the Saviour of the world) And
we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be
the Savior of the world.
v.15
(the one who
truly believes and declares that Jesus is the Son of God shows
God indwells them) If
anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in
them and they in God.
v.16
(thus God's
love in us and through us is what it is all about ) And
so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God
is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
[Passage
Synopsis: And
more! As believers our love reveals God's presence in us, His
Spirit flowing through us. But it's more than this, it's the words
of testimony and declaration that come forth at His prompting.]
v.17-21
Principles of Love
v.17
(love through
us reveals Jesus in us) 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.
v.18
(his love for
us delivers us from fear) There
is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do
with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
v.19
(a powerful
declaration of truth) We
love because he first loved us.
v.20
(saying you
love God but hate your brother is impossible) Whoever
claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For
whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have
seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
v.21
(love God? then
love your brother) And
he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love
their brother and sister.
[Passage
Synopsis: And
even more about love. Jesus' love in us sets the way to eternity,
delivers us from fear, and releases us to love and acts as a clear
sign of who we are, for you cannot love God if you don't love
others.]
FRAMEWORKS:
1 John 5: Overcomers
v.1-4
Loving God means loving His children
v.5-12
Belief & Testimony that Overcomes
v.13-15
Concluding Assurances
v.16-21
More on the Battle Against Sin
[Chapter
Synopsis: The
interaction between love and obedience that follows being born
again is seen resulting in us living lives as overcomers, responding
to that conviction that Jesus is the Son of God, testified to
by the Father, and a conviction that we have eternal life and
an intimate relationship with the Father. Finally there is the
reminder of the battle where we may need to pray for others who
stumble to restore them to God, while maintaining our own distinctiveness
from those in ‘the world' who are under the sway of the enemy,
constantly reminding ourselves that we are children of God with
all that that involves.]
v.1-4
Loving God means loving His children
v.1
(everyone who
truly believes in Jesus will be born again, developing our love
for God and for one another) Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,
and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
v.2
(we'll love
one another when we love and obey God) This
is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God
and carrying out his commands.
v.3,4
(love for God
is expressed by obeying Him and this overcomes ‘the world' and
its values) In
fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands
are not burdensome, for
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory
that has overcome the world, even our faith.
[Passage
Synopsis: The
divinely supernatural life starts and finishes with believing
in Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and our love for him is expressed
in our obedience to him, and it is his that enables us to combat
‘the world']
v.5-12
Belief & Testimony that Overcomes
v.5
(overcomers
are believers in Jesus) Who
is it that overcomes the world ?
Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
v.6
(this is Jesus
who came and lived in the flesh, was baptised and died on the
Cross) This
is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not
come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit
who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
v.7,8
(all those facts
agree – Jesus is the Son of God) For
there are three that testify: the
Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
v.9
(this is the
testimony the Father has given of His Son) We
accept human testimony, but God's testimony is greater because
it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
v.10
(if you believe
in the Son, you believe the Father's testimony of him) Whoever
believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does
not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have
not believed the testimony God has given about his Son
v.11
(God's testimony
declares that eternal life comes through His Son ) And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son .
v.12
(‘in Christ'
you have [eternal] life) Whoever
has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does
not have life.
[Passage
Synopsis: Triumph
for believers comes in their testimony that Jesus is Lord and
Saviour. It is a testimony revealed in his life on earth, at the
time of his baptism and before he was crucified by the voice of
the Father so there is no doubt – eternal life cvoems through
believing in Jesus.]
v.13-15
Concluding Assurances
v.13
(John writes
to confirm these truths) 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.
v.14
(thus ‘in Christ'
we know when we pray God hears us) This
is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask
anything according to his will, he hears us.
v.15
(and if he hears
us when we pray His will, He will answer) And
if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have
what we asked of him.
[Passage
Synopsis: This
relationship with the Father through the Son is certain and leads
to eternal life and an intimacy of relationships seen in prayer.]
v.16-21
More on the Battle Against Sin
v.16
(pray for stumbling
brothers or sisters and save them, at least where it is not apostasy
that leads to death) If
you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead
to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer
to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that
leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.
v.17
(some sin will
not lead to death [that which is not apostasy, a total turning
from God]) All
wrongdoing is sin,
and there is sin that does not lead to death.
v.18
(where there
is a true ‘new birth' there will not be sin and as long as our
hearts are set on God He will keep us) We
know that anyone born of God does not continue
to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the
evil one cannot harm them.
v.19
(remember the
distinction – we are children of God, no longer those under Satan's
sway) We
know that we are children of God, and that the whole world
is under the control of the evil one .
v.20
(Jesus has come
to help us understand these things, and to keep us) We
know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding,
so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is
true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and
eternal life.
v.
21
(so as children
of God, keep clear of the stuff of the enemy) Dear
children, keep yourselves from idols.
[Passage
Synopsis: We
need to recognise that life is a battle and so pray for those
believers who stumble. Where some have totally turned away, your
prayers will bounce off them. Where there are believers still
aiming for God, even if they stumble, He will keep them. Remember
the distinction: you are a child of God; the others follow the
enemy. Let Jesus teach you and give you understanding but steer
clear of the enemies activities.]