John now shifts his message toward false teaching and truth. We will see this again in 1 John 4:1, where he makes it our obligation to weed out the false from the true. I believe it is safe to say that 1 John 2:18-29 was written as an obligation. We are to know the...

Chapter 3 opens with the love of God, the imitation of Christ, and that we are children of God. Chapter 3 also picks up where chapter 2 leaves off. Verses 28 and 29 of chapter 2 exhort us to abide in Christ and practice righteousness. The outcome is explained in verse...

In the previous post, verses 10 and 15 were reviewed together. If you did not notice, the teachings of these two verses are complete opposites. Verse 10 is an exhortation to love the brethren, while verse 15 exhorts against loving the world. Curiously, however, the...

Verses 10 and 15 of 1 John 2 introduce us to the theme of love in the book of 1 John. We’ll take this post to discuss the word “love,” and it will help us understand love once we run into it in future posts. We will also backtrack just a bit to explain the greater...

Chapter 2 of 1 John picks up where chapter 1 leaves off. The exhortation of John is that we may not sin. Again, this is clear teaching on Christian perfection and that it is possible to not sin. To those who believe it is not possible to stop sinning, 1 John...