The 1st Epistle of John

1
The 1st Epistle of John

• As Christs life manifested the Father, our life
  should reflect Christ

2
Background to 1st John

• The first epistle may have been written before
  AD70 218, last hour, 1Peter 47, or sometime
  later, around AD90, with the 2nd and 3rd
  epistles shortly thereafter.
• Johns approach in the 1st epistle is paternal,
  both in the affectionate expressions he uses,
  and the authority with which he writes.
• The 1st epistle has three basic themes
• God is lighttruth, holiness, righteousness
• God is lovemercy, goodness, compassion
• God is lifethe eternal life

3
The emphasis in Johns gospelhow Christs life
manifested the Father

• The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
  sees the Father do for whatever He does, the Son
  also does in like manner I do not seek my own
  will but the will of the Father who sent me.
  John 519
• I and my Father are one. 1030
• He who has seen me has seen the Father I am in
  the Father, and the Father in me. The words that
  I speak to you I do not speak on my own
  authority the Father who dwells in me does the
  works. 149
• Most quotations are from the NKJV or NASB

4
The emphasis in Johns epistlehow our life
should manifest Christ

• If we walk in the light as He is in the light.
  1Jn 17
• By this we know that we know him, if we keep his
  commandments. 23
• Everyone who practices righteousness is born of
  him. 229
• He laid down his life for us we ought to lay
  down our lives for the brethren. 316
• The truth is designed for God manifestation to
  reveal the character and outlook of God in those
  who embrace it.

5
The Word of the life was manifested

• That which was from the beginning, which we have
  heard, seen with our eyes, looked upon, our hands
  handled, concerning the word of the life the
  life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear
  witness, and declare to you that eternal life
  which was with the Father and was manifested to
  us. 1John 11-2
• He has promised us eternal life. 2.25
• God has given us eternal life, in His Son. 511
• That you may know you have eternal life. 513
• We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus
  Christ this is the true God and eternal life.
  520
• The eternal life of the Father from the
  beginning, was manifested in the Son, and
  promised to us.

6
We are called to be partakers of the divine
nature in a moral sense now!

• His divine power has granted to us all things
  that pertain to life and godliness, through the
  knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory
  and excellence, by which He has granted to us His
  precious and very great promises, that through
  these you may escape from the corruption that is
  in the world because of passion, and become
  partakers of the divine nature. 2Pet 13
• Faith such as Abraham had, gives a believer a
  right to eternal life. Before he died he differed
  from all natural men, in that he was filled with
  the knowledge of the Deitys will in all wisdom
  and spiritual understanding, and became a
  partaker of the divine nature in a moral sense
  in this sense he was a spiritual man. Eureka
  2250

7
Fellowship with the Father and Son

• That which we have seen and heard we declare to
  you, that you also may have fellowship with us
  and truly our fellowship is with the Father and
  with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write
  to you that your joy may be full. 1John 13,4
• Abide in me, and I in you I am the vine, you are
  the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him,
  bears much fruit these things I have spoken to
  you, that my joy may remain in you, that your joy
  may be full. John 154
• Holy Father, keep through your name those you
  have given me, that they may be one as we are.
  1711

8
Fellowship with the Father and Son

• is a participation in the life which Jesus
  shares with the Father, the eternal life that was
  with the Father from the beginning, and was
  manifested in His Son.
• This is the testimony that God has given us
  eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who
  has the Son has life he who does not have the
  Son of God does not have life.
• These things I have written to you who believe in
  the name of the Son of God, that you may know
  that you have eternal life. 1John 511-13
• This is eternal life, that they may know you, the
  only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
  sent. Jn 173

9
God is Light

• This is the message which we have heard from Him
  and declare to you, that God is light and in Him
  is no darkness at all. 1John 15
• In him was life, and the life was the light of
  men the true light which gives light to every
  man. John 14
• Proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of
  darkness into His marvelous light. 1Pet 29
• While you have the light, believe in the light,
  that you may become sons of light. John 1236
• The emphasis in the figure of light is on the
  moral aspect of Gods being, the perfection of
  His moral goodness, His holiness.
• All who would have fellowship with God must
  commit to flee from evil and hold fast to good.

10
Walking in darkness

• If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and
  walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
  truth. 1Jn 16
• Everyone practicing evil hates the light, does
  not come to the light, lest his deeds should be
  exposed. He who does the truth comes to the
  light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that
  they have been done in God. 320
• I am the light of the world. He who follows me
  shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of
  life. John 812
• To walk in darkness is to be living and moving
  in a spiritual and moral climate that is away
  from the light of Gods truth and His holiness.

11
Seven tests of true discipleship

1. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk
   in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
   truth. 16
2. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
   and the truth is not in us. 18
3. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar,
   and His word is not in us. 110
4. He who says, I know him, and does not keep his
   commandments, is a liar, the truth is not in him.
   24
5. He who says he abides in him ought himself also
   to walk as he walked. 26
6. He who says he is in the light, and hates his
   brother, is in darkness until now. 29
7. If anyone says I love God, and hates his
   brother, he is a liar. 420

12
Walk in the light

• If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we
  have fellowship with one another, and the blood
  of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
  1John 17
• He who says he is in the light, and hates his
  brother, is in darkness. He who loves his
  brother abides in the light, and there is no
  cause for stumbling in him. 29
• You were once darkness, now you are light in the
  Lord. Walk as children of light. Eph 58
• The blood of Christ? purge your conscience from
  dead works to serve the living God. Heb 914
• You were not redeemed with corruptible things
  but with the precious blood of Christ. 1Pet
  118
• Fellowship with one another and cleansing from
  sin are both dependent on walking in the light.

13
The blood of Christ stands for his complete
redemptive work

• Having been justified by His blood, we shall be
  saved through him. Rom 59
• In him we have redemption through his blood, the
  forgiveness of sins. Eph 17
• To reconcile all things... through the blood of
  his cross... in the body of his flesh through
  death. Col 120
• The shed blood was the offered life for the life
  of the flesh is in the blood. Lev 1711
• It was the literal blood of Christ that was the
  precious blood of Christ, but its preciousness
  lay in its spiritual relations, that is, it was
  precious because of what the shedding secured for
  us, and precious, because of the excellence of
  Christ. R Roberts, Christadelphian, 1878, p137

14
The law of sin within us

• If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
  ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1John
  18
• By one mans disobedience many were made
  constituted sinners. Rom 519
• Sin that dwells in me in every cell of my body.
  Rom 717
• The law of sin which is in my members. Rom 723
  
• If we say that we are essentially good, that our
  nature is not sin-prone, that there is no need
  to crucify the flesh, that Christ did not come
  in the flesh, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
  is not in us.

15
The two aspects of sin

• The word sin is used in two principal
  acceptations in the scripture. It signifies in
  the first place, the transgression of the law
  and in the next, it represents that physical
  principle of the animal nature, which is the
  cause of all its diseases, death, and resolution
  into dust.
• It is that in the flesh which has the power of
  death and it is called sin, because the
  development, or fixation, of this evil in the
  flesh, was the result of transgression.
• Inasmuch as this evil principle pervades every
  part of the flesh, the animal nature is styled
  sinful flesh, that is, flesh full of sin so that
  sin came to stand for the substance called man.
  Elpis Israel, p126

16
If we confess our sins

• If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
  to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all
  unrighteousness 19
• Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us
  from every lawless deed and purify for himself
  his own special people, zealous for good works.
  Titus 214
• Who gave himself for our sins, that he might
  deliver us from this present evil age, according
  to the will of our God and Father. Gal 14
• Christ went to the cross to crucify the inherent
  evil in the nature he bore?sin nature must be
  put to death to provide a righteous basis for God
  to forgive our sins.
• We are forgiven because we are one with the Lord
  Jesus Christ, and identified with what he did and
  why.

17
If we deny our sins

• If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a
  liar, and His word is not in us. 1John 110
• My little children an expression of affection,
  endearment, these things I write to you, that
  you may not sin 21
• Mans heart is evil from his youth. Gen 821
• Heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Jer
  179
• From within, out of the heart of men, proceed
  evil thoughts. Mark 721
• He who covers his sins will not prosper whoever
  confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Pro
  2813
• Fellowship with God depends upon acknowledging
  our sinful condition, and trusting His
  forgiveness.

18
An advocate with the Father

• If anyone sins, we have an advocate 3875
  parakletos comforter with the Father, Jesus
  Christ the righteous.
• He himself is the propitiation 2434 for our
  sins, and not for ours only but also for the
  whole world. 21,2
• It is Christ who died, and is also risen, who is
  even at the right hand of God, who also makes
  intercession 1793 for us. Rom 834
• He is able to save to the uttermost those who
  come to God through him, since he always lives to
  make intercession 1793 for them. Heb 725
• There is one God and one mediator 3316 between
  God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1Tim 25

19
Advocate, helper, comforter

• I will pray the Father, and He will give you
  another helper 3875, that he may abide with you
  forever the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the
  Father will send in my name, he will teach you
  all things, and bring to your remembrance all
  things that I said to you. John 1416
• When the helper comes, whom I shall send to you
  from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds
  from the Father, he will testify of me. 1526
• I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage
  that I go away for if I do not go away, the
  helper will not come to you but if I depart, I
  will send him to you. 167
• Helper is parakletos, rendered advocate in IJohn
  21.

20
Propitiationforgiveness, reconciliation

• He loved us, sent His Son to be the propitiation
  2434 for our sins. 1John 410
• Whom God set forth as a propitiation 2435 by
  his blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
  righteousness, because in His forbearance God had
  passed over the sins that were previously
  committed. Rom 325
• In all things he had to be made like his
  brethren, that he might be a merciful and
  faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God,
  to make propitiation 2433 for the sins of the
  people. Heb 217
• God, be merciful 2433 to me a sinner! Lk
  1813
• The cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy
  seat 2435. Heb 95
• The place where God extends mercy to those in
  Christ, where sins are forgiven and covered,
  where man is reconciled to God.

21
How we know that we know him

• By this we know that we know him, if we keep his
  commandments. He who says, I know him, and
  does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and
  the truth is not in him. 1John 23,4
• That I may know him, and the fellowship of his
  sufferings, being conformed to his death. Phil
  38
• You are my friends if you do whatever I command
  you. John 1514
• They profess to know God, but in works they deny
  Him. Tit 116
• We must do what we know, or we lie when we speak
  the Truth.
• To know God is to manifest His character.

22
Keep his word and walk as he did

• Whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is
  perfected complete in him. By this we know that
  we are in him. He who says he abides in him
  ought himself also to walk as he walked. 1John
  25,6
• Blessed are those who do his commandments, that
  they may have the right to the tree of life, and
  may enter through the gates into the city. Rev
  2214
• If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. John
  1423
• The assurance that we know him, and the
  motivation to keep his word, results from the
  love of God being perfected in us.

23
An old commandment

• Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but
  an old commandment which you have had from the
  beginning. The old commandment is the word which
  you heard from the beginning. 1John 27
• Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of
  God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
  This is the message that you heard from the
  beginning, that we should love one another.
  310
• Not as though I wrote a new commandment to you,
  but that which we have had from the beginning
  that we love one another. 2John 5
• The commandment was not new to them they had
  known it ever since coming to know the Gospel.

24
A new commandment

• A new commandment I write to you, which thing is
  true in Him and in you, because the darkness is
  passing away, and the true light is already
  shining. 1John 28
• A new commandment I give to you, that you love
  one another as I have loved you By this all
  will know you are my disciples, if you love one
  another. John 1334
• This is my commandment, that you love one another
  as I have loved you. Greater love has no one
  than this, than to lay down his life for his
  friends. John 1512
• If God so loved us, we are bound to love one
  another. 1John 411
• A love which willingly, as Christ did, lays down
  its life in service to the brethren.

25
To walk in the light is to walk in love

• He who says he is in the light, and hates his
  brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves
  his brother abides in the light, and there is no
  cause for stumbling in him. He who hates his
  brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and
  does not know where he is going, because the
  darkness has blinded his eyes. 1John 29,11
• We know that we have passed from death to life,
  because we love the brethren. He who does not
  love his brother abides in death. 314
• In loving one another we effectively manifest
  our true fellowship with him who first loved us,
  as those who are born of God.

26
I write to you

• Little children, because your sins are forgiven
  you for his names sakebecause you have known
  the Father.
• To be in the condition of knowing the Father is
  to be in that condition in which sins are
  forgiven for Christs sake.
• Fathers, because you have known Him who is from
  the beginning.
• Knowing God is a developing process of
  experience and mature awareness of God.
• Young men, because you have overcome the evil
  onebecause you are strong, and the word of God
  abides in you. 1John 212-14
• The evil propensities of the flesh dominate the
  world, but they had come out of the world and
  were gaining the victory over the evil.

27
For thy names sake

• For thy names sake, O LORD, pardon mine
  iniquity for it is great. Ps 2511
• Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of
  thy name and deliver us, and purge away our
  sins, for thy names sake. Ps 799
• O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us,
  do thou it for thy names sake for our
  backslidings are many we have sinned against
  thee. Jer 147
• O LORD, hear O LORD, forgive O LORD, hearken
  and do defer not, for thine own sake, O my God
  for thy city and thy people are called by thy
  name. Dan 919
• If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord,
  who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
  thee, that thou mayest be feared. Ps 1303-4

28
The evil one

• is Johns vivid personification for the
  terrible force which came into human experience
  at the Fallthe unregenerate human nature which
  works within us all and whose ravages are among
  us and about usinto whose hand the whole world
  was delivered when by one man sin entered into
  the world and death by sin.
• It corresponds to Jesus references to the
  prince of this world who was condemned by his
  death.
• Now is the judgment of this world now the ruler
  of this world will be cast out. John 1231

29
Love not the world

• Do not love the world or the things in the world.
  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
  is not in him. 2.15
• All that is in the worldlust of the flesh, lust
  of the eyes, pride of lifeis not of the Father
  but is of the world. v16
• The world is passing away, and the lust of it he
  who does the will of God abides forever. v17
• Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
  provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
  Rom 1314
• Those who are Christs have crucified the flesh
  with its passions and desires. Gal 524
• As sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
  lusts which war against the soul. 1Pet 211

30
Antichrists and false prophets

• Little children, it is the last hour as you have
  heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now
  many antichrists have come, by which we know it
  is the last hour. 1John 218
• They went out from us, but they were not of us
  if they had been of us, they would have continued
  with us they went out that they might be made
  manifest, that none of them were of us. v19
• John sees their departure as providential it had
  served to separate the false from the true.
• Every spirit or prophet that does not confess
  that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh this is
  the spirit of the Antichrist. 43
• Many deceivers have gone out into the world who
  do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the
  flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
  2John 7

31
It is the last hour now for us

• Let no one deceive you, that day will not come
  unless the falling away comes first, and the man
  of sin is revealed whom the Lord will consume
  with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the
  brightness of his coming. 2Thes 23
• In later times some will renounce the faith by
  paying attention to deceitful spirits and
  teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of
  liars they forbid marriage and demand abstinence
  from foods. 1Tim 41
• In the last days perilous times will come. 2Tim
  31
• Who are kept by the power of God through faith
  for salvation ready to be revealed in the last
  time. 1Pet 15
• The last hour here relates to the Gentile
  times, characterized by the emergence of
  antichrist.

32
Denies the Father and the Son

• You have an anointing from the Holy One Christ,
  and you know all things the truth. I have not
  written to you because you do not know the truth,
  but because you know it, and that no lie is of
  the truth. 1John 220-21
• Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the
  Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father
  and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not
  have the Father he who acknowledges the Son
  has the Father. v22-23
• You denied the Holy One and the Just. Act 314
• The heresy was a denial that Jesus was the
  Christ, the true Son of God, begotten of the
  Father and that God had manifested Himself in
  Jesus.
• God was in Christ reconciling the world to
  Himself. 2Cor 519

33
Abide in the Son and in the Father

• Therefore let that abide in you which you heard
  from the beginning. If what you heard from the
  beginning abides in you, you also will abide in
  the Son and in the Father.
• This is the promise that He has promised
  useternal life. 1John 224,25
• Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,
  God abides in him, and he in God. 415
• Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born
  of God everyone who loves Him who begot loves
  him who is begotten of Him. Who is he who
  overcomes the world, but he who believes that
  Jesus is the Son of God. 51
• If we believe that Christ came in the flesh, and
  that he overcame sin in all its forms, we will
  make every effort to identify with his victory
  over sin, and walk as he walked.

34
The anointing abides in you

• These things I have written to you concerning
  those who try to deceive you. 1John 226
• But the anointing which you have received from
  him abides in you, the word of God, v14 and you
  do not need that anyone teach you but as the
  same anointing teaches you concerning all things,
  and is true, and is not a lie, just as it has
  taught you, abide in him. v27
• You shall not go out of the tabernacle, the
  anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. Lev 107
  
• You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
  a holy nation, His own special people, that you
  may proclaim the praises of Him who called you
  out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1Pet
  29

35
Confidence when He comes

• Abide in him, that when he appears, we may have
  confidence and not be ashamed when the heart is
  made bare before him at his coming.
• Not confidence in what we have done, but a quiet
  assurance in the transformation he has wrought in
  each of us.
• If you know that he is righteous, you know that
  everyone who practices righteousness is born of
  him. 1Jn 228,29
• Learning to be righteous, to acquire his
  attributes, conformed to his image not perfectly
  while we are burdened with flesh, but our basic
  way of life.
• The Truth is a way of life not just a set of
  beliefs

36
Confidence

• Confidence 3954?courage, boldness, calm
  assurance.
• By this we know that we are of the truth, and
  shall assure our hearts before Him If our heart
  does not condemn us, we have confidence toward
  God. 1Jn 319
• Love has been perfected among us in this that we
  may have boldness in the day of judgment because
  as He is, so are we in this world. 1John 417
• Christ as a son over his own house whose house
  are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the
  rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Heb
  36
• Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
  grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
  to help in time of need. Heb 416
• Cast not away your confidence, which hath great
  recompense of reward. Heb 1035

37
Practices righteousness

• Practices 4160?do well, carry out, execute a
  way of life, a course of conduct a manner of
  thinking.
• If we say that we have fellowship with him, and
  walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practice the
  truth. 1Jn 16
• Little children, let no one deceive you. He who
  practices righteousness is becomes righteous
  whoever does not practice righteousness is not of
  God. 1John 37,10
• I never knew you depart from me, you who
  practice lawlessness. Matt 7 23
• The works of the flesh are evident adultery,
  fornication, uncleanness? those who practice such
  things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal
  519

38
What manner of love

• Behold what manner of love agape divine love
  the Father has bestowed on us, with the goal
  that we should be called children of God! 1John
  31
• God demonstrates proves His love toward us, in
  that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
  us. Rom 58
• Agape a self-sacrificing desire to serve,
  motivated by an enlightened mind love that is
  self-denying and devoted to its object.
• It is pre-eminently Gods love as shown in His
  work of redemption, and is reproduced in the
  hearts of believers by the power of the Word,
  with the goal of begetting sons and daughters to
  His glory.

39
Agape Love

• Agape and agapao are used in the NT
• to describe the attitude of God toward His Son
  toward the human race, generally and believers
  on the Lord Jesus Christ particularly
• to convey His will to His children concerning
  their attitude one toward another, and toward all
  men
• to express the essential nature of God.
• Love can be known only from the actions it
  prompts. Gods love is seen in the gift of His
  Son? love had its perfect expression among men in
  the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Christian love has God for its primary object,
  and expresses itself first of all in implicit
  obedience to His commandments. Self-will,
  self-pleasing, is the negation of love to God.
  Vines Expository Dictionary

40
Self-sacrificing agape love

• By this we know love, because he laid down his
  life for us we also ought to lay down our lives
  for the brethren. 1John 316
• In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
  that God sent his only begotten Son into the
  world, that we might live through him. 49
• He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is
  he who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by
  my Father I will love him and manifest myself to
  him. John 1421

41
What we shall be

• Now we are sons of God what we shall be is not
  yet revealed apparent, made manifest, visible.
  1John 32
• The apostles had seen the risen Christ, and knew
  that when he is revealed, we shall be like him.
• As many as received him, to them gave he power to
  become the sons of God. John 112
• As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these
  are sons of God. Rom 813
• The sufferings of this present time are not
  worthy to be compared with the glory which shall
  be revealed in us the sons of God. Rom 818
• When Christ who is our life appears, then you
  also will appear with Him in glory. Col 34
• Who will transform our lowly body that it may be
  conformed to his glorious body. Phil 321

42
We are now in the Valley of Humiliation

• We must fellowship the suffering of Christ,
  before we fellowship his glory when the battle
  is over, we will know that the sufferings of the
  present time are nothing to be compared with the
  glory that shall be revealed in us.
• For the present, we are in the Valley of
  Humiliation, in a state of weakness and sin but
  keeping our eye fixed on the morning dawn so long
  held up in promise to human view, we are enabled
  to persevere and work until the night comes, when
  no man can work.
• A night that has come to all who have gone before
  us, and may come to us, but which will quickly be
  ended by the bright rising of that Sun of
  Righteousness, who will usher in eternal day.
  RR, Christadelphian, 1868 p198

43
We shall see him as he is

• See implies more than mere physical sight, and
  involves a discerning, perceptive mind?the
  redeemed will gaze upon Christ with the
  realization and marvel that they are one with
  him, both mentally and physically.
• Jesus was perfected the third day (Luke 1332
  Heb. 59) and became the Author of aion
  salvation to all who obey him. A saint made
  perfect in this sense is as much spirit as
  Jesus now is for John, speaking of what the
  saints shall be when made perfect, says, we
  shall be like him, and see him as he is.
  Eureka, vol 1, p370
• The saints shall be like him (1John 32)? Paul
  styles him, the Lord the Spirit? the wise shall
  be like what he now is. They will therefore be
  partakers of the divine nature in a substantial
  material sense in other words they will be
  spirit. Eureka, vol 2, p251

44
Everyone in hope purifies self

• Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies
  himself, just as He is pure. 1John 33
• Purifies to make pure, cleanse. This
  necessitates a close examination of self and a
  constant effort towards eliminating the garment
  defiled by the flesh.
• Having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse
  ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and
  spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
  2Cor 71
• He has given to us exceedingly great and precious
  promises, that through these you may be partakers
  of the divine nature, having escaped the
  corruption in the world through lust. 2Pet 14

45
Everyone who practices sin

• Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness,
  sin is lawlessness 458. 1John 34
• Lawlessness the absence of law or the
  non-observance of law a way of life apart from
  the influence of Gods law ignorant of it, or
  deliberately ignoring it walking outside the
  direct guidance and control of the law of God
  habitually living without regard for Gods law.
• A person practices lawlessness when he lives in
  disregard of Gods law and is indifferent to its
  demands. It is not a single act of sin, but the
  continuous, persistent doing of it.

46
Sin is lawlessness

• I never knew you depart from me, you who
  practice lawlessness 458. Matt 723
• You outwardly appear righteous? inside full of
  hypocrisy and lawlessness. 2328
• Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many
  most will grow cold. 2412
• Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are
  forgiven, whose sins are covered. Rom 47
• As you presented your members slaves of
  uncleanness, and lawlessness? so now present your
  members as slaves of righteousness. Rom 619
• You the Lord Jesus Christ have loved
  righteousness and hated lawlessness. Heb 19

47
He was manifested to take away our sins

• You know that he was manifested to take away
  sins, and in him there is no sin. 1John 35
• Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us
  from every lawless 458 deed and purify for
  himself his own special people, zealous for good
  works. Titus 214
• Since he was manifested to take away sin, it is
  a denying of Christ if we practice habitually
  that which he was appointed to destroy, and was
  himself entirely without sin.
• Let no one deceive you concerning this, what a
  person does is the indication of what he or she
  really is.

48
Whoever abides in him does not sin

• Abides 3306?remain as one, sojourn with, not
  depart from, not become different to. 1John 36
  
• Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
  bear fruit of itself? neither can you abide in
  me? without me you can do nothing. John 154-5
• Does not sin?does not practice lawlessness.
  Practicing lawlessness indicates we have not
  been effected by Christs teachings and have not
  been born of God by the word.
• Good intentions are not enough there must be
  tangible results, visible improvement, a steady
  growth of godly attributes and weakening of
  earthly ones.
• This requires a continuous absorption of
  incentive and direction and power from the Word
  by constant study and reflection, gradually
  transformed by it.

49
He who practices righteousness

• We learn what we practice when we practice
  righteousness we become righteous. Gods
  character is gradually manifested in us to
  replace our natural self?this is God
  Manifestation. 1John 37
• We deceive ourselves if we think it is sufficient
  to profess the truth without practicing it.
• John is contrasting the person who practices
  lawlessness by living a life not subject to Gods
  Word, with the person who practices
  righteousness, whose life is built upon the Word.
• Whatever we sow, we reap. Sow to the flesh, reap
  corruption sow to the Spirit, reap everlasting
  life. Gal 67
• Be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving
  yourselves. Jas 122

50
He who sins is of the diabolos

• We are born in a certain condition, with certain
  propensities, certain characteristics, which in
  the aggregate are known as the flesh, in which
  nothing good dwells unpleasant, unlovely,
  selfish, earthy. That is our nature, what we
  begin with and must work with. 1Jn 38
• Through death he might destroy him who had the
  power of death, that is, the devil diabolos.
  Heb 214
• Sin that dwells in me? in my flesh dwells no good
  thing. Rom 717
• The mission of the Lord Jesus Christ was to
  destroy that having the power of death, which
  is the devil or sins flesh in other words,
  to take away the sin of the world and to
  destroy the works of the devil, or of sin.
  Eureka, vol 4, p323

51
Destroy the works of the diabolos

• The Old Man of Sins Flesh, who is the devil,
  cannot be converted. His destiny is destruction
  for this purpose was the Son of God manifested
  that he might destroy the works of the devil, or
  the works of the flesh, which are the same
  things and forasmuch also as the children of
  his Father are partakers of flesh and blood, he
  the Son himself, likewise, took part of the
  same that through death he might destroy him that
  had the power of death, that is, the devil (1Jn
  38 Heb 214). Phanerosis, p35
• The works of the devil, or evil one, are the
  works of sin. Individually, they are the works
  of the flesh exhibited in the lives of sinners
  collectively, they are on a larger scale, as
  displayed in the polities of the world. All the
  institutions of the kingdom of the adversary are
  the works which have resulted from the thinking
  of sinful flesh. Elpis Israel, p100

52
Whoever is born of God does not sin

• Does not sin in v9, is not absolute sinlessness,
  but a consistent, wholly dedicated way of life
  that totally abhors sin, and constantly strives
  to discern and repudiate its deceptive impulses
  within us anxious to please God and do His
  will.
• He that is truly born of God cannot choose to sin
  or entertain the idea of sinning. Truly he does
  sin, through weakness, but never through
  deliberate choice. He hates it, repudiates it,
  confesses it, struggles against it, never
  satisfied with himself, knowing it is a lifelong
  struggle.
• We know that whoever is born of God does not sin
  but keeps guards himself. 1Jn 518
• Having been born again, not of corruptible seed
  but incorruptible, through the word of God. 1Pet
  123
• Everyone who practices righteousness is born of
  him. 1Jn 229

53
Begotten and changed by the Truth

• Shall we continue in sin that grace might
  abound. John maintains that the man who holds
  the hope of seeing and being like Christ at his
  coming, purifies himself as he (Christ) is
  purelives not in sin as other men do?cannot do
  so, for the seed of the word which brings forth
  fruit in harmony with itself, is in him and
  remains in him.
• It is morally impossible for a man believing the
  truth to live in rebellion against its demands.
• Such a man, begotten by the truth and changed by
  the truth, will necessarily love the truth and
  all things connected with the truththe God of
  the truth, the sons of the truth, and the
  principles, obligations, and commandments of the
  truth. Such a man cannot live as the world
  lives. Law of Moses, p254.

54
Practice righteousness andlove one another

• Our actions determine whose sons/daughters we
  are, whether of God, or of the diabolos. John
  links practicing righteousness with loving our
  brother/sister. 1Jn 310
• Cain hated Abel and murdered him because Abel
  was practicing righteousness. Cain was
  practicing wickedness and refused to subdue and
  keep under his sinful nature, unwilling to
  submit to the discipline of Gods Word. v12
• He who loves God must love his brother also.
  421
• By this we know that we love the children of God,
  when we love God and keep His commandments. 52

55
Love the brothers and sisters

• not because we are lovable or deserve love, but
  because we need love. Love transforms and nothing
  else can. God loved us, and if we will let that
  love flow into us, and work its work within us,
  it will transform our natural self into spiritual
  characters.
• Paul lists the qualities of love (1Cor 13)
  longsuffering, patience, kindness,
  self-abasement, selflessness, deep concern for
  others freedom from anger, suspicion of others,
  envy or selfish desire a cheerful endurance
  consistent joyfulness and hope of self and
  others.
• Johns epistle lays great emphasis on love as the
  essential motive power of holiness.
• Let us love one another, for love is of God
  everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
  1John 47

56
From death to life because we love

• The pagan world hated the believers as Cain
  despised Abel?the strict morality of the true
  Christians was a constant reproach to them.
  1John 313
• Our love of the brothers/sisters is proof that we
  have passed from an old way of life leading
  inevitably to death, into a new way of
  self-sacrificing service and denial of self,
  leading to life eternal. v14
• A new commandment I give to you, that you love
  one another as I have loved you? all will know
  you are my disciples, if you love one another.
  John 1334
• This is my commandment, that you love one another
  as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
  this, than to lay down ones life for his
  friends. 1512

57
To lay down our lives for one another

• By this we know love, because he laid down his
  life for us. We also ought to lay down our lives
  for the brethren. 1John 316
• The power and motivation to lay down our life
  for the brothers/sisters, and to wholly live for
  them as Christ did for us, can only come from
  learning to deny self, to identify ourselves
  with the Lord Jesus Christ, to let him live in
  us, so that we gradually develop his mind and his
  character.

58
Love in deed and in truth

• Whoever has this worlds goods, and sees his
  brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him,
  how does the love of God abide in him? My little
  children, let us not love in word or in tongue,
  but in deed and truth. vs 17,18
• sees his brother in need not a passing glance,
  but the fixed gaze of careful scrutiny implying
  deliberateness in turning away after seeing the
  need.
• love in deed and in truth love must be
  manifested in actions of kindness consistent with
  truth.
• You shall not harden your heart nor shut your
  hand from your poor brother, you shall open your
  hand wide to him you shall surely give to him.
  Deut 157

59
Know that we are of the Truth

• Assure our hearts before him persuade, set at
  rest manifesting love in action will bring
  about a quiet assurance and trust in his mercy
  now, and in the day of judgment at his coming.
  1John 319
• Confidence in the validity of our fellowship with
  God is based upon the extent to which knowledge
  of the Truth is actively proven in daily
  living?in our loving one another in deed and
  truth, and in the effort we are making to obey
  the Word.
• If our hearts condemn us, there is yet time. Let
  us examine ourselves. Let us judge our own
  selves. If the record of the past does not appear
  satisfactory, it is high time to repent and do
  the first works. R Roberts 1878 p40

60
Christ intercedes for us when we cannot express
the yearnings of our hearts

• The Spirit helps in our weaknesses. We do not
  know what we should pray for, the Spirit makes
  intercession for us with groanings which cannot
  be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows the
  mind of the Spirit, he makes intercession for the
  saints according to the will of God Christ who
  died, is risen, at the right hand of God, makes
  intercession for us. Rom 826,34
• It is a matter to be received by faith that
  though our inner man may be overwhelmed by the
  incapacities of the flesh, the Spirit reflects to
  the eternal throne the inner aspirations and
  affections of the mind which can only be
  expressed on our part by inarticulate groanings.
  Before the throne stands the Lord Jesus whose
  part it is to focalize these transmitted distress
  signals and make intercession with the Father on
  our behalf. RR 1898 p17

61
Whatever we ask we receive

• Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we
  keep His commandments and do those things that
  are pleasing in His sight. 1John 322
• If anyone is a worshiper of God and does His
  will, He hears him. John 931
• If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,
  you will ask what you desire, and it shall be
  done for you. 157
• If any of you lacks wisdom to endure trial and
  to overcome self and the world, let him ask of
  God, who gives to all liberally and without
  reproach, and it will be given to him. Let him
  ask in faith trusting His way of transforming
  us, willing to submit to His chastening. Jas
  15
• The ability to discern the working of the
  Fathers hand while under trial, and to
  cooperate with it.

62
Believe the name and love one another

• Believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and
  love one another?believing the essential truths
  of our faith involved in the name?his sonship as
  Son of God, his humanity as Son of Man the
  anointed savior, high priest and king, who gave
  himself to the uttermost out of love for his
  friends. 1John 323
• To believe on the name and to love one another is
  one indivisible commandment a faith/belief that
  works by love and manifests itself in devotion
  and service to one another and denial of self.
• Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born
  of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also
  loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know
  that we love the children of God, when we love
  God and keep His commandments. 51-2

63
He who keeps His commandments

• He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and
  He in him. By this we know that He abides in us,
  by the Spirit He has given us. 1John 324
• abides in Him and He in him to remain as one,
  not depart from, nor become different from.
• by the spirit He has given us we must acquire
  the Spirit in our hearts and minds, if we are to
  gain life.
• The love of God has been poured out in our hearts
  by the Holy Spirit given to us. Rom 55
• He who establishes us with you in Christ and has
  anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and
  given us the Spirit in our hearts as a
  guarantee. 2Cor 121
• Because you are sons, God has sent forth the
  Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Gal 46

64
Passages which speak of the Spirit dwelling in us

• are not referring to Holy Spirit gifts for only a
  few, but to the Spirit that must be developed
  within all believers of all ages.
• You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if
  indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone
  does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not
  His. Rom 89
• If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of
  sin, but the Spirit is life because of
  righteousness. v10
• If you live according to the flesh you will die
  but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds
  of the body, you will live. As many as are led by
  the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. v13-14

65
Renewed by the Spirit Word

• This word is the great instrument of holiness and
  purification. It changes men's minds loosens
  their attachment to earthly things causes them
  to place their affection on things above creates
  a new and right spirit within them diffuses the
  love of God abroad in their hearts separates
  them from sinners leads them into Christ and
  develops in their lives, fruit... When the mental
  disposition is renewed, it becomes a mirror in
  which one skilled in the word of the kingdom can
  discern the spirit, or behold a reflection of the
  Divine Nature.
• This image of God in a mans character can only
  be created by the word of the truth. The
  testimony of God came by the Holy Spirit... the
  effects of the word believed are attributed to
  the spirit because the word sets men to
  breathing in Gods moral atmosphere, it is termed
  spirit and life... When a man is renewed by the
  truth, he is renewed by the spirit. Elpis
  Israel, 1942, p51-53

66
Test the spirits

• Do not believe every spirit do not believe every
  man who pretends to speak by the spirit but test
  the spirits bring them to the test of
  Scripture, and by this standard ascertain
  whether they are of God because many false
  prophets have gone out into the world. 1John
  41
• By this you know the Spirit of Godevery spirit
  that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the
  flesh is of God, and every spirit or prophet
  that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come
  in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of
  the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming,
  and is now already in the world.
  v2-3 Eureka 1, p293

67
The spirit of the antichrist

• Every spirit or prophet that does not confess
  that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh this is
  the spirit of the antichrist. 1John 43
• For many deceivers have gone out into the world
  who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the
  flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
  2John 7
• He is antichrist who denies Father and Son.
  1John 222
• If Christ didnt come in the flesh, and if he
  didnt crucify diabolos, then flesh is not
  sinful, and there is no need or motivation for
  any of us to put our old self to deaththe
  heathen doctrine of substitution.
• Fleshwhat we are at birth sinful, mortal.
• God manifest in fleshwhat we can become in a
  moral sense now, physically in the future.

68
The spirit of truth

• You are born of God, little children, and have
  overcome them, because He who is in you is
  greater than he who is in the world. 1John 44
• They false prophets or teachers are of the
  world. Therefore they speak of the world being
  inspired by its traditions, and the world hears
  them. v5
• We are of God. He who knows God hears us he who
  is not of God does not hear us. By this we know
  the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
  v6 Eureka 1, p293

69
The spirit of truth 46, 56

• I will pray the Father, and He will give you
  another Helper, that he may abide with you
  forever the Spirit of truth, whom the world
  cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor
  knows him but you know him, for he dwells with
  you and will be in you. I will not leave you
  orphans I will come to you. John 1416-18
• He who has my commandments and keeps them, is he
  who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by
  my Father, and I will love him and manifest
  myself to him. If anyone loves me, he will keep
  my word and my Father will love him, and we will
  come to him and make our abode with him. v21,23
• When he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will
  guide you into all truth. 1613

70
God is love

• Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of
  God and everyone who loves is born of God and
  knows God. He who does not love does not know
  God, for God is love. 1John 47,8
• You yourselves are taught by God to love one
  another. 1Thes 49
• Since you have purified your souls in obeying the
  truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the
  brethren, love one another fervently with a pure
  heart. 1Pet 122
• We cannot claim to know God and to be born of Him
  unless our own lives are ruled by the principle
  of love for others, and so are a reflection in
  daily living of what God is in His innermost
  nature.
• Agape is a divine characteristic it is not of
  the flesh.

71
The love of God was manifested

• In this the love of God was manifested toward us,
  that God has sent His only begotten Son into the
  world, that we might live through him. 1John
  49
• In this is love, not that we loved God, but that
  He loved us and sent His Son to be the
  propitiation covering, mercy seat for our sins.
  v10
• God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great
  love with which He loved us made us alive
  together with Christ (by grace you have been
  saved). Eph 24
• God is love, and our very hope of life springs
  from His love in the giving of His Son.
• The purpose of His love for us is to lead us to
  righteousness.

72
His love is perfected in us

• Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to we are
  bound to love one another. No one has seen God
  at any time.
• If we love one another, God abides in us, and His
  love has been perfected in us. 1John 411,12
• Let us love one another, for love is of God
  everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
  v7
• If we love one another, God dwells in us. He will
  work in us to will and to do of His good
  pleasure. He will perfect His love in us, so that
  we are one with Him.
• We can develop a likeness of Christ, and so
  reflect in faith and action the power of God
  manifestation in us.

73
We in Him and He in us

• By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in
  us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1John
  413
• And we have seen and testify that the Father has
  sent the Son as Savior of the world. v14
• By this we know that He abides in us, by the
  Spirit of truth He has given us. 1John 324
• If you abide in me, and my words abide in you
  by this my Father is glorified, that you bear
  much fruit so you will be my disciples. John
  157
• People have so much Holy Spirit in them as they
  have of the words and ideas of the Deity
  understood, affectionately believed, and
  obeyed. Eureka, vol 5, p358

74
To Be Spiritually Minded is Life

• The power is in the Word, but it must be made
  operative, as we are not forced to read it, or
  forced to follow its wisdom when we have read it.
  When it is read, and the example in the character
  of Christ has been learned by the mind, and
  worked out practically, then does the Spirit
  dwell in us richly and in all wisdom. The
  words written by the Spirit find their living
  expression in and through the human heart.
• Possession of the Spirit is possible in this
  manner and if the Spirit of Him that raised up
  Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
  up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your
  mortal bodies, because of His Spirit which dwells
  in you. Here we find that possession of the
  Spirit which, if preserved till the day of
  Christ, will, indeed, be a guarantee of
  salvation. RR 1883 p504

75
Beliefagape lovefellowship

• Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,
  God abides in him, and he in God. 1John 415
• We have known and believed the love that God has
  for us. God is love, and he who abides in love
  abides in God, and God in him. v16
• To confess that Jesus is Son Of God is to believe
  that God was in Christ and that His character and
  purpose was manifested in flesh.
• We have fellowship with the Father and Son if we
  keep His commands, with selfless love for one
  another, and believe the truth about Jesus as
  Son of God.

76
There is no fear in love

• Love has been perfected among us in this that we
  may have boldness confidence, assurance in the
  day of judgment because as he is, so are we in
  this world.
• There is no fear in love but perfect love casts
  out fear, because fear has to do with torment
  punishment. He who fears has not been made
  perfect in love.
• We love him because he first loved us. 1Jn
  417-19
• Abide in him, that when he appears, we may have
  confidence and not be ashamed before him at his
  coming. 1John 228
• Love removes fear by removing all cause of fear.
• If our love for God is fully developed so that we
  keep His word, we do not need to live in fear of
  the judgment of God.

77
As he is, so are we in this world

• I am no longer in the world, but these are in the
  world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep
  through your name those whom you have given me,
  that they may be one as we are. John 1711
• They are not of the world, even as I am not of
  the world As you sent me into the world, I also
  have sent them into the world. v16,18
• Who are kept by the power of God through faith
  for salvation ready to be revealed in the last
  time. 1Peter 15
• Their desire and intent is to walk even as he
  walked to purify themselves even as he is
  pure and to love one another even as he has
  loved them.

78
Love God and love one another

• If someone says, I love God, and hates his
  brother, he is a liar for he who does not love
  his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God
  whom he has not seen. 1Jn 420
• This commandment we have from Him that he who
  loves God must love his brother. v21
• If we love one another His love has been
  perfected in us. v12
• We show the reality of our love for God when we
  love one another.

79
Love God enough

• Contemplate your blessings principally the
  eternal, spiritual, unchanging ones. Contemplate
  your unworthiness. Contemplate Gods greatness
  and holiness and marvelous condescending love.
  Get a constant sense of gratitude and desire to
  reciprocate that love with an overwhelming
  urgency.
• This is the power and the motive that creates a
  perpetual and irresistible yearning and striving
  for worthiness and holiness. It is the only power
  and motive that can resist and overcome and
  triumph over the fatal, unremitting, downward
  pull of the flesh. Search Me p31
• An intense life-dominating love of God is the
  only power in the universe that can overcome the
  flesh, and the promise of Gods glorious eternal
  future is only to him that overcomes. p68

80
Three tests that we are born of God

1. We believe the truth concerning JesusWhoever
   believes Jesus is the Christ is born of God
   everyone who loves Him who begot loves him who is
   begotten of Him. 1John 51
2. We love God and love one anotherLet us love one
   another, for love is of God everyone who loves
   is born of God and knows God. 47
3. We practice righteousness as a way of
   lifeWhoever has been born of God does not sin
   His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin,
   because he has been born of God. 39