Read: 1 John 5:1-12
1) vv1-3 describe the process of becoming a Christian as being born of God. Why? cf Jn 3:5-8
- v1: What is required for such a new birth to happen? cf Jn 3:9,14-15
- Jesus said that a story in Num 21:4-9 illustrates what is needed. How so?
- v2: Why will genuine faith manifest as love?
- What characterizes such ‘brotherly’ love, v3?
- vv3b-5: ‘not burdensome’: How different is that from “easy”?
- Is it even possible were it not by faith, v5?
- How will believers find that such obedience is not burdensome? =>
2) vv4-5: What could it mean to ‘overcome the world’? v3; cf 1Jn 2:15
- What has this to do with how believers obey God, and whether they experience his commandments as a burden or as ‘not burdensome’, v3?*
- v5: Why do all ‘overcome’ who are born of God, and why no one else? 1Jn 4:4; Jn 15:19
- Why call it ‘our faith’? Why not ‘strong faith’, or simply ‘faith’?**
- Why did the ‘faith’ of the Gnostics not overcome the world? cf Jn 3:31
3) v6: Gnostics taught that the Spirit dwelled in Jesus only for a time from his water baptism until before his crucifixion: Death was not part of Jesus’ mission. How did John counter such claims?
- Hint: Why such emphasis that he came by water and blood, v6? cf 1Jn 1:7
- What happens when Jesus is reduced to a medium of Spirit power, or to a morality apostel of repentance by a water baptism and stripped of the purpose of his atoning sacrifice (1Jn 2:2) and bodily resurrection (1Jn 2:1; 1:7)? 1Cor 15:17
- Why do you think people reject the truth of the atonement by the blood of Jesus? cf Ro 10:3; Gal 6:12
4) vv6-12 mention at least 8 times the words testify/testimony/witness: What witnesses, and what agreement among them did John have in mind? vv11-12
- v7 literally states: ‘For those who bear witness are three’: Why three? =>Explain, if needed:
- It has nothing to do with the Trinity (‘…in heaven‘ is a late addition: It does not exist in any manuscripts older than the 5th century).
- v9: By Jewish law, truth was established based on two to three witnesses (Deut 19:15; Mt 18:16).
- v6: Who are they, how do they ‘witness’, and how is their testimony heard and tested for its veracity?
- The witnesses testify regardless of whether we hear, but how can we hear them and know that we are not deceived?***
- v7 adds how believers recognize the Spirit of truth; namely how?
- v9: Why would agreement between these three be impossible if they were not from God and speaking what is true?
5) vv11-12 suggests everyone (and every teacher) either does or does not have the son. The latter have no (eternal, v11) life, no matter how Christian they may sound. Does this mean one can call ‘Jesus’ God and yet not ‘have’ him? Why or why not? cf 1Jn 2:4; cf Mt 7:21-23; 2Cor 11:4
- Is this offending? How so?
6) Personal & application
- Difficult relationships are among the most painful consequences of our fallen nature. Based on ch5, should you expect that Christian gatherings known as churches will be free of such troubles? Why not?
- How did your own conversion experience influence your relationships with people?
- Did it change your disposition whether you even desire to obey Christ’s command to love others? Or do you wish you could continue to treat others as you did before?
- The text warned of faithless love and of loveless faith in Christ as counterfeit Christianity that has no promise of eternal life. In your experience, what does this sober warning achieve?
- What compels you to love others, especially fellow Christians?
- How does it feel if someone is nice to you only because he must, and not because he actually likes you?
- Picture meeting Moses: How would you explain to him what is new in this teaching about Christian love?
* Every philosophy of this world puts the burden how we can become “right” on its followers and on what they do – for they know no other resource. Only God-inspired faith in Jesus that yokes us to Him overcome this, cf Ro 5:5; Ro 7:6
** What John called ‘our faith’ is the Christian creed how we can be saved and our conviction of its truth, not the name-it-and-claim-it ‘faith’ advocated by the modern ‘Word-Faith movement’. Christian faith is about who we believe, not whether we believe enough to make our own wishes come true.
*** The question addresses how one can know the true gospel and whether it was invented by deceived and deceiving people, or whether it is indeed from God.
- Through water: The experience of cleansing and renewal by what the Spirit says, Jn 7:37-39;
- Through the blood: The experience of sanctification through inspired faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, Jn 17:16-19.
- Through the Spirit: The experience of believers that He speaks, and not from this world, Jn 3:8
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