Big Idea: John writes so that we might know what eternal life is and how we might walk in it by faith.
2 Questions concerning the content of John’s Letter to the churches;
What have we ________________________ from the Apostle John?
1 John 5:13 (ESV) — 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
Oida: ____________________ knowledge. Oida is to be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information.
Philippians 3:10 (ESV) — 10 that I may know (ginosko) him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
John gives us an unadulterated knowledge of what it means to be a child of God, unpolluted by emotions or experiences. His statements are the purest form of Christianity and to see the realities which he presents in your own life is to be able to know, without a doubt, that you belong to Christ.
The ______________________ of eternal life is an ongoing embrace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, of the person and work of Jesus the Christ, who transforms our inner man so that we love God and neighbor, which manifests itself in keeping God’s commandments and sacrificing ourselves for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
How Do We _______________________ to Receive It?
1 John 5:13 (ESV) — 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
indicative — The mood in which the action of the verb or the state of being it describes is presented by the writer as real. It is the mood of assertion, where the writer portrays something as actual (as opposed to possible or contingent on intention).
This letter… was written for believers. John’s desire for them is not that they may believe and receive, but that having believed, they may know that they have received, and therefore continue to have (present), eternal life
The theology of the indicative asserts that your joy-filled obedience as a Christian flows from the righteous character you have been given in your union with Christ.
Eph. 1:3-6; 2:8-10
What we have in this letter from John is both a declaration of and a dedication to the life of Jesus Christ in salvation.
Questions to Consider
What does John do for us in this letter? Why is that important?
Why should we read our bibles? How does that sustain our Christian walk?
What might it look like to rely on the life of Christ in us when faced with temptation?
