Friday, August 2, 2024

PT-2 "Intro to 1 John 1:1-4

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/2/2024 10:26 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to 1 John 1:1-4”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  1 John 1:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life —  2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —  3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”

 

            It is my desire to finish this introduction to the first four verses of this first chapter of 1 John, and as we will see when these verses are written about later on that they are very important verses.

 

            I want go on to quote what John MacArthur has to say in his commentary on the introduction to verses 1-4.  He writes “The writers of Scripture, on the other hand, were absouletly certain of what they believed and, under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, wrote with a clarity and boldness that makes the message of salvation in its fulness understandable to the regenerated and illuminated mind.  Still, the proper sense of dogmatism is utterly contrary to today’s relativistic attitudes, and those who hold it are consistently condemned as insensitive, unloving, and anti-intellectual.  The reality is that those who deny Scripture’s clarity are likely motivated by rebellion against its clear message of sin and righteousness (cf. John 3:20).”  I will now insert John 3:20 before I go on with MacArthur’s commentary.  “"For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”  “Denying that the Bible can be understood gives false comfort to those who do not like the truth it reveals.  In contrast, those who love the truth are quick to seek it out and apply it to their lives (John 3:21).”  “21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.’”  “Such God-honoring adherence to divine, absolute truth is precisely what the apostle John exalts in his first epistle as the evidence of genuine salvation.

 

            “The teaching of this epistle may be divided into three categories:  theological certainty regarding the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ (2:1-2, 22; 5:1, 20), moral certainty regarding the commandments of God (2:4, 7, 29; 3:9, 22), and relational certainty regarding love (2:10; 4:7, 21; 5:2-3). 

 

            “Consistent with his firm commitment to the certainty of divine truth, John dispensed with all introductory amenities—he did not even name himself as the author, nor did he identify his audience.  Rather, he immediately launched into writing the Spirit-inspired truth.  He began by presenting five certainties about the person and work of Christ:  The Word of Life is unchangeable, historical, communicable, relational, and joyful.”

 

            With that outline we will begin to look at the first section, “The Word of Life Is Unchangeable,” in the next SD, Lord willing.

 

8/2/2024 10:48 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment