THE BIBLE NOTEBOOK Verse By Verse Bible Studies © 2006 Johnny L. Sanders TO KNOW AND KNOW YOU KNOW A Study Guide To The Epistles of John Volume I By Johnny L. Sanders, D. Min. Copyright© 2006 Johnny L. Sanders DEDICATION To Carolyn Sanders & Susan Sanders Thanks you for those nieces and nephews! 3 FOREWORD In this study of one of my favorite books in the Bible, I am going to do something I have never done in any other study. I have prepared verse by verse studies (some 30 volumes) on various books of the Bible. Some I have developed into commentaries, others need a lot of work. For that reason, I think of these studies simply as my Bible notebook, or THE BIBLE NOTEBOOK. Some 24 or 25 volumes may be found in the PastorLife.Com website, as well as about 150 ser- mon manuscripts (THE SERMON NOTEBOOK). PastorLife.Com is the creation of Dr. Mike Minnix of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Dr. Minnix has made a commitment to make avail- able to pastors and teachers a vast library of resources free of charge. In this study, for the first time, I have blended THE BIBLE NOTEBOOK and selections from THE SERMON NOTEBOOK. Some changes have been made to selections from THE SERMON NOTEBOOK in order condense, to some extent. For years, I preached from the KJV after studying various translations, primarily the NASB. At this time I am using the Holman Christian Standard Bible as my primary study Bible. I had the privilege of voting on the translation and publication of this Bible. It is not a “version”’ but a new translation. As Dr. Ed Bloom, General Editor, explained to members of the Broadman and Holman Committee in one of my first meetings of the board of trustees for LifeWay Christian Resource, the HCSB is a word for word translation, carefully edited so that it is easy to under- stand. 4 INTRODUCTION AUTHOR. In this study it is assumed that the author was John, brother of James, son of Ze- bedee, the same apostle who wrote the Gospel According to John and the Revelation. At the time these epistles were written John was well advanced in years, having outlived all the other apostles and Paul by many years. He is affectionately known now as the Elder John or John the Evangelist. DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING: The epistles were probably written around A.D. 85 - 95. John reportedly spent the last years of his life at Ephesus, except for the exile on Pat- mos. He was probably at Ephesus when he wrote the epistles. PURPOSE AND OCCASION: The epistles were written to deal with specific difficulties that threatened the church. A.T. Robertson said that they were written for the edification of readers in the truth and the life in Christ. “Yet,” he says, “the errors of the Gnostics were con- stantly before John’s mind. John warns believers about false teachers. The false teachers against whom he wrote were antimonian Gnostics, Gnosticism grew out of Greek philosophy and by the time John wrote these letters many Christians had been confused by the heresy” [A. T. Robert- son, WORD PICTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, The Bible Navigator Electronic Bible Library, LifeWay Christian Resources, Nashville, TN, a creation of Tim Vineyard, VP over the technology division. As a trustee I had the privilege of voting to establish this department and name Tim Vineyard to his post]. The Gnostics got their name from the Greek word “gnosis” which means knowledge. To them the key to salvation was knowledge. Primary tenets of their faith are listed below: 1) They separated the Father from the Son. 2) They denied the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. 3) They held a dualistic view of the world. 4) They insisted that salvation came from knowledge – learning a certain set of theories about the creation and about Jesus. 5) They also insisted that sin was powerless over their lives, and to prove it they boasted of their indulgence in immoral acts. In 1 John, the author gives the Christian a series of nine tests for knowing the truth – each time 5 using the verb “to know” (gnosis): 1) 2:3 - “This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands.” 2) 2:5 - “But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected.” 3) 3:16 - “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.” 4) 3:18-20 - “Little children, we must not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth; that is how we will know we are of the truth, and will convince our hearts in His presence, 20 because if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.” 5) 3:24 - “The one who keeps His commands remains in Him, and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit He has given us.” 6) 4:2 - “This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” 7) 4:6 - “We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.” 8) 4:13 - “This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given to us from His Spirit.” 9) 5:2 - “This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands.” Practically every thought in 1 John is found in the Gospel. Compare the prologue to the Gospel with the first four verses of this Epistle. The First Epistle is a letter which may have been ad- dressed to any New Testament church but was not. Some have referred to it as a “to whom it may concern” letter. POINT TO REMEMBER: The purpose given for the Gospel of John is found in John 20:30-31: “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Je- sus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. The purpose in 1 John is given in 2:3: “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” The Lord wants you to know Him and He wants you to know that you know Him. 6 CHAPTER ONE The Prologue to the First Epistle of John 1 John 1:1 - 4 While it is not particularly easy to outline the First Epistle of John, three important themes are woven together throughout this the longest of John’s three epistles. Those three themes are: (1) light vs. darkness, (2) love vs. hatred, (3) and truth vs. error. Warren Wiersbe writes: These three “strands” weave in and out of the letter, making it difficult to con- struct a simple outline. The above outline is based on the main lessons of each section, although the careful student will see that the three themes intermingle. In these days when many Christians think they have fellowship with God but do not, and when many religious people think they are true sons of God but are not, it is important that we apply these tests and examine our own lives carefully [Quick- Verse Bible Library]. Wiersbe’s outline of this epistle will help us to focus on the main themes: Introduction: The reality of Jesus Christ (1:1-4) I. The Tests of Fellowship: God is Light (1:5-2:29) A. The test of obedience (1:5-2:6) B. The test of love (2:7-17) C. The test of truth (2:18-29) II. The Tests of Sonship: God Is Love (3-5) A. The test of obedience (3:1-24) B. The test of love (4:1-21) C. The test of truth (5:1-21) PROLOGUE, 1:1-4 1:1 - WORD OF LIFE: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed, and have touched with our hands, concerning the 7 Word of life-” (1 John 1:1, HCSB). In Prologue, verses 1-4, John states the purpose of the First Epistle of John. The purpose in the Gospel According the John is clearly stated: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31, HCSB). The purpose of this the First Epistle of John is also clearly stated: “so that our joy may be com- plete.” Where there is assurance of salvation there is joy; where there is no assurance there is no abiding joy. WORD. “The term ‘Word’ when used in relation to God, is borrowed from human speech. It indicates that when a man utters words he has formed a purpose and chosen to reveal it. In like manner God’s word means that He has chosen to reveal His purpose” [Ray Frank Robbins, lec- ture notes].