For everything born out of God conquers the world and this is the conquest, the conquering of the world: our faith. What is the conquering of the world if not faith that Jesus is the Son of God?

The above is my own translation. I wanted to point out a few grammatical things in the Greek. I think most of the translations miss the power and passion that is there in the Greek, and I hoped to bring that out a bit more.

This passage is a powerful testimony about faith. I recently heard atheist Richard Dawkins say that faith is a dangerous thing, something which threatens the world. This is only partitially true. Faith is a powerful thing, something which can tame the world. Faith drives people to action, even actions which otherwise seem impossible. It is what we have faith in which determines whether it threatens or restores.

1 John 5:1-3 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

I think it is hard for us to remember that keeping the commandments of God is an aspect of loving Him. We Protestants are often so afraid of Pelagianism that we don't talk or teach about being righteous. This is a huge mistake. Though good works do not save us, we still are commanded to be good. The one who is not good is not a child of God.

If anyone 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. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

How can we love God, yet hate that which God loves? When you truly love someone whole heartedly, you begin to become passionate for the things that they are passionate about. Now this doesn't mean that you must like the things that they like. There are lots of things that I like which my wife couldn't care less about. But, the things that I am passionate over, she becomes concerned over, because she loves me.

The same goes with us and God. If we truly loved God, we want to see His heart fulfilled; we want to see Him with joy. How then can we despise the very things which will give His heart the greatest joy?

I'm sorry that I am late this week. I'm afraid that I had some computer issues.

1 John 4:19; We love, because He first loved us.

This is an important relational aspect between us and the Father. Love does not find its origin in our souls, but in the Divine Being. He is love, and He is the subject and the object of it. I shapes it; designs it; defines it. There is no love without Him.

Fear is not in love, but complete love casts out fear; for fear possesses torture, and fearing does not perfect in love.

This is a really powerful verse. It comes off of verse 17 which talks about love being perfected in us by God abiding in us, and that this should give us confidence on the day of judgment.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

Here John speaks of us being confident for the day of judgment. The Greek word for confidence here is parresia which comes from pas (all) and reo (to utter or pour out). The essential word picture here is that all pours out of you; you hold nothing back. This idea makes you bold and unrelenting, especially in your speach. But what makes us bold? Love.

Have you ever….

Been tempted? (Matt. 4:1-11)
Been misunderstood? (Matt. 13:53-57; Jn. 6:52-66; 7:35, 36; Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32)
Been ridiculed and mocked? (Matt. 27:27-31, 38-44)
Faced a difficult decision? (Matt. 26:36-46)
Been laughed at? (Matt. 9:23, 24)
Been angry? (Jn. 2:13-17)
Been envied? (Jn. 11:45-48; Matt. 27:18, 19)
Been falsely accused? (Matt. 26:59-63)
Been treated unfairly? (Jn. 19:4-16)
Felt alone? (Matt. 27:46; Mark 14:32-42)
Felt afraid? (Luke 22:39-46)
Been abandoned? (Jn. 16:32; Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:50)
Suffered unjustly? (Luke 23:13-25)
Been abused? (Matt. 26:67-68; 27:26-31)
Loved someone without being loved in return? (Luke 13:34; Mark 10:17-22)
Been frustrated? (Matt. 9:1-8; 12:22-29; 15:16; 16:21-23)
Gone hungry? (Matt. 4:2)
Been ignored? (Mark 1:40-45)
Been homeless? (Matt. 8:18-20)
Been unappreciated? (Luke 17:12-19)
Been wounded by a close friend? (Luke 22:54-62; Matt. 26:47-50)

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

John is furthering his command for us to love one another. The verb tense of the second love in verse 11 is actually the infinitive, meaning that the verse should probably be "So we ought to be loving one another." There is a clear sense of present action here, saying that this should already be happening, and if it isn't, it must start now.

Loving one another is truly important. We cannot see God. We cannot touch Him. I believe we can feel Him in our spirits, but at the present time, our interaction with Him is still pretty limited. So how do we know God is real? How do we feel God in our hearts? According to John, it is by loving one another!

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

I apologize for being a little late this week. Yesterday and today have been rather hectic, and I don't like to rush this. So let us begin chapter 4:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Remember that this is a letter and that the chapter divisions came later. John has not fully changed thoughts here, but has flowed from speaking of the Holy Spirit to speaking about false spirits. This coincides with his message in the last section as well which is based on true and false Christians.

22and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

I wanted to point out one particular word in this section: entole or commandment. This word is a key word in this apostle, being highlighted in three section: 2:3-8, 3:22-24, and 4:21-5:3. Let us reconsider what John says in chapter two:

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

This is a passage talking about assurance. Now we who have been involved in the C/A debate know about assurance. Calvinists often say that they are assured of their salvation because they have been predestined before the foundation of the world, and know that they cannot loose what they have been given.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

It is a real shame that John never made it to the third chapter in his other epistles, because he seems to have this magic touch with the sixteenth verse of third chapters. Oh well.

Coming out of his analogy of Cain as the bad example, John is commanding us to do the opposite. While Cain laid down his brother's life for his own, Christ laid down His own life for us. Thus, we should emulate Christ, laying down our own lives for our brothers.

12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.