1 JohnEverlasting Mercy Fellowship

1st John 2:7-11

1st John 2:7-11 (ESV) 7 Beloved, I am writing you no new

commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Question of the day: Who is this? Who is his neighbor?

Question of the day: Who is this?

The Big Question: What is a Christian?

What is a Christian? What does a Christian look like? How are they identified? What motivates a Christian?

Flander’s Theology vs. Biblical Theology

A head scratcher from John

John starts out by saying, this is not a “new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning”.

What is he talking about?

Let’s go to John 15:9-17

The proof is in the love we show one another

John 15:9-17 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved

you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

The proof is in the love we show one another

John 15:9-17 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved

you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

The proof is in the love we show for one another

John 13:34-35 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you

love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

How to read scripture: Prescriptive vs. Descriptive interpretation

Biblical Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation as it relates to scripture.

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Prescriptive means we are to imitate it (see John

13:34-35) Descriptive means we should take note of it (see

Jonah 1:17). Is John 2:7-11 descriptive or prescriptive? In closing:

Our motivation to love one another derives from our desire to love and serve God, who revealed His grace to us by entering human history as the God-Man, Jesus Christ. He lived a life we could not live, died a death we could not die and resurrected from the grave 3 days later to make propitiation for us. The Lawyer (Jesus) took the place of the defendant (us) and paid the perfect price for our crime (sin). He gives us His life in exchange for ours thus making it possible for us to stand before a Holy and righteous God. He is the ONLY reason we are allowed into His heaven. Blessed be His name. Amen.

Next Week and Next Month

Next Week Encouragement to the Faithful (2:12-14)

Next Month Warnings Against Unfaithfulness (2:15-17) Warnings Against Antichrists (2:18-27) The Privileges of the Children of God

(2:28--3:3) Remembering Who We Are: The Children

of God (2:28--3:24)