That You May Know

 Week 14: I John 5:13-20 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. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God[a] will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.That You May KnowWe have come to the end of this wonderful book of I John where the apostle John has been giving words of truth to the churches he has been an overseer of. His goal all along is summed up in verse 13 “that you may know”. All he has written about has been done to help believers “know” beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are true Christians. Walking around with doubt is a surefire way to live a very insecure life, and this is NOT God’s will for us. We should walk in confidence because we KNOW that we are IN CHRIST. This was John’s goal for the people of the churches in 1st century AD and the goal for us 2000 years later!Bible study tip: As stated before “repeated” words and phrases are key to meaning. A synonym of a word may be used as well with the same meaning to further solidify a point. Also, short words/phrases also hold meaning such as “and”, “because” ….Remember if something is repeated over and over, it must be important! Your goal should always be to seek to fully understand the “important” (repeated) truths. When you can, write down “truth statements” that you come up with from those key words/phrases. For instance in I John, a truth statement could be IF WE LOVE GOD, WE WILL LOVE OUR BROTHERS. You should have a lot of truth statements from 1 John!Verse 13 contains the purpose of the book of I John. Write out who John is writing to and what the main purpose is according to this verse. What is the confidence we have toward God according to verse 14-15? Write out this truth in your own words. What questions might you have (if any) about the message in these verses?Verses 16-17 are another harder passage to interpret, but just focus on the first part of verse 16. What is our simple responsibility towards other believers when they are sinning? Verse 18 gives a powerful truth about sin in the life of the believer. What is this? What does verse 19 say about the world? How does he contrast that with those who are born of God?What does the Son of God give us according to verse 20? And what is the purpose of this understanding?Who is Jesus Christ according to the last part of verse 20? Write these out as truth statements. How do these truths affect you personally? Verse 21 seems like a really strange way to end this very powerful book. What do you think John means here specifically and why end with this? Hint: think about the original motivation for John to write this book. (what teaching was being circulated)? Wrap up the study of this book by writing down some other truth statements about being a Christian (in Christ) that have been reiterated again and again throughout this book. Some may resonate with you more than others, but all of them are important in your understanding of who you are as a child of God. Commit to meditate on these truths in the coming days so they become a natural part of your thought process in your daily walk with Christ. Knowing the truth is how we truly experience the Christian life in all its fullness! ................
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