Text Comment
v.1
Gaius was perhaps the most common name in use in the Roman Empire in the first century. He is here a man who occupies an important position of responsibility and leadership in a local church – either in a particular hous…
Having completed our sermons on 1 John, it seemed sensible to continue with John’s letters and devote a sermon to 2nd and 3rd John as well. These two little letters, of all the letters in the New Testament, bear the greatest resemblance to the conven…
This morning we complete our series of sermons in the first letter of the Apostle John.
Text Comment
v.18
John sums up by repeating points he has made already in the body of the letter. Once again, John’s categorical and unqualified ma…
Text Comment
v.16
We considered vv. 13-15 two Lord’s Day mornings past and their great encouragement to prayer. Here we learn that John assumed that a great object of our prayers would be the spiritual welfare of our brothers and sisters …
The main argument of the letter is now complete, but typical of the writers of New Testament letters John has a few additional thoughts to add before he is done.
Text Comment
v.14
This is the fourth occurrence of the term “confidence” …
Text Comment
v.6
John picks up on his reference to the Lord Jesus Christ in the previous verse. The reference to the Lord having come by the water and the blood evokes our recollection of the blood and water flowing from the Lord’s side w…
What is perfectly obvious to anyone who reads 1 John right through is that the first five verses of chapter 5 are a summation or wrap-up of the whole argument to this point. In these few verses John recapitulates what he has said so far. If there is …
Text Comment
v.7
Once again, the love that John is writing about is a distinctly Christian love and so its practice proves a person a genuine Christian. John is not talking about our love for God – that is assumed – but our love for one a…
We have been away from First John for a month and a half, so let me remind you where we are in the argument of the letter. In the verses we are about to read, John will finish the second cycle of comment on the three “tests of life.” There are three …
We are in the midst of John’s second rendition of the three tests of genuine, authentic Christian faith. How does anyone know whether he is a true believer in Jesus Christ and, therefore, is in possession of eternal life? How can I be sure that I am …
As we noted last time, we are in the middle of John’s second exposition of what we have called the moral test of true and authentic Christian faith. That is, a true Christian, someone actually in possession of God’s salvation, will live according t…
We return to our series of sermons in 1 John having completed John’s first rendition of the three tests of authentic Christian faith: the moral test (does he or she obey the commandments of God), the doctrinal test (does he or she confess Jesus as th…
I said last time that we would read this paragraph a second time this Lord’s Day and devote special attention to v. 19, the best known of the statements in these verses that we have considered already so I won’t make any comment on the text for this …
I intend to treat this passage twice. This morning I want to consider the third of the three tests of authentic Christian faith that John offers us in this wonderful letter, at least consider it in a general way. Next Lord’s Day I intend to consider …
John is in the midst of a digression. Some of you remember the Rev. Ian Tait, a British pastor, lover of the Puritans, who preached in this pulpit on several occasions some years ago. Mr. Tait was here for a month of sermons on one particular occasio…
Text Comment
v.12
The “for his name’s sake” is certainly a reference to Jesus Christ, harking back to v. 2 of this same chapter.
v.13b
There has been no mention of the Devil to this point in the letter, but there will be subseque…
Text Comment
v.8
We will read in the next verse that the old and new commandment John is talking about is to love our brothers and sisters. It is as old as the Garden of Eden as the law of love was written upon the human heart from the mo…
We have commented on these verses already, as this is the third time we have read 1 John 1:5-10 and the second time we have read 2:1-6. Accordingly, we can read the text with little comment this morning.
Text Comment
v.3
The …
As we make our way into John’s first letter we come to the paragraph that begins chapter 2, but I want to provide its context by reading again from v. 5 of chapter 1.
Text Comment
v.9
I didn’t take time, last Lord’s Day morning, to…
Last Lord’s Day, in introducing this series of sermons on 1 John, I reminded you that the letter was written by the great Apostle with the pastoral purpose of resettling these believers in the grand convictions of their Christian faith. They had rece…
We begin this morning a series of Lord’s Day morning sermons on the first letter of the Apostle John, undoubtedly one of the most beloved and often read books of the Bible. First John, as it is called, is treasured by Christians for its simplicity, i…