by Dr. Grant C. Richison
“…let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”
James concludes his epistle with the subject of divine discipline because his main idea throughout the book is to bring the believer back into a living faith [into dynamic […]
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life…”
Two men (Paul and John) wrote nineteen books of the 27 in the New Testament. John wrote five books: the gospel of John, the […]
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life…”
which we have heard
John now verifies the apostles’ experience. The “we” in this phrase represents the apostles. The apostles visually encountered the person of […]
“…the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us…”
the life was manifested,
John continues to emphasize the authenticity of the apostles’ seeing the humanity of Christ in person to counteract the false doctrine that Christ was […]
“…the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us…”
which was with the Father
Jesus in His eternity lived with the Father in eternity past. This is the preincarnate existence of the eternal Son. The Lord did not […]
“…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Entering the eternal life of the Son will produce two results:
1) fellowship with fellow believers,
2) fellowship with the Father and the Son.
that which […]
“…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Genuine fellowship has a substructure, a spiritual platform. That substructure is not our personalities or capacity for friendship but something more substantial than […]
“And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”
John rounds off his prologue to 1 John with a personal touch – he wants their joy to be complete in knowing the basis of their fellowship (1:1-3).
And these things we write to you
John explicitly writes in the name of a number […]
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
We come to the first major division in the epistle. John now turns to the fundaments of fellowship with God. We measure the reality of our fellowship with God by […]
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
and in Him is no darkness at all
The Greek is very emphatic – “no darkness whatsoever.” There is not even a speck of darkness in the nature of God.
God’s […]
You are currently browsing the archives for the month February, 2001.
Longer entries are truncated. Click the headline of an entry to read it in its entirety.