Tuesday Questions
Questions
1 John 2:1-11 - Phillips Translation
Love and obedience are essentials for living in the light
2 1-2 I write these things to you (may I call you “my children”—for that’s how I think of you), to help you to avoid sin. But if a man should sin, remember that our advocate before the Father is Jesus Christ the righteous, the one who made personal atonement for our sins (and for those of the rest of the world as well).
3-6 It is only when we obey God’s laws that we can be quite sure that we really know him. The man who claims to know God but does not obey his laws is not only a liar but lives in self-delusion. In practice, the more a man learns to obey God’s laws the more truly and fully does he express his love for him. Obedience is the test of whether we really live “in God” or not. The life of a man who professes to be living in God must bear the stamp of Christ.
7-11 I am not really writing to tell you of any new command, brothers of mine. It is the old, original command which you had at the beginning; it is the old message which you have heard before. And yet as I give it to you again, I know that it is true—in your life as it was in his. For the darkness is beginning to lift and the true light is now shining in the world. Anyone who claims to be “in the light” and hates his brother is, in fact, still in complete darkness. The man who loves his brother lives and moves in the light and has no reason to stumble. But the man who hates his brother is shut off from the light and gropes his way in the dark without seeing where he is going. To move in the dark is to move blindfold.
6. What is the significance of John addressing his letter to “his children”, especially before speaking of their sin?
7. Chapter 1 ended with John speaking of the need to “confess” our sins. Now he speaks of the need to “avoid” sin. Is there a difference? Or is this just a change of translations?
8. How is our sin dealt with differently from sins committed by the world? Explain verse 2. What does the word “atonement” or “propitiation” mean?
9. What are “God’s laws” referred to here? They obviously can’t mean Israel’s law covenant. How do we “really know” him? How are we liars if we don’t obey them?
10. Why does John emphasize “obedience”? How do we test our own obedience?
11. What does John mean when he says, “the darkness is beginning to lift and the true light is now shining in the world”?
12. What is the relationship between loving our brethren and moving in the light?