I John

Joyce Webb 2018

Chapter 3      Verses 1-11

Verse 1 John tells them—Think about this!!! What wonderful love the heavenly Father has given to us !! We are called the sons of God !!!

This is the reason that the people who are not believers do not understand us or like us. They do not know the heavenly Father.

Verse 2 We are the sons of God. Now— we can not see and really understand —-what we will be in the future.

When Christ comes again, we shall be like him.

We shall see him as he is.

Verse 3 Every person who has this hope will make himself clean and pure. Just as Christ is pure.

Verse 4 Whoever has done sins has broken God’s laws. Sin is breaking God’s laws.

Verse 5 You know that Christ came to take away our sin. Christ had no sin. He never sinned.

Verse 6 Whoever lives and abides (stays) in Christ, will not be doing sin.

Whoever lives his life in sin, has not seen Christ or known him.

Verse 7 John calls the believers, “Little children”—he feels like a father to them.

He says: Do not let any one deceive you. Do not let them talk you into believing things that are not true.

(There must have been some who were teaching—-that a person could do sin or live in sin and still be a “child of God”.

John is telling them—that if you truly are God’s child—you will live like one. God’s children will not be sinning.)

A person who is lives right and does the right things is a righteous person. They are righteous as Christ is righteous.

Verse 8 The person who does sin is of the devil—he is following the devil—not Christ.

The devil sinned from the beginning.

This was the reason Christ came to earth, to destroy the works of the devil.

Verse 9 Whoever is born of God—meaning his spirit has been “born again”—his spirit has been made alive by God’s spirit.

Sin causes the spirit to die. God’s Holy Spirit makes our spirits come alive again. As long as we stay true to God, our spirits stay alive and will live forever.

A person who truly loves God and wants to obey Him, will not walk or live in sin. His desire to please God and obey him will keep him from sinning.

Verse 10 We can tell who are really the “children of God”. They are the ones who walk in righteousness and obey God.

The person who does not walk in a righteous way is not one of His children. Neither is a person who does not love others.

Verse 11 This is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love each other.