Study
1 From the Books of John is: The Epistle of 1 John 2:28-3:10
We
enter today upon the second section of the Epistle.
- 2:28 -3:3. The apostle, having begun in verse 29 to show that the test of sonship is righteousness of life, is carried away by the marvel of the new birth into a rapturous outburst of wonder and joy. Whence comes our shonship? How does the world regard it? What will be its future glory? How should this affect us now? Cf. Col. 3:4, 5.
- 3:4-9. These verses resume and expand the truth of 2:29. What five reasons are given to show that sinning is utterly incompatible with being a child of God?
Notes
- 2:28. This verse gives clear proof that John, no less than Paul and Peter, believed in the Lord's second coming. See also 3:2; 4:17
- 2:29. 'Born of him': the first reference of sonship in this letter.
- 3:6-9. These verses do not mean that a Christian is incapable of sinning, nor that one sin is proof of an unregenerate nature, but that it is impossible for a true child of God to persist in habitual sin.
