Bible Class: Beloved, Love One Another

Theme

Assurance of salvation through love, truth, and identifying false teachers.

1 John 5:13 (NKJV)

13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Date

No definitive date but more than likely toward the end of John’s life.

Purpose

The saving truth was being threatened by the lure of worldliness and false teachers.

Author

The author is not given but the writing is similar to the Gospel of John.

1 John 1:1 NKJV

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—

John 1:1–3 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Outline

The basis of fellowship 1.1-2:27

The characteristics of fellowship 2:28-5:3

The results of fellowship 5:4-21

Basis of Fellowship

1 John 2:28 NKJV

And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

1 John 2:29 NKJV

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

1 John 3:1 NKJV

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

1 John 3:2 NKJV

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

1 John 3:3 NKJV

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

1 John 3:4 NKJV

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

1 John 3:5 NKJV

And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

1 John 3:6 NKJV

Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

1 John 3:7 NKJV

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

1 John 3:8 NKJV

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:9 NKJV

Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

1 John 3:10 NKJV

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:10 NKJV

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:11 NKJV

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,

1 John 3:12 NKJV

not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

1 John 3:12 NKJV

not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

1 John 3:13 NKJV

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.

1 John 3:14 NKJV

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.

1 John 3:15 NKJV

Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

The Outworking of Love

1 John 3:16 NKJV

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

1 John 3:17 NKJV

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

1 John 3:18 NKJV

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:19 NKJV

And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.

1 John 3:20 NKJV

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

1 John 3:21 NKJV

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.

1 John 3:22 NKJV

And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

1 John 3:23 NKJV

And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

1 John 3:24 NKJV

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 John 4:1 NKJV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:2 NKJV

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

1 John 4:3 NKJV

and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

1 John 4:4 NKJV

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:5 NKJV

They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.

1 John 4:6 NKJV

We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Knowing God Through Love

1 John 4:7 NKJV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:8 NKJV

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:9 NKJV

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

1 John 4:10 NKJV

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:11 NKJV

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

1 John 4:12 NKJV

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

1 John 4:13 NKJV

By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

1 John 4:14 NKJV

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

1 John 4:15 NKJV

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

1 John 4:16 NKJV

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:17 NKJV

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

1 John 4:18 NKJV

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

1 John 4:19 NKJV

We love Him because He first loved us.

Obedience By Faith

1 John 4:20 NKJV

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

1 John 4:21 NKJV

And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Matthew 5:44 NKJV

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

Matthew 5:45 NKJV

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.