Really Knowing Christ

1 John 2:1 CSB

My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.

vv. 1-2

We covered some major ground here last time, what else is there?

Teaching (writing) to avoid sin, but if we sin we have an advocate (παράκλητος…advocate, helper, comforter, assistant [legal])

The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…limited atonement...

vv. 3-6

Context of this paragraph, who is the subject? (vv. 3, 5 = “We know…how we know”

How do we know we know Jesus? (vv. 3, 4, 5 = τηρέω—keep, observe, obey; v. 6 = περιπατέω—walk [about], behave, conduct ourselves, live)

v. 5...Keeping leads to in us the love of God being ‘made complete.’ What does this mean? (τελειόω—accomplished, made perfect, completed)

v. 6…How does one remain in him? (abide, nothing to do but be ‘done’)

vv. 7-14 [7-11 & 12-14]

So, vv. 7-11…an old, not new; yet new? How do we explain this? (based in OT truth…and revealed through Jesus in the Gospel(s) and other NT writings)

To borrow from Tony Evans, what do we mean by saying ‘horizontal Jesus?’ (evidence of love for God is love for others…the brothers and sisters first; also one’s enemies as well.)

Now, vv. 12-14…What do we make of the familial language here? Literal or figurative? (Figurative; do we think this way?)

1 John 2:14 CSB

I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, God’s word remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.