Rev. Ronald C. Purkey,
Pastor
___________________________________________________________________________
The following Bible study outline was
prepared by Rev. Ronald C. Purkey for
the Adult Bible Class at Paul’s Chapel where Rev. Purkey is the teacher.
___________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION: In First John Chapter One we see first the prologue of the epistle, then
we shall see how the “little children,” as John calls believers, may have
fellowship with God.
John has written to meet the first heresy which
entered the church, Gnosticism. The
Gnostics boasted of a “super knowledge”. They accepted the deity of Jesus but
denied His humanity. Notice how John will give the true Gnosticism -- that is, the true knowledge of God.
A. Christ’s Eternity, Humanity, And Deity. (1:1-2)
1. The Foundation. (1:1)
The doctrinal foundation of all true fellowship is
the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There can be no true fellowship with those
who hold false views concerning Him. The first two verses teach His eternity
and the reality of His Incarnation. The same One who existed from all eternity with
God the Father came down into this world as a real
The reality of His Incarnation is indicated by the
fact that the apostles heard
Him, saw Him with their eyes, gazed upon Him with deep
meditation, and actually handled
Him. The Word of life was not
a mere passing illusion, but was a real Person in a body of flesh.
2.
The Confirmation. (1:2)
Verse two confirms that the One who was
with the Father, and whom John calls “that eternal life”, became flesh and dwelt among us and was
seen
by the apostles.
The following lines by an unknown author show the
practical implications of these first two verses for our lives:
“I am glad
that my knowledge of eternal life is not built on the speculations of
philosophers or even theologians but on the unimpeachable testimony of those
who heard, saw, gazed at, and handled Him in whom it was incarnate. It is not
merely a lovely dream, but solid fact, carefully observed and an accurately
recorded fact.”
B. John’s Message Of Fellowship And Joy. (1:3-4)
1. The Fellowship. (1:3)
The apostles did not keep this wonderful news as a
secret, and neither should we. They realized that the basis of all fellowship
is found here and so they declared it freely and fully. All who receive the
testimony of the apostles have fellowship with the Father, with His Son
Jesus Christ, and also with the apostles and all other believers.
How wonderful that guilty sinners should ever be brought into fellowship with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ!
And yet, that is the very truth which we have here.
“His Son Jesus Christ.” Jesus and Christ is one
and the same Person, and that Person is the Son of God. Jesus is the name
given to Him at birth, and therefore speaks of His perfect humanity. Christ
is the name that speaks of Him as God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. Therefore,
in the name “Jesus Christ”, we
have a witness to His humanity and to His deity. Jesus Christ is very God of
very God and very Man of very
2.
The Joy. (1:4)
But why does John thus write concerning the
subject of fellowship? The reason is that our “joy may be full.
John realized that the world is not capable of providing true and lasting joy
for the human heart. This joy can
only come through proper relationship with the Lord. When a person is in
fellowship with God and with the Lord Jesus, he has a deep-seated joy that cannot be disturbed by
earthly circumstances. As the poet said, “The
source of all his singing is high in heaven above.”
We Are “Sheep”
“Some Christians try to go
to heaven alone, in solitude. But believers are not compared to bears or lions
or other animals that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are sheep in
this respect, that they love to get together. Sheep go in flocks, and so do
God’s people.”
-- Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
II. GOD IS LIGHT (1
A. We Accept God’s Message. (1:5)
Fellowship describes a situation where two or more
persons share things in common. It is a communion or a partnership. John now
undertakes to instruct his readers as to the requirements for fellowship with
God. In doing so, he appeals to the teachings of the Lord Jesus when He was
here on earth.
Although the Lord is not quoted as having used
these exact words, the sum and substance of His teaching was that
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. By this He meant that
God is absolutely holy, absolutely righteous, and absolutely
pure. God cannot look with favor on any form of sin. Nothing is hidden with
Him, but “all things are naked and open
to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb.
B. We Will Not Walk In Sin. (1:6)
Now it follows that in order for a person to be in fellowship
with God, there can be no hiding of sin. Light and darkness
cannot exist in a person’s life at the same time, any more than they can exist
together in the room of a home. If a man is walking in darkness, he is
not in fellowship with God. A man who says he has fellowship with Him
and habitually walks in darkness was never saved at all.
C. We Must Be Christians. (1:7)
On the other hand, if one walks in
the light, then he can have fellowship with the
Lord Jesus and with his fellow Christians. As far as John is concerned in this
passage, a man is either in the light or in darkness. If he is in the light, he
is a member of God’s family. If he is in darkness, he does not have anything in
common with God because there is no darkness in God at all.
Those who walk in the light, that is, those who are
Christians, have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
continually cleanses them from all sin. All God’s
forgiveness is based on the blood of His Son that was shed at
DWYSYAGTD
In bold,
black type these capital letters adorn the wall behind the desk of an army
colonel in the
We believers,
too, must walk the talk. Our integrity (or lack of it) reveals the depth of our
relationship to Jesus Christ. What words of promise or commitment have you
uttered to God or other people in the last weeks?
How well are
you following through on your words? Remember that Jesus experienced all the
types of temptations that trip us up, yet He never failed to do His Father’s
will. We read about Christ’s integrity in
And thank Jesus Christ for the privilege of abiding in Him. – David C. Cook
Publishers, Bible-in-Life
A. The Claim. (1:8 & 10)
1.
Truth. (1:8)
Then again, fellowship with God requires that we
acknowledge the truth concerning ourselves. For instance, to deny that we
have a sinful nature means self-deception and untruthfulness. Notice that John
makes a distinction between sin
(1:8) and sins (1:9). Sin refers to our corrupt, evil
nature. Sins refers to evils
that we have done. Actually what we are is a lot worse than anything we have
ever done. But, praise the Lord, Christ died for our sin and our sins.
Conversion does not mean the eradication of the sin
nature. Rather it means the implanting of the new, divine nature, with power to
live victoriously over indwelling sin.
2.
Honesty. (
In order to be in fellowship with God, we must not
deny that we have committed acts of sin. God has stated over and over in His
word that all have sinned. To deny this is to make God a liar. It is a flat contradiction
of His word, and a complete denial of the reason the Lord Jesus came to suffer,
bleed, and die.
Thus we see that fellowship with God does not
require lives of sinlessness, but rather requires that all our sins should be
brought out into His presence, confessed, and forsaken. It means that we must
be absolutely honest about our condition, and that there should be no hypocrisy
or hiding of what we really are.
B. The Confession. (1: 9)
Though John uses we primarily to
refer to himself and the other apostles as eyewitnesses of Christ (1:1), here
the term includes all believers who confess
(acknowledge) sin. God says that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. To confess
is to agree with Him, to admit that we are sinners in need of His mercy.
If a believer confesses his or her specific sins to
God, He will cleanse all
unrighteousness from that person. Forgiveness and cleansing are
guaranteed because God is faithful to His promises. Those
promises are legitimate because God is just. God can maintain His
perfect character and yet forgive us because of the perfect and righteous
sacrifice of Jesus, His own Son (2:2)
C. The Cure. (2:1-2)
1. Jesus our Advocate,
(2:1)
Jesus is the believer’s “advocate” (Gk. paraklētos, lit. “one called alongside”). The word “advocate” is a courtroom term
for a person who defends and pleads the cause of someone on trial. Used in this
context, Jesus is the one who intercedes before God the Father on behalf of the
sinner. This same word is used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe the
work of the Holy Spirit.
2.
Jesus our Propitiation. (2:2)
Jesus is also the believer’s “propitiation”, which
suggests reconciliation and satisfaction. In the Old Testament, this
word presents the idea of soothing the anger or judgment of an injured party. A
similar form of the word designates the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:5). Jesus’ blood
covers the sinner, who then stands in favor with God (1
If we would know God’s power to heal
And cleanse us from within,
We must acknowledge when we’re wrong—
Confessing it as sin.
-- Fasick
CONCLUSION: I had the privilege of serving as a group leader at a
Christian camp near
THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: “Confession
is agreeing with God about our sin.”
PASTOR RONALD PURKEY’S OFFICE
E-Mail: Pastor Ronald Purkey
·
Return to Other Bible Study Outlines