Saturday, September 13, 2008

First John purpose statements

So I know this isn’t probably the coolest ever blogging topic.  But I’m in a Bible study that’s studying First John right now.  And since this blog is really more of a journal, and intended to be rather eclectic in nature, and since it’s what I’ve been thinking about, I decided to post about it.
First John is one of those books that just doesn’t flow for me.  I’m happy to study it because I always get so lost reading it.  So one of the first things we did was to notice purpose statements.  Why does John say that he wrote this book?  Here’s my results:
Reference Text
1:4 to make our joy complete
2:1 so that you may not sin
2:12 because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake
2:13 because you know Him who has been from the beginning

because you have overcome the evil one

because you know the Father
2:14 because you know Him who has been from the beginning

because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.
2:21 because you do know it [the truth]
5:13 so that you may know that you have eternal life (you who believe in the name of the son of God)
Did I miss any?
Isn’t that a huge amount of encouragement?!? It surprised me to look through this list and realize that this book was meant to be uplifting and encouraging to believers. I want to keep that context in mind as I work through the book in a little finer grain. This book is clearly for believers, and clearly intended to build them up.

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