Students of the Word

A Discussion of 1 John 2:27: What is the anointing, who has it, how do we get it, and what is it for? And what does it tell us about the anointed one?

Today: The Great Big Confusing Verse!

Finally: we move into verse 26 of 1 John Chapter 2!

A Discussion of 1 John 2:18-25, in which we abide in these verses for so long, you may wonder if you are already experiencing eternal life! Nonetheless, we must get to the bottom of them!

The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, is a liar. The one who denies Jesus and the Father is the antichrist, the anti-anointed one. We explore this theme in this episode, a Discussion of 1 John 2:18-25.

We take another, closer look at these compelling verses, and at the anointing, the anti-anointing, liars and the truth, denying the Father and the Son, and abiding.

Lets talk about what it is that John says we all know - and what it is that is empowering us to know it.

More antichrist talk? A further exploration of "those who went out from us."

We unwind the long and entangled discussion that John gives us on antichrist in verses 2:18-20, paying close attention to the "they went out from us" passage.

A big day for Students of the Word, as we start not only a new section but begin to read about antichrist and the last days. We take as careful a look as we can at the meaning of antichrist, and try to distance ourselves from the cultural associations that surround us in order to try best to discern the meaning in the text. This also leads to an examination of what is meant by an anointed one.

What is abiding? How does abiding in Christ empower us to overcome the Evil One? In this episode we explore exactly those questions.

In chapter 3, we examine the apparent contradiction: God loves the world, and we are to be like God, so why do those who love the world, and the things in it, not have God in them? The astounding answer is in Genesis.

In this episode we deep-dive into I John 2:15-17 and the many different ways John could be using the word 'love' as it relates to loving the world, and the things in it.

Before moving on to verse 15, we spend some time again reviewing the poetic section of verses 12-14. One last time we explore the three questions we must ask when we encounter poetic material. The admonition not to love the world is considered.

In 1 John 2:12-14, John gives a heartfelt address to three different groups within the Christian community - children, fathers and young people - conveying words of encouragement and assurance. His message reinforces the believers' confidence in their relationship with God through Christ and that the foundation of a faith in Christ provides the means to conquer challenges and grow closer to God. I...

We return to the poetry found in 1 John 2:12-14. This time we consider the question of how the poem is connected to the rest of the text and why it has been inserted where it was. Then the relationships between the various chiastic parallel components are compared and contrasted, and an understanding of how these connections impact the overall message is sought.

This is a convicting exploration of 1 John 2:7-11, about the connection between loving our brother and loving the Father, what that love looks like, and how this love affects our position within either the Light or the darkness. John's many reasons for writing are then examined in verses 12-14, with an emphasis on WHO the letter is for, starting with who is meant by the "little children".

In this episode, we spend a good bit of time wrestling with the word choice and syntax of 2:10-11, and in doing so, we stumble across some interesting patterns and questions that shed light on the whole paragraph that we are finishing.

We begin today by returning to verse 9 and thinking through what exactly it means to hate your brother. Do we let ourselves off this charge too easily on some technicality or other? Then in verse 10 we consider the implications of John's assertion that the one loving his brother abides in the light. Tune in next time for more on stumblingblocks!

So, hang on -- is the commandment old, or is it new? And in what sense is it true in both Jesus and in us? And what does this have to do with the light and the darkness? This verse is pretty puzzling, even for John, so let's see if we can work through it together.

We start by going back and putting John's statements about the darkness passing away and the true light shining into the larger context of John's teaching in the epistle thus far, looking more closely at the plain meaning of John's words. Doing so leads us to a shocking conclusion! We will then go on to begin discussion of verse 9, in which we will ask who exactly our brother is and in which we wi...

After a look back at how paragraph three fits into the big picture, we plunge ahead into a discussion of I John 2:7, the first verse in paragraph four. Our discussion contains some fun explorations of the Greek, in which we look at the potential implications of John's choice for the pairing "old" and "new", have some fun with verb tenses, and think about the many relevant senses of the phrase "fro...

The last sentence of John's third paragraph brings together all the terms that he has been throwing around in this third paragrah, as well as bringing back one or two from paragraph two and introducing a big new one as well. It is a wonderfully rich and dense sentence, not to mention really tangled up and hard to to follow -- until we notice that John is doing something completely brilliant and be...

Today we went back to complete out discussion not only of I John 2:4 but of the parallel statement that completes the sentence: I John 2:5. We have a lot of very fruitful discussion of what it means to "keep" Jesus's commandments, and then explored the rich and powerful idea of "perfecting" the love of God.

After a look back over where we have come from, we begin discussing the third paragraph of John's epistle, starting in chapter 2, verse 3. After all those "if" statements about deceiving ourselves and making God a liar, we may want to know: How can we be sure? How do we know if we are in community with God? John addresses that squarely in his third paragraph.