December 27, 2007 10:40 AM
Rich wrote:
I first have to say the I read Guzik's commentary, so some of my thoughts are enhanced by what I saw there. I agree with Mac that this commentary is really good because it just states fact and gives little (at least little to none that I see) opinion or church doctrine. To me, it amplifies the scriptures so that I can draw my own conclusions and/or make my own applications.
That said, several things jump out at me from I John 1. First, either we have to believe what John says or we have to absolutely declare him a kook! Either he is completely believable or he is totally insane, crazy, a lunatic. John says directly that he and others saw, heard, spoke with, touched, smelled, ate with (all of the senses that I know about) essentially GOD!!! He directly says, God became a physical, human being. The eternal word of life that the Jews (and apparently Greeks) knew to be GOD himself, "was manifested to us." He became real. Jesus is God as a man. There is no way to water this down. It is either all real or John and the others are all nuts.
Second, Jesus is the only character in history that I know about who is said to be eternal in the past. I have heard about eternity meaning from this point forward. All people had a beginning - they did not exist before birth. But Jesus is said to be eternal from the beginning of the world, from creation (and actually before that because the word - Jesus - created the world). Jesus not only goes on forever, he goes back forever. I find this to be a very fascinating and important distinction about Jesus versus every other spiritual leader. Are any other spiritual leaders claimed to have lived forever (backwards)? Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Brigham Young, Gandhi, ...? Not to my knowledge. Makes the statement "no one comes to the Father except through me" much more meaningful!
Third, though I do not understand it, there really is a trinity. God the father, Jesus and the holy spirit. I do not understand why this is true. Why it is so important that there is a trinity? Is it to make it all easier for us to understand? How did God become a man (Jesus) and yet he was still able to watch over the world as God? How is God able to be everywhere at once unless the spirit of God is everywhere? It is almost like how does Santa deliver all of those presents on one night? In and of itself, it is totally unbelievable. Maybe the trinity idea was given to us by God to help us picture, understand. Or maybe it is to show what perfect relationships are about. I do not know, but I know that John obviously understood there to be a separate though united father and son (Jesus).
Fourth, the message John wants us to completely understand is that "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." That is the most important message for us to understand. God is perfect. Everything he does is perfect. There are no questions. He is who he is and that is that. He is God!!! We either accept all he says or not - period. Reply to this
December 27, 2007 10:56 AM
Rich wrote:
(I am kinda wordy today). Fifth, I need Jesus desparately because the pure and simple fact is that without Jesus I have absolutely no chance to have a relationship of any sort with God. God is perfect, I am a sinner. God is light, I am darkness. God is pure, I am evil. These don't fit together. There is no fellowship possible without Jesus.
Sixth, through Jesus, we have a way to have a relationship with God. But it requires that we see ourselves the way we really are. We have to walk in the light. That is, we have to see ourselves as sinners. We have to be open to our faults and weaknesses. Not that we have to walk around in sack cloth and ashes. Not that we have to beat ourselves up constantly. Not that we have to think of ourselves as being anything lesser than anyone else. We just need to see who we are and acknowledge who God is and let God know that we need Jesus. We need to show God that we really love and appreciate him. In the OT, God is described as a jealous God. I think in a way that is true. God does not want anyone or anything to stand between him and us (especially ourselves). God wants me to know and understand that compared to him, I am nothing. But that through Jesus, I can have fellowship with God himself and I can have incredible relationships with others.
Finally, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confess means see my sin, see myself the way God sees me. I need to try to see myself through God's eyes. What do I look like through God's eyes? UGHHHHHH!!!! God sees every thought and deed that I do. To God, I am totally dirty, ugly, sinful! He is light and I am darkness. Not just a sin or two that I have committed in the past, that is what I am always! So, to confess my sins means to see myself the way God sees me. To understand my relationship with God. To see my need for God. If I do this, God will forgive me of my sin and PURIFY me from ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. Wow. This is great stuff. Reply to this
December 27, 2007 1:17 PM
Sam wrote:
When I read this short chapter this morning I realized that there is so much to it, that it would take lots of space to talk about it. I will keep mine short today--Rich summed it up excellently. I often wonder how John REALLY knew what to write here. Did the Holy Spirit actually put in his mind what to write down, or was he simply retelling what he had learned from Christ Himself....after all, John WAS with Him. Can you imagine getting such a letter in the church. After this short introductory paragraph, what would you be thinking about the absent author? As Rich says: "was he crazy?", or was he simply revealing one of the many deep mysteries God has created for us. If you knew Joh, or had heard of him (and probably most people who were read this initial letter in one of their gatherings probably had), then you probably wouldn't be surprised at what he had to say. I'll bet there was lots of discussing in fellowship after the service was completed during which this letter had been read. Light-darkness. Deceipt-truth. Fellowship. Blood. Purification. Sin. Confessions. Faith. Unfaithfulness. Forgiveness. Joy. These are but a few of the subjects I bet energized a lot of folks to sit around and discuss when they heard it for the first time. John also got into their faces a little bit here (later on in the book, he uses the term 'my children' several times--a term of endearment) by telling them they are in sin and need to confess. And if they do, then God is forgiving. Probably this one little chapter holds more gems than most of Proverbs when it comes to understanding God and our salvation. Maybe I'll reread it tomorrow before reading the second chapter. Reply to this
I first have to say the I read Guzik's commentary, so some of my thoughts are enhanced by what I saw there. I agree with Mac that this commentary is really good because it just states fact and gives little (at least little to none that I see) opinion or church doctrine. To me, it amplifies the scriptures so that I can draw my own conclusions and/or make my own applications.
That said, several things jump out at me from I John 1. First, either we have to believe what John says or we have to absolutely declare him a kook! Either he is completely believable or he is totally insane, crazy, a lunatic. John says directly that he and others saw, heard, spoke with, touched, smelled, ate with (all of the senses that I know about) essentially GOD!!! He directly says, God became a physical, human being. The eternal word of life that the Jews (and apparently Greeks) knew to be GOD himself, "was manifested to us." He became real. Jesus is God as a man. There is no way to water this down. It is either all real or John and the others are all nuts.
Second, Jesus is the only character in history that I know about who is said to be eternal in the past. I have heard about eternity meaning from this point forward. All people had a beginning - they did not exist before birth. But Jesus is said to be eternal from the beginning of the world, from creation (and actually before that because the word - Jesus - created the world). Jesus not only goes on forever, he goes back forever. I find this to be a very fascinating and important distinction about Jesus versus every other spiritual leader. Are any other spiritual leaders claimed to have lived forever (backwards)? Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Brigham Young, Gandhi, ...? Not to my knowledge. Makes the statement "no one comes to the Father except through me" much more meaningful!
Third, though I do not understand it, there really is a trinity. God the father, Jesus and the holy spirit. I do not understand why this is true. Why it is so important that there is a trinity? Is it to make it all easier for us to understand? How did God become a man (Jesus) and yet he was still able to watch over the world as God? How is God able to be everywhere at once unless the spirit of God is everywhere? It is almost like how does Santa deliver all of those presents on one night? In and of itself, it is totally unbelievable. Maybe the trinity idea was given to us by God to help us picture, understand. Or maybe it is to show what perfect relationships are about. I do not know, but I know that John obviously understood there to be a separate though united father and son (Jesus).
Fourth, the message John wants us to completely understand is that "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." That is the most important message for us to understand. God is perfect. Everything he does is perfect. There are no questions. He is who he is and that is that. He is God!!! We either accept all he says or not - period.
Reply to this
(I am kinda wordy today). Fifth, I need Jesus desparately because the pure and simple fact is that without Jesus I have absolutely no chance to have a relationship of any sort with God. God is perfect, I am a sinner. God is light, I am darkness. God is pure, I am evil. These don't fit together. There is no fellowship possible without Jesus.
Sixth, through Jesus, we have a way to have a relationship with God. But it requires that we see ourselves the way we really are. We have to walk in the light. That is, we have to see ourselves as sinners. We have to be open to our faults and weaknesses. Not that we have to walk around in sack cloth and ashes. Not that we have to beat ourselves up constantly. Not that we have to think of ourselves as being anything lesser than anyone else. We just need to see who we are and acknowledge who God is and let God know that we need Jesus. We need to show God that we really love and appreciate him. In the OT, God is described as a jealous God. I think in a way that is true. God does not want anyone or anything to stand between him and us (especially ourselves). God wants me to know and understand that compared to him, I am nothing. But that through Jesus, I can have fellowship with God himself and I can have incredible relationships with others.
Finally, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confess means see my sin, see myself the way God sees me. I need to try to see myself through God's eyes. What do I look like through God's eyes? UGHHHHHH!!!! God sees every thought and deed that I do. To God, I am totally dirty, ugly, sinful! He is light and I am darkness. Not just a sin or two that I have committed in the past, that is what I am always! So, to confess my sins means to see myself the way God sees me. To understand my relationship with God. To see my need for God. If I do this, God will forgive me of my sin and PURIFY me from ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. Wow. This is great stuff.
Reply to this
When I read this short chapter this morning I realized that there is so much to it, that it would take lots of space to talk about it. I will keep mine short today--Rich summed it up excellently. I often wonder how John REALLY knew what to write here. Did the Holy Spirit actually put in his mind what to write down, or was he simply retelling what he had learned from Christ Himself....after all, John WAS with Him. Can you imagine getting such a letter in the church. After this short introductory paragraph, what would you be thinking about the absent author? As Rich says: "was he crazy?", or was he simply revealing one of the many deep mysteries God has created for us. If you knew Joh, or had heard of him (and probably most people who were read this initial letter in one of their gatherings probably had), then you probably wouldn't be surprised at what he had to say. I'll bet there was lots of discussing in fellowship after the service was completed during which this letter had been read. Light-darkness. Deceipt-truth. Fellowship. Blood. Purification. Sin. Confessions. Faith. Unfaithfulness. Forgiveness. Joy. These are but a few of the subjects I bet energized a lot of folks to sit around and discuss when they heard it for the first time. John also got into their faces a little bit here (later on in the book, he uses the term 'my children' several times--a term of endearment) by telling them they are in sin and need to confess. And if they do, then God is forgiving. Probably this one little chapter holds more gems than most of Proverbs when it comes to understanding God and our salvation. Maybe I'll reread it tomorrow before reading the second chapter.
Reply to this