We feel enormously uncomfortable distinguishing between those who are Christian and those who are not within the church. John doesn’t. In fact, he has left the church tests by which to identify genunie Christianity from false. The reason this matters … Read more
Tag: Truth
1 John 4.13-21. Love, truth & fear (Trinity)
Perfect love drives out fear. In this part of his letter John gives the struggling Christian church assurance about the signs they belong to Jesus namely: the Spirit of God has led them to believe the truth that Jesus is … Read more
1 John. Reprise. Keep yourself from idols
John wants uncertain and damaged communities to have certainty, assurance in God. The certainty that John wants Christians to have is a discerning and tested assurance – not an unexamined fundamentalism. His path to certainty and assurance are truth (about … Read more
John 1:1-18. That you may believe
In our culture we seek God on our own terms and for our own reasons. Seeking God has become a self-salvation project, another assertion that we are the standard that judges all things – including God. Against this John tells … Read more
Proverbs (6). Words
The greatest number of warnings we are given by the ancient school of wisdom concerns our use of words. Our culture has too many words (a sign of its foolishness according to Proverbs) so we are prone to thinking our … Read more