The Grace Bible 1-3 John & Jude by Paul Ellis J. Tofflemire summary
Intro: Grace declares that God is for us and with us, and he freely gives us everything we need for life and godliness. Grace is what makes the New covenant new, and makes the good news, good. Acts 20:24 “But life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s mighty kindness and love.” TLB Keywords of Grace in the cited book: These stood out to me: Beloved= the Father is fond of you, a believer, and says you are his dearly loved child. Abide= To dwell, rest or make your home in the love of Christ, and not be unsettled or distracted. Faith=Faith is the means by which we receive the blessings of heaven; It’s the conduit down which grace flows. Fellowship= describes the partnership of participation all believers have in the life of the godhead. As He is, so are we in this world(1John 4:17). Grace=is the goodwill, loving-kindness, and favor of God freely given us. Love of God= In the old covenant, we are commanded to love God, but in the new, God loves us first, and out the overflow of His love we are empowered to trust him and love others. (1 John 2:5,4:7) Light= The world was in darkness, but God sent his son to be the light of the world; we are to walk in the light. Prayer= We know he hears and answers our prayers in our time of need. Our faith is strengthened when we pray in the spirit.(Jude 1:20) Truth, the= God is the source and definition of truth and the godhead., also for the Word. Here is I John 1:3 NASB “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life 2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” P.12 “You weren’t made to be alone, but designed to live out our connection with the Author of Life. ‘Fellowship with us’ means more that going to church. It’s also living out our connection with Christ and is body; having our believers hearts knitted together in love”. John 15:5 “I am the vine and you are the branches”1
John 4-7 “ This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” The Truth is another name for Jesus
1John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” John is writing this to nonbelievers. John 2:2 “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” John 2:3-4 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;” Here john is not talking about believers, but false prophets and hypocrites. Jesus desires to know all of us and helps us in this. John 2:5-6 “but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.” The evidence of our fellowship with the Lord is that we are fully persuaded that god loves us. John 2:7-8 “Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.” The new commandment is- “to Love one another as I have loved you” 1John 2:9-11 “The one who says that he is in the Light and yet hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother and sister remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause stumbling. But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” The light is to be in Jesus; resting and trusting in him, not being anxious or unsettled. 1John2:12-14 “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you on account of His name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains(abides) in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” 1John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, ‘the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life‘, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.” The world refers to the system under the influence of the devil and dark powers. In italics are the temptations that undid Adam. 1John2:18-19 Children, it is the ‘last hour;’ and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that [a]it would be evident that they all are not of us. The last hour means the final homeward stretch. 1John 2:20-21 “But you have an ‘anointing‘ from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” Anointing refers to the indwelling power of the holy spirit and grace of God given us. 1John 2:22-23 “Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” 1John 2:24-27 “As for you, see that what you heard from the beginning remains(abides) in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself ]made to us: eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. And as for you, the ‘anointing’ which you received from Him remains(abides) in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His ‘anointing’ teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you remain(abide as in the vine) in Him.” 1John 2:28-29 “Now, little children, remain(abide) in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not ‘draw back” from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also has been born of Him.” this appears is his second coming. This draw back is wasting our lives living captive to fear.
1John 3:1-2 “See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” God loves us and calls us His Children. When He appears, we will be like him.-Means When he returns we will be transformed and our worn out bodies will be replaced with imperishable ones. There are 3 kids of change: Past-sneer to child, Future-Get now body , and Present: will be discussed further-on going transformation. 1John 3:3 and everyone who has his hope set on Him, purifies himself, as He is pure. Those who fix their gaze on Jesus find themselves shrugging off all filth and clutter. 1John 3:4-6 “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who Abides in Him sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or knows Him.” Vs, 4 is directed to unbelievers.(who practice sin) Vs. 6 Abides in Him-The one who dives into Him will be cleansed from sin and its power over him. Those who abide in Him leave their sinful habits at the door. If they are captive to sinful habits, their revelation of Jesus is incomplete. It is understood that believers has some sin, but they are not captive to it. So it is a battle against our sinful nature and we should not be passive about it. Every day we can slip back and need to re-abide in Him often. 1John3:7-8 “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” Vs. 7 We are righteous because of the One who lives in us and we follow Him. The fruit reveals the tree., Vs.8 The devil tried to end us , but Jesus came to end him, and gives us victory over the devil. 1John 3:9-10 “No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister.” Vs. 9 Born of God is a spirit filled believer; practices sin- means makes it a habit, wallows in it. Vs. 10 God sees the heart; but we often can’t see the heart, but do see the fruit. 1John4:1-3 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.”We are to test the spirits. 1John 4:4-6 “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” the World contains false prophets, deceivers and satan. Our spirit can overcome this. 1John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.: 1John 4:9-11 “By this the love of God was revealed [a]in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the [b]propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1John 4:12-14 “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” 1 John 4:15-16 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love remains in God, and God remains in him.” the last phrase notes we have the holy spirit. 1John 4:17-18 “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” 1John 4:19-21 “We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.”
1John 5:1-3 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and follow His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we ‘keep His commandments’; and His commandments are not burdensome.” Believers are born of God or born again. ‘Keep His commandments’- means believe in His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another. (The new commandment of 1 John 2:8) 1 John 5:4-5 “For whoever has been born of God ‘overcomes the world’; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Overcomes the world- means Spiritual warfare is less about shouting at the devil and disease and more about believing Jesus is the Lord over whatever situation we face. 1John 5:6-8 “This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” The water=Christ’s baptism and receiving the holy spirit ; Blood= his death and sacrifice on the cross for our sins. (some say also the last supper). ( some also say the water is the spiritual nature and the blood the human nature-being both God and man) the 3 witnesses could be 1 the holy spirit given at baptism,2 God speaking then and 3 the many human witnesses of his life miracles and resurrection.(blood). 1John 5:9-10 “If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.” 1John 5:11-13 “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” 1John 5:14-15 “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” 1John 5:16-17 “If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” When our brothers or sisters are stumbling in sin, we should not condemn them, but pray that God would lead them in the way of live. We don’t pray for the dead. Sin is destructive. 1John 5:18-19 “We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” No one who has been born of God sins or continues to sin, because he carries the sinless nature of Christ. Sinning is abnormal behavior for the child of God. Much of the world remains under the power of darkness (Eph. 6:12) 1John 5:20-21 “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
2 John1:1-3 “The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth which remains(abides) in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” The elder means the apostle John. The chosen lady means a lady church leader and her group. Believers have the spirit of truth in them. John1:4-6 “I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received a commandment to do from the Father. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you are to walk in it.” New command=to love one another as I have loved you. John 1:7-9 “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who [b]goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” John1:10-11 “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting [c]participates in his evil deeds.” Do not give them a platform to speak. John1:12-13 “Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak [a]face to face, so that your joy may be made complete.” I read 1John 3 and have only a few comments. Garius was a friend of John and may have led the Pergamum church. Diotrephes was arrogant and had a bad influence on the church. Demetrius was a friend of John and led the Philadelpia church. Jude 1:1-3 “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.” This James was the leader of the church in Jerusalem and a step brother of Jesus as was Jude. He may not have believed Jesus was the messiah until after the resurection. We also need to be servants of Christ. Jude 1:3-4 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand ]marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” We need to contend for the truth and oppose false teaching. We can lose our freedom in 2 ways: legalism and licentiousness. The 2nd says do what you want, as we are under grace and not the law. Jude 1:5-7 “Now I want to remind you, though you know everything once and for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place, these He has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” Jude 1:8-9 “Yet in the same way these people also, dreaming, defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak abusively of angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him an abusive judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Dreaming= making stuff up. Abusive Judgment=let God be the judge. Jude 1:10-11 “But these people disparage all the things that they do not understand; and all the things that they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have given themselves up to the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.” Error of Balaam=idol feasts & sexual immorality. (Num. 25:1-30) Jude 1:14-16 “It was also about these people that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord has come with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.” Enoch was the father of Methuselah. Enoch’s prophesy was in the book of Enoch.1:9 Jude 1:17-19 “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, [a]worldly-minded, [b]devoid of the Spirit.” Jude 1:20-21 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” Pray in the spirit, use tongues. We are to be watchful and ready, but not put our lives on hold. Jude 1:22-23 “And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” Help those who are doubting before its too late. Beware of excess self-righteousness. Jude 1:24 Make you stand= Christ sustains and sanctifies us.