Week of November 19, 2017
1 John 2:1-11 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
Discussion Notes
- The term vertical morality, as Paul defined it, keeps us focused on obedience. If we obey God we will be blessed. If we do not, we will not. What is the result of defining a relationship by obedience? What are the pros and cons?
- Paul described the ministry that Jesus brought as new. What made Jesus’ teaching new and the other old?
- What was John really trying to teach us about Jesus’ commands? In 1 John 2:1-6. John starts in verse 1 with “This is how you should live...”
- Read 1 John 2:7-11. In what way does John take this from an idea or a concept and force us to see it in our own lives?
- We do our best to exclude ourselves from the camp of people that “hates a brother or sister.” What people/group/person is keeping you from exhibiting horizontal morality?
- What is keeping you from having a right relationship with God and one another?