I.
This week we will consider three passages from 1 John.

As you read these passages a few times, what do you notice that “ties” the passages together? Does one word stand out? Does a repeated phrase stand out? What do you notice repeated that may hold these readings together for you?

II.
1 John 4:2-3

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. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.

1 John 4:13-17

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

1 John 5:4-5

… for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

III.
One of the phrases I notice is, “By this we know …”

What do you think the writer wants his readers to notice the most deeply?

And we might then ask, what does the writer think should follow from that?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}