Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Scratching
the Surface of John's Three Letters
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God's love has
been most clearly and conclusively expressed in Jesus.
That's/He's the
gospel!
Our clearest and
most conclusive love for God is expressed when we love Him like He has loved us
in Jesus.
That's real
gratitude; or as John wrote, "Let us not love in word or talk but in deed
and in truth."
Our gratitude in action authenticates
our comprehension/trust aka faith
in Jesus being God's love in
action.
It's the
difference between a religion about Jesus that's kinda Christian in that it
goes through some of the motions of being Christian and a relationship with
Jesus that increasingly goes through more and more and more of the motions of
being Christian; or as John wrote, "No one who abides in Him keeps on
sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him... We
know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning."
In short, it's
all about Jesus and loving Him by loving like Him.
John's three
letters include four major themes of Biblically Christocentric fidelity: (1)
Jesus is Lord and Savior and only Jesus is Lord and Savior; (2) Forgiveness is
fleshed out by Him and His; (3) Love is faith in action; and (4) The Church's
reason for being is heavenly.
Jesus is Lord
and Savior and only Jesus is Lord and Savior.
John's letters
are consistent with the other 24 New Testament witnesses to the unique place of
Jesus in God's plan of salvation: "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the
Christ has been born of God...Who is it that overcomes the world except the one
who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?...He is the true God and eternal
life ."
Moreover, John
identifies anyone antagonistic to the unique place of Jesus in God's plan of
salvation as anti-Christ
or an accomplice of evil's main motivator whose goal is stealing salvation from
souls: "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is
from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from
God...Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he
is in God...Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
That is the antichrist, he who denies the Son has the Father...Deceivers have
gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in
the flesh...Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have
God...[and echoing Romans 16:17ff.]...If anyone comes to you and does not bring
this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for
whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works."
Forgiveness is
fleshed out by Him and His.
Jesus clearly
spelled out the connection between Him forgiving us and us forgiving them: "If you forgive
others, you will be forgiven. If you do not forgive others, you will not
be forgiven...The measure you give will be the measure that you get!"
Putting it
crudely, grudge-holders are gravediggers and the only graves being dug are
their own!
William Barclay
often observed it's easier to get forgiveness from God than most people who are
putting their unforgiving souls in jeopardy because of what Jesus said about
unforgiveness; and John shows how in one sentence: "If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."
Love is faith
in action.
John highlights
active love as proving the veracity of professed faith: "...[remembering
Jesus said the evil one is a liar and its followers are liars]...Whoever says I
know Him but does not keep His commandments in a liar...Whoever hates his
brother is still in darkness...We should love one another. We should not
be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother...Everyone who
hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal
life...Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
The Church's
reason for being is heavenly.
John's letters,
like the entire book, has one goal - getting people pointed in the right/His
direction: "We are writing these things so that our joy may be
complete...I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of
God that you may know that you have eternal life...I have no greater joy than
to hear that my children are walking in the truth.'
Maybe that's why
some of our friends refer to themselves - their mission - as the salvation army.
When we are close
to Jesus, we share His reason for being - praying and laboring for everyone's
salvation.
That's love.
That's God.
That's people who
get it/Him.
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...to be continued...
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Blessings and Love!
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