John and Jude Overview

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As I have explained in the past, one of the reasons I am doing this blog is I am curious to see what kind of messages one might get from reading the bible. What might one learn as a take-away. Here is my quick summary of the good and bad from 1, 2 & 3 John and Jude

I have been trying to categorize the various items so that similar items will be next to each other. I will start with the categories that have all good items, next show categories with some good and some bad items, then finish with categories with all bad items.

Good

--Mercy--

Jude 22 Help those who need it

"And have mercy on those who doubt"

--Selfishness--

1 John 1:3 You should share good things in life with other people

"that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

--Skepticism--

1 John 4:1 Don't believe everything you hear

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Jude 4 Be aware of enemies in your midst

"For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Good and Bad

--Faith--

1 John 2:4 If you really have faith you will do works

"Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him"

1 John 3:22 God will give us whatever we ask for

"and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him"

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God

"No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."

--Love--

1 John 3:17 Love each other and help those in need

"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?"

1 John 3:18 Talk is cheap, show love with your actions

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

2 John 5,10-11 Love those who agree with you, hate those who don't

"love one another"

"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."

Bad

--Apocalypse--

1 John 2:18 It is the last hour

"Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour."

Jude 18-19 End times prediction

"They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit."

--Church Politics--

1 John 2:23 You can't worship God without Jesus

"No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also."

1 John 5:10 If you don't believe in Jesus you make God a liar

"...Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son."

3 John 9 Petty bickering between church leaders

"I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority."

--Evil--

1 John 1:8 We are all sinners

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

1 John 2:16 the world is evil, sex is bad

"For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world."

1 John 3:6 If you sin you can't be with God

"No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him."

--Fear--

Jude 23 Use fear tactics if necessary

"save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh."


1 John 4:18 Love casts out fear

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."

1 John 5:19 Satan has power over the whole world

"We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

--Justice--


1 John 3:15 Murder and hate are the same

"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

--Knowledge--


Jude 10 Punished for ignorance and following God given instincts

"But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively."

--Persecution--


1 John 3:13 Persecution complex

"Do not be surprised, brothers,that the world hates you."

--Sin--


1 John 5:18 Christians don't sin

"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him."


Jude 8 Sex, disobedience, and blasphemy are the worst sins

"Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones."

--Teachers--


1 John 2:27 You don't need teachers, you get everything you need to know from Jesus

"But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him."

1 John 5: Christians don't Sin

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Overcoming the World (v. 1-5)

Everyone who believes Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
Everyone who loves the father loves whoever is born of Christ.
Therefore, anyone who loves God and obeys his commandments loves the children of God.

Well, if you believe the 2 premises the conclusion logically follows. It seems to say that everyone who loves God also loves all Christians. This is simply not born out in reality, there are certainly different groups of Christians that hate each other.

God's commandments are not burdensome.

Depending on which commandments you are talking about, I would argue that this isn't true. The kosher laws certainly do seem to be a pain in the ass. If we want to look at the 10 commandments, what about the fact that we aren't supposed to covet? That is not only a burden, I would argue it is impossible. If my neighbor has better stuff than I do, how can I help that I wish I had better stuff as well?

I don't want to go into the details on this one, but I looked at Guzik's take here, he starts with the following statement "Some Christians feel very burdened by the commandments of God, yet John insists that they are not burdensome." He then continues on for 4 paragraph explaining how it is not burdensome if you love God enough.

Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, this is a victory of our faith.

I'm not exactly sure what overcoming the world means. Given that 'the world' is often talked of as the source of all evil, I'm guessing that overcoming the world has to do with being 'Godly' while being surrounded by worldly things. It is absolutely silly to say that every Christian succeeds in this. Furthermore, even if I'm misunderstanding what 'overcoming the world' means, it is still an outrageous statement, no matter what, there are some Christians out there who will have failed. Unless of course you throw in a no true Scotsman fallacy.

Guzik says "The idea that anything born of God could be defeated by this world was strange to John and it should be strange to us." Whether or not it is strange, it seems to happen.

Testimony Concerning the Son of God (v. 6-12)

Jesus came not just in water but also in blood, and the spirit testifies that this is the truth.

I'm not sure what this means exactly, but him coming in blood I'm guessing is referring to the fact that he came physically, and not just spiritually.

"Through the centuries, there have been many different ideas about exactly what John meant by this phrase. “This is the most perplexing passage in the Epistle and one of the most perplexing in the New Testament.” (Plummer, cited in Boice)" At least I'm not alone :)

The testimony of god is greater than the testimony of men.

But where is the testimony of God? Even the bible is written by men, and not by God, so at best this testimony is second hand. Furthermore, just yesterday we learned that no one has ever seen God, so how can I be expected to trust them that they are giving me testimony from God?

Whoever does not believe in the testimony from God concerning Jesus is a liar.

This actually kinda pisses me off. It's one thing to say I'm wrong, I don't have a problem with that, but to call me a liar is bullshit. To call me a liar here implies that I in fact know that Jesus is real, but I am intentionally suppressing that knowledge. That is wrong, I do not believe in Jesus, no part of me deep down believes in Jesus. This type of thinking is the height of arrogance, they are so sure their position is correct, they think everyone else knows it is correct and they are all lying to themselves. I see this kind of crap regularly from Christians, it's ridiculous. 

After looking at a few commentaries, it appears that it is not saying you are a liar, but that you are calling God a liar. I am going to just say this translation is shit, I parsed the pronouns incorrectly, Gill points out that another translation says "hath made God himself a liar" instead of "Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar". Fair enough, so instead of John calling me a liar, he says I'm calling God a liar. Although I guess he's talking about Jews of the time, and I guess they were saying John was wrong, and he retaliated by calling them liars.

That You May Know (v. 13-21)

If we ask anything of Jesus he will hear it.

I find it interesting that he doesn't go as far as saying that he will grant it, just that he will hear it. Seems to be a touch of backpedaling from what was written before.

If you see a brother committing a sin that doesn't lead to death, ask God to give him life. Some sins lead to death, we shouldn't pray for that.

If the sin doesn't lead to death, why do we need to ask God to give life? As for the sins leading to death, why are we saying not to pray for that? Is there an expectation that we would pray for those sins? The wording is confusing. In fact, this whole chapter uses pronouns poorly, it is hard to tell what is really meant.

Everyone born of God does not keep on sinning.

Again, it says that Christians don't sin.

The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Why would an omnipotent God allow such a thing?

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Bad:

1 John 5:10 If you don't believe in Jesus you make God a liar

"...Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son."

1 John 5:18 Christians don't sin

"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him."

1 John 5:19 Satan has power over the whole world

"We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

1 John 4: Love Casts Out Fear

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Test the Spirits (v. 1-6)

There are many spirits out there, you need to test them to see which are from God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not is not from God.

First, I thought we were not supposed to test God, 

Luke 4:12 And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

okay, I know this is a spirit from God, and not God or Jesus directly, but it feels the same to me. Think of it from the perspective of a random guy, he needs to decide who to believe. Some dude claims to be Jesus, he is not allowed to test Jesus because that is testing God and not allowed. Of course there are false prophets, so if a false prophet claims to be Jesus our random guy is just fucked because if his first thought is that it might be Jesus, he is not allowed to test him. But if it is a spirit, he is supposed to test him? It just seems inconsistent to me.

Second thought, this seems like a pretty easy test for an impostor spirit to pass. All he has to do is claim that Jesus came in the flesh, then he can tell you anything else he wants. We better hope none of those spirits ever get their ethereal hands on a bible.

God Is Love (v. 7-21)

Anyone who loves was born of God, and anyone who does not love does not know God.

I love my wife, does that mean I know God?

Guzik says that every display of love doesn't have to be from a Christian, but our capacity to love comes from God because we were created in his image.

v18 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."

But I thought God wanted us to fear him. For example, recently in 1 Peter 1 we saw that God wants to rule us through fear. If you want more examples, a quick google search reveals many examples.

Now, this is an item for my summary, as I want to be able to reference it later to put as contrast to other verses which say fear is a good thing, but do I count this item as good? I don't think it's good, love doesn't cast out fear, you can love something and still have fear in regards to it, for example, you could love someone and be afraid for their safety. Ask any parent whose kid is doing something dangerous. If anything, there is an argument that this would be bad, as it might make people think they don't really have love as they still have fear. I think I'll just put it as "interesting"

Guzik has an explanation for this, which I want to quote here

What about the many passages of Scripture, Old and New Testament (such as Ecclesiastes 12:13 and 1 Peter 2:17), which tell us we should fear God? The fear John writes of here is not the appropriate reverence we should all have of God, but the kind of fear which involves torment - that agonizing kind of fear which robs our soul of all joy and confidence before God. It is the fear that is the opposite of boldness in the day of judgment.

Basically, his explanation is that we are talking about different kinds of fear, this is a translation issue. So I decided to take a look at the lexicon. The current verse (1 John 4:18) uses phobos, which is "panic, flight, fear, the causing of fear, terror". This is the kind of fear we should not have according to Guzik's interpretation. If we look at 1 Peter 2:17 we get phobeisthe, which is "to put to flight, to terrify, frighten", which doesn't read as that much different to me. And wouldn't you know, it also says that the origin of phobeisthe is phobos, I think there is a pretty good argument that we are talking about the same kind of fear. 

[note: added after I recorded the podcast as I noticed this during recording]

v12 "No one has ever seen God..."

This seems like a pretty obvious contradiction, my understanding is that Moses talked to God, didn't God tell him what to write for the part of the old testament that he wrote? And certainly Moses talked to God when he went up the mountain to get the 10 commandments, right?

Guzik claims that no one has seen God because he is invisible. He then addresses the complaint I had with the following quote from Boice:

The Old Testament theophanies, including the apparently contradictory statement in Exodus 24:10, did not involve the full revelation of God as He is in Himself but only a suggestion of what He is in forms that a human being could understand.

Basically, the claim is that anywhere it says they saw God, they didn't really see God, they saw the avatar of God which isn't quite the same as seeing God. This is utter nonsense as far as I am concerned. The bible says plainly that they saw God, not that they saw a facsimile of God, but they saw God. If you want to say that they thought they saw the real God but they didn't actually see God, fine, but you have to admit that you are just making stuff up to reconcile some obviously contradictory verses. Otherwise, cite an actual source.


For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

1 John 4:1 Don't believe everything you hear

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Interesting

1 John 4:18 Love casts out fear

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God

"No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."

1 John 3: Hate and Murder are the same

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Children of God [cont.] (v. 1-10)

We are children of God and we shall be like Jesus because Jesus is pure and we purify ourselves in him. If you sin you are with the devil, if you know Jesus you will not keep on sinning. By this is it evident who is of God and who is of the devil.

Didn't we just learn in 1 John 1 that we are all sinners? That anyone who says they are not a sinner is a liar? Now this says that if you are with God you are no longer a sinner. It follows logically that no one is with God.

Guzik tries to explain this with grammar. He argues that in 1 John the grammar indicates occasional acts of sin, whereas the grammar here indicates living a life of sin. Let's examine this, for the verse here, it says "keeps on sinning", I suppose this could go either way, but it feels to me like it is saying that there is never a point in which you stop sinning altogether. What does it mean to say no one who abides in Jesus keeps on sinning? It sounds to me like it is saying once you are with Jesus you never sin again. What about 1 John 1:8? It says "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." I suppose his argument works here, if everyone has a little sin now and then, then they can't say they have no sin. Given the source material, I think he has done the best that can be done, but it looks to me that we have contradictory messages here. I guess you just have to judge for yourself.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown say that we are talking about the ideal of a Christian. They say "Not that 'whosoever is betrayed into sins has never seen nor known God'; but in so far as sin exists, in that degree the spiritual intuition and knowledge of God do not exist in him." So their argument is that as far as you sin, that much you don't know God. As far as I read it, this goes pretty contrary to what the actual book says. Furthermore, we have seen plenty of times in the bible where all sins are equated, if you lie you deserve hell just as much as if you murdered. With this in mind, I think this way to justify the verse falls flat.

Love One Another (v. 11-24)

You should love your brother, not hate him. Cain hated Abel because his deeds were righteous so he killed him. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.

Whoa, let's stop right there. Hate and murder are the same thing? I know you are making a Cain and Abel analogy here, but hate and murder are quite far apart.

Here is Guzik's take on this: "To hate our brother is to murder him in our hearts. Though we may not carry out the action (through cowardice or fear of punishment), we wish that person dead. Or, by ignoring another person, we may treat them as if they were dead. Hatred can be shown passively or actively." I could not disagree with this more, and honestly, the fact that he would read this passage and then have this take-away demonstrates the negative impact reading the bible could have on someone who is so invested in it being correct. I've hated people, I've never wanted to kill anyone, to say that I have murdered someone in my heart is absolutely ludicrous. To imply that I have only not killed those people because I am a coward or that I fear punishment is also quite silly.

v13 "Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you."

Persecution complex once again.

Both Guzik and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown take this as a given.

Jesus laid his life down for us, we should be willing to do the same for our brothers. If you have worldly goods and are able to help someone out who is in need, and you refuse, how is it possible that God's love abides in your heart. Don't just talk about loving your brothers, let your deeds speak for you.

You should help people out who are in need, this I can get behind.

Sometimes your heart might condemn you, but God is greater than your heart. If you keep the commandment to believe in Jesus, then God is in you.

Had a bit of trouble summarizing that paragraph, but basically it seems to be saying that you might sometimes want things that you are not supposed to want, but with God you can overcome your impulses.

Guzik says that "our heart condemns us before God" is about us feeling like we aren't really worthy of God, and the part about God being greater than our hearts is that we shouldn't take those feelings too seriously, because God is with us even though we have those feelings.

If we keep God happy with us, he will give us whatever we ask for.

We are back to faith I guess, this is basically the thing that Jesus talked about, if you really believe then you can move a mountain with a prayer. What nonsense. But even if we assume that moving a mountain is hyperbolic talk from Jesus, here we are still saying that we can get whatever we want if we really believe. I would argue there are plenty of believers who have cancer and really believe that prayer will heal them, and yet God doesn't cure their cancer.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

1 John 3:17 Love each other and help those in need

"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?"

1 John 3:18 Talk is cheap, show love with your actions

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."


Bad:

1 John 3:6 If you sin you can't be with God

"No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him."

1 John 3:13 Persecution complex

"Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you."

1 John 3:15 Murder and hate are the same

"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

1 John 3:22 God will give us whatever we ask for

"and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him"

1 John 2: Faith without works is a lie

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Christ Our Advocate (v. 1-6)

I am writing this so that you won't sin, but even if you do Jesus is a great advocate for you if you know him. If you say you know him but do not keep his commandments you are a liar. But if you do know him and keep the commandments then the love of God is working in you.

This actually seems to settle the faith versus works discussion we had before. Some versus seem to say that faith is all that matter, others say that works are important. This one ties them together saying that if you truly have faith then you would do the works, and if someone doesn't do works it is evidence to us that they don't really have faith. This is essentially the argument I have heard come from various religious people, but this is the first time I recall seeing it actually in the bible.

The New Commandment (v. 7-14)

I'm not writing you a new commandment, but and old commandment that you already had from the beginning. Also, I am writing a new commandment. The darkness is passing away and the light is shining.

What? I guess the idea is that it is the same old ideas but a new twist on it?

Guzik says that the sense that is is old is that it has been preached to these people during their whole lives. That seems like a pretty crappy explanation to me. Gill seems to say it has been written on people's hearts all along (even Adam) and therefore isn't new. This makes a little more sense, but I still don't think it's great. Seems like they are just trying to have it both ways.

Do Not Love the World (v. 15-17)

 Do not love the world or the things in the world, because God isn't in that stuff. Do not love the desires of the flesh or take pride in possessions, they will pass away with the world. But whoever loves God will abide forever.

Same old message, bad things come from the world. Again, the problem here is that God created the world, so ultimately God is responsible for the evil things as well. The other thing that is interesting here, is that it says not to love the world or the things in the world. On the surface this would seem to be saying that we should only love God and not love anything in the world, although I suppose we could also love "godly" things in the world, such as the church. At any rate, it seems quite open to interpretation, and I think it is poorly written at best.

Guzik spends quite a bit of time talking about this, but basically it comes down to "the world" being bad things. Specifically, he says "it is the community of sinful humanity that is united in rebellion against God." Is this a reasonable interpretation of "the world"? I suppose if you must carve things up as "things for God" and "things against God" then one might call the things against God "the world", except that plenty of things that are for God are in the world, so it seems somewhat silly to me.


Oh, and one last thing, it is talking about things that are bad, so of course one of two examples given is sexuality "desires of the flesh". 

Warning Concerning Antichrists (v. 18-27)

There are many antichrists, anyone who denies the father and the son is an antichrist. We know it is the last hour because so many antichrists have come.

They seem to be equating antichrist with nonbeliever, or perhaps apostate, but at any rate, they have said that many antichrists have come, and therefore we know the end is near.

The fact that the Christians seem to have no good answer to this is telling. Guzik says that "we should regard ourselves as being in the last few minutes", which is absolutely absurd thousands of years later. Gill at least tries a little harder. He first discusses what is doesn't mean (the last hour of the Jewish state, the last hour of the gospel dispensation, or the last hour of the actual world itself). But if it isn't the last hour of those thing, what is it the last hour of? Clearly it is "the last hour of the apostolic age. All the apostles were now dead, John was the last of them". At least this is an answer, unlike what Guzik had to offer, but seriously? Is the compelling to anyone? I think it is much more likely that they thought the end of the world was near.

If you deny the son, you also deny the father.

This is a direct challenge to Jews if I am reading it correctly. It seems to be saying that not accepting Jesus means you are rejecting God as well.

This last bit I didn't notice until I recorded the podcast, but verse 27 is pretty anti-intellectual.

v27 "...you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie..."

Basically the message here seems to be that you get everything you need from the bible, and you have no need to learn anything from anyone else. I can't help but think of evolution.

Guzik tries to whitewash this by saying that the holy spirit has given us what we need to learn the truth. But he goes on to say "This is not to say that teachers are unnecessary, because one of the resources for knowing the truth is the reminder given by teachers like John." If teachers are still good, then why does the bible say "no need that anyone should teach you" and "his anointing teaches you about everything"?

Children of God (v. 28-29)

You should follow Jesus, so that when he returns you can be confident in your righteousness and not shrink away.

This message sure does seem to lose some punch a few thousand years later.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

1 John 2:4 If you really have faith you will do works

"Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him"

Bad:

1 John 2:16 the world is evil, sex is bad

"For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world."

1 John 2:18 It is the last hour

"Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour."

1 John 2:23 You can't worship God without Jesus

"No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also."

1 John 2:27 You don't need teachers, you get everything you need to know from Jesus

"But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him."

1 John 1: We are all Sinners

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As usual, with a new book let's take a look at the wikipedia page. Apparently this book was written to counter the idea that Jesus came in spirit only, and not in the flesh. It seems pretty highly agreed upon by scholars that this book was written by the same person who wr['ote the gospel of John and 2&3 John. It also seems pretty highly agreed upon that it was written at the end of the first century.

The Word of Life (v. 1-4)

"the life" was made manifest to us by God. We have seen it, heard it, touched it, and now we are telling everyone about it so that they can have fellowship with us.

I'm not exactly sure what "the life" is, but my best guess is Jesus himself. At any rate, what is being said here, is that John and his friends have seen this thing that they are excited about. They are telling everyone about it so they can worship along with them. Although I would argue that this is misguided, I think their intentions are quite good here. These people have seen something that they think is miraculous and makes them very happy, and they are trying to share that with everyone.

Walking in the Light (v. 5-10)

God is light, so we should walk in the light to be with God and have fellowship with one another. To do this we must confess our sins. If we claim to have no sin, we are liars and we walk in the dark, we also make Jesus a liar and his words are not in us.

This message is basically that we are all sinners, this is a big message for Christianity and as far as I am concerned is completely toxic. The very idea that claiming to be without sins automatically makes us a liar is terrible. What a horrible view of humanity must be necessary to believe such a statement. Also, I don't understand how us lying leads to Jesus also being a liar.

According to Guzik, if we confess our sins then we can be in the light and have fellowship, but we are not sin free, this avoids a potential apparent contradiction where it says confession cleanses us of sins but if we say we are sin free we are lying. You would think "being cleansed of sin" and "having no sin" would be the same, but apparently not.


For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

1 John 1:3 You should share good things in life with other people

"that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

Bad:

1 John 1:8 We are all sinners

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."