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Day 356 God is Love
Agape Bible Study 1 John 4-5
CHAPTER 4
1 John 4:1-6 ~ Testing the Spirits: The Spirit of God Versus the Spirit of Antichrist
In this passage, John returns to a theme he raised in 2:15-17. He is drawing the contrast between those who belong to the world and the spirit of antichrist versus those who belong to God. His teaching concerns the distinction between the opposing "spirits" of those who are false and the need to discern which spirit is of God.
1 John 4:7-12 ~ God Is Love and the Christian Life
1 John 4:7-12 repeats Jesus' teaching on love in the Gospel of John 15:9-17. In His Last Supper Discourse, Jesus told His disciples:
9 As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that your joy might be complete. 12 This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. [...] 16 It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. 17 This I command you: love one another.
Notice the progression of "to love" that developed from the Gospel of John 15:9 and then expands in verses 12 and 17:
- The Father loves Jesus (verse 9).
- Jesus loves His disciples (verse 12).
- The disciples must love one another (verse 17).
In John 15:10, Jesus told the Apostles that they would remain in His love IF they kept His commandments, a theme the Letter of 1 John repeated in 3:21-24.
1 John 4:13-21 ~ Remaining in God's Love
This passage is a summary on the love of God and returns to the incompatibility between claiming to love God and refusing to love others. In His Last Supper Discourse in John's Gospel, Jesus repeatedly spoke of remaining/abiding in Him and in His love.
In verse 17, John returns to the theme of love from verse 12 on how God brings His love to completion in us.
CHAPTER 5
PART III: Love for One Another Concluded
1 John 5:1-5 ~ Loving God Means Keeping His Commandments
John returns to the central theme of his Letter: the unshakable bond of love between God and His children, begotten by Him in the Sacrament of Baptism, and who obey His commandments. In addition to what he wrote in chapter 3 concerning the command to believe in the Son of God (3:23-24), John offers 4 more variations of this call in chapter 5:
- Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves also the one begotten by him. (5:1).
- Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (5:5)?
- Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son (5:10).
- I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God (5:13).
For John, belief in Christ is the foundation of love. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah begotten by God, and everyone who loves God the Father also loves the Son begotten by Him (Jn 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 Jn 4:9).
Question: How are the two statements, "everyone who believes" and "everyone who loves" related? How is John unifying two of his major themes in verses 1 and 2?
Answer: John is unifying the two themes of belief in God's only begotten Son and love for one another in the covenant family. The one who genuinely believes that Jesus is the Redeemer-Messiah and only-begotten Son of God shows that he/she has also been begotten by God.
1 John 5:6-12 ~ The Testimony of the Spirit of Truth
In this part of his Letter, John leaves revisiting the main themes from earlier in the Letter to take up a testimony of three witnesses.
Question: What are the three witnesses that testify, and to what do they give their witness?
Answer: The three are the water, the blood, and the Spirit, intended to confirm the physical death of Jesus Christ.
Water alone or water and the Spirit can refer to Jesus' baptism by St. John the Baptist and the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove with God's announcement from Heaven that Jesus is His "beloved Son." However, this is not only what John wants his readers to recall. In John 19:30, 34-35, John wrote concerning Jesus' death on the Cross: and bowing his head, he handed over the spirit ... but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe (bold added for emphasis).
John wants those who receive his Letter to connect verses 6-8 not only with Jesus' baptism but also with His death when He breathed out His Spirit upon the earth (Jn 19:30), and water and blood flowed from His pierced side, imaging the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. The three: the Holy Spirit, water (baptism), and blood (Eucharist), symbolize the birth of the New Covenant Church.
1PART IV: The Epilogue
1 John 5:13-21 ~ Having Confidence That God Protects Us From Evil
In these verses, John gives a summary of what he has covered in his Letter. He concludes his message with his concern that his readers know the truth of God and His gift of eternal life that comes from the knowledge of God through the shared communion of their covenant relationship with the Most Holy Trinity. John will use the Greek verb "to know" seven times (1 Jn 5:13, 15 twice, 18, 19, 20 twice.
As children of a Divine Father, we have confidence in our prayers because of our intimate relationship with our Lord. Earlier, John assured his readers that they could approach God confidently in prayer; however, like what he wrote in 2:22, he adds a qualification in verse 14. Earlier he wrote: Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God 2:22 and receive from him whatever we ask because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him (1 Jn 2:21-22).
Question: What two conditions does John list in 2:22 and 5:14?
Answer: We must live in obedience to God's commandments (2:22) and make our petitions "according to His will" for our lives (5:14).
By asking according to God's will and purpose for our lives, John means we should pray for those things that are consistent with His commandments and what He has revealed as right and just in our lives. We can ask Him for assistance with necessary material needs (Mt 6:11), but not for extravagant desires. We should also ask for Him to strengthen our faith, holiness, knowledge, unity with Him and His Church, and for the salvation of others (Jn 17:9-21.Here is the crux of our faith: Jesus is God, and He possesses the power to forgive sins and give the gift of eternal life. As St. Peter told the Sanhedrin at his trial: There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Agape Bible Study 1 Timothy 1 - 3
Chapter 1: Greeting and Sound Teaching
1 Timothy 1:1-2 ~ Paul's Greeting to Timothy
The letter begins with Paul identifying himself as the author of the letter and as an apostle, "one sent" or "an emissary," of Jesus the Messiah. He is "an apostle" by the divine command of God the Father and God the Messiah, God the Son. It is significant that the Greek word Paul uses for "command" (epitage) means more than the "will" (thelema) of God, a word Paul uses in other letters to ground his apostolate (1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1). The word epitage "connotes a published decree, command, or injunction that countermands any other custom or order, used often in secular Greek for a mandate of the highest authority" (Montague, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: First and Second Timothy, Titus, page 31).
1 Timothy 1:3-11 ~ Sound Teaching and a Warning against False Doctrine
Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus sometime before he left to visit churches previously founded in the Roman province of northern Greece. He first visited Ephesus toward the end of his second missionary journey in the mid-fifties AD (Acts 18:19-21). After his departure, the Christian preacher Apollos and Paul's good friends Aquila and Pricilla established a church home in Ephesus. Paul returned to Ephesus on his third missionary journey and remained with the community for a long time before being forced to leave (Acts 19-20).
Question: What is St. Timothy's first assignment?
Answer: He must halt the spread of false teaching in Ephesus.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 ~ Paul's Past and Gratitude for God's Mercy
Question: How is Paul a living example of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ? See the story of Paul's conversion experience in Acts Chapter 9.
Answer: He is an example of how God can transform a sinner into a saint! He went from Paul the persecutor of Christians to Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, destined to bring salvation to the Gentiles!
1 Timothy 1:18-20 ~ Timothy's Special Commission
The "prophetic words" spoken about Timothy may refer to a prophetic revelation during his ordination associated with his gift of preaching and leadership. Paul makes a similar reference in 4:14 where he writes: Do not neglect the gift you have, which conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate.
Hymenaeus is probably the same false teacher in Ephesus mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17. Alexander may be the same Jewish Christian from Ephesus mentioned in Acts 19:33 and 2 Timothy 4:14-15 who cause Paul "much harm."
Chapter 2: Public Prayer and Women in the Liturgy
This section of Paul's letter concerns prayer in the Liturgy of worship:
- The first half concerns intercessory prayer for civil and ecclesial leaders (2:1-7).
- The second half concerns the attitude of men and women in liturgical worship (2:8-15).
1 Timothy 2:1-7 ~ Prayer to God for Civil and Ecclesial Leaders
5 For there is one God.
There is also one mediator between God and the human race,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
6 who gave himself as ransom for all.
This was the testimony at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
In the Liturgy of worship, Paul asks for four forms of intercession:
- Supplications: the action of asking for something earnestly and humbly.
- Prayers: the response to the awareness of God's presence.
- Petitions: a request for God's intervention in human affairs.
- Thanksgivings: the act of giving thanks for God's intervention.
2 for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.
Question: Paul requests prayers for what two groups in authority over the Ephesian Christians?
Answer: He requests prayer for the pagan civil rulers and for the Christian religious authorities.
Since God governs every aspect of human history, even secular rulers exercise authority only because God allows it. Therefore, secular rulers will govern more effectively if we appeal to God for their guidance.
That Jesus is the "one mediator between God and the human race" (verse 5) declares that the gift of eternal salvation is through Jesus and no other. As St. Peter professed at Pentecost, There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved (Acts 2:12, also see Acts 4:12). Moses was the covenant mediator between Israel and God in the Sinai Covenant, but only Jesus has the power to reconcile the world to the Father in the bonds of the New Covenant:
- And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18).
- Now he [Jesus] has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises (Heb 8:6).
- For this reason he [Jesus] is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance (Heb 9:15).
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all.
This verse repeats Mark 10:45 when Jesus said, "For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Some misinterpret the "all" and the "many" to mean all people of every human condition are saved through Jesus sacrifice whether they believe in Him or not. To come to salvation is the destiny for which God created us. St. Peter wrote that God is not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pt 3:9b). While it is true that Jesus offered up His life as a sacrifice for all sinners, not all sinners will "come to repentance," confess their sins, and accept His gifts of forgiveness and eternal salvation.
Chapter 2 Continued: 2:8-15
1 Timothy 2:8-15 ~ The Role of Men and Women in the Liturgy of Worship
In the Sinai Covenant, for the first time in salvation history, God established a corporate covenant with a united people, an ordained priesthood, The Law, and a liturgy of worship. It the desert Sanctuary and later in the Jerusalem Temple, the God-ordained liturgy of worship and sacrifice continually renewed and strengthened God's relationship with His covenant people generation after generation.
The New Testament tells us that Jesus Christ fulfilled and transformed the institutions of the Sinai Covenant entrusted to Israel. This fulfillment and transformation included the hierarchy of religious leadership. In the Sinai Covenant, God established three tiers of ordained ministry to lead the offering of sacrifice and praise in the Sanctuary and later in the Jerusalem Temple (Ex 28:1-3; Lev 21:10; Num 3:9-10). Babylonians destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in the 6th-century BC and exiled the people to Babylonia. During the covenant people's 70 years of captivity in Babylon, they continued to meet in their communities to study the Scriptures. After they returned from the Babylonian exile, they rebuilt the Temple. The people went to live in their villages throughout the land and continued the custom they started in Babylon of established local Synagogues where they could study the Scriptures. The prescribed liturgical sacrifices, however, were only offered in the Temple (Ex 29:38-43; Lev 23; Num 28-29; Dt 12:4-14). Both the Temple and the Synagogues reflected a three-part hierarchy:
| Temple Hierarchy | Synagogue Hierarchy |
| High Priest | President of the Synagogue |
| Chief Priests (descendants of Aaron) | Elders |
| Levitical ministers | Servants |
The early universal Church of Jesus Christ and the local church communities also adopted the traditional three-part hierarchy:
| Universal Church | Local churches |
| Vicar of Christ (Pope) | Episcopal (overseer) |
| Apostles and their successors (Magisterium) | Presbyters (elders) |
| Lesser ministers (presbyters and deacons) | Deacons (servants) |
11 A woman must receive instruction silently and under complete control. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet.
Paul has received extensive criticism for this instruction. A similar teaching appears in 1 Corinthians 14:34-36. However, it is necessary to remember the topic concerns the conduct of women in the liturgy of worship. Paul warns that women in the community must not interrupt the liturgical worship with comments or other disruptions.
Women held important positions within the communities of the early Church and were active in the spread of the Gospel. However, women were not ordained to ministerial service like men. Paul's point is that women should not teach from the pulpit, nor should they lead a congregation in offering the sacrifice of Christ in the Eucharist, or have authority over the men in religious leadership roles.
Chapter 3: Qualifications for Ministerial Service
1 Timothy 3:1-8 ~ The Qualifications for Bishops
Paul now addresses the co-workers Timothy will need to accomplish his mission to the Church in Ephesus and their necessary qualifications. At the end of this chapter, Paul presents what could be considered the doctrinal centerpiece of the letter: a hymn that is a beautiful summary of the mystery of salvation in Christ Jesus.
The word Paul uses in the Greek is episkopos (singular) and episkopoi (plural), meaning "overseer." Our word "bishop" derives from the Old English word bisceop. The leadership in the early local churches appears to have been modeled on the organization in the local Jewish Synagogues while the Universal Church hierarchy was modeled on the Temple hierarchy and the Davidic Kingdom. Jesus is both the High Priest and the Davidic King while His second in command is His chief minister and the Vicar, high steward, of His earthly Kingdom.
Question: What are the qualities Paul lists as necessary for a bishop with an irreproachable character?
Answer:
- married only once
- temperate
- self-controlled
- decent
- hospitable
- able to teach
- not a drunkard
- not aggressive
- gentle
- not contentious
- not a lover of money
- a good manager of his household
- not a recent convert
- have a good reputation among outsiders
Paul provided similar lists in Romans 12:8 and 1 Corinthians 12:28 where he put pastoral oversight as the second to the last in his lists and Ephesians 4:11 where he placed that qualification last. For Paul, the most valued gifts were pastoral and not administrative.
1 Timothy 3:9-13 ~ The Qualifications for Deacons
The word "deacon" in Greek is diakonos (diaconus in Latin) and means "servant." The Church's first "deacons" were selected for service to assist the Apostles. The Apostles ordained them by the Apostles by the laying on of hands in Acts 6:1-7.
Question: What are the necessary qualifications for deacons?
Answer:
- dignified
- not deceitful
- not addicted to drink
- not greedy for sordid gain
- holding fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
He concludes his list by advising: they should be tested first; then, if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11 Women, similarly, should be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in everything.
It is unclear if this verse refers to the wives of deacons or the women who held the office of deaconess. In Romans 16:1, Paul identifies his co-worker Phoebe as a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae (the harbor city of Corinth). Women in service to the Church never had in a ministerial role but assisted in the baptism of women and children and in caring for the sick and the poor. The Council of Nicaea in 325 counted deaconesses among the laity and not among the ordained clergy (Council of Nicaea, canon 19).
1 Timothy 3:14-16 ~ Serving in the Household of God
Paul still plans to join Timothy in Ephesus; however, he has confidence that, should he be delayed, Timothy will know what is expected of him as a member of God's "household" of the Church.
Question: In what two ways does Paul define the Church?
Answer:
- It is the "household ...of the living God."
- It is the "pillar and foundation of truth."
The terms pillar and foundation refer to the structural support of a building. Christ established His Kingdom of the Church and set it firmly in place to support the edifice of the Gospel of truth (who Christ is) and salvation (what He does). The Holy Spirit secures the Church's future through the disciples and successors of the Apostles, like Paul and Timothy.
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