Jeff Ragan’s Reviews > The Epistles of John > Status Update

"...we can be said to be 'in' the true One (2:5, 24). This happens insofar as we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. For to be in the Father is to be in the Son. As John has emphasized earlier, one cannot have the Father unless one also has the Son (2:23). For the Father and the Son are so closely joined to each other that the Father cannot be known apart from the Son, nor the Son apart from the Father" (p. 254).

"Eternal life is not possible apart from true belief in Jesus as the Son of God. Those who deny that Jesus is the Son of God have cut themselves off from the life of God, no matter how much they may protest that they possess it. For the life that God gives is available only through his Son. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life; no one can come to the Father except through him (Jn. 14:6)" (p. 242).

"To believe that Jesus has been victorious is to have the power that enables us also to win the battle, for we know that our foe is already defeated and therefore powerless...To the natural man the power of evil appears uncontrollable, & to the weak Christian the force of temptation appears irresistible. It requires a firm belief in Jesus to enable us to dismiss this appearance...as being merely appearance" (p. 229).

"A person who does not love does not know God. His lack of love demonstrates that he does not belong to the divine sphere, since God is love. The implication is that knowledge of God as love leads men to love one another. A person cannot come into a real relationship with a loving God without being transformed into a loving person" (p. 212).

"John's purpose is to encourage us to enter fully into the filial relationship in which God delights to hear and answer the requests of his children. The more fully we enter into that relationship, the more will our asking be in accordance with his will" (p. 200).

"The person who is conscious of the new beginning that God has made in his life will seek to let that divine ideal become more and more a reality. He knows that he cannot claim sinlessness - for he has already read the first chapter of this Epistle - but at the same time he can claim God's power to enable him not to sin" (p. 187).

"The picture is that of legitimation: by naming the child as his son, the father acknowledges that it is indeed his child. There is no legal fiction in this...John emphasizes that those whom God names as his children really are such. The new birth is a reality. Once again, John is expressing the assurance which believers can possess here and now of their standing in God's sight" (p. 171).

"...for John the height of heresy is to deny that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and Savior. To reduce Jesus to the status of a mere man, or to allow no more than a temporary indwelling of some divine power in him is to strike at the root of Christianity" (p. 159).

"...by 'love' John means the kind of love which God showed in giving his Son to be the Savior of the world. It is the sort of love which does not look for personal reward but for the benefit of the person loved. Much...human love is of the 'getting' variety, where the lover is really seeking his own pleasure...God's love is of the 'giving' variety, where the lover is seeking the benefit of the beloved..." (p. 126).