Overall Question: What are the major ideas that John developed in his book 1 John?

Memory Verse: 1 John 3:2 CEV “My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is.”

Sunday – The Godhead

Note: in these verses, we can see how the top leaders in the entire universe relate to us, primarily through one of their own number - Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:9 God’s Word to the Nations “God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong.”
1 John 2:1-2 God’s Word to the Nations “1 ¶ My dear children, I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin. Yet, if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ, who has God’s full approval. He speaks on our behalf when we come into the presence of the Father. 2 He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY We have an Advocate with the Father; one who has undertaken, and is fully able, to plead in behalf of every one who applies for pardon and salvation in his name, depending on his pleading for them. He is "Jesus," the Saviour, and "Christ," the Messiah, the Anointed. He alone is "the Righteous One," who received his nature pure from sin, and as our Surety perfectly obeyed the law of God, and so fulfilled all righteousness. All men, in every land, and through successive generations, are invited to come to God through this all-sufficient atonement, and by this new and living way. The gospel, when rightly understood and received, sets the heart against all sin, and stops the allowed practice of it; at the same time it gives blessed relief to the wounded consciences of those who have sinned.
1 John 2:27 God’s Word to the Nations “The anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don’t need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ’s anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.”
1 John 3:8 God’s Word to the Nations “The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy what the devil does.”
1 John 4:8-10 Holman “8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 5:11 Holman “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”
1 John 5:14 Holman “Now this is the confidence we have before Him: whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

Monday – The Church

Note: God’s church is a group of people that, although sinners, hate sin and try their best to use God’s power to overcome sin in all forms.

1 John 2:9-11 ESV “9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
1 John 2:13-14 ESV “13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”
1 John 2:12 ESV “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.”
1 John 2:18 ESV “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 3:1 ESV “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
1 John 3:1 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE For we had neither claim nor merit that we should be called, that is, constituted or made, the sons of God, who were before children of the wicked one, animal, earthly, devilish; therefore, the love which brought us from such a depth of misery and degradation must appear the more extraordinary and impressive.
1 John 4:7 ESV “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

Tuesday – Salvation

Note: the believers in God’s plans for the universe believe that God can make us over in such a way that we can fit into the universe throughout all ages.

1 John 1:9 NRSV “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 2:2 NRSV “and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 4:9-10 NRSV “9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
1 John 4:9 COMMENTARY BY WILLIAM BURKITT It was a wonderful instance of the love of God, that he should be pleased to take our case into consideration, and to concern himself for our happiness; as nothing is more obliging to human nature than love, so no love obliges more than that which is exercised with great condescension after a provocation; such was God's love to offending man.

Wednesday – Christian Behavior

Note: Christian believers live in this world but are preparing for another better life. Their lifestyles and goals reflect this deep-held belief.

1 John 1:7 NLT “But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.”
1 John 2:1 NLT “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely.”
1 John 2:15-16 NLT “15 Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world.”
1 John 2:15 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES This explanation shows what John meant by "the things that are in the world." He does not say that we are in no sense to love anything that is in the material world; that we are to feel no interest in flowers, and streams, and forests, and fountains; that we are to have no admiration for what God has done as the Creator of all things; that we are to cherish no love for any of the inhabitants of the world, our friends and kindred; or that we are to pursue none of the objects of this life in making provision for our families; but that we are not to love the things which are sought merely to pamper the appetite, to please the eye, or to promote pride in living. These are the objects sought by the people of the world; these are not the objects to be sought by the Christian.
1 John 3:4 NLT “Those who sin are opposed to the law of God, for all sin opposes the law of God.”
1 John 3:7 NLT “Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it is because they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.”
1 John 3:15 NLT “Anyone who hates another Christian is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.”
1 John 3:17-18 NLT “17 But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help—how can God’s love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.”
1 John 4:7 NLT “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
1 John 5:2-3 NLT “2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult.”
1 John 5:2 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE Our love of God's followers is a proof that we love God. Our love to God is the cause why we love his children, and our keeping the commandments of God is the proof that we love him.

Thursday – Truth and Lies

Note: because of sin, there is the false and the true in this world. Jesus has given us the knowledge to tell the difference.

John 14:6 NIV “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
1 John 2:4 20th Century NT “The man who says ‘I know Jesus,’ but does not lay his commands to heart, is a liar, and the Truth has no place in him;”
1 John 2:4 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES Such a profession is a falsehood, because there can be no true religion where one does not obey the law of God.
1 John 2:21 20th Century NT “You all know—But I am not writing to you because you do not know the Truth, but because you do know it, and because nothing false can come from the Truth.”
1 John 3:19 20th Century NT “By that we shall know that we are on the side of the Truth; and we shall satisfy ourselves in God’s sight,”
1 John 4:6 20th Century NT “We come from God. He who knows God listens to us; the man who does not come from God does not listen to us. By that we may know the true inspiration from the false.”
1 John 4:6 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE The doctrine and teacher most prized and followed by worldly men, and by the gay, giddy, and garish multitude, are not from God; they savour of the flesh, lay on no restraints, prescribe no cross-bearing, and leave every one in full possession of his heart's lusts and easily besetting sins. And by this, false doctrine and false teachers are easily discerned.
1 John 5:20 20th Century NT “We realize, too, that the Son of God has come among us, and has given us the discernment to know the True God; and we are in union with the True God by our union with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the True God and he is Immortal Life.”

James423, What do you mean when you say "Holman"? They are my favorite Bible makers, but they make all the different translations.

Go to
http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Holman-Christian-Standard-Bible-HCSB/


Some data regarding the Holman.....

The Goals of This Translation
•to provide English-speaking people across the world with an accurate, readable Bible in contemporary English
•to equip serious Bible students with an accurate translation for personal study, private devotions, and memorization
•to give those who love God's word a text that is easy to read, visually attractive on the page, and appealing when heard
•to affirm the authority of the Scriptures as God's inerrant word and to champion its absolutes against social or cultural agendas that would compromise its accuracy
The name, Holman Christian Standard Bible®, embodies these goals: Holman Bible Publishers presents a new Bible translation, for the Christian and English-speaking communities, which will set the standard in Bible translations for years to come.


Why Another English Translation of the Bible?
Many people ask: "Why another English translation of the Bible?" There are several answers to this question:


For reading more, go to biblegateway. Hope this helps with your questions.