1 John 3:5 (NKJV) And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. [Jesus is sinless.]
1 John 3:16 (NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. [What divine love is.]
1 John 3:21-23 (NKJV) Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. [We receive what we ask because we believe in Jesus and we love, as we live in God’s love, AND we DO THINGS that are God-pleasing.] And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
1 John 3:24 (NKJV) Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. [We abide in God by believing in Jesus and by living in His love, loving others, and living in His Word.]
1 John 4:4 (NKJV) You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. [Jesus, who lives in you by faith, is greater than Satan and his demons. No need to be afraid of Satan or evil spirits.]
1 John 4:7-11 (NKJV) Knowing God Through Love: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. [Everyone who loves by living in God’s love, knows God, experientially.] In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:17-19 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. [When we live in God’s love, we do not live in fear.] We love because He first loved us.
1 John 5:1 (NKJV) Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, [All believers are born again.] and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
1 John 5:3-5 (NKJV) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. [God’s commandments are to believe in Jesus as your Savior and to love others and yourself, as God loved you.] For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:11-15 (NKJV) And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. [Spiritual life.] These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life [You can know right now that you are saved forever because you believe in Jesus as Savior.] and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. [God wants you to keep believing, but even if you lose your faith, you have eternal life and you are saved forever. You are irrevocably saved for Heaven.] Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. [Our prayers must be in the stated and unstated will of God in order to be answered.] And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. [If what we ask is in the will of God as stated in the Bible, then we can know God will give us what we ask.]
Galatians 3:26 (KJV) For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. [Saving faith in Jesus puts us immediately into a relationship with God. What kind of relationship? We are God’s family, His children.]
—Notes by C.S.
