All Episodes
Displaying 21 - 40 of 108 in total
Episode 21: Do as I say...and do as I do
If you’ve ever raised kids, you may already have discovered that “Do as I say, don’t do as I do” isn’t a terribly effective way to engender discipline. We are models f...
Episode 22: You already know this
Beginning with verse 7 of chapter 2, John tells his readers that he’s not writing about a new command, but an old one…and then says it actually is a new command. We’ll...
Episode 23: The next chapter of an old story
What’s the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament? The latter doesn’t replace the former; it continues the ancient story. Similarly, when John sp...
Episode 24: Blind to our blindness
Reading between the lines, it seems that some folks in John’s community considered themselves to be enlightened, but had some odd ideas about the Christian life. John ...
Episode 25: Stumbling in the dark
As suggested in the previous episode, John would describe those who aren’t following Jesus’ commandment to love one another as stumbling in the dark. As we’ll explore ...
Episode 26: A little encouragement, please!
Although at this point in the letter John hasn’t mentioned it yet, some people have left the community. People who have been through church splits know the pain and co...
Episode 27: Hang in there, baby!
As we’ve seen, John wants to give some pastoral encouragement his readers, who have probably been deeply disillusioned by what we might today call a “church split.” In...
Episode 28: A new covenant
John’s encouragement in the middle of chapter 2, as we’ve seen, is highly stylized, as if he were quoting from somewhere else. As we’ll explore in this episode, when J...
Episode 30: Flesh and bone
We were created by God to live in bodies. And with that bodily existence comes a host of needs and desires. Because we live in a fallen world, what otherwise would be ...
Episode 29: Don't love the world
The first command John gives in his letter comes in 1 John 2:15: “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” But many of us have memorized John 3:16—doesn’t God ...
Episode 31: In the world, but not of it
As we’ve seen, John commands his readers to not “love the world.” As I read those words, I imagine him thinking back to Jesus’ final words to his disciples in the Uppe...
Episode 32: Here today, gone tomorrow
When we read John’s letters, we should imagine him as an elderly man, someone who had seen more of the Christian movement than any man alive. He is probably near the e...
Episode 33: The antichrist and the final chapter
John seems to think we’re in the last chapter of the grand story leading up to the return of Jesus. That chapter includes the coming of the “antichrist.” But what does...
Episode 34: Liar, liar
It’s not until near the end of chapter 2 of 1 John that the apostle explicitly says that some people have left the community, though the hints are there throughout. Ce...
Episode 35: Jesus, in the flesh
As mentioned in the previous episode, John seems to call the people who left the community liars, because they reject the truth about Jesus. What truth about Jesus did...
Episode 36: Staying put
Jesus had a lot to say in the Upper Room, on his final night with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. There is much in John’s letters to suggest that the ...
Episode 37: Nothing to learn?
As someone who has been a professor for decades, I’m a little troubled when John says to his readers “you do not need anyone to teach you” (1 John 2:27). And I can eas...
Episode 39: Born again?
When Nicodemus the Pharisee came to Jesus, he was confused by Jesus’ talk about being “born again” (John 3:3). As Christians today, we may find the language unremarkab...
Episode 38: Naked and unashamed
The stories of Genesis 2 and 3 suggest that shame came into the world with the consciousness of sin. Is it possible that any of us could stand before Jesus without sha...
Episode 40: A family resemblance
The consequence of being born again, by the initiative of God, is that we are therefore God’s children. And just as we sometimes talk easily about being “born again,” ...