1 John 5

“Everyone who believes Jesus is the Messiah we’ve been waiting for is a child of God” (5:1)? Really? But James, who may have been the brother of Jesus, wrote, “You believe in the one true God, which is good. That said, big deal. Even the demons believe in God. His power terrifies them” (James 2:19). Don’t you have to act like a believer too? Why or why not?

John sounds like such a preacher sometimes, it might seem, stretching the truth and spinning rugged reality into a perfectly wonderful fairytale: “If we love God, we obey the laws he gave us. It’s not hard to do” (5:3). Well, how hard is it to love a neighbor who won’t try to stop his kid from throwing rocks at your dog?

It’s a mystery what John means when he says, “Jesus Christ had to pass through water and blood” (5:6). Scholars guess that since he didn’t explain it to his readers, he figured they would understand it right away, perhaps from a previous letter he wrote them or a sermon he had preached. Of the theories below about what water and blood mean, which one makes the most sense to you? Why?

• Worship rituals of baptism and communion.
• Water and blood from the crucifixion wound in Jesus’ side.
• Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion.

It sounds like John is convinced a person who doesn’t embrace Jesus and Christianity will miss out on eternal life: “Everyone who welcomes the Son into his or her life will have life forever. Everyone who doesn’t, won’t” (5:12). Not all Christians say they think it’s that black and white. They say they see elbow room, especially for people who never heard about Jesus. What do you think about that?

How do you think God “backs up his testimony about his Son” (5:9)?

What do you think John means by what is more literally translated “a sin that leads to death,” or “sin to death” (5:16)?

Why on earth would John tell Christians he’s not asking them to pray for “people whose sins show they are spiritually dead” (5:16)? Aren’t those the very people we’re supposed the pray for? Didn’t Jesus say he came to help the spiritually sick: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor. Sick people do” (Luke 5:31)?

LIFE APPLICATION. “All God’s children win their fight with the world, and faith is the power that does it” (5:4). Why would John say something like this, which probably sounds to some folks like wishful thinking? Christians leave the faith every day. It happens. How do you think that reality meshes with John’s statement?

LIFE APPLICATION. John says when it comes to God, “we’re now part of him. And we’re part of his Son, Jesus the Messiah” (5:20). Do you think most Christians actually feel like God the Father and Jesus are part of them and vice versa? If so, how do you think we could describe this relationship to people outside the faith?