MGMIF and DRCM Bible Study

Join us as Pastor Cornelius Warren continues teaching us through te book of 1 John. Tonight we are in 1 John 5: 18-21.

Throughout First John, the apostle has been concerned about what we as Christians can know for certain. He began the letter with the certainty of his firsthand, eyewitness testimony of Jesus Christ. Using my English concordance, I counted 36 instances of the word “know” in First John. As he concludes the letter, John drives home this theme. He sums up his purpose in 1 John 5: 13, 15,  Now, in the final section, three times again he uses this word, at the beginning of verses 18, 19, 20: “We know… we know… we know….” John wants us to be certain about these important truths. He is still countering the false teachers and their destructive claims of secret knowledge.

Verses 18, 19, and 20 are in one sense just a review of what has already been said. Then John throws a final fastball right by us in verse 21: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Verse 21 sums up his entire message. Idolatry is making up your own god as a substitute for the one true God, who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. The false teachers were offering a false god of speculation, not the one true God of revelation. So John’s final words are a warning against adopting the errors of man-made religion. We can sum up his message in verses 18-21:

Because of what we know about our relationship with God, we must guard ourselves from idols.

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