Section 4–11

Obey God’s commands and reject false teaching

Read 4–11 carefully.

Section Theme: This section contains the main purpose of the letter. John reminds his readers of the importance of obeying God’s commands. He therefore warns them not to have anything to do with false teachers who reject the truth about Christ.

Paragraph 4–6

Read 4–6 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: John expresses his approval of his readers’ Christian lives and urges them to obey God’s commands, especially the command to love one another.

4b

to find: (Alternative Interpretations) There are different views about which sense the Greek verb is being used in here:

(1) It is probably being used in the sense of finding out or hearing that something is true.

(2) Some think it is used in the sense of meeting someone or discovering something.

some of your children: (Meaning) John is not contrasting some who are living by the truth and some who are not. He is saying that he has only heard about some of them and this is what he has heard.

your children: (Discourse Feature) The same term should be used here as in verse 1.

4c

walking in the truth: (Metaphor) This is a Greek metaphor meaning, “putting into practice in their lives the truth which God has revealed about how he wants them to live.”

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.