Category Archives: I John

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

June 19, 2012

Posted under

I John

What Does the First Amendment Prohibit?

Pastor Leithart commenting on I John 4:1, “ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God”
“We live in a dazzling carnival of religious options. You can find a hundred and one varieties of Christianity, anything to suit your taste-classical Christianity, country Christianity, crunchy Christianity, be-bop Christianity and hip-hop Christianity. And that’s not even to mention the hundreds of NRMs-New Religious Movements-invented every year in this country. Our culture wants to persuade us to just accept it all: let a thousand flowers bloom. Celebrate the diversity and richness and variety of the American religious life. Above all, make no judgments. Don’t examine, test, judge.  That is the main thing the first Amendment prohibits, which, freely paraphrased, says, “Thou shalt not test the spirits.” 
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

June 15, 2012

Posted under

I John

Open God’s Ears by Opening Your Own

“When our hearts are assured by God, we have confidence in prayer. We can ask whatever we want because we keep his commandments and live in a way please to God [I John 3:22].   John is not talking about ‘works righteousness,’ as if we could coerce God into doing us favors by our good works.  But he does say there is a causal connection between effective prayer and obedience: ‘whatever we ask we receive from Him, because [hoti] we keep His commandments.’ If you prayers are not being answered, examine yourself. Ask if you are walking in obedience. If you want God to open his ear to you, open your ears to him.” (Peter Leithart, From Beyond the Veil, p. 127)
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

June 13, 2012

Posted under

I John

Do You Act Like an Alien?

“Unfortunately the modern church has too often tried hard to avoid being strange. Modern Christians have adjusted to the world’s standards.  We don’t want to sound unscientific, so we find ways to reinterpret Genesis 1 so it fits with current scientific theory.  We don’t want to look odd, so we conform our fashion sense to that of the world, without considering whether or not God has something to say about our clothing. We don’t want to be uncool, so our tastes become identical to the world.  This makes things a lot easier.  There’s no conflict between the church and the world when the church imitates the world. We don’t seem alien and strange, as if we have come from another planet, but we are acting against our nature: we are children of God, children of the resurrection, but we behave the same as the children of the devil, as if we were still in the same old, dead flesh as everyone else.” (Peter Leithart, From Beyond the Veil, p. 115)”
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

June 12, 2012

Posted under

I John

You Still Need Teachers

Peter Leithart commenting on I John 2:27, “His anointing teaches you all things.”

“Christians have sometimes taken John’s statement out of this context and concluded they don’t need any human guidance or instruction. Even Christians who do not renounce teachers in principle act as if they don’t need any help, as if they the can survive and flourish in the Christian life without any instruction from anyone. The rebellious child who refuses to listen to his parents; the husband who won’t take counsel about how to deal with a troubled marriage; the young man with credit card debt who keeps trying to solve the problem without getting help: refusal to hear instruction is not a sign of spirituality, but a sign of arrogance, and a sure prescription for failure. Teachers are God’s gift to the church; we can’t prosper if we are contemptuous of God’s gifts.” (From Beyond the Veil, p. 104)
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

May 24, 2012

Posted under

I John

Seeing God

Peter Leithart notes that many Christians see God the Father as this cold, harsh, angry God who needs to be appeased by the kind, loving Jesus.  However, this separates what the Scriptures have joined together. In the Bible, Jesus is God. There are not two gods, one angry, one loving. There is one God. He is love. This love is seen as the Father sends the Son, the Son dies for his people, and the Spirit is poured out so that the people might love each other.

“You want to know what God is like, really? Take a look at the gospel. If you have seen Jesus, if you have seen him in the  manger, seen him tempted in the wilderness, seen  him passionately fighting the Pharisees who oppress his people, freely offering himself on the cross, powerfully rising again from the dead-when you have seen all this, you have seen God who is love.   Jesus did all of this out of his love for us, and because his Father sent him out of love. You want to see the love of God, read about Jesus. For whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father.”  (From Behind the Veil, p. 151)