John, James, and Jude

Question 1

(1 John 1) Chapter Heading

Answer 1

The Saints gain fellowship with God by obedience—We must confess our sins to gain forgiveness.

Question 2

(1 John 1) The Incarnation of the Word of Life

Answer 2

John spoke about how he and others had personally
seen, heard, and touched the resurrected Jesus Christ. John apparently wanted his readers to understand that he was writing this letter as his personal witness of the resurrected Christ
John wrote that one purpose of his letter was to help his readers have fellowship with those who had seen and heard Jesus Christ, and then in turn enjoy fellowship “with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ”

Question 3

(1 John 1) Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

Answer 3

God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Question 4

(1 John 2) Chapter Heading

Answer 4

Christ is our Advocate with the Father—We know God by obedience—Love not the world—Anti-Christs will come in the last days.

Question 5

(1 John 2) Jesus Christ, Our Advocate

Answer 5

We have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Question 6

(1 John 2) Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers

Answer 6

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Question 7

(1 John 2) Reasons for Writing

Answer 7

• because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
• because you know him who is from the beginning
• because you have overcome the evil one.
• because you know the Father.
• because you know him who is from the beginning.
• because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Question 8

(1 John 2) On Not Loving the World

Answer 8

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Question 9

(1 John 2) Warnings Against Denying the Son

Answer 9

Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Question 10

(1 John 3) Chapter Heading

Answer 10

The sons of God will become like Christ—Love for others is required to gain eternal life—Obedience ensures us an answer to our prayers.

Question 11

(1 John 3) Righteousness

Answer 11

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Question 12

(1 John 3) More on Love and Hatred

Answer 12

Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

Question 13

(1 John 4) Chapter Heading

Answer 13

Try the spirits—God is love and dwells in those who love Him.

Question 14

(1 John 4) On Denying the Incarnation

Answer 14

Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Question 15

(1 John 5) Chapter Heading

Answer 15

Saints are born of God through belief in Christ—Water, blood, and the Spirit testify of Christ—Belief in Christ is required in order to gain eternal life.

Question 16

(1 John 5) Faith in the Incarnate Son of God

Answer 16

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

Question 17

(2 John 1) Chapter Heading

Answer 17

John rejoices because the children of the elect lady are true and faithful.

Question 18

(2 John 1)

Answer 18

And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

Question 19

(3 John 1) Chapter Heading

Answer 19

John commends Gaius for his help to those who love the truth.

Question 20

(3 John 1)

Answer 20

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

Question 21

(Jude 1) Chapter Heading

Answer 21

Contend for the faith—Some angels kept not their first estate—Michael disputed about the body of Moses—Enoch prophesied of the Second Coming—Mockers will come in the last days.

Question 22

(Jude 1) Who is Jude?

Answer 22

The author identifies himself as “Jude, the servant
of Jesus Christ, and brother of James”.
Traditionally the author has been understood to be Jude
the half-brother of Jesus Christ

Question 23

(Jude 1) The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

Answer 23

For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Question 24

(Jude 1) A Call to Persevere

Answer 24

Remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Keep building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Question 25

(James 1) Chapter Heading

Answer 25

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God—Resist temptation—Be doers of the word—James explains how to recognize pure religion.

Question 26

(James 1) Who was James

Answer 26

The epistle states that it was authored by “James, a
servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”.
Christian tradition has held that this James, like Jude,
is one of the sons of Joseph and Mary and hence halfbrother of Jesus of Nazareth

Question 27

(James 1) Trials and Temptations

Answer 27

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Question 28

(James 1) Listening and Doing

Answer 28

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Question 29

(James 2) Chapter Heading

Answer 29

God has chosen the poor of this world who are rich in faith—Salvation is gained by keeping the whole law—Faith without works is dead.

Question 30

(James 2) Favoritism Forbidden

Answer 30

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Question 31

(James 2) Faith and Deeds

Answer 31

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Question 32

(James 3) Chapter Heading

Answer 32

By governing the tongue, we gain perfection—Heavenly wisdom is pure, peaceable, and full of mercy.

Question 33

(James 3) Taming the Tongue

Answer 33

the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Question 34

(James 3) Two Kinds of Wisdom

Answer 34

Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Question 35

(James 4) Chapter Heading

Answer 35

Wars are born of lusts—The friends of the world are the enemies of God—Sin is failure to walk in the light we have received.

Question 36

(James 4) Submit Yourselves to God

Answer 36

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires(lust) that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Question 37

(James 4) Boasting About Tomorrow

Answer 37

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Question 38

(James 5) Chapter Heading

Answer 38

Misery awaits the wanton rich—Await the Lord’s coming with patience—The elders are to anoint and heal the sick.

Question 39

(James 5) Warning to Rich Oppressors

Answer 39

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Question 40

(James 5) Patience in Suffering

Answer 40

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Question 41

(James 5) The Prayer of Faith

Answer 41

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.