Monday, May 18, 2009

5/24/09 Epistle

RCL reading for Sunday, May 24, 2009:
Excerpt from the New Revised Standard Version
via Oremus (http://bible.oremus.org)

1 John 5:9-13


9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.
10 Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.
11 And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.


STUDY GUIDE
What does the passage tell us about God?
What does the passage tell us about human beings and the relationships between people?
What does the passage say about the relationship between God and human beings?
How does the passage call us to change?

Adapted from “Theological Bible Study,” from In Dialogue with Scripture: An Episcopal Guide to Studying the Bible, ed. Linda L. Grenz (Episcopal Church Center, 1993), p. 96.

2 comments:

  1. This passage from I John starts with the identification of John the Baptist and contrasting his identification of the messiah versus the voice from above pronouncing "Thou art my beloved son, with thee I AM well pleased." The decision to accept the assurance that Christ has come in the flesh is a subjective decision. As St Paul said, choose hope!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Verse 12 suggests the essential and crucial question of every human mind. “Do I have the Son of God in my heart and life?” If the answer is affirmative the life has eternal dimensions!

    ReplyDelete