Peter now outlines an ideal picture of life inside church as well as strategies for believers who must live in the hostile world outside church. This timely and practical advice is given for “all of you.” The “Jesus life” lived well is a life of victory in every circumstance.

Marriage is one of the wonderful mysteries of the universe. God’s intention is to communicate His glory through this most intimate relationship. The secret for success in marriage is simply to make the other person more important than yourself. Supernatural joy is the result!

Peter writes with a sense of urgency here. It is vital that believers take very seriously their identity in Christ and intentionally demonstrate spiritual growth in the everyday roles of life. Why? We are being evaluated daily. We must live distinctively as “Jesus Life” people!

With three complementary illustrations, Peter now calls on each believer to take personal and continuing responsibility for spiritual growth. It is not enough to be converted and to only begin the Christian journey. Turning from sin to righteousness is a daily practice; and this new life has communal obligations that go with it.

Further motivation for the Christian life (beyond our fascination with salvation and our enthusiasm for the Jesus life) is found in our recognition of God’s discipline and an appreciation of the tremendous cost of our salvation. This new life is meant to be lived openly so others are attracted to Jesus.

John the Elder continues his correspondence with the churches he loved by encouraging them in truth and warning them against false teachers. His pastor’s heart is on display again as he provides insight into the lives of early believers and the challenges they faced—battles amazingly similar to the issues of own day.

Contemporary music, movies, and literature regularly paint truth as a flexible concept and love as a sentimental emotion. The combination of these misunderstandings leads to either a lack of certainty about reality or a false certainty that all my opinions are always correct. This cultural bias confuses our comprehension of the God Who is love.

Too many modern Christians have been misled to think that assurance of their salvation rests on a solid memory of a particular prayer often made years earlier. The Apostle John, in contrast, provides ample evidence of salvation in the daily lives of those who follow Jesus.

Always captivated by a “living hope,” Peter now transitions from lofty theological introduction to gentle pastoral direction about how to live the Christian life. He gives no complicated strategy or oppressive requirements. Peter simply describes the obvious traits of an authentic follower of Jesus.

John the Elder, the “disciple Jesus loved,” authored five books in the New Testament—the Gospel for salvation, the three letters for sanctification, and Revelation (Apocalypse) for glorification. These writings are not structures, like Paul, as eloquent doctrinal essays. Each was written, instead, with a pastoral tone—scattered in flow, more conversational. He begins here, in 1 John, with solid encouragement to a church assaulted by heresy.