1 John 1 - The Promise of Forgiveness

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What does it actually mean to walk in the light — not as a metaphor, but as an actual way of living? And how does that square with John telling us, in the very same breath, that anyone who claims to have no sin is lying? Those two ideas — light and sin, honesty and fellowship — sit at the very center of 1 John 1. An eyewitness, not a theologian. John opens this letter the same way he opened his Gospel — echoing Genesis 1:1 and the eternal Word — but the emphasis shifts. The Gospel moves from eternity into history. This letter moves from history into testimony: “what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have touched with our hands.” That repetition is deliberate. John is insisting this wasn’t mythology or metaphor — it was someone you could sit across the table from. Why the eyewitness language mattered so much. John was writing against an early form of what would become Gnosticism — the idea that the physical world is inherently bad and only the spiritual matters. Against that, John plants a flag: Jesus was real, touchable, physical. The incarnation wasn’t an appearance. It happened. Fellowship is the whole point. The Greek word koinonia means a deep, shared participation — not just a social arrangement, but a real connection to the inner life of God Himself. John says he’s writing so that his readers’ joy (and his own) would be complete. This isn’t an intellectual argument he’s trying to win. It’s joy he’s after. God is light, with zero exceptions. Not mostly light with a little darkness mixed in — entirely, wholly light, with darkness completely absent. Walking in darkness isn’t ignorance or simple wrongdoing; it’s living in a way that can’t bear examination in the light of who God actually is. Three claims John exposes as lies. Claiming fellowship with God while walking in darkness is lying — there’s no version of that combination that’s true. Claiming to have no sin at all means the truth isn’t in you. And claiming you’ve never sinned makes God Himself out to be a liar, since the entire gospel depends on the reality of human sin. The promise underneath all of it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession means agreeing with what God already knows — not minimizing, not reframing, just calling it what it is. And God’s forgiveness isn’t Him looking the other way; it’s Him acting in line with a justice that’s already been satisfied through the blood of Jesus. Walking in the light isn’t about being good enough. It’s a posture of honesty before God, trusting that His forgiveness is continuous, not a one-time transaction. The person who confesses their sin is the one who discovers — over and over — that God is faithful to forgive them. If you know someone carrying guilt they think is too big or too repeated to be forgiven, this chapter is for them. The size of the sin was never the basis for the forgiveness — God’s own faithfulness and justice always were. You can find this and all my podcasts and Bible studies at jillfromthenorthwoods.com. See you in 1 John 2. Download blank templates, schedules here: https://schmern2.notion.site/Downloads-Template-Word-and-Excel-Schedule-67439d14449d4c20bfe00efe069f78b8 [https://schmern2.notion.site/schmern2/The-Bible-in-Small-Steps-b99ab90118b3433bab73c488ef44d4d1] Logos RAMPS Workflow - RAMPS Bible Study - The Bible in Small Steps in Logos Workflows Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal study, faith perspective, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, seminary-trained theologian, or biblical scholar. Any scriptural interpretation, commentary, or reflections offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, church body, or faith community. Theological understanding is a lifelong journey — I encourage you to study alongside your own tradition and trusted spiritual leaders. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.

2 Peter 1 - Everything You Need Has Already Been Given

What do you say when you know your time is almost up? Not in a crisis — not suddenly. But you see it coming, and you have a chance to write one last letter. What goes in it? Second Peter is that letter. Peter tells us near the end of this chapter that he knows his death is approaching — Jesus told him, decades ago, exactly how it would happen. And what Peter chooses to fill this letter with is not a last-minute doctrinal summary or a comprehensive defense of the faith. It is a call to grow in what has already been given, and a fierce insistence that what they received is real — because he was there. He saw it with his own eyes. An apostle who signs as a man (vv. 1–2) The greeting names him “Simon Peter” — the only place in Peter’s letters where he uses his Aramaic birth name. It’s a personal touch, reaching back to what his parents called him before Jesus renamed him. This is not an apostle performing his office. This is a man. And he says something remarkable to his readers: the faith they received is of equal value and equal honor to the faith of the apostles themselves. He was there. They heard it secondhand. But their faith carries the same standing before God, the same access, the same worth. There is no hierarchy of faith across generations. It reaches to us exactly the same way. Everything already given (vv. 3–4) One of the most extraordinary statements in the entire letter: God’s divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness — everything, already. This is not a call to strive for something inaccessible. It is a call to grow in what has already been provided. The divine power that raised Christ from the dead has already supplied, in full, everything a human being needs to live a godly life. The question isn’t whether the resources exist. The question is whether we’re drawing on them. And the “precious and very great promises” are the means through which believers participate in the divine nature — not by becoming God, but by sharing, through faith and obedience, in the moral and relational qualities of God himself. The chain of virtues (vv. 5–11) Because of all this — for this very reason — make every effort. Not to earn what has been given. To cultivate it. Peter gives a sequence, sometimes called a ladder: faith, then goodness, then knowledge, then self-control, then endurance, then godliness, then brotherly affection (philadelphia), then love (agape). Each quality builds on the previous one. None of it is a checklist to be completed and set aside. These qualities are meant to be present in increasing measure, growing, developing, deepening. The connection to Peter’s own story is hard to miss. He started out explosive, impulsive, sinking in the water, saying the wrong things, denying Christ in a courtyard. He has been through a thing. And he has become something over time. The Christian life is not static. It’s a living development. The consequences of lacking these qualities are stark: blindness, short-sightedness, and — most seriously — having forgotten the cleansing of past sins. Growth for Peter isn’t primarily about achievement. It’s about remembering what God actually did, and living outward from that reality. The person who keeps these virtues fresh and operative will grow. The person who forgets them will drift. This is a letter about remembering. The eyewitness testimony (vv. 12–18) Here Peter is at his most personally transparent. He calls his body a tent — a temporary dwelling, designed for travel, not permanence. He’s not afraid to leave it. He wants to make sure that after he is gone, the people he loves have everything they need. And so he grounds everything in a specific moment, a specific location: the holy mountain, the Mount of Transfiguration. He and James and John were there. They saw the light. They heard the voice: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. They were eyewitnesses of his majesty — the Greek word here was used in mystery religions for those initiated into secret rites, but Peter is using it in the entirely opposite direction. Not esoteric. Historical. They were on a hillside in Galilee. It happened. This stands in deliberate contrast to what he will address in chapter 2: false teachers dealing in clever myths, sophisticated fables, stories that sound plausible and have no basis in reality. The apostolic testimony is not that. It is the report of what was actually seen and actually heard. Scripture as a lamp (vv. 19–21) The eyewitness testimony on the mountain confirms, rather than replaces, the prophetic word of Scripture. The voice Peter heard is the same God who spoke through the prophets. Peter uses the image of a lamp shining in darkness — drawn from Psalm 119:105 — and says to tend to it until the day dawns, until the morning star rises. In the meantime, in this darkness, the prophetic word is the light that orients everything. No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own private interpretation or reflection. The prophets were carried along — the Greek word describes a ship being moved by wind — by the Holy Spirit. The human authors were genuinely involved: their personalities, vocabularies, historical situations are present in the text. But the origin of what they spoke was not themselves. This is human writing and divine speech simultaneously. God-breathed. All of it. What I’m meditating on: 2 Peter 1 begins with what has already been given — divine power, precious promises, participation in the divine nature — and calls all of us to build on that foundation intentionally. What strikes me most is what Peter says about a person who lacks these qualities: they have forgotten what happened to them. Growth isn’t about achievement. It’s about remembering the reality of what God has done. What I’m praying about: Gratitude that everything we need has already been provided. Not scarce, not conditional — given. And a prayer to draw on what’s been given rather than striving for something we imagine is still out of reach. What I want to share: If you know someone who feels spiritually depleted, like they’re not enough or don’t have enough — this is what they need to hear. The divine power has already provided everything required for life and godliness. The question is only whether we’re drawing on it. Download blank templates, schedules here: https://schmern2.notion.site/Downloads-Template-Word-and-Excel-Schedule-67439d14449d4c20bfe00efe069f78b8 [https://schmern2.notion.site/schmern2/The-Bible-in-Small-Steps-b99ab90118b3433bab73c488ef44d4d1] Logos RAMPS Workflow - RAMPS Bible Study - The Bible in Small Steps in Logos Workflows Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal study, faith perspective, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, seminary-trained theologian, or biblical scholar. Any scriptural interpretation, commentary, or reflections offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, church body, or faith community. Theological understanding is a lifelong journey — I encourage you to study alongside your own tradition and trusted spiritual leaders. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.

19. kesä 202629 min

1 Peter 5 - Cast All Your Anxieties on Him

Every letter has to end somewhere. And usually, the way a letter ends tells you something about what the writer most wanted to leave with the reader. Paul tended to close with theology compressed into a benediction and a list of names. James ended with someone going after the one who wandered away. Peter ends with shepherds, humility, a prowling lion, and a reminder that you are not suffering alone. This is the closing of a letter from a pastor who wanted to help his people from the first word until the last. And it contains one of the most quoted verses in all of Scripture. A fellow elder, not an apostle pulling rank (vv. 1–4) Peter opens this closing by addressing the elders — the leaders of the scattered communities across these five Roman provinces. What’s striking is how he identifies himself: not as the apostle, not as the one who was there with Jesus, but as a co-elder, someone alongside them rather than above them. He offers two credentials: witness of Christ’s suffering (the Greek word martis gives us “martyr” — he was there, in the courtyard, by the charcoal fire, denying) and sharer in the glory to be revealed. His call to the elders is structured as a series of contrasts: not reluctantly but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not lording over the congregation but being an example. The example word is tupos — a mold that presses a shape into what’s formed in it. The elder’s life is meant to leave an impression the congregation takes on. The motivation isn’t an ethical duty: the chief Shepherd, when he appears, will give those who served faithfully an unfading crown of glory. The word for “unfading” (amarantos) refers to a legendary flower that never wilted. Everything the world offers a leader — recognition, status, influence — fades. What the chief Shepherd gives does not. Humble yourselves — and cast everything on him (vv. 5–7) Peter calls the younger members to submit to the elders, using a vivid word for “clothe yourself” — the kind of apron or work garment you tie on before getting to work. Some commentators hear an echo of the upper room, where Jesus tied a towel around his waist to wash feet. Humility, Peter says, isn’t a private attitude you cultivate. It’s something you put on and go to work in. The theological grounding comes from Proverbs 3:34 — the same text James quoted in James 4:6, independently. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Then comes what may be the most important verse in this entire letter: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. The “mighty hand of God” is a deep Old Testament image — the hand that brought Israel out of Egypt, the hand of sovereign power shaping history. Humble yourself under that. Accept his timing, his purpose, his governance of your situation, even when you can’t see why. The word for “anxieties” (worries, the things that divide and distract the mind) is paired with a word for “casting” that means to fling, to hurl decisively. Not gently set down. Fling. And the reason is not technique — it’s relationship: he cares for you. The Greek here means it matters to him about you. You’re not a burden. You’re not forgotten. You’re not tolerated. Peter is writing this from Rome, under Nero, knowing he is likely near the end of his life. The truth he is offering is the truth he has staked everything on. The prowling lion and the community that resists (vv. 8–9) Be sober and alert. There is an adversary — a legal opponent, someone bringing charges — described as a roaring lion looking for prey. The image in the ancient world was of a lion that has already selected its target and is roaring to drive it into panic. Peter’s response isn’t extraordinary heroics or monastic retreat. It’s firmness. Solid, dense, immovable. Faith has substance that doesn’t collapse under pressure. And the ground of that resistance is solidarity: your brothers and sisters throughout the world are experiencing the same sufferings. You are not an outlier. You are not uniquely targeted. You are not uniquely weak. The whole community of believers, distributed across the Roman Empire, is holding its ground in its own places. When suffering feels isolating — and it does — this reframes everything. The promise and the closing (vv. 10–14) After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will restore, establish, strengthen, and support you. Four verbs in rapid succession: restore (mend, set broken bones), establish (make firm, plant solidly), strengthen (invigorate), support (lay a foundation under). God is not waiting for his people to recover on their own. He is actively working to put them back together. “A little while” is relative language — Peter knows that. The suffering doesn’t feel little to the person inside it. But from the vantage point of eternity, even a lifetime of suffering is a little while. He’s not minimizing the suffering. He’s giving it its proper proportion against the backdrop of what is permanent. Silvanus (almost certainly Silas from Acts) carried the letter. Mark — almost certainly John Mark, described as Peter’s son — sends greetings. The man who wrote 1 and 2 Peter is the same man who gave us the Gospel of Mark through his companion. Two genres, one voice. The final blessing is simple and complete: Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Not peace in the absence of trouble. Not peace once Rome stops being cruel. Peace that is available right now, to scattered exiles, because of who holds them. What I’m meditating on: Peter ends exactly the way he began — grace and peace. By the time we reach these closing verses, we understand what grace and peace actually cost and what they rest on. It’s not cheap comfort. It’s the hard-won testimony of a man who watched Jesus die, met him risen, was restored through his own failures, and is now writing from Rome on borrowed time to people he will never meet. When he says “cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you,” that sentence has survived thousands of years because what it addresses doesn’t change. What I’m praying about: That we would not gently set our anxieties aside but actually fling them — decisively, with intention — onto the God who cares for us. And that we would stop carrying what was never ours to carry. What I want to share: If you know someone carrying a heavy load right now, write out 1 Peter 5:7 and give it to them. Write it on a card. Text it. Say it out loud. The ground is simple: he cares for you. That’s enough. Download blank templates, schedules here: https://schmern2.notion.site/Downloads-Template-Word-and-Excel-Schedule-67439d14449d4c20bfe00efe069f78b8 [https://schmern2.notion.site/schmern2/The-Bible-in-Small-Steps-b99ab90118b3433bab73c488ef44d4d1] Logos RAMPS Workflow - RAMPS Bible Study - The Bible in Small Steps in Logos Workflows Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal study, faith perspective, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, seminary-trained theologian, or biblical scholar. Any scriptural interpretation, commentary, or reflections offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, church body, or faith community. Theological understanding is a lifelong journey — I encourage you to study alongside your own tradition and trusted spiritual leaders. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.

17. kesä 202622 min

1 John 1 - The Promise of Forgiveness

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