Dr Paul Allen

1 John 1:8-10 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. John’s readers were confused by two false teachings. The first was the claim that those who choose sin’s lifestyle can maintain fellowship with God. This John labeled as a lie (v. 6). The second claim was by those who said they were without sin (v. 8). They based their claim to fellowship with God on the belief that they matched God in His moral perfection! John called this claim self-deceit: “We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (v. 8). Truth and falsehood are not related so much to the trustworthiness of the teller as they are to correspondence with reality. The problem with the claim of sinlessness is not that the motives of the claimant are unpure. His or her re...

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1880) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The answer is clear: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ .” The first thing that strikes us is the asymmetry between what God has done for us and what God requires of us. What He has done is defined in John 3:16 : “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.”  He loved vile sinners and loved them so much that He gave His only Son, sparing Him neither humiliation nor pain nor poverty. Were God to ask us to make an equal contribution to our salvation, none of us could have any hope. Mercifully, He does not. Which of us could love as He loved? He asks only that we believe. The core of this believing is trust . Of course, that is not all. For example, faith involves knowledge. This is why evangelism is of such importance. Without faith there is no possibility of salvation, without knowledge there is no possibility of faith, and without preaching there...