Dr Paul Allen

The Stages of Spiritual Maturity: Introduction by Robb Brunansky In my estimation, one of the most pastoral passages in the entire New Testament is 1 John 2:12-14, where the apostle John stops his flow of argument – where he has been giving tests of salvation – and speaks to his readers from his heart. We can see John speaking directly to his brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing his heart with them about their common salvation. Scholars and Bible students have often puzzled over the purpose of this passage, especially as it finds itself situated in 1 John 2 – after several tests of salvation and before the first imperative in the letter in verse 15 (do not love the world). The passage seems quite repetitive, where John addresses children, fathers, and young men – and then he addresses all three groups again. Why does he call out these three groups? Are there three groups, or are these all designations for every believer looking at Christianity from various angles and lenses? And how

The best and surest way to please God, and gain a cheerful quiet heart in the way to heaven, is, to walk with God in uprightness, (through faith in Jesus Christ ,) “being careful in nothing: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to make your request known unto God:” which if you do, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall so establish your heart and mind, in and through Christ Jesus , that you may live in a heaven upon earth, and may be joyous and comfortable in all states and conditions of life whatsoever. That you should walk with God in uprightness, is commended to you in the cloud of examples, of Enoch , Noah, Job, David, Zacharias and Elizabeth; with many others, renowned in scripture; and is commanded to Abraham, and, in him, to all the faithful,—“I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” To live by faith, (which is, to frame your heart and life according to the will of God revealed in his word,) and to walk wi