Thessalonian Faith

Indications of Fellowship with God (1 John 1:5-10)

(62-03a)

Study Guide

Many scholars believe the apostle John wrote the letter we refer to as 1 John. But if that’s the case, why does he refer to himself as “we”, “our”, and”us”?

Instead of thinking he is referring to himself along with the other apostles, or some other person of his time, could he be referring to himself along with Holy Spirit? After all, Holy Spirit is the author of all Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17). John is just the writer Holy Spirit used to convey God’s message to us (2 Peter 1:20–21).

Keep that thought in mind as you continue studying this precious letter.

Lesson Outline.

Indications of Fellowship with God (1 John 1:5-10)

  • Righteous like God (1 John 1:5-7)
  • Honest with God (1 John 1:8-9)
  • Trusts in God (1 John 1:10)

Read the Passage

Read 1 John 1:5-10 several times from one or more of the following key translations. This, with the outline above, will help you see the boundaries, content, and flow of the study passage.

  1. Your own Bible
  2. Berean Standard Bible (BSB with audio and transcript)
  3. New Living Translation (NLT)

Do these indications describe your fellowship with God?

Study the Passage

Use the following suggested resources to answer the three key questions of Bible study:

  1. What does the passage say? (God’s eternal word)
  2. What did the passage mean to the people of its day? (to them then)
  3. What is the message for people today? (for us now)

Suggested study resources:

If you have any questions not answered by the above resources:

  1. Go to https://www.gotquestions.org/
  2. Type the Bible reference or your question in the search box at the top of the web page.
  3. Click on any of the related questions listed and explore the results.

Has this passage changed your understanding of fellowship?
How?

Memory Verse

1 John 1:3 (NLT)
“We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard
so that you may have fellowship with us.
And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”