Grammar School
👍 Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you want to understand God’s Word, you first have to understand God’s words. Today we slow down over a few verses in 1 John as Kelly gives us some great study tools to understand this beautiful but tricky passage. So, what say you? Wanna diagram a sentence together?
Pencils up! 🤓
✏️ Underline the verbs.
Notice the tense of the verbs (past, present, future, etc)
✏️ Put a box around connecting words and phrases.
These show the relationship between two words or ideas.
✏️ Highlight repeated words and ideas.
These can help us figure out the theme of a book or what’s important in the passage.
✏️ Identify the subject.
Frequently a sentence begins with “what” or “that” as the subject. This leads us to be investigative. 🕵️‍♂️ Read the surrounding text to learn more about what “what” or “that” could be referring to.
Digging into the passage:
Diagramming our Bibles can help draw a more life-like picture of the meaning of God’s words. 1 John is a first-hand account testifying John actually SAW Jesus. John likes poetic language. But he is proclaiming his own experiences for the readers - that he saw and touched Jesus! He was real! How marvelous!
Application questions:
Why did John communicate that Jesus was real and that Jesus really was raised from the dead? (Hint: see verse 3.)
Dedicate some time to continue this type of Bible Study through the rest of 1 John. It’s a short book - you can do it!
Additional resources:
Our sponsor: BetterMan.com
Kelly has a series of blog posts breaking down how to know God’s Word. Be sure to check them out!
We couldn’t answer every question about this passage but we certainly hope we helped! Want to ask more questions? Email question@clearlypodcast.com.