An Article and a Half

/* I'm sorry about the long silence; I had not been enthusiastic about the topic so I hardly worked on it. So I will just give you the draft and let you finish it in your own meditations. Meanwhile I saw an article from the Rebelution that I would like to post, which can be found here. */

The Apostle John does not have many practical applications for cultivating a relationship with God the Father and His Son Jesus. That is because John's ministry was appointed to the Jews; (Galatians 2:9) and since from the Law and the Prophets they have a storehouse of applications, it would be redundant for John to list applications that they have heard read from the synagogues their entire lives.

What the Apostle John needed to do was to set these applications into focus where Jewish Christians would be able to apply them in the light of the Gospel.

The two primary categories that John gives are love and peace.

Agape is the common Greek word to refer to the love of God in Christ for His people. While those in darkness fear the Light and wish its annihilation, Light straightens its lovers and wishes them joy. As I said in the previous post, this is a giving love; a life that is humbly laid at the Altar to be partaken of others. The agape of Jesus is to be our standard of love for other believers in Christ, how we're known to be His followers.

The Israelites knew that loving their neighbor was a part of their calling as God's people; but they had never seen a living demonstration of that responsibility, nor knew why it was significant.  

Eirene is the Greek word to refer to the calm, quiet, restful state we call peace.