Today’s passage: Matthew 22:34–40 and Mark 12:28–34 Focus verse: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37) After he shares the three parables, the religious leaders—roiling over Jesus’s parable of the tenants—seek to trap him […]
3 John Bible Study, Day 40 Today’s passage: 3 John 1:13–14 Focus verse: Peace to you. (3 John 1:14) John ends his first letter with an abrupt instruction to keep away from idols. In contrast, he wraps up his next two letters with a smoother, more intimate farewell. To both recipients he expresses his desire to see […]
3 John Bible Study, Day 39 Today’s passage: 3 John 1:11–12 Focus verse: Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. (3 John 1:12) After cautioning Gaius about Diotrephes, John instructs Gaius to not imitate evil but what is good. Given the context, with this following the warning about Diotrephes, we realize that […]
3 John Bible Study, Day 38 Today’s passage: 3 John 1:9–10 Focus verse: I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. (3 John 1:9) After affirming and encouraging Gaius, John changes the topic. He mentions two men. They are in sharp contrast to each other. The first gives an […]
3 John Bible Study, Day 37 Today’s passage: 3 John 1:5–8 Focus verse: Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters. (3 John 1:5) John opens his letter to Gaius by affirming his faithfulness to the truth and his continuing to walk in it (3 John 1:3). Now John likewise affirms […]
3 John Bible Study, Day 36 Today’s passage: 3 John 1:1–4 Focus verse: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 John 1:4) John’s third letter is to his dear friend Gaius, a man John loves in the truth. Loving in the truth is the same affirmation he […]
John’s Third Letter John’s letter to Gaius is a short one. It’s a warm note, full of encouragement and affirmation. John also reinforces some teachings with Gaius. The Bible preserves this letter for us to read in 3 John. This is likely the same Gaius grabbed by the riotous crowd in Ephesus. He, along with Aristarchus, […]
2 John Bible Study, Day 35 Today’s passage: 2 John 1:10–13 Focus verse: Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work. (2 John 1:11) Building upon his instruction about the deceivers—the antichrists—John warns the chosen lady to not welcome anyone who holds to their teaching and to not show them hospitality. If she does, she aligns […]
2 John Bible Study, Day 34 Today’s passage: 2 John 1:7–9 Focus verse: Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. (2 John 1:8) John moves from his encouragement to walk in love to a warning about being on alert for deceivers, whom he calls antichrists […]
2 John Bible Study, Day 33 Today’s passage: 2 John 1:5–6 Focus verse: As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. (2 John 1:6) In John’s second letter, he continues to repeat themes from his first one. He tells the lady chosen by God the same things he writes to […]