Abide

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.  

1 John 2:24 

How can we hold onto assurance of our faith? How can we discern the truth from a lie? How can we know God loves us? In these three short letters, the apostle John reminds an early church facing division, deception, and doubt to hold fast to what they know and to live like they believe it. And he reminds us, as well. In this 10-session Bible study on the letters of 1, 2, and 3, John, Jen Wilkin helps you see how two thousand years later, his words call to Christians in similar challenges to recall a great salvation and to abide in the truth. 

Study Material

Week One: Introduction

In this introduction to the study, Jen gives background information for John and the original recipients of his letter. She also highlights some of the main themes that will come up time and again ...

Week Two: A Credible Witness

Jen’s teaching on 1 John 1:1–2:2 walks us through how John establishes himself as a credible witness to Jesus and gives us practical ways we can be the same for others, as people who know Him. We a...

Week Three: The Tests of Righteousness and Love

As Jen walks through 1 John 2:3-17, she explains John’s first two “tests” that help bring assurance to the sincerity of one’s faith—the tests of righteousness and love. She helps us understand what...

Week Four: The Test of Truth, The Call to Abide

For week four, Jen covers 1 John 2:18-29, which includes John’s third “test” for assessing one’s faith, the test of truth, which we do by holding everything we are taught by others up against the t...

Week Five: Practice Righteousness, Pursue Love, Possess Assurance

With this week’s teaching of 1 John 2:29–3:24, Jen examines what it means to be a part of God’s family, to be “called children of God.” In response to John’s teaching, Jen challenges us to make con...

Week Six: Truth and Error; God Is Love

In this video, Jen walks viewers verse-by-verse through 1 John 4, which includes John’s encouragement to test what you hear others teach against the truths revealed in God’s Word. Jen goes on to ex...

Week Seven: Overcoming the World

The final chapter of 1 John begins with John revisiting the themes that have been central to his letter—the tests of righteousness, love, and truth. Jen walks through 1 John 5:1-12, highlighting Jo...

Week Eight: That You May Know

Jen brings her teaching of 1 John to a close with the remaining nine verses of John’s letter, which wrap up with a strong emphasis on knowing that you have eternal life and the encouragement to pra...

Week Nine: Walk in Truth and Love

Jen transitions her teaching to the letter of 2 John, a letter with similar themes to 1 John but originally written for a narrower audience, an individual church. Jen unpacks how this "memo" from J...

Week Ten: Imitate Good

In this final week, Jen walks through the epistle of 3 John, a letter John wrote to an individual named Gaius. Jen addresses how this letter is similar to 1 and 2 John in language and themes, and l...