God is Love - Lesson Outline

Lesson 44: “God Is Love”, New Testament Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2002)

1.      Introduction

a)      Studying the three epistles of John – 1 John, 2 John, 2 John

i)        Thought to have been written toward the end of the first century AD after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

ii)      John was almost certainly the last living apostle when he wrote these epistles

iii)    Includes a snapshot of early Christianity as the great apostasy is taking hold of the Church

(1)   READ 3 John 1:9-10

9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

 10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

2.      Manifestations of Heavenly Father’s love for us

a)      One word to describe Heavenly Father

i)        Reading 1 – 1 John 4:8,16

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

SKIP

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

ii)      Reading 2 – 1 John 3:1-2

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

iii)    Reading 3 – Moroni 7:48

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

iv)    Reading 4 – Romans 8:14-17

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

v)      READ – Mosiah 5:5-9 – King Benjamin’s Atonement sermon – first his people respond to his teaching, then Benjamin teaches them the consequences of their decision.

5 And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has been spoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God.

 6 And now, these are the words which king Benjamin desired of them; and therefore he said unto them: Ye have spoken the words that I desired; and the covenant which ye have made is a righteous covenant.

 7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

 8 And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.

 9 And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ.

b)      The work of God

i)        READ Moses 1:39 –

39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

ii)      Reading 5 – 1 John 4:19

19 We love him, because he first loved us.

iii)    Reading 6 - Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote:  "Just as the love of God for us is unconditional, one day ours for Him will be likewise. This is what the first commandment is all about. But even then, the adoration and awe we have developed for God will take humble and eternal notice of the vital fact stressed by John—that God loved us first. (1 John 4:19.) Indeed, while God's great plan of redemption was made feasible by His omniscience and His omnipotence, it was made inevitable because of His perfect love for us!"  (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p128)

3.      Manifestations of the Savior’s love for us

a)      John teaches of Heavenly Father’s love for us

b)      He also teaches of the Savior’s love for us

c)      Gnosticism

i)        Gnosticism came from Greek philosophy.

ii)      Gnosticism (from the Greek word gnosis meaning knowledge) was one of the earliest heresies in the early church.

iii)    Gnostics believed that the spirit is entirely good while matter was entirely evil.  Therefore, they believed that the human body of man is evil in contrast to God–who they taught was a spirit–is good.  To Gnostics, salvation meant escape from the body through a special kind of revealed knowledge (hence, the name Gnostics) rather than faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, Gnostics demeaned the importance of Jesus Christ.

iv)    One of the purposes of John’s epistles was to testify of Christ and place Him in His proper position – testify of the centrality of the Atonement of Christ.

d)     Reading 7 – 1 John 3:16

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

i)        References the Atonement

e)      Reading 8 – 1 John 1:7-9

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

i)        Redeeming power of the Atonement

f)       READ – 1 John 5:11-13

11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

g)      READ – 2 Nephi 9:11-13 – Jacob’s great Atonement sermon

11 And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave.

 12 And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel.

 13 O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.

i)        The spirit and the body are the soul of man. (Doctrine and Covenants 88:15)

ii)      Christ’s Atonement is to save souls

iii)    Two deaths

(1)   Death of the body

(2)   Death of the spirit – separation from God

iv)    The Atonement must save both the spirit and the body

h)      Reading 9 – 1 John 2:1-2

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

i)        Advocate – One who speaks on behalf of another in a court

(1)   READ Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5

3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—

 4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

 5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.

(a)    Verse 3 – Christ is our advocate with the Father

(b)   Verse 4 – Christ points to His Atonement, what he suffered even though He was completely sinless

(i)     Christ’s sufferings satisfy the demands of justice

(ii)   Christ points out that His death was part of “my work and my glory” to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

(c)    Verse 5 – Christ pleads that God’s justice will spare those

(i)     Who believe on Christ’s name (take upon us the name of Christ by always remembering Him and keeping His commandments - Sacrament)

(ii)   So, those people may come to the place where Christ is, which is the same place where Heavenly Father is – eternal life

ii)      Propitiation

(1)   Reading 10 - Paul and John both spoke of Jesus as being “the propitiation” for our sins (see 1 John 2:2; 4:10; Romans 3:25). The Greek word hilasterion, translated “propitiation,” was also used to translate the Hebrew kapporeth (“seat of atonement”) in the Greek Old Testament. One scholar discussed the significance of the word hilasterion:

“All Greek nouns which end in -erion mean the place where something is done. Dikasterion means the place where dike, justice is done, and therefore a law court. Thusiasterion means the place where thusia, sacrifice is done, and therefore the altar. Therefore hilasterion can certainly mean the place where hilasmos, expiation, is done and made. Because of that, both in the Old and New Testament, hilasterion has a regular and a technical meaning. It always means the lid of gold above the ark which was known as the mercy-seat. In Exodus 25:17 it is laid down of the furnishings of the tabernacle: ‘Thou shalt make a mercy-seat (hilasterion) of pure gold.’ In only one other place in the New Testament is the word used, in Hebrews 9:5, and there the writer speaks of the cherubim who overshadow the mercy-seat. The word is used in that sense more than twenty times in the Greek Old Testament. …

“If then we take hilasterion to mean the mercy-seat, and, if we call Jesus our hilasterion in that sense, it will mean, so to speak, that Jesus is the place where man and God meet, and that specially He is the place where man’s sin meets with the atoning love of God.” (Barclay, The Mind of St. Paul, pp. 87–88.) (Quoted in Old Testament Student Manual Genesis-2 Samuel, (1980) in the chapter entitled “Exodus 25–30; 35–40: The House of the Lord in the Wilderness)

(2)   If Christ is “the propitiation for our sins,” he is the means by which our sins are forgiven, the one who atones for them.

4.      Showing our love for Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and others

a)      READ – John 14:15 – (quoting Christ)

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

b)      Reading 11 – 1 John 2:3-6

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

c)      Reading 12 – 1 John 4:7-8,11

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

SKIP

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

d)     Reading 13 – 1 John 4:20

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

e)      READ - President Thomas S. Monson said: “Our Heavenly Father’s plan contains the ultimate expressions of true love. All that we hold dear—even our families, our friends, our joy, our knowledge, our testimonies—would vanish were it not for our Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. … The world has witnessed no greater gift, nor has it known more lasting love” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1993, 77; or Ensign, May 1993, 62–63).

Conclusion