Geoffrey's Notebook

 Recently after sharing on 1st John a question came up to do with one of the more difficult Scriptures.  Here's the 1 John series , this question has to do with #6 - Practicing Righteousness. Here's the dialogue:  Q:  Thank God and our brother for this very timely message on practical righteousness, that is so essential if we are to be in readiness for the "presence " of the Lord. However, I was left with some questions regarding the interpretation of 1 John 3:19-20. When I read verse 19, it seems to me to be a warning not to unconditionally follow the heart: In other words,other if we have a definite word from the Lord, then it takes priority over the condemnation of the heart;'likewise if our heart does approve, then we should follow the witness of the Spirit, life and peace.Perhaps our brother would offer some clarification. Again the message was a real blessing. A:  Amen, this is so essential to be ready for the Lord's return. :)  Those two verses in 1 ...

 Week 47—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 46 Week 47! normal + Paraphrase of 1 John 5:18-21 Last verses!

 Week 46—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 45 Week 46: normal + Manna & Memory with 1 John 5:18-21

 Week 45—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 44 Week 45: normal + Paraphrase of 1 John 5:6-17 right at the end!

 Week 44—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 43 Week 44: normal + 1 John 5:13-17 manna and memory Just wanted to point out that our "normal" translation is the one we're memorizing from.  We'll continue on until the end of the book, meditating, memorizing, and paraphrasing. This is the time for us to complete our memorization of the book. We'll go through a few more studies before the end, but as we do this our notes may be overflowing.  So let's purpose to faithfully go through these verses and share with the group little gleanings as the Lord gives. I currently have way too many paper notes and am hoping to key all of these in for some fellowship.  Thankful for you all. 🙂

 Week 43—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 42 Week 43: normal + 5:6-12 manna + memory Let's do this one well. Using our normal translation, let's focus in on these verses. With all of our talk about the extras of "Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost", we should try to meditate on these with the option of removing that phrase as well. If your normal translation includes it, and you want to keep it, still try to consider what the blood, water, and Spirit's witness means (apart from trying to link it to the Godhead).

 Week 42—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 41 Week 42: NASB-2020 + paraphrase 4:20-5:5  We talked about ASV (1901), NASB-1977, and NASB's 1995 update. Now they've brought out another update! This one may have a few pieces you cringe at and a few places that are a really good upgrade. I wanted to immediately check 1 Cor 7 which unfortunately ended in a terrible way in the past. They've updated that one to be a lot better (not as perfect as Darby's "virginity" translation, but not as terrible as saying a father can keep his daughter from ever getting married!-yikes). So that's an upgrade for certain.  What you may gasp at is the gender neutrality they've implemented in places where they believed it to be very obvious. So instead of "brethren" or "brothers" it may say "brothers and sisters." The words "and sisters" are in italics, which is a way some trans...

 Week 40—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 39 Week 40! normal + paraphrase 4:7-19 + Guy King Let's use our normal study translation this week, especially helpful as we're trying to memorize. Now we're paraphrasing this great section in chapter 4 on love. I'd love to see what anyone comes up with for this.  Here is just a section of Guy King's commentary on 1 John which seems fast and full of little gems. After some large commentaries, this one is great to grab. I've pulled the section that includes the "sin unto death" verses. You can get the full commentary at this link: First General Epistle of John by Guy King Each section is there and you can download them. They're quick to read.

 Week 39—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 38 Week 39! normal + 1 John 4:15-19 manna and memory Let's just read and meditate/memorize for the rest of this week. We've had a lot of commentaries placed on the table. Some of these I've been hunting down and purchasing also since I liked them so much. Not sure about you all, but I'm on the computer so much during the day for work that I love to read physical books. Audiobooks are great for when I'm still moving around or driving. But sitting down with a physical book is like a campfire to me--just perfect.  I thought it'd be helpful if some can share some highlights from any parts in any of the commentaries that they've checked out. Anything new discovered? Most of us will only get to read a portion of each commentary so it'll help a lot of you could bring out something you've discovered.  This week I ended up finally getting back to the 1 John...

 Week 38—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 37 Week 38 - Moving along into manna and memory of 4:11-14 + Robert Law + normal translation. We've read through 1st John now with a good number of different translations. It's probably been enough to catch most of the possibilities though it's still interesting to see how other translations do this. If you have a suggestion for a new one let me know. I have a few more odd ones to share, but I also like to just use the normal translation that you use as a default.  Robert Law's commentary: The Tests of Life I like even the very title of this classic commentary. He brings out how throughout 1 John there are so many tests given to show that you have eternal life or are begotten or are in fellowship etc. "if we say" "he that saith" etc.  I also noticed that he purposed to group some subjects instead of the typical talk through each verse in its order....

Week 37 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 36 Week 37!  NET + Manna & Memory with 4:7-10 + Findlay Let's try out the NET translation. Have you ever used it? I've noticed it but never read through it before. I may try to listen through the audio of it sometime soon, but it won't give its full value. This translation has an easy text with a nerdy bunch of footnotes. The translators wanted to show their reasonings throughout the text for certain words or passages coming out the way they did. They said it's a fresh translation (not based on another). I checked into some of the story and think it's pretty neat what they hoped to accomplish. We can see how we feel about it with 1 John, especially after reading through with other versions. With so many notes you may want to just read through the Scriptures (not checking notes) and then especially check the notes on the section we're focusing on (4:7-10). ...

Week 36 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 35 Week 36 - normal + paraphrase 4:1-6 + FF Bruce!  Let's paraphrase this small interesting section (4:1-6) this time, and it actually goes well with the beginning intro notes from FF Bruce's book on John's Epistles. FF Bruce is possibly my favorite nerd-study teacher when it gets to the nerdiest of things. With his brethren background and ultimate scholarship he ties in belief and revelation in the Scriptures along with the study of those details of background, language, archeology, etc. that most associate with spiritual death. This man handled the most difficult aspects of study and became the teacher of modern times to all of the other teachers. Every book I've caught of his has been great. Some of them, like his books on the Dead Sea Scrolls, are great if you need something to put you to sleep at night 🙂 But others, like his book on difficult questions, are ones...

Week 35 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 34 NASB (77' vs 95') + 4:1-6 + Westcott 1 John (NASB 1977 vs 1995 plus both versions) I know we're deep in the study now - but remember to always, first thing, devote the "searching" to the discovery of Christ. Only if the sword of the Spirit is able to slice into our depths will the same Spirit reveal the truth hidden within that sword. For the translation this time I'd like to settle the issue of 1977 vs 1995 with NASB (at least for 1 John). I remember talking with some like John Saunders (who introduced me to NASB) how they despised the updates in 1995. The more literal translations were still there but now in the footnotes instead of the text itself. Plus, if you're used to Thee's and Thou's then the update ruined it. The 1977 version kept that archaic language for things like Psalms and prayers. In studying 1 John I figured it'd be a gre...

Week 34 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 33 DRB + Paraphrase 3:14-24 + John Wesley 1 John (DRB) 1 John (Wesley) Hey Bible nerds! Let's do some paraphrasing this time with a somewhat easily confused Scripture on the heart.  John Wesley's commentary is refreshing as a break from very thorough nerdy ones. Remember his life-story and work, his much preaching and passion for souls. Riding around from town to town by horse, this man of God studied the word much, but with the heart to preach the word. Some of the scholars study and make very neat discoveries that will never make it into messages it seems. But his commentary reads a little bit more devotional. Not saying one is better, but it is nice to get this variety. Some commentaries are so thorough (long) that we've suggested finding one section to read. This one is nice and short (at least on 1 John). It's just a few sentences for each verse. So we may all be...

Week 33 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 32 Williams + Manna/Memory 1 John 3:18-24 + Jamieson-Fausset-Brown 1 John (Williams) 1 John (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) Hey everyone! Back to a new and odd translation - Williams. This one is a thought for thought translation from 1937 (revised 1950). Moody Press published it so it automatically gains some respect. Williams wanted to have the translation in a language for the people (remember this is 1937), but without it being a paraphrase. This is before NIV, NCV, HCSB, etc. He followed the Westcott and Hort Greek text (not the Textus Receptus), so that may bother some. He even used a bit of the Vatican manuscript whenever there were real conflicts in the Greek texts. You may notice in some Bibles there is a footnote by the story of the adulteress from John's Gospel. It's not in some of the medieval manuscripts and some take issue with it. Others feel it was always there but ...

Week 32 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 31 Normal translation + Paraphrase 2:29-3:17 + Scroggie's Unfolding Drama of Redemption  1 John (Scroggie UDR) The Unfolding Drama of Redemption is one of my go-to favorites of all time with Bible basics when studying. I ended up reading it 2x as part of a two-year study plan created by Christian Chen (which was awesome), and since that time I've referred back to different sections often. I love his style of organizing and charts. The concept of revealing throughout Scripture a larger plan that's all connected is wonderful. Scroggie was trained by Spurgeon and has that similar openness to all Christians that is so helpful for a bible student. Attached is a small portion on 1 John. It starts out with some general comparison with the Gospel of John. That type of parallel study has come up already here and it'd be great if someone pasted out all of the verses next to eac...

Week 31 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 30 KJV vs NKJV + 3:13-17 memory + Robert Candlish 1 John (KJV vs NKJV) As a kid, I remember most adults using KJV but they would permit the kids and new people to use NKJV. There were other options but this one was encouraged and hadn't messed up too many things from the authorized. I was glad to read it since KJV had me lost. So what did the 130 scholars change after 7 years of work? By 1982 they had updated some vocabulary and grammar of the old text. But they couldn't help adding in some footnotes as well. You'll see them refer to the NU-text and the M-text. These are Greek texts that have something different than what KJV used. Here's a quote from the preface: NU-Text These variations from the traditional text generally represent the Alexandrian or Egyptian type of text [the oldest, but sometimes questioned text]. They are found in the Critical Text published in t...

Week 30 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 29 Berean Literal Bible + 1 John 3:7-17 + Scofield's Notes 1 John (BLB) Have you heard of the Bereans? Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true (Acts 17:11) I'm really appreciating the work those from Biblehub.com have accomplished with their Berean Bible translations. They made a study version, an interlinear (which is pretty nice compared to others), a literal translation, and an annotated one. All of these are useful in different ways. This was a smaller team of translators but they took it seriously and they used a lot of input from volunteer scholars and bible students from all around. They have an open concept of sharing the text and their struggling notes for translating. Let's read their literal bible translation. If yo...

Week 29 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 28 Jerusalem Bible + 1 John 2:29-3:6 + FB Meyer notes 1 John (FB Meyer) For this week let's use a much smaller commentary. F.B. Meyer has some short notes on the book and I believe it is a good example for us. If, after having studied for a year, we can come up with some overview-type paragraphs for each major section that would be some fruit. It's true that we may have a lot of notes and many details to tell people about that we've discovered. But can we do something simple like this as well? As always, F.B. Meyer brings the word to all of us and lifts us up to Christ (see attached). Let's read from the Jerusalem Bible this time. In the 1960s or so there was a movement among the Roman Catholics to get into reading the Bible. One piece of fruit from that time is the Jerusalem Bible. It is a Catholic translation so it will have some extra books in it, but we're jus...

Week 28 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 27 LEB + Paraphrase 2:18-28 + Matthew Henry  1 John (LEB) Hey everyone! I wanted to mention at the start that now with commentaries added in we're all going to have the potential to do a lot of interesting studying as well as getting overloaded. If you're having a busy week, try just a sample of the commentary and set it aside for another time. You may feel like you need to do that each time and that's okay of course. It may help to pick a section of 1st John that becomes your section. You memorize it, you paraphrase it, you get notes on it, and you read all the commentaries we post on it. If you can do that then you can finish out 1 John later on when you have some more time. That said, LEB (Lexham English Bible) is a very neat translation that's more modern. The Logos Bible software company put this together gradually out from the interlinear work they were doing. T...