1 John 2:5-6. New American Standard Bible 5 but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked. Is John claiming that we can be perfect? The answer is no. When John speaks of the love of God being perfected it is speaking of being matured in Christ. John has connected keeping the word of God with maturing and growing in Christ.

1 John 2:2 New American Standard Bible 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The word propitiation means to appease or satisfied. What John is writing to us is that what Jesus accomplished at Calvary through His suffering and His death has satisfied the righteousness and justice of God. Because God is righteous and holy, He must deal rightly with wickedness and sin. Before Jesus came, God put in pla

1 John 1:9 New American Standard Bible 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The question we must answer is when we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins, are all of our sins forgiven? Are all of our past, present, and future sins forgiven? I believe the answer to that question is yes. The reason is because when we come to Christ, we are fully forgiven. We are declared righteous. Our