"Words of Life" by Hiram Kemp - Part 7

April 22, 2026 - Wednesday Bible Class This episode introduces a new week-by-week series through 1 John (and later 2–3 John), taught in a classroom setting where the instructors have swapped: Hiram leads the 1 John series while Neil teaches Nehemiah in the adjacent adult class. The approach for the quarter is big-picture, one major theme per chapter, emphasizing themes that John repeats across his letters rather than a verse-by-verse technical exposition. The program opens with a survey of the author and audience: the Apostle John — one of Jesus’ “inner three,” present at the cross and later exiled on Patmos — whose long ministry and eyewitness testimony give weight to his teaching. The instructor highlights John’s transformation (from one of the “Sons of Thunder” to the “disciple Jesus loved”) and explains why that life experience matters for understanding 1 John. The class unpacks who John was writing to (experienced Christians) and why: three explicit purposes surface across the book — to clarify who believers have fellowship with (the apostles and, ultimately, the Father and the Son), to lead readers into full joy, and to give assurance that those who believe already possess eternal life. Hiram stresses that biblical “knowing” is meant to change how you live, not remain merely intellectual. Common false teachings that motivated John’s letter are discussed: early tendencies that denied Jesus’ true humanity and divinity (later associated with Gnostic or docetic ideas), claims of spiritual elitism that excused ongoing sin, and teaching that separated knowledge from love. John’s core counters are reiterated: Jesus came in the flesh, love for the brotherhood proves genuine faith, and Christians will struggle with sin but should not live in willful, habitual sin. The class reads and expounds 1 John 1:1–10. Key points from that passage highlighted in the episode include John’s eyewitness testimony (“we heard, we saw, we touched”), the central declaration that “God is light,” the condition for fellowship (walking in the light), the ongoing efficacy of Christ’s blood to cleanse believers from sin, and the importance of honest confession (contrasted with the deception of denying sin). Listeners can expect seven weeks of chapter-focused teaching, practical application for Christian living (fellowship, confession, loving others, persevering in truth), and repeated reminders that sound doctrine should produce joy and transformed behavior. The episode prepares the listener to continue with chapter-by-chapter themes: fellowship, walking in light, assurance of eternal life, resisting false teachers, and the supremacy of love in authentic Christian faith.   Duration 44:35