Conclusion

            God is love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16).  The God of love first loved us and sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior of this world and to be the propitiation sacrifice to save us and make atonement for our sins (vv.  9-10, 14).  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the true God and eternal life (1:1-3; 5:20) came into this world in the flesh (4:2) and laid down His life on the cross as the propitiation for our sins (2: 2; 3:16).  In other words, Jesus Christ died on the cross as the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, satisfying God's holy requirement to punish sin and atoning for our sins (4:10).  How could Jesus Christ, the true God and eternal life die (1:1-2; 5:20)?  How did the sinless (3:5) and righteous Jesus Christ (2:1) come into this world to take away our sins (3:5) and become the propitiation for our sins (2:2)?  It cannot but be the great love of God the Father and the Son of God, Jesus Christ (3:1).  We became children of God through this great love (v. 1), and have been regenerated through the Holy Spirit (5:1, 4), who is the Spirit of God whom Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sent to us after asking God the Father (4:3, 13), came to believe that Jesus is the Christ (5:1), the Son of God (v. 5), the true God and eternal life (1:1-2; 5:20), came to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and Jesus is the Son of God (4:2-3, 15), and became children of God (3:1, 2), so that we live in Him and He is us (4:13).  Therefore, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth who dwells in us (3:24), enables us, who belongs to God and know God (4:6) and believe the Son of God, to have fellowship Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:3), to live by the truth (v. 6) and to love each other (3:11; 4:7; 5:1-2) according to God’s command (3:23, 24; 5:3).  The Holy Spirit causes us to love in deed and truth (3:18) and even, like Jesus, to lay down our lives for our brothers (v. 16), so that we may know that we belong to the truth (v. 19) and that we have passed from death and already have eternal life (v. 14).  In this way, the Holy Spirit gives us the assurance of salvation by making us to know that we have eternal life (5:13).  Also, the Spirit makes us to pray only according to God's will, so that we may have the assurance of answers to our prayers (v. 14) and so that he may live forever by doing the will of God (2:17).  In particular, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, enables us to test the many antichrists who appeared in this last hour  (2:18), the liar (v. 22), those who are trying to lead us astray (v. 26), the spirit of falsehood of many false prophets (4:1, 6) and the false gospel (2:22-23).  Also, the Holy Spirit enables us to overcomes the devil (2:14) and the world (5:4) with the powerful Word of God that dwells in us (2:14).  The Spirit enables us to be victorious by faith against everything in this world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does (vv. 16-17).   And because the Son of God protects us, the evil devil cannot touch us (5:18).  “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (3:2-3).  If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God (v. 21).  I hope and pray that we may be confident and unashamed before the Lord at His coming (2:28), on the Day of Judgment because love is made complete among us (4:17).