Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
What does 1 John 5:21 mean?
All mankind are divided into two parties or dominions; that which belongs to God, and that which belongs to the wicked one.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside 1 John 5:18-21 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on 1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. Little children - This is a favorite mode of address with John, (see the notes at 1 John 2:1 ), and it was proper to use it in giving his parting counsel; embracing, in fact, all that he had to say - that they should keep themselves from idols, and suffer nothing to alienate their affections from the true God. His great object had been to lead them to the knowledge and love of God, and all his counsels would be practically followed, if, amidst the temptations of idolatry, and the allurements of sin, nothing were allowed to estrange their hearts from him.
Key words
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push({}); Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Context in 1 John 5
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1 John 5 belongs to the closing movement of the book, especially the section often described as assurance and final warning. First John is a profound epistle of light, truth, love, assurance, obedience, and confession of the incarnate Son. Read this chapter with the wider themes of love, truth, and assurance in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
Related topics
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A guided collection of passages on God’s love, neighbor-love, steadfast covenant love, and the shape of love in Christian life.
Passages on peace with God, peace in the heart, peace in community, and the biblical difference between true peace and false reassurance.
Passages on the nature of truth, honesty, deception, the word of God as truth, and Jesus' claim to be the truth.