Full chapter _____________ Acts 10 There was a certain man in Cæsarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in…

Jude provides four duties of maintaining faithfulness. First, the building upon faith ( i.e. doctrinal understanding and trust); second, praying in the Holy Spirit (what it is); third, keeping oneself in the love of God (frequently forgotten steps), and fourth, avoiding dangers.

Jude urges God's people to defend the faith, warning of the stealth of errorists, and of how down the centuries they invent doctrines and attack the authority of Scripture. He also reveals their motives and points to how the battle must be fought.

John here presents four crucial ideals for believers to aim at: 1) to take seriously personal spiritual progress or soul-prosperity; 2) to fully embrace missionary support; 3) to avoid Diotrephes-style leadership; and 4) to know how to recognise those truly approved by God.

The chief message of this personal letter to a Christian lady is the duty and protective power of mutual love against error. Here we define 'walking in the truth', consider how fellowship love guards against doctrinal and spiritual collapse, and summarise the main heresies over time.

John sets out the authentic characteristics of truly saved believers. What he means by saying that they sin not, and how they fight sin. Here also are Satan's attempts to ruin them, and a key work of redemption - a certain and personal walk with God.

Here is the necessity of prayer and why God requires it; the meaning of God's promise to answer 'according to his will'; the things for which we should pray; the manner in what we should pray; and the vexed exception of the 'sin unto death'.

As unbelievers we thought unbelief was 'innocent'. Surely it was for Christians to demonstrate God's reality to us. But here is God's viewpoint - the depths of wilful unreasonableness in our rejection of Him. And here also is what we owe to Him for His mercy.

The apostle describes seven solid evidences of the work of salvation in the true believer (different from the 'marks of grace' usually described). All provide either strong assurance, or a profound challenge in the case of those who have not yet experienced conversion to Christ.

From the warning against false teachers, the apostle turns again to the great duty of love to fellow believers, providing fourteen compelling reasons (with benefits) for honouring this obligation. Here love is defined, its actions and activities listed, and the reasons surveyed.