Getting Started

The shift from the distinctive of John to our ongoing course theme of “Life and Faith” should be pretty easy since John regularly discusses life and faith in precisely those terms. Again, your aim for this discussion is to note in your two selected passages aspects of God’s gift to us (“Life”) and our response (“Faith”). These do not have to both be in the same passage, but you should try to have something of both aspects somewhere in your post. 

Upon successful completion of the course material, you will be able to:

· Explain aspects of God’s gifts and our response in the writings of John. 

Resources

· Bible

Background Information

When we were looking into Paul’s letters, you discovered that one of our key course themes “Faith” was a key part of Paul’s emphases and vocabulary. Much the same is true of “Life” for the writings of John. “Life” or “eternal life” is a way that John regularly speaks of God’s gift to us in Christ. One important qualification here—When John (or other parts of the New Testament) speak of “eternal” life or “everlasting” life, we need to clarify the connotation of those terms a bit. It is true that this kind of life lasts beyond physical death, that it lasts for eternity. However, the duration of this life is only one aspect. It is also a new kind of life, a new kind of life that is fit for eternity. In that sense, it is a life that shares in God’s kind of holy, loving, overflowing life.  

Instructions

1. Review the assessment criteria in the rubric for this assignment.  

2. Read the Gospel of John.

3. Read the Epistle of 1 John.

4. Identify two passages anywhere in John’s writings that are relevant to the topics of Life and Faith. You should touch on each of those themes in your post, but they do not need to come from two different books. 

5. Compose an initial post of 200-250 words that identifies your passages and explains where and how you see the themes of Life and Faith at work in each of them. You do not need to quote the entire passage, but you should use specific pieces of each passage in your explanation.