Sermon Tone Analysis

GREATER>than

Introduction To 1 John

UNIQUENESS OF THE BOOK

A. The book of 1 John is not a personal letter nor a letter written to one church as much as it is an "Impassioned Office Memo from Headquarters" (corporate letter).

1.

It has no traditional introduction (from whom, to whom).

2. It has no personal greetings or closing message.

B. There is no mention of personal names.

This is highly unusual except in books written to many churches, such as Ephesians and James.

The only NT letter which does not include the name of the author is Hebrews.

However, it is obvious that 1 John was written to believers presently facing an internal church problem of false teachers (Gnostics).

C.

This letter is a powerful theological treatise

1.

The centrality of Jesus

a. fully God and fully man

b. salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ, not a mystical experience or secret knowledge (false teachers)

2. The demand for a Christian lifestyle (three tests of genuine Christianity)

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a. brotherly love

b. obedience

c. rejection of the fallen world system

3.

The assurance of eternal salvation through faith in Jesus of Nazareth ("know" used 27 times)

4. How to recognize false teachers

D. John's writings (especially 1 John) are the least complicated Koine Greek of any NT writer, yet his books, as no other, plumb the depths of the profound and eternal truths of God in Jesus Christ (i.e., God is Light, 1 John 1:5; God is Love, 1 John 4:8,16; God is spirit, John 4:24).

E. It is possible that 1 John was meant to be a cover letter for the Gospel of John.

The Gnostic heresy of the first century forms the background for both books.

The Gospel has an evangelistic thrust, while 1 John is written for believers (i.e., discipleship).

The renowned commentator Westcott asserted that the Gospel affirms the Deity of Jesus, while 1 John affirms His humanity.

These books go together!

F. John writes in black and white (dualistic) terms.

This is characteristic of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gnostic false teachers.

1 John's structured literary dualism is both verbal (light versus dark) and stylistic (a negative statement followed by a positive one).

This is different from the Gospel of John, which employs a vertical dualism (Jesus from above versus all humans from below).

G.

It is very difficult to outline 1 John because of John's recurrent use of themes.

The book is like a tapestry of truths woven together in repeated patterns (cf.

Bill Hendricks, Tapestries of Truth, The Letters of John).

What we do know about John the Apostle?

(1) He was the son of Zebedee and Salome

(2) He was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee with his brother, James (possibly owned several boats)

(3) Some believe his mother was a sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus (cf.

John 19:25; Mark 15:20)

(4) Apparently he was wealthy because he had

(a) hired servants (cf.

Mark 1:20)

(b) several boats

(c) a home in Jerusalem

(5) John had access to the High Priest's home in Jerusalem, which shows he was a person of some renown (cf.

John 18:15-16)

(6) It was John in whose care Mary, the mother of Jesus, was committed

d.

Early Church tradition unanimously testified that John outlived all of the other Apostles, and after the death of Mary in Jerusalem he moved to Asia Minor and settled in Ephesus, the largest city in that area.

From this city he was exiled to the Island of Patmos (just off the coast) and was later released and returned to Ephesus (Eusebius quotes Polycarp, Papias and Irenaeus).

1 John addresses heresy in the Church from the influence of the Gnostics.

THE HERESY

A. The letter itself is obviously a reaction against a type of false teaching (i.e., "If we say. .

." 1 John 1:6ff and "he who says .

.." 1 John 2:9; 4:20 [diatribe]).

B. We can learn some of the basic tenets of the heresy by internal evidence from 1 John.

1. a denial of the incarnation of Jesus Christ

2. a denial of the centrality of Jesus Christ in salvation

3. a lack of an appropriate Christian lifestyle

4. an emphasis on knowledge (often secret)

5. a tendency toward exclusivism

C. The setting of the first century

The Roman world of the first century was a time of eclecticism between the Eastern and Western religions.

The gods of the Greek and Roman pantheons were in ill repute.

The Mystery religions were very popular because of their emphasis on personal relationship with the deity and secret knowledge.

Secular Greek philosophy was popular and was merging with other worldviews.

Into this world of eclectic religion came the exclusiveness of the Christian faith (Jesus is the only way to God, cf.

John 14:6).

Whatever the exact background of the heresy, it was an attempt to make the seeming narrowness of Christianity plausible and intellectually acceptable to a wider Greek-Roman audience.

D. Possible options as to which group of Gnostics John is addressing

1. Incipient Gnosticism

a.

The basic teachings of incipient Gnosticism of the first century seem to have been an emphasis on the ontological (eternal) dualism between spirit and matter.

Spirit (High God) was considered good, while matter was inherently evil.

This dichotomy resembles Platonism's ideal versus physical, heavenly versus earthly, invisible versus visible.

There was also an overemphasis on the importance of secret knowledge (passwords or secret codes which allow a soul to pass through the angelic spheres [aeons] up to the high god) necessary for salvation.

b.

There are two forms of incipient Gnosticism which apparently could be in the background of 1 John

(1) Docetic Gnosticism, which denies the true humanity of Jesus because matter is evil

(2) Cerinthian Gnosticism, which identifies the Christ with one of many aeons or angelic levels between the good high god and evil matter.

This "Christ Spirit" indwelt the man Jesus at his baptism and left him before his crucifixion.

(3) of these two groups some practiced asceticism (if the body wants it, it is evil), the other antinomianism (if the body wants it, give it).

There is no written evidence of a developed system of Gnosticism in the first century.

It is not until the middle of the second century that documented evidence existed.