1 John Introduction

Authorship

The first epistle of John and the Gospel of John have similar writing styles

The claim of being an eye witness testifies to the apostleship of the author

1 John 1:1 ESV

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

Date

Written after the Gospel of John

the epistle builds upon truths expressed with much more detail in the gospel

Docetism (the doctrine that Christ’s body was not human) is absent from the gospel, which seems to indicate that it was a later development

1 John was often compared to the letters of Ignatius and Polycarp which criticized similar false teaching that John addresses in this epistle. This would place the writing of the letter in the 90s.

The 3 True Faith Tests of 1 John

1. Doctrine: Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?

The Problem: False Doctrine

God never took on human flesh

Human flesh is sinful, therefore while God may have appeared as human, He did not actually take on flesh.

The false teachers separated the human Jesus of flesh and the divine Christ of the Spirit

The stakes: Salvation

Without a fully human and fully divine mediator, we cannot have the atoning sacrifice for our sins that we need.

The Response: Jesus is fully human

1 John 1:1–3 ESV

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1 John 4:1–3 ESV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

The care: John’s pastoral heart

John wants to address the confusion this church was experiencing as a result of the opposing voices in their midst.

1 John 5:1 ESV

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

The bottom line: Doctrine matters

Doctrine is fundamental to spiritual health

Our christology is crucial: we must believe that Jesus is fully human and fully God

The gospel depends on this: we must believe that in His love for us, God Himself took on flesh, lived a perfect life, died the death sinners deserve, and then rose in victory over sin and death.

2. Morality: Do you obey the commands of God?

True belief shows itself in righteousness

1 John 2:3–4 ESV

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

1 John 2:5–6 (ESV)

… By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

this same truth is also expressed in negative terms

1 John 2:15–17 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

True belief has 1 love

No one can claim to love God and love the world at the same time.

Darkness and light are used to make this point

1 John 1:5–7 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

this point is also made by distinguishing people as either children of God or children of the devil

1 John 3:7–10 ESV

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

True belief results in right practice

1 John 5:1–3 (ESV)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments...

It is really very simple: if you are a child of God, you will live like God. If you are a child of the devil, you will live like the devil.

True belief does not produce moral perfection

1 John 2:1 ESV

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

While no Christian lives morally perfect, and by God’s grace no non Christian lives exactly like the devil, among the many differences between Christians and non-Christians is the fact the Christians have Jesus as their advocate to the Father. In other words, Jesus pleads the Christian’s case.

3. Love: Do you love the people of God?

Love others as God loves us

1 John 4:21 ESV

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

If we have gotten hold of the real thing, that is, if we are truly born again, not only will we believe Jesus is the son of God, not only will we obey the commands of God; we will also love the people of God.

This is not a command as much as it is a statement of fact. If we love God, we will love God’s people.

When there is a lack of love

1 John 2:9–11 ESV

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Apparently there was a love problem. Due to disagreement, love was difficult to discern among this body. In response, John wrote in 4:16 God is love (not love is God).

The 3 Tests and the Last Line

The 3 tests of true faith are

Doctrine

Morality

Love

How does the last verse of the last chapter relate to these tests?

1 John 5:21 ESV

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

keep yourselves from a false and distorted view of Jesus

We can use the 3 true faith tests to discern if our view of Jesus is correct

The 3 true faith tests

Doctrine: Jesus is fully human and fully God

Morality: God displayed that He is not indifferent to sin through His death for our sin

Love: right doctrine and right living are crucial, but if we fail to love one another ad God loved us, we know knowing truth and behaving right is superficial.