Introducing John

INTRODUCTION

This week we’ll begin a new series as we take a journey through the epistles of John. Each book has enough content for it’s own series so, perhaps we’ll start with 1 John and reassess at the end what the Spirit is saying, as to whether we continue with the epistles or go on to something else, but for now we are going to be taking our trip through John’s first epistle to the believers.

I will keep this first lesson brief since it is about introducing John himself as well as introducing the purpose for the rest. And that can get a little on the dry side, but it is always important to lay down these details when starting to study a new book so that we can get the context of it. We will get into the real meat an potatoes starting next week, but today we’ll start by getting to know John and by whetting our appetite for what is to come later.

When Jesus to earth, He came not only to LIVE a life, but to GIVE life:

John 10:10 TLV

The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly!

The GOSPEL of John was designed to produce faith so that we might have life.

John 20:30–31 TLV

Yeshua performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these things have been written so that you may believe that Yeshua is Mashiach Ben-Elohim, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

However, it is the FIRST EPISTLE of John which discusses the nature of that life in greater detail

1 John 3:14 TLV

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.

So I think a thorough study of this epistle is in order so that we might live the sort of life God offers through His Son.

In this lesson, the first of several on First John, let's begin with some...

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

THE AUTHOR...

So let’s talk about John. Who was he? He was one of the 12 apostles of Yeshua - a fisherman in the Sea of Galilee . He and his brother James (both sons of Zebedee) were called to follow Messiah. John was part of Yeshua’s inner circle along with Peter and James, and he was singled out as the one Yeshua loved. Why would this be? Perhaps it is because he is the only one of the disciples who was present at the Crucifixion, and because of that, was the only one of the disciples that was spared martyrdom.

It will be assumed in the course of this study that the author is John, the beloved disciple of Jesus.

He is the author of the Gospel of John despite controversy to the contrary, this is pretty clear. As side note, the Gospel of John focuses on the divinity of Christ and is a book that will often throw Muslim apologists into a panic, and so they will resort to trying to refute it’s authorship to discredit it. Textually these types of arguments just don’t hold water.

Similarities between this epistle and the Gospel of John certainly suggests INTERNAL evidence for this conclusion

There is also EXTERNAL evidence that this John is the author:

Polycarp, a close associate of John, appears to make reference to this epistle at the beginning of the second century, in a letter to the Philippians

Irenaeus, a student of Polycarp, quoted from it and attributed it to John

THE RECIPIENTS...

No one is specifically mentioned

John may have been in Ephesus at the time, and that this was a general epistle to the Christians throughout Asia Minor

However, John's comments in 1Jn 2:20,27 suggests that John may have been addressing a particular group of Christians possessing certain spiritual gifts

1 John 2:20 TLV

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

1 John 2:27 TLV

As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things—and it is true and not a lie—and just as it has taught you, abide in Him.

DATE...

Estimations range from 60 A.D. to 100 A.D.

Most modern scholarship places it around 95 A.D., but there are also good reasons for believing it was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

PURPOSE...

As declared by John throughout his epistle, he wrote it...

"that your joy may be full" - 1Jn 1:4

"that you may not sin" - 1Jn 2:1

"that you may know that you have eternal life" - 1Jn 5:13a

"that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God" - 1Jn 5:13b

While these reasons may state the "positive" side of John's purpose, it appears he was also responding to errors that were prevalent at the time -

1 John 2:26 TLV

I have written you these things about those who are trying to mislead you.

Even in John’s day, a group of people were deviating from the truth and drifting into a belief system known as "Gnosticism"

Those who came to be called "Gnostics"...

Claimed to have a superior knowledge (The Greek. word for knowledge is "gnosis")

The Gnostics believed all matter was evil, and therefore God did not create or have anything to do with the material universe

Therefore Christ could not have come in the flesh.

1 John 4:1–3 TLV

Loved ones, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. You know the Ruach Elohim by this—every spirit that acknowledges that Messiah Yeshua has come in human flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-messiah, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world.

One branch of gnosticism, DOCETISM (dokein, "to seem"), said that Jesus only "seemed" to be physical.

1 John 1:1 TLV

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life—

CERINTHUS taught that "Jesus" was physical, but that the "Spirit of Messiah" came upon him at his baptism, and left before his death, so that the "Messiah- spirit" never suffered.

1 John 5:6 TLV

Messiah Yeshua is the One who came by water and blood—not by water only, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

Their application to everyday living took two different directions; since all matter was thought to be evil, sSome thought one should abstain altogether from anything that would satisfy the flesh. Others claimed it did not matter what one did in the flesh (it was evil anyway), and to have full knowledge it was proper to explore everything

Many of John's comments in this epistle appear to address these false teachings.

With this brief background to the epistle, let's get right into the text by considering the first four verses. They appear to serve as a PROLOGUE, and reveal...

JOHN'S AIM IN WRITING THIS EPISTLE

CONCERNS THE "WORD OF LIFE"

1 John 1:1 TLV

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life—

Which was "from the beginning"

John may have reference to the creation of the world.

John 1:1 TLV

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Or he may have reference to the beginning of the gospel

1 John 2:7 TLV

Loved ones, I am not writing a new commandment for you, but an old commandment—one you had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard.

1 John 2:13 TLV

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known the One who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 2:24 TLV

As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will continue to live in the Son and in the Father.

1 John 3:11 TLV

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning—we should love one another.

This "Word of life" was...

"heard"

"seen with our eyes"

"looked at"

"touched with our hands"

-- all emphasizing that this "Word" was "real, in the flesh"; an obvious reference to Jesus.

John 1:14 TLV

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.

TO DECLARE THE "ETERNAL LIFE"

1 John 1:2 TLV

the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

Which was...

With the Father

And then revealed to the apostles, who had seen and were bearing witness

Again, this is an obvious reference to Messiah

But notice the use of the NEUTER gender throughout this passage

The emphasis appears to be on the "life" which Jesus had, especially that which is "eternal" ("that eternal life")

It is this same "life" which we can possess if we truly believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 5:11–13 TLV

And the testimony is this—that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have Ben-Elohim does not have life. I wrote these things to you who believe in the name of Ben-Elohim, so you may know that you have eternal life.

Thus John is focusing on the "eternal life" which Jesus offers and made possible by His coming in the flesh

THAT YOU MAY HAVE "FELLOWSHIP" WITH US

1 John 1:3 TLV

What we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so you may have fellowship with us. Indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Yeshua the Messiah.

Here is the reason for declaring the "Word of life", the "eternal life"

By declaring this "life" (revealed by Jesus and through Jesus), "fellowship" is possible

Fellowship involves the idea of "sharing, communion"

The "sharing, communion" that the apostles have is with the Father and His Son

John wanted his readers to participate in this same sharing...

"that you also may have fellowship with us"

In essence John was saying, "You too can experience what we are experiencing!”

Why does John desire this? Read on...

THAT YOUR "JOY" MAY BE FULL

1 John 1:4 TLV

These things we write so our joy may be full.

It is "fellowship" with the Father and Son that makes the "life" of a Christian so full of joy!

And just as Jesus came to give us "abundant life" (Jn 10:10), so John now writes...

John 17:3 TLV

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah, the One You sent.

So that our joy may be full!

CONCLUSION

From 1Jn 1:1-4, then, we learn that fullness of joy comes only when we are in fellowship with the Father and the Son

Only then do we have that "eternal life", which was first manifested in the flesh by Jesus Himself, and now given only through Jesus.

1 John 5:11–13 TLV

And the testimony is this—that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have Ben-Elohim does not have life. I wrote these things to you who believe in the name of Ben-Elohim, so you may know that you have eternal life.

In our next lesson, we shall see what John says is essential if we are to truly have fellowship with God

1 John 1:5–2:2 TLV

Now this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you—that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and keep walking in the darkness, we are lying and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of His Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Intercessor with the Father—the righteous Messiah Yeshua. He is the atonement for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.