Intro to 1 John

Intro to 1 John

If you were to ask the question, what does a believer look like, what answer would you give?

People can be fake

Sometimes believers can make mistakes

Then how can you tell if you are a Christian?

Why study 1 John?

Many would say the theme of 1 John is assurance of salvation

This book is written generically but it seems that this book is a response to some false teaching going on

You can tell what these false teachers are teaching by what the book addresses

It seems as though these false teachers have muddied the waters on what being saved looks like. Because of this, many true Christians need clarity on what it looks like to be a Christian

There is no other book of the New Testament that explains assurance of salvation as much as 1 John. Why is this important?

Youth Ministry Conversations:

If you were to walk up to a random high school student lets say at THS and say, hey can we talk about Jesus who is the only way of salvation, could you think of a topic that would be less interesting to your age group? This has not always been the case and this is a huge problem. If I say, could you open your Bible, it is as if I said open your calculus textbook, all eyes look like they are falling asleep. If you look at the stats, more and more students are in religious surveys calling themselves as no religion.

Most of you are probably influenced by this culture. Point of the story is this, no one thinks about the fact that a God watches and rules and judges everything. And lets get serious, some day you will die, maybe soon or in many years. The Bible does say that your soul is eternal and will go to either an amazing destination or a horrible one.

So what am I saying, maybe you should consider what a true Christian looks like according to the Bible.

Backgrounds

Writer/Date/Place

John the Apostle

Does not say this, but church tradition strongly affirms this

Early 90s

Latest letters we have in the Bible

Ephesus

Notice that these are not important details because they are not even given in the book. This book was written universally, with not a ton of historical context. Even the false teachers here are not specifically named. This means that this book you can basically universally apply every command or teaching without analysis.

1 John 1:1-4 Explanation

1 John 1:1–4 ESV

1 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— 2 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— 3 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. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Who do you think that Jesus was?

From the beginning (v.1)

Lived as a human (v.1)

Revealed to the world (v.2)

The Life (v.2)

Purpose of the Letter

Fellowship (v.3)

Way of talking about eternal life

Conclusion:

A concluding call to read

Intro

Gospel of John

Are you sure that you have fellowship with God? Ask this question as you read 1 John. Let’s pray for a productive next couple of months.

The MacArthur Study Bible Chapter 1

1:1 That which. This phrase refers to the proclamation of the gospel that centers in Christ’s person, words, and works as contained in apostolic testimony. from the beginning. Although John’s gospel uses a similar phrase meaning eternity past (John 1:1, “in the beginning”), the phrase here, in the context of vv. 1–4, refers to the beginnings of gospel preaching when the readers first heard about Jesus (cf. 2:7, 24). The phrase also emphasizes the stability of the gospel message; its contents do not change but remain stable from the very beginning; it is not subject to change due to current worldly fads or philosophical thinking.

The MacArthur Study Bible Chapter 1

1:2 that eternal life … with the Father and … manifested to us. With this phrase, John accentuates the eternality of Christ in his pre-incarnate glory (cf. 5:12; John 1:4; 5:26, 40; 11:25; 14:6).

The MacArthur Study Bible Chapter 1

1:3 fellowship with us. Fellowship does not mean social relations, but that his readers were to be partakers (or, partners) with John in possessing eternal life (cf. Phil. 1:5; 1 Pet. 5:1; 2 Pet. 1:4). John writes not only to affirm the physical reality of Jesus (vv. 1, 2) but also to produce salvation in the readers. That genuine Christians are never “out of fellowship” is clear, since this verse equates fellowship with salvation.