1 John 1:1-2:17

Introduction to the 1 John

Outline of the passage

(v1:1-2) We have experienced the word of life, and we are proclaiming it back to you

(v3-4) John wants this shared experience to lead to fellowship, both with him and with God, which would complete John’s joy

(v5) Who God is (God is light)

(v6-8) What our actions reflect about us in light of who God is

(v9-10) Our call to action: confession and recognizing we are in the darkness in our sin leads to being covered by Jesus’ blood, which results in walking in the light and therefore fellowship with God

(v2:1-2) John wants his readers to live without sin, and emphasizes that even when we still sin, it’s not our power that overcomes it

(v3-6) Following God’s commandments is the external evidence of our faith and fellowship with God

(v7-8) John is prefacing that the gospel re-contextualizes the commandments they already know

(v9-11) How the old commandment to love your neighbor as yourself looks in light of the fellowship with God through the blood of Jesus

Historical background

Who is the author?

Who is the audience?

What was the state of the church?

Why is John writing this letter?

Question: How does witnessing the of the Word of life change how we live?

Fellowship with God leads to fellowship with one another (1:1-7)

In verse 3, John is using the transitive property, which says if A=B and B=C, A=C

By making his point this way, John emphasizes that he already has fellowship with God; it’s not some mystical thing that is unattainable. Just as the Word of life was made manifest in a visible, hearable, touchable way, fellowship with God is just as concrete.

What exactly is this fellowship that John is driving towards?

It’s a word that we use almost exclusively in a Christian or church context, and today we use it to mean anything from a Sunday gathering, an intentional Bible study, or just casually hanging out with friends who we also go to church with.

The Greek word for “fellowship” is koinonia

This fellowship is something far more intimate than a poker night with the boys who happen to go to church together.

In the beginning of chapter 2, the word “to know” is ginosko, which emphasizes this theme of fellowship

Ginosko is distinct from just an intellectual understanding of something, but is a full experience of it. It’s used in other parts of the New Testament, and with the equivalent Hebrew word “yada” in the Old Testament as a euphemism for the physical intimacy between a husband and a wife within the covenant of marriage

Genesis 4:1 “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.””

Luke 1:34 “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?””

This is redefining the Gnostic (same root word) heresy that you have to have some special experience to fully know God and have salvation

When we are fully known by God and experience His full love for us, and do life with people who are also fully known and fully loved by God, that frees us to fully know and fully love one another.

This is the kind of fellowship that leads to complete joy.

Psalm 16:11 reveals that the fullness of joy is only found in the presence of God.

In the Garden of Eden in Genesis X, we see that the curse of sin fundamentally shattered two things: our relationship with God, and our relationship with each other. John is saying that when we experience this kind of intimate fellowship with God and with other believers, his joy is complete because it is the restoring of those two broken relationships through the finished work of the cross.

The words of our mouths vs the posture of our walk (1:8-2:6)

The game has changed (2:7-12)

Application

Ask ourselves if the way in which we walk reflect abiding in the love of God?

Confess our sins and invite the cleansing blood of Christ