First John: 1 John 2:24a-The Command for John’s Teaching Concerning the Person of Jesus Must Remain in the Recipients of the Epistle Lesson # 83

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (ESV)

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Tuesday September 12, 2017

www.wenstrom.org

Lesson # 83

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (ESV)

“What you heard” is composed of the following: (1) nominative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), “you” (2) accusative neuter singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “what” (3) second person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb akouō (ἀκούω), “heard.”

The nominative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su means “each of you” since the word pertains to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions expressing that this command is applicable to every person in the Christian community.

The use of this personal pronoun as the nominative subject is often unnecessary in Greek since the form of a finite verb in this language indicates the person, number and gender of the subject.

This is what makes Greek an “inflectional” language.

When the personal pronoun is used therefore, it may serve to clarify the subject or contrast the subject with someone else or for emphasis.

Here it is used for emphasis and contrast indicating that it is expressing an emphatic contrast between the recipients of this epistle and the antichrists mentioned in .

The verb akouō means, “to hear through instruction” since the word pertains to receiving information regarding a particular subject.

The relative pronoun hos means “what” which is referring to John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

Therefore, this verb akouō in is expressing the idea that each of the recipients of this epistle heard through instruction the apostle John’s teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and the Son of God.

“From the beginning” is composed of the following: (1) preposition apo (ἀπό), “from” (2) genitive feminine singular form of the noun archē (ἀρχή), “beginning.”

The noun archē means “the beginning” and is used in a relative sense to denote the beginning of the recipients of this epistle Christian instruction that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

The word is used to denote the very beginning of John’s readers being taught the doctrine that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

It marks the point of time at the beginning of the process of being taught this doctrine and the beginning of the process of being indoctrinated into the Christian way of life.

This noun archē is the object of the preposition apo, which functions as a marker of the extent of time from a point in the past and is pertaining to the beginning of John’s reader’s Christian indoctrination and specifically their instruction that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

“Let abide in you” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (2) dative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), “you” (3) third person singular present active imperative form of the verb menō (μένω), “abide.”

The verb menō means “to remain” since the word pertains to continuing in a particular state or condition or activity.

The word is used in relation to John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

Therefore, the verb expresses the idea that this teaching must continue to remain in the souls of the recipients of this epistle who were believers living in the Roman province of Asia in the last decade of the first century A.D.

The present imperative form of the verb menō is a customary present imperative expressing the idea that John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God must continue to remain in the souls of the recipients of this epistle.

The dative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su means “each of you” since the word refers to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions expressing John’s concern for each of the recipients of this epistle.

The word is the object of the preposition en which is functioning as a marker of location indicating that the souls of each of the recipients of this epistle is the location in which John wants his teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth to continue to remain.

In contrast to them, what each of you have heard from the beginning must continue to remain in each of you. If what each of you have heard from the beginning remains in each of you, indeed each of you will also live in fellowship with Son as well as in fellowship with the Father. (My translation)

contains a command followed by a third class conditional statement.

Both are addressing the relationship between John’s apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth and the recipients of this epistle who were of course believers living in the Roman province of Asia in the last decade of the first century A.d.

Specifically, they are teaching that the recipients of this epistle must continue to adhere to John’s teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

This is indicated by his statements in which address the proto-Gnostic teachers who rejected that Jesus is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

So here in verse 24, John is teaching the recipients of this epistle that in contrast to these antichrists, each of the recipients of this epistle must continue to obey his apostolic teaching that Jesus is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

Consequently, he is also teaching them with both this command and third class condition how they can protect themselves from the proto-Gnostic teachers who taught docetic Gnosticism.

The command in required that each of the recipients of this epistle continue obey John’s apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth, namely that He is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

He wanted this teaching to continue to remain in each of the recipients of this epistle who were of course believers living in the Roman province of Asia in the last decade of the first century A.D.

John asserts that they heard this teaching about Jesus from the beginning of their Christian instruction which would be the moment they were declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ when they first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The recipients of this epistle were already obeying this command which is indicated by John’s statements in in which he affirms that they were remaining faithful to his apostolic teaching when he wrote this epistle to them.

Thus, they were already obeying this command in which he had taught them many times in the past.

Both the command and this third class conditional statement are solemn in nature because obedience to them is absolutely imperative if the recipients of this epistle were to continue to live in fellowship with both the Father and the Son.

If a non-believer rejects that Jesus is both God and man, then they will never experience an eternal relationship and fellowship with God since the hypostatic union is the basis for this relationship and fellowship with the triune God.

If the Son did not become a human being, then there would be no possible way for sinners to experience an eternal relationship and fellowship with a holy God since His death on the cross as a human being provides sinners the forgiveness of sins.

His death and resurrection as a human being provided sinners deliverance from eternal condemnation, enslavement to the devil and the sin nature, personal sins, physical and spiritual death, and condemnation from the Law.

It also provided the opportunity to experience an eternal relationship and fellowship with a holy God.

None of this would be possible if the Son did not become a human being and die on the cross and rise from the dead three days later.

Furthermore, to deny that Jesus of Nazareth is both God and man is to deny the resurrection since the resurrection demonstrates that Jesus is God (cf. ).

To deny the deity of Christ is to deny the doctrine of the Trinity.

Thus, we can see why John wrote the prologue to the epistle the way he did.

If a believer rejects that Jesus is both God and man, then they will not experience fellowship with God since the hypostatic union is the basis for fellowship with the triune God.

If the Son did not become a human being, then there would be no possible way for sinners to experience fellowship with a holy God since His death as a human being provides sinners the forgiveness of sins.

His death and resurrection as a human being provided sinners deliverance from eternal condemnation, enslavement to the devil and the sin nature, personal sins, physical and spiritual death, and condemnation from the Law.

It also provided the opportunity to experience an eternal relationship and fellowship with a holy God.

None of this would be possible if the Son did not become a human being and die on the cross and rise from the dead three days later.

Furthermore, to deny that Jesus of Nazareth is both God and man is to deny the resurrection since the resurrection demonstrates that Jesus is God (cf. ).

To deny the deity of Christ is to deny the doctrine of the Trinity.