Introduction to 1 John
Notes
Transcript
Read: John 1:1-4
Read: John 1:1-4
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
1,2, & 3 John are interesting books tucked away in the back of the New Testament. They don’t really give us anything new, but they do give us the same truth in a new way. I hope to explore that in the next couple of weeks as we study this together.
One has likened these epistles (and I should interject here that technically 1 John is not in the format of an epistle but rather a sermon or treatise)
But it has been likened to a family photo album. It shows the traits and features of the family of God. You can flip through it’s pages and see what Christians are to look like, what principles they should live by, and how they live.
These 7 chapters hold a wealth of truth and help for our walk with Christ.
The Author:
The Author:
We don’t really know 100% for sure who the author of these books.
There are three main thoughts:
The author was a disciple of the Apostle John, known as John the Elder. We don’t know much about this person, however, the author does refer to himself throughout the letters as “the Elder.”
This is a possible answer - but to me has a tremendously weak argument.
New Testament scholarship in more modern times has said these epistles were written by an early leader or a collection of leaders, who may not have even been directly connected with John the Beloved.
While it is true we don’t have sufficient evidence to identify the author beyond all doubt - there is far more evidence within the book for the third option of which I am convinced of:
That the Apostle John, the Son of Zebedee, the Beloved, the Revelator wrote these three epistles.
A couple of quick reasons why I am convinced of this:
It was virtually unanimously believed and taught by the Early Church Father’s even Polycarp believed that the Apostle John wrote these letters.
Another reason the very first verses of 1 John declare apostolic authority - and gives eyewitness testimony. Listen to these verses:
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
Whoever this author is he as one writer says: forcefully makes his case for an intimate relationship with the Lord.1
1 Thomas L. Marberry, Shaw Craig, “Commentary on the Books of 1, 2, 3 John,” in 1, 2, 3 John & Revelation, ed. Robert E. Picirilli, First Edition., The Randall House Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Randall House, 2010), 4.
Notice how he utilizes all five senses to convey his personal eyewitness account:
Hearing (that...which we have heard)
Sight (we have seen with our eyes.... which we have looked upon… We have seen it...”)
Touch (Our hands have handled)
1 John 1:1-3
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
In my opinion, I am convinced the author of these three letters was none other, than the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.
So we have an idea about the author - let’s look briefly at the date of writing.
The Date:
The Date:
IN Logos, my Bible Study Software it has a really neat new feature called the Bible Book Explorer it is an interactive that gives me a brief rundown of all the basic information of the books of the Bible. Author, type of content, brief summary, key verse, how many chapters, verses, words, unique words & phrases, date of authorship, etc.
I was shocked that the Johannine epistles 1,2,&3 John listed at least seven different dates from 26 different sources. Now I didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time digging through each one of those - but the one that came up the most is somewhere between AD 85-90
There are three periods of New Testament History generally speaking:
Jesus lifetime: AD 5-33
Expansion of the Gospel (Ascension to arrest of Paul) AD 33-59
Doctrinal and Ecclesial Unification - AD 70-100 Christians needed to be unified in their beliefs and faith about Christ.
They faced persecution
Heresy
Crisis of leadership (Apostles were dying and churches led by people who did not know earthly Jesus)
It was during this time period that John’s letters were probably written as they address those last two issues especially.
History on Apostle John:
History on Apostle John:
Just a little history on the Apostle John to help us understand who he is:
A fisherman by trade
A son of Zebedee, and brother to James
One of the original 12 called Apostles of Jesus
Some think he was the unnamed disciple who left John the Baptist to follow Jesus John 1:35-40
Jesus surnamed James & John “Son’s of Thunder” and he refers to himself as well as the “beloved disciple” and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in the Gospel of John
Was one of the inner circle with Jesus along with Peter & James
John along with his brother James, went with their mother to ask for places of honor by the side of Jesus (Mat. 20:20-24; Mark 10:35-41)
He is entrusted with the care of Mary
Was the first of the disciples to believe in the resurrection (John 20:8)
John was exiled to Patmos during the reign of Domitian (where he had the vision of Revelation)
After his exile some second-century witnesses say that he lived the rest of his life in Ephesus dying a peaceful death from natural causes.
Purposes For Writing
Purposes For Writing
Now I should mention that I will often refer to these as epistles and others will too, but as I mentioned earlier 1 John doesn’t have salutation. He just jumps right in. So it’s more of a homily, or treatise, or Pastoral Essay.
Some have thought, of whom Karen Jobes, a tremendous New Testament scholar and author of the newest exegetical commentary on these letters, is a proponent - that all three letters were written at the same time and that...
2 John is the cover letter
1 John is the sermon
3 John functions as the introduction of the carrier from author to destination (Karen Jobes Master Lectures)
The Purpose of writing the epistle of first John is an interesting study.
“It is a characteristic of John to say why he wrote something....that is particularly true of 1 John, where he mentions the fact of his writing thirteen times.”
In the Gospels his purpose is found toward the end in John 20:31
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
In Revelation he places his purpose at the beginning Revelation 1:19
19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
I’ve found five purposes within the letter I will list them here but we will probably talk about them more in depth later:
Joy may be full (Promote Joy) 1 John 1:4
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
That they not sin (Prevent Sin) 1 John 2:1
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
That they love one another (Propagate Love) 1 John 2:7-8
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
They be warned of false teaching (Protect Truth) 1 John 2:26-27
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
They be assured of victory (Present Assurance) 1 John 5:13
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
1 John seems to have been “written to reassure spiritually confused Christians about eternal life and their faith in Jesus Christ.” Karen Jobes
2 John is a warning to the churches not to entertain false teachers.
3 John a personal note to a man named Gaius requesting hospitality for those sent by the Elder.
Themes of Theological Significance
Themes of Theological Significance
Paul is a fairly linear writer, while he doesn’t always follow that, you can often follow his argument in a logical 1. 2. 3. point pattern.
John on the other hand, at least in this letter is more circular:
by that I mean he approaches a topic, talks about that for a few lines, brings up another topic, then circles back to the first topic.
John talks about:
Christology - the person and work of Christ It involves having an accurate view of and belief in Jesus.
Soteriology - How sin is understood and remedied involves a right obedience to God’s command
The Spirit of God (true and false spirits)
Ethics - The nature of human love for God and for one another
“The World” and opposition to it
Hospitality - extending welcome to strangers (although this could fit within the ethics category)
Ecclesiology - the view of the church (Fellowship, Sonship, etc)
Eschatology - last things
(List adapted from Rick Williamson, New Beacon Bible Commentary and Daniel Akin Exalting Christ )
These theological themes are divided in 1 John into three sections all of them beginning with a declaration about God which I will use as the outline for this study.
(THESE NEED RENUMBERED)
Light (God is Light) 1 John 1:5
Love (God is Love) [The Key Verse of 1 John] 1 John 4:16 , 1 John 4:8
Life (God is Eternal Life) 1 John 5:13, 1 John 5:20
I think we will close here for this session. Next time I want to delve just a little deeper into 1 John 1-4 there are some great truths in there that need to be talked about.
Any questions or comments before we dismiss?