1 John 5.13-The Purpose of 1 John 1.1-5.12
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 16, 2018
First John: 1 John 5:13-The Purpose of 1 John 1:1-5:12
Lesson # 199
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (ESV)
1 John 5:13 I am writing at this particular time to each and every one of you, specifically, those who believe in the one and only name, namely, God’s one and only Son, in order that each one of you could confirm that each of you is experiencing eternal life. (My translation)
1 John 5:13 begins the eleventh major section of First John and which section ends in 1 John 5:21 and constitutes the epilogue to the epistle.
Therefore, 1 John 5:13 marks a transition from the tenth major section of the epistle to the eleventh and final section, which constitutes the prologue of the epistle.
1 John 5:13 contains three parts.
The first is a declarative statement: “I am writing at this particular time to each and every one of you.”
The second is an epexegetical statement: “’Specifically, those who believe in the one and only name, namely, God’s one and only Son.”
The third is a purpose clause: “In order that each one of you could confirm that each of you are experiencing eternal life.”
Now, in 1 John 5:13, “these things” refers to the contents of 1 John 1:1-5:12 or the contents of the entire epistle itself.
This is indicated by the fact that John’s desire to assure the recipients of First John that they possess and are experiencing eternal life is not only mentioned here in 1 John 5:13 but throughout the entire epistle to this point (cf. 1 John 1:2; 2:12-14, 25; 3:1, 14; 4:13; 5:11-12).
This understanding of “these things” in 1 John 5:13 would indicate that this verse begins the epilogue to the epistle or in other words, the conclusion to the entire epistle.
“I am writing at this particular time to each and every one of you” in 1 John 5:13 expresses the apostle John’s concern that each one of the recipients of First John continue to experience eternal life by continuing to exercise faith in His Spirit inspired gospel concerning the person of Jesus Christ.
John self-consciously describes the writing of this letter from the time frame of the recipients of First John, who were members of the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.
“Specifically, those who believe in the one and only name, namely, God’s one and only Son” is an epexegetical clause which identifies or clarifies who John is presenting in writing the contents of 1 John 1:1-5:12.
It describes the recipients of First John as those who have totally and completely trusted in the name of God the Father’s one and only Son Jesus Christ which results in being declared justified by the Father so as to receive the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of sins.
Thus, it describes these individuals as those who are believers or in other words, it expresses the idea that these individuals were declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son Jesus Christ.
It also expresses the idea that they were continuing to exercise faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ which enabled them to experience fellowship with the Trinity.
“The name” (onoma) in 1 John 5:13 is used of Jesus Christ and has a five-fold sense:
(1) It signifies the “Person” of the Lord Jesus Christ who is undiminished deity and true humanity in Person forever and thus the unique theanthropic Person of history and creation and one and only Son of the Father.
(2) It signifies the “character” of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It refers to the aggregate features and traits that form the individual nature of the impeccable incarnate Son of God, thus, it refers to the both the aggregate features and traits of the Lord Jesus Christ’s divine and human nature.
(3) It signifies the Lord Jesus Christ’s “life’s work” during His First Advent where He fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Mosaic Law, destroyed the works of the devil, redeemed the entire human race from the slave market of sin, propitiated the Father’s righteous demands that every sin in history be judged, reconciled the entire human race to God.
He did all this through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
The word also alludes to His resurrection, ascension and session at the right hand of the Father.
(4) It signifies the Lord Jesus Christ’s “authority” in that He is the sovereign ruler of the entire human race.
(5) It signifies the Lord Jesus Christ’s “standing” before the Father as righteous and holy and as His beloved Son.
The noun huios, “Son” in 1 John 5:13 emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth and the Father share the same divine nature.
It expresses three fundamental concepts regarding the Lord Jesus Christ: (1) His eternal relationship with the Father. (2) His appointment to the office of Savior and Messiah. (3) His divine essence.
This word expresses the Lord Jesus Christ’s eternality and that He is infinite and eternal God (John 1:1-2, 14; John 8:58; 10:30a; Col. 2:9a; Rev. 1:8) indicating His equality with the Father (Matthew 17:1-5; John 10:30, 37-38; 14:9; 17:5, 24-25; 20:30-31; Romans 1:1-4; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:3).
Now, in 1 John 5:13, “in order that each one of you could confirm that each of you are experiencing eternal life” is a purpose clause, which means that it presents the purpose for which John is presenting in writing the contents of 1 John 1:1-5:12.
It describes the recipients of First John as being able to confirm that they possess and were experiencing eternal life as a result of the contents of 1 John 1:1-5:12.
Notice, that John states that this is true of “each one” of the recipients of First John which expresses his care and concern for each and every one of them.
As we noted in our introduction to First John, the contents of this epistle present a four-fold purpose, which is reflected by the statements recorded in 1 John 1:4, 2:1, 26 and 5:13 but the first of these contains the overall purpose of the epistle.
“These things we write” in 1 John 1:4 points back to John’s statements in 1 John 1:3.
“These things we write” in 1 John 2:1 points back to 1 John 1:5-10.
“These things I have written” in 1 John 2:26 points back to his statements in 1 John 2:18-24.
Lastly, “these things I have written” in 1 John 5:13 not only points back to his statements in 1 John 5:6-12 but also 1 John 1:1-5:5.
So, the four-fold purpose of First John is first to secure the joy of the believers John is writing to.
Secondly, this epistle is to assure these believers that they have a provision for sin when they do sin and thus eternal security.
Thirdly, John wanted to protect his readers from false doctrine by encouraging them to continue in the doctrine he taught them.
Lastly, the apostle wanted to reassure his readers that they possess eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
However, John’s overall purpose is revealed in 1 John 1:1-4 in that John wants his readers to continue to obey his apostolic message so as to protect their fellowship with God which would bring him joy.
In these verses, there is an authored-centered purpose meaning that John sought to benefit by his readers continuing to obey his apostolic teaching.
There is also of course an audience-centered purpose meaning that John sought for his readers to benefit from fellowship with God.
Therefore, there are two interrelated purposes reflected in 1 John 1:1-4.
Now, this overall purpose is tied of course to the idea of experiencing eternal life since experiencing eternal life is equivalent to experiencing fellowship with God.
This is indicated by the fact that Jesus taught in John 17:3 that eternal life is knowing the Father experientially, which speaks of experiencing fellowship with God but from the perspective of personally encountering the Father through learning and obeying His Word.
This results in gaining more practical wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
Therefore, like the first purpose of the epistle mentioned in 1 John 1:1-4 that John wanted to reassure the recipients of this epistle that they were in fact experiencing fellowship with God is equivalent to the fourth and final purpose mentioned in 1 John 5:13 which is to give assurance to the recipients of First John that they were in fact experiencing eternal life.
“Each of you are experiencing eternal life” speaks of the recipients of First John experiencing eternal life in the sense that they were experiencing fellowship with God the Father from the perspective of personally encountering the Father through learning and obeying His Word.
This encounter resulted in the recipients of First John gaining practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Jesus Christ.
“Eternal life” is an attribute of each member of the Trinity and is received as a gift at the moment of justification by the sinner the moment they exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
It is experienced by the justified sinner after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God and in particular obeying the command to love one’s fellow believer as Jesus Christ does.
Specifically, it speaks of the recipients of First John experiencing eternal life after their justification through obedience to the command to love one another.