Bible Study: 1 John, Introduction

Bible Study 1 JOHN: INTRODUCTION

CENTRAL THEME: Stated in the introductory verses and restated in the concluding verses:

1. John 1:2-3 “...and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

2. John 5:20 “We know also that the Son of God has come and given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true— even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

TWO HINGES OF THE LETTER:

1. God is light. (1:5)

2. God is love. (4:8,16)

AUTHORSHIP: Although neither the letters of John nor the Gospel of John refer to the apostle John by name, their common authorship was virtually universally accepted, and credited to John from traditions that come from the earliest part of the second century.

DATE OF AUTHORSHIP: The Letters of John were probably written during the late first century, about 85-95 AD, based upon the issues addressed by the letters. We know from reliable historical sources (Polycarp, and others) that John lived into the reign of the emperor Trajan (ruling from 98 - 117 AD).

WHERE WAS IT WRITTEN?: John probably wrote his letters from Ephesus where he lived most of his later life.

WHAT WAS ITS DESTINATION: It has no address and it was probably addressed in general to the people of Asia Minor (what is now western Turkey) of which Ephesus was the capital.

WHY WAS IT WRITTEN?: John wrote this letter to tell Christians to have confidence in the faith in the form that it was first taught them. Toward the end of the first century there was a trend by some to use Jesus as the center of a false mysticism (GNOSTICISM) that had had nothing to do with the traditions or covenants of the Old Testament, or the original teachings of the apostles. These mystical thinkers claimed to possess an “advanced form” of the teachings of Jesus that would only be comprehensible and welcomed by people who were more highly endowed, spiritually, than the average person. John said that there was no elite Christianity. The Christianity they had been taught from the beginning was the heart and core of the matter. Anything else was false teaching.

JOHN TAUGHT THAT SOME THINGS ALWAYS BELONG TOGETHER:

1. Truth and virtue.

2. The inseparable humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

3. Love of God and love of others.

4. Faith and fellowship.

JOHN TAUGHT THAT SOME THINGS ALWAYS ARE IRRECONCILABLE. 

1. Love of God and hatred of other believers.

2. Light and darkness.

3. Love of God and love of the world.

4. Children of God and sin.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE FALSE TEACHINGS?

1. Gnostics taught that there was a difference between Jesus and “The Christ/Son of God.” John taught: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?” (1 John 1:22)

2. Gnostics taught that the Christ, the Son of God, did not really become Jesus, or become human. John taught: “Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God.” (1 John 4:2,3)

3. Gnostics believed that Jesus and Christ were joined together at the point of Jesus’ baptism and that they separated before Jesus was crucified. John taught: “This is he who came by water and  blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only but with the water and the blood.” (1 John 5:6)

4. The Gnostics taught that, if you had enlightened knowledge, your spirit was free and it didn’t matter what your body did. John taught: “The man who says ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar...” (1 John 2:4)

5. The Gnostics taught that even if an enlightened person did break the commandments, for the enlightened person it would not be a sin. John taught: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)

6. The Gnostics taught that there were special people who had “the seed of the Spirit” and these were able to grasp the hidden truths, these were an eternal elite to which ordinary Christians, with ordinary beliefs, could never rise, because they could never be truly spiritual beings. The Gnostics held that it was right to despise such as these. John taught: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” (1 John 2:9)

LITERARY STRUCTURE OF 1 JOHN: “Before we turn to the text we need to recognize the problems of analyzing John’s writing in a systematic way. Unlike Paul, John seldom argues a case, so it is difficult to trace a linear, logical progression of thought. The links between ideas are not always clear and the transition is usually very gradual.” David Jackman “The Message of John’s Letters” InterVarsity Press, p. 17. Jackman suggests we think of the letter as an inverted pyramid or cone based on the point of 1 John 1:1-4, or as a tour of a great hall of a splendid building united by an immense spiral staircase. 

I think John is comprehensible if you relax and look for the big picture. The pieces of the picture are like pearls or jewels on a long string, each different, each having something in common with the others. John uses endless repetition with variations, and especially explores the differences between absolute self-contradictions and elegant, revelatory, inspired paradoxes.