1 John First John has traditionally been understood as a letter to an unknown group of believers in danger of various problems and errors. These include (1) the danger of claiming freedom from sin; (2) the failure to recognize that Christian love must include not only God but also one's fellow Christians, and must be a matter of deeds as well as words; (3) the problems caused by a group who have left the congregation and denied in some way that Jesus was the incarnate Son of God, the Christ (their thinking resembled that of Cerinthus, a first-century heretic, who claimed that a divine power came upon Jesus at his baptism and departed just before his crucifixion, so that it was only the human Jesus who suffered and died [since a divine being could not do so]); and (4) the difficulty of knowing whether the messages given by prophets claiming inspiration from the Holy Spirit were genuine or otherwise. Theological Interpretation of the New Testament, Location 2725 John s goal in this letter, clearly, is to say, it is not this,it is that. So throughout the letter he intertwines several key themes that help the Christian (or non-christian) test whether he or she walks in the light and in fellowship with God. Specifically, John provides three tests of whether we have gotten hold of the real thing: a doctrinal test, a moral test, and a test of love. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9604 Borrowing from Dever s categories mentioned above, we will approach I John thematically rather than chronologically since the book repeats the themes in somewhat of a spiral format. I. The Doctrinal Test That You Are in Christ We must get the doctrine of Christ s person right, as John presents it, because our salvation hangs on it. Our salvation depends on the sacrifice of the body of Jesus as the utterly unique God-man. If you take away Jesus physical body, there is no sacrifice. Only a human can sacrificially stand in place of a human, and so payment for sin could not have been made without Jesus humanity. On the other hand, if you take away the fact that Jesus was God incarnate, his sacrifice loses its infinite worth and its ability to exhaust God s infinite wrath. Only the infinite God himself could act as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (2:2). The sacrifice of one who is fully God and fully man was necessary for guilty man to be reconciled to a holy God. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9655 a. 1 John 1:1 10 (ESV) 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 1
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. A pernicious untruth was circulating in the church to which John was writing (which many believe was in Ephesus). Apparently, some people were teaching that God never really took on human flesh. They said that human flesh is sinful, evil, and bad. So God may have appeared as a human in Jesus, but he did not really take on flesh. Basically, these false teachers separated the human Jesus of flesh and the divine Christ of spirit. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9612 b. 1 John 2:18 20 (ESV) 18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. Just like we see in the Parable of the Seed and the Sower (Matt. 13:1-23), we are taught that just because someone looks and acts like us doesn t mean they are a believer. The true test is endurance. So there are those that at one time were with us, but were never truly with us. These are people with whom we might have had close relationships. However, we are not to follow after these false teachers who depart of the essential doctrines of the faith. c. 1 John 4:1 6 (ESV) 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. In short, John says you must believe the right doctrine about who Jesus is. Jesus is fully God and fully man. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9642 As we have seen in many of the New Testament letters, being on the look out for false doctrine is a never-ending task for all true followers of Christ. John uses the language of testing. Testing is a constant and active process. While most of passive about checking for doctrinal correctness, John says we are to be active. FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 2
II. The Moral Test That You Are In Christ Not only does John present a doctrinal test, he presents a moral test as well. If you claim to know Jesus but you do not obey him, your words are false. If you have gotten hold of the real thing, you not only believe in the Son of God, you obey his commands. In other words, true belief in Jesus shows itself in righteousness. The Location of the New Testament, Location 9674 a. 1 John 1:5 10 (ESV) 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. John points out that it is possible for people to say they are in the light, yet actually live in darkness. Note the four liars here: (1) lying about fellowship, 1:6 7; (2) lying about our nature, saying that we have no sin, 1:8; (3) lying about our deeds, saying that we have not sinned, 1:10; and (4) lying about our obedience, saying that we have kept His commandments when we have not, 2:4 6. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament, Pg. 768 b. 1 John 2:1 6 (ESV) 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. It s very simple. If you are a child of God, you will live like God. If you are a child of the devil, you will live like the devil. That s all there is to it. Now, no Christian perfectly lives like God. And thankfully, no non-christian lives exactly like the devil. So don t misunderstand what I am saying Christians will make mistakes and sin. John follows his remarks on the contrast between light and darkness by saying, But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense Jesus Christ, the Righteous One (2:1). Jesus speaks for us; he atones for our sins. Still, the FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 3
contrasts between love of the world versus love of God, light versus darkness, and children of God versus children of the devil are stark and absolute. Your life will display one general pattern or the other. It will tend in one direction or the other. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9706 Propitiation (2:2 and 4:10) has to do with the meaning of Christ s death from God s perspective. Christ s death brought forgiveness; but before God could forgive a guilty sinner, His justice had to be satisfied. This is where propitiation comes in. The word carries the idea of satisfying God s holiness through the death of a substitute. It does not mean that God was so angry that Christ had to die to make Him love sinners. Christ s death met the demands of God s law and thus broke down the barrier between men and God, making it possible for God to take away sin. The word mercy seat in Heb. 9:5 is equivalent to propitiation. See Ex. 25:17 22. The blood on the mercy seat covered the broken law and made it possible for God to deal with Israel. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament, Pg. 770-71 c. 1 John 2:15 17 (ESV) 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Chasing after the world and what it has to offer is like placing our hope in a scoop of ice cream on a hot summer day. It looks good and tastes good, but it is fleeting. The ravages of the heat soon make it disappear. What the world has to offer us is simply an inadequate flash in the pan that will leave us empty-handed when eternity comes knocking. d. 1 John 3:1 3 (ESV) 1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. First John 3:2 is one of the best texts to show what is meant by inaugurated eschatology : Now we are the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known (emphasis mine). Even though part of the single prediction of the future already has an immediate fulfillment, often with a multiple number of fulfillments in the future, the now and the not yet are bonded together as one in the total work of God. The Promise-Plan of God, Location 9300 FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 4
e. 1 John 3:19 24 (ESV) 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. Assurance of salvation is possible. Many believe it is not, but the is contrary to the teaching of Scripture, especially 1 John. Even when our sin causes us to question whether we are a child of God or not, we have a God who will not let go of us. How can we be sure of our salvation? We do not long after the desires of this world, and the Spirit lives in us proving we are truly God s children. III. The Love Test That We Are In Christ a. 1 John 3:16 18 (ESV) 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Christians must be ready to be generous. If we have and another does not, it is our obligation to provide. If we don t provide, we are saying we are more interested in holding onto what the world has to offer us than our own brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul tells the Church in Corinth in 2 Cor. 8:13-15 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. b. 1 John 4:7 11 (ESV) 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 5
John is straightforward in his declaration. He is simply saying no love for others, you are not a child of God. 1 John 5:13 15 (ESV) 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. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. All of I John is pointing towards the assurance of our salvation. YOU CAN KNOW YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD. In addition, the assurance of our salvation leads us to a further confidence that we can approach the throne of God, ask Him anything according to His will, He will hear us, and He will give us what we ask. 2 John The purpose of the second letter is to give advice to a young church or a family about how and to whom this group should give hospitality to those allegedly from other churches. The Promise-Plan of God, Location 9324 It is reasonably clear that this letter was intended as a summary of 1 John. Its specific contribution lies in the fact that it succinctly focuses on the main points of that letter (walking in Christ, brotherly love, and false doctrine), and adds the warning against inadvertently sharing in the work of the antichrist. NIV Compact Bible Commentary, Pg. 586 2 John (ESV) 1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father s Son, in truth and love. 4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. 12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you. FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 6
v. 1 In short, many Christians from the early centuries of the church, as well as the majority of modern biblical scholars and interpreters, have taken this lady to be John s metaphorical way of greeting a local church and its members. All the domestic language then is really church language. The language of children, then, would refer to children in the faith, like John s references to my dear children in his first letter. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9912 v. 4-6 Note the repetition of the word walk. The truth is not something we simply study or believe; it is a motivating force in our lives. It is not enough to know the truth; we must show it through our actions wherever we are. John rejoiced because he was certain this lady s children were walking in the truth the equivalent of walking in the light, which the apostle discussed in 1 John 1. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament, Pg. 780 v. 7 These deceivers seem to be the same ones we found in our study of John s first letter. They deny that God actually became human and took on flesh. Yet they continue to call themselves Christians and attempt to teach people their doctrine. In his first letter John did not mention their attempt to teach others, but it does appear to be the same group. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9967 v. 7 Few if any truths are as important as whether Jesus is God-come-in-the-flesh. John does not simply argue in his second letter that opponents to the truth (that is, truth as a generalized concept) exist. John is adamant about the particular truth of who Christ is. It is certainly true you can take some doctrines and elevate them to a point where they are unhelpful to everybody. Yet some truths are essential for Christianity. Whether or not Jesus is fully God and fully man is such a truth, John says in his first and second letters. If you lose this truth, you lose Christianity. The Message of the New Testament, Location 9996 v. 9 The word transgress here means go beyond. That is, these false teachers are not content to stay within the limits of the Word of God. They are progressive and modern, preferring to go beyond the Bible and improve on what God has written. This is the wrong kind of progress! While Christians are to progress in their walk, they must never go beyond the limits of the Bible. We are to abide in the doctrine, affirming the fundamentals of the Word of God. John warns us not to entertain these false teachers in our homes or even to greet them. Any aid that we give to false teachers is a share in their evil deeds. Find out what people believe before you let them in your home or give them donations. Check with your pastor if you have any questions. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament, Pg. 781 3 John FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 7
The similarities between 3 John and 2 John are striking. The present letter is a virtual replay of 2 John, only with the difference that where 2 John deals with general principles, this one gives concrete examples in the life of a specific church. As in 2 John, its three primary themes are walking in Christ, brotherly love, and false doctrine. NIV Compact Bible Commentary, Pg. 587 3 John (ESV) 1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. 2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. 9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. 11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. 13 I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. 15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, every one of them. v. 1 Gaius was the kind of Christian others enjoyed talking about. The brethren (probably traveling evangelists and missionaries) had met Gaius and been entertained in his home. They reported that Gaius was walking in the truth and faithfully trying to help the different Christian workers who came his way. Keep in mind that there were no hotels in John s day, only inns that were uncomfortable and often dangerous. Traveling evangelists depended on the saints for food and lodging. Gaius was the kind of Christian who loved to entertain the saints and bring them forward as they went from place to place. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament, Pg. 782 v. 9 Diotrephes refuses to respond to John s counsel, ignores his correspondence, and breaks the bonds of Christian fellowship. And if John intends to pay him a visit, Diotrephes will not welcome him. Diotrephes does so not because of a doctrinal dispute but out of personal ambition. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of James and the Epistles of John, 3 John 3 John takes the teachings of 1 & 2 John and puts names to the concepts. Two pass and one is the opposite of all marks of a believer. We will come across all of these types in the Body of Christ, and should know the kind of person with whom we are dealing. Let us all hold each other up to the standard Scripture calls us. FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 8
Bibliography Dever, Mark. The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005. William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary : Exposition of James and the Epistles of John, New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953-2001. Kaiser, Walter C. The Promise-plan of God: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008. Sailhamer, John. NIV Compact Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, (MI: Zondervan, 1994). The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Vanhoozer, Kevin J., Daniel J. Treier, and N. T. Wright. Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-book Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008. Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1997). FBC Durham Bible For Life Page 9