1 John
Holy Writer
The writer of this letter does not identify himself by name. Once again we find that the title found in our Bibles is one which the editors have placed there based on the history handed down from the early New Testament church.
There is good reason why the early church considered the apostle John as the holy writer of this letter. First, the writer refers to himself as an eyewitness of the life of Christ in great detail in the opening verses of this letter: “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, concerning the Word of life---- the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us----that which we have seen and heard we declare to you” (1 John 1:1-3 cf. 1:4-5, 4:14)). This assures us that the holy writer had a personal relationship with Jesus, and was with Jesus during His ministry.
There is more evidence regarding the identity of the writer in this letter. Did you notice how the writer described Jesus in those verses? Jesus is described as “the Word of Life.” This name for Jesus is found in only three books in the New Testament: The Gospel of John (1:1, 14), the book of Revelation (19:13), and here in the first epistle of John (1:1, 5:7). This is a name for Christ that was used exclusively by John in his writings.
There are many other phrases that we will find in this epistle that are used either exclusively or commonly by John in his other writings.
• The phrase “only begotten Son” is found only in John 1:18; 3:16, 18; and 1 John 4:9.
• The phrase “lay down one’s life” (also my, your and our lives) is found only in John 10:15,17; 13:37, 38; 15:13; and 1 John 3:16.
• The phrase “overcome the world” is found only in John 16:33 and 1 John 5:4.
• The phrase “new commandment” is found only in John 13:34, 1 John 2:7-8, and 2 John 1:5.
• The word “light” is commonly used in John’s writings referring to Jesus (cf. John 1:4-9; 3:19-21;5:35; 8:21; 9:5; 11:9-10; 12:35-36, 46; 1 John 2:8-10; and Revelation 21:23).
• The phrase “eternal life” is used more often by John than any other New Testament writer (Gospel - nine times, 1 John - six times; only a total of 16 other time in the N.T.).
• The phrase “the beginning” is found more often in John’s writings than the rest of the New Testament combined (Gospel - eight times, 1 John - 9 times, 2 John - two times, and Revelation - four times; only 19 other times in the N.T.).
As we can see there are a large number of similarities between the Gospel of John and this epistle, which helps us to confirm the tradition that has been handed down to us that the apostle John was the individual the Holy Spirit used to pen this epistle.
Recipients
No specific readers are mentioned in this letter, so it would seem that this was intended to be a general letter written to a group of churches, as were the other “general” or “catholic” epistles. The churches to whom John was writing had been established for quite a while, as John says, “Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning” (2:7). Irenaeus (140-203) states that John was the bishop of Ephesus in his later years and before he was exiled to Patmos in 95 A.D. Keep in mind that Revelation was addressed to seven churches all found in Asia Minor, in and around Ephesus. This letter was probably written to those same congregations where John was serving, a few years before writing Revelation. Many of these congregations had been started by the apostle Paul almost 40 years earlier, and would fit such a description as John gives here.
There is little doubt that John was an old man when he wrote this letter, since he regularly refers to his readers as “children” throughout this letter (cf. 2:1,12,18,28; 3:1,2,7,18; 4:4; 5:21).
Contents
From what John writes here in this epistle we can see that they were being subjected to numerous errors. Like Paul, Peter, James, and Jude, John also warns against the dangers of false teachers. He calls upon them to “test the spirits.” He urges them: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (4:1).
As we study this epistle we will notice several themes. The first deals with a false teaching that led to a denial of Jesus as True God. John focuses on the deity of Christ throughout this epistle. At the end of this letter he writes: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (5:13). It seems that the false teachers who were arising in these congregations were denying that Jesus the human being was at the same time also true God (cf. 1:1-3,5,7; 2:22-23; 3:2,5,8,23; 4:2,9-10,14-15; 5:1,5,9-13,20 - which all emphasize the deity of Jesus).
In addition, John also sets out to correct some dangerous misunderstandings about sin. This is a noticeable second theme in this letter. Again he writes, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (2:1-2). The whole concept of sin and sanctification is dealt with thoroughly by John in this short letter (cf. 1:8-10; 2:1-17; 3:3-10,19-24; 5:2-3,16-19). John sets out to correct this misunderstanding and dangerous view of sin, by reminding his readers what sin is: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (3:4), and how we receive forgiveness for our sins: “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (3:5), and “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9).
John also speaks of the sanctification which follows in the lives of Christians who have been brought to faith through the power of the Spirit: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (5:3).
One final theme found regularly in this letter is “love,” a word which occurs 36 times in this short letter. John demonstrates God’s love for us, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (4:10); Christ’s love for us, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us” (3:16); and remind his readers to love one another “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (3:11). This love for our neighbor flows from God’s love for us: “We love Him because He first loved us” (4:19).
Outline
It is difficult to come up with an outline for the first letter of John because of his circular style of writing. He jumps from one thought to the next, links the two thoughts together, and then comes back to the same subjects time and time again, repeating the same thoughts over and over again. John uses repetition and parallel thoughts to get his ideas and concepts across to his people.
The Johannine Comma
There is a section of this letter that bears further comment since it is only found in some of our English Bibles. In 1 John 5:7-8 the NKJV reads: “For there are three that bear witness [in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth:] the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.” The part of the verse which is in brackets will not be found in most translations since there are only a few late Greek manuscripts that contain that part of the verse. While this is a wonderful confession of the Trinity, this verse is not necessary to prove the doctrine of the Trinity, since that doctrine is taught in many other places in Scripture. Rather this is a good example of what was taught in the church at that time.
Note: This study was prepared for the Bible Class at Zion Lutheran Church, Lawrenceville, GA by Pastor Nathanael Mayhew.
If you would like more information about this study,
please contact Pastor Mayhew