Parallel 1YHN Intro

The First Letter of John

Purpose

To affirm correct belief concerning Jesus Christ, to exhort believers to love one another, and to provide assurance about eternal life

Author

Likely the apostle John

Date

Around AD 85–90

Setting

Written to a community that had recently experienced a schism due to the emergence of a heretical faction

John’s first letter applies John’s testimony about Jesus Christ to the lives of believers. Because Jesus Christ came to offer eternal life, we can know by our experience and behavior that we have eternal life. Because Jesus came to reveal the Father, we can be confident in our relationship with the Father. Because Jesus gives the Spirit to each one who is born again, we can live daily in the Spirit. Just as Jesus called his first disciples to love one another, John calls on believers to put that love into action.

Setting

John and the other apostles were probably forced to leave Jerusalem by AD 68, if not earlier, due to the mounting persecution against the church and the siege of Jerusalem by Roman armies. Sometime later (probably after AD 70), John migrated to the Roman province of Asia (the western region of modern Turkey) and began a successful ministry, primarily among the Gentiles. By AD 90, John had written his Gospel for these believers.

Soon after this, some members of the Christian community left to form a rival group. These rivals were a heretical faction that promoted teachings about Jesus Christ that later characterized Gnosticism, such as denying that Jesus was God in the flesh (see 4:1-3). By leaving the fellowship of the apostles, they demonstrated that they did not genuinely belong to God’s family (2:18-19). However, the effects of their false teachings still lingered in the minds of the faithful, so John wrote this letter to clear the air of these falsehoods, to bring the believers back to the basics of the Christian life, and to reinforce their faith.

John may have specifically confronted the form of heresy that was promoted by Cerinthus. Cerinthus taught that Jesus was not born to a virgin but was a normal human being born to Joseph and Mary and was simply more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. He also taught that at Jesus’ baptism, “the Christ” descended upon him in the form of a dove from the eternal Father; “the Christ” then proclaimed the unknown Father and performed miracles. At last “the Christ” departed from the man “Jesus,” and then Jesus (but not “the Christ”) suffered and died, while “the Christ” remained untouched, inasmuch as he was a spiritual being. John may be explicitly refuting the heresy of Cerinthus or his followers in 5:5-8.

This first letter went out to the churches under John’s care (including the churches that are mentioned in Rev 1:11) around AD 85–90.

Summary

John wrote this epistle to encourage believers in the Roman province of Asia to remain steadfast in Christ, and he denounced those who had not remained in the apostolic fellowship. John stressed that Christians must maintain loyalty to Jesus’ apostles—those who had followed Jesus during his life and had known him personally—in order to safeguard against pseudo-spirituality and heresy. John urged his Christian readers to:

1. maintain loyalty in fellowship toward the apostles and thus to have fellowship with God, who is light, by living in the light he gives us;

2. confess their sins to God and thus know the advocacy of Jesus Christ, the righteous one;

3. esteem Jesus Christ as the Word of life, the Son of God;

4. love God, who is love, and love other Christians;

5. remain in Christ, become like Christ, and purify themselves of worldly lusts;

6. know and experience God personally and understand the truth through the Spirit;

7. discern false teaching by the aid of the Spirit and recognize the spirit of false prophets and of the antichrist; and

8. be assured of the hope of eternal life.

Author

Some scholars have suggested that a Christian elder named John, but not the apostle, was the author of 1–3 John (see 2 Jn 1:1; 3 Jn 1:1). They make this judgment on the basis of a quotation from Papias (bishop of Hierapolis in the province of Asia, AD 100–130), who mentioned John the apostle and then later mentioned John the elder:

If anywhere one came my way who had been a follower of the elders, I would inquire about the words of the elders—what Andrew and Peter had said, or what Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples; and I would inquire about the things which Aristion and the elder John, the Lord’s disciples, are saying. (Eusebius, Church History 3.39.4)

This quote has led some to think that Papias was speaking of two different people named John, but that is not necessarily the case. Papias noted what the “elders” (including the apostles, such as John) had said about Jesus and what two of the Lord’s disciples (Aristion and John) were still saying (present tense). The apostle John lived to be a very old man, and Papias had heard him speak in person.

Most evangelical scholars think that John the apostle and John the elder are the same person. The writing style of John’s Gospel is undeniably similar to that of these three letters. The apostle John was an eyewitness of Jesus and one of the very first to follow him. In John’s Gospel, John is called “the one whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). He was one of the twelve disciples and a very close friend to Jesus. The author’s claim to be an eyewitness is as strong in the letters (see 1 Jn 1:1-4) as it is in the Gospel (John 1:14; 19:35). The author of 1 John claims to have personally heard, seen, and touched the eternal Word made flesh (1 Jn 1:1-4). It is reasonable to conclude that the “elder” of 1–3 John is the apostle John.

Meaning and Message

John’s first letter is a natural extension of his Gospel. John’s Gospel shows that it was Jesus’ mission to reveal God the Father and to bring believers into union with the Father and the Son through the Spirit. John’s first letter emphasizes how Christians experience God in daily life, as demonstrated by their relationships with the other members of the church community. We must exhibit our love for God by loving one another. This command came straight from Jesus (John 13:34; 15:17), and John repeats it often (1 Jn 2:7; 3:11, 23; 2 Jn 1:5-6). Since God is love, all who claim to know God must love others.

To love other Christians, however, does not mean accepting everything they say or all that independent teachers teach. There were people who broke away from the community who were denying that Jesus is the Christ, the unique Son of God, or that he had come as a human being. All such people who deny the true humanity and/or the full deity of Jesus Christ are antichrists. This letter warns strongly against those who teach such heresy and lead Christians away from fellowship with the true apostles of Christ.

History shows that many heretical movements have infiltrated the church, but the truth has withstood these assaults. We need to be wary of teachings that are contrary to the teaching of the apostles; the word of God and the Holy Spirit are our guides.