26

FIRST JOHN

Writer

External evidence is very strong for the Johannine authorship of this book. All of these Church Fathers used the Epistle, regarded it as authoritative, and attributed it to the apostle John: Polycarp, Papias, Irenaeus, Origen, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Eusebius.

Although the book is anonymous, the similarities of vocabulary, thought phrases, and style of writing between it and the Gospel of John argue for the same author. For example, these distinctive words are common to both books: Father, Son, Spirit, beginning, Word, believe, life, keep, light, commandment, love, abide, and paraclete. In addition, these phrases are found in both volumes: to do truth (1:6; cf. John 3:21); to walk in darkness (2:11; cf. John 8:12); children of God (3:2; cf. John 11:52); to be born of God (3:9; cf. John 1:13); children of the devil (3:10; cf. John 8:44); to pass from death to life (3:14; cf. John 5:24); the Spirit of truth (4:6; cf. John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13); the only begotten Son (4:9; cf. John 3:16, 18); no man has ever seen God (4:12; cf. John 1:18); the Savior of the world (4:14; cf. John 4:42); and the water and the blood (5:6; cf. John 19:34).

The opening verse not only echoes the first verse of the Gospel (John 1:1), but reveals the fact that the author was an eyewitness to both the pre-Calvary and the postresurrection ministries of Christ: "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, of the Word of Life" (1:1). John easily qualifies as this eyewitness (1:1–3; 5:6–10; cf. John 19:34–35).

Time and Place

Irenaeus claimed that John lived his senior years in Ephesus serving as the general overseer of the area churches. He became aware that anti-Christian teachers had penetrated the assemblies and/or developed within the ranks of the church membership (cf. Acts 20:29–30). After influencing many of the believers, some of these apostates had withdrawn physically from the churches (2:18–19). Their heresy centered about the person of Christ. They denied that Jesus was the Christ (2:22; 5:1) and that God the Son had become incarnate (4:2–3). In essence, it was a denial of the union of two natures, human and divine, into one person. The heresy possessed the nature of incipient Gnosticism that became mature in the second century. Some have equated it with either Docetic or Cerinthian Gnosticism. The former taught that Christ appeared as a real man, but He was not. He did not have a real material body. Rather, His appearances were similar to the theophanies or Christophanies of the Old Testament. Cerinthus, on the other hand, taught that the spirit of the divine Christ descended upon the man Jesus at the latter’s baptism, indwelt Him for the duration of His ministry, and left Him shortly before His crucifixion. He contended that Jesus was born naturally of both Mary and Joseph. Both views attacked the nature of the person of Christ, especially His incarnation, and indirectly the value of His atonement.

A figure of the goddess Diana of Ephesus

In addition to facing doctrinal attack, the individual believers were in poor spiritual condition. They had a tendency toward sin and worldliness (1:5–2:6; 2:15–17), a lack of love for the brethren and an indifference toward their physical needs (2:7–11; 3:13–24), and a lack of assurance of personal salvation (5:13). Irenaeus claimed that these errors of moral laxity stemmed from the Nicolaitans who originated from Nicolas (Acts 6:5; cf. Rev. 2:14–15).

Out of a genuine concern for the spiritual children for whom he was responsible, John wrote this Epistle. It was probably written as a circular letter from Ephesus about a.d. 85–95 to the believers of the Roman province of Asia, including the churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation (chs. 2–3).

Purposes

The book is difficult to outline because John did not move from one subject to another. Rather, he interwove several themes throughout the book. The concepts of love, obedience, assurance, and faith were discussed side by side. However, certain emphases, detectable at times, do provide some help for the listing of purposes. He wanted to present the physical reality of Christ’s incarnate body (1:1–4), to outline the relationship of sin to the believer (1:5–2:6), to emphasize the necessity of love for the brethren (2:7–11; 4:7–21), to appeal for separation from the world (2:12–17), to warn against the false teachers (2:18–29), to stimulate moral purity (3:1–12), to present tests that would demonstrate the actuality of personal salvation (3:13–24), to show how to distinguish between truth and error (4:1–6), to set forth the results of faith in Christ (5:1–12), and to give assurance of salvation (5:13–21).

John did introduce four major purposes with such words as "These things write we unto you." In so doing, he dealt with the joy of spiritual fellowship (1:4), admonished them to sin less (2:1), warned against seducing heretics (2:26), and presented assurance of eternal life (5:13).

Distinctive Features

First John is an Epistle of assurance. The phrase "we know" occurs thirteen times (2:3, 5, 29; 3:14, 16, 19, 24; 4:13, 16; 5:15, 18, 19, 20). In fact, cognates of the verb "to know" appear at least forty times. Whereas the Gospel was written to create faith and life (John 20:31), the Epistle was penned to give certainty of faith and the possession of eternal life: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life …" (5:13). If a person wonders whether he is really saved, he should carefully read this book and ask himself these questions:

1. Have I experienced spiritual fellowship with God and with others (1:3–4)?

2. Am I sensitive to sin (1:5–8)?

3. Have I experienced forgiveness, cleansing, and restoration after confession (1:9)?

4. Am I keeping His commandments (2:3, 5)?

5. Am I doing the will of God (2:17)?

6. Am I doing righteousness (2:29)?

7. Am I looking forward to the coming of Christ (3:1–3)?

8. Am I no longer marked by habitual sin (3:9)?

9. Do I love the brethren (3:14)?

10. Am I free from moral guilt (3:21)?

11. Have I experienced answered prayer (3:22)?

12. Do I have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit (3:24)?

13. Have I heard the word of God in the messages of men (4:5–6)?

14. Do I love God (4:19)?

15. Do I believe that Jesus is the Christ (5:1)?

16. Do I believe God’s record (5:10–11)?

Affirmative answers should bring inward assurance that one is really a regenerated child of God.

The book contains a classic description of the concept of worldliness (2:15–17). The threefold problem of man (lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride of life) resulted in the moral destruction of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:6) and was used by Satan in his temptation of Christ (Matt. 4:1–11). It may be that all human sin can be grouped under these three categories.

Outline

Preface (1:1–4)

I. The Moral Bases of John’s Message (1:5–2:2)

A. Sin breaks fellowship with God (1:5–7)

B. Sin exists in the believer’s nature (1:8)

C. Sin manifests itself in the believer’s conduct (1:9–2:2)

II. The Tests of Assurance Introduced (2:3–27)

A. The moral test of obedience (2:3–6)

B. The social test of love (2:7–11)

C. Groups in the church (2:12–14)

D. The believer and the world (2:15–17)

E. The doctrinal test of faith (2:18–27)

III. The Tests of Assurance Developed (2:28–4:6)

A. The moral test (2:28–3:10)

B. The social test (3:11–18)

C. Assurance and the condemning heart (3:19–24)

D. The doctrinal test (4:1–6)

IV. The Tests of Assurance Reviewed (4:7–5:5)

A. The social test (4:7–12)

B. The social and the doctrinal tests (4:13–21)

C. The three tests together (5:1–5)

V. The Witnesses of Assurance (5:6–17)

VI. Summary of Assurance (5:18–21)

Survey

1:1–4

In the preface John immediately claimed that Jesus Christ was eternal ("from the beginning") and a person separate from the Father ("with the Father"), that He became incarnate ("was manifested"), and that there was empirical proof that He possessed a real material human body both before and after His death and resurrection ("heard," "seen," "looked upon," and "handled"; see footnote 1). True spiritual fellowship can only be experienced when one has a proper evaluation of Christ’s person. Such fellowship involves at least two believers, the Father, and the Son in proper relationships with each other.

1:5–2:2

Light and darkness cannot coexist. There is not a single bit of moral darkness in God; He is moral purity personified (1:5). In a series of five conditional sentences (all introduced by "if"), John then outlined the dual relationships of a believer toward his sin and God. No one who is consciously walking in sin can have fellowship with God (1:6). Even when a believer is in fellowship with God, there is taking place a secret cleansing of unknown sins in his life (1:7). A believer is self-deceived if he thinks that he no longer possesses a sin nature (1:8). Restoration to fellowship occurs when a believer confesses his known sins and experiences God’s forgiveness and cleansing (1:9). A believer who claims that he has not sinned rejects the truth of God’s Word which states that he does sin (1:10). The goal of a believer is to sin not, but when he commits an act of sin, he can appeal to the advocacy and the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ as his basis of restoration (2:1–2).

2:3–17

Assurance of saving knowledge can be gained through a life-style of commandment-keeping (2:3–5). To love one another as Christ loved us is the new commandment. To be in fellowship with God, one must love his brother and not be an offense to him. In a series of six statements addressed to three groups within the churches (two each to the little children, fathers, and young men), John commended them for their victories over past sin and Satan and for their spiritual relationship to God (2:12–14). He then warned them against loving the world system and its things by succumbing to the desires of the flesh and eyes, and to proud ambition. Both a lack of love of the world and the presence of obedience to the divine will will bring assurance (2:15–17).

2:18–27

John then moved to an exposé of the heresy. He distinguished between the antichrist of the tribulation period and the antichrists of this present age. The latter could bear the name of the former in that both denied the essential deity of Jesus Christ and His incarnation. Lack of continuance in a correct doctrinal evaluation of the person of Christ is a sign that a person was never saved in the first place (2:19; cf. 2:24). The anointing, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of knowledgeable salvation and a safeguard against doctrinal deviation (2:20, 27).

2:28–3:10

Assurance of salvation can be gained through the development of moral purity. Lack of abiding in Christ or of total obedience will bring shame and embarrassment at His coming, but not rejection (2:28). Since like begets like, genuine righteousness can only be produced by those who have been born again of a righteous God (2:29). A genuine belief in and a love for the coming of Christ will produce moral purity (3:1–3). Since Christ died to take away sins, a genuine believer will sin less after his conversion than he did before. His life will not be marked by habitual sin. The children of God and the children of the devil can be contrasted through their life-styles. The former is marked by habitual righteousness, whereas the latter is known by constant sinning.

3:11–18

A genuine child of God should expect to be hated by the world (3:11–13). Sincere love for the brethren is a mark of salvation (3:14). Lack of love for the brethren is a sign that one is still in the realm of spiritual death (3:14–15). If Jesus manifested His love by laying down His life for His own, then believers should do the same through benevolent acts of compassion. Real love must be demonstrated (3:18).

3:19–24

Assurance should not be based upon the changeable feelings of the heart, but upon the testimony of God’s Word. An assured heart, however, is necessary to gain answered prayer. Such assurance can be gained through faith in Christ, love for the brethren, obedience of Christ’s commandments, and a desire to please Him. It is the witness of the Spirit, not the feelings of the heart, that secures assurance (3:24; cf. Rom. 8:14, 16).

4:1–6

The ability to discern doctrinal truth from error is an evidence of genuine salvation. John warned that believers should not be gullible, but that they should test what they hear. A proper definition of Christ’s person is the key essential to doctrinal orthodoxy. A genuine believer will be able to sense the voice of God in the messages of men (4:5–6; cf. John 10:4–5, 27).

4:7–12

Since love is an eternal attribute of God, His children should love one another. Lack of love reveals a lack of salvation. Since God initiated His love toward us, believers should do likewise toward others. Love for an unseen God must be manifested through a love for visible men.

4:13–21

Again, John pointed to the witness of the Spirit (4:13), the confession of Christ’s mission and person (4:14–15), and a life saturated by love for God and others (4:16) as guarantees of salvation. The secure position of the believer is seen in the phrase: "… as he is, so are we in this world" (4:17). The believer’s certainty of eternal acceptance is just as real as Christ’s presence in the third heaven. A believer can no more lose his salvation than Christ could be ejected from the Father’s presence. The presence of love for God and the absence of moral guilt reveal a genuine spiritual relationship (4:18).

5:1–13

John then merged correct faith, love of God, love of the brethren, and obedience (5:1–3). He equated overcoming faith with the orthodox convictions that the man Jesus and the eternal Son of God were one and the same person (5:4–5). In refutation of the Gnostic tendencies, he pointed to the witness of the Spirit, the water, and the blood (5:6–8). The piercing of Jesus’ side on the cross and the out-flowing of water and blood (John 19:34–35) demonstrated that He had a real human body. At His baptism Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by the voice of the Father and by the descent of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:16–17; John 1:33–34). He then argued that rejection of God’s oral and written witness reveals a lack of eternal life. Acceptance of God’s record leads to the acceptance of God’s Son which bestows eternal life.

5:14–21

Assurance of salvation can also be gained through answered prayer in the will of God (5:14–15). John then distinguished between intercessory prayer for a brother sinning a type of sin that would not culminate in premature physical death and a lack of prayer for a brother who did persistently sin a type of sin that would bring severe divine chastisement (5:16). What is sin unto death? Commentators have been puzzled for generations over this concept. Perhaps it refers to conscious, persistent disobedience to the revealed will of God (cf. John 15:6; 1 Cor. 11:29; James 5:19–20). He concluded the book with a series of three "we know’s" (5:18, 19, 20). A genuine child of God will be kept by Christ from habitual sin and from the eternal grasp of Satan (5:18). The believer knows that he belongs to God and that the world lies in the lap of the wicked one, namely Satan (5:19). The believer has an understanding given by the Spirit that he knows the true God, even Jesus Christ (5:20).

 

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