Digging Deeper Reading

Week 101

Monday, 1 John 1:1 - 10 

Although John does not name himself in this letter, the earliest church fathers attributed it to him. Since we know that he was still writing in the 90s A.D. there is little reason to doubt the word of these early theologians who so were so close to being his contemporaries. At least one early church leader serving later than A.D. 90 had been a disciple of John. This would be an amazing lifespan if we didn't take into account that John was very young when he traveled with Jesus, probably just a teenager. In his gospel, John writes that he was close to Jesus. Probably because of his young age, Jesus watched over John with special care. Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection took place sometime in the early 30s A.D. assuming that John was about fourteen at the time, we can estimate his age at no more than eighty in A.D. 90.

John's love for Jesus makes him the perfect teacher in this letter that emphasizes the personal relationship between each Christian and his or her Lord. John also uses this letter to attack developing heresies in the church. Though the false teachings were somewhat unorganized at the time and therefore unnamed, experts think that John was writing to stop heresies concerning Jesus' nature—was He just a man who was controlled and indwelled by God; or was He God pretending to be man; or was He what He said He was—the Son of God, God, and True Man? There was an early tradition that John personally confronted the originator of the heresy that the Christ entered the man Jesus at his baptism and then deserted him on the cross.

If there was nothing to these teachings, why did they begin? Quite simply, most experts place the writing of John's gospel and his letters after A.D. 70 when those who had personally known Jesus and witnessed His resurrection were becoming rare. The true gospel was now in the hands of a new generation of believers.

Just as today, there were those who just couldn't accept the truth—it was too fantastic to believe; it contradicted what they had witnessed in natural law! They mistakenly believed that there had to be another way to explain Jesus and salvation. Many of them were former pagans who brought the legends of their former faiths with them into Christianity. Satan used their doubt to spread false teaching as widely as possible. John, the only apostle still living, confronted the new heresies with the truth.  

Chapter one is a beautiful statement from John to his children in the faith. In it, he tells of his personal connection with the Savior, the Savior's relationship to the Father, the simple truth of salvation, and John's joy that his readers share in his fellowship with God. It is interesting to compare I John 1 with the Gospel of John 1:1-18. It is as though each complements the other. In each John's personal devotion to the Son of God is obvious.

Tuesday, 1 John 2:1 – 29

Verse 1 is interesting in its combination of command and forgiveness. That is a hard part of our Christian life—we are to strive to obey God, all the while knowing that we will fail. Yet God forgives us for each failure, even each rebellion, because His Son is our Advocate who has already paid the price for our sin. We do strive to obey, knowing that this pleases our Lord, and we strive eagerly and joyfully because we know that our salvation does not depend upon it.

One hears an echo of James, as John tells us that the sign of a Christian is a changed life; a life filled with good works and obedience. Many Christians today were born into the faith. Even young men and women who are called to announce their new faith in Christ at some point in their lives have often been raised within the church body. It is harder to detect change in our renewed lives if we have been a part of the family of God all of our lives. In John's day, there were many more newly converted adults. John says that if you have been rescued by Christ from a former unbelieving existence, then the change should be monumental. Not only is this the logical mark of a new Christian, but the former lusts and false beliefs will themselves die at the last day, but the “one who does the will of God lives forever” (vs.17). Why, therefore, would one pursue their former existence?

In verse, 18-19 John points out the antichrists attacking the churches. He says that if they had truly been believers they would not leave the true faith, nor would they leave the church when confronted with the truth. His reasoning was that if one truly knew Christ, they would not walk away from Him.

The primary false teaching that John writes against would appear from verse 22 to be some sort of early Gnosticism concerning the nature of what and who Jesus was as the Christ. Verses 24-29 are an encouragement to accept the simple truth of the gospel, to cling to this truth and reject the lie that there was more that they needed to know in addition to the teaching of the apostles in order to be right with God. Salvation is a simple gift from our God, very costly, but simple in its logic and form. We sin; our sin keeps us from God; we cannot become perfect on our own; in love God sent His Son to die in our place; we now can live in obedience to Him, assured that our eternity with Him is guaranteed!

Wednesday, 1 John 3:1 – 24

John begins this chapter with the proclamation of God's great love for us; His adoption of us as His own. He also points out that if the world did not accept Christ, it will not understand or recognize us, even when we do everything exactly as it should be done. Though we continually seek to act only with God's love as our guide, not all of our efforts will be successful, and some will even be received with anger and hatred.

In verse 4 the NASB better pictures what John says than the NIV—“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness…”  The lawless persons about whom John speaks are not diligent believers who succumb to their sinful nature and then seek God's forgiveness. They are those who practice sin as though they hope to get better at it! The grammar of the Greek word here implies the continual, habitual, action of sinning. Verse 6 refers to this habitual sinning, not to the idea that Christians will become perfect and never sin. That idea has already been denied by Scripture as a whole and by John's words concerning our need for God's forgiveness as we live out our faith.  Again in verse 9, the NASB is clearer on this concept. It says “No one born of God practices sin…” In verse 10 the NIV phrase “Anyone who does not do what is right…” would be better translated as “Anyone who does not habitually practice doing right…”  (Language experts point out that not only does this more accurately represent the context of Scripture, but the grammar (tenses, participles, etc.) of the passage insists on it.) 

Having explained the curse of sin and the blessing of righteous living, John returns to his words concerning Christian love and how we are to treat one another. John traveled and ministered with Jesus as He taught His apostles the importance of their love for Him and for one another. As he wrote, John may have been recalling Jesus reply to the man who wanted to know the greatest commandment. Jesus said that to love God was the first and to love others as we love ourselves was the second. He added that the whole Law hinged on these two commands (Matthew 22:36-40;Mark 12:31).  The question not answered by the gospel writers is whether Jesus' questioner realized that He was pointing out to him the obvious truth that the man could not do this perfectly, and was led by that realization to belief in the Savior.

Thursday, 1 John 4:1 – 21

The first part of chapter 4 concerns discernment. How can we know if someone is of God? John says that anyone who does not cite Jesus as the Son of God who has come from God is not of God.  That means that any religious teaching that does not emphasize Jesus as the Savior of the world of a false spirit. The Bible teaches other tenets of Christianity that can guide us as we hear the claims of other religions and cults. These include the truth that Jesus is God's Son; both Man and God; the One resurrected from the dead; the unique Son of God—not one of many; eternal with the Father; the only route to the Father; the only sinless Man of history whose death paid for our sin without additional works of our own.

Verse 4 says that we can and have rejected the false teachers of the world by the strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us, guiding and guarding our faith. “He who is in the world” refers to Satan who is currently working as hard as he can to mislead as many as possible. God enables us to not only listen to someone's words, which could proclaim an insincere profession of Chris t, but to listen to their hearts and observe their actions.

In verse 7 and to the end of the chapter John returns to his theme of love. It is so important that we demonstrate God's love as well as talk about it. God's love for us is an active love that even included sending His Son to the cross for our benefit. James said to never allow our faith to be a passive one. John encourages us to never allow our love toward one another to be passive and undemonstrated. Like any act of obedience to God, acting out our love grows us up in the Lord. We learn what real love is and that we need not fear His coming because He loved us long before we even knew who He was. We are able to love because His love for us came first. In Verse 16 John describes our love for one another as a way of life. John was sure that by the grace and love of God, our Christian love for one another can become a life-long habit!

F riday, 1 John 5:1 – 21

John says that God's commands "are not burdensome". Jesus said that His burden for us is light and His yoke for us is easy ( Matt.11:29-30 ). This is God's assurance to us that to be His bondservant is a blessing while serving sin is an eternal and heavy curse.  By the gift of faith God enables His servants to overcome the pain and sin of the world. "Overcome" is a great word. It means far more than surviving or enduring. It implies a rousing victory over the stresses in our lives and over Satan's wiles.

In verses 6-12 John insists on Jesus' status as the Son of God. He says that Jesus came to the world by water and blood. Scholars tell us that John is apparently arguing against the false teaching that the Christ inhabited the body of Jesus at his baptism and then left him as death on the cross approached. John refers to Jesus' baptism as “water” and His death as “blood” in order to assure his readers that Jesus was always both Man and God from His birth to His death and resurrection. If that had not been the case, Jesus could not have been sinless throughout His life and thus not able to redeem all sinners.

Verse 13 sounds like chapter 20:31 of John's gospel. Believing in Christ means that we have God's solid assurance of salvation. The word “hope” in the New Testament always refers to hope that cannot fail because it is assured by the promise of God through His Son.

John's words in verse 16 have been discussed by theologians for years. What did he mean by his comment on a sin leading to death? One explanation that makes sense is that John is speaking of the consistent rejection of Jesus. Sin can only be forgiven through the blood of Christ and one who rejects Christ is unable to receive that forgiveness. Another view is similar, but adds that John is being more specific here, that he is speaking of the heretics disturbing the church with their false claim that Jesus' nature was not that of True Man and True God in one Person. John's emphasis on the “Son of God” and His relationship with the Father in verse 20 seems to support that view.

The apostle's consistent emphasis on the certainness of God in our lives is overwhelming. John is an eyewitness who assures us that God will never leave us. He will always guide us and comfort us. He always loves us and forgives us as we look to Him each day.

Saturday, 2 John 1:1 – 13

John writes this short note to either a church or to a Chris tian woman who liked to host missionaries as they traveled from town to town. This was a loving custom practiced by individuals and churches in the early days of the faith. However, charlatans and false teachers also traveled through the area with their heresies.

The letter warns its recipient to be discerning and not welcome evil into the home or church. Do not even be friendly to these, might be the meaning of the last phrase of verse 10. If one was friendly to evil, it could, in the minds of some, validate the false teacher ( vs.11 ).

“…those who do not acknowledge Jesus Chris t as coming in the flesh” in verse 7 indicates what kind of false doctrine was concerned in this instance.

If early tradition is correct, John may have been writing specifically to the church at Ephesus , where he served as an elder later in his life

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