Exploring 1 John: Introduction
Exploring 1 John: Introduction
John works to correct false doctrine late in his life as the beloved apostle.
This new devotional Bible study series examines the New Testament Epistle (or perhaps Sermon) of 1 John. There is plenty of controversy over who actually wrote this treatise, because it is not signed like the epistles of Paul and even 2 and 3 John are more explicit in the possible sources and audiences for those letters. However, most of the scholars that I rely on for my devotionals are convinced that this was indeed written by the very same apostle who wrote the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. One of my go-to resources, Gotquestions.org, has this to say about 1 John:
Author: 1, 2, and 3 John have from earliest times been attributed to the apostle John, who also wrote the Gospel of John. The content, style, and vocabulary seem to warrant the conclusion that these three epistles were addressed to the same readers as the Gospel of John.
Date of Writing: The Book of 1 John was likely written between A.D. 85-95.
Purpose of Writing: The Book of 1 John seems to be a summary that assumes the readers' knowledge of the gospel as written by John and offers certainty for their faith in Christ. The first epistle indicates that the readers were confronted with the error of gnosticism, which became a more serious problem in the second century. As a philosophy of religion it held that matter is evil and spirit is good. The solution to the tension between these two was knowledge, or gnosis, through which man rose from the mundane to the spiritual. In the gospel message, this led to two false theories concerning the person of Christ, Docetism—regarding the human Jesus as a ghost—and Cerinthianism—making Jesus a dual personality, at times human and at times divine. The key purpose of 1 John is to set boundaries on the content of faith and to give believers assurance of their salvation.
I also found this good summary, from a link on Precept Austin to the Bridgeway Bible Dictionary. John was believed to be living in Ephesus at the time he wrote this letter; this is substantiated by many historical writers.
The chief trouble-maker in Ephesus was a man named Cerinthus. He had been influenced by Gnostic ideas concerning the relation between spirit and matter, and as a result developed wrong beliefs concerning Jesus Christ. Believing God to be pure and matter to be evil, he denied that Jesus Christ could be heavenly and earthly at the same time. This led to a variety of wrong teachings. Some of these denied the full deity of Jesus, and others denied his true humanity (1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:2-3).
Many Christians became uncertain of their salvation; for if the Jesus who lived and died in this world was not at all times fully divine and fully human, how could his death benefit people or satisfy God? To reassure Christians in their understanding of Jesus and the salvation he brought them, John wrote firstly his Gospel (John 20:31), and then the letter known as 1 John (1 John 5:13).
Gnostic ideas concerning spirit and matter, besides leading to wrong teaching about Jesus, led to wrong behaviour among believers. Cerinthus taught that the behaviour of the body could not affect the purity of the soul, and therefore believers could sin as they wished. John condemned such teaching (1 John 3:6). He emphasized that Christians must be obedient to God, must love others and must be disciplined within themselves.
So just like the errors that Paul was dealing with in Galatians, John is trying to bring early believers back to the proper understanding of Jesus, His fully human and fully divine nature, and His salvation that He brought. We will find out as we study 1 John that this letter is also about Fellowship. Here is a chart that appears on Precept Austin at the beginning of the large collection of commentaries, links and sermons; this was created for Jensen’s Survey of the NT and used with permission by Precept Austin:
John was obviously quite elderly when he wrote this and, as noted in the commentary above, lived in Ephesus. Mary also lived in this area (recall that Jesus gave John the responsibility for caring for her). Here is a map of that area from the time of the NT showing some of the major early church locations, from Earlychurchhistory.org:
Steve and I had the privilege of visiting the splendid ruins at Ephesus and the purported last home of Mary while on a cruise from Venice to Istanbul in September, 2011. This large Roman city had a growing Christian church. Here’s a photo from our trip showing the Basilica of St. John, located near the Ephesus ruins and the ruins of the Temple of Artemis. It is the grey building in the foreground; we didn’t get to enter the Basilica, unfortunately:
Now that we have some background, my next devotional will dive right into 1 John 1:1-2, an affirmation from John about the Word of Life, from his personal experience and testimony.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please guide me on my new study of 1 John, showing me the importance of this NT book. Your guidance always helps me uncover the incredible meaning of Your Word. Amen.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 3/22/2024 to review the answer to the question of who wrote 1 John.
Precept Austin was searched on 3/22/2024 to discover background on 1 John, as documented in the Bridgeway Bible Dictionary (public domain).
Precept Austin was searched on 3/22/2024 to get an overview chart of 1 John.