Category: Epistles – Is his letter to our church?

Epistle of Paul to the Romans

Epistles ἐπιστολή or Letters

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians

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1 CORINTHIANS

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Letters – Is he writing to me?
The short answer: YES.

In their epistles or 1st century church letters the Apostles and other men sent out by Jesus build up the saints [small – ‘s’] or members of local first century churches.

A Disciple or other witness of JESUS would write it. Messengers then delivered these church letters to many isolated worshipers.

Followers of Jesus Christ receive these letters as a major encouragement to their personal faith. Then leaders read them to worshipers of their church.

Although the Epistles 0r Letters to the Church were originally written to churches of the first century,

Romans through Jude will seem like letters to your 21st century church.

What do Peter, Paul, John and others tell us we must do?
Is he talking about an issue in your 21st c. church as well?
How does the writer’s advice, warning, or encouragement to the 1st c. believers apply to you as well
Is the writer of this letter talking about something you need to address in your 21st century ‘christian’ life?

Contemporary Application of the Letters (Epistles)

Most New Testament writers take on specific issues confronting faithful followers of Jesus Christ. These same issues continue to confront believers until the Lord’s coming again in these last days.

Certainly Christ our Lord will come again to those God has chosen for eternal life.

Believers currently suffer more than most of you who know Christ in your local church can imagine.

In other lands Christians continue to suffer by the hand of the ungodly.
Go into all the world

A 21st century Common Era church can see and hear nearly any atrocity of man or artificial imagination of sinful man’s mind, yet ‘christians‘ dare not speak of any absolute truth of the Lord God or talk of JESUS CHRIST.

Will YOU comment on Scripture and share the Gospel?

I invite you to read the inspired word of Scripture written in these LETTERS TO THE CHURCH.

YES, He IS writing to YOU.

Beloved brother or sister in Christ Jesus,

Will you read this ‘CHURCH LETTER’ and talk of JESUS through your comment, sharing and email to me about this ‘Letter to you?”

Roger@talkofJesus.com

3 Letters from the Apostle John
The world cannot think of John without a picture of a young man next to JESUS who wrote,“God so loved the world…”

Or Christians perhaps recall the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John on Patmos with little consideration of his age or the path of the Apostle leading him to this isolated Greek island.

Three intimate letters to believers
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The A.D. 90's - the END of an era 
— JOHN's Apostolic love and truth for fidelity in the faith. 
```
The Elder John writes three letters — along with Jude, the LAST EPISTLES of the New Testament.

Although our focus will be 2 John and 3 John, I will include 1 John in this overview written about the same time.

In order to set the cultural stage of the Church enduring beyond the end of the A.D. first century, consider that the Elder writes his 3 Epistles some sixty years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Introduction to an Era not unlike our own:

INTRO – MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY 1-3 JOHN

quoting Donald W Burdick

Apart from the Judaeo-Christian sphere, the world was religiously inclusivistic. There was always room for a new religion, provided of course that it was not of an exclusive nature. Syncretism[‘s].. characteristic expression was in the combination of various ideas and beliefs from different sources to form new or aberrant religions. This was the age of of the developing mystery religions, the age of the occult, ane age of the proliferation of Gnostic sects.

MACARTHUR Commentary 1-3 John, p.1

Recall from Acts how the young Apostle Jesus loved also preached the Gospel of our risen Lord boldly along with Simon Peter in the Temple. But that was about sixty years ago .

In the year of our Lord 90

(approximately)
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Keep in mind that ALL dates used for comparison to various 1st c. events are approximate, but reveal a chronology of John's life.
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- John’s own Gospel account of the events of JESUS’s incarnate life had already been written and distributed to the churches some five to ten years ago.
- Mark, Matthew and Luke had written and sent out their Gospel’s some thirty years before, back in the 50’s and 60’s.
- Several missionary journeys of the Paul (begun in A.D. 47) along with many others had concluded prior to the Apostle’s death along with Peter in Rome [~ A.D. 66] also some twenty to thirty years before these final epistles of John.
  - Paul had founded this church in Ephesus where John now serves as an Elder.
  - Paul had written to it as well some forty years before, back in the early A.D. 60’s.
Rome had political problems of its own.

In addition to putting down a Jewish revolt in Jerusalem [A.D. 66] and destroying the Temple [A.D. 70], the Caesar’s frequently blamed and banished Christians for their political problems in Rome and other cities of the Empire.

An Apostolic Dogma of John
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The 21st c. Common Era church speaks so little of dogma that I must define it. 
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Dogma – 1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a religion.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

This is what I refer to as Apostolic Faith, which includes all Apostolic authority continuing through Scripture to this day.
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Referring to the "we" statements of 1 John, the author speaks on behalf of the Twelve." 

John Stott observes: 
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He does not hesitate to call certain classes of people liars, deceivers or antichrists. .. they either have God or have not, know God or do not, have live or abide in death, walk in darkness or in the light, are children of God or children of the devil.

This dogmatic authority of the writer is seen particularly in his statements and in his commands.

John Stott commentary, quoted by MacArthur, p.4

a culture combining aberrant and mystery religions
```
Stick with me on some abridged definitions for your understanding of the A.D. 1st century, (again, not so unlike our 21st century of the Common Era).
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- syncretism –
  - .. fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, ..the result is heterogeneous – AHD
- aberrant –
  - 3. straying from the right way – AHD
- mystery religions – (What typifies them?)
  - any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions.
  - .. initiation in Greece became a matter of personal choice.
  - The mystery religions reached their peak of popularity in the first three centuries a.d. Their origin, however, goes back to the earlier centuries of Greek history.
    
    Source: Britannica
The DANGER of gnostics!

For those of you who really don’t know much about false religions, before we begin John’s three strongly-worded epistles, I need to define this great threat to the Church — gnosticism.

of a person (25 terms) gnostic 1607–
Historical. (With capital initial.) Chiefly plural.

The designation given to certain heretical sects among the early Christians who claimed to…

source: OED

Until fairly recently the term was generally applied collectively to the majority of those 2nd cent. movements which called themselves Christian or borrows heavily from Christian sources, but which were rejected by the main stream of Christian tradition.

more..

.. Gnostic systems which make testing intellectual demands, others which depend on mumbo-jumbo and sleight of hand.

.. high-minded ascetic, and others who are licentious charlatans.

“GNOSTICISM” – Tenney Encyclopedia of the Bible, pub. ZONDERVAN, vol.2, p.736-739

The gnostic doctrine of God

Gnostics borrowed from the anti-christian philosophers:
- ‘that God is so utterly transcendent that He can have no direct contact with the world;
- and can have no contact with God..’
- THEREFORE, they conclude:
- ‘Man is thus a creature of mixed origin, a mixture of incompatibles.
- Christianity is ‘self-condemned:’
..the claim that God became man is impossible, since God and Matter could not mix.

ibid. p.736

God is conceived as remote from all material creation..

If God’s transcendence implies the impossibility of His contact with matter, how could God take a human body —(*that of Christ, whom the gnostics oppose) — still less suffer in one?

ibid. p.737

John’s opposition to developing heresies

Various heresies of the A.D. first century antichrists creeping into the houses of worship in various places led John to write his epistles to the faithful who believed his Gospel of the the Lord Jesus Christ. The Elder’s purpose in writing is to urge the faithful to REJECT false gospels, false philosophies cloaked in christian garments and especially to send away FALSE teachers.

MacArthur continues in his commentary on 1 John 1-4:

He [the Elder John] clearly expected his readers to obey his commands unquestioningly. Only an apostle, known and respected by those whom he addressed, could have written such an authoritative letter and not given his name.

ibid. p.5

John’s first epistle clearly calls on those under his Apostolic authority to apply the test of faith he puts forth and to obey his commands of how to deal with these liars, deceivers and antichrists bringing false faith into the practices of their gatherings and worship.

The Elder’s second and third epistles, the shortest of John’s letters (other than the brief tests revealed to the 7 churches in his apocalypse) addresses certain faithful leaders of the Church more personally with specific individual instructions.

Key Scriptures from Epistles of the Elder

John will reiterate some of his purpose in writing in his second and third Epistles, the focus of our Apostolic look at his last letters. The partial list from 1 John provides a larger context for the Apostle’s last two letters near the end of the A.D. first century.

the First Letter of John the Elder and Apostle of Jesus Christ

Key verses from 1 John
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1 John 1:3-5,9; 2:1,10-11,15,18,26,28-29; 3:5-6,8,18; 4:3-4,10,19; 5:1,13,18-19
```
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 Letter of John 1:5 ESV

Do you want to know IF someone truly believes that JESUS Christ is the Lord — the only Son of God?

Without introduction, the Elder John writes to the Church in his own Apostolic authority with two tests for the saints of God to know if another has fellowship with God — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
1. Belief in God
  - .. if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
    
    1 John 1:7 (and in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 5:8)
2. Certainty of Sin
  - If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
    
    1 John 8
  - If we confess our sins, he is faithful..
    
    1 John 9a
If we say we have not sinned, we make him [Jesus Christ] a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:10 ESV

John provides a plumb line to delineate true faith in Christ.

The beloved Apostle makes clear that those who claim falsely to have no sin, ‘lie and do not practice the truth,’ a direct affront on the claim of some that the body can sin while the spirit separately remains pure.

Fellowship

Love and fellowship permeate the Apostle’s larger focus not only in John’s Gospel, but in the 3 Letters from the Elder as well.

κοινωνία – koinōnia is the share which one has in anything, participation; intercourse (between loved ones, but not eros), fellowship (between near friends), intimacy (as that of family members who live lovingly together with each other).

BluueLetteBible.org – Strong’s G2842 – koinōnia *with parenthetical clarity added by RH

What does this mean in relation to God?

Perfect PERSONAL fellowship of the One Triune GOD in the Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Fellowship between the Father and the Son.

Fellowship between believers and the Holy Spirit.

AND within the Church — the Body of Christ — fellowship of personal relationship in the love of the Light of life, our Lord Jesus Christ.

John, in the authority of Christ, sows the seeds of the Father’s love given in the Person of the Son redeeming us from our sins.

Do not love [agapaō] the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ..the world is passing away along with its desires,

but whoever does the will of God [theos] abides forever.

1 John 2:15,17 ESV

The Apostle urges a fellowship with the loving Person of the Father, not simply an acknowledgment of God, Who IS forever.

Have fellowship with God.. and fellowship with Light.. fellowship AND love [agapaō & phileō]…

Obey God, because of His love for you and His holy ones..

Propitiation of a Personal God
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Propitiation would seem to be a technical theological term unfamiliar to many Common Era Christians. 
The concept is important.. and not so difficult. 
```
ἱλασμός – hilasmos –

from a Greek root word found only in John’s first letter

– English translations: propitiation, the sacrifice that atones, atoning sacrifice, expiation, sacrifice to take away

Christ’s love for His Church.

The ‘one Jesus loved’ (the Elder’s own self-identification) instructs believers in how to relate to God as your personal loving God, as John himself had experienced God in Jesus Christ.

Herein is love [agapē],
not that we loved God,
but that he loved us,
and sent his Son
to be the propitiation
for our sins.
1 John 4:10 KJV

What human father would do that?

Is OUR love of God the reason Christ became the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the world? NO!

It is the LOVE — agapē — of our Father in heaven, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father who in His love for us Personally sacrificed Jesus to the Cross for the price of our sins.

Jesus is The Christ!

Therefore, in light of the cultural challenges we introduced as an impetus for the Elder’s epistles, John calls on the Church to identify antichrists among us — that is, heretics and gnostics.
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We will not again address end times today as before.
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7 Epistles of John with the same Revelation

The Elder addresses his beloved saints in Ephesus (and other churches):

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,

even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

First Epistle of John 2:19-20.22 King James Version
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Now don't go calling any of your questionable 'christian' colleagues, 'antichrists.' 
The Elder explains why some saints will sit under Godly teaching while others listen only for a time they hope to influence the body.. and then leave the church. 
```
‘Do Not Love the World,’ ‘Beware of Antichrists,’ and ‘Remain in Christ,’ read the subheadings for these.

Behold what manner of love..

We recognize this same Apostle once nearest to Jesus as the Elder now embraces his fellow saints with the same concern for their souls as Christ held for His Disciples.

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.

1 John 3:1-2a BSB

‘You know that he [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin,’ John reminds [ESV].

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning..

1 John 3:6a ESV

The Elder then continues in his delineation between the saints of Jesus and antichrists of the devil:

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:

whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:10 ESV

the Elder’s foundational exhortation of his epistle

My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue;
but in deed and in truth.
1 letter of John 3:18 KJV

On Denying the Incarnation

This heading from the NIV addresses John’s concern for the saints holding fast to the truth of the Gospel in the recognition of the false teachers of tolerant gnosticism, inclusivist universalism and other antichrists posing as the godly.

Dear friends,

do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:

Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

1 John 4:1-3 NIV

John comforts: ‘You, dear children, are from God.. [v.4] and warns:

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

1 John 4:5 NIV

Of course the world entangled in sin will neither accept the Truth of Christ or His Incarnation and return in a final Judgment.

Herein is love.. agapaō

In this is love, not that we have loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins...

We love,
because He first loved us.
1 John 4:10,19 LSB

John’s Conclusion to his First Letter

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

1 John 5:1,19 BSB

That is, proclaims the Elder: Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and Son of God, protects you, beloved saint and holy one of His, from Satan and the anti-christs of this passing world.

Next: the last 2 of 3 letters
April 20, 2026
Reintroducing John – a Biography and Background
Biography of a Man

I wrestle with my own autobiography, let alone writing about the ancestry of such an important man of God as John.

We struggle to understand anyone once we read such titles or relational roles of JESUS or any of the Lord’s Apostles.

For instance, who do you see when I refer to:
- ‘Jesus’ DISCIPLE John’ or
- ‘John, one the the TWELVE‘, or
- even including John with Peter and his older brother James as one of just three disciples in JESUS’ inner circle?
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And that only covers three years of John's life during Jesus' incarnation, overlooking John's earlier time as a disciple of John the Baptist. 
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Call him: SAINT John or John the Elder — give John reverence for receiving the very word of God in the Gospel — look at this man in awe, who later on Patmos was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ as an Elder of the first century Church.

But when all is said (or even little) about John, he was just a man like us, a man chosen by JESUS CHRIST, the Son of God.

Picturing John accurately – Painting a True Portrait

I have searched endlessly for a painting of the Apostle John more truly representing the one Jesus loved at various important times in his long life.

Of course we have no photo or ‘selfie’ of John from any time.
Some renaissance depictions (often commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church) depict a very young John (even holding a cup of communion) making him appear similar to a French altar boy.

The Apostle John
Peter Paul Rubens, 1610-12 A.D.
Jesus’ description of James and John as, ‘sons of thunder’ suggests two tough Galilean fisherman, tenaciously seeking the Messiah of captive Israel — two disciples of an Elijah-like prophet John the Baptist, who instructed these sons of thunder in the Judean wilderness.

The young Apostle John, who accompanied Peter to preach in the Temple just after Christ’s ascension, certainly was not so silent as to be overlooked by powerful Jewish leaders, who included this young Disciple ofJesus with Peter in their summons to defend their public witness (or rather be silent about Jesus).

Both Apostles would be imprisoned for the Gospel and then released by an angel to once again proclaim Jesus as the Messiah to the Jews and the all the world.
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IF YOU can suggest any painting or art which paints a true picture of JOHN at any stage of his life, how about letting us know in a COMMENT following this post. - RH 
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So in order to get a better picture of John, let’s look back at a few brief biographical facts mixed in with some scholarly speculation, hoping to see into the heart and life of ‘the one Jesus loved.’

Family and Ancestry

John grew up in a small village (as it happened I did too). Everybody typically knows everyone (and much of everyone’s business). Family, of course, was important to the Jews as our families tend to identify ‘who we are’ to our own neighbors.

When I was a young man my dad was a volunteer fireman and one of the older firemen always addressed me as, “Chief.” Our family name was attached to the business of Dad and his brother. John was in business with his brother James, both known to all as the sons of Zebedee, head of his family fishing business.

Ancestry and Connection of Names

‘Chief,’ immediately connected me to my dad, our volunteer fire chief and to his father whose name identified Dad’s family business.

Certainly John’s vocation, faith and identity were rooted in his upbringing and like me, growing up as John the Son of Zebedee would identify Jesus’ Disciple into his early manhood.

In fact, the younger of Zebedee’s sons probably felt more like ‘the brother of James , son of Zebedee;’ similar to an earlier unnoticed, Son of Jesse not even introduced to an important man such as Samuel.

About Zebedee:
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Let's connect these family names: 
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- Ζεβεδαῖος – Zebedee
  - From זֶבֶד (H2065) – endowment (or my gift)
- Ἰάκωβον τὸν τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου – James (son of Zebedee)
  - The same as Ἰακώβ (G2384), Jacob (meaning ‘supplanter’)
- Ἰωάννης
  - pronounced: ee-o-an’-nace {original Greek doesn’t really sound at all like, “John,” in English}
  - from Hebrew: יוֹחָנָן Yôwchânân, yo-khaw-nawn’; a form of H3076; Jochanan, the name of nine Israelites:—Johanan.
  - John = “Jehovah is a gracious giver”
    
    Same name as John son of Zacharias, ‘the Baptist’
    
    root meaning: “Jehovah has graced”
Source: Strong’s Concordance / BlueLetterBible.org

Later we’ll connect some other Biblical names, but first let’s learn more about the fisherman father of James and John.

the ‘Sea of Galilee’

The Sea of Galilee provided a livelihood for many families, and fishing was a respected trade. Zebedee’s ability to employ hired men suggests a level of affluence and stability, which may have afforded his sons the opportunity to leave and follow Jesus without jeopardizing the family’s welfare.

source: Biblehub.com

Sometimes landmarks in the Bible can be as confusing as names, because in context over time the names change.

Let’s zoom in on the home and livelihood of Zebedee —

(James and John, Andrew and Simon, hired servants – local carpenters, boat builders, sail and tent makers, and more).

Many families lived just north of Galilee’s most important body of water where the Jordan River flowed down from inland hills.

Note some names of the inland body of water on our map.
- ‘The sea of Chinnereth,’ Numbers 34:11,
- ‘The sea of Genesar’
- ‘The sea of Tiberiah.’
  - Source: BibleHub.com
Herod Antipas, wanting to make a big name for himself, named this body of water the “Sea of Tiberius” after the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar.

Once it was renamed, it was considered treason against Caesar for a Roman citizen to call the lake anything else.

Non-Romans, however, were not held to that standard. Because the Jews hated Rome and their occupation of Israel they were not in any hurry to call their lake the Sea of Tiberius. So they continued calling the lake by the name most familiar to them and already widely accepted among the people who lived in the region of Galilee:

“The Sea of Galilee.”

source: NTBCStafford.org

Rome controlled the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and inland commerce. The strategic importance of the Sea of Galilee held military importance, perhaps even more than Jerusalem.

Although sudden storms from winds sweeping down upon the sea could make it dangerous even for seasoned fishermen, in fact two other names more accurately described it:
- Genezareth or Kineret Lake
The lake has a surface area of 64 square miles .. Extending 13 miles (21 km) from north to south and 7 miles (11 km) from east to west, it is pear-shaped. Its surface elevation was long given as 686 feet (209 metres) below sea level..

Source: Britannica
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The Sea of Galilee is a FRESH WATER LAKE, the largest in Israel, fed by the Jordan River and undground springs, with its surface ~700 feet below sea level making it the lowest fresh water lake on earth. From this important lake the lower Jordan flows south into the lowest body of water on earth - the Dead Sea. 
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Successful fishing businesses such as Zebedee’s were vital to the Roman army, even Jerusalem in the hills above the Jordan, as well as locally in villages of the rural Galilean hills.

James and John Sons of Zebedee

When John followed his older brother James to become a disciple of John the Baptist it seems not to have affected the larger merchant enterprise of their father’s fishing business. They may have even traveled to Jerusalem previously with their father to deliver and sell fish to some of Jerusalem’s ruling families.

Zebedee employed servants in his fishing enterprise and likely worked with other fishing families. Capernaum and Bethsaida are situated strategically (for fishing) less than three miles apart on the north shore of the lake.

Sons and servants of other fishing enterprises, such as that of Jonah (also: Jonas or John), father of Andrew, who also had followed John the Baptist before becoming Jesus’ first Disciple, certainly all knew each other (as those in small towns tend to do).

Sons of Salome

Zebedee was married to Salome, who is believed to have been a follower of Jesus and possibly one of the women who supported His ministry.

Source: BibleHub.com

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark mention Salome’s presence along with others at the Cross of Jesus.

Some commentators speculate that Salome may have been the sister of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Therefore the soldiers did these things.
But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Gospel of John 19:25 LSB

It would be consist with the Apostle’s humility of not mention his own name in his Gospel for John to not mention his own mother by name.

The Gospels reveal further evidence that Salome (wife of Zebedee) accompanied her sons.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”

Gospel of Matthew 20:20-21 LSB

John’s early days

He was possibly born around 6 A.D. in the city of Bethsaida.

If this is true, he would have been about twenty years old when he and Jesus met for the first time in late 26 A.D. .. What few realize is that Salome and Jesus’ mother Mary were likely sisters.

“This means that Christ and John were first cousins as far as legal matters were concerned among the Jewish people” (Restoring the Original Bible, pg. 313).

John’s possible bloodline relationship to Jesus also means that he and is older brother James the Greater (Matthew 4:21) were full cousins to the Lord’s half-brothers James and Jude. Both James and Jude wrote New Testament books and were leaders in the early New Testament church (see Acts 1:14, 15:13).

source: BibleStudy.org

John in his 20’s and 30’s

Everything we read in the Gospels about John, beloved Disciple of Jesus, takes place when John is in his early twenties. Most of what we witness about John from Acts of the Apostles takes place when the Apostle is still in his late twenties or thirties.
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NEXT - We will observe Jesus' young Disciple John from the witness of all four Gospel writers, followed by observations of an Apostle sent out by the risen Christ in ACTS of the Apostles. 
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March 19, 2026
The Longest Faithful Apostolic Journey of John
How do you picture the Apostle John?
- From familiar Scripture as a young man near Jesus,
- or an old man on Patmos;
- or do you see a faithful man following Jesus on an extraordinary journey lasting many years?
INTRODUCTION to JOHN’s Apostolic Faith

late A.D. 20’s at the Jordan river near Bethany

John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following.

“What do you want?”

“Rabbi”

“where are You staying?”

“Come and see,”

So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him.

Gospel of John 1:35-39 excerpt, BSB

James and his young brother John were not sleeping when the Messiah of Israel came to their Rabbi, John the Baptist.

In fact, these two sons of Zebedee had sought the savior of Israel, and then found and followed John the Baptist (who many Jews believed could be the one).

Then they would join the Master of whom John spoke, and follow Him when the Lord sought His own disciples from their own little fishing village far removed from Jerusalem.

Introduction to Jesus’ Disciple John

John is a familiar and beloved Disciple of Jesus, well-known to Christians and unbelievers alike through the Gospels, as well as numerous illustrations and paintings often commissioned by the Roman or Orthodox Church many centuries later.

~ in the year of our Lord 30
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He and others likely didn't have a visible halo over their heads. And art such as DaVinci's, 'The Last Supper,' — with young John clinging to Jesus, which illustrates John's actual devotion — shows a long table and chairs never used in upper rooms of the A.D. first century. 
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A.D. 30’s – A.D. 50’s

Perhaps Christians will recall that prior to His crucifixion, JESUS sent the Twelve out to some cities to proclaim the Gospel.

And some may recall that the APOSTLE John was with Peter when both Apostles had been sent to preach in the Temple after Pentecost (~A.D. 30), were witnessed to work miracles.

“How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

Acts of the Apostles 2:8 CSB
- Here is one brief look [October 2021 C.E.] from our TalkofJESUS SERIES from Acts of the Apostles.
  - Perhaps five years later you will still recognize some of the faces.
Be saved from this perverse generation!

Three Score Years of John’s Apostlic Faith

Followers of Jesus Christ in these last days will generally picture the Apostle Jesus loved as he began his faithful path of life in the early years of John’s life (when he was only in his twenties).

Even in Acts of the Apostles, our early focus turns from Peter (and John, somewhat) primarily to Paul.

Although John’s Gospel details key witness of the Lord Jesus Christ prior to the Lord’s death, resurrection and ascension, the Apostle wrote his Gospel for the Church many years later, around the year of our Lord (A.D.) 85 – fifty some years after Pentecost.

~ A.D. 50 – ~ A.D. 100

The Apostle John wrote his final letters near the end of the A.D. First Century!

Written between a mid-first century Council in Jerusalem and his own natural death near the end of the A.D. First Century, the Epistles of John reveal a familiar festering of indignancy between Jerusalem’s Jews and occupying Roman legions.

Christians were caught in a new light leading them to dangerous intersections of worldly clashes affecting the lives of Jews, Romans, Greeks and every saint seeking Christ.
Pictured: A.D. 70 burning of the Temple in Jerusalem by the occupying Roman army.
Writing to the Jews, the saints and the Romans

The saints of the Church witnessed Apostolic faith in a Roman governed world with diminished Jewish influence throughout Syria, Asia, and Europe (including Rome) — and even in Rome’ s local Herodian tetrarchies which included Galilee and Judea, with the city of Jerusalem.

The Apostle John wrote to saints who came to Christ from all of these varied backgrounds — saints and their Elders new to the Gospel, in need of sound teaching and vulnerable to temptations of false teaching.

Introduction to John’s Epistles

In order to further understand a turbulent historic setting for this SERIES on the final LETTERS of JOHN, we will first take a brief look at the first century Church and also look ahead to John’s other well-quoted book, Revelation.

FINALLY — with God’s help and that of theologians more studied than me —I hope to tie it all together by studying the two briefest letters in the New Testament: the Epistles of Second John and Third John.
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COMMMENT with your QUESTIONS and observations about the THREE Letters of John at anytime. 
Your input may be important to our understanding of John's letters. 
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NEXT: Reintroducing John, the man, disciple, Apostle and Elder

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
March 11, 2026