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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Letters – Is he writing to me?
The short answer: YES.
In their epistlesor 1st century church lettersthe 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’ andtalk of JESUS through your comment, sharing and email to me about this ‘Letter to you?”
Is Truth the standard for preaching in your church?
And is honesty concerning Christ a measure of your hospitality and love of other believers?
Walking in Truth and Love
Now that you are separated to holiness by the risen Jesus Christ,who must a saint believe?
NOT every Rabbi — not every Bishop, any Priest or supposed Prophet; not every emotional pastor or passing spirit-led performance; not the powerful preacher of visionary change.
Many would mislead you.
TheElder of Ephesus and nearby church gatherings of saints in first century Asia Minor had already heard of or encountered many false teachers and their heretical teachings concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
At the time of his final epistle (most likely in the A.D. 90’s), John is the only remaining Apostle. John’s Apostolic authority is unquestionable, as is the Elder’s dedication in witness of the Way, the Truth and the Life of Christ.
Jesus said to him [the Apostle Thomas],
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 ESV
John’s witness of the Truth of Christ Jesus becomes immediately evident in this — the Apostle’s final letter.
III John
The elder
πρεσβύτερος - presbyteros - elder
to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and bore witness to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth.
3 John 1:2-3 NKJV
Γάϊος – Gaius
The Elder receives a letter from his dear friend [agapētos] Gaius responding positively that indeed John hopes to visit these believers personally soon after his response arrives.
Gaius is a common Greek name and he could be:
a Macedonian delegate from Derbe who earlier had accompanied Paul to Jerusalem [Acts 20:4] or
a Corinthian, one of two men baptized by Paul and/or
later, Paul’s host (the Elder or Bishop of Thessalonica) [Acts 18:7]
or possibly yet another Gaius with this common name
Referring to those Gaius leads in his local church John rejoices:
I have no greater joy than these things that I hear of my children walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4 – Darby Translation
Friendship Worthy of God
The Apostles Peter, Paul and others had been executed for their faith some twenty years ago in Rome. Many more Christians were constantly martyred in since then throughout the Empire.
The recipient of the Elder’s final epistle recognizes the witness of his hospitality to these evangelists — many who might soon die in witness to the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Now (sometime around the year of our Lord 90-95), John commends the faithful boldness of his dear (and probably long-time) friend Gaius.
Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.
3 John 1:5-7 ESV
The Elder is essentially putting his Apostolic seal of approval on the witness of these beloved, specific evangelists (missionaries).
Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
3 John 1:8
DO NOT MISS the lasting long relationship of more than twenty years between the Elder John and Elders of other churches throughout the Roman Empire.
I have written something to the church…
.. but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.
3 John 1:9 NKJV
This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering us with malicious words.
And he is not satisfied with that!
He not only refuses to welcome fellow believers, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.
3 Epistle of John 1:10 CSB
The Elder has an enemy opposed to Apostolic doctrine and authority.
True saints of Christ will recognize such evil gate-keepers of false faith as an antichrist! And John intends to correct their growing heresy in person with his beloved true Christian friend Gaius.
Yield to Good but Not Evil
Here the Apostle measures this heretical behavior of Diotrephes, who stands against the true gospel of Christ. John advises his faithful friend with this Apostolic standard:
Beloved [agapētos] follow not that which is evil [kakos ], but that which is good.
3 John 1:11a KJV
Before we go forward with John's Apostolic rule, let's make certain that WE the saints of the Church understand both GOOD and EVIL.
κακός, κακῇ, κακόν, the Sept. for רָע (from Homer down), bad (A. V. (almost uniformly) evil);
(morally, i. e.) of a mode of thinking, feeling, acting; base, wrong, wicked: of persons,
universally, of a bad nature; not such as it ought to be.
John applies this to this wicked gate-keeper of his hometown church, comparing his own standard of judging who belongs in the Church and who does not to the true hospitality of of the Truth of Christ as the Shepherd of flocks, with the Apostles of Jesus as true witness of the Gospel and teachings of our Lord.
A previous warning concurrently in circulation
Although the later canon of Scripture places Revelation after this epistle (and that of Jude), some historical scholarship suggests that the Apocalypse of John may have been written prior to this brief letter — the Elder’s third epistle. Perhaps you might recognize a type of Diotrephes in the message to the angel of Ephesus:
“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
“and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake [that of the risen Lord Jesus Christ] and have not become weary.
a primary word; “good” (in any sense, often as noun):—benefit, good(-s, things), well.
This comparison between evil and good by the Lord Jesus calls believers to faithfulness imitating God our Father in heaven.
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Gospel of Matthew 7:11 NKJV
John in his gospel also quotes Jesus concerning good.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voiceand come out,
those who have done good to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil [φαῦλος phaûlos, “foul” or “flawy”, i.e. (figuratively) wicked:—evil]
to the resurrection of judgment.
Gospel of John 5:26-29 ESV, with a definition of evil
Deciding between Friends
John writes to a mutual brother faithful to the Lord Jesus and the teaching of the Apostles. But how does the Elder (and Apostle) advise his dear friend to lead?
Short answer: enroll a second brother in the Lord known to be true to the truth of the Gospel.
Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
3 John 1:12 NIV
John writes briefly with all the Authorithy of Apostolic leading of the Church. He enlists allies grounded in truth. And most of all John emphasizes that he and others must confront this controversy in person (lest it get out of hand at the leading of this wicked so-called christian).
I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
The beloved Elder closes his final Apostolic Epistle with a seemingly common word of distant greeting; but it is indeed a peace that we do not understand and practice too little as the saints saved by the risen Christ Jesus.
is between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord; the Messiah’s peace, the way that leads to peace (salvation); the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is; the blessed state of devout and upright men after death — as well as: a state of national tranquillity; exemption from the rage and havoc of war
Do the saints of your church struggle with this?
The Ephesians, to whom John writes did!
And the Elder adds a call to reciprocal love as well:
Our friends [Philos] salute you.
Most certainly John would recall the words of Jesus from more than sixty years ago — again and again in correspondence as well as personal encounters with his fellow believers…
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.G5384 Ye are my friends,G5384 if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Gospel of John 15:13-14 KJV
.. I have called you friends;G5384 for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Gospel of John 15:15b – the words of JESUS to His Apostles
These things I command you, that ye love one another.
John 15:17
Philos, friend, obeys Christ’s commands of love and truth. Our salutation to each other is that of love and peace.
Greet the friends by name. Again, a mutual and personal greeting between beloved friends, this translation of ‘greet’ using the same Greek word as ‘salute.’
Certainly those receiving the Elder’s third epistle looked forward to Johns upcoming personal visit, God-willing. From the Apostle’s very lips they will receive the truth of Christ and follow The Way prescribed by John and the Apostles of JESUS.
Would your church welcome the Elder IF the Apostle John and his friends were coming to challenge an errant teacher or preacher of your local gathering?
It was a tragic punishment of the Jews to be exiled, it would become a tragic consequence for a church which would later abandon truth for control in a medieval world.
He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth.
I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.
Gospel of John 19:35; Third Epistle of John 1:4 CSB
Today we are going to READ the New Testament’s shortest letter. It is written by the beloved Apostle John near the end of the first century A.D.
Once you have read it, we will then take a look at WHY the Elder wrote it and how to heed John’s warnings to those joined to Christ’s Church.
2 John
The ELDER,
unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; for the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.
This is the commandment That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.
John writes a brief note of less than 300 words in the common Greek of the first century Roman Empire on a single piece of papyrus sometime near the year of our Lord ninety-five (A.D. 90-95) in lieu of a personal visit the aging Apostle intends.
It appears that the great purpose of II John was to warn the believers not to give indiscriminate hospitality to strangers or traveling evangelist-teachers. Those who did not meet the sure test of sound doctrine were to be refused hastily.
King James Bible commentary 2-3 John p.1763
He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
– 2 John v.9
The URGENT WARNING of this last living Apostle of Jesus Christ is both clear and relevant to leaders of the Church up to this day.
The Second Epistle of John cautions against hospitality or the receiving of heretics.
As the Apostle emphasized in his earlier letter to the Church, the mystical approach of some antichrists, namely Gnostics, opposed the truth of Scripture and the incarnation of God in the Person of JESUS Christ, His suffering and crucifixion and especially the Lord’s resurrection IN THE BODY and ascension into heaven until Jesus’ return at the last day.
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.
Theologians may debate a small point of who ‘the elect lady’ is.
The “elect lady and her children,” addressed in verse 1, are taken by most interpreters to mean a church and her members.
There is.. deep concern for truth (vv. 4-6) and the warning against false doctrine (7-11) are there as in all John’s writings.
Authorized King James Version intro 2 JOHN
Lady (Gr kyria) is the same word as “Lord” in the New Testament, except that it is feminine here (and in vs. 5) and refers not to a literal “lady” but to the “congregation” or “church’ in a figurative sense.
King James Bible Commentary into 2 JOHN
“The children of thy elect sister greet thee” ( 2Jo 1:13 ).
the word “Church” comes from a Greek word (kyriake) cognate to the Greek for “lady” (kyria; “belonging to the Lord,” kyrios)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Introduction to 2 John
John, an elder or bishop of churches would in person certainly apply his warning to the body of believers as a whole and especially to any pastor, host or hostess of a home church.
House Churches
Some theologians would point out that many early churches were ‘house churches’ and that the “lady” and “her children” may well have been an actual unnamed woman (such as John will name an addressee of his third and final epistle to “Gaius.”
Since inns in the first century were notoriously flea-infested and rapacious, where would a Christian stay while traveling? The answer was in the home of another Christian.
KJ Bible Commentary ibid.
I had to look up this definition and it is culturally worth noting for Christians of the first century or 21st. Some synonyms for Rapacious - greedy, insatiable, gluttonous, materialistic selfish, devouring, savage, preying... Get the idea?
So some theologians believe that John wrote to warn a woman hosting a house church against welcoming such heretical predators, let alone let any teaching of such men or women be heard by the saints she welcomes into her home for worship.
Think of these as evangelists of the antichrist. John also calls them antichrists. The danger of false teaching became so prevalent that by the second century AD other Elders (Bishops) wrote about them.
Elder Successors to John
Without digging into early writings of the early church, note one well-documented warning from the 2nd century AD.
Irenaeus of Lyons, born in Asia Minor ~AD 125 and ‘mentioned as a hearer of Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, who in turn was traditionally associated with the Apostle John’ writes a major theological book:
“Against Heresies” (Adversus Haereses), composed around AD 180.
He systematically refuted Gnostic teachings, which challenged the reliability of Scripture and the nature of Christ’s Incarnation. By reinforcing the unity of God as Creator, as well as the integral unity of Scripture, Irenaeus defended fundamental Christian doctrines, including the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
Christians (especially women) can be ‘too nice’ — we’ve all witnessed that. But the Elder John and others caution against it (until the true character of one is tested).
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA (A.D. 192) [Miscellanies, 2.66].. says, “John’s Second Epistle which was written to the virgins (Greek, “parthenous”; perhaps Parthos is what was meant) is the simplest; but it was written to a certain Babylonian named the Elect lady.”
John MacArthur also suggests that John writes to an individual lady and that the whole purpose of the Elder’s brief epistle is focused on truth.
Truth
John writes of her and her children (whether specific individuals or all those of a house church he plans to visit):
“whom I love in the truth” —agapaōen alētheia—
.. but also all they that have known the truth;
Pretty inclusive of true believers already established as part of her household of saints separated to Christ.
for the truth’s sake… — again, alētheia
AND then John adds to his greeting:
which abides in us [NKJV] or
which lives in us [NIV and others]
because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever. [CSB]
2 John 1:2
Is the Apostle reminding here of the Holy Spirit whom we may consult in our discernment of truth — ἀλήθεια – alētheia?
A reminder from John's introduction in his Gospel:
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17 LSB
MacArthur’s commentary outlines this brief second epistle of John as follows:
The Basis of Christian Hospitality
vs 1-3, with truth mentioned 4X
The Behavior of Christian Hospitality
vs 4-6, with truth mentioned in v.4
The Bounds of Christian Hospitality
vs 7-11, with a test of truth in v. 9
The Blessings of Christian Hospitality
vs. 12-13, the Elder will come to her in person
Recognizing that all the readers of his letter faced and always would face a world of lies and deceit, he wrote to call them to live in God’s truth… John reveals four features of living in the truth: the truth unites, indwells, blesses and controls believers.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
1 John 5:1 ESV
MacArthur applies the Apostle’s test specifically to John’s second letter.
John’s statement encapsulates the main theme of this brief epistle, that truth must always govern the exercise of love. Christians’ deep, mutual affection flows out of their shared commitment to the truth.
ibid. p.217
John emphasized Christ’s identity as God’s Son because the false teachers were denying that truth.
ibid. p. 220
MANY deceivers have gone out into the world.
WATCH YOURSELVES!
2 John v.7a,8a
Do you, beloved lady of this 21st century of the common era, imagine that anything in the life of a Christian has changed one iota?
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
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)
Keep in mind that ALL dates used for comparison to various 1st c. events are approximate, but reveal a chronology of John's life.
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
The 21st c. Common Era church speaks so little of dogma that I must define it.
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.
Referring to the "we" statements of 1 John, the author speaks on behalf of the Twelve."
John Stott observes:
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).
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
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.
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)
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).
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.
We will not again address end times today as before.
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
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.
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.
