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 OrthodoxChurch many centuries later.
~ in the year of our Lord 30
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.
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?
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.
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.
NEXT: Reintroducing John, the man, disciple, Apostle and Elder
The Apostle now closes his final letter to Timothy noting that his course redirected by Christ on a road to Damascus so many years before — his marathon race of missions into all the world — indeed even the end of the Apostle’s mortal life is at hand.
in the N. T. σπένδεσθαι, to be offered as a libation, is figuratively used of one whose blood is poured out in a violent death for the cause of God
Paul, with Timothy about five years earlier, had written to the church in Philippi:
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to boast because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
But even if I am being poured G4689 out G4689 as G4689 a G4689 drink G4689 offering G4689 upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
And you also, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
Epistle of Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi 2:14-18 LSB
The Apostle had then sent Timothy and Epaphroditus to the church at Philippi.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
2 Timothy 4:6 – Greek NT, LSB:
Although Paul was formerly housed in Rome for some time as a citizen having appealed to Caesar, the Apostle is now imprisoned with many others awaiting the whim of a merciless new Caesar Nero.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy 4:7 NKJV
to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something):—fight, labor fervently, strive.
That would be the Apostle Paul alright. Every saint of the church recognized his example which the Apostle expected them to follow, as they would Christ, who said:
“Strive G75 to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Gospel of Luke (the physician who traveled with Paul who had written his Gospel while accompanying the Apostle) 13:24 LSB
Paul had written to the saints in Corinth [~A.D. 55] some ten years ago:
Now everyone who competes G75 in G75 the G75 games G75 exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:25-27 LSB
I have finished the course
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Acts of the Apostles 20:24 NIV – Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders
Paul, since his conversion by Christ on the road to Damascus is, if nothing else, consistent in his persistence for the Gospel, even though the Apostle’s mortal life seems always in peril.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course..
to do just as commanded, and generally involving the notion of time, to perform the last act which completes a process, to accomplish, fulfill
Luke recounts what Jesus had told the Twelve prior to His crucifixion:
“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how it consumes me until it is finished [or accomplished – teleō]!
Do you think that I came here to bring peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
Gospel of Luke 12:49-51 CSB
And in his second account Paul’s physician reports of Christ’s crucifixion, where the Lord Himself spoke, “It is finished,”
When they had carried out [teleō] all that had been written about him, they took him down from the tree and put him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
Acts of the Apostles 13:29-31 CSB – from Paul’s Sermon in Antioch of Pisidia
I have kept the faith
What does that mean to you?
Do you have the Apostolic faith of Paul.. or Timothy?
Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure,
I am clean from my sin”?
Proverbs 20:9 LSB
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love;
just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love [agapē].
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be G4137 complete G4137.
John 15:10 -11 LSB – JESUS
And PAUL personally addressed Timothy earlier in this second letter:
… I unceasingly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, having remembered your tears, so that I may be filled [plēroō ] with joy, receiving remembrance of the unhypocritical faith within you.
Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy 1:3b-5a LSB
At last the champion’s wreath
Paul finishes his final epistle:
Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day,
and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
The word apostasy is rarely found in the Eng. Bible.. But the reality expressed by the word is found frequently. Israel’s history was one of continual apostasy as the people deliberately turned away form the God who had redeemed them out of Egypt, and followed false gods and sinful ways… In the NT apostasy occurs when men turn aside from following Jesus and deny Him after having previously confessed Him as Lord.
The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, p.216
Why is the Apostle Paul so concerned for some small misleading by men within the church?
How do some teachers oppose the true worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
Who are they?
But Mark This:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
perhaps from G5465 through the idea of reducing the strength; difficult, i.e. dangerous, or (by implication) furious:—fierce, perilous.
The Apostle Paul continues in his second epistle to pastors, beginning a central section we label, 2 TIMOTHY 3, with a reminder of danger announced in the NIV, “But mark this: ..”
Paul’s WARNING from his previous epistle
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will [aphistēmi] fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience, ..
1 Timothy 4:1-2 LSB
The great enemy of God is not Nation or Ruler who turns upon God’s people from without, but the strong-speaking leader weakening the Lord’s elect from within.
The Apostle has already cautioned in his second epistle to beware of men like Jannes and Jambres who betrayed Moses. Now Paul reminds Timothy and others of his personal example to them from the time he first witnessed to them.
You, however, know all about my teaching,
my way of life,
my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—
Second pastoral Epistle of Paul to Timothy 3:10-11a NIV
And Paul then outlines some life-threatening events many of them witnessed which proved his faith through several persecutions and many injuries suffered:
—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.
The last days — eschatos hēmera, difficult times — chalepos kairos...
kai toutous apotrepō – from such turn away.
Avoid such people!
YES, they may be prominent members, even Elders, leaders, priests or pastors in Christ’s church where you worship.
They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.
2 Timothy 3:5 New English Translation
Knowing What You Know
The Apostle compares his own life to a different life promised by false teachers.
(For these are only the beginning of the last days before Christ’s return).
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:14-15 NIV
So how does a pastor like Timothy, or Elder, or simply a humble saint know who to believe?
Questions for a Common Era christian church
Have any priestly men of your parrish repented of the calf replaced by idols of a woman worshiped?
Did episkopois above bishops elevate hagios long passed as ancient intercessors worshiped?
Do spotlights illuminate your idols on stage for a multitude little different than what Moses witnessed on descent from Sinai?
Does your vaulting cathedral show wooden pillars of pastoral vision as the calf gathering those led by Jannes and Jambres into the worship of a new King?
Has worldly refreshment replaced Scripture in the house of the Lord?
Is the Christ of true Scripture rejected in place of some other calf-like JESUS proclaimed king without taking up a Cross?
But they won’t get away with this for long.
Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres.
2 Timothy 3:9 NLT
Recognizing Apostasy from Scripture
As mentioned earlier we will not find the word “apostasy” frequently in the Bible, but Scripture reveals apostate acts of turning against God and Christ throughout.
Follow the meaning and connection of some of these related root words from both the Greek and Hebrew of the Bible:
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it has not come unless the [apostasia] apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the sanctuary of God, exhibiting himself as being God.
Second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians 2:2-3 LSB – regarding letters from false teachers
ἀποστασία apostasía, ap-os-tas-ee'-ah; feminine of the same as G647; defection from truth
And they said, “Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE G647 [apostasion] AND [apolyō] SEND her AWAY.”
But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote for you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE…”
Gospel of Mark 10:4-6 LSB
ἀποστάσιον apostásion, ap-os-tas'-ee-on; neuter of a (presumed) adjective from a derivative of G868; properly, something separative, i.e. (specially) divorce:—(writing of) divorcement.
“And those on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fallG868awayG868.
Gospel of Luke 8:13 LSB — Strong’s G868 – aphistēmi – to remove, i.e. (actively) instigate to revolt; usually (reflexively) to desist, desert, etc.:—depart, draw (fall) away, refrain, withdraw self.
LXX – Septuagint – O.T. translations from the Greek
Old Testament
The Septuagint, often abbreviated as LXX, is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, traditionally said to have been translated by seventy or seventy-two Jewish scholars in the 3rd century BC.
The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek was necessitated by the dispersion of the Jewish people throughout the Hellenistic world, particularly in Egypt, where many Jews had lost their Hebrew language skills.
The Septuagint holds particular significance in early Christianity, as it was the version of the Old Testament most frequently quoted by the New Testament authors.
The use of the Septuagint by the early Church Fathers further solidified its role in Christian theology and exegesis.
Strong’s Number G868 matches the Greek ἀφίστημι (aphistēmi), which occurs 150 times in 138 verses in the LXX Greek.
Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
Exodus 23:7 KJV
For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
Deuteronomy 7:4 KJV
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15: (4X)
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
Psalm 6;8
Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
- Isaiah 33:14-15 KJV
more Apostasy from the Hebrew Bible [O.T.]
Various Hebrew words could be translated into English as ‘apostasy.’
If you read more books of the Prophets, such as Isaiah {above}, you will see their turning against God repeatedly.
Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
The entire book of Hosea essentially outlines the faithlessness of God’s ‘chosen people.’
Historical Context [8th century B.C.]: Hosea’s prophetic career spanned the reigns of several kings of Israel, including Jeroboam II, and possibly extended into the early years of the Assyrian conquest. This period was marked by political instability, social injustice, and rampant idolatry. The Northern Kingdom was prosperous but spiritually bankrupt, having turned away from Yahweh to worship Baal and other Canaanite deities.
source: BibleHub.com
.. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
Hosea 1:2a KJV
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
Hosea 4:15
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind:
it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
Hosea 8:7-8
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt…
And my people are bent to backsliding [mᵊšûḇâ – מְשׁוּבָה ] from me:
though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Hosea 11:1,7 KJV
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
I will heal their apostasy [mᵊšûḇâ]; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.
Hosea 14:1,4 KJV
live a godly life in Christ Jesus
But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.
But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.
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