1 JOHN 1

(The scriptures quoted below are from the NASB, unless otherwise indicated.)

The first chapter of First John may seem like Christianity 101 to some. What it teaches is very basic theology, from a Christian perspective, the language and concepts are easily understandable, and it makes no attempt to appeal to our intellect. Campus Crusade for Christ used to distribute a pamphlet on college campuses called "Jesus and the Intellectual". I never read it, but somehow I doubt if it quoted this chapter. Unlike the book of Revelation, there seems to be few doctrinal debates among Christians about what this chapter means.

However, if we are willing to step back for a moment into a world which is largely unfamiliar with Christ, we may find some hidden treasure here which is valuable to the most mature and committed Christians.

1 John 1:1 "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--

1:2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--

1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

1:4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete."

The first five words "What was from the beginning" or "That which was from the beginning" in other translations, are an echo of both John 1:1-4 and Genesis 1:1.

John 1:1 (NIV) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:2 He was with God in the beginning.

1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men."

Genesis 1:1 (NIV) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

What was from the beginning, before time as we know it, was the pre-existent Christ.

Hebrews 1:2 (NIV) "but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe."

Hebrews 1:5 (NIV) "For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Or again, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"?"

Although the verse above uses the term "today", that "today" is outside of time as we know it. Even though we refer to Jesus as the Son of God, we cannot regard him as a created being. Rather, we must regard him as pre-existent and eternal. I don't believe there ever was a moment when Christ did not yet exist. When we think of someone being a son, we think of a created being. My sons are certainly created beings who were conceived and born at distinct moments in time, yet the Bible speaks of Jesus as the everlasting God, who always was, is and always will be.

Isaiah 9:6: (NIV) "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

I don't want to belabor this point, because it's not what the letter, or even this chapter of it is about, but it's worth noting before we go on that there are things about the deity of Christ, or the godhead in general, which are difficult for us to grasp. Rather than causing us to doubt what we can't fully understand, we ought to be grateful that God is greater than we are. Only idolators want to serve a god who is their size or smaller.

John then goes on to say that "we" have heard him, seen him and touched him with our hands. In other parts of the letter, he uses the word "I", so he is not just using the plural first person form because he prefers it. Some might argue that this letter was actually written by someone associated with the apostle John who also knew Jesus, who they refer to as John the elder. But I believe that he wrote this late in the first century, at a point in time when everyone else who knew the incarnate Jesus was already dead. I believe that by saying "we", he is referring both to his own testimony and to the testimony of the other apostles, who were no longer living. He is speaking for them, because he knows they also heard, saw and touched Jesus.

Two things need to be said about John's experience with the incarnate Jesus, and why he is writing about them at this point. Some people had apparently departed from the belief in the incarnation of Christ, claiming that Jesus only had a spiritual existence. Though they may have pretended to honor Jesus by referring to him as an only spiritual being, if Jesus had no physical body, the virgin birth, the crucifixion, the resurrection, fasting in the wilderness, and many other things he did would have no meaning, wouldn't have to be taught or defended, and they could even be regarded as ridiculous. So those who taught this really had no more faith in the Jesus John saw, heard and touched than the Pharisees did, and John's concern about this is certainly part of what motivated him to write all three of his epistles.

More importantly for us, we tend to take for granted how extraordinary this story is. John is telling us he heard, saw and touched God in the flesh. Students of the Old Testament will recall the passage in Exodus 33:18-23, in which not even Moses was allowed to see God's face. John not only talks about seeing Jesus face to face, but Matthew 17:1-9 and Mark 9:2-10 speak about Peter, James and John seeing Christ transfigured before their eyes. Moses and Elijah appeared with him, but they never saw God in this form during their earthly lives. Because we have heard about this most of our lives, we Christians tend to forget what an incredible thing John is saying. Only when we begin to compare John's experience and his witness with our own does it occur to us how remarkable this is. I have not heard, see or touched God in the way John was allowed to do, and that provides me with real incentive to pay close attention to John as he continues to speak about Christ.

John says he is writing this so we may have fellowship with the apostles, and their fellowship is with both the Father and the Son. His joy will be complete when our relationships with God and with each other are completely restored and unhindered by our sins. Until the return of Christ, we may not see him physically, but John wants us to know and experience the glorified Christ.

But we cannot have fellowship with God until we understand and acknowledge some things about God's nature and our own human nature, which are covered in the rest of this chapter:

1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us."

When John says that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, it may remind us of the following passage from Genesis:

Genesis 1:3 (NIV): "And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

1:4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

1:5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Creating light was God's first act on the first day of creation. However, it is not the light we see which John is talking about here. He is telling us here that God prefers life over death, laughter over tears, love over hatred, joy over sorrow and kindness over cruelty. This is in contrast to the nature of the gods pagans believed in, gods who were capable of cruelty and needed to be appeased.

Though many of us have never been pagans, we live in a world in which sin, disease, accidents and natural disasters cause us to have experiences which are beyond our control. It would be easy for us to conclude, therefore, that if God exists at all, he is arbitrary and capricious, and he cannot possibly care about us. Yet John says the problems we face on earth have nothing to do with God's nature. Some of them may be the consequences of our own behavior, some may be because of the sins of others, and some may be because Romans 8:19-23 says creation itself is in bondage to decay because of the sin in the world. But John states that God is good, completely good, unimaginably good and incorruptibly good. In order to be in a right relationship with God, we must be willing to acknowledge and appreciate God's mercy, grace and kindness toward us, regardless of our past experiences, our current circumstances, or our apprehensions about the future.

If we want to have continuous and unbroken fellowship with the Father and the Son, we have to say and do things which are according to God's nature, not our own. We cannot truthfully claim to know God, while continuing to hate others, to steal from others, to gossip about or flatter others in an effort to gain an unfair advantage for ourselves. We cannot behave in ways which are contrary to God's nature.

We must walk in the light, as he is in the light. Yet that is an impossible assignment for us, because our human nature is opposed to God's nature, and we're going to fail sometimes in spite of our best efforts. As we all know, things can be concealed in darkness, but light makes things visible. One of the interesting things about the Bible is that it doesn't conceal anyone's sinfulness. For example, Peter denied that he knew Christ three times, and all four gospel writers recorded it for millions of people to read for thousands of years. Perhaps no one has been so openly and frequently called out for their sins as Peter, yet Jesus responded by getting Peter to tell him that he loved him three times, and he allowed Peter to become the spokesman for the early church in Jerusalem.

Peter's problem is common to all of us, because we all sin from time to time. When we sin, we need to restore our fellowship with God by confessing our sins. Because of his nature, Christ's atonement for us on the cross, and the new covenant in his blood, he is faithful to forgive our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.

Yet no amount of walking in the light and confessing our sins, which hopefully become fewer and fewer over time, will cause us to become the light. It is possible for us to stop sinning, only to the extent that God's life is in us and lived through us. Through years of faithfulness, we may become more and more like God, but we will never be God. In fact, we are in the very humble position of needing to rely on God completely for the righteousness
which we could never achieve on our own.

2 JOHN 1

There appears to be some dispute regarding both the authorship and the recipient of this letter. In both second and third John, John does not refer to himself as an apostle, but as an elder, which has caused some to conclude that the author may not be John the apostle, but another elder named John, perhaps someone who was mentored by the apostle John.

However, as we go through this letter, it should become apparent that the language, the literary style and the doctrinal points of emphasis of first, second and third John are so similar to the gospel of John that I am convinced they all have the same author, the apostle John.

He does not deny his apostleship by refering to himself as an elder. John may have preferred the term elder because he wanted to emphasize his age and pre-eminence in the Christian community. A traditional apostolic ministry sometimes included traveling to build new churches or to visit established ones, and John's ability to travel may have been restricted, perhaps because he was in exile or perhaps due to his advanced age. John may also have functioned in all five of the ministries mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers). Because of the book of Revelation, we know he also held a prophetic office. So he may have preferred the term elder to apostle, because it more accurately depicted the scope of his ministry. In any case, it's unlikely John gave as much thought to his description of himself as many Bible commentaries do, or as I've done here.

There is also some dispute about the recipient of the letter. Some read it literally, as written to a particular woman John was acquainted with, and some read it as symbolic of a particular church community. I tend to read this literally, but I'm not going to spend any time discussing this further, because the rest of the letter would be applicable in either case.

To make the discussion of this letter easier, I'm going to divide this letter into four sections:

verses 1-4
verses 5-6
verses 7-11
verses 12-13

Here is the amplified translation of verses 1-4:

2 John 1:1 "THE ELDERLY elder [of the church addresses this letter] to the elect (chosen) lady (Cyria) and her children, whom I truly love--and not only I but also all who are [progressively] learning to recognize and know and understand the Truth--

2 Because of the Truth which lives and stays on in our hearts and will be with us forever:

3 Grace (spiritual blessing), mercy, and [soul] peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ (the Messiah), the Father's Son, in all sincerity (truth) and love.

4 I was greatly delighted to find some of your children walking (living) in [the] Truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father [Himself]."

There are references to the truth in all four of these verses, which should not surprise us, because there are more references to truth in John's gospel than in the other three gospels combined. Verse 1 says the lady he is writing to is someone he truly loves, as do all who are progressively learning to recognize, know and understand the truth. This concept of truth being continually revealed to believers is similar to John 14:16-17 (NASB) which says:

John 14:16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."

Throughout his writings, John identifies Christians as being recipients of the Spirit of truth who remains in us. Therefore, the truth he speaks about is not dependent on our best guess at truth, our perceptions, or our best efforts to find truth, but on God's character, revelation and power.

Consider also John 15:26-27, John 16:7 and John 16:13-15 (NASB):

John 15:26 "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

The Spirit of truth comes directly from the Father, causing Jesus to testify about himself and causing us to testify about Jesus.

John 16:7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you."

This is an interesting passage, because it actually states that we are in a better position to serve God as Christians with Jesus interceeding for us in heaven and the Spirit residing in us than we would be if Jesus were walking among us and the Spirit had not been given. We may find it hard to believe that the Spirit residing in us is more advantageous for us than Jesus physically walking among us, but Jesus clearly indicates it is so.

John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."

In this passage, Jesus speaks about continuously revealed prophetic truth which the Spirit hears from him and the Father.

All of John's letters seem to be highly influenced by what Jesus said during the last supper, by John's last recollections of him before his death. The truths John wants us to acknowledge about Jesus are primarily with regard to his physical incarnation (completely divine, yet completely human), his atonement and his resurrection. Consider the following passages from the NIV:

John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

1 John 1:1 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

4 We write this to make our joy complete."

John 19:33 "But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"

37 and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced.""

John 20:19 "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"

20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.""

In these passages, John contradicts the teaching of some that Jesus only had a spiritual existence, and he links joy to the resurrection, receiving the Spirit and bearing witness to the life-giving presence of Jesus.

The Amplified translation of the next section (verses 5 and 6) are shown below:

2 John 1:5 "And now I beg you, lady (Cyria), not as if I were issuing a new charge (injunction or command), but [simply recalling to your mind] the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

6 And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching). This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love [guided by it and following it]."

The love commandment in the above verses echoes the same principles Jesus taught during the last supper, quoted here from the NKJV:

John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments."

John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me."

John 15:9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

10 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.

Beginning with this last passage, we see that the Father loves the Son, and the Son has also loved us. He urges us to remain in his love by keeping his commandments, and his primary commandment is to love one another.

Furthermore, Jesus promises that he and his father will come and make their home in us, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, manifesting themselves to us, even though the world around us neither sees him or knows him.

Finally, Jesus gives us a way to judge those around us. Whoever is motivated by love also love him and are keeping his commandments, and those who do not keep his commandments do not love him.

When I was in college, a friend of mine called me once and asked me if I had sent her flowers. Someone had sent her flowers, but had not included a card with the name of the sender. I told her I did not send them, but someone must have had a great idea to send her flowers anonymously. An anonymous person might just want to be nice, whereas someone who identifies himself may be thinking about objectives of their own, marriage, sex, or just having the social status of being seen with an attractive woman. I should acknowledge here that I have sent flowers to women, including my wife, and I have never done so anonymously. Perhaps the person who anonymously sent flowers to my friend was just shy, but perhaps he was motivated by the sort of selfless love which comes from God.

The love John speaks about is always contained in an environment of truth. Where truth does not exist, true love also does not exist. A man may say he loves a woman when he is really only motivated by his own desires for her. But true love always focuses on its recipient, and John would argue further that true love doesn't exist outside of Christ.

John 14:6 (NKJV) "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.""

Outside of the truth of Christ, there may be many forms of love, corrupted in varying degrees by our own desires, but true love only comes from and through Christ.

Most Christians are familiar with the passage below, quoted here from the New English Translation:

John 8:31 "Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples

8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

By contrast, verses 7-11 discuss those who refuse to follow Christ, and how Christians should react to them. These verses are taken from the Amplified translation:

2 John 1:7 "For many imposters (seducers, deceivers, and false leaders) have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge (confess, admit) the coming of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) in bodily form. Such a one is the imposter (the seducer, the deceiver, the false leader, the antagonist of Christ) and the antichrist.

8 Look to yourselves (take care) that you may not lose (throw away or destroy) all that we and you have labored for, but that you may [persevere until you] win and receive back a perfect reward [in full].

9 Anyone who runs on ahead [of God] and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ [who is not content with what He taught] does not have God; but he who continues to live in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ [does have God], he has both the Father and the Son.

10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine [is disloyal to what Jesus Christ taught], do not receive him [do not accept him, do not welcome or admit him] into [your] house or bid him Godspeed or give him any encouragement.

11 For he who wishes him success [who encourages him, wishing him Godspeed] is a partaker in his evil doings."

When John speaks of impostors, seducers, deceivers and false leaders in verse 7, he is referring specifically to those who teach men doctrines which are opposed to the teachings of Christ. It is true that everyone born into Adam's race has lived in opposition to Christ, but I don't believe John is indicating in verses 10 and 11 that we ought not to allow non-Christians into our homes. To the contrary, this verse is probably addressed to those who once professed allegiance to Christ and later advocated another teaching, or at least to those who are teaching something contrary to the gospel in the hope that others will follow their example. Because most early Christians met in house churches, John may have been especially concerned about the possibility that some of these gatherings might allow those who had departed from or rejected the faith to teach in their assemblies.

Some of those we know who are unsaved have deliberately turned their backs on God in resolute defiance. But many of the unsaved are like the prodigal son, the lost sheep or the lost coin described in Luke 15. Clearly John does not want us to reject these, since God himself is searching for them and longing for their salvation.

Verses 8 and 9 encourage us to persevere and remain faithful to Christ, so that we can both continue to enjoy God's presence in our lives and look forward to God's eternal reward.

One interesting translation of verse 9 is found in the New American Bible, which is a popular Catholic version of the New Testament.

2 John 1:9 "Anyone who is so "progressive" as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.

This translation differs slightly from most versions, but it is interesting because of its use of the word progressive. In contemporary American society, people who describe themselves as progressive tend to advocate homosexuality, heterosexuality outside of marriage, abortion, the legalization of drugs, a gay clergy, prohibition of various foods, and other doctrines which are in opposition to the teachings of the Bible. Those who call themselves progressives are typically among the most hardened opponents of Christ. Not being content with what Christ taught and going ahead with something new is very common today, and it has infiltrated many churches.

2 John 1:12 "I have many things to write to you, but I prefer not to do so with paper and ink; I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

13 The children of your elect (chosen) sister wish to be remembered to you. Amen (so be it)."

I don't have much to say about these final two verses, which are from the Amplified translation. Some believe both second and third John are this length, because of the size of the parchment John wrote on during his lifetime. We have no such limitations today, and writing for us is much less time-consuming than it would have been for John.

In the gospel of John, chapters 13-17 give us the longest glimpse we have of what it is like to be with Christ, his view of the church age and his high priestly prayer. Those chapters are well worth returning to often, and this letter echoes much of that material.