Introduction to the First Letter of John
Authorship and Historical Context
Although the letter begins without the author introducing himself, there is no doubt that it is John the Apostle, the disciple of the Lord. On the one hand, early church fathers such as Polycarp and his student Irenaeus attribute this letter to John; on the other hand, it shows strong linguistic and thematic similarities to the Gospel that bears his name.
John was the last living apostle and wrote his writings in the last decade of the first century of Christianity. It is generally assumed that the Gospel was written first and only afterward—probably around 96 A.D.—the first epistle. Finally, the Book of Revelation was written. Thus, John writes in a time that was very difficult and has not changed significantly to this day.
Spiritual Decline and the Last Hour
Even Paul the Apostle, in his Second Epistle to Timothy, had to lament a decline in Christendom. He writes that in the last days, difficult times will come—times in which people will resist the truth and will not endure sound teaching: “For the time shall be when they will not bear the sound teaching; but according to their own lusts will heap up to themselves teachers, having an itching ear; and they will turn away their ear from the truth, and will have turned aside to fables.” (2Timothy 4:3). About thirty years later, John writes of the “last hour” (chapter 2:18), in which many false teachers had appeared, whom he calls “antichrists” and “false prophets” (2:18; 4:1).
False Teaching and Gnosticism
Especially with regard to such people—those “who lead you astray” (2:26)—he must now write his letter. Indeed, by the end of the first century of Christianity, serious false teachings concerning the person of the Lord Jesus were already circulating. They mostly came from the ranks of Gnosticism, whose adherents—unlike the “simple” children of God—boasted of possessing higher knowledge. In their supposed higher knowledge, they attacked not only the person of the Lord Jesus (denying that He was God and man in one person), but also the children of God themselves by questioning whether they actually possessed eternal life.
Purpose of the Letter and Life in Christ
John therefore writes this letter also “…that ye may know that ye have eternal life, ye who believe on the name of the Son of God” (chapter 5:13). John wishes on the one hand to warn and on the other hand to give assurance. Children of God should know that the same life that was manifested in the Lord Jesus is their life. This life belongs to Him essentially, and He Himself is that life (1 John 5:20); it has been given to them through faith in the name of the Son of God. Yet it is the same life. At the same time, John presents the characteristics of eternal life so that mere professors may be distinguished from the true children of God.
Whoever reads the Gospel of John recognizes a similar intention. In chapter 20, John writes: “But these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life in his name.” (John 20:31).
John writes his Gospel with the intention that people should believe that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God and thereby receive life. The focus is therefore, on the one hand, on the person of the Lord—how life was perfectly revealed in Him—and on the other hand, on the way in which people may receive this life: “But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God, to those that believe on his name; who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh’s will, nor of man’s will, but of God.” (John 1:12–13).
How necessary this new birth is and how this life is communicated, the Lord makes clear in His conversation with Nicodemus: “Unless any one be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God… Ye must be born anew.” (John 3:5,7). In his epistle, however, John is not so much concerned with how we receive this life. Rather, he presupposes it and addresses the children of God—that is, those who have already experienced the new birth. He wants to confirm them in the knowledge that they have eternal life. Although the Lord Jesus is also presented here as the revelation of eternal life, the emphasis is less on how the life was manifested in Him than on the fact that this life is now in us and should manifest itself in us and through us in the same characteristics in which it was manifested in Christ.
Comments (0)
No comments yet.