1 John 1-4: A Personal Letter

The Word of Life and the Opening Prayer

Turn in your Bibles to the epistle of 1 John. Reading from the 1st epistle of John, 1st chapter, starting in verse 1. Hear now the inspired word of God. 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.

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. 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.

These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. Let's pray. Father, once again, as we prepare to look into your word, especially on this important epistle, we ask that you would open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts, that we would see, hear, and understand.

And that knowing these things and understanding them, we would become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in His name we pray.

Amen.

Please be seated. I don't think anyone would disagree with me if I say that communication has changed drastically in the last hundred years. The telephone began entering the general population in the 1920s.

Letters, Church History, and the Background of 1 John

In the 1940s, that was when I was born, only 37 of American homes had a telephone. Ten years later, that figure jumped to almost 70%. But even then, in the 1950s, people didn't own their own telephone.

They rented the equipment from the phone company, and you had to pay a monthly fee to have the telephone. I'm not talking about the lines or the service, the phone itself. And then you often had to share the line coming into the house with other people.

It was called the party line. And if you picked up your phone at the same time as your neighbor, you'd both be able to talk to one another. It got confusing. Phones at that time were used primarily for business purposes or strictly local usage, because long-distance calling was quite expensive, and people came to all kinds of ways to try to get around the expense of long distance.

That all changed, of course, because now, in a little cell phone, we hold the world in our hands. It's amazing, is it not? But throughout history... Thank you, Dan. But throughout history, the primary means of long-distance communication was the written letter.

I remember when I was in the fifth grade, my older brother had enlisted in the Navy, and he spent most of his active duty on board ship in the South Pacific. And so communication was difficult. And so it was an exciting day when we received a letter from him telling us how he was.

Of course, what made it even more exciting was that he was not a very good letter writer and wrote very infrequently. There's an irony there, too. He was a communications expert. Yes, besides personal business, letters have played an important part in understanding human history.

In 2019, a man by the name of Colin Salter wrote a book titled 100 Letters That Changed the World. Here's a brief description of the contents of the book. The selected letters demonstrate the power of the written word to inspire, astonish, and entertain and range from ink-inscribed tablets vividly describing life in ancient Rome to remarkable last wills and testaments, passionate outpourings of love and despair, and diplomatic notes with deadly consequences.

It's true, letters have played an important role in history, but also in the history of the Church. We have many letters written by the Church Fathers and other old saints that are extremely helpful and beneficial for us.

Letters from Clement, Ignatius, among others. But we also have letters from the Apostles, which are, in fact, part of Holy Scriptures. We have letters from Paul, from James, Peter. Today we begin a study into the epistles of the Apostle John.

So let's begin with a little background. Who wrote the letter? Well, it's generally accepted today that the Apostle John, the author of the fourth gospel, is the author of these three letters. He's also the author of the book of the Revelation.

We actually know quite a bit about John because he's very prominent in the Gospels. He's the brother of James. They were the sons of Zebedee. If you remember, James and John were called by Jesus while working with their father, mending nets on their fishing boat.

It's detailed in both Matthew 4 and Mark 4. And that alone gives us some information about John. He was a hardworking man. Fishing on the Sea of Galilee was no picnic. The weather changes almost minute to minute.

We also know the family business was somewhat prosperous because Mark tells us they had hired servants. You would think then that it was a hard decision to leave the family business, the prosperous business, when Christ called them.

But Mark tells us they responded immediately when Jesus called. They left right in the middle, and they left the mending of the nets to the servants. They must have been a very interesting duo. They're definitely on my list to meet when I get to heaven.

I have some very specific questions. First question is going to be, why did Jesus call you guys the Sons of Thunder? I'm sure there's a good story behind that. We can understand a little bit about that nickname because in Luke 9, when somebody didn't treat Jesus the way they thought he should be treated, they say, should we call down fire from heaven?

But even as a disciple, John was somewhat unique. He was always part of the inner circle of disciples. At certain times, Jesus called three of his disciples to come with him alone. We read in Mark 5, verse 37, and he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James.

And we read something similar at the transfiguration in Mark 9, verse 2. Six days later, Jesus took him, Peter, James, took with him, I'm sorry, Peter, James, and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them.

An important, very important part of the history of the earthly ministry of Christ, and John was there. That'll add some insight for when we get later into the epistle. But John had a soft side to him.

And by soft, I don't mean weak. You don't walk up to someone named Sons of Thunder and call him weak. What I mean is that he had a caring and a loving side to him. And I say this because of the emphasis of love, true biblical love, in all of his writings.

He demonstrated this side of him by reclining and leaning upon Jesus at the Last Supper. He was the one who took Mary, the mother of Jesus, into his household after Jesus was crucified. Now, that's just a brief snapshot of the man who wrote this first epistle.

There's much compelling evidence that he is, in fact, the author of these five books. I'll mention a few reasons, but I'm not going to dwell on it since this is one of those facts of Scripture that is almost universally held.

First is the internal consistency. The similarities when you read the Gospel of John and the epistles, the similarities in the style of writing and the grammar certainly points to one single author. And then you have numerous writings of the church fathers who attribute the writing of the letters to John.

Papias, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, and many others attribute the letters to John. But if I had any doubts, there's one more person who attributes the letters to John that, in my mind, settles the case, and that's Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna.

He happens to be one of my heroes anyway, but he was discipled by John himself, and he attributes the letter to the Apostle John. And if anybody could speak with authority, it would be him because he was a firsthand student of the Apostle.

The Date of John’s Writings and the End of the Old Covenant

So when was the letter written? Well, this question is somewhat more controversial. There's a consensus with which I happen to disagree. I find myself on a minority side, and the consensus is that it was written between 85 and 90 A .D.

And the reason given is that John is believed to have lived well into the 90s, maybe 95 or 96 A .D., and he wrote the book of Revelation while banished to the Isle of Patmos. So most evangelical scholars place the writing of the Revelation at about 95 to 96 A .D., which I also disagree with.

That view is based predominantly on the interpretation of Revelation 1 -9 by one man, Irenaeus. Every other scholar throughout history who dates the book into the 90s ultimately refers back to Irenaeus.

Now, that gets very technical, and the debate will rage probably until the Lord comes back again. But leaving the technicalities behind us, I'm going to put forth two reasons why I'm convinced that not just the writings of John, but the entire canon of Scripture was complete by 70 A .D.

I believe there's two compelling reasons to believe that. First, when Jerusalem was destroyed, it was the definitive, the complete ending of the Old Covenant. Now, remember, we just spent a year going through the book of Daniel in our study and looking at the period of time of the end was prior to 70 A .D.

We discussed at length, that means the period of transition from old to new was also over at that same time. We are no longer looking through a mirror darkly, but we enjoy face-to-face intimacy with our Savior through the Scriptures.

He has given us the perfect guide to know him and to love him. All things have passed away. Behold, all things are become new. I hope you recognize those quotations. And that includes the complete and perfect Word of God, including the Gospel of John, the letters of John, and the revelation of Jesus Christ.

It had to be written before the complete end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the new. Second, if we examine the five books written by John, we find no mention of the temple being destroyed or Jerusalem being sacked.

Now, the critics of the view that I hold scoff and say, oh, you can't build a case on silence. Why not? I think that is wrong on many levels. Let me give you an example. If you were to, right now, start to write an essay about life in America in the 21st century, starting from the year 2000, I know that's the end of the Old, but for now just say from 2000, you would be hard-pressed not to mention the events of 9 -11.

Think about it. If you left out what happened in 9 -11 of 2001, your description of life in America would be sorely lacking. Who can say that life has, who cannot say that life has changed dramatically in the U .S. since 9 -11?

If nothing else, you're taking your shoes off to get on an airplane and all the other things. Think of everything that has changed since 9 -11. That event pales in comparison to what happened in Jerusalem in 70 A .D.

Can you imagine John writing five books after the destruction of Jerusalem and not even giving it honorable mention? It's unthinkable. The reasonable conclusion is that John doesn't mention this major event because at the time of his writing, the temple was still standing and the Roman army had not yet reached Jerusalem.

So I'm going to operate on the presupposition that John is writing to the churches under his influence during the time of the chaos, which we studied in the Book of Daniel, leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, which leads us to another question and an important one that should be answered or asked every time we start a new study.

Why John Wrote 1 John: Assurance, Truth, and Love

Why did John write this epistle? I'm going to quote James Montgomery Boyce, who weighs in on this. He says, it is possible to read a book without understanding the purpose for which it was written. Indeed, much reading is done on this level by many persons, but it is not possible to study a book without dealing with this primary question.

Do you understand what he's saying? If you don't understand the purpose of a book, how are you going to understand why the book was written? Let me give you an example. If you want some information on repairing an automobile engine, you go to the self-help section of the library, look under auto mechanics.

You don't go to the poetry section. A lot of you don't understand what I'm saying. If you want to know about repairing an engine, you go to YouTube and you Google the specific problem. You don't go to a poetry site specializing in haiku.

Understand YouTube. Does anybody know what a library is? But you get the point. The various books of the Bible have different purposes. Some are aimed at the unsaved. Some are written specifically for believers.

Some are specifically addressed to pastors. But that doesn't mean that they are not all useful for everyone. You can read the books of Timothy and Titus, pastoral epistles, and they have application to everybody sitting in the pews.

It's not just for pastors alone. We just completed a study in Daniel. And the focus of Daniel was warning and preparing the Jews for the tribulation that was going to come upon them. Yet, as we went through the book, we saw over and over again how it spoke to us and addressed situations that we are facing even today.

And the warnings were also instructive for us. So what is the purpose of 1 John? That's the question before us. There are three basic purposes for the letter. The first is easy to determine since John explains it in clear language in the letter.

I'll read 1 John 5, verse 13. These things I have written to you who believe, in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. That one verse gives us both the intended audience and the first purpose.

It was written first and primarily to Christians, to those who believe, and the purpose that they might know that they have eternal life. The big emphasis there is on the word know. That's know, K-N-O-W.

The word know is used 40 times in this first epistle alone. See, John is unashamed to emphasize this concept of having assurance of salvation. John's writing style is very forthright. It's one of the things I love about John.

It's very forthright. In his gospel, he gives his purpose in a very forthright way as well. Notice the comparison between what I just read in the epistle. Here's what we read in John chapter 20, verse 30.

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written, notice, going to give us the answer why, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing you may have life in his name.

Very clearly, two distinct purposes. However, both classes of people, believers and unbelievers, can benefit from both gospel and epistle. Peter Jeffrey wrote a book a number of years ago, a little booklet, it's very important to read, called Christians Need the Gospel Too.

Just because you're saved doesn't mean you shouldn't read the gospels. But that John should write this epistle with the express purpose of giving Christians assurance shouldn't surprise us, because it's a great need.

Many Christians lack assurance of faith, and for many different reasons. There has always been a danger of immaturity throughout the history of the church. Starting right at the beginning of the church, Paul writes to the church in Corinth, listen carefully, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you melted drink, not solid food, for you are not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not able.

Any way you read that, that's a stinging rebuke. The writer to the Hebrews says the same thing. In Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God.

And you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. So we see in scripture the admonition against being immature.

We are not to remain infants. We need to get beyond the milk of the word. And we see that fully realizing our assurance of faith is something that's put forth in the scripture. Hebrews chapter 11, I'm sorry, chapter 6, verse 11.

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. And again in chapter 10, verse 22. Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.

And there are many other scriptures that affirm the necessity of being assured of salvation. So this is a primary purpose. If you're sitting here today and you're saved and you're wavering in your faith, it's going to make you ineffective in your Christian walk.

So the first reason that Paul, I'm sorry, that the apostle John gives is that you come to understand and realize full assurance of faith. First John stands above all the rest of scripture holding forth this as the main purpose.

Many other scriptures, the letters of Paul and whatnot, address the situation of immaturity. But John stands primary. And the reason for the emphasis in his letter appears to be that false teachers in the church were leading people astray.

And this is no small problem. Look at chapter 2, verse 19, where John, describing the situation, says,. But they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they are all not of us.

There was a split in the fellowship. And in response, John emphasizes what the true believers know. Some were apparently being adversely affected by this false teaching. That's why he gives the purpose.

These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know. Since this is a major and important theme of the book, I'm just going to give you a little sampling of what we will study in later chapters.

In chapter 2, verse 5,. But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has been truly perfected. By this we know that we are in him. Chapter 2, verse 14, I have written to you, fathers, because you know him.

Second chapter, verse 22, I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Over and over again, you know the truth. That's what we see.

That's what he tells the church. You know the truth if you're a true believer. But he doesn't just make the statement for... That could very easily lead to presumption. In fact, that's one of the charges that's leveled against us as being Calvinists.

Oh, you believe in the perseverance of the saints. That's presumption. You don't believe you can lose your salvation. Ill-spoken and misguided, of course. But John gives various tests so that you can know.

Robert Law breaks down the test for assurance into three categories in his book, The Tests of Life. And his outline is very helpful. As we go through this epistle, we will see that these tests fall into basically three categories.

How do you know that you have eternal life? There's the moral test. That's the test of righteousness or obedience. The social test, the test of love. Do you have love? Are you exuding the love of Christ?

And the third is the doctrinal test. That is the test of belief in Jesus Christ. That's the first purpose that you may know. That you may have full assurance of faith. Second purpose is related to the first.

Gnosticism, the Incarnation, and the New Commandment to Love One Another

It's to impress upon his readers the tenets of historical Christianity. It's clear from the text of the letter that the churches under John's care were facing a major challenge. Not only was it challenging the assurance of salvation, but it was drawing people away from the historic faith.

The opposition appears to be an early form of Gnosticism. I say appears to be because Gnosticism comes in many forms and it's not just one form of it. It has been compared, in fact, to the mythical Hydra, the beast who had many, many heads.

There are several characteristics of Gnosticism, however, that are important to know if you're going to understand John's letter. First characteristic of Gnosticism is the supremacy of the intellect and the superiority of mental enlightenment.

This was held to the denial of the importance of faith in conduct. The Gnostics called themselves the Knowing Ones. That's the literal meaning of Gnostic. Based upon their beliefs, the importance of moral conduct was denied.

Contrary to this, John calls Christians the True Knowing Ones whose faith is demonstrated by their obedient lives. Second characteristic of Gnosticism is their belief in the radical divide between spirit and matter.

According to them, matter is inherently evil. The only good comes from the spirit. Now you can see how that's directly contrary to Christianity. If all matter is evil, then matter and spirit cannot be together in any form.

Therefore, God could not have taken upon himself a human body. Do you see the ramifications of this? What you believe is important. Therefore, Jesus Christ only appeared to be human, according to the Gnostics.

And there are other ramifications as well. If Christianity was nothing more than a set of ideas, it melds very nicely with Greek theology, Greek philosophy. And if that's all it is, then the essence of the gospel is negated.

That's why John spends so much time in his letter addressing the dangers before the church. John affirms that Christianity is more than a code of ethics or system ideas. It is something unique that God has done in history.

God, in the person of Jesus Christ, entered into humanity to save his people from their sin. This letter is not merely a doctrinal rebuttal of an erroneous and heretical system of thought. It is a personal letter to those whom John loved.

And that can definitely be seen in the third reason for his letter, where he issues a new commandment. What is this new commandment? To love one another. To understand this new commandment, we need to look back to the words of Jesus at the Last Supper.

After Judas leaves the room at the Last Supper to betray our Lord, he says this, John 13, 34. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Well, that doesn't sound all that new, does it? But Jesus says this in continuation. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The ultimate act of love is carried out by Jesus on the cross.

And his followers are to love in the same manner as he does. It is even the test of discipleship. And here in this epistle, John is following up on the concept of the New Testament love that Jesus began back at the Lord's Supper.

Just before... There's an interesting point. Just before Jesus gives this commandment of love, Jesus tells his disciples this, in John 13, 33. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, now I say to you, where I am going, you cannot come.

Now, it's in light of that fact that Jesus gives the new commandment. But the disciples never get past the information that Jesus is going away and they can't follow. Just think about it. You're sitting there and Jesus says, I'm going away, and by the way, here's a new commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you.

You would think that they'd say, what do you mean, this new commandment? But they don't. What's the question? Peter jumps right in. Lord, where are you going?

Where are you going?

He won't let go. He says in verse 37, Lord, why can I not follow you right now? He's not concerned about the new commandment. He's concerned about where you're going. Thomas picks right up on that in the beginning of John 14, which is still a continuation.

Lord, we don't know where you're going. How do we know the way? No thoughts about the new commandment. This is a great discourse, but Jesus never gets back to explaining the new commandment in the gospel.

But he does, John does, in the first epistle. Remember we said that the word know, K-N-O-W, appears 40 times in this epistle. The word love appears 42 times. So we have three main purposes for this letter.

And of course there are others which we'll study in the coming weeks as well. But the last part of this introduction to 1 John will be to introduce, not an outline, but the major themes of this letter.

And I'll do this rather briefly. First major theme is the purity of the gospel. John dwells on the simplicity and the truth of the gospel message. He rejects any changes that would move it from the message received from the lips of the Savior.

This is one of those facts that drew me to the Reformed doctrine recaptured in the Reformation. I love the fact that we have the creeds. Many churches disregard the creeds. We have the creeds which date back to the earliest parts of the millennium after Christ.

I love the fact that we have a confession that was ratified in 1689 and is still relevant today. It gives me confidence to know that the gospel I'm preaching from this pulpit is the same as John Knox preached, that John Calvin preached, that Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, and of course Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

It's the same gospel that the Apostle John was defending in his first letter. It is the gospel that never changes so we can sing with gusto. I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story because I know it is true. It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do. I love to tell the story. It will be my theme and glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love.

Second theme is the historical Christ. John was concerned that Jesus Christ, the God-man, was being redefined and stripped either of his humanity or his divinity. And John understood that without the historical person of Jesus Christ, Christianity is an empty shell.

As we work our way through the letter, you will see the same dangers that were facing John in the first century are still alive and well in the world today. Third theme, which is one of our purposes, the assurance of faith.

This letter gives the Christian a two-fold assurance. First, Christianity is true. And second, you can be assured that you are a Christian. We sang it even this morning, but I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

When we sing those hymns, you pay attention to the words. I happen to love the melody to that song, but I love the words even more. Fourth theme is the importance of the ethical life. John emphasizes the importance of godly living, especially in the face of the heretical teaching, especially of Gnosticism.

And while he challenges all Christians to examine themselves in light of scripture, to reach assurance, he also addresses the confession of sin and the faithfulness of God to forgive sin. Fifth theme, no surprise here, is the need for love.

Love is one of the primary ingredients of the Christian life. Francis Schaeffer called it the mark of the Christian. And Dr. James Montgomery Boyce said, there may be right doctrine, but without love, it will be bitter orthodoxy.

There may be sharp and well-reasoned apologetic, but without love, no one will be converted. I didn't read that book that I quoted from earlier, Hundred Letters That Changed the World, but I did scan the contents.

Many interesting choices. Most of them were political letters, but the author did include some love letters from famous people. The earliest letter that he listed was circa 346 BC, the Spartans' response to Philip of Macedonia.

I don't think that one would have been G-rated. The last letter was 2019, from Greta Thunberg to the India Prime Minister. He did, interestingly enough, his third choice in the timeline, he lumped them together, the letters of the Apostle Paul.

At least he acknowledged that. If I were assembling a list of letters that changed the world, I would have to have this letter first, John, right near the top. It's doctrinal. It's influential. It deals with topics that are relevant to the Christian in any age, and yet as you read it, it's a personal letter.

It's as relevant to the Church today as it was the day John wrote it. Next time you read it, just put in your name, Dear So-and-So, Love, the Apostle John. It's also got the Gospel in it, so it's relevant to those who are not believers.

Even though it was written to the Church, if you're not a believer, read the letter of John. It's written for you. Repent of your sin. Come to Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.