WALKING IN THE LIGHT (1 John 1- 2:17)
Background to John’s Epistles and Revelation
[All quotations from A. Plummer, The Epistles of St John, 1954 unless otherwise specified.]
PLACE: EPHESUS
• John ended his days at Patmos, then Ephesus (c. 100AD?)
• Ephesus: the first of all and greatest, the Metropolis of Asia. Pliny: Asiae lumen.
• Church founded by Paul in AD55. Third home of Christianity, after Jerusalem and Antioch. First church addressed in Revelation.
• Timothy left there by Paul, and may have been martyred there.
• Aquila and Priscilla, Trophimus and the family of Onesiphorus laboured there
• He had the vision upon which he based the book of Revelation at Patmos, an island a day’s sail away.
• Revelation 18:12, 13- long list, ending in bodies and souls of men. The merchandise of Babylon.
ATMOSPHERE: IDOLATRY & IMMORALITY
• Temple of Artemis (Diana) one of the seven Wonders of the World- 127 columns, 60 feet high, each one the gift of a people or prince; nearly as large as St Paul’s: “The gods had one house on earth, and that was at Ephesus.”
• Compare architectural imagery of 1 Cor 3:9-17 (written at Ephesus) and Eph 2:19-22; 1 Tim 3:15; 6:19; 2 Tim 2:19.
• A vast treasure-house of gold and silver and art.
• Many temple dependents (singers, priests, menials).
• Place of worship, museum, asylum and a bank (1 Tim 6:17-19).
• Tacitus: no authority strong enough to keep in check turbulence of a people which protected the crimes of men as worship of the gods.
• What kind of morality associated with idolatry? Rom 1:21ff; Gal 5:19ff; Col 3:5ff.; Eph 5:1ff
• Magic- astrology, sorcery, incantations, amulets, exorcisms, every form of magical imposture
• Heraclitus of Ephesus was called the Weeping Philosopher because of the monstrous idiocy and vice of the Ephesian people. “There was not a man in Ephesus who did not deserve hanging.”
• The early Christians here had accepted the gospel and held fast their magic, hence the big bonfire following the defeat of the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-20).
ENEMY: GNOSTICISM (cf. THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT)
• Christian Church not advanced beyond its infancy before ‘foreign body’ of Gnosticism started to invade, as it had previously contaminated some parts of Judaism.
• One of the subtlest and most dangerous enemies to the Gospel:
1. No professed hostility to Gospel: “On the plea of interpreting Christian doctrines from a higher standpoint it really disintegrated and demolished them; in explaining them it explained them away… it cut away… the reality of sin…and redemption.”
2. Not easy to define. Greek name but Oriental composition. Jewish and Christian elements thrown in.
3. Avoids appealing to facts so quite post-modernist in that respect: “imagination takes the place of investigation, and what may be conceived is made the test, and sometimes almost the only test, of what is….more akin to poetry…than philosophy.”
• ‘Principles’ or errors of Gnosticism:
1. Superiority of knowledge (gnosis) over faith (cf. the 18th Century European Enlightenment). Christians do affirm knowledge- it is no empty or stupid faith. But we do not believe that intellectual appreciation of the truth is paramount; rather a heartfelt , intelligent yet simple faith in the living Truth, Jesus Christ. The result of making knowledge supreme was to create an elitist cult, barring most (poor, uneducated, etc.) from salvation. This also led to…
Superiority of knowledge over virtue. It doesn’t matter how you live if you “know the depths”.
Cavalier handling of facts of Gospel in order to seek “hidden truths” (cf. silly people who would rather follow The Bible Code and Nostradamus than follow the simple instructions of our Lord).
2. The evil character of matter and everything material (cf. Buddhism). This comes from the philosophy of Dualism, which stipulates the existence of two equal and opposite forces at work in the universe, the Good/Light/Spirit/Yang versus the Bad/Dark/Matter/Yin. This leads to these consequences:
If the physical world (matter) is evil and the supreme god (spirit) is good, he cannot have created it. So…
If Yahweh (OT God) created the physical world, he cannot be the supreme god, but must be inferior, if not evil
The Incarnation is untenable. How could the Divine Word (Spirit, Light, Wisdom, etc.) consent to be united with an impure material body? This led Gnostics into Docetism, the view that Christ’s body was not real, but only appeared to exist- outrageously, they claim he was a spook! (Cst. Luke 24:39.)
With flagrant disregard for what was later to become the principle of Occam’s razor (i.e. the avoidance of multiplying existences and variables rashly), Gnostics speculated that ever-reproducing aeons (spiritual beings) emanated from the supreme god, thus bridging the gap between the physical and spiritual worlds as they diminished in grandeur from the good-spiritual to the evil-physical. That was more acceptable to them than receiving the unique God-Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). Gnostic cosmology is inverted evolution!
• The two contradictory outcomes of Gnosticism/The New Age/Postmodernism
1. Asceticism (avoiding and crushing the physical, because it’s evil).
2. Antinomianism (indulging the physical, because it’s all illusion [Hindus: maya] anyway)
The Christian doctrines Gnosticism/The New Age/Postmodernism undermines:
o The authority of Scripture (denying Old Testament proclamation that the created world is good)
o The sovereignty and holiness of God
o The reality of sinfulness of sin
o The Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ
…so pretty much everything really!
1 John
THE TEXT
The three epistles, probably the last books written in the Bible (John outlived all the other Apostles)
Many early church writers testify to authenticity of epistle and attribute it to John (e.g. Polycarp, Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian)
PEOPLE
It’s a ‘catholic’ or general epistle, addressed to church at large, but with special reference to Ephesus and Asia, probably.
It contains no OT quotations at all and warns against idolatry: this suggests a primarily Gentile audience (cf. Paul’s Mars Hill sermon in Acts 17).
PLACE & DATE
Probably Ephesus (hence anti-Gnostic flavour)
Between AD85 and 95, after Revelation was written on Patmos
PURPOSE
A companion to the Gospel of John, “a sermon with the Gospel for its text.” There are many references to John in 1 John (cf. John 20:31 with 1 John 5:13 and scores more).
John’s Gospel John’s First Epistle
Written to show way to eternal life through belief in the incarnate Son Written to confirm and enforce the Gospel; to assure those who believe in the incarnate son that the have eternal life
Historical statement of truth Ethical statement of truth
Christian Theology- faith Christian Ethics- life
What must I believe about Jesus? What is my duty towards God & man?
Acts of words which prove Jesus is Christ, the Son of God Acts and words which are mandatory for those who believe in Him
Simple statement of truth (didactic, thesis) Truth contending against error (polemic, antithesis)
Person of Christ Individual Christian
Man Jesus is Son of God Son of God came in the flesh
Other themes & intentions:
o Against Gnostic heresy
o The nature of God
o The nature of Christ
o The relation of man to God, the world,
the evil one
PLAN
Hard to delineate, as each point gradually links on to next without clear breaks. “We know that we have passed on to something new, but we hardly know how the change has come about…Probably few commentators have satisfied themselves with their own analysis of this Epistle: still fewer have satisfied other people.” (Plummer’s & my get-out clause!! )
But we try! Something like this…
o 1:1-4- INTRODUCTON, The Word of Life (cf. John 1:1-14)
o 1:5-2:17- GOD IS LIGHT (Walking in the light)
o 2:18-5:12- GOD IS LOVE (Loving one another)
o 5:13-21- CONCLUSION (cf. John 20:30,31)
This weekend, we explore the introduction and the first section (13-15 Sept 2002, Brunel CU houseparty in Bristol)
STYLE
Majestic thoughts in simple language! The words of one who has “received the kingdom of heaven into his inmost soul and has received it as a little child”.
Tone of finality- “in no other book of the Bible are so many cardinal doctrines touched, or with so firm a hand” (bit of a radical claim this! Not sure I agree, but anyway!).
Tone of authority- “none but the last surviving apostle could write like this…he states the truth and leaves it.”
Love of antithesis- light/dark, truth/falsehood, love/hate, life/death, love of Father/love of world, children of God/children of devil, spirit of truth/spirit of error, etc.
Common terms found in both John’s Gospel and his Epistle: abide, Advocate, be of God, be of the truth, be of the world, believe on, children of God, darkness, do sin, do the truth, eternal life, evil one, joy be fulfilled, have sin, keep His commandments, keep His word, lay down one’s life, life, light, love, manifest, murderer, new commandment, Only-begotten, pass over out of death into life, true, truth, walk in darkness, witness, Word, world.
Terms found only in the Epistles: anointing, Antichrist, deceiver, fellowship, lawlessness, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, message, presence or coming (of the Second Advent), propitiation, sin unto death, walk in truth.
1 John 1:1-2:17
Session 1- INTRO 1:1-4
Session 2a- 1:5-10
Session 2b- 2:1-11
Session 3- 1 John 2:12-17 [small group>plenary discussion, Sunday morning]
Questions to be discussed are in italics. Spend about 30 mins in groups, 15 mins plenary, 15 praying through teachings (serving suggestion!).
A. The Threefold Statement of reasons for writing(2:12-14)
1. Dear children (12,13)
This probably refers to the whole Christian community, not merely those of tender years chronologically or the young in the faith (so Simps, Habib, Alien and Joe Chiodo must still pay attention!).
a. We have access to God through the blood of Jesus (1:7). Why do you think verse 12 says we have been “forgiven on account of his name” rather than “forgiven on account of Jesus”? Compare with John 1:12.
b. Sometimes in the Bible two verses with similar beginnings have different endings; this may be because the Lord wishes our minds to identify or equate the two endings with each other. Compare John 3:3 with John 3:5. In the light of this, what may we infer when comparing the two ‘dear children’ statements (12, 13)?
2. Fathers (13, 14)
The older men (Simps, Habib, etc. stay awake please! ). Compare with Judges 17:10; 18:19. This is a unique form of address in the NT. Compare also with Titus 2:1-8 where Paul gives instructions for different age-groups.
a. “You have known him”- the verb expresses the result of progressive experience over time. Commentators think that “him who is from the beginning” refers specifically to Jesus, as the Father is only ever designated as ‘God’ or ‘the Father’ by John. What other affirmations of Jesus’ eternal Sonship and being can you remind yourselves of? Start with John 8:58.
b. Why is it important that we recognise Christ’s eternal pre-existence?
3. Young men (13,14)
”The younger among his readers, men in the prime of life” (Simps, Habib, etc. you can sleep now!).
a. John presents eternal life as a prize already won by (or for)the believer in Christ (John 3:36; 5:24; 6:47, 54; 17:3). The contest is not to gain but to retain, which is why we still ask the Lord to “deliver from us from the evil one”. In the second ‘young men’ statement, what explanation is given for their spiritual strength and therefore their ability to overcome the evil one?
b. How can we ensure that this happens? See John 15:7; Colossians 3:16; 1 Timothy 4:11-16; 2 Timothy 3:14-17.
B. Do not love the world (15-17)
1. How can God ask us not to love the world if He loved the world so much He gave His only begotten Son(15)?
2. Read Genesis 3:1-8, esp. v6 and explain how the threefold temptations of the world affect us (v16, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life [KJV]).
3. What are the most common temptations within these categories for Christian students today? Apart from general answers (e.g. more Bible-reading, fellowship and prayer), how can these temptations be specifically combated?
4. What is the will of God (17)? After discussing it a bit, read John 6:29 and 1 Thess. 4:3 and any other helpful verses you are aware. Could there be any more important question than ascertaining the will of God and co-operating with it?!
