1 John 1: An Overview

Today is Boffer group again and the following is the lesson I will present for the boys. I first presented this study at a Wednesday night Bible study at my former church. I doubt that I will be able to complete this whole study today because we set aside about 10-15 minutes for the study, but that's ok because I can always finish it at our next gathering! :)

Well here it is:

1 John 1

Background of the book:
Unlike his next two letters, 1John was always an authenticated book. By this I mean that the authority and authorship of this book was never in question, and it was never among the "doubtful or disputed epistles." The internal and external evidence in regards to this book was always extensive enough as to leave no doubt.
In regards to the external evidence, we have the fact that 1John was extensively quoted by the early Church fathers, including Origen, Polycarp, Papias, and Cyprian. The book is also found in the Old Syriac Version, which is believed to have been made in the first century!

As for the internal evidence, a reading of 1John will show many similarities with the Gospel of John:
Note 1John 1:1 and compare the style to John 1:1 and John 1:14.
Note 1John 3:1 and compare to John 1:12
Note 1John 4:12 and compare to John 1:18
Note 1John 5:13 and compare to John 20:31

In reading and comparing the above verses you will note the similarities not only in style of writing, but in points of concern. As Barnes points out in his commentary, the expressions are not the same as Matthew, Mark, Luke, or even Paul would have used. No, they are unique to John. So either John wrote it or someone wanted us to think that John wrote it.
How do we know this is not a forgery? For the following reasons, and I should point out that these same reasons convinced the early Church!

The passages noted above are not quotes, "and are not such as a man would make if he designed to imitate another. They are rather such as the same man would use if he were writing twice on the same subject, and should express himself the second time without intending to copy what he had said the first." [Albert Barnes]

The author does not identify himself. Any forgery would attempt to make the connection clear. Instead we have a letter written by someone who was confident that his readers were aware of who he was, and would recognize his authorship.

Since we have established that 1John is indeed worthy of being canonical, although I am confident we did not need to do so, the next question becomes when was it written?

The answer is: We don't know!

What we DO know is that it was written after the Gospel of John (1 John expounds upon truths from John, assuming those were already known).

Most commentators believer it was written during John's older age, either at Ephesus or Patmos. Furthermore, the letter is believed to have been sent as a circular and not addressed to any specific church.

There are three main truths testified to by the Apostle, and they are this:
1. The doctrine that Jesus IS the Christ.
2. The understanding that a sincere Believer is motivated by love of the Lord.
3. The understanding that loving our Lord means we OBEY our Lord.

Let us begin:

Read 1 John 1:1-10

RE Verse 1)
Here we have John's rebuttal of the idea popular among certain Gnostics that Jesus did not really come as a man, but only as a spirit looking like a man.

"That which was from the Beginning" is a reference to Jesus, very similar to what John has stated in his Gospel in John 1:1-4. It is a declaration of Jesus' deity, His Authority, and His Power!

“which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life”

Here John testifies to the authenticity of what he declares. He is an eyewitness! He is not repeating second-hand information.

No, he heard the words of our Lord when He walked as a man, he saw (Greek horao = stared at, discerned) the Lord with his own eyes, he looked upon (Greek theaomai = look closely at, to perceive) our Master, his very hands handled (Greek pselaphao = verify by contact) the Person of our Lord, whom He identifies as the Logos!

As we read his words, I can see with my own eyes the excitement with which he wrote these words. John and the other Apostles except Paul were with the Lord during his earthly ministry! After his resurrection they were transformed from defeated men into bold warriors of the faith! They were transformed from cowards to fearless proclaimers of their Lord! (Romans 1:16)

Ask: What caused this transformation?

Matthew 14:6 & Revelation 1:8! The final realization that Jesus WAS and IS God! With this realization came the loss of fear (Matthew 10:28), for if Jesus is God, then He is that same one who makes that powerful declaration in Isaiah 44:6-8. He is Lord and Master!

RE Verse 2)
“the life was manifested” refers to that life of verse 1, the “Word of life,” whom is Jesus.

“and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us-” We see that John is emphatic about Jesus and his own witness to the reality of His existence in the flesh. He himself bears witness to the truth. Furthermore, He proclaims the Pre-Existence and eternal nature of Christ! And he again puts forth the assertion that Jesus was the physical manifestation of God the Father, not merely an assumed appearance.

RE Verse 3)
“that which we have seen and heard we declare to you,” Again the call to the truthfulness of which he speaks, similar to 2 Peter 1:16.

“that you also may have fellowship with us;” the purpose of the declaration is that the hearers will come together in fellowship, partaking of the joy that comes from belonging to God our Savior! Read Galatians 3:26-27 & 29.

“and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Albert Barnes wrote in relation to this verse the following: “The fellowship which Christians have with God relates to the following points, an attachment to the same truths, and the same objects; love for the same principles, and the same beings. The happiness of God is found in holiness, truth, purity, justice, mercy, benevolence. The happiness of the Christian is of the same kind that God has. we have fellowship with God by direct communion with him, in prayer, in meditation.”

RE Verse 4)
“And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” All of the previous verses are designed by John to bring joy to our hearts! We should rejoice at the knowledge that Jesus is God! We should rejoice at the knowledge that there is an entire body of people who should love us as brothers and sisters upon our declaration of faith!

It should fill us with an insurmountable joy and gratitude to know that Jesus our Lord, the Pre-Existent eternal Lord of creation loved us so much that He was willing, eager even, to lay His life upon the altar to erase our sin!

Questions or Comments?

Re-read verses 5-10
Re Verse 5)
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.“ There is a specific message (Greek eppagelia = announcement, divine assurance) John intends to impart to his readers, and it is a message from Jesus Himself.
As an aside, we also have here a beautiful picture of the difference between an apostle and the Apostles. While there can still be apostles, there were only a few Apostles, these blessed men who were called for the express purpose of carrying the message from Christ, who walked with Him or saw Him as Paul did.

The message being imparted from John? “God is Light”

Matthew Henry wrote the following: “This report asserts the excellency of the divine nature. He is all that beauty and perfection that can be represented to us by light. And then the absoluteness and fulness of that excellency and perfection. There is no defect or imperfection, no mixture of any thing alien or contrary to absolute excellency, no mutability nor capacity of any decay in him.”

Indeed, God is perfect! We dare not hold him to blame for the evil in this world. Whatever He does is good, whatever He allows to happen He does out of the goodness of His Being. Whatever His judgments may be, they are Just! Jeremiah 9:23-24 spoke powerfully to me as a younger man (share). We may be tempted to blame God for our misfortunes, but I urge you instead to hang on to the testimony of the Word and remain true to your calling as Saints of God Almighty.

RE Verses 6)
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” I say it with no hesitation, if we live in habitual sin our profession of faith is false! Does this mean a Christian will not sin? Of course not.

Ask) What does it mean?

The Christian life should be characterized by a desire to please our Lord, by a desire to obey His commandments, and by a deep regret when we walk into sin. If we are complacent in our sin, if we are indifferent to our sin, then we cannot rightly be considered sons of God.

RE Verse 7)
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” To be a Christian is to belong to Christ. Our lives are no longer our own. He has redeemed us, bought us, with His blood.

Ask) Is there any sin that the blood of Christ cannot make atonement for?

NO!

It is error to even imply that this may be the case! Therefore, if we have been made alive by the power of the blood of Jesus, our walk is consistent with the teachings of the Master. We are enabled by Christ to do the works He prepared for us. Ephesians 2:10

RE Verse 8)
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" If we cannot confess that we have sinned, then we have deceive ourselves into thinking we are NOT in need of salvation, and this is the kind of deception that Satan wants for us!

Albert Barnes: "We are at all times, and in all circumstances, to admit the painful and humiliating truth that we are transgressors of the law of God, and that we need, even in our best services, the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ."

RE Verses 9 & 10)
"If we confess our sins He is faithful and Just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us."

Proverbs 28:13

Confession MUST be present for forgiveness to take place. And confession, as discussed above, comes from a realization that we ARE sinners and NEED Christ to redeem us! Once we are aware that our sinful natures keep us from God and, that indeed the "wages of sin is death," then we turn to the only One who offers Life in repentance, acknowledging and confessing our sin before Him.

Note the latter part of verse 9, "He is faithful." To what is He faithful? To Himself! Because God is God, we can know without the shadow of a doubt that sincere repentance and confession WILL result in forgiveness! He is faithful AND He is Just!

Note that the word for just is the Greek dikaios, which means equitable in character. The justness of God in forgiveness is not related to the forgiving, but to the forgiver. When the Lord forgives He is being merciful, and therefore not strictly just. The verse applies the word to God in the sense that He is just to Himself and His character, the same as with the word faithful. He is true to Himself and to the work of our Lord Jesus. Speaking of the coming Messiah, God said through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53:11 "...By His knowledge My righteous servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities." Paul mimics the language of this prophet in Philippians 3:8-11.

It is to this work of the Lord Jesus that God is Just!

Ask: What does this mean for us?

That there is not one person in this world who will be refused forgiveness if he repents and believes and asks the Lord for forgiveness! And again, He cleanses us from some unrighteousness, right?

NO!

His Word says ALL unrighteousness!

Verse 9 is among the most beautiful verses in Scripture because of this wonderful promise and assurance the Lord gives us!

Note the ending of this chapter, "If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." In verse 8 John condemns those who say they are not in sin, that they are perfect. Here in verse 10 John condemns those who say not only do they have no sin now, they never have! John equates the saying of such a thing with calling God a LIAR!

This brings us to the end of the chapter, so let us recap what we have learned from this lesson, we have seen in this chapter:

The declaration of the Incarnation (1:1-2)
The call to unity and fellowship because of this Incarnation (1:3)
The call to rejoice in this knowledge (1:4)
The assurance that God is Light (1:5)
The call to reject darkness in our lives (1:6-8 & 10)
The promise that God will be true to Himself! (1:9)

Any questions or comments?

Let us close in prayer

Thoughts on Fellowship

Our pastor has been teaching through the book of John, a sermon series which he began in November of 2006. Although we are currently in chapter 9, it is not just because he is teaching verse by verse (though he is), but also because he has taken a couple of detours and also has been involved in training pastors in Russia through the Slavic Gospel Association www.sga.org

The sermons have taught me much and it is such a pleasure to sit under the teaching of our pastor. I don’t recall if I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’ve shared with my family and with some friends that this church has truly presented me with many blessings and opportunities to learn. This is the first church I’ve been at where I feel intimidated at the prospect of teaching adult Sunday school! I love teaching, and I hope someday the Lord will open up an opportunity for me here, but it is with some trepidation that I consider it because of the quality of the teaching from the pulpit! I think to myself that I would have to study and prepare more than ever to be able to teach at this local church! Sad to say, it is the substandard preaching at other churches that made it so easy to teach…when teaching from the pulpit is made up of surface messages then it is very easy to teach Sunday school, since all you need to do is dig into the Word. Here, however, at this church, I know that my homework will truly need to be done…I look forward to the challenge!

Today was the annual business meeting of the church, and the business at hand was the approval of the choice for deacons and elders. As such, since the meeting was to take place right after the service, the pastor cut his sermon somewhat short (which means he preached for a mere 45 minutes!). Rather than continue in John this morning, he gave a presentation of his last trip to Russia and then compared the Russian to the American church. It was a message of exhortation and one that is much needed in all churches. One of the things he mentioned was the zeal of our Russian brothers and sisters…in churches of 100 or more people, you will see but 5 or so cars in the parking lot, since most of them do not own a vehicle. They still come though, regardless of the weather…walking, on bikes, on bus, crammed into those aforementioned cars! Why? Because they understand that they are a family! Referring to each other as “brothers” and “sisters,” they recognize the importance of fellowship…but what about us?

Unfortunately I think the American Christian will use any excuse to stay at home!

Did it snow a little bit? Can’t go to church 'cause the roads are too slick! Yet would they cancel a trip to the mountains? Probably not.

Stayed up watching a movie? Can’t go ‘cause I need my rest!

How sad, no?

Where is the importance we place on gathering together as His people and loving one another? Our pastor compared Russian Believers to moth balls…now I don’t know anything about moth balls but apparently they stick together when they come in contact ‘cause he said that’s how Russian Christians come together. American Christians? He compared us to ball bearings that come together and instantly go apart. Isn’t that too true? I believe this happens because we don’t truly invest in one another’s lives, we don’t truly see one another as members of a family, saved by our Lord and bound together by the Holy Spirit in a more intimate manner than bonds of the flesh.

Brothers and sisters, let us show by our commitment that we actually believe we are family…let us demonstrate by our love for one another that we are His. And you know what? Let us be sincere. I thought in my last church that I had friends and family, but events proved otherwise. So I may be more reluctant now to open myself up, but its not going to stop me from trying yet again!

God bless!

Do you not know...?

Well I’m about ready to go to bed but I wanted to briefly share the following thoughts. I just finished reading Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and am struck by a theme I see throughout the first letter, which is Paul’s repeated phrase “do you not know…” We see this phrase in the following passages and probably in more that I just did not pick up on (it’s late and I’m tired):

1 Corinthians 3:16
1 Corinthians 5:6
1 Corinthians 6:2,3,9,15,16,19
1 Corinthians 9:13,24

“Do you not know…”

My thoughts on this are that it strikes me as quite important that Paul seems to expect a certain amount of knowledge from those to whom he is writing. What a contrast to the attitude of too many professing Christians today! Oftentimes when I have been in Sunday school and we talk about becoming familiar with the Word or even memorizing it, we hear the common complaint that we are asking too much of people…that to know Jesus is enough. Now, quite frankly, I don’t disagree with that. To know Jesus IS enough…but how can we truly know Jesus if we don’t know His Word? Or how can one claim to know Him and be ignorant of that which speaks of Him and through which He speaks?

Another common complaint I hear is that knowledge for its own sake does not characterize a Christian. Well who says it does?

Quite frankly those who use this argument are usually the ones less likely to be IN the Word! Their defensiveness comes from feeling challenged and convicted and rather than repent they go on the warpath and throw out that tiresome old charge of legalism…as if it is an unbiblical idea to actually study the Bible!

The problem with this argument is not just that it is the usual response of those most in need of study…no, the bigger problem is that it is unfounded. Of course having biblical knowledge does not save you, nor does being able to recite from memory long passages of Scripture matter one iota as far as your salvation goes. In fact, James tells us in James 2:19 that “even the demons believe”! But guess what? Despite their belief in God, they tremble! You see, they know God, they don’t doubt His existence, but they do not serve Him nor do they acknowledge Him as Lord! So, yes, we know that prideful knowledge means nothing…but seriously, what kind of Christian are we being if we do not desire to learn MORE about Him? And again…only the Bible can tell us of Him, therefore it is to the Bible that we should be drawn on a daily basis…and it is His Word that we should WANT to commit to memory, that we might have it in our hearts at all times!

One final thought…this evening I was thinking about the Lord and what a poor servant of His I am. I so want to be on fire for Him every second and every moment, but my flesh is weak and I sin more often than I wish I did. I hate to say this, but I am NOT among the best workers at the library…I am NOT the best husband and father…I am NOT the best spiritual leader of my family. And yet I should strive for all of these things, not for the sake of worldly acclaim but for the glory and honor this would bring to my Lord. When people think of me and of my performance in any area of my life, I want them to think to themselves that of course [inset my name here if you know me] is among the best workers and among the best family men…of course, for He is a Christian.

Do I think people say that of me? No…to my shame I do not think that they do.

So as I prayed to my Lord tonight, I asked Him to help me change, to help me be a faithful servant of His. And you know what? I don’t know if I will die this week or this year or 50 years from now (okay, at my current weight I think 50 years is a bit much to expect!), but I do know that whatever His will is for my life, I want to strive to be IN His will all the time! I want to know Him; and brothers and sisters, I know of only one way to know Him better and better…and that is to be in the Word.

God bless and good night my brethren.

Guest Preacher on 01.06.07

The pastor of the church I’m attending is currently in Russia helping to train Russian pastors…in his absence we had a guest preacher and he taught on Ephesians 2:1-10. I was pleased with what he said and especially with what he emphasized during his message. He did the proper thing in the first three verses as far as explaining and focusing the attention of the church on our previous spiritual state…which of course was death!

What I liked most about his sermon, however, was what he said beginning in verse 4; his heart came through when he arrived at this verse…and in order to properly explain what I mean, read the first three verses now:

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

I will note here what the preacher stressed in this passage…

“YOU He made alive, who were DEAD in trespasses and sins, in which YOU once walked…according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also WE ALL once conducted ourselves…”

Having stressed all of this, having connected us to the damning state of our previous spiritual state, he then came to verse 4 and stressed “BUT GOD…”

Here is the transition…in its simplicity and in its beauty we cannot overlook it, and the preacher wanted us to clearly understand it. “BUT GOD…”

No matter that we were BY NATURE children of wrath…no matter that we were DEAD in our trespasses…”

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…”

Wow. What a powerful passage to bring to peoples mind! It is the grace and mercy of God, a mercy based on a great love for His elect, this grace and mercy was extended to a people undeserving of it! “BUT GOD…”

A beautiful transition, a beautiful arrow pointing us to the cause of our salvation!

Thank you, preacher, for an amazing reminder of the marvelous work of grace.

Happy New Year!

A belated Happy New Year to anyone reading this! I was filled with lofty ambitions about writing a post on December 31st right before midnight, but I was caught up in reading an excellent novel. The book was “Deception” by Randy Alcorn and it is one of the best books I’ve read. Its main character, Ollie Chandler, is the kind of person we all secretly wish we had as a friend! J I gave this book to my wife for Christmas but I ended up reading it first because she has other things she’s reading right now…we’ve both read it before anyhow!

Well this is not intended to be a book review so I’ll stop with that right now. My hope for 2008 is to finish my study in Isaiah which has been going on for some time now. Within the next couple of weeks I’ll begin posting some of what I’ve written on it. I also hope to do more book reviews. What else? I don’t know! Maybe I’ll post some of my evening devotions on here…we’ll see.

For now, I’ll end this short post with the following thought. Since we have begun a new year, I thought it appropriate to remind all of us that are Believers of the great hope we have within us and of that which is our great desire:

“He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen”