The Study of "First John!" - Introduction

Video Blog for Today's Study: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnNDLpvmcA

Good morning,
   
     Over the next few months we are going to be walking through the First Epistle of John. Today I would like to share with you some interesting things concerning the reason why the epistle was written and some discussion on the debate of calling it an "epistle" or a "letter?"

     First John is authored by the Apostle John or as he refers to himself as "Jesus' beloved." He likes to remind us of this. There is not a great debate on who authored this epistle. The debate comes in the assessment of whether it is an epistle or a letter. You might be asking yourself what is the difference? A letter is considered a writing that is directed to a specific person and is not something that is required to be circulated among other churches. An epistle is a writing that is viewed as to be circulated and is addressing overall issues opposed to individual ones. Summing this up it looks like this:

          - Epistle: is to a group of people and to be circulated among the body of believers.
          - Letter: is to an individual and very personal.

     The main reason for this epistle is to address the issue of Gnosticism. You might be asking, "What is that?" It was not an open enemy of Christianity. It was a sly, come in the back door after the leaders leave, seduction that was affecting the church at large. Gnostics had “a more excellent way.” They understood the gospel better than the apostles themselves. It was a mistake to suppose that the historical facts and moral precepts of the Scriptures were to be taken literally. It was a still greater mistake to suppose that the Scriptures contained all that was necessary for man’s spiritual well-being. There was a higher knowledge, a more profound gnosis; and this the Gnostic could attain to and impart. Illumined by this, men would see that everything else was comparatively of unimportance (1).

     How did this skew ones view of Christianity? It did three things, (1) Righteousness was made of no account in comparison with intellectual illumination. (2) Scripture was made of no account in comparison with a knowledge which partly transmuted and partly superseded it. (3) The work of Christ was made of no account; for there could be no need of an atonement if there was no real evil in sin (2). As you can tell this was a cancer that was infiltrating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. John was referring to those who were teaching this as “Liars,” “seducers,” “false prophets,” “deceivers,” and “antichrists!”

     Gnostics may boast of their knowledge; but believers in the Incarnation have their knowledge too. They know that they have passed over out of death into life (1 John 3:14). They know that they are children of God, and as such are freed from sin by his Son (1 John 5:18, 19). They know that the Son of God has come in the flesh, and has given them a mind wherewith to know, not the remote abstraction which the Gnostic calls God, but the loving Father in whom they can abide through his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 5:20).

     We will be reading I John 1:1-4 tomorrow and discussing it over the next few days. Please join me in this wonderful time. Blessings

Pastor Rod

(1) The Pulpit Commentary: 1 John. 2004 (H. D. M. Spence-Jones, Ed.) (iv). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
(2) The Pulpit Commentary: 1 John. 2004 (H. D. M. Spence-Jones, Ed.) (v). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.