1 John

What is the context with 1 John? Who wrote it? What are the main themes? What can we learn from this letter?

In this podcast Peter and Luke delve into this letter that has so much beautiful  theological content.

Timecodes:

0:00 - Intro
1:13 - Context
4:45 - Chapter 1
12:58 - Chapter 2
15:26 - Chapter 3
18:59 - Chapter 4
23:07 - Chapter 5
25:50 - Conclusion

Music by
Over the limits
Vernacolmusic

Transcript

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Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire, which has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ, instilling people with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ wherever that leads.

That God's truth will spread like a wildfire.

So hello, Peter, welcome back to the podcast.

We're united.

We haven't done one in a while.

Yeah, glad to be back.

I think this is actually my first one recording in this room.

I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure it is.

Um, oh, that's very interesting.

Drop a comment if you think this is Peter's.

I'm joking.

There is a new comment section.

Nobody would probably bother commenting anyway.

But Peter, what are we going to be talking about today in this podcast?

So we're going to be talking about 1st John.

And it really annoys my OCD that you've done 3rd and 2nd John before 1st John.

Pretty basic stuff.

Yes, but we've gone in the reverse order.

It's an inverted look at John's gospel if that helps your OCD.

I'm sure that was intentional.

Yeah.

So jumping into the podcast, we want to talk about the context.

We want to actually talk about the authorship of the letter.

Some say that it is anonymous.

This is a view held from the beginning of the church.

But there is also another view that this is actually written by John, the Apostle John, that was a disciple of Jesus.

This is due to the content, the language, and the conceptual style that's very similar to the gospel of John.

Me and you were talking about it.

Whenever you read that, it sounds like it's from John.

Yeah, just the first couple of verses, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon with our hands, whichever our hands have handled concerning the word of life, it's all the same words, just in slightly different order, from John 1, John's gospel.

Yeah, among the group of witnesses that believe that this letter is written by paul is Polycarp, early second century bishop, who actually had an experience with John.

He knew John personally, and he attests that this was written by John.

The author clearly places himself as part of the group of apostolic witnesses in the life and ministry of Jesus, noting that what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also.

But it's clearly from a person in a position of authority in the churches within that area that he's addressing.

And it was written near the end of the century AD, so that we know it was written within the century.

And that's just beautifully from an historical point of view.

I had to get that in there.

This is most likely addressed to the churches in the vicinity of Ephesus, where John ministered near the end of his life.

So the central message of John, of 1 John is easy to understand.

And it is God is light and God is love.

However, there is always a risk of simply having a comprehension, a basic comprehension and an understanding, okay, yeah, it's about light, it's about love, I get it.

But how is this illustrated or manifested into action?

And John acknowledges the difficulty of putting truth and this idea of light into action.

And so has a major focus of showing us what it means to live in the light and love of God.

So what are sort of the central themes, if you list them, that appear right throughout 1 John?

So the central themes looking at, I found through 1 John is God is light, God is love, God's children.

God's truth, living with God, living with others and living in the world.

Perfect.

And we think the big idea of 1 John, or at least I think the big idea is, those who live in the light and love of God have fellowship with him that is there for all to see.

So whenever you live in the light and love of God, which is central core message of 1 John, that's when you can have fellowship.

And that idea of fellowship is this idea of participation and togetherness and gathering.

And that is there for all to see.

So we can look in from an outside perspective and see that's a person within the fellowship.

That's a person who's experienced the love and light of God.

So the content, you happy enough for me to jump in with 1 John content?

Yeah, go for it.

So I'm gonna go with chapters one and two and champion those and you can embed your comments in throughout it.

So unlike other New Testament letters, 1 John does not begin with a greeting.

John tells the readers that they can trust the message due to his experience with Christ.

So we know that this is a capital A apostle, someone who's had the experience of Jesus and is a part of that inner circle.

And now he's passing on to the next generation, that is the early church to carry on the central message.

It shows the authenticity and credibility, that this is a recognized document that comes from God.

So in verses 3, it says, That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.

And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

So here we read the why.

Why is, we believe, the Apostle John writing this letter.

And so that others can have fellowship with them.

That this fellowship, which is centered upon the Father and the Son, is made evident.

And in verse 4, that their joy may be complete.

If we read that, and we are writing these things, so that our joy may be complete.

So this idea of proclaiming the Gospel message completes the joy of that person.

And so for us, I think, that's the number one application.

It is whenever we actually share the Gospel, number one, we proclaim the light and love of God, and we proclaim the Son and the Father, and how we can all have fellowship with that.

But whenever you do that, you experience this level of joy and contentment and peace.

And whenever you don't share the Gospel message, whenever you car it away, for example, I think you experience that lack of joy.

And so that's what stood out to me in that verse.

In verses five and six, there's a focus on saying that God is light, and so everyone who wants to have fellowship with the Lord must live in that light that is God.

If we read five and six, I'll actually just read six.

It says, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

John is proclaiming to us that God is light, and in him, no darkness is there at all.

And I feel like this is just a central theme right throughout John's Gospel, this idea of those who live in the light and those who live in the darkness, and how it's there for all to see.

In John chapter 12, 35, Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer.

And it's that idea that Jesus is the light.

He himself said that in front of everyone.

And John is just continuing that message that Jesus is the light, which we're called to abiding.

Do you have any comments that you want to add at this point?

Well, it's to do with chapter three, but we can actually, we can kind of link the whole book together.

I'll just jump to it now.

Yes, please.

A lot, if you ever been to like a Bible camp or anything, there's always one question from someone about verses such as this.

So this is verse on three, six.

Whoever abides in him does not sin.

Whoever sins has neither seen him nor knows him.

So everyone always, well, not everyone, but people at camps always ask, well, does this mean that like Christians can't sin?

And if you just read that verse on its own, yes, that would seem so, but you have to read scripture in light of scripture.

So what have we just covered?

We've just covered walking in darkness.

That's the whole pattern.

Sin is an act of...

Sin is made up of individual acts, but sin is also just a state of rebellion.

So you use this language, and we were just prepping for this.

Look, but state, it's what state you're in.

Are you in a state of being saved by Christ?

And that's one time thing.

Once you're saved, you're saved.

Chapter two talks about, he himself is the propitiation for our sins, the sacrifice for our sins.

But if you're in a state of sin, then no, you're not saved.

You're walking in darkness still, as chapter one talks about.

You've just touched on there.

So that was just to kind of link everything together.

Yeah, perfect.

And we read this idea of light and darkness is not just a theme that is restricted to John and restricted to the New Testament.

We read about it in 2 Corinthians 6, this idea of being unequally yoked, how can darkness benefit light?

But we also read it in the Old Testament.

2 Corinthians 6 links it to that, this idea of belial and this idea of darkness is present in the Old Testament.

And you have that at the Tower of Babel, for example.

And it's this repeated theme right throughout the Old Testament that the Apostle John is just continuing on here.

And so it is clear that we are to walk in the light, and that light is God, as Jesus himself said.

And in John 3, 21, Jesus said, if we do what is true, we come to the light.

It requires a response, it requires an action from all of us, which of course is enabled by God.

We have to recognize that there is a light, but we have to walk in that light.

And that is what I find helpful coming in to reading John.

I want to read verses 9 to 10.

I also keep on saying John, it's first John.

If you hear me say John, I mean first John, of course.

If we read verses 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of 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.

So it talks about what it means to abide in light, and what it means to abide in darkness.

And I think this provides a reassuring message that if we sin, we can come to God and we can confess our sins, knowing who God is.

He is faithful and just.

And because God is faithful and just, He can then forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and all blemish.

And chapter 2 just reinforces that, My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin.

So it's never God's will that we will sin, but we will.

It's almost inevitable.

Well, actually, it is inevitable.

So if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

So that's just reinforcing it again.

That's just the verses after.

Yeah.

Our sin should naturally bring us to who God is.

So who we are is sinful creatures, but we're sinful creatures who have been redeemed and restored.

And now in this process of sanctification, we have a faithful and just Father who will forgive us of our sins.

And in verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

So if someone was up to you and said, no, I've never sinned, you always get that whenever you ask, like, when I really knew if there's anyone who ever sinned, and you always get that one person who says, I've never sinned.

And all of us have sinned, and people who say, no, I'm perfect, I'm sinless, I'm blameless.

The Bible says that there is no truth in that person.

So it calls us to have an acknowledgement of the reality of sin, but also it's in the backdrop of who God is and how he is faithful.

Verses seven to eight just to close off chapter one, it says this, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And again, this idea, the Greek word there is, I can't write, it's kind of annoying, but it basically means this idea of participation and togetherness.

So we have the, we have Jesus, and then we have the apostles who have firsthand experience of Jesus, and then this is the next generation that they too, you can have the same fellowship as the apostles had, because of this idea of walking in the light, and this proclamation of the message.

And this carries on generation after generation to us sitting here today, and we are all connected to the ministry of Jesus, through the apostles that was then carried on, and has continued to be carried on to us here today.

You're also carrying on that message through the podcast.

But it says that if we are fellowship of mother, and the blood of Jesus' son cleanses us from all sin, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Again, it's self acknowledgement that we are sinful beings, and that we're not to lie to ourselves.

I wanna jump in John 2 to verses seven to eight.

I wanna, because it says something I think is interesting.

Beloved, I'm writing you no new command, but an old command that you had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word that you have heard.

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining here.

So here we see that he's saying, I'm not writing you a new commandment.

But then he also goes to say, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you.

So it seems to be at odds with one another.

So the reason why I've chosen to talk about this and not everything else that goes on in chapter two is because I think it can provide that confusion.

Is this a contradiction?

So in John 13, 34, again, John's gospel brings us clarity here.

Jesus said, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you.

See, the commandment was found in the Old Testament.

That's why it's not a new commandment.

It was there from the beginning that we love one another.

But why is then it described as a new commandment?

It's because the commandment is given considering the person and ministry of Jesus that sees darkness passing away and the light already shining, as it says in verse eight.

So Israel was commanded to love one another, and that was the old commandment as such that's being addressed here.

But we are commanded to love just as they are.

That's why it's not old.

It's the same principle.

But we are to love in the light of Jesus' love for us.

And I think that's the difference.

Jesus has demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, he died for us.

And we have experience of that, that those in the Old Testament didn't.

And so that's why we can, our love, this new commandment of loving one another, is to love the same way Jesus loved, whereas those in the Old Testament wouldn't have been able to do that, because they didn't have experience as we do with Jesus.

So the same way Jesus loved, we are called to love, and that's this idea of the new commandment.

And when we love, we abide in the light, and it's that correlation between light and love is a paramount message in John's gospel.

Now there's more that could be said, but I've talked for a while, Peter, and I want you to sort of take us like 345.

Thank goodness.

Well, actually, there's one part in chapter 2 I do want to look at.

Yeah, please.

It will actually give us a kind of paradigm I want to look at for the last three chapters.

So it's verse 15 of chapter 2.

Do not love the world or the things of the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

So it's this idea that we as human beings are designed to love something.

That's the way we're made.

But we'll either love God or we'll love the world.

Those are the two options.

You can't love both because if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.

It's up to you to choose.

And with that in mind, we'll move on to chapter 3.

So chapter 3 talks about not making a habit of sin.

But that's spoken about quite a bit in the rest of the Bible.

So I don't think we'll dwell on that for today.

But people say the world isn't black and white.

I think it's a lot more black and white than we actually want to admit.

Obviously, not everything is.

But 1 John certainly makes it seem that way.

So we have this idea that you're going to love something, is it the world or God, black or white.

We also have this pattern that's through the whole Bible, the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent.

We also have love versus hate talked about in chapter 3, and the world will hate you so love each other.

So we have these black and white things, is the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent.

It talks about Cain as the son of lawlessness.

We also have love versus hate talked about in chapter 3.

As Christians, we're told to love, but the world will hate us for that.

So where does John direct us?

He directs us to one another.

He says the world will hate you.

Well, to summarize, he said the world will hate you so love one another.

The bond the church has should be unbreakable, and the world should, because they will try their best to break it up, and they should find it hopeless to do so.

And just that that should cause them terror to see how much love we have for one another, which is something I'm not very good at, particularly when I don't even know the names of a lot of the older people at church.

So there's a conviction point for me.

But do you have anything to add on that point, Luke?

No, just harking back to the earlier chapter in verses.

So I think it's helpful again to say that this can be summarized, 1st John can be summarized in two.

John addresses two categories of people.

Number one is light and love and those who have fellowship within it.

Number two is darkness and those who have fellowship within that.

And a central core theme that we're going to be finding in 1st John is he gives us the fruit and the actions of those who are in light and love and the fruit and actions of those who are in darkness.

So the fruit of someone who's in darkness, they'll say, there's no sin in me.

That's an and John says that's an example of someone who's living in the darkness.

Or this idea, if someone hates my commands, that's an example of someone who lives in the darkness.

If you love me, you'll obey my commands.

It talks about that in 1st John 2, 1st John 2 verses 3 to 6, talk about the fruit of a person who's in the light.

And the person who's in the light loves God's commands.

So I think that's an important principle for people whenever they're listening now, why to try and find that, okay?

Where's John addressing the two groups of people here?

And what is John saying about the fruit of the people in the darkness and the fruit of the people in the light?

Yeah, thank you.

So we'll move on to chapter 4, because again, there's no point dwelling on all these themes in just chapter 3, because the themes just go through the whole book.

So we'll look at them again in chapter 4, because John almost just brings another answer to things.

So he asks us to discern truth from error.

And this is, may not at first appear to be linked to love, but you have to know something to be true to love it.

You can't, if false teachers and so forth are coming in, I think John's talking about false spirits, then that's just going to throw a sparrow in the mix of love, because you won't know what to love, you won't know how to love, things will just get confusing.

And the Holy Spirit brings order, not chaos.

So we need to see a sense of order in the church.

And before we can truly love each other, not before, the two should be simultaneous.

So John almost asked the question, how do we do this?

And again, what does he bring up?

The great gospel.

I think I've just lost the verse, but there's just some amazing gospel verses in here, all throughout 1st John.

And it's not very long to read.

So if you need a wee gospel top up, it's a good book to read for that.

Yeah, so the whole question of love is brought up.

So if I was to ask you to look to define love, what would you say?

Well, I actually go to the four great types of love and 1st Corinthians.

And 1st Corinthians 13.

So I'd say that love can be split into four.

And one of the main things about love is it's an action.

Yes, true.

So John, that's very biblical.

I was hoping you'd get more of a secular definition, but that's okay.

It's like getting a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day.

Lovely.

Oh, fills me with warm feelings.

The world doesn't know what love is.

They threw this word around and they don't know what it is.

It's like giving nuclear weapons to a child.

They don't really know what it's for.

But this is what John says.

Love has been perfected among us in this, that we have boldness in the day of judgment.

because as he is, so are we in this world.

because of what Christ has done for us in love, then we know we are loved.

So as Christians, we should know what love is.

The Bible tells us that.

And if you ever in doubt, look to Jesus.

because God is love.

It also says twice that God's love is perfected in us.

Do you have any thoughts on that look?

So it brings up twice God's love is perfected in us.

It actually makes me, well, it makes me have this, what?

Basically, you're saying that God's love is made perfect through us, his creation.

So we are contingent to the love of God.

Yeah, basically, I'm astonished.

Yes, it's the incredible truth of the gospel, that the love within the Trinity, God is love, so there is already love in the Trinity, but from the outpouring of that love, that God made creation, and from the outpouring of that love, that he chose to save us.

So his love being perfected in us, is just another gift of grace, because love and grace, I think, go hand in hand.

It's just his mercy, and he's just showing us how much love he has for us.

And then whenever we're presented after the Judgement Day, then that will be his image of love, that he can say, this is what my love has produced.

Faithful servants.

So that's what we're all striving towards.

So John also talks about loving your brother.

So everyone kind of knows this, but we need to see what love looks like from the Bible.

Sometimes Jesus was a bit more harsh with people than we would maybe think he was.

He certainly used sarcasm at times, and so did many of the Old Testament prophets.

So I think love isn't niceness.

Those are different things.

So as Christians, we're not called to be nice to people.

We're called to love them.

And where do we get that love?

Not from the world, because that's like nuclear weapons in the hand of a child, but from the Bible.

That's where love comes from.

Yeah.

So anything else to mention in chapter four?

Before we close off chapter five?

No, please continue.

So chapter five, again, much of the same thing, which is great stuff, because it's just gospel truth.

But it's very important.

Notice this whole book has just been Christ-centered, and that's how our preaching and teaching should be in the church.

Everything should be based on Christ, because as Christians, we should show the love of Christ, and we need to know what Christ is like for us to actually be able to show his love.

So, I've just written something down.

I'm trying to find it in my Bible.

You find it?

I'll make a wee comment here.

No problem.

This idea, again, the two sub-categories of those who are in the light, and love of God, and those who are in the darkness, and what are the fruit of that.

Again, this here continues this theme.

Verse three, for this is the love of God.

This is what the love of God looks like, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

It's not, oh, I have to do this.

Rather, God has given us commandments out of love, and we should respond and be receptive to that with love also.

For everyone who has been born of God, overcomes the world.

There's a calm assurance of every believer that, yes, difficulty may arise, but we have calm assurance that because of the work of Christ, because of what Jesus done, and how we abide in him and his victories, we can have victory as well.

That's how we overcome the world, because God did.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world, and our faith in that truth.

Who is it that overcomes the world, except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God?

Only those who believe in Jesus, son of God, can overcome the world.

That's good, because that was actually the point I was going to make.

That works well.

I'm so sorry.

I see you've done it.

I actually stole your notes there, and that's why you couldn't find it.

That's why I don't need more than a head time.

Yeah, so that was the verse I was wanting to focus on.

So, the exact same point as Luke.

It's only the Christian faith that gives you the sword to fight the dragons.

Every little boy grows up wanting to kill some dragons, but it's only the Christian faith that gives you the sword, the word of God.

You can't do it otherwise, because God is Lord over all creation, so it's only under His authority that you can go out and conquer the world.

That's the only way we're overcomers is through Christ.

The very last thing I just wanted to focus on was the very last verse, which was verse 21.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Amen.

So that could be a nice wee sermon sometime if you were stuck.

CS Lewis talks that we are an enemy occupied territory.

There's idols all around us, so we need to keep ourselves from idols.

How do we do this?

Read the book again.

Through love for one another, and we can draw each other away from idols.

Anything else to say, Luke?

No.

Again, one more thing actually, I think we already touched upon it, but I think in our culture, there's this idea that there's this lack of deasical view, a lack of fear or reverence, that we can just go and sin and do whatever we want.

And we already talked about it, but 1 John 3, 1 John 5, they're the two places that you should go if people say, if you see someone who's in sin and they continue to do it, but profess to be a follower of Jesus and continue in their sin unremorsely, this is the scripture that you should read to them.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

And again, it's that idea of differentiation between what is the state.

If you're in a state of sin and you habitually practice it and have no remorse and no repentance, then you're of the devil.

You're clearly not a believer.

You're clearly not someone who's living in the light and love of God.

You're showcasing fruit that is of darkness, which we are completely opposite of.

We are the light of the world because we are of the light.

That is Jesus Christ.

And again, we already applied, oh, like people are at Panic!

I'm a Christian and I sin.

We've already talked about that.

It clearly is not what the scripture is saying.

Examine the unclear in light of the clear.

In the very preceding chapter, it says, I tell you this, that if you do sin, John already makes a concession that people are going to sin, but that we have an advocate who is in heaven.

And that's the whole idea of the propitiation and this idea that we can come to God with our sin.

And it's reiterated in Romans when paul talks about, I know what I must not do, but I do it.

So this idea of sin is present in our life, but a person who abides in the light and love of God knows that Jesus is the propitiation of our sins, know that we can confess our sins and God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.

And that they have this idea of repentance.

There's a practical change and that's evidence of someone who's in the light and love of God.

Not that you don't sin at all, but what you do when you do sin.

The righteous man falls seven times, he gets back up again.

That's evidence of someone who's in the light and love of God.

Great, thanks Luke.

Well, I hope that was helpful, and we'll see you all next week.