Introduction to 1 John

From "The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles" (Institute manual for the New Testament):
THEME Of 1 JOHN

Those who walk in the light receive the love of Christ and enjoy fellowship with the Father and the Son and with the children of God.

INTRODUCTION

Suppose you had lived in the days of Jesus and had actually spent time in his presence. Suppose that you had heard him teach, had seen the miracles he had performed, and had felt by the Spirit the power of the testimony he bore of himself—that he came into the world to do the will of the Father, which included giving his life. Further, suppose you were a witness to his resurrection and had been privileged and worthy enough to see and feel the wounds made during his sacrifice, in part, for your sins. How would you feel toward the Savior? How would you feel about a teaching spreading among some of your fellow Christians that Jesus didn’t really suffer for anyone’s sins but merely seemed to do so? Further, that he really wasn’t a partaker of mortality but only appeared to be, and that the physical body the Lord displayed after the resurrection was an illusion? This was the problem faced by the apostle John. It appears that some Christians had adopted an early form of Gnosticism and were teaching that Jesus could not have truly come in the flesh, for God is holy and could have nothing to do with contaminating matter. To explain the Savior’s presence on earth, the Gnostics set forth two arguments: either Christ was only apparently human or else the spirit which inhabited Jesus’ mortal body descended into the man Jesus at the time of his commitment to God in baptism and departed just prior to his suffering on the cross. Thus Christ did not really suffer for our sins; it was only the man Jesus who was crucified. The first of these philosophies was known as Docetism, so called from the Greek word dokeo, “to seem or appear,” and the latter was known as Cerinthianism, named for Cerinthus, its primary proponent in the first century.

John wrote, among other reasons, to dispel such notions. Note his insistence that he had personally seen and “handled” the “Word of life” ( 1 John 1:1, 2 ), a strike at Docetism. Notice also his vehement statement that whoever “denieth that Jesus is the Christ” is a liar ( 1 John 2:22 ), a slap at Cerinthianism. Finally, notice his declaration that “every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” is not of God but is anti-Christ ( 1 John 4:2, 3 ).

As you turn your attention to the book of 1 John, consider the power of John’s testimony as an eyewitness of Jesus Christ’s appearance in the flesh. Consider also the meaning in your life as John teaches that you can come to know the true God and Christ and, more, have a fellowship with them. As you read, look for his instructions on how you can develop this fellowship and how you can know that another person has true fellowship with those members of the Godhead.

INTERPRETIVE COMMENTARY

(52-1) What Is the Theme of 1 John?

“Written by the Disciple whom Jesus loved, and who in turn had such great love for his Lord and his fellowmen that he gained permission to remain on earth and seek to save souls until the Second Coming—this Epistle has as its essential theme:

“That God is love;

“That love is the foundation upon which all personal righteousness rests;

“That all the purposes and plans of Deity are based on his infinite and eternal love; and

“That if men will personify that love in their lives, they will become like the Lord himself and have eternal life with him.

“The doctrines expounded include how to gain fellowship with God; how to know God and Christ; how to become the sons of God; how to abide in the light and love the brethren; how to dwell in God and have him dwell in us; how to be born again and gain eternal life.” (McConkie, DNTC, 3:371.)

(52-2) Where and When Was It Written?

As with the other general epistles, so with 1 John: the letter provides us with little or no evidence on which to fix a place of writing. If the tradition regarding John’s long residence in Ephesus is correct, the letter could have been written from there. Although John spent the major portion of his life in the Holy Land, Christians as well as Jews were unwelcome there following the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in A.D. 70.

The letter seems to belong to a period in which the so-called Gnostic philosophy was on the rise. It also bears a close relationship to the fourth Gospel, which is dated about A.D. 90 or 95.

The book of 1 John was probably written sometime around A.D. 96 and almost certainly between A.D. 70 and 100.