Overview of the New Testament – Part 2

The Letters of John - I, II, III John

Key Thoughts:

God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all (I John 1:5)

Whoever does not love does not know god, because God is love (I John 4:8)

Background:

I. Authorship and Date

A. Generally held to be the apostle John, although no name is given in the text

B. Written probably late in the first century around 90 CE, prior to the persecution by Domitian which resulted in John’s banishment from Ephesus to Patmos in 95 CE.  John returned from exile in 97 CE.

C. These letters appear to be intended for the churches around the Ephesian area, possibly the churches mentioned in Revelation 2-3.

II. Issue behind the text:  Gnosticism (from the Greek meaning “knowledge”)

1. Denial of the incarnation of Jesus.  Jesus only “appeared” to come in the flesh (docetism, from the Greek meaning “I seem”, or “it seems”)

2. Human dualism:  one could do what one wanted in the body, and it did not impact one’s spiritual well being

3. Only Gnostics had the secret of spiritual understanding.

III. Style and composition

A. I John is more of a “sermon” than a letter using the following general outline:

Proclamation (1:1-4)

Eternal life has been made known through the Son

            Instruction (1:5 – 2:17)

Right behavior is walking according to the light, not the world

Proclamation (2:18-27)

True knowledge is that Jesus is the Son of God.  Those who are false deny that Jesus came in the flesh

            Instruction (2:28 – 3:24)

Those who abide in him, exhibit love for one another

Proclamation (4:1-6)

Jesus Christ came in the flesh as the Son of God; those how do not believe this belong to the world or to the spirit of the Antichrist.

            Instruction (4:7 – 5:5)

To abide in God is to be “of god,” and to be “of God” is to love one                      another.

Proclamation (5:6 – 12)

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and acceptance of him is the means to eternal life

B. II and III John were more letters intended for specific situations

Overview of the New Testament – Part 2

The Letters of John - I, II, III John

John’s Use of Metaphor

I. The need for metaphor

A. What is metaphor?  To say one thing in terms of another. 

B. Why is it needed?   Some truths are too complex for simple explanations, pictures, and examples are needed.

C. Why use metaphor in the Biblical text?

1. God is beyond our words

2. God, however, is not completely outside of our grasp

D. Limitations to metaphors:

1. Metaphors cause us to think about “likeness” and “unlikeness”

2. Metaphors cannot, therefore, be taken literally, but move us to an understanding that is beyond what we might be otherwise able to express or convey.

II. Metaphors in I John

A. God is light

1. God provides knowledge and truth

2. God illumines the heart to know truth

B. God is love

1. Love is the essence of God’s “being”

2. Love is an action, not a feeling.  Jesus loved us by laying down his life for us (I John 3:16)

3. God is love, but love is not God.  We cannot equate our human love or conceptions of love with God’s divine love.

Abiding in God:  To abide in God is to love God

Key point:  We cannot separate love for God and love for others.  Loving God and loving the other person are inextricably intertwined.

Believers “abide” in

God (I John 2:6; 3:24; 4:13, 14,150

Jesus (I John 2:27, 28; 3;6)

Jesus and the Father (I John 2:24)

Light (I John 2:10)

Love (I John 4:16)

Teaching (2 John 9)

God abides in believers (I John 3:24, 4:12,13,15,16)

The word of God abides in believers (I John 2:14)

Truth abides in believers (2 John 2)

What was heard abides in believers (I John 2:24)

The anointing abides in believers (I John 2:27)

God’s seed abides in believers (I John 3:9)

Eternal life does not abide in nonbelievers (I John 3:15)