The Johannine Epistles

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Introduction: Some Important Issues in Interpreting the Letters.

Authorship.

The final exam will not include a question on the authorship of the epistles. See Marshall for discussion of the issues and evidence if you wish to pursue this. The main questions are:

1. Did the same person write the fourth gospel and 1 John?

2. Are 1, 2, and 3 John by the same person?

3. What do the fourth gospel and 1Jn have in common?

What is the Genre of 1 John?

What is the nature of the false teachers (or false Christians) whom John opposes in 1Jn?

• Denial that Jesus is "the Christ"

• Denial that Jesus is the Son of God

• Denial of Jesus' real humanity and death

• A Lack of love. Exactly how this was manifested is not entirely clear, though 3:17, 18 suggest it was shown in selfish living that showed no practical demonstration of concern and aid to those in need. This lack of love is the result of jealousy and hatred of true believers (3:11-16), and may have involved immorality. Those who do not love their fellow believers really have a problem in their relationship with God, and cannot be said to truly love Him (2:3-4, 9; 4:20-21).

• A wrong understanding of sin. There are hints here and there that John opposes people who claim to be sinless, yet obviously are living an unloving and unrighteous existence. How can this be? It may be that, similar to later Gnostics, they simply denied that anything they did with the body mattered. Only the human spirit --saved, regenerated and "resurrected" by God's eternal Spirit--was going to last into eternal life, and only the spirit mattered. The body is a shell to be left behind, and so physical activities of any sort affect only the body--which is disposable--and not my spirit (compare a similar error beginning to arise already in the church in Corinth: 1 Cor. 6:12-20). Or they could have argued that, as God's elect, whatever they did must be sinless by definition (because the elect or saved ones cannot sin, cannot displease God).

• Is there one `front' John is fighting against, or more than one (defend your answer!)?

What is the purpose and occasion of 2 and 3 John?

Chapter One

1. Who is the "we" of 1:1-4? And who then is the "you"?

2. What or who is the referent of "what was from the beginning . . . concerning the word of life"? (1:1)

3. What words in this introductory section (1:1-4, as well as 1:5-10) echo key words/themes of John's gospel?

4. What is it to "walk in the light" (1:7)?

5. What does "God is light" tell us about God?

6. Translate into other terms the phrase "the blood of Jesus...cleanses us." What does that mean?

7. Why are those who claim to have no sin ignorant of the truth and excluded from a saving relationship with God (1:8-10)? And why is confession necessary?

8. How can John condemn the claim that one has no sin (1:8, 10), yet at the same time say "I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin" (2:1), and "no one who abides in him sins" (3:6)?

9. Comment on the meaning of "eternal life"; "witness"; "light" here in chap. 1; can we use the definitions of these words according to the fourth gospel here?

Chapter Two

1. What is John's goal in 2:1?

2. How is Jesus our "advocate" (2:1-2)?

3. What does 2:2 tell us about (a) the effects of Jesus' death; (b) the intended recipients of those effects? (note how John uses "world" elsewhere)

4. In 2:3-11 John draws a series of contrasts (as also in 1:5-10) between genuine and false believers. Make a chart of those contrasts.

5. What kinds of linkages does John draw in describing who true believers are? (e.g., when he says "those who say X must also do Y").

6. What is the "new commandment" and why is it new (2:8)?

7. In 1:5-10 and 2:3-11 John stressed right behavior. But what is the relationship between the statements about Christ's death (1:7, 2:1-2) and the statements that we are to walk in the light?

8. Who are "children," "fathers," and "young men" (2:12-14)?

9. Note the tense of the verbs in 12:12-14. Are they significant?

10. 12:13: who is "him who is from the beginning"?

11. How is it that God loves the world (John 3:16) but believers are instructed not to (2:15)? What is the danger in loving "the world"?

12. Why is it "the last hour" (2:18)? Was John wrong?

13. What do 2:18-19 tell us of the origins of the false teachers and their doctrine?

14. 2:20 Who is the "Holy One" who has "anointed" believers?

15. What is the doctrinal test John gives in 2:22-23, and what does this tell us about the "antichrists" and their teaching (cf. 2:26)? How is denial of Jesus as "Christ" a denial of the Father and the Son?

16. How is it that "the anointing" "teaches" believers (2:27)?

17. What is "the truth" for John?

18. Why is it important for his readers to have confidence when Jesus is "revealed" (2:28)? Explain these expressions.

Chapter Three

1. Why does John use the word "children" (Gk tekna) to describe believers, and never the word "sons" (Gk huioi) as other NT writers do?

2. Why does the "hope" (3:3) of Jesus' revelation at his return "purify" believers? Or is it the hope that we will be like him then that purifies?

3. "No one who abides in him sins" (3:6; cf. 3:9). Comment on the meaning of this passage. Is John saying that Christians are truly sinless? How can John say this, and yet also say that anyone who claims not to have sinned is living a lie (1:8-10)?

4. Is John's exhortation to love (3:10c-23) related to knowing the difference between "the children of God and the children of the devil" (3:10)? And does this chapter tell us anything about the false teachers (or false Christians) in John's area?

5. Why does John define the Christian's chief "commandment" (singular) as believing in Jesus Christ and loving one another (3:23)? Are these two related?

6. Notice the key role that the Spirit plays in John's writings. In 3:24 John points to the Spirit's presence as evidence that God abides in the believer . How can John be so sure of what seems like such a subjective decision?

Chapter Four

1. What do 4:1-6 tell us about prophecy in the Johannine churches (it's use, how it was received, who did it. . . ).

2. Why should "the world" be inclined to listen to the false prophets/antichrists (4:4-5), if it is not interested in the message true believers have to offer?

3. How does John justify the command for believers to love each other in unselfish, concrete ways (4:7-12, 16b-21)? Does he emphasize this because the false teachers (or false believers) are unloving?

4. Who is the "we" and "us" of 4:7? 4:13? Different from the introduction (1:1-4)?

5. In 4:13-16, the theme of testifying comes up, as it does in the fourth gospel. What is the correct testimony of the church? Is this directed against false teaching?

6. How can John naively identify those who love as the people who are born again and know God (4:7-8, 16; cf. John 3:3)?

7. How can God's love be "perfected in us" (4:12)? What does "perfected" mean?

8. "Perfect love casts out fear" (4:18). Explain. Does this contradict OT and NT texts which point to the "fear of the Lord" as a good thing?

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