James and 1,2,3 John

A Critical & Exegetical Commentary

Gareth L Reese

• Publisher: Scripture Exposition Books LLC
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780998451848
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

This is a phrase-by-phrase commentary and exposition of the New Testament books of James and 1, 2, 3 John. This commentary is in use as a college textbook, yet is suitable for the lay church member.

James and 1 John are written as epistles to Christians in general (i.e., not as letters to a particular church in Rome or Ephesus). Both were written by apostles we encounter often in the pages of the New Testament; both are men who played large roles in the life of the early Church. Each of these four epistles is unique within the New Testament canon, and each raises issues of interest and importance for our Christian faith and practice:

• The faultless roadmap for practical Christian living provided by the great spiritual principles taught by our Lord and Savior.
• The imperative need to receive the witness of God as given in Scripture through Jesus and His apostles.
• The fact that we have not followed myths when we embrace the doctrine of the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, into the world to save sinners.
• The nature of true Christian fellowship – its exclusivity Godward and the kind of lifestyle it demands.
• How believers can know – by experience – the fact of their salvation.
• The loving way to counteract religious error.
• How Christians are to respond to those leaving the church.
• The parallels between 1 st /2 nd century Gnosticism and the pluralism and New Age theology of our 21 st century.

This commentary is conservative and evangelical Christian in its outlook, yet skillfully examines the Scriptures from multiple theological viewpoints. Introductory Studies cover authorship and attestation, the place and date of writing, original target audience to whom the letters were addressed, and the original purpose for writing. The Introductory Studies also discuss questions raised about these epistles by recent higher criticism – e.g., the relationship of James’ theology to Paul’s, the nature of the Gnosticism addressed in John’s epistles, the theory of a Johannine community and its role (if any) in compiling epistles, and our ability to accurately reconstruct the life-setting of the 1 st century Christianity which gave rise to each of these writings. Additionally, several Special Studies address important topics germane to these epistles.

Since this commentary presumes the God-inspired nature of all Biblical writing, the author seeks to harmonize the teachings of James and 1, 2, 3 John with other relevant Scriptures, and also helpfully examines the original language in which the epistles were written. A fully annotated bibliography of other commentaries on James and 1, 2, 3 John is included to encourage readers to extend their own studies.

This commentary continues the author's series on the books of the New Testament, and is written from the unique standpoin

1 JOHN

INTRODUCTORY STUDIES

1 John differs from most of the letters included in our New Testament, and the differences make it difficult to pursue introductory studies in the way we are accustomed to doing. We usually begin with a careful study of each letter's internal evidence, looking for historical allusions, and from these learn all we can about author, date, destination, place, purpose and occasion of writing, etc. Then we go to external evidence for corroboration of what has been learned from internal evidence.¹

1 John lacks the usual form of signature, address, greeting, and thanksgiving that we are accustomed to find in 1^st century letters. It lacks the usual personal allusions, conclusion, or doxology with which we are familiar from the Pauline Epistles. Not only is this work unsigned, it has other unique features. "Among the books of the New Testament, 1 John is the only one that does not contain a single proper name (except our Lord's), or a single definite allusion, personal, historical, or geographical."²

Therefore, what we must do in the case of 1 John is to start with external evidence. We shall summarize the traditional views. Then, briefly, we shall study internal evidence to see if it appears to be in agreement with the traditional conclusions. We also will call attention to, and evaluate, certain contemporary reconstructions which flatly repudiate the traditional views.

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¹ These introductory studies, especially the historical allusions and the external evidence, are a distinctive feature of the author's commentaries; such studies are not typically found in most other contemporary commentaries. These studies are an extremely valuable tool, and are a vital part of the grammatical-historical method of interpretation.

² Robert Law, "John, The Epistles of" in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, edited by James Orr (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949 reprint), Vol.3, p.1711.

TRADITIONAL VIEWS

Traditions that have existed uncontested from the second century till recently have connected Revelation, the Fourth Gospel, and 3 epistles with the apostle John,³ have recognized Ephesus as their place of publication, the churches of Asia Minor as their destination, and identified a philosophy or world view similar to that taught by Docetic or Cerinthian Gnostics as being the issue John is addressing or contesting, since it was troubling the churches, and threatened their fellowship with God, Christ, and each other. The traditional date assigned to the epistles is AD 85-90.

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³ Revelation does bear the signature of John. Though they do not bear John's signature, the Fourth Gospel and three Epistles in the New Testament collection of books have been, by an impressive tradition and by thematic summaries, connected with the apostle John. "The consensus of scholarly opinion throughout the centuries has held to a common authorship for the Fourth Gospel and the epistles of John. Tradition has connected the name of John the son of Zebedee with all these documents from the earliest times." (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible)

ASIA MINOR

Asia Minor was the name given in Bible times to the western part of the land called Turkey on our maps. The Roman province by this name included the Hellenistic countries of Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and a great part of Phrygia, plus the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Patmos, Cos, and Mitylene.

Geography and Topography⁴

Along the western shore of Asia Minor, there were four river valleys whose sources were located in the higher central plateau that forms the main mass of Asia Minor. These valleys are separated by chains of mountains which, like fingers, extend westward from the main central plateau. From north to south, the four rivers are the Caicus with the city of Pergamos, the Hermus with the city of Smyrna near its mouth, the Cayster with Ephesus,⁵ and the Meander with the city of Miletus near its mouth.

The valleys these rivers passed through were the main routes of travel from the ocean on the west to the interior of the province. Over the years, the Meander and Hermus rivers became the routes of choice, and Miletus and Ephesus vied for supremacy. In earlier times Miletus was the more important harbor. But the river slowly silted the harbor there.⁶ Ephesus was ideally situated to serve as a port of entry for both these routes, and through the years powerful rulers chose to help Ephesus rise to become the "first and greatest metropolis of Asia."⁷ Ephesus and the Cayster served as the port of entry for Sardis when that city served as the capital of Lydia about 550 BC. In Roman times, two great roads led eastward from Ephesus. One, the route through the "upper country" (Acts 19:1⁸), followed the Cayster around Mt. Gallesus, then led across the Tmolus Mountains through passes to Sardis and thence along the Hermus river toward Galatia (in the area of Pisidian Antioch) and then on towards the northeast. The other route left Ephesus by road in a southeasterly direction through the Magnesian gate, crossed the Messogis mountain range via a pass near Mt. Pactyas to Magnesia, thence it followed the Meander to Tralles, and then on up the valley to where the Lycus river flows into the Meander. At this juncture, travelers followed the Lycus by Laodicea towards Apamea and thence to Ladik and then across the Taurus Mountains through the Cilician Gates to Tarsus and on toward Syria or the Mesopotamian valley. This southern route has been the great road of history,⁹ and was one of the chief avenues of commerce and travel, whence the communication was direct to Syrian Antioch and the Euphrates valley.

There were also coastal roads leading from Ephesus northward to Smyrna and southward to Miletus. So geography and politics led to Ephesus (rather than Miletus or Smyrna) becoming the port of entry for either of the roads into the interior, mainly because there was ready access by easy mountain passes to the Hermus and Meander valleys. The road across the mountains from Magnesia to Ephesus is a shorter way, by miles, to reach the sea than following the Meander River to Miletus. The route through the "upper country" via the Cayster and Hermus rivers leads over higher ground than the Meander route, and does not descend into the lower coastal valley till it comes nearer Ephesus; this makes it preferable in summer. Foot passengers to whom precipitous descents caused no difficulty would prefer that road to the longer but more level route by Apamea and Laodicea.

History¹⁰

The cities of Asia Minor, including Adramyttium, Alexandria Troas, Pergamos, Smyrna, Ephesus, Miletus, Magnesia, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, Hierapolis, etc., have witnessed some fascinating history. Outsiders often invaded, and many left a lasting mark. Numerous culture-changing and history-changing battles were fought in this part of the ancient world. The Hatti flourished ca. 2500-2000 BC. The Hittites supplanted them, and their empire in the central highlands of Anatolia reached its height ca. 1600-1200 BC. The Phrygian and Bithynian immigrants arrived from southeastern Europe about the end of the 2nd millennium BC. In about the 11^th century BC, Greeks (Androclus, an Athenian) captured the city of Ephesus and Greek culture and civilization began to supplant Oriental civilization. Greek became the lingua franca instead of Asiatic. The kingdom of Phrygia was established in the 8^th century BC. About 700 BC, Lydia replaced Phrygia as the leading power. Sardis was the capital city, and was the first city to mint coins of silver and gold. The last and most famous of the Lydian kings was Croesus (ca. 560-546 BC), whose name is still proverbial for wealth. He conquered the Greek cities on the west coast of Asia Minor. About 546 BC, Croesus of Lydia lost a war to Cyrus, king of Persia,¹¹ and all of the peninsula except Lycia came under the dominion of the Persian monarch. Sardis became the western metropolis of the new empire.

Over the centuries before the coming of Christ, Asiatic and Greek influences in the area waxed and waned. Eventually, about 500 BC, one Aristarchus was sent from Athens to Ephesus; from his time on, Greek influence continued to grow. Greek philosophy (Heraclitus and Thales), too, was influential in the area. The victory of the Greeks over Xerxes in 480 BC gave the Greek cities of Asia Minor some freedom, but Sparta yielded them back to Persia in 386 BC. Politically, the area remained under Persian domination until Alexander the Great defeated the Persians at Granicus and Issus in 334/333 BC. Alexander the Great established a seat of government at Ephesus. Lysimachus, who became ruler of the area after Alexander's death (323 BC), determined to impress upon the city a more Hellenic character. When Lysimachus was killed in battle in 281 BC, Ephesus came under the control of the Seleucids. However, the distance from Syria where the Seleucids had their capital permitted local rulers in western Asia Minor to regain ascendancy.

About 278 BC, Nicomedes I of Bithynia invited a Celtic army to help him gain and keep control of that area. These folk escaped his control and terrorized large areas of Asia Minor for years, until they were finally restricted to an area in the central highlands that came to be called "Galatia" (the Greek word for "Gaul" or Celt). Gaulish speech still persisted there in the time of Jerome (AD 385).

The ancient city of Pergamos grew in power till about 241 BC, when Attalus I (after the victory over the invading Gauls) took the title of King and Soter ("savior"), and was the first ruler of the Attalid dynasty. This and other victories gave Attalus supremacy over a great portion of western Asia Minor. About this same time, Rome began to expand her control into Asia Minor. Alliances with Rome helped keep all the territory west of the Taurus Mountains in his domain, constituting the kingdom of Pergamum. After the defeat (190 BC) of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria,¹² by the Romans, the "Asia Minor" lands controlled by Antiochus, including Ephesus, were handed over by the conquerors to Eumenes, king of Pergamos, and became part of the kingdom of Pergamum. When Attalus III, the last king of Pergamum, died in 133 BC, he bequeathed his realm to the Roman senate and people, and after deliberating they decided to accept the bequest. They named the new province "Asia Minor." However, the Roman province was much smaller than the kingdom of Pergamum (for Pontus and Bithynia, Galatia, Lycia, Pamphylia and Cilicia became separate territories). For a time after it became a Roman Province, Pergamos was the capital of the province. However, after the time of Caesar Augustus, Ephesus became the administrative capital of the province. The change of the seat of government from Pergamos to Ephesus continued to take place during the reign of Claudius (AD 41-54), and was complete during the time of Hadrian (AD 125).

The policies and achievements of the Seleucids and Attalids had a great bearing on the political, religious, and social conditions of the land in New Testament times. Both dynasties were founders of great cities. The Seleucids peopled the area with cities called Antioch, Seleucia, Laodicea, and Apamea from their recurring dynastic names. They gave special privileges to the Jews in all these towns, and brought in thousands of Jewish families to settle in Lydia and Phrygia.¹³ Thyatira and Philadelphia were Attalid frontier cities. The Attalids developed the resources of their land, both timber and metals. State religion was made an instrument of policy, exploiting the oriental tendency of ascribing divinity to their rulers. Pergamum became a focus of religious architecture, art, and culture. A strategic road extension from southeast of Laodicea on the Lycus gave them a south coast port at Attalia in Pamphylia.

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Table of contents

• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• THE EPISTLE OF JAMES
• THE EPISTLE OF JAMES
• 1 JOHN
• THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN1
• 2 JOHN
• 2 John1
• Special Study
• 3 JOHN
• 3 John1