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The Message of 1 John
A few years ago I was shopping for a new acoustic guitar. Personally, I believe that if you are going to buy an acoustic guitar then you could not do any better than a Martin. Few instruments have the mellow sound of a Martin. I searched all around town for the perfect Martin; and I found one at a discounted price.
When I finally got the guitar home, I opened up the case and the smell of the new guitar was amazing. Before I pulled it out to play, I noticed that in between the strings was a certificate. It had written in gold embossed letters âMartinâ and below it said, âCongratulations! You are the proud owner of an official Martin instrument.â The card gave some facts about the instrument: its dimensions, what kind of wood it was made of, when and where it was assembled, the model number, and an assurance of quality.
This certificate struck me because it signified that the instrument I had purchased was authentic. In other words, I had not bought some cheap knock-off of a Martin guitar, but what I had in my hands was the real thing. This precision instrument was made in America and came straight from the factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
It would have been a tragedy to spend hundreds of dollars on a guitar that looks like a Martin, feels like a Martin, smells like a Martin, but when you strum the stings it doesnât sound like a Martin. Authenticity is important. In this world things that are of the highest value are often counterfeited, copied, and poorly imitated.
The same is also true in the arena of spirituality. Thatâs why the study of 1 John is so essential for believers. John was adamant about believers knowing that the faith they practiced was âthe real McCoy.â
Before we begin our journey, it is essential that the reader have a basic overview of the entire epistle so that you will get the big-picture before we systematically go through each verse. First John is a short book of only five chapters, or 105 verses, or 2,523 words. The average reader can make it through the book in a ten minute sitting. If you could read it in the original Greek language you would notice that 1 John has the simplest vocabulary of any book in the New Testament. Inevitably, this is the book that first-year seminary students learning Koine Greek cut their teeth on. But donât be fooled. This brief letter, although written hundreds of years ago in unpretentious language, contains some of the most profound truths about the Christian life. Christian scholar D. Edmond Hiebert had this to say about 1 John:
Authorship: Who Wrote 1 John?
If you are looking for the name of the author in the text you will not find it. In fact, 1 John, like Hebrews, is anonymous. In spite of this we can be sure that this epistle came from the hand of the beloved apostle John. There are two ways we know thisâinternal and external evidence.
Letâs first look at the internal evidence which links it to the Gospel of John. The similarity in writing style and vocabulary convincingly shows that the Gospel of John and this epistle came from the same pen. For example, letâs compare the prologues from the Gospel of John and the first epistle of John to see their similarity.
As you can see both introductions are very similar in wording. The theology is also identical; both emphasize the deity and humanity of Christ in His incarnation and both concentrate on the personal experience the writer had with Jesus. The author clearly identifies himself as an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus, noting that âwhat we have seen and heard we proclaim to you alsoâ (1 John 1:3).
As far as external evidence goes, the early church fathers attributed the authorship of this epistle to John. The first writer to quote directly from 1 John and name the apostle John as its author was Irenaeus, who lived in the closing decades of the second century. His testimony is especially significant since he was a disciple of Polycarp, who in turn was a disciple of John himself. Moreover, the fourth century church historian, Eusebius, wrote, âBut of the writings of John, not only his Gospel, but also the former of his epistles (1â3 John & Revelation), has been accepted without dispute both now and in ancient times.â
Tradition holds that by the time John took up his quill to pen this epistle he was an old man. John was probably in his eighties or nineties as he wrote at the end of the first century. In fact, one ancient story relates that John was so feeble that the deacons of the Ephesian church where John ministered had to help him up to the pulpit in order for him to preach. Some scholars even believe that the epistle is actually a sermon that John delivered and was copied down by a scribe. Imagine as you read this ancient correspondence that Grandpa John is speaking to the infant church of his day, telling them what it means to be a Christ-follower. John Phillips comments: