Reference: John, The Epistles of
Fausets
FIRST EPISTLE. Genuineness. Polycarp, John's disciple (ad Philippians 7), quotes 1Jo 4:3. Eusebius (H. E., iii. 39) says of Papias, John's hearer, "he used testimonies from the first epistle of John." Irenaeus (Eusebius, H. E., v. 8) often quoted it; he quotes (Haeres. iii. 15, sections 5,8) from John by name 1Jo 2:18; and in 1Jo 3:16, section 7 he quotes 1Jo 4:1-3; 5:1; 2Jo 1:7-8. Clement Alex. (Strom. ii. 66, p. 664) refers to 1Jo 5:16 as in John's larger epistle; compare Strom. iii. 32,42; iv. 102. Tertullian adv. Marcion, vi. 16, refers to 1Jo 4:1; adv. Praxean xv to 1Jo 1:1; also 1Jo 1:10, and contra Gnost. 12. Cyprian (Ep. 28:24) quotes 1Jo 2:3-4 as John's; and, de Orat. Domini, 5, quotes 1Jo 2:15-17; De opere et Eleemos. quotes 1Jo 1:8; De bono Patientiae quotes 1Jo 2:6.
Muratori's Fragment on the Canon states "there are two (the Gospel and epistle) of John esteemed universal," quoting 1Jo 1:3. The Peshito Syriac has it. Origen (Eusebius vi. 25) designates the first epistle genuine, and "probably second and third epistles, though all do not recognize the latter two"; he quotes 1Jo 1:5 (tom. 13 vol. 2). Dionysius of Alexandria, Origen's scholar, cites this epistle's words as the evangelist John's. Eusebius (H. E., iii. 24) says John's first epistle and Gospel are "acknowledged without question by those of the present day, as well as by the ancients." So Jerome (Catalog. Ecclesiastes Script.). Marcion opposed it only because it was opposed to his heresies. The Gospel and the first epistle are alike in style, yet evidently not mere copies either of the other. The individual notices, it being a universal epistle, are fewer than in Paul's epistles; but what there are accord with John's position.
He implies his apostleship (1Jo 2:7,26), alludes to his Gospel (Joh 1:1, compare Joh 1:14; 20:27), and the affectionate He uniting him as an aged pastor to his spiritual "children" (1Jo 2:18-19). In 1Jo 4:1-3 he alludes to the false teachers as known to his readers; in 1Jo 5:21 he warns them against the idols of the world around. Docetism existed in germ already, though the Docete by name appear first in the second century (Col 1:15-18; 1Ti 3:16; Heb 1:1-3). Hence 1Jo 4:1-3 denounces as "not of God every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh" (compare Joh 2:22-23). Presciently the Spirit through John forearms the church against the coming heresy.
TO WHOM THE EPISTLES WERE ADDRESSED. Augustine (Quaest. Evang. 2:39) says it was addressed to the Parthians, i.e. the Christians beyond the Euphrates, outside the Roman empire, "the church at Babylon elected together with" (1Pe 5:13) the churches in the Ephesian region, where Peter sent his epistles (1Pe 1:1; Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia). As Peter addressed the Asiatic flock tended first by Paul, then by John, so John, Peter's close companion, addresses the flock among whom Peter was when he wrote. Thus "the elect lady" (2Jo 1:1) answers to "the church elected together."
TIME AND PLACE. This epistle is subsequent to the Gospel, for it assumes the reader's acquaintance with the Gospel facts and Christ's speeches, and His aspect as the incarnate Word God manifest in the flesh, set forth in John's Gospel. His fatherly tone addressing his "little children" implies it was written in old age, perhaps A.D. 90. The rise of antichristian teachers he marks as a sign of "the last time" (1Jo 2:18), no other "age" or dispensation will be until Christ comes; for His coming the church is to be ever waiting; Heb 1:2, "these last days." The region of Ephesus, where Gnostic heresy sprang up, was probably the place, and the latter part of the apostolic age the time, of writing. Contents. Fellowship with the Father and the Son is the subject and object (1Jo 1:3). Two divisions occur:
(1) 1 John 1:5 - 2:28, God is light without darkness; consequently, to have fellowship with Him necessitates walking in the light. Confession and consequent forgiveness of sins, through Christ's propitiation for the world and advocacy for believers, are a necessary preliminary; a further step is positive keeping God's commandments, the sum of which is love as contrasted with hatred, the sum of disobedience. According to their several stages of spiritual growth, children, fathers, young men, as respectively forgiven, knowing the Father, and having overcome the wicked one, John exhorts them not to love the world, which is incompatible with the indwelling of the Father's love. This anointing love dwelling in us, and our continuing to abide in the Son and in the Father, is the antidote against the antichristian teachers in the world, who are of the world, not of the church, and therefore have gone out from it.
(2) 1 John 2:29 - 5:5 handles the opening thesis: "He is righteous," therefore "every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him." Sonship involves present self purification, first because we desire now to be like Him, "even as He is pure," secondly because we hope hereafter to be perfectly like Him, our sonship now hidden shall be manifested, and we shall be made like Him when He shall be manifested (answering to Paul's Colossians 3), for our then "seeing him as He is" involves transfiguration into His likeness (compare 2Co 3:18; Php 3:21). In contrast, the children of the devil hate; the children of God love. Love assures of acceptance with God for ourselves and our prayers, accompanied as they are with obedience to His commandment to "believe on Jesus Christ, and love one another"; the seal is "the Spirit given us" (1Jo 3:24). In contrast (as in the first division), denial of Christ and adherence to the world characterize the false spirits (1Jo 4:1-6). The essential feature of sonship or birth of God is unslavish love to God, because God first loved us and gave His Son to die for us (1Jo 4:18-19), and consequent love to the brethren as being God's sons like ourselves, and so victory over the world through belief in Jesus as the Son of God (1Jo 5:4-5).
(3) 1Jo 5:6-21. Finally, the truth on which our fellowship with God rests is, Christ came by water in His baptism, the blood of atonement, and the witnessing Spirit which is truth, which correspond to our baptism with water and the Spirit, and our receiving the atonement by His blood and the witness of His Spirit. In the opening he rested this truth on his apostolic witness of the eye, the ear, and the touch; so at the close on God's witness, which the believer accepts, and by rejecting which the unbeliever makes God a liar. He adds his reason for writing (1Jo 5:13), corresponding to 1Jo 1:4 at the beginning, namely, that "believers may know they have (already) eternal life," the spring of "joy" (compare Joh 20:31), and so may have "confidence" in their prayers being answered (1Jo 5:14-15; compare 1Jo 3:22 in the second part), e.g. their intercessions for a brother sinning, provided his sin be not unto death (1Jo 5:16). He sums up with stating our knowledge of Him that is true, through His gift, our being in Him by virtue of being in His Son Jesus Christ; being "born of God" we keep ourselves so that the wicked one toucheth us not, in contrast to the world lying in the wicked one; therefore still, "little children, keep yourselves from idols" literal and spiritual.
STYLE. Aphorism and repetition of his own phrases abound. The affectionate hortatory tone, and the Hebraistic form which delights in parallelism of clauses (as contrasted with Paul's logical Grecian style), and his own simplicity of spirit dwelling fondly on the one grand theme, produce this repetition of fundamental truths again and again, enlarged, applied, and condensed by turns. Contemplative rather than argumentative, he dwells on the inner rather than the outer Christian life. The thoughts do not move forward by progressive steps, as in Paul, but in circles round one central thought, viewed now under the positive now under the negative aspect. His Lord's contrasted phrases in the Gospel John adopts in his epistles, "flesh," "spirit," "light," "darkness," "life," "death," "abide in Him"; "fellowship with the Father and Son, and with one another" is a phrase not in the Gospel, but in Acts and Paul's e
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did.
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands. Reach out your hand, and put it into my side; do not be unbelieving, but believing."
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
Gaius, who is my host and the host of the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, and Quartus, our brother.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. read more. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authoritiesall things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might have the first place in everything.
In the past God spoke to our fathers by the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the world.
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the world. He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his being, and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen exiles in the Dispersion, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen exiles in the Dispersion, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling with his blood: may grace and peace be yours in abundance.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed,
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life,
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we write this that our joy may be complete. read more. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Now by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
he who says he abides in him ought to walk as he walked. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the worldthe lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of lifeis not of the Father but is of the world. read more. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come; by this we know that it is the last hour.
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come; by this we know that it is the last hour.
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come; by this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that it might be plain that none of them were of us.
These things I have written to you about those who try to deceive you.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
Now those who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. read more. They are of the world and therefore speak as of the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us; he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. And he who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the worldour faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? read more. This is he who came by water and bloodJesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God which he has borne witness of his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given of his Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. read more. We know that anyone born of God does not sin; but he who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth,
For many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting;
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting;
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting; for he who greets him shares in his wicked work.
for he who greets him shares in his wicked work. Though I have much to write to you, I do not want to use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers;