Backdrop to 1 John

Many commentators agree that the issues addressed in 1 John could indicate the emergence of what would later become a formalized belief system called Gnosticism. According to Gnostics, only the elite obtained an enlightened level of mystical knowledge that could save their immaterial spirits from this encumbering world.

Imagine the exclusivity. Can I access this salvation country club? I’m probably not qualified enough to be “in the know”. 

Physical creation was thought of as evil, to be denied and escaped. Imagine the doctrinal corruption. How could a perfect God come as a human if matter is evil?  Jesus isn’t who he seemed.

On the other hand, physical desires were considered meaningless, to be thoughtlessly indulged as inconsequential to “real” spirituality. Imagine the disconnect. What’s the big deal about my actions if spirituality is all about knowledge?  God’s commands don’t matter.

Recipients of 1 John were hearing teachings like this, and - most disturbingly -  from former church participants. Conclusions such as these still echo thousands of years later, even if they aren’t from clearly gnostic sources today. Have you ever wondered if you’re as spiritually elite as someone else? Has someone planted doubts about who Jesus is? Is there a disconnect between the words of people you follow and the way they live?  

These lead to an undoing of confidence in the Gospel and in God’s promise of eternal life, so they’re countered from various angles throughout the book. Since John writes to believers, he isn’t first and foremost explaining to his audience how to have eternal life, but he answers the question, “What proof should I look for so that I know I have eternal life? And how can I discern whether the person I’m listening to has eternal life?” Like an apple dangling from a branch doesn’t make the tree an apple tree, it proves you can be sure it is an apple tree.  Apples are the evidence that point to an identity.

There are three aspects of life that offer proof of eternal life, and we will evaluate these topics again and again in 1 John.

Belief: Who is Jesus?

Behavior: How am I following God’s Word?

Brotherly Love: Where can love be seen in my life?

Eternal life begins with accurate belief in who Jesus is. His life in us produces behavior consistent with God’s commands and the type of love for others that He himself showed.  As you read 1 John, note the ways these three areas are expounded upon even more fully in the coming chapters, and let’s hold our own hearts and lives up to the light. 

Questions throughout 1 John

Below, you will find a few questions to ask if you’re going through 1 John on your own.  Pick any one, and use it like a lens as you read. It may be helpful to write the question at the top of a page in a journal or notebook, and then, as you read through 1 John, write down your observations in answer to the question. 

Throughout the book, John gives numerous explicit reasons for writing to them (“I am writing these things…I write to you…”). Why does he write to them?

John refers to his readers in multiple ways. How does he address them?

John repeatedly emphasizes knowing. What could they know and how could they know it?

What do you learn about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit? This question could be divided into three pages. For example, you could break it down like this:

Who is God the Father, and what did/does he do? 

Who is Jesus, and what did/does he do? 

Who is the Spirit, and what did/does he do?

What do you learn about the devil/evil one, antichrist, and the world? This could also be separated into three different pages with each subject at the top.

What do you learn about love?

These questions draw out major themes in 1 John, so whether you’re able to focus on one or all of them, they’ll be worth the effort!

A Personal Intro to 1 John

Have you ever been confused by religious words you hear from someone that don’t match the lifestyle you see them live? Has that deconstructed your personal faith?  Maybe it’s all fake.

Or when your own missteps fall short of what you say you believe, have you hidden in the darkness for fear of being discovered, by people or by God? Have you ever doubted whether you actually believed in the first place? Maybe I’m the fake. How can I know for sure what’s real?

As a teen, I struggled with whether my salvation was real. I used to lie sleepless in bed, tormented by the thought that my faith as a child, when I first confessed that I needed Jesus to be my Savior, may not have been complete enough to seal my eternity in heaven.  Were there words I was missing or something I didn’t know that I needed to believe or do or pray? Was there a way to know for sure that the promise of eternal life was real for me? 

Most who have had doubts like mine, can’t usually remember the first time they heard the name “Jesus”, because it was in utero and every day after that. Kids who grow up learning the Gospel from the very beginning and then place their faith in Christ at young ages, don’t experience the radical life-change that creates dramatic reports from missionaries or garners applause from church crowds.  Drastically changed lives are powerful testaments of God’s grace, to be sure, but a child might wonder whether Christ is real in their own lives if He didn’t rescue them from drugs or jail by age 5. Back then, I didn’t realize the grace it is to know Christ early in life, or the privilege it was to have a dad who could introduce my doubts to 1 John.

As it turns out, the question of Is it real?, isn’t isolated to 21st century Christianity. It’s been asked since the time John wrote this 5-chapter book, addressing a people close to his heart, who, for various reasons, had doubts about their faith. Words and life were mismatched, deception and self-deception threatened, sin was detected, and their confidence was shaken.

The book opens, not with a testimony of how Christ changed John’s life, but with the reality of Christ’s life itself as the basis for our faith. Jesus wasn’t a hologram or optical illusion, so neither was the life he promised. In Christ, eternal life was made audible, visible, observable, and touchable.  He was eternal life in real life, and the rest of the book is what His eternal life in us looks like in real life.