Dec 1 2020 - Introduction to the first letter of John

Who wrote these letters?

Many scholars argue that the Epistles of John have a different author from that of the fourth Gospel. However, Howard Marshall, having carefully considered the various arguments concludes, "... there is little reason to attribute the outlook found in 1 John to an author of different outlook from that of the main body of the Gospel. It is, therefore, possible that both works come from the same author. In any case, however, the Gospel and Epistles stand so close together in terms of theological outlook that they must at least have been written by authors who stood very close to each other."

Why was this letter written?

B F Westcott points out that the letter we know as 1 John is not really a letter: it lacks opening salutation and closing subscription. He considers it to be more of a pastoral address. 

John writes to a church disturbed by false teachers. By the time John writes they seem to have left the church (2:19) but still have contacts with members causing them to question whether they could truly regard themselves as Christians. John writes to provide "a careful statement of the apostolic understanding of Christianity for the benefit of his friends so that they might see where it was distorted by the seceders and confirm their own understanding of it and their place in the company of God's people." (Marshall).

The claims which John denies at the beginning of the Epistle probably represent those of the false teachers: they claimed to have fellowship with God and to be sinless (1:6, 8, 10); They may have believed that God was light and have said that they lived in the light (2:9). It is evident that they held unorthodox views about Jesus: They did not believe that Jesus was the Christ or the Son of God (2:22; 5:1, 5); they denied that Jesus had come in the flesh (4:2; cf. 2 Jn. 7); they did not see the need to obey the commands given by Jesus (2:4). It seems that they felt that they had moved beyond the elementary stages of orthodox theology to a new position of superior spirituality.

John emphasises that: Faith is linked with orthodoxy – particularly a right view of Christ; faith cannot be separated from love; faith expresses itself in righteousness, obedience and the avoidance of sin; faith should lead to the assurance that we are children of God

Such teaching is equally vital for the church and the world today. We need this call to learn afresh "that faith must rest on God's revelation of himself in his Son, Jesus Christ, that faith and love cannot be separated from one another, that Christians are called to a life of perfect love, and that they can enjoy assurance and certainty in their knowledge of God" (Marshall).

Peter Misselbrook