Posts in John's Epistles
“The Darkness Is Passing Away” The Third in an Exposition of John’s Epistles (1 John 2:3-11)
“The Darkness Is Passing Away” The Third in an Exposition of John’s Epistles (1 John 2:3-11)

God Is Light

The contrast between Christianity and false religion is as apparent as the contrast between light and darkness. John the Apostle must deal with certain men who had departed from the faith and who were now denying that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. To expose their errors, John uses a simple contrast. God is light. Darkness cannot exist in his presence, because light casts out darkness. Since Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, Jesus is that light which has come into the world. That light which gives life, enables God’s people to walk in the light, even as Jesus is the manifestation of the light. And since light casts out darkness, so too Christ’s coming in the flesh means that wherever the word of life is proclaimed, darkness passes away.

How We Demonstrate That We Walk In the Light

As we make our way through the second chapter of John’s first epistle, in this section of John’s first letter (verses 1:5-2:29), John describes four ways in which Christians demonstrate that they are walking in the light. The first of these four conditions is the necessity of repenting of our sin. We considered this in the previous installment as we made our way through 1 John 1:5-2:2. The second condition mentioned by John–that Christians must be obedient to God’s commandments–is found in verses 2:3-11. This is our topic in this exposition. The third condition is spelled out in verses 12-17. John says that Christians must reject all appearance of worldliness, which refers to both the lusts of the flesh and the desires of the eyes. The fourth condition–that we must hold fast to the truth in the presence of antichrists–is spelled out in the balance of the chapter (verses 18-29). According to John, these things are characteristic of all those who live in the light of the word manifest in the flesh.

Proto-Gnosticism, False Doctrine, and Apostasy

Throughout his epistles, John is dealing with an early form of Gnosticism, which contends that a dualism exists between spirit (good) and matter (which is evil). In this dualistic scheme of things, the Christian doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus Christ is an impossibility because God (who is pure spirit) could not in any sense be manifest in human flesh (because flesh is material, and therefore evil). This is why John opens this epistle with the emphatic declaration that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. John has seen Jesus, heard Jesus, and even touched Jesus. The good news (of the gospel) is that Jesus has come as a flesh and blood Savior.

But those whom John describes as men “who went out from us” were denying that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh–one of the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. In order to explain Jesus’s earthly ministry, these false teachers were forced to contend that while Jesus was fully God, he only took the form (or appeared) as a man. In other words, while fully divine, Jesus was some sort of phantom or apparition, and was not truly human (no flesh, blood, or bones). This is the heresy of docetism. The whole point of Jesus being God manifest in the flesh is that he came to offer himself up as a propitiation for our sins. A propitiation is a sacrifice which turns aside God’s wrath through the shedding of real blood, and through a truly broken body. But a docetic Jesus cannot make such a sacrifice. A phantom Jesus cannot shed real blood. Furthermore, a Jesus who only appears in human form cannot obey the law of God so as to fulfill all righteousness. The docetic Jesus cannot save flesh and blood sinners. John calls those who teach such a thing, “antichrists.”

Another important trait of this early Gnosticism is the idea that enlightenment comes to only a few who discipline themselves to learn the secret insights into the teachings of Jesus, not made public to everyone. Apparently, such esoteric knowledge about Jesus was being taught by those who had departed from the faith. Given John’s focus upon both the death of Christ (who is God manifest in the flesh) and his present advocacy for us in heaven, it is clear that the gospel is grounded in historic and very public events–not some sort of “secret knowledge.” This is why those for whom Christ died must walk in the light. Light casts out darkness. And light can be easily observed.

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John's EpistlesKim RiddlebargerGnosticism, 1 John 2:3-11, Light and DarkComment
“If We Walk in the Light” The Second in an Exposition of John’s Epistles (1 John 1:5-2:2)
“If We Walk in the Light” The Second in an Exposition of John’s Epistles (1 John 1:5-2:2)

The Blessing of Light

Imagine stumbling through life in complete darkness, not knowing where you are going, and unable to avoid danger or disaster. For the apostle John, walking in darkness is a powerful metaphor depicting the fate of those apart from Christ–forced to live as slaves to sin, in complete ignorance to the things of God, and at the mercy of false teachers who claimed to be “enlightened,” but who are completely in the dark about the things of the Lord. As John opens this epistle, he reminds us that God is light, and because we have eternal life, we walk in the light of God’s revelation of himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the word of life made manifest in the flesh.

The three epistles we know as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John were written by the apostle John, who is also the author of the Gospel bearing his name. We know this to be the case based upon the grammar and style of these epistles, which repeatedly allude to, or are dependent upon, the Gospel of John. It is highly probably that these epistles were written after John had completed his gospel. Christian tradition tells us that John had fled Jerusalem at some point before the destruction of the city in 70 CE, eventually relocating to Ephesus, where it is believed that he lived well into old age, dying during the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan. Since I spent a fair amount of time on background material in the first installment in this series, you can read prior exposition to better understand the situation in which these epistles were written.

A Brief Recap

Since we are covering new ground, it is important to briefly recap John’s purpose in writing before we work through our text. Based upon the content of these epistles it is reasonable to conclude that they were written for the purpose of explaining and elaborating upon themes within John’s gospel, as well as to correct the errors of various false teachers who were distorting things John had stated earlier. This will become clear shortly when we come to verses 1:6-2:1, in which John responds to a series of errors being taught by those who departed from the faith.

Like the Book of James, John’s first epistle is probably a sermon in which John proclaims to us that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, who came to earth to bring the word of life. At many points, John simply sets out the truth regarding the person and work of Christ in full confidence that the truth will cast out all error. At the heart of this truth is the fact that Jesus is God manifest in human flesh who came to save us from our sins. This is the light of the gospel, and those who know and understand Christ’s person and work will walk in that light. Walking in the light means repenting of our sins, loving our brothers and sisters, and living confidently in the hope of eternal life.

The Presence of Apostates/Heretics

But John also must deal with those whom he says “went out from us” (1 John 2:19), men who were now denying what John had taught them–that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. Thus in 1 John 4:1-3, the apostle warns his reader,

beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for 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 from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Not only have false prophets gone out (from the church, having become apostates), but their message is very straight-forward. They deny that Jesus is God in the flesh–an error with catastrophic consequences. Believers are therefore to test everyone’s teaching in light of John’s revelation that Jesus Christ is God come to earth in human flesh. To deny the incarnation of Christ is to embrace the spirit of antichrist.

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John's EpistlesKim Riddlebarger1 John 1:5-2:2, Confession of sin, PropititationComment
“Was Made Manifest” The First in an Exposition of John’s Epistles (1 John 1:1-4)
“Was Made Manifest” The First in an Exposition of John’s Epistles (1 John 1:1-4)

The Uniqueness of Christianity — God Incarnate

I know of no religious truth claim quite like the one found in the opening verses of John’s first epistle. According to the author (John)–who claims to be an eyewitness to the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ–God himself was manifest in human flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The author knows this to be true because with his own ears he has heard God in the flesh teach and preach. With his own eyes, John has seen God in the flesh perform miracles, demonstrate his glory, and present himself alive after his resurrection from the dead. With his own hands, John has reached out and touched the very son of God. Even as John opens this epistle, he proclaims to us that we too may have fellowship with that same incarnate word whom John describes throughout this epistle as God manifest in the flesh. Therefore, Christianity is a religion of flesh and blood, anchored in the public record of history, and not in the secret recesses of the sinful human heart.

The Background to John’s Three Short Epistles

We begin a new series—an exposition of the epistles of John. These epistles include the letters known to us as 1st , 2nd , and 3rd John. In order to interpret these epistles correctly, it is vital that we know something about the historical background and circumstances which led to their composition. Therefore, I’d like to spend some time going through this material before we turn our attention to the first four verses of John’s first epistle, in which John announces his intention to proclaim to us that Jesus is the word of life, God manifest in the flesh.

The historical circumstances which led to the writing of John’s epistles is vastly different from that of the Book of James, which we covered previously. James was written about ten years after Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension to a group of persecuted Jewish Christians living throughout Palestine and Syria. John, on the other hand, is writing to a group of house churches in and around Ephesus (made up of Jews and Gentiles). Not only does John compose these epistles as much as a generation later than James, the churches to which he was writing were facing a number of false teachers who were denying that Jesus was God in the flesh. Sadly, many of those teaching such a thing were men who had departed from the faith they previously professed. John must deal with an entirely different set of circumstances than James. If James was the earliest letter in the New Testament, the epistles of John are surely among the last documents to be included in the canon of the New Testament.

The case is overwhelming that these three letters were written by the apostle John. Based upon the grammar and style of these three letters, there can be no doubt that they were written by the same person who composed the Gospel of John.[1] In fact, virtually every line in this epistle demonstrates some sort of similarity to, or dependance upon, the Gospel of John.[2] Although critical scholars go to unbelievable lengths to argue that these letters were not actually written by John (the apostle and associate of Jesus), they are not driven to this conclusion because of any evidence, but because of their rather ingenious but purely speculative theories about gospel origins.[3] The traditional view that the gospel and the three letters of John all came from the apostle John, still has far and away the most evidence in its favor.[4]

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John's EpistlesKim Riddlebarger1 John 1:1-4Comment