Universal Epistles of John 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd John

Universal Epistles of John

1

st

, 2

nd

, 3

rd

John

Synthesis of the New Testament

Arturo Pérez

Arthur_Pink@hotmail.com

Contents – Epistles of John



Introduction – historical background



Main

Subject

of the

Epistles

of

John



Author

;

Date and Place

of writing



Recipients

and Main

Purpose for each one



Contents

of each epistle



Summary

of each epistle



Landmarks

of each epistle



Key concepts



Important Doctrines

Main Subject of

1

st

John

A call to

examine

yourself under the light of the

fundamentals

of the

faith

:

sound doctrine, obedience, and love to help

believers who have been attacked

by false teachers,

to have joy, hoilness and assurance in Jesus Christ



Fundamentals of the faith:

(to discern False from Truth)



True faith in Jesus (

sound doctrine

) (1Jn.1:1-4)



Obedience

to His commandments (1Jn.1:6; 2:4,6)



Love

to God and to our brethren (1Jn.3:23, 24).



Defense against false teachers: 2:18; 4:1



To help believers to experience:



Joy (1:4)



Holiness (2:1)

Main Subject of

2

nd

John



Fundamentals of faith



Adherence to the truth (sound doctrine) (2Jn.4)

Adherence to love (2Jn.5)



Adherence to obedience (2Jn.6).



And the appropriate use of hospitality



We are not called to a universal acceptance of anyone claiming to be a

believer.



Your love must have discernment.



Hospitality and kindness should focus in those who adhere to the

fundamentals of faith.

(2John 1:9-11)



Otherwise, Christian would be helping false teachers



Sound doctrine shoud serve as a proof of a genuine Christianity and as

the base of separation between those who verbally say to be Christians,

and those who truely are (2Jn.10,11; comp. Rom. 16:17; Gal. 1:8,9; 2

Ts. 3:6,14; Tit. 3:10).

“

A call to the

fundamentals

of the

faith

and to an

appropriate

use

of the Christian

hospitality

.”

Main Subject of

3

rd

John



2&3 John speak of a common subject:

hospitality

. But from different perspectives:



2

nd

John

condemns those who are

hosting false

teachers

.



3

rd

John

condemns those who are

NOT hosting

the servants of God

.



Good example of

Gaius

(1-8)



Bad example of Diotrephes (9-10)



Good testimony of Demetrius (11-12)

“

Commending

the

right use

of Christian

hospitality

and

Recipients and Purpose of

1

st

John

Recipients



None of these letters give us a hint of who their recipients are.



It is of a general accpetance that they were sent to the churches in

Asia Minor in which John exercised his ministry.

Purpose of 1 John



False teachers (gnosticism) were threatening the sound doctrine

and the life of these Christians that John loved.



These Christians had been impacted by the false teaching and they had lost

their trust and certainty of their faith; they had lost their joy; and they were

confused because of these false teachers.



Therefore, John reenforces 3 purposes he says he wrote this letter

for:



Joy

. “And we are writing these things so that our joy may be

complete. ”

(1:4);



Holiness.

“I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin”

(2:1);



Assurance

. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of

the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

(5:13).

Recipients and Purpose of

2

nd

John



Recipients – 2 John.



The same of 1st John. Churches in Asia Minor.



Purpose of 2 John



Besides reinforcing to keep on the fundamentals

of faith (sound doctrine, love and obedience),

John wrote to warn them on how to exercise their

duty of being hospitable, with discernment, and

not receiving any false teacher at home.

Recipients and Purpose of

3

rd

John



Recipient of 3 John.



GAIUS an individual of one of the churches of Asia

Minor.



Purpose of 3 John.



To give a written testimony of the good example of

hospitality shown by Gaius as a worthy

representative of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (3Jn.

6–8)



And to condemn the sinful behavior of Diotrephes

who refused to host those faithful missionaries who

needed a temporary housing (3Jn. 10).

Review about Epistles of John



Church’s tradition testifies

Apostle John is the author



John was an

elderly

man

and last Apostle alive at the

moment he wrote his

epistles (85 A.D.).



“My little children”

1Jn.2:1,18,28



“The Elder”

2Jo1:1; 2Jo1:1



Not mentioning

Dometian’s

persecution (95 A.D.)



Gnosticism

– end of 1st century



He was serving actively in

the churches of

Asia Minor

(based in Ephesus)



Gnostics (Knowledge)



Docetism (

δοκέω

to seem)



Neoplatonism (spirit / body)



Recipients

– Churches in

-5 1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 - 5 BC 1 AD 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

*

Jesus’ Birth

|

Visit to the temple Age of 12

JESUS Public Ministry

Apostolic ministry especially of Paul

| John banished

to Patmos

High Priests:

Annas

Joseph Caiaphas Ananias

Herod the Great 37 – 4 aC

Herod AntipasTetrarch Galilee & Perea

Herod Phillip Tetrarch Ituraea and Trachonitis King Herod Agrippa II King

Herod Agrippa

Felix

Festus

Jerusalem occupied by Tenth Logian Jewish War

D

estr

u

cti

o

n

o

f

Jer

u

sal

em

Coponius; Valerius Gratus; Pilate(26-36) Marcelus Judea: A Roman Province under Prefects

Procurators (Octavian) AUGUSTUS Co-regency TIBERIUS Caligula CLAUDIUS NERO 1st_Christian Persecution Vespasian Titus Domitian 2nd Christian Persecution Nerva Trajan 3rd Christian Persecution Archelaus Ethnarch Judea & Samaria Albino Florus Fado Alejandrino Cuadratus

James

Period of time DATE Event Publishing

Initiation

6 B.C.

al 30 A.D.

Death of Herod the Great. Jesus is baptized Jesus is crucified Expansion

30 AD to 60 AD

Two years of imprisionment for Paul in Jerusalem and Caessarea

James (45) Galatians (49) 1&2 Thessalonians (50) 1Corinthians (55) 2Corinthians (56) Romans (58) Mark (60)

Colossians & Philemon; Ephesians (61); Philipians (62)

1 Timothy & Titus (64)

Matthew ; Luke & Acts (65) ; 1 Peter (65) Hebrews (65); 2 Timothy (66) 2 Peter (67) Jude (68) 1 John (85); 2,3John (90) John (90) Revelation (95)

Consolidation

Trip of Paul to Rome Imprisionment in Rome Paul’s release in Rome

Second imprisonment in Rome

Jerusalem’s Destruction

Chronological

Timeframe

Contents of

1

st

John

1:1-10

Life and light

2:1-14

Love for fellow-Christians

2:15-17

Do not love the world

2:18-29

Warning against the antichrists

3:1-24

Righteousness and love

4:1-6

Test the spirits

4:7-21

The Love of God

5:1-21

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

A call to

examine

yourself under the light of the

fundamentals

of the

faith

:

sound doctrine

,

obedience

, and

love

to help

believers who have been attacked by false teachers,

to

have joy (1:4), hoilness (2:1) and assurance in Jesus Christ (5:13)

spiral

1

spiral

2

spiral

3

spiral

4

B. MORAL Proofs

1. Biblical vision on obedience 2:3-6)

2. Biblical vision on love (2:7-17)

a. The love God loves (2:7-11)

b. The love God hates (2:12-17)

II. The Fundamental Proofs of Genuine

Christianity (2:18-3:24)

A. Doctrinal Proofs (2nd part)

1. Antichrists go out from Church (2:18-27)

2. Antichrists deny the faith(2:22-25)

3. Antichrists deceit people (26,27)

B. MORAL Proofs (2nd part)

1. Purifying Hope (2:28-3:3)

2. Incompatibility with sin (4-24)

a. Pre-requisit to be righteous (3:4-10)

b. Pre-reqiusit to love (3:11-24)

III. The Fundamental Proofs of Genuine

Christianity (4:1-21)

A.

Doctrinal Proofs (3rd part)

1. Demonic source of false teaching (1-3)

2. Necessity of the sound doctrine (4-6)

B. MORAL Proofs(3rd part)

1. Loving character of God (4:7-10)

2. Requirement to love each other

(4:11-21)

I. The Fundamental Proofs of Genuine

Christianity (1:1–2:17)

A. Doctrinal Proofs

1. Biblical vision about Christ (1:1-4)

2. Biblical vision about sin (1:5-2:2)

A call to

examine

yourself under the light of the

fundamentals

of the

faith

:

sound doctrine

,

obedience

, and

love

to help

believers who have been attacked by false teachers,

to

have joy (1:4), holiness (2:1) and assurance in Jesus Christ (5:13)

IV. The Fundamental Proofs of Genuine Christianity (5:1-21)

A.

Triumphant Life in Christ (5:1-5)

B.

God’s testimony for Christ (5:6-12)

C.

Certainty Because of Christ (13-21)

1.

Certainty of the eternal life (5:13)

2.

Certainty of answered prayers (5:14-17)

Content / Summary of

2

nd

John

vv. 1-3

I. The

Base

of Christian Hospitality

vv. 4-6

II. The

Behavior

of the Christian Hospitality

vv. 7-11

III. The

Limits

of the Christian Hospitality

vv. 12-13

IV. The

Blessings

of the Christian Hospitality

2

John

condemns those who are

hosting false teachers

.

“

A call to the

fundamentals

of the

faith

and to an

appropriate

use

of the Christian

hospitality

.”

Content / Summary of

3

rd

John

vv. 1-8

I. The

Commandments

Regarding to

Christian Hospitality

vv. 9-11

II. The

Commandments

Regarding to a

Violation

to

Christian Hospitality

vv. 12-15

III. The

Conclusion

Regarding to

Christian

Hospitality

3

John

condemns those who are

NOT hosting the servants of God

.

“

Commending

the

right use

of Christian

hospitality

and

condemning

the

lack

of a right use of it.

Landmarks

Key Concepts



1 John



Repetition

,

repetition

,

repetition

… He goes over and over on key terms such as:

light

,

truth

, to believe,

love

and

righteousness

, but he mention those by interchanging

emphasis.



Simplicity

in each sentence. For Greek students, these are easier letters to read,

because of the simplicity and clarity of John’s sentences and syntax.



1John is written with a

warm tone

, lovely, as a father speaking an friendly conversation

with his children.



1 John is also “

pastoral

”, written from the

heart

of a

pastor

with some concerns about

his flock. He speaks about basic and essential concepts on the faith.



There is a great

similarity

between

1 John

and the

Gospel

of John on vocabulary:

Father, Son, Spirit, beginning, Word (Logos),

παρακλητος

(Parakletos – Comforter or

Advocate), believe, life, eternal, love, to abide, to keep, commandment, truly, to know,

to have, to be born, to testify, light, darkness, world, sin, devil.



2 & 3 John



2&3 John represents in the NT the nearest

model

of what was supposed to be a

letter

in the

contemporary

Greek-Roman

world

, because those letters were sent to

individuals.



These two letters are the

shortest letters

in the NT, and each one of them have

Landmarks

Important Doctrines



1John



Christology

is used to refute the error.



Emphasis in

Christ incarnation

and His

redemption

based on

His blood

.

1Jn.1:7



Parácleto (advocate or comforter) (1Jn.2:1). This is an interesting

term to learn that Jesus Christ intercedes for us because he is

the propitiation for our sins.



Confession

of sins (1Jn.1:5-10).

To hate

worldliness

(1Jn.1:15-17).



Now

we are

children

of God (1Jn.3:1-3).



2 & 3 de John

Landmarks

Well Known Texts

1John

 1Jn.1:9 Confessing our sins

 1Jn.2:1 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  1Jn.2:4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is

not in him,

 1Jn.2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.  1Jn.2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.

 1Jn.3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

 1Jn.3:8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil …  1Jn.3:18 let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

 1Jn.4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  1Jn.4:19 We love because he first loved us.

 1Jn.5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

 1Jn.5:20 “… And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

 1Jn 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 

2 & 3 de John

 2Jn.10 “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,”

 3Jn.11 “Beloved, do not imitate the bad, but the good. The one doing good is of God; but the one doing bad has not seen God.”