The Epistles of John

I John

• John was most likely the author, and he was old.
• It seems more like an essay, rather than a letter
• Three themes, each around a key affirmation
• 1:5—God is light and in him there is no darkness
• 1:5-2:17 he talks about this
• 2:18—the antichrist is coming and even now he is in the world.
• 4:2—how do you recognize a spirit from God?
• IF a spirit acknowledges Jesus came in the flesh, he is from God.
• Don’t take this verse out of context!
• If you are born of God you should not be sinning you should be walking in the light.
• Righteousness, love, and belief.
• Watch out for Proto-Gnosticism.
• WE have people who claim to have special knowledge. They are the elite and they are better than those who do not have this knowledge. They think that they are w/o sin.
• True knowledge is always going to be from the Scripture and in accordance with apostolic teaching
• 1:7-8: as Christians we should not be walking in the darkness. But if we claim to be without sin, we make God out to be a liar

• 1:8, 2:1—True Christians sin
• 3:9—no one who is born of God will sin (the NIV has “continue to sin”)
• he has God’s see and is born of God
• 5:18—anyone born of God will not sin.
• D. Scholar, “Sins within and Sins Without” Current Issues, ia Biblical and patristic inter. Ed. G. Hawthorne
• There is a distinction between Sins that lead to death and sins that do not lead to death.
• 1 John 2:19—this is the sin that will kill you.

Hatred of God’s people—there is no way a believer can do this

II John: Hospitality

• In the Middle East, showing Hospitality is the norm. If you don’t you bring shame to your family! Even today, the norm is extreme hospitality
• When itinerant false teachers come and depend on hospitality in order to ply their trade—don’t show them hospitality
• Should we not offer hospitality to Jehovah’s Witnesses? No it doesn’t mean that. But you do not give them an opportunity to propagate their faith by supporting them financially.