1 John was written by the apostle John (not John the Baptist). John wrote the gospel of John 1, 2, 3 John, and Revelation. John wrote 1, 2 and 3 John to the churches of Asia Minor, written to combat the beginnings of Gnosticism. Gnostics claimed to have "special knowledge" from God that no one else had. Gnosticism comes from the Greek word GNOSIS which means knowledge.
In 1 John, he is presenting the humanity of Jesus Christ, that is, the human form that God came in. I believe the correct doctrine of Jesus Christ is the He is 100% God, and 100% man, when He came.
1 John 1:1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
These phrases "from the beginning," are not the same phrase that's in John 1:1 in the gospels, where it says in the beginning. In the beginning, in John's gospel, it is making reference to the time of creation. In 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, he's making reference to the beginning of the ministry of Christ here on the earth. From the beginning is different than in the beginning.
That which was from the beginning, when Christ's ministry began, which we have heard (physically and audibly), and this is a Perfect Tense verb. We literally have heard Him speak, which we have seen with our eyes, with all the physical senses we experienced Christ, which we have looked upon, and in the Greek text, that's the word where we get our word theater from. We viewed Him for three years.
And our hands handled, concerning the Word of life; We touched Him. He was physical. We saw Him. We heard Him. Now this term word of life is a very interesting study in and of itself. In the King James text, the word "word" is capitalized. But in 1 John, John is not making reference to the word being Jesus Christ. He's making reference to the message about life, and that life is God come in human form.
1 John 1:10 - If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
If we say that we have not sinned, and that's what is called a Perfect Tense. That is, you have never sinned up to this point, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. What does that mean? Paul says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
We have all of the Old Testament scriptures that talk about the corruption of man and the sinfulness of man, and all of the New Testament scriptures that talk about man's sin, the total depravity of man. And some of the Gnostics said "I've never sinned. It was my body, not me!"
If we say that we have not sinned, we're making God a liar because God says in His word, you're a sinner. And if you say you have not sinned, His word is not in you. You're not saved!
1 John 1:6 - If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
How would you like to have somebody call you a liar? You say you have fellowship with God, and that you believe in God, and that you belong to God, but in your life, you're walking in darkness. The word walk in the Greek text shows a continuous action. You're not practicing the truth. You're not walking continuously in the truth.
So, if you say with your mouth that you have fellowship with God, but your life is in darkness, you're lying. You're not having fellowship with God at all. It might be church. It might be bible study. But you're not having fellowship with God if you're walking in sin, walking in darkness.
1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
What the Gnostics used to do is that they would say all physical is evil. Therefore, my physical body is evil, and there's nothing I can do about it. And I'm not going to be judged for any sin that it does. So, they would say to "Just party it up. Live it up. You're not responsible for what your physical body does. You are spirit. And your physical body is evil, and once you die it will be gone, and then you get to go to heaven."
And they take part of truth and combine it with some "special knowledge," and they come up with corruption. But if you say you have no sin (presently, right now), in other words you say "Well, the blood of Jesus Christ does not need to continuously cleanse me when I have fellowship, because I don't have sin," yes you do! We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The Lord is in the ministry of cleansing and forgiving us for all of our sins. That's His ministry!
1 John 1:5 - This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
This then is the message which we have heard from Him, and we declare to you. So, this is a teaching of Christ, the incarnate one that he just mentioned. That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
This is one of the most important doctrines in the whole bible. With God, there is no shade. There's no dark corner. There's no darkness anywhere with God. So, if you understand that Jesus came and said, "I am the light of the world," He came to enlighten us as to who God is, and our need for a Savior in Christ, and who we are.
Once I receive Jesus Christ, I now have the light of God living inside of me. And I can sleep at night. It doesn't keep me up. But everything that I do, everything that I think, and every place that I go, I'm going in the light. There isn't any place that I can go that I am not in His light. I can go find a dark place in an alley somewhere where nobody can see me, but God's light, His Spiritual light is on.
The difference between a believer and non-believer is that a believer commits acts of sin, whereas a non-believer lives a lifestyle of sin. The reason you and I commit acts of sin but can no longer live a lifestyle of sin, is because our life is in the light.
When we sin, we are sinning in the light. And God's Spirit convicts us. And He brings us to confession and repentance before Him. The person that doesn't know the Lord is in the darkness, spiritual darkness. They have no conviction of their sin. So, they can live a lifestyle of sin. But what a concept. God is light. And there is no darkness in Him at all, none!
1 John 1:2 - (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
For the life, and notice it doesn't say the word of life. It says for the life, and that would be Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. The life was manifested. That means He appeared. And we have seen, and we are bearing witness, and we show, or literally we declare unto you that eternal life, and basically in Chapter 5, Jesus Christ is said to be the eternal God and He is eternal life. And if you have Christ, you have eternal life.
It says we declare unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;
So right away, in the first two verses, he's presenting the fact that he is an eyewitness account of the physical presence, and the ministry of the eternal God who is now in human form. And he (John) was there!
1 John 1:4 - And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
The word full is what is called the Perfect Tense which means a condition. It's a continuous condition of having your joy full. And remember I shared that the word joy in Greek is the Greek way of expressing satisfaction.
Some people apply it to the human and talk about "happiness" and "bubbly joy" that we're supposed to have all of the time. But it's not applied to the flesh. This is for the spirit to be satisfied at its fullness. So, he says to have fellowship with Christ, and with us. And then secondly, that you'll be satisfied with Him so that you don't chase after the other things.
(1 John Part 1):
1 John was written by the apostle John (not John the Baptist). John wrote the gospel of John 1, 2, 3 John, and Revelation. John wrote 1, 2 and 3 John to the churches of Asia Minor, written to combat the beginnings of Gnosticism. Gnostics claimed to have "special knowledge" from God that no one else had. Gnosticism comes from the Greek word GNOSIS which means knowledge.
In 1 John, he is presenting the humanity of Jesus Christ, that is, the human form that God came in. I believe the correct doctrine of Jesus Christ is the He is 100% God, and 100% man, when He came.
1 John 1:1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
These phrases "from the beginning," are not the same phrase that's in John 1:1 in the gospels, where it says in the beginning. In the beginning, in John's gospel, it is making reference to the time of creation. In 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, he's making reference to the beginning of the ministry of Christ here on the earth. From the beginning is different than in the beginning.
That which was from the beginning, when Christ's ministry began, which we have heard (physically and audibly), and this is a Perfect Tense verb. We literally have heard Him speak, which we have seen with our eyes, with all the physical senses we experienced Christ, which we have looked upon, and in the Greek text, that's the word where we get our word theater from. We viewed Him for three years.
And our hands handled, concerning the Word of life; We touched Him. He was physical. We saw Him. We heard Him. Now this term word of life is a very interesting study in and of itself. In the King James text, the word "word" is capitalized. But in 1 John, John is not making reference to the word being Jesus Christ. He's making reference to the message about life, and that life is God come in human form.
1 John 1:10 - If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
If we say that we have not sinned, and that's what is called a Perfect Tense. That is, you have never sinned up to this point, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. What does that mean? Paul says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
We have all of the Old Testament scriptures that talk about the corruption of man and the sinfulness of man, and all of the New Testament scriptures that talk about man's sin, the total depravity of man. And some of the Gnostics said "I've never sinned. It was my body, not me!"
If we say that we have not sinned, we're making God a liar because God says in His word, you're a sinner. And if you say you have not sinned, His word is not in you. You're not saved!
1 John 1:6 - If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
How would you like to have somebody call you a liar? You say you have fellowship with God, and that you believe in God, and that you belong to God, but in your life, you're walking in darkness. The word walk in the Greek text shows a continuous action. You're not practicing the truth. You're not walking continuously in the truth.
So, if you say with your mouth that you have fellowship with God, but your life is in darkness, you're lying. You're not having fellowship with God at all. It might be church. It might be bible study. But you're not having fellowship with God if you're walking in sin, walking in darkness.
1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
What the Gnostics used to do is that they would say all physical is evil. Therefore, my physical body is evil, and there's nothing I can do about it. And I'm not going to be judged for any sin that it does. So, they would say to "Just party it up. Live it up. You're not responsible for what your physical body does. You are spirit. And your physical body is evil, and once you die it will be gone, and then you get to go to heaven."
And they take part of truth and combine it with some "special knowledge," and they come up with corruption. But if you say you have no sin (presently, right now), in other words you say "Well, the blood of Jesus Christ does not need to continuously cleanse me when I have fellowship, because I don't have sin," yes you do! We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The Lord is in the ministry of cleansing and forgiving us for all of our sins. That's His ministry!
1 John 1:5 - This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
This then is the message which we have heard from Him, and we declare to you. So, this is a teaching of Christ, the incarnate one that he just mentioned. That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
This is one of the most important doctrines in the whole bible. With God, there is no shade. There's no dark corner. There's no darkness anywhere with God. So, if you understand that Jesus came and said, "I am the light of the world," He came to enlighten us as to who God is, and our need for a Savior in Christ, and who we are.
Once I receive Jesus Christ, I now have the light of God living inside of me. And I can sleep at night. It doesn't keep me up. But everything that I do, everything that I think, and every place that I go, I'm going in the light. There isn't any place that I can go that I am not in His light. I can go find a dark place in an alley somewhere where nobody can see me, but God's light, His Spiritual light is on.
The difference between a believer and non-believer is that a believer commits acts of sin, whereas a non-believer lives a lifestyle of sin. The reason you and I commit acts of sin but can no longer live a lifestyle of sin, is because our life is in the light.
When we sin, we are sinning in the light. And God's Spirit convicts us. And He brings us to confession and repentance before Him. The person that doesn't know the Lord is in the darkness, spiritual darkness. They have no conviction of their sin. So, they can live a lifestyle of sin. But what a concept. God is light. And there is no darkness in Him at all, none!
1 John 1:2 - (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
For the life, and notice it doesn't say the word of life. It says for the life, and that would be Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. The life was manifested. That means He appeared. And we have seen, and we are bearing witness, and we show, or literally we declare unto you that eternal life, and basically in Chapter 5, Jesus Christ is said to be the eternal God and He is eternal life. And if you have Christ, you have eternal life.
It says we declare unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;
So right away, in the first two verses, he's presenting the fact that he is an eyewitness account of the physical presence, and the ministry of the eternal God who is now in human form. And he (John) was there!
1 John 1:4 - And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
The word full is what is called the Perfect Tense which means a condition. It's a continuous condition of having your joy full. And remember I shared that the word joy in Greek is the Greek way of expressing satisfaction.
Some people apply it to the human and talk about "happiness" and "bubbly joy" that we're supposed to have all of the time. But it's not applied to the flesh. This is for the spirit to be satisfied at its fullness. So, he says to have fellowship with Christ, and with us. And then secondly, that you'll be satisfied with Him so that you don't chase after the other things.
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