FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
BIBLE STUDY FOR
CHURCH WORKERS / LEADERS
By
Ven. Dr. I. U. Ibeme
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PREAMBLE
By the authority of the Lord, the Apostles
commanded (1Thess 5:27) that the Church congregation be continually exposed to
God’s Word (
1.
Bible
2.
Bible
Preaching
3.
Bible
Teaching (1Tim 4:13)
This demands that
Church Ministers must engage in Bible study in order to have accurate
interpretation that stands the test anywhere (2Tim 2:15). Such study must seek to know the background
of every Scripture in its context.
As ministers of the Word to the
congregation, our study of 1John should seek to have accurate understanding by
finding out
1.
The
historical circumstances that surrounded its writing.
2.
The
contextual meaning of its teachings and themes
3.
The
exhortatory usefulness and doctrinal content of its message (i.e. the life
application).
Able ministers of the New Testament (2Cor.
3:6) must be well equipped, through a good knowledge and understanding of the
Scripture, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, to make known the ways of God
and how to walk in them according to the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood.
FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
BACKGROUND
Author: Apostle John, the son of Zebedee
and brother of James.
Date:
Towards the end of the first century AD (80 – 90 AD)
Purpose: Polemic treatise to the Church
refuting the empty and deceitful, philosophical traditions and speculations of
GNOSTICISM which was creeping into the Church (
WHO WERE THE GNOSTICS ?
Gnosticism is a bizarre, syncretistic
philosophical (1Tim 6:20-21) religion which was nascent in the second half of
the first century AD but fully blossomed in the second and third centuries. It
is called GNOSTICISM (from the Greek GNOSIS = knowledge) because it claimed to
possess special knowledge (gnosis) which was secretly taught to its initiates.
The Gnostics instead of asking the
practical question: “What must I do to be saved from sin?”, set out to ask the
impractical question: “What is the origin of evil?” and “How could the pre-evil
order of the universe be restored?”. Gnostics of conflicting sects claimed they
had secret tradition or knowledge handed down to them exclusively from Christ
and His first followers.
SOURCES OF GNOSTIC PHILOSOPHY
Gnostics combined the philosophies of
genealogies of the hierarchy of the divinities (PERSIAN philosophy) and the
equality of the forces of GOOD /spirit and EVIL/matter (SYRO-EGYPTIAN dualism),
in the language of Platonism (GREEK philosophy).
GNOSTICISM REFUTED IN FIRST JOHN
The Gnostics believed that the Supreme
Holy God of pure light, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the same as
the Creator God of the 0ld Testament. To the Gnostics the creator God is a
corrupted and lower divinity who is the author of matter and its evil and
darkness.
Cerinthus, a popular
Gnostic teacher in
Gnostics taught that sin was not any fault
of humans but the limiting and oppressive force imposed on humans by the
Creator God called DEMIURGE, using the prison of the material and evil body.
Humans therefore are not guilty of any lawlessness. For this reason, the Ten
Commandments and all moral law are rejected by the Gnostics as part of the evil
devices of the Demiurge Creator God. John therefore insists that sin is
lawlessness (John 3:4) and we must accept and keep the commandment if we are
born of God (1John 2:3-4; 5:2-3).
The Gnostics believed their spirit-man
were sparks of the divine Light imprisoned in bodies by the Creator Demiurge.
So they claim that since their flesh did not belong to them, they had no sin
but were in the light. So John pointed out that denying that our flesh and its
sins did not belong to us is self-deceit and a lie. The truth is that Jesus
provides the cleansing and made the propitiation for our sins (1John 1:8 – 2;2)
To the Gnostics whether you love or hate,
be moral or immoral is irrelevant; what maters is having the secret knowledge
of the way of escape from the Demiurge Creator (i.e. learning from the serpent
of
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
Chapter1
The Apostolic witness of John was surer
than the Gnostic spurious claims because it was based on real, daily, open
historical contact with Christ. Their message was the original message and
there is no other as claimed by the Gnostics. The church is meant to be the
fellowship of light for the purified sinners with the Father and the Son.
Chapter 2
Christ has made propitiation for our sins,
so we must not sin any longer, though there is provision to advocate for us if
we fall into sin unawares. True GNOSIS (KNOWLEDGE) is to keep God’s
commandments and follow the examples of Christ.
The commandment is to love our brother as Christ loved, not to love the
sinful ways and things of the world. If
we hold fast to the apostolic witness and fellowship we are sure of eternal
life, which Christ has promised and partake of the glory that shall be at his
appearing.
Chapter 3
We are children of God through Christ so
we shall be like Him on the last day. Sin is the practice of lawlessness not an
evil in matter. Righteousness is the practice of God’s commandments not a
presumed spiritual spark. Those born of God are able not to sin because the
seed of God remains in them having passed from death to life and having
received the indwelling Spirit through Christ
Chapter 4
The test of the Spirit of Truth is base on
the Christ that is preached and believed. The true Christ is He who came, not
only in the Spirit (by water in Ch.5), but also in the flesh (by blood in Ch
5). Christ’s love was the love that was unto death and so was propitiatory.
Those who have fellowship with this Christ
share in the love that is of God. The Christ who suffered and died is the true
demonstration of God’s love and so is the motivation to love for all who
believe in such Christ.
Chapter 5
Loving the brethren and loving God, who
first loved us, is a mandate that true believers don’t find burdensome. Neither
is God faulty nor is God’s commandment
an oppressive regimen. Christ overcame the world and the satanic sway over the
world. This He did by taking up the human flesh, dying in the flesh, and rising
unto eternal life. By raising Christ from death unto eternal life, God
testified to all that Jesus is actually the Son of God and truly the Christ.
Due to this stupendous testimony from God,
we who believe in Jesus as the Christ have confidence that God answers us what
we ask in Christ’s Name. As such, we triumph over the world when we are in
Christ.
Ven. Dr I. U. Ibeme
Last revised: June 26, 2007
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