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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