Introducing The Book Of 1 John. EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF 1 JOHN study #1 (Various Scriptures)

Here we are again beginning another book of the Bible. With ended our last study with just a brief little letter we studied on in Jude and now we will now dive into a letter that we will spend several months on. I begin 1 John as I do most of the letters that I have exposited through in Bible. That will be with a look at the author and the reason for the writing. Most people place the timing of this writing between A.D. 85-95. There is nothing in this letter that gives to us any data concerning the timing or location that the letter was written.

We really have no Biblical proof of most of what we seek to understand in this introduction of this letter so we will look at some tradition to gather our information concerning these questions of who it is that wrote this letter and to whom it is written. With this brief opening on this study let’s dive into what we are going to look at in this letter.

1.Who wrote 1 John?
Unlike most New Testament books, 1 John does not open up with a name attached to this letter. In fact nowhere in this letter do we have the authors name, location or status. There is no Biblical text that says that this letter is written by John the Apostle but tradition early on places John the Apostle, the brother of James, the son of Zebedee as the author.

Not only does tradition give us that assumption but I believe within the opening of this letter we see something very important concerning the author. He says in 1 John 1:1-2 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— ² and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

This writer was no doubt a close companion and eye witness to the life of Jesus. The author expresses not only visible proof of what he saw but the fact that he touched with his hands the Lord Jesus. This was not someone that just came across Jesus but someone that was intimately involved in the ministry of Jesus. Peter spoke in a very similar way when he said in 2 Peter 1:16-18 that says For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷ For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— ¹⁸ and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

So along with tradition I do hold to the fact that John the Apostle is this eye witness that was closely involved in the Lord Jesus’ ministry.

We know that John began to follow Christ early on in the public ministry of Jesus. In fact many people believe John to be one of the two disciples of John the Baptist in John 1 where John the Baptist tells them that Jesus is the Lamb of God and they begin to follow Jesus. It says in John 1:35-37 On the next day, John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ And the two disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus.

We can’t be dogmatic about this being the Apostle John in John 1 but we do know for sure that John, his brother James, Peter and Andrew were the first of the 12 Apostles to be called by Jesus. We see this in Matthew 4:18-22 that says Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. ²² And immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

With this information we know that John not only was one of the 12 but was also considered to be in the inner circle of that group of 12. He would be on the mountain with Jesus, Peter and James when Jesus was transfigured, he would be called to go with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he would be called to go into Jairus’ house when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter back to life and he would be one of the first disciples to go to the empty tomb after the resurrection of Jesus.

All of this shows to us a closeness to Jesus, a dedication to teach the Word of God properly and the care of the people that he ministered to in his lifetime. There is so much we could speak on concerning John, like his writing of the 4th Gospel, the other two letters we know as 2 and 3 John, then the writing of Revelation, his exile, his persecution and death. But for now we will withhold from speaking of those things and look at our next point for this study.

2.Who is 1 John written to?
Just like our first point we do not have a single text that points to the recipients of this letter. But what we do know is that John was very close to his audience. Most likely the leader of this group of Christians because 7 times throughout this letter he calls them “little children“. You can find those references in 1 John 2:1, 12, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21.

Also 6 times he calls them “beloved” which is a word of affection and love to his readers. Those can be found in 1 John 2:7; 3:2,21; 4:1,7,11.

Some commentators suggest that this familiarity with his audience is the reason why he does not give his name in this letter. They knew who it was that was writing to them for the purpose of helping them to recognize false teachers and to know how they were to live in spite of the opposition that the false teachers were bringing into the congregation. I think it is important to notice that many of the epistles from the New Testament were written to churches warning them of false teachers and leading their audiences to understand the true Gospel more. Whether it was Paul, Peter James or John this was the focus of these letters and we must take this as something that we too must focus on.

John really sums up his writing in showing that not only is his audience close people to him and children in the faith but they are the redeemed of God. He says in 1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

In this verse we see the recipients are those that believe in the name of the Son of God which is not a reference to some intellectual knowledge of who Jesus is but an intimate relationship with Jesus. This means his audience are those that know that Jesus is the Lord and Savior and they are His slaves.

He also gives a reason for this letter in the second part of this verse that we will expound on a little further in our next point. He says that this letter was written to them so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This brings us to the place where we will look at the purpose of the writing. This will be very evident within this letter as we will see in our last point for this study.

3.What is the purpose of 1 John?
It is always good to look at the overall reason that the writer writes what they write. If we just blindly look at this writing we may catch some challenging words, we may also find some of the things said to be offensive or out of place so we look at the reason for why this letter was written. In some books of the Bible it may be a little more difficult than others to know the true motivation of the original author but 1 John does not give to us any real challenge.

We finished the last point with a brief look at 1 John 5:13 that says These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This really serves as a summation to the entire letter. He writes to these beloved people that he refers to as his little children to encourage them in knowing that they truly have eternal life. So many false teachings had already crept into the church which made many doubt what they heard and knew at first. The 1st century believers did not have the Bible as we do to line up what they heard from others against Scripture. They depended on memory or letters like this one to give to them truths. Of course having these truth come from Apostles and those connected with the Apostles was highly important.

John gives us some other things within this letter that falls under this category of encouragement in the faith that we will notice as we exposit through this letter. We see these throughout the letter as we will see here.

1 John 1:4 says And these things we are writing, so that our joy may be made complete.

1 John 2:1-2 says My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

1 John 2:12-14 says I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. ¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. ¹⁴ I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 2:21 says I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

1 John 2:26-27 says These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ And as for you, the anointing whom you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as He has taught you, abide in Him.

All of these verses show to us that John is writing to bring us joy that only comes from God, to help us in not sinning, in knowing we have Jesus as our Advocate, in knowing that Jesus is our propitiation for our sins, in knowing the truth about God through His Word and in how to know that what we know is true by His anointing or in other words His Spirit that lives within us.

Much of what we will see is that John along with all the writers of the New Testament had the challenge of making sure that their audience knew that what they had been teaching was truly from God. Many false teachers were spreading a false Gospel so they wrote often to their people about the truth and the error that was surrounding them. This is what we will point out often as we will look at the contents of this letter starting in our next study.

Bible Passage For The Day 4-9-2024

1 Corinthians 12:18; 27-28

But now God has appointed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

²⁷ Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. ²⁸ And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.

Bible Passage For The Day 4-7-2024

Ephesians 4:11-12

And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

YouTube and Podcast Teaching for….The Calling Of The Twelve Apostles. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #48 (Luke 6:12-16)

The Calling Of The Twelve Apostles. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #48 (Luke 6:12-16) – Disciple's Direction

Podcast teaching for….Levi’s(Matthew’s) Call To Follow Jesus. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #44 (Luke 5:27-32)

Levi's(Matthew's) Call To Follow Jesus. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #44 (Luke 5:27-32) – Disciple's Direction

Levi’s(Matthew’s) Call To Follow Jesus. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #44 (Luke 5:27-32)

We move along in the 5th chapter to see another disciple that Jesus calls into fulltime ministry along with Him. We have seen the call to Peter, Andrew, James and John with the possibility of Nathanael and Philip’s call as well at the beginning of this chapter and now we will see the call to a tax collector best known by the name of Matthew. In our text we will see his name as Levi but as we will see from the other Gospel accounts that this is the same person. This is Matthew who will be listed as one of the 12 Apostles to our Lord. There is not much content to see leading up to Matthew’s call to discipleship but what we will see is a teaching that comes after his decision to follow Christ. As we look into this passage of Scripture we will see not only Matthew’s call to ministry but we will see a teaching from our Lord Jesus concerning the call to people in spite of what they did before. Let’s look now at our first point.

1.Jesus calls Levi(Matthew) to follow Him.
Look with me at Luke 5:27-28 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. To get us into the context and setting we see that after the event we looked at in our last study that Jesus leaves his house. We know he was at His home in Capernaum and now sets out to go on another journey. We do not see the other disciples listed as being present but we do know that they have been called at this point and would be going with Jesus at every location that He would from here on out. We know that James, John, Peter and Andrew are there along with Philip and Nathanael that are probably there too. The observation is that there are many people following Jesus but it is these specific disciples that we see in the Scripture that are called to be by Jesus throughout His ministry. Even though there is not an account of all 12 of Jesus’ Apostles being called we do come upon another one that I believe is mentioned for the purpose of what happens after.

So we notice that Levi is somewhere in the area of Capernaum because of other accounts in the other Gospels. Look at Matthew 9:5 that says As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Then Mark 2:13-14 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

I do think that Mark’s account provides some information that neither Luke nor Matthew gives us that is crucial to the story. Mark says that Jesus went out again beside the sea which gives us a clue as to where Matthew was. It appears that Matthew’s place of employment and residence is in the area of Capernaum. So we see in our Mark text that once again a crowd is following Jesus and he was teaching them. Jesus always looked to teach and did not make His primary ministry about healing or doing the miraculous. As they are walking along the road they passed by a tax booth where Levi(Matthew), the son of Alphaeus was sitting.

Matthew is a tax collector which is an occupation that comes with it a lot of hate from others. The Jews and most people despised tax collectors because of both on account of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they prosecuted their profession. These tax collectors were Jews that worked for the Romans and this made the situation even worse. Some have suggested that Matthew may have had the responsibility of assigning contracts with local fishermen for the lease of fishing rights in the Sea of Galilee. Matthew may have been collecting toll fare or duties from those travelling on the highway. Either way Matthew was there and would be looked upon as the disgust of the Jewish people as we will see in our next point but for now let’s continue with what we see in our Luke text.

As Jesus is walking by, He sees Levi and approaches him with this command as we see in Luke 5:27b “Follow me.” There was no miraculous sign or act of nature like we saw with the others but simply a call to follow Jesus. It is possible that Levi was within hearing distance of what Jesus was teaching on and when Jesus calls him there is no doubt in his mind what he would do. Remember Jesus has been in this area for a good bit of time so even a tax collector, who would have been an outcast, would hear of the things that Jesus had been doing and teaching on. The answer to the call is simple for Levi as we see in Luke 5:28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

Both Matthew and Mark’s account of this calling gives us the same result which leads us to see that Matthew left everything. This means he left his occupation, his home, his family and what friends he had to follow Jesus. What we will see with Matthew is that he seems to want his fellow tax collectors as well to follow Jesus. As we will see in our next point, he makes a feast for Jesus where he invites his fellow tax collectors. This as always draws a crowd and along in that crowd will be the Pharisees and scribes that always look to discredit what Jesus is doing. Let’s look now at our next point.

2.The call to salvation is to sinners.
Look with me at Luke 5:29-32 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Here we see that Matthew’s transformation leads him to action. He did not just attach Jesus to his life but here we see that he made him a great feast in his house.

This feast was in honor of Jesus. It was Matthew’s way of showing Jesus how much this meant that He would call him, one that is considered the lowliest of all people, one that is despised and rejected to the point of not being able to go to a synagogue or be involved in normal Jewish tradition. Matthew has a feast and Luke says here that this was a great feast. Matthew hosted this in his own home which indicates that he was possibly wealthy to be able to have a feast of this magnitude. This of course is what a lot of tax collectors of that time would have, they would have wealth and they would only associate with others in that profession because of their expulsion from normal Jewish traditions. It was common to have feast and to invite others as well. This of course is what Matthew does in honor of Jesus and invites his fellow tax collectors along. Matthew immediately goes into action to bring others with him to follow Jesus. We see that Luke records that there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

The point is clear again that many people were following Jesus, in fact Mark says Mark 2:15b that there were many who followed him. So just as we saw at the healing of the paralytic, Jesus’ followers are growing. There are some that are truly following, those who desire to be obedient to God and others are there for superficial reasons. Either way there are many following Jesus at this point. Then what we see is the religious leaders that seem to be on the outside of this gathering or possibly there just to bring some type of condemnation on Jesus. Luke 5:30 says And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

As we see the Pharisees and scribes seem to have a problem with what Jesus is doing. This is something that will be ongoing throughout Jesus’ life because the Pharisees and scribes held so close to their man made laws that they would look at people of a lower class as an outcast that deserves no mercy or grace. Jesus calls this hypocrisy out in Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

In other words they focus on what they want pertaining to God’s law. They refused to practice justice, mercy and faithfulness but considered themselves the most holy of all people. Their hypocrisy is no different than people today that make a good appearance of being a follower of Jesus but within they make excuses for their bitterness, resentfulness and unforgiveness towards people. This hypocrisy shows the lack of true love for others and the self centeredness of the person that lives their life this way. Jesus of course calls out their hypocrisy here in Luke 5:31-32 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

The point is that the Pharisees and scribes had missed the point of the Gospel. They had missed the point of the redemption that God has promised and looked to only elevate themselves as holier than all others. This terminology is what Jesus points out to them when He says Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Jesus did not say this so that the Pharisees would get confirmation that they were well spiritually but was simply showing them that the sick or sinful people were the ones that needed a physician. It is those that recognize their spiritual bankruptcy that know they need a Savior. It as Jesus says at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is a true sign of a person that repents. It is their recognition that they are sinful just as all people are. Paul says in Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one is exempt from this truth except the Lord Jesus therefore anyone that thinks they are fine living a life that is unrepentant, only attaching Jesus or some form of religiosity to their life would fall into the category of those that think they are well. Jesus says this of those in Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

It is a dangerous place to be living in such pride that you think that your profession of faith, baptism, position in the church, popularity, religiosity or any other form of spirituality could ever prove your acceptance to God. But sadly this is what the Pharisees and scribes thought of themselves. This is what they taught the people and this is what they questioned here because of Jesus’ acceptance and association with people they classed as scum and low life. Jesus says in our final verse of this account in Luke 5:32  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

This is what salvation does, this is what true revival does in the life of a person that God saves. The fruit of true salvation is seen in a life of repentance. Yes the Christian will still sin but that sin will be a burden to their heart, they will hate that sin and seek to be freed from that sin so to live a life for God through the Lord Jesus Christ.