Jun27-Jul3: Jesus and the Epistles of John

Teaching Points

1. John addressed his readers by "little children" and "beloved"

• "little children" - 1 John 2:1, 18, 28; 1 John 3:7,18; 1 John 4:4; 1 John 5:21.
• "beloved" -1 John 3:2, 21; 1 John 4:1, 7, 11; 3 John 2, 5, 11

OBSERVATION:

• John called them little children because he was a spiritual father to them. In fact, John was pretty old (around 80 yrs old?) when he wrote this epistle. He is giving them the message of warning to the "little children" because little children can be easily misled.
• John called them beloved because he truly loved them as his own. Jesus also called John beloved.
• John shows much love and care here.
  

2. The main content of the Epistles may be concluded from the above verses

• Observe the key thoughts from the following verses.
• "little children"
• 1 John 2:1 "Ye sin not"
• 1 John 2:18 "Antichrists shall come"
• 1 John 3:7 "Let no man deceive you"
• 1 John 3:18 "Let us...love...in deed and in truth"
• 1 John 4:4 "Greater is He that is in you"
• 1 John 5:21 "Keep yourselves from idols"
• "beloved"
• 1 John 3:2 "Now are we the sons of God"
• 1 John 3:21 "We have confidence toward God"
• 1 John 4:1 "Try the spirits"
• 1 John 4:7 "Love one another"
• 1 John 4:11 "We ought also to love one another"
• 3 John 2 "Prosper..in health"
• 3 John 5 "Doest faithfully"
• 3 John 11 "Follow.. that which is good".

OBSERVATION:

• Whenever John says "little children" or "beloved", I can almost feel John is saying, 'now, listen carefully!' If this is so then John was highlighting his main points with these terminologies.

3. John's purpose of writing the Epistles

• 1 John 1:4 "Joy may be full"
• 1 John 2:1 "Ye sin not"
• 1 John 2:26 "I written unto you concerning them that seduce you"
• 1 John 5:13 "That ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

OBSERVATION:

• We cannot avoid the fact that John does mention why he wrote what he wrote. If you connect above verses carefully then it is pretty obvious that John was warning them about the deception of new theology-false believers claiming righteousness without doing the righteousness

4. Jesus in the the Epistles of John

• 1 John 1:1 The Word of Life
• 1 John 1:2 The Eternal Life
• 1 John 1:3 The Son of God
• 1 John 2:1 The Advocate
• 1 John 2:2 The Propitiation
• 1 John 2:22 The Christ
• 1 John 4:14 The Savior
• 1 John 5:20 The True God.

OBSERVATION:

• Begins with "the Word of Life" and ends with "the True God". Sounds similar to John 1:1"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

5. Jesus' Ministry in John's Epistles?

• 1 John 1:7 The blood of Jesus cleanse us from all sin
• 1 John 1:9 To forgive us our sins
• 1 John 2:1 To mediate
• 1 John 2:25 Promised us eternal life
• 1 John 2:28 Jesus shall appear(the second coming)
• 1 John 3:5 To take away our sins
• 1 John 3:8 Destroy the works of the devil
• 1 John 3:16 Laid down His life for us

OBSERVATION:

• I think Matt. 1:21 nicely summarizes the above verse, "...shalt call his name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" We can definitely see gospel message in John's epistle

CONCLUSION:

• John knows that he will depart from the world soon. He also see that the church will be attacked every side. John feels the need to write the gospel message again but this time just the main core of the message. He repeats the main point so many times so that no one can miss the main point. He reveals the Christ and the antichrist in a contrast manner that no one should be seduced by the false teachings