1st, 2nd, and 3rd John Reflecting the Love of God

By Practical Christianity Foundation

Reflecting the Love of God a collection of three powerful and inspired letters to all Christians concerning the certainty of God's salvation, exhorting believers to grow in godly life reflecting His Love and understanding His truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Practical Christianity Foundation
• Release date: Aug 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781600980718

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1st, 2nd, & 3rd JOHN—REFLECTING THE LOVE OF GOD

by Practical Christianity Foundation

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

All scriptural references, unless otherwise noted, are quoted from GOD’S WORD® Translation. ©1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version. ©1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover art: The Resource Agency, Franklin, Tennessee

Project Management by JJ Graphics

Copyright © 2013 by Practical Christianity Foundation

All rights reserved

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-60098-071-8

Preface

The Epistles of John

Introduction

1 John One

1 John Two

1 John Three

1 John Four

1 John Five

2 John

3 John

Text Notes

From the conception of the Practical Christianity Foundation, it has been the goal of the organization to convey the truth in Scripture through verse-by-verse devotional studies such as this one. As part of that goal, we agree in an attempt neither to prove nor disprove any traditional or alternative interpretations, beliefs, or doctrines, but rather to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth contained within the Scriptures. Any interpretations relating to ambiguous passages that are not directly and specifically verifiable by other scriptural references are simply presented in what we believe to be the most likely intention of the message based upon those things that we are specifically told. In those instances, our conclusions are noted as interpretive, and such analyses should not be understood as doctrinal positions that we are attempting to champion.

This study is divided into sections, usually between six and eight verses, and each section concludes with a Notes/Applications passage, which draws practical insight from the related verses that can be applied to contemporary Christian living. The intent is that the reader will complete one section per day, will gain a greater understanding of the verses within that passage, and will daily be challenged toward a deeper commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Also included at certain points within the text are Dig Deeper boxes, which are intended to assist readers who desire to invest additional time to study topics that relate to the section in which these boxes appear. Our prayer is that this study will impact the lives of all believers, regardless of age, ethnicity, or education.

Each of PCF’s original projects is a collaborative effort of many writers, content editors, grammatical editors, transcribers, researchers, readers, and other contributors, and as such, we present them only as products of the Practical Christianity Foundation as a whole. These works are not for the recognition or acclamation of any particular individual but are written simply as a means to uphold and fulfill the greater purpose of our Mission Statement, which is to exalt the Holy Name of God Almighty by declaring the redemptive message of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the lost global community and equipping the greater Christian community through the communication of the Holy Word of God in its entirety through every appropriate means available.

Practical Christianity Foundation Value Statements

1.We value the Holy Name of God and will strive to exalt Him through godly living, committed service, and effective communication. "As long as you live, you, your children, and your grandchildren must fear the Lord your God. All of you must obey all his laws and commands that I’m giving you, and you will live a long time" (Deuteronomy 6:2).

2.We value the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for a lost world and will strive to communicate His redemptive message to the global community. "Then Jesus said to them, ‘So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News’" (Mark 16:15).

3.We value the Holy Word of God and will strive to communicate it in its entirety. "¹⁶Every Scripture passage is inspired by God. All of them are useful for teaching, pointing out errors, correcting people, and training them for a life that has God’s approval. ¹⁷They equip God’s servants so that they are completely prepared to do good things" (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

4.We value spiritual growth in God’s people and will strive to enhance that process through the effective communication of God’s Holy Word, encouraging them to be lovers of the truth. "But grow in the good will and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to him now and for that eternal day! Amen" (2 Peter 3:18).

5.We value the equipping ministry of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and will strive to provide resources for that ministry by the communication of God’s Holy Word through every appropriate means available. "¹¹He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts to his church. ¹²Their purpose is to prepare God’s people to serve and to build up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11–12).

Although these letters were not signed, the predominant evidence from the early church fathers ascribes these epistles to the same apostle John who wrote the gospel account which bears his name. This John was the beloved apostle of Jesus during His three years of ministry. He was a fisherman who followed Jesus, listened to His teaching, was nearby when He was arrested, was present at the crucifixion, and was an eyewitness of the risen Lord. It is generally accepted that John wrote these letters around A.D. 90–95 since much of his content addresses the teachings of Gnosticism, which rose to prominence at the close of the first century.¹ Many of the early church fathers propose that John wrote these letters from the city of Ephesus (view image) in Asia Minor, now western Turkey. They inform us that John, well advanced in years by that time, served as overseer of the churches in the area. Because of his unique apostolic position, he was appropriate ly called The Church Leader. As the last living disciple of the Lord, he was inextricably connected to the generation that had witnessed the remarkable life of Jesus Christ. Those generations that followed never actually saw the Lord but relied on the truth of eyewitness testimony.

In the book of Revelation we have further insight into this relationship between John, the apostle, and the churches of Asia Minor. (view image) In the first three chapters of the Revelation, Jesus directs John to write letters to seven churches located in this region. John, the Elder of the church in Ephesus (view image) for many years, wrote to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. While it is generally believed that John’s epistles predated the book of Revelation, we can surmise that these churches were also under John’s apostolic oversight since his epistles were widely circulated among the churches of the region.²

There is a clear similarity in style and substance between the letters and the Gospel of John. The themes of light versus darkness, truth versus falsehood, life versus death, run repeatedly throughout all of his writings. John described the conflict between these opposing forces. Everything is seen in black and white with no gray area that would allow for some broader interpretation. Faced with rampant heresy, John presented a series of tests by which the true Christian could determine correct doctrine from that which is patently false.

We discover that the early church encountered controversies that required the authority of the apostle. All three epistles allude to various problems, but there is a contrast between the first letter and the last two. The second and third epistles are addressed to individuals. The first epistle, while not addressed to any church in particular, resembles other early church letters. Nevertheless, the theme of these three letters is so similar that it is possible that they were all directed toward the same destination—the church or certain individuals in the church.

Some scholars have recommended a dating of the letters different than the sequence in which the epistles are biblically presented. However, there is little evidence to help us establish with certainty the chronological order in which the letters were written, so it is perhaps wisest to infer that the letters were composed in the order in which they were received and placed into the scriptural canons by the early church.³

As we pursue this careful study of these three letters of the apostle John, we will find that we will be tested in the crucible of these Spirit-directed letters. We will be challenged to provide evidence for our faith, to stand strong in the face of false teaching, and to resolve such conflicts with firm determination and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has redeemed us unto our Creator with His immeasurable gift of salvation.

1.Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Epistles of John, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1986), 217.

2.R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude, Commentary on the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001), 365.

3.Kistemaker, Exposition of the Epistles of John, 218.

ASIA MINOR — great peninsula, approximately 250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km), extreme Western Asia, Asian Turkey, also called Anatolia.

It is washed by the Black Sea in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the south, and the Aegean Sea in the west. The Black and Aegean seas are linked by the Sea of Marmara and the two straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Near the southern coast of Asia Minor are the Taurus Mountains; the rest of the peninsula is occupied by the Anatolian plateau, which is crossed by numerous mountains interspersed with lakes. In ancient times most Eastern and Western civilizations intersected in Asia Minor, for it was connected with Mesopotamia by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and with Greece by the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.

The Hittites established the first major civilization in Asia Minor about 1800 B.C. Beginning in the 8th cent. B.C. Greek colonies were established on the coastlands, and the Greeks thus came into contact with Lydia, Phrygia, and Troy. The conquest (6th cent. B.C.) of Asia Minor by the Persians led to the Persian Wars. Alexander the Great incorporated the region into his empire, and after his death it was divided into small states ruled by various Diadochi (rulers). It was reunified (2nd cent. B.C.) by the Romans. After A.D. 395 the country was re-Hellenized and became part of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire. It was prosperous until the early part of the 6th cent. when it was successively invaded by the Persians (616–26), Arabs (668), Seljuk Turks (1061), and Mongols (1243). The Mongols obliterated almost all traces of Hellenic civilization. Asia Minor was then gradually (13th–15th cent.) conquered by the Ottoman Turks. It remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the establishment of the Republic of Turkey after World War I.¹

¹ Paul Lagassé and Columbia University, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (New York; Detroit: Columbia University Press; Sold and distributed by Gale Group, 2000).

EPHESUS — Ephesus, capital of the wealthy province of Asia.

This city was home to Paul for more than two years. This proud city, whose heritage reached back a thousand years to the Ionian Greeks, boasted of her fame as the Warden of the great temple of Artemis, an ancient fertility/mother goddess worshiped by the Romans as Diana. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Artemision was the largest marble temple of the Greek world (about 420 × 240 feet); it replaced an earlier structure burned in 356 B.C. The temple stood northeast of the city on a marshy plain beneath a hill. Ionic capitals crowned over a hundred columns set in double rows around the shrine. Some of the columns were sculpted with mythological scenes and overlaid with gold. A U-shaped altar stood in a forecourt. The Artemision was burned by the Goths in A.D. 263, and the emperor Justinian cannibalized the ruins shortly after A.D. 500 for building materials. Little remains of this once mighty edifice, but in Paul’s day pilgrims from all over Asia Minor and beyond converged on Ephesus annually in the spring to pay homage to the mother goddess with special celebrations. Images of the goddess found in excavations show Artemis wearing an unusual corselet composed of eggs or multiple breasts.¹

The temple of Hadrian at Ephesus

Ephesus’ political importance increased when Domitian awarded the city a provincial imperial temple dedicated to the Flavian Dynasty. As a temple warden (Greek Neokoros) of a provincial imperial temple, Ephesus received political and commercial benefits and increased status among the cities of Asia. Prominent Ephesians served the Provincial Assembly (Koinon) whose mission was to cultivate and enforce emperor worship within the province. Several scholars identify this assembly with the second beast in Revelation 13 who made war on the Christians of Asia by requiring worship of the emperor (Revelation 13:11–18).

Ephesus’ strategic location ensured the city was a large, important commercial center. A well-protected harbor at the mouth of the Cayster River afforded good anchorage despite the continual problem of silting. Links with the Meander and Hermus Valleys afforded access to the agricultural wealth and interior cities of western Asia Minor. Paul evangelized the interior by sending his disciples from Ephesus (for example, Epaphras, (Colossians 1:7), and carried on correspondence from Ephesus with churches (the Corinthian correspondence; perhaps the Prison Epistles—Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon—according to some scholars).

The Library of Celsus at Ephesus. Though dating from a slightly later time than Paul, this beautiful building illustrates the wealth and culture of Roman Ephesus

Hellenistic/Roman Ephesus occupied an area south of the Artemision between two