I want to begin a brief but entirely new series of studies of 1 John. And to begin with I want to look at the purpose for which 1 John was written. It is possible to read a book without understanding the purpose for which it was written. Indeed, much reading is done on this level by many persons. But it is not possible to study a book without dealing with this primary question.
The first is the test of practical righteousness in the believer’s life. It does not mean that the Christian must be without sin—indeed, John says that the one professing to be without sin deceives himself and makes God a liar (1:8, 10)—but it does mean that he must be progressing in righteousness so that his profession is increasingly matched by his conduct.
The second purpose that John had in writing his letter is related to the first one, but it is rightly considered a distinct purpose, in that by it John was dealing with a new and dangerous movement in his day and was warning Christians about it. The movement was what today we would call an early form of gnosticism, and John’s objective in writing against it is to stress the historical origins of Christianity.
The third purpose for the writing of 1 John is to explain or elaborate upon Christ’s new commandment: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another” (John 13:34).
What, then, are the major emphases of John’s first letter for ourselves and our contemporaries? There are five of them.
The first message of John is his insistence upon the truth and value of the old message of the Gospel as opposed to new or modern alterations of it, such as would change its character.
John does three things in this passage. First, he marshals witnesses to Jesus in which the testimony of the Father is found. Second, he contrasts the testimony of men with God’s testimony, stressing that God’s testimony is to be believed and trusted. Third, he sums up God’s testimony and joins it to a final statement of his purpose in writing the letter.
At the time of the late Renaissance and Reformation, when classical texts were first being edited critically, Erasmus of Rotterdam produced a Greek text in which the words “in earth” were missing. At this time most of Europe was using the Latin Vulgate as its Bible version, so Erasmus was quickly criticized for omitting the passage. He replied that the words were not in any of the Greek manuscripts.
In yesterday’s study, we looked at the first interpretation of the expression “water and blood” as a reference to that which flowed from Christ’s side at His crucifixion. We noted a couple of important similarities. Unfortunately, the similarities are not as great under examination as they seem to be on the surface.
If a person does believe God, he has an internal assurance that what he has believed is trustworthy. This is the work of God’s Spirit, the testimonium Spiritus Sancti internum, as the Reformers termed it. It is in addition to the assurance provided on other grounds.
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