Getting Biblical in Daily Life
The Epistles of John may be short, but they're jammed back with theological goodies. Let's explore.
Who Wrote It?
Christian tradition says that all three of these epistles were written by St. John the Evangelist. He was believed to be a follower of Jesus and the same guy who wrote the Gospel of John. Sometimes, people throw in Revelation in his column, too.
Uh, wasn't there more than one John back then?
Yeah, there was.
Revelation was definitely written by a different John (of Patmos), but the epistles and the gospel are anonymous. Only in 2 John and 3 John does the writer identify himself as "the elder." It's something, but a name would have been nice (source, 1178).
Since there are similarities between the Gospel of John of the Epistles of John, it's possible that these were all written by the same person. But it's probably more likely that the elder is just a guy who's part of a church that follows John's Gospel. They come out of the same tradition, for sure, so he would have been super influenced by those writings (source).
Why Did He Write It?
That's the who (sort of), but what about the why? Well, the elder's main point in writing to his own community and some neighboring churches is dissent. There are people in his community that are moving away from tradition, and he wants to put a stop to it. In the letters, he tells everyone to basically stay on their guard and not listen to the naysayers. After all, they're antichrists.
Unlike Paul, the elder isn't trying to bring people back together. He's washed his hands of these dissenters—he tells his fellow Christians not even to bother praying for them. He's done trying to convince them they're wrong. He's just trying to keep their message from spreading too far.
The Elder Doth Protest Too Much
So what's all the fuss about?
One of the main things that the elder and his opponents disagree about is the reality of Jesus. Sure, they both think he's the son of God, sent to earth to save the world, and an all-around swell deity…but then they start splitting hairs.
The elder claims that Christians have to believe that Jesus was sent "in the flesh" (1 John 4:2). He also emphasizes how important Jesus' death was for the salvation of the world. Basic Christian doctrine, right? Well, not back in the first century.
There was lots of argument back then about the true nature of Jesus. Was he just a human? Was he God come to earth? Or was he a mix of both?
There was a group of guys called Docetists, who believed that Jesus was a deity who only looked human (source, 1178).
Naturally, if you're gonna focus on Jesus' divinity, you're gonna lose some of his humanity. These guys were focused on Jesus coming again to redeem the world as Lord and Savior, not on some stuff he did back in Jerusalem. Plus, since he was divine, it's not like it was a big deal that he died on the cross. He just used his magic God powers so it wouldn't hurt (source, 390).
Yeah, tell that to the Jesus in The Passion of the Christ.
What's Love Got to Do With It?
The elder also keeps going on and on about love. We get it, dude. You're one big cuddle bear. But is there something else here?
"God is love" isn't just some touchy feely slogan that the elder liked to trot out. For him, loving others was moral. Because God and Jesus loved the whole world, Christians are required to mirror their love to others (well, to other right-thinking Christians that is). If you truly want to be a follower of Christ you have to do as he did, says the author. Walk the loving walk (source, 383).
Basically, the elder's theology is twofold: (1) believe in Jesus and (2) love other Christians.
How Do You Know?
Important Question time: How does a person know what the truth is? The elder and his friends are saying one thing. His opponents are taking another view. Which side will you choose?
Don't worry—the only thing that hangs is the balance is the salvation of your eternal soul.
The elder talks a lot about the fact that he's following a tradition "from the beginning" (1 John 1:1, 2:7, 2:24, 3:11, 2 John 1:5). In other words, his ideas are older than yours. Usually that wouldn't be a good thing, but sometimes vintage things (or ideas) can be valuable. The elder also mentions following the guidance of the spirit. But even this leads to a kind of weird circular logic: the spirit will tell you that the elder's in touch with God, and if it doesn't, then you must not be in touch with God (source, 391). Snap.
In the end, it kind of all comes down to this: believe this because I said so. The elder is trying to shore up his authority, but there's no way for him to prove that he's the one who's on God's side.