Epistles of John

An Overview of the Epistles of John1

The authorship of five New Testament books were credited to Apostle John, the beloved disciple of Christ Jesus.  They are First, Second, and Third John, the Gospel according to John, and the book of Revelation (the only prophetical book in the New Testament).  The Gospel according to John presents Jesus as the Divine Son of God (“…the Word became flesh…” John 1:14).  Because some thought that Jesus was a mere human, 1st John stresses that Jesus, being God, came in the flesh (1st John 1:1).  2nd John portrays Jesus as the Son of God (2nd John 1:3) and to follow His commandments of Truth and Love.  3rd John highlights Jesus as the best example to be followed in our spiritual pilgrimage with special attention to Christian hospitality.  The book of Revelation presents Jesus as the Glorious King who will reign forever.

Epistle of First John

Introduction: The highlights of the epistle are God is love (1st John 3 & 4), God is life (1st John 1:2), and God is light (1st John 1:5), and we, as God’s children, must love God, love one another, and obey His commands.  

Title of the Book: The title of the book is recorded simply as ‘The First Epistle of John.’

Date of writing: The exact date of writing is not known, but some early Church historians claim that the epistle is written between AD 85 and 95.

Authorship: The author’s personal testimony in the opening statement of 1st John2 shows that the author had a very close relationship with Jesus Christ.  Although the author does not introduce himself in this epistle, the early Church Fathers like Saint Irenaeus (130 – 202 AD)3, Clement of Alexandria (150 – 215 AD)4, and Tertullian (155 – 240 AD)5, affirm that the epistle is written by Apostle John, who is acknowledged as the apostle of Love.  He learned the principles of love from his beloved Master – Christ Jesus (John 13:23, 1 John 3:14-18).  

Recipients of the Epistle: The epistle is not addressed to any particular individual or group.  Therefore, it is believed that the epistle is written to believers living throughout the Roman province of Asia Minor, that is, the Church at large.  John, being one of Jesus’ original Disciples and His Apostle, addressed his audience as ‘dear Children’ (1st John 2:1, 18; 3:7,18, 4:4, and 5:21) and ‘dear friends’ (1st John 3:2, 21; 4:1,7,11) due to his apostolic authority over them.

Purpose of writing the Epistle: The original purpose of writing this epistle was:

  1. to make our joy complete (1st John 1:3-4)
  2. to keep them from sin (1st John 2:1)
  3. to warn the early Christian converts to keep themselves away from false teachers who were spreading the false teaching that ‘God did not become man and Jesus was not the Christ – the Son of the living God’ (1st John 2:24-27)
  4. to inspire the early Christians to love one another (1st John 3:11)
  5. to teach that Christ Jesus is both God and Man (1st John 5: 8) 
  6. to strengthen their faith in Christ and assure them of eternal life (1st John 5:13)
  7. to establish that Christ Jesus is the Son of God (1st John 1:1-2 & 5:20)

Major Teachings of the Epistle: The most important teachings Apostle John emphasizes in this epistle are ‘Truth and Righteousness.’ [As apostle Paul exhorted in Ephesians 2:19 & 20, “You are …  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself with chief cornerstone,”]  John is trying to inspire his audience that believers will remain in Christ and obtain salvation only as long as they obey and live according to the teaching of Christ and the apostles.  1st John is the only book in the New Testament that presents Jesus as our advocate (that is, parakletos in Greek) with the Father when the believers sin.

General Outline of the Epistle:

Chapter One: Fellowship with God (1st John 1:1-10)

  1. Introduction (1st John 1:1-4)
  2. Life in God and Fellowship with Him (1st John 1:5-10)
    1. No Darkness in God (1st John 1:5-6)
    2. Fellowship with God (1st John 1:7-8)
    3. Confession of sin (1st John 1:8-10)

Chapter Two: Our Response to the Fellowship with God (1st John 2:1-29)

  1. Life in God: Obedience, Christlikeness, Love (1st John 2:1-11)
  2. Special Instruction to the Children, Fathers, and Young Men (1st John 2:12-14)
  3. Believers’ separation from the world [Greek – kosmos] (1st John 2:15-17)
    1. As believers, we must stay away from- 
      1. the cravings of sinful man
      2. the lust of his eyes
      3. the boasting of what one has and does 
  4. Loyalty to Christ in the end times (1st John 2:18-29)

Chapter Three: God’s love for His Children (1st John 3:1-24)

  1. Characteristics of the Children of God (1st John 3:1-18)
  2. Assurance of God’s Children (1st John 3:19-24)

Chapter Four: The Divine Love (1st John 4:1-21)

  1. The Spirit of Error and the Spirit of Truth (1st John 4:1-6)
  2. The Love of God (1st John 4:7-10)
  3. Response to God’s Love (1st John 4:11-21)

Chapter Five: Believers’ Assurance (1st John 5:1-21)

  1. Overcoming the World through Obedience (1st John 5:1-5)
  2. Trustworthiness of the Gospel we receive (1st John 5:6-10)
  3. Promise of Eternal Life through Christ (1st John 5:11-13)
  4. The Certainty of Answered Prayer (1st John 5:14-20)

The Second Epistle of John

Introduction: God the Father is willing to draw all the people to His Son Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  But, some reject such invitation and go astray, as it is stated in Mathew 23:37, “I have longed to gather your children together … but you were not willing.”Likewise, in the second epistle of John, the author warns the believers, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God … do not take him into your house or welcome him” (2nd John v.9-10).  The author encourages the believers to be committed to the truth of God’s Word at all times.  

Authorship: It is believed that apostle John wrote the second epistle of John.  In this epistle, the author identifies himself as the elder (2nd John v.1), the designation given to a person who is in authority and power.  This could be a title of honor given to John because of his advanced age and his authoritative position in the early church. 

Recipients of the Epistle: The letter is addressed ‘To the chosen lady and her children’ (2nd John 1).  There are two different opinions regarding this: (i) Some believe that the epistle is literally written to a prominent Christian woman and her children who were active members of the early church in Ephesus whom the author knew very personally; (ii) Others believe that ‘the chosen lady’ represents one of the early churches, ‘her children’ represent its members and ‘her chosen sister’ represent another congregation.  If the epistle is literally addressed to ‘the chosen lady,’ this is the only book in the New Testament addressed to a woman.

Date of writing: This epistle was most probably written sometime between AD  85 and 95.

Purpose of writing the Epistle: The most important purpose of writing this epistle was to warn Christians against false teachers and their teachings.  The author cautions ‘the chosen lady and her children’ to stop supporting the person (the ministers) who ‘does not continue in the teaching of Christ’ (2nd John v.9) because the false teachers departed from the apostolic truth and propagated false teachings against the incarnation of Jesus Christ (2nd John v.7-11).

Major Teachings of the Epistle: Though the epistle is the shortest book in the New Testament, it urges readers not to support any teaching that is not based on the teachings of Christ and the apostles.  ‘Walking in truth’ is the central teaching of the epistle and the author commends the chosen lady and her children for walking in the truth (2nd John v.4).  Genuine love for God involves obedience to God’s commands and love one another (2nd John v.6).  

General Outline of the Epistle: 

  1. Divine truth (2nd John v.1-6)
    1. Introduction (2nd John v.1-3)
    2. Believers’ Loyalty Highly praised (2nd John v.4) 
    3. Love and obedience Demanded from the followers of Christ (2nd John v.5-6)
  2. Worldly Mistakes (2nd John v.7 – 13)
    1. Deceivers and False Teachers (2nd John v.7)
    2. Denial of Christ’s Incarnation (2nd John v.7)
    3. Discerning between truth and Error (2nd John v.8-9)
    4. The danger of fellowship with false teachers (2nd John v.10-11)
    5. Conclusion (2nd John v.12-13) 

The Third Epistle of John

Authorship: Like in the second epistle of John, the author identifies himself as an elder, which was an honorable and prestigious position given to apostle John in the early Church.  

Recipients of the Epistle: Although John wrote this epistle to one of the Churches in Asia Minor (3rd John v.9), it is addressed ‘To my dear friend Gaius’ (3rd John v.1), Gaius was one of many loyal and active members who hosted trustworthy itinerant ministers in the early church and supported their ministries.

Date of writing: The exact year or date of writing is not known but, most likely, it is believed to be written between AD  85 and 95.

Purpose of writing the Epistle: The purpose of writing this epistle is threefold:

  1. to encourage and thank Gaius for his faithful service to trustworthy traveling ministers (3rd John v.5), 
  2. to warn and scold Diotrephes who was refusing to welcome itinerant ministers of God (3rd John v.9)
  3. to inform the church regarding John’s personal visit to the church to deal with issues himself (3rd John v.10 & 13)

Major Teachings of the Epistle: Christian hospitality is the central teaching of 3rd John.  The epistle also stresses readers to keep one’s testimony right before God and others by living a ‘faithful Christian life.’

General Outline of the Epistle: 

  1. Introduction/Greeting (3rd John v.1-4)
  2. Praise and Encouragement for Gaius for his loyalty to the Church and hospitality for itinerant ministers of God (3rd John v.5-8)
  3. Warning Diotrephes for his pride and not welcoming God’s servants (3rd John v.9-10)
  4. Appreciation for Demetrius for keeping a good testimony (3rd John v.11-12)
  5. Conclusion (3rd John v.13-15)

Lessons from the Epistles of John

  1. Strive hard to be like Christ in preparation for His return
  2. Believe that Christ came to take away our sins
  3. Live a life of love that will helps us to pass from death to life – eternal life
  4. Trust that God lives in us through His Spirit
  5. Exercise Christian Hospitality whenever possible
  6. Always be loyal to God and others
  7. Believe that our prayers are answered

Elaboration (of the superscripts)

The term ‘Epistle’ is derived from the Greek word Epistole, which simply means letter or message.  The epistles are not letters that just contain information, but they are teachable information and doctrines for the New Testament Church.  There are 21 epistles in the New Testament (Romans to Jude).  All of these epistles are written by either Apostles (Peter, John and Paul) or Jesus’ brothers (James and Jude).  Apostle Paul’s epistles were named after the recipients, but the general epistles are known by their authors’ name.  

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life …” (1 John 1:1-4)

Saint Irenaeus was a friend and disciple of Bishop Polycarp (Smyrna), who was one of the favorite disciples of Apostle John, who was believed to be the most loved Disciple of Christ Jesus.  Irenaeus served as the Bishop of Lugdunum, which was part of the Roman province of France.  He was also considered to be an apologist and an early Church Father.  

His Latin name was Titus Flavius Clemens.  He was a convert to the Christian faith who mastered classical Greek Philosophy and literature and became a notable Christian theologian at the Catechetical School of Alexandria.

His full name in Latin is Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus.  He was a conservative Christian from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa, a notable early Christian writer and an apologist who defended Christian faith against all kinds of heresy.  He has been known as the ‘Father of Latin Christianity.’  

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