1 John 1: Back to Basics

Resources:

• John 1-3 Overview
• 1 John 1 Reading Guide
• 1 John 1 Teaching Notes
• 1 John 1 Video

Overview:

• The book of 1 John focuses on the themes of fellowship, love, and obedience within the Christian community. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining true fellowship with God and with one another, which is achieved through love and obedience to God’s commands.
• Key ideas in 1 John:
  •  Fellowship: 1 John stresses the importance of genuine fellowship among believers. This fellowship is rooted in a shared relationship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. It involves mutual love, support, and accountability.
  • Love: Love is a central theme in 1 John. The book teaches that God is love, and that true Christians should reflect this love in their relationships with one another. This love is not just a feeling, but also involves practical actions of caring for and serving others.
  • Obedience: 1 John emphasizes the connection between love and obedience. It teaches that true love for God is demonstrated through obedience to His commands. This includes keeping His commandments and living a life that is pleasing to Him.
• How 1 John ties in with the Gospel of John:
  • 1 John shares several key themes and concepts with the Gospel of John, suggesting a common authorship and a consistent message:
    • Jesus as the Word of Life: Both 1 John and the Gospel of John present Jesus as the Word of Life, who existed from the beginning and came to bring life to humanity.
      • Light and Darkness: Both books use the imagery of light and darkness to contrast truth and falsehood, good and evil. They emphasize that true Christians are those who walk in the light, while those who reject Christ remain in darkness.
    • Love as a Commandment: Both 1 John and the Gospel of John highlight the importance of love as a central commandment for believers. They teach that love for God and love for one another are interconnected and essential for Christian living.
    • The Importance of Witness: Both books emphasize the importance of bearing witness to Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John records Jesus’ words and actions, while 1 John calls on believers to testify to what they have seen and heard concerning Jesus.
• The theme of reassurance is woven throughout 1 John. It’s not just in chapter 1; it’s the heartbeat of the entire letter. John wants his readers to know they are truly children of God, loved by Him, and secure in their faith.

Notes from the video:

• 1 John is a small book. We’re not quite sure if the author is John or who he’s writing to. There is no specific church or indication of who he was writing to. The content doesn’t identify the author but it does have a testimony similar to John (see Luke 6:13-14 for example). Some think John didn’t write this book but we think he did.
• Peter, James, and John were the “inner circle” of the Apostles. John was an eyewitness account to almost everything that happened to Jesus.
• In John 13:23 John is listed as “the one who Jesus loved” even though John likely wrote it.
• Timeline:
  • AD 30: Jesus starts his ministry.
  • AD 85-90: John writes his gospel.
  • AD 96: John is exiled to Patmos, Greece where he writes the Book of Revelation.
• John was most likely the last man standing of the 12 Apostles.
• Gnosticism is a fancy word for false teachers communicating a false doctrine. Gnosticism denied Christ’s humanity, elevating knowledge instead of divine revelation as judge over man’s ideas. Gnosticism took man’s ideas and judged revelation.
• There are 2 major points to Gnosticism:
  • 1. They believe Jesus only _appeared_ to be physical.
    • John actually comments on this in 1 John 1:1 – he was there and actually touched Jesus, proving He was physical.
  • 2. Jesus’ spirit descended onto Jesus during baptism but left Him before the crucifixion took place.
    • 1 John 5:6 addresses this point.
• When you have proper believe in Christ it produces obedience, which leads to loving others.
• 1 John 4: We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
  • See 1 John 2:1 – it also brings out joy, holiness, and leads toward assurance of eternal life.
• 1 John 4:18 – there is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out all fear because fear involves punishment. When you understand Christ’s perfect love you have nothing to fear.
• v1: We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.
• v2: This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.
  • John is stating that he was an eyewitness to the life of Jesus.
• v3: We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
  • This is a wonderful example of what we’re supposed to do – declare the Gospel of Christ, even though we haven’t see Him, so people can have fellowship with us.
• v4: We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
  • We want to create joy in others by creating fellowship with others and share the joy of Christ.
• v5: This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
  • There is no sin in God and His son.
• v6: So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.
  • We cannot claim to have a relationship with Christ if we continue to sin. This is a painful verse because it is very difficult for us to never sin, even doing something simple like lying. Revelations 21 tells us all liars are going to hell. We’ve ALL lied so we ALL would be condemned to hell.
• v7: But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
  • Jesus saved us from this condemnation.
  • Verse 6, 8, 10 = one kind of “we” (sinful, dark)
  • Verses 7, 9 = another kind of “we” (walking in light)
• v8: If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
  • No one is without sin, regardless of how strong their relationship may be with Jesus. There was only one sinless man and that was Jesus. If you think you are without sin you are lying to yourself.
• v9: But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
  • We will all stumble at some point – this is why we need Jesus.
• v10: If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
  • Claiming to have no sin is an insult to God.
  • Knowing Christ enables us to ask forgiveness from Him, allowing us to walk in the perfect love He has for us.
  • Christ is constantly working within us to cleanse us and forgive us of our sins.

Group Discussion:

• Some think we obey out of love of Christ which further increases our belief.
  • Love is the foundation of belief. If we don’t believe in His sacrifice then what is there to believe?
• We grow in graceful knowledge and truth through obedience. We believe at first but don’t really “get it” until we start living our lives as Christians.
• All the time we think we are walking in the light we are constantly in shadow – unless we can be a light that leads others to Christ.
• Group prayers – praise for answered prayers and prayer requests for challenges we are facing.