Quizzing the New Testament : 1 John

Answer: By describing himself as a witness to the life of Jesus

"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. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us." (1 John 1 v. 1-2)

In John's letters, he appears to be countering a false doctrine known as Docetism. This held that Jesus only appeared on Earth in pure spirit form and with no physical body. John, here, is quick to point out that he is not only proclaiming what he has seen but also what he has touched.

The name John is never mentioned anywhere in his three letters. Their traditional attribution to the apostle John comes from this claim to have been an earthly witness of Jesus, and from the similarities in style that they share with John's gospel.

Answer: God is light

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." (1 John 1 v. 5)

John's constant refrain through this first letter is that it's impossible to sin (be in darkness) and truly know God.

Light is also a recurring motif in John's gospel. References include:

"He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." (John 1 v. 8-9)

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." (John 3 v. 19-20)

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" (John 8 v. 12)

Answer: Sin

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1 v. 8)

These are words that are now used in the Eucharistic liturgies of many Christian denominations.

Answer: His punishment will stop us making the same mistake again.

"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2 v. 1-2)

John's view of Christian faith is not of a punishing God but of a father who lavishes great love on his followers (1 John 3 v. 1) and hears their every request (1 John 5 v. 14).

Answer: Forever

"World" is another word of which John makes distinctive use in his gospel. The sense he seeks to convey is very much in line with the saying that Christians should be "in the world but not of it" and is quite different to the other gospel writers. This is best illustrated from the following verses in which Jesus is praying for his disciples on the night of his arrest:

"I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." (John 17 v. 14-16).

Answer: Grandfathers in the faith

1 John v. 3-11 is an example of a writing style known as parallelism. John speaks to each group in turn, identifying the children as having been forgiven and knowing the Father; the young men as having overcome the evil one; and the fathers with knowing "him who is from the beginning".

It is probable that he is directing these comments to different levels of spiritual maturity within the church.

Answer: There has been a division within the church.

"Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." (1 John 2 v. 18-19)

To take him literally, John believes not just that this is the last days but also the final hour. In seeing doctrinal division within the church as evidence of this, he may be drawing on the tradition found in both 2 Peter and Jude that:
"In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." (Jude v. 18 see also 2 Peter 3 v. 3). Jude attributes these words to the apostles themselves.

Curiously, the Bible's only use of the word antichrist comes in John's first two letters. It should also be printed with a lower case "a" as John does not have one specific person in mind. Rather he is thinking more generally of the spirit of the age, that is opposed to the things of Jesus, and those affected by it.

Answer: The gift of the Holy Spirit

"Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." (1 John 3 v. 24)

For the early Christians, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as given on the day of Pentecost, was the crowning confirmation of the truth of the gospel. The writer of Ephesians, using the language of business and leaving a deposit to secure a purchase, describes the Holy Spirit thus:

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1 v. 13-14).

Answer: Cain and Abel

"Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you." (1 John 3 v. 12-13)

Jude, in his short book, also uses Cain as an illustration of evil and rebellious ways (Jude v. 11)

Answer: Test the spirits

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4 v.1)

For John, spiritual revelation is not enough unless it is grounded in acceptable doctrine. Here, he is once again taking aim at the Docetists (those who claimed Jesus had no physical body) as, in the following verse, he writes:
"This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God." (1 John 4 v. 2-3).

John is, of course, reflecting the words of Jesus that Christians shouldn't blindly accept everyone that claims to come in his name:
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them." (Matthew 7 v. 15-16).