Letters from John: First John

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 

1 John 5:21 

If I were to ask you to quote from memory one verse of Scripture from 1 John, you probably would not have much difficulty doing so. Perhaps your mind immediately jumped to 1 John 1:9, where we read the beautiful words of God’s forgiveness for those who come to Him in repentance. Or maybe you recalled the warning from the apostle John to avoid the things of this world: “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (2:16). Or that we are not to hate our brother (3:15), to test the spirits (4:1), or even that “God is love” (4:8). But if you were asked to quote a verse from Second or Third John, would you have any of those treasures also stored in your heart?

I want to encourage you as we go through the letters of John that we do not hastily overlook the second two just because they are succinct or because much of the content is found in the first letter. If anything, allow them to teach you the wrong (Second John) and right (Third John) methods of Christian Hospitality. But we will do an overview of those books in the following Monday articles, in this one let’s consider the first letter of John.

First John was written to a set of believers who were in a situation much similar to our very own. The Christian community was being infiltrated by many false teachers who were enslaving the people with “secret knowledge” from God. Some went so far as to teach that Christ was not truly human, therefore rejecting the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (2:22, 4:2-3). To address these concerns, John wrote in a manner of love to bring them back to true and correct doctrine. Even in today’s day and age, we face constant challenges to the authority of God’s Word. John’s word of alarm to the believers “about those who are trying to deceive” is just as much relevant to us as it was then. We must hold on to veracity of God’s word in a world which tries to lure us away from Him. A world that is pulling us to follow the corruption that is buried deep within each of our hearts. Truly the temptations and enticements of this world are not where sin lies, rather it exposes what is in our hearts; desires for things above or beyond God Himself. In order to set things right, we must address our heart and not simply aim to remove ourselves from the world.

There is a parable of a man who had grown weary of the constant pressure to “keep up with the Joneses” decided to get away from it all, so he joined a mute monastery. Monks could only say two words every five years and if they were successful in meeting the requirements of the monastery during a fifteen-year trial period, then they could take final vows.

After the end of the first five years, he was called into his superior’s office where he was told he could say two words. “Bad food!” he complained.

The man went back to his duties not uttering a word for another 5 years when he was permitted to speak two additional words. The man replied, “Hard bed!”

After the final five years without speaking, he was asked if he had anything to say and if he was ready to take his final vows. The man stood up and said, “I quit!”

His superior replied, “Well, I’m not surprised. You’ve done nothing but complain since you got here!”

As the Holman New Testament Commentary put it, “Our desire for the world is in our hearts, and the outside temptations only give opportunity for the heart to reveal itself. If we are going to conquer worldliness, we must do so from the inside out.” As you read First John, my prayer is that God will open up your heart to areas which require your confession (1:9) as you keep yourself from the things of this world, described in 2:15, to love the God who is perfect love (4:8).

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

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