Chunks: The Letters of John

John seems to think we’re in the last chapter of the grand story leading up to the return of Jesus. That chapter includes the coming of the “antichrist.” But what does he mean by that? As we’ll explore in this episode, it may not be quite as dramatic as Christian novelists might have it.

When we read John’s letters, we should imagine him as an elderly man, someone who had seen more of the Christian movement than any man alive. He is probably near the end of his life, which gives him some perspective on what truly matters. That may be part of the reason that he is able to write: “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17). How...

As we’ve seen, John commands his readers to not “love the world.” As I read those words, I imagine him thinking back to Jesus’ final words to his disciples in the Upper Room. There, he prayed for God’s protection over them, because though there had to remain in the world, they were not of the world (John 17:14-16)…

The first command John gives in his letter comes in 1 John 2:15: “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” But many of us have memorized John 3:16—doesn’t God love the world? In this episode, we’ll explore why this is not a contradiction.

We were created by God to live in bodies. And with that bodily existence comes a host of needs and desires. Because we live in a fallen world, what otherwise would be a good desire can be twisted into something that lures us away from God. That’s the context in which we need to understand what John means when he speaks in chapter 2 of not loving the “world” and pursuing the “lusts of the flesh.”

John’s encouragement in the middle of chapter 2, as we’ve seen, is highly stylized, as if he were quoting from somewhere else. As we’ll explore in this episode, when John addresses himself to “children,” “young men,” and “fathers,” he may be echoing the words of the prophet Jeremiah.  

As we’ve seen, John wants to give some pastoral encouragement his readers, who have probably been deeply disillusioned by what we might today call a “church split.” In this episode, we do a deeper dive into the encouragement itself, and ponder the implications for our own dark nights of the soul.

Although at this point in the letter John hasn’t mentioned it yet, some people have left the community. People who have been through church splits know the pain and confusion that follows. That may explain the strangely poetic verses in the middle of chapter 2, in which he cheers on the people he characterizes (probably metaphorically) as “children,” “fathers,” and “young men.” In this and the fol...

As suggested in the previous episode, John would describe those who aren’t following Jesus’ commandment to love one another as stumbling in the dark. As we’ll explore in this episode, there’s some ambiguity to John’s words about stumbling in 1 John 2. Should we be more concerned about how we as Christians stumble, or how we cause others to stumble? If our motivation is love, we should be concerned...

Reading between the lines, it seems that some folks in John’s community considered themselves to be enlightened, but had some odd ideas about the Christian life. John would characterize them as stumbling in the dark, even if they claimed to be walking in the light. And how does John know? Because they’re not obeying Jesus’ commandment to love one another.

What’s the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament? The latter doesn’t replace the former; it continues the ancient story. Similarly, when John speaks of an “old command” and a “new command,” he’s seems to be suggesting that the teaching of Jesus and the teaching about Jesus are a fulfillment of what should already have been known—albeit in a surprising way.

Beginning with verse 7 of chapter 2, John tells his readers that he’s not writing about a new command, but an old one…and then says it actually is a new command. We’ll address the seeming contradiction in the next episode. But in this episode, the point is that the gospel is already rooted in an old command. And we’ll look at the story surrounding the parable of the Good Samaritan to show how it’s...

If you’ve ever raised kids, you may already have discovered that “Do as I say, don’t do as I do” isn’t a terribly effective way to engender discipline. We are models for our kids, and they will sometimes do as we do no matter what we say. John insists on something similar: you don’t get to claim to have a close relationship with Jesus if you aren’t following his example.

John is sometimes known as the “Apostle of Love,” and for good reason. He is not only believed by many to be the so-called “disciple whom Jesus loved,” but also writes more about love than Matthew, Mark, or Luke. You may already be familiar with the Greek word “agape,” which is often thought of as meaning “Christian love.” In this episode, we begin to explore its meaning and significance.

You probably know a lot of people, and a lot of people know you. But how many people really know you for who you are? Similarly, what does it mean for someone to say that they “know God”? We can know about God, but the Christian life is not simply a matter of belief. We must know God in such a way that our lives and character are positively shaped by that relationship.

As we’ve seen, chapter 2 of 1 John opens with identification of Jesus as our advocate. John also calls him the “atoning sacrifice” for our sins. Some older translations have the word “propitiation,” a word that could describe the gift of flowers that a husband gives his wife to appease her anger. Does that mean we needed cross of Jesus to get God to calm down and stop being mad at us? Sort of—but...

The word “advocate” may conjure up images of attorneys and courtrooms, and rightly so. John is the only New Testament writer to use the word, which was typically used in legal contexts. Here, in his letter, he uses it to refer to Jesus; in his gospel, it’s used by Jesus to refer to the Holy Spirit. But either way, we shouldn’t read this as suggesting that we need a high-powered attorney to save us...

Imagine having the pastoral responsibility of teaching a community about the reality of sin, even confronting people who may be in denial about its seriousness. That wouldn’t be the world’s most popular sermon series. But as we’ll see, John approaches the matter as a wise elder.

Who would dare claim to be without sin? As the story of the adulterous woman in John 8 suggests, not even the self-righteous Pharisees would do this. But some people in John’s community, it seems, may have done just that. John addresses the matter in general terms that are hard to pin down. Nevertheless, John makes it clear: anyone who claims to be sinless is lying to themselves and calling God a...

Does it sound strange that folks in John’s community may have claimed to be sinless? Perhaps. But in this episode, I want us to consider why we ourselves often have such a hard time thinking and talking about sin. And if we can’t fully recognize sin for what it is, can we fully appreciate the gift of grace that we’ve been given?

Reading between the lines of John’s letter, it seems that some folks in his community may have begun to believe and teach that it was somehow possible to be sinless. In the next episode, we’ll start taking a look at how John responds. But first, in this episode, we’ll draw upon the wisdom of Paul in his guidance to the churches of Corinth and Galatia. What do you do when people begin to stray from...

As mentioned in previous episodes, we have to guess a bit at the controversies that were troubling John’s community. Five verses into 1 John, we begin to get some hints about the errant beliefs some were teaching, which apparently had to do with the reality of sin and what Jesus accomplished on the cross. But right up front, John holds the community to a common standard: if you’re going to claim t...

John isn’t the only one to use images of dark and light to convey meaning; you can see it in movies all the time if you look for it. Light versus darkness often symbolize good and evil. As we’ve seen, in his letter, John declares that God is light, and in his gospel, Jesus claims to be the light of the world. Add to this that in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that his followers are to be the li...

In John’s gospel, Jesus declares himself to be “the light of the world.” Indeed, throughout that gospel, John seems to play with images of darkness and light: Jesus was “the light of all mankind,” for example, while Judas went out into the night to do his dirty work. And one of the most striking claims of 1 John comes only five verses into the letter. “God is light,” he declares, a statement that...

In this podcast, we will continually draw connections between the letters of John and his gospel, particularly to what’s known as the “Upper Room Discourse,” or Jesus’ final words to his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. As John writes about fellowship, he also writes about joy, and in a way that is reminiscent of Jesus’ own teaching. The fellowship of believers should be characterized...