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First Letter of John - Chapter 1
- Most commentators believe John's Letters were written after his Gospel, and that the letters assume their
hearers would be familiar with the Gospel. Brown differs in seeing the letters as written after the Gospel
was written by the Evangelist (about 90AD) but before the redaction of the Gospel (about 100AD?).
Alternative views are that the letters were written first, arguing for Christ by a general appeal to community
loyalty and creeds, and that John then wrote a full Gospel both to set out his arguments in full and to place a
marker in history: henceforth arguments would be about what the Gospel said rather than about what
various individuals remembered.
- In the Epistles the focus changes: the antagonists are not the ‘Jews’, but deceivers who have seceded from
the community. The changes of emphasis in the Epistles from the Gospel can make sense as a reaction to
the misinterpretation of the Gospel - whether written or oral - by the secessionists. The latter believed that
Jesus' earthly life was not important for salvation, that faith alone was enough, and what you did had no
effect. This Epistle emphasises that we must walk (ie behave) as Christ walked - Jesus’ actions set a moral
standard to be followed. The First Epistle can then be seen as circulated within the author’s community,
whereas the 2nd and 3rd Epistles appear to be sent to a Johannine community some distance away, which the
secessionists had not yet reached but were on their way. Difficult then for those distant communities to
discern which emissaries were right! Hence the advice to "test the spirits".
- The letter is valuable for its declaration of the humanity and divinity of Christ as taught by the Apostles, and
for developing the intrinsic connection between Christian moral behaviour and Christian doctrine.
- 1 Not how a letter normally opens, either now or 2,000 years ago - more like the start of an essay! But v 4
makes it clear that it is real writing addressed to a real community. Prologue (vv 1-4) less clear than in the
Gospel, with significant differences: ‘we’ - the tradition bearers - are emphasised, and there is more
emphasis on ‘life’ that was made known in Jesus than on the ‘Word’. The word of life is an historical
reality, a real experience of Jesus which was perceived by the disciples during Jesus' lifetime - and
continues to be experienced by the Christian community now. The ‘word of life’ is here more than the news
or message, but less than the incarnate Word of the Gospel. Letter assumes hearers are familiar with the
contents of John's Gospel, although many concepts in the letter are simpler - perhaps less developed?
Meanings of ideas such as light, truth, love are assumed, even though these appear to differ from much
Jewish thought at the time - not until the discoveries at Qumran had any reference to light/dark, etc been
known in Jewish literature. There is less Jewish flavour in the letter than in the Gospel, and the situation is
very different: much of the Gospel is taken up with the expulsion of the Johannine community from the
synagogue, whereas the letters are about internal dissension within the Christian community. The Gospel's
purpose was "that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah", but the letters are addressed to the believers,
and this letter's purpose is "that you may have fellowship with us". Although "the word of life" is vague, we
can understand it from knowing that Jesus is life, and He is also "the Word", so transmitting this life to new
members of the community involves explaining who and what Jesus was - this explanation could be seen as
"the word of life". Not so much the story of Jesus the person, but the still developing experience of Jesus by
and in the life of the community. Jesus is present in the community, although some members appear to be
dissenting from this belief, and doubted the importance of Jesus' life on earth as a human being. This
complex reality of Jesus as being expressed in the life of the community is referred to as "it".
- 2 The proclamation of divine life made visible in and through Jesus enables the hearers to participate in the
divine life. We continue to experience it now, but it was there from the beginning - not something added
after Jesus died. The reality of Jesus living in the community now was "there from the beginning" - either
from when Jesus was first believed in, perhaps after the Resurrection or when the Apostles started
preaching. It is not something new. And if some members claimed knowledge of some reality more than
that available to all members of the Church (Gnosticism), a sufficient answer was that what the Church
believed was "there from the beginning". The "it" that has been seen and testified to is this sensed reality of
Jesus in the community, not the earthly Jesus, for there would be few alive at this time who had seen Jesus.
It is the life of Jesus which continues to be experienced - seen - in the Church which is being testified to.
- 3 Our purpose in writing is that "you may have fellowship (koinonia,) with us" - ie that you believers may be
in communion with us, and not turn away from us. The word or message (angelia) was incarnate in Jesus,
and we continue to see, hear and touch it in our community, and it - this word of life - enables hearers to
participate in divine life, and so have fellowship with (remain/abide in) the living God. The covenant
relationship applied to the Christian community. If you believe Jesus' earthly life was not important, it was -
it is our model for how we are to lead our lives. Note that fellowship is with us and with God the Father and
with His Son, Jesus Christ - the Spirit is not mentioned (and in the Letters the "advocate" is Jesus, not the
Spirit).
- 4 This fellowship is the root of Christian joy and an essential component of the Johannine community.
- 5 Starts with the aspect of Christian life to be emphasised: that God is the light of the just, ie truth and
goodness; walking in the light is to live according to the truth - both intellectually and morally, by keeping
the commandments. It guarantees Christian fellowship. Not the Gospel idea that Jesus is the "light of the
world" but the then well understood idea that God is light: at night time we have to grope our way, but with
light we can see our way and be open to life's possibilities. With God we can see where we are going. The
things of this world are in the realm of darkness, and we can only escape this world's limitations and share
in the life of God with God's light to guide us. For John "walking in darkness" is simply immoral behaviour.
It is this, not the world as such, that is incompatible with fellowship with God.
- 6 Darkness is evil, immoral behaviour. Cf Jn 14, but here only God is referred to - no mention of the
Trinity. We must not deny the existence of sin, nor that all Christians sin - some would deny this, believing
that once one is saved, one cannot sin. Jesus has saved everyone, but we have to accept his gift of salvation.
- 7 Good intentions are not enough, pretending to be without sin, pretending that sin does not matter are not
compatible with "God is light". A - Jewish - blood sacrifice is still required for salvation - the theme of
Christ's death as expiating sacrifice occurs only a few times in John. Walking in the light, ie leading moral
lives, cleansed from sin by the blood of God’s Son brings fellowship - with God and with each other.
Walking in the light is more than keeping the commandments - it involves following Jesus' example of love.
- 8 True Christians admit their sins, and that cleansing is needed.
- 9 Confessing our sins brings forgiveness and cleansing through the Blood of Jesus. The author appears to
have some public expression of sinfulness in mind. Although this verse is used to support the Sacrament of
Confession/Penance, confession to some person - or even to the community - may not necessarily be
implied. And there is a difference between publicly confessing our sinfulness, as we all do at Mass, and
publicly describing our sins. Even going over the details privately to ourselves - the latest bit of gossip we
passed on - could be further occasions of sin!
- 10 To claim sinlessness is to make God a liar because He sent his Son to redeem us from sin.