Daily Bread for Dec 23, 1 Jhn 1-5

Today’s readings are 1 Jhn 1-5.

Written sometime in the late first century, 1 John addresses--you guessed it--false teaching in the church. His first epistle is written to the church in Asia Minor (Turkey). John’s theme is made explicitly clear in 1 Jhn 2:1-7 where he clearly identifies his intended audience as the church. This is important as some folks like to teach that 1 John is written to non-believers.

Significantly, these final epistles of the New Testament are intended to be a more highly developed teaching than those that came earlier. As we near the Book of Revelation and the final words of the canon, all the teaching of Christ and the Apostles comes to bear on the new church, giving it instructions in how to live the transformed life and portray the gospel in everything it does. The lessons in these later letters are rich in practical application and examples of holy living.

John presents 3 guidelines for testing the authenticity of teachers and those who profess to be Christians. (1) Righteousness should be displayed as correct Christian behavior. (2) Love should be presented as the proper Christian attitude. (3) A sound doctrinal view of Christ is the correct teaching of the gospel. These three elements are the evidence of Christ in the life of a believer.

While John encourages righteous and sinless living, he does not set them up as absolutes. In other words, John is not saying that anyone who sins is not saved. That would not be consistent with the rest of Scripture. He does, however, condemn those who willfully and unrepentantly continue to sin with no regard for the holiness God is perfecting in His children. 

The message John sends is for us to be suspect of anyone or any teaching that takes sin casually and encourages less-than-godly behavior. We are called to live in a manner that puts Christ on display and demonstrates that His children are set apart for holiness.