MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron
After last week’s message entitled "Love God and God Alone", it seemed appropriate to return to our study of New Testament books, by looking at writings of the Apostle John who had love as one of his main themes.
First, we'll review John's relationship to the Lord. Jesus chose twelve to follow Him in public ministry. Of those, three who were fishermen came to form an inner circle: Peter, and James and John whose father was Zebedee. It appears these three were the only ones to accompany Jesus at the resurrection of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5; Luke 8), on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke 9), and in the Garden of Gethsemane before His trial (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:33).
It's believed that John wrote the Gospel of John, as well as three letters or epistles called 1, 2 and 3 John, and the Book of Revelation. According to his Gospel, John thought of himself as "the one Jesus loved". Knowing what we know about Jesus, He probably loved all twelve the same, but John saw love as the most significant aspect of their relationship. He alone was nearby when Jesus stood on trial before the Sanhedrin. He stood near the cross and was given responsibility for caring for Jesus' mother (John 19:26-27). He was the one of the first to believe in the resurrection of Jesus.
After Pentecost, according to Acts, John was closely associated with but overshadowed by Peter, who became the leader and spokesperson for the group. Only after Peter was delivered from prison, and John's brother James was martyred (both recorded in Acts chapter 12), did Peter fade from history and John develop his own ministry. We find only one more reference to Peter in the Book of Acts, when he met with the council of Jerusalem (chapter 15).
According to tradition, John stayed in Jerusalem until 48 CE when Jesus' mother Mary died. Early church writers placed him then at Ephesus, where he remained during his later years. Most of the apostles were martyred by the time Jerusalem fell in 70 CE, but tradition states that John, the youngest of the disciples, lived until near the end of the first century. Irenaeus wrote that John was living when Trajan became emperor in 98 CE.
Though earlier dates have been proposed for the writing of John's Gospel, it was probably written near the end of his life. His first letter, 1 John, was probably in that timeframe, as they share the same themes - love, light, witness, truth, belief, and knowing. This along with consistent vocabulary and style leave little doubt about the unity of authorship of the two. However, there is a notable difference. The key word in the Gospel is "believe" while in the first letter it is "know". The Gospel was written to persuade people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and to find salvation. The First Epistle, 1 John, was written to believers to assure them of their salvation (1 John 5:13).
Another shift in the letter is the emphasis on Jesus' humanity (1 John 4:2-3), while the Gospel focuses on His divinity. Both attributes are essential, but the Book of John may have been addressed more to an early problem of Gnosticism. Believers were being confused by the gnostic assertion that Jesus was not truly human. Fully human, the Son of God was righteous and without sin, therefore only He could satisfy the sacrifice to God and secure our salvation. Jesus had to be one of us if He were to represent us.
According to Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, the Book of Revelation was written toward the end of the persecution under Domitian. This would have been during John's exile to the Isle of Patmos around 95 or 96 CE. Some of these same subjects exist in Revelation, but I would suspect the last book in the Bible was written later, due to so much new material in it that does not appear in the letter or the Gospel. One would expect that such a revelation would bleed into any material written later.
The Gospel of John was used often in Christian writings of the early second century. Clement of Alexandria said that John composed a "spiritual gospel". Writers of the other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, recorded "bodily things" that focused on the life and ministry of Jesus, while John provides a spiritual interpretation of His person and ministry. There is considerable evidence, and the early church expressed no doubts, that the Gospel, the Book of Revelation, and 1 John were written by John. There are questions about the authorship of 2 and 3 John, which revolve mostly around their brief style and lack of theological development. We may try to address that subject later when we study those two letters. The purpose of all of John's writings is found in John 20:31: "These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."
Next week, the plan is to look more at the characteristics and content of John’s first letter.
