1 John Chapter 3

In this section of his letter, John is concerned with strengthening his Gentile Christian audience in their understanding of themselves as "brethren" of one another.  This was a very important concern of the Apostles, as we see in Paul's Letter to the Galatians 3, 28: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, or slave or free, or male or female, for you are all one in Christ."  He continues to speak of the brotherly love which follows from the fact that all those united in .Christ, and so the adopted children of the Father, are made brethren of one another.

1 JOHN CHAPTER 3

1. Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God.  Therefore the world knoweth not us, because it knew not him.  While we call the Father, "Father" because he is the origin of the Son, he is also the "Father" of all those joined to Christ in baptism.  In this way we become his "adopted" children.  This verse would have had particular meaning for the gentile converts who could not have imagined becoming "sons" of Zeus or Apollo.

2. Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God: and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him: because we shall see him as he is.  "What we shall be": that is, in heaven, with our bodies glorified.  The question of "what we shall be" as a result of union with Christ must have been very pressing for these converts, as it should be for us.  "We shall see him as he is": to see, then, is to become.  If we are what we eat, in Holy Communion, then how much more we should be like what we see, the glorified Jesus.

3. And every one that hath this hope in him sanctifieth himself, as he also is holy.  "Hope" is not wishful thinking, but a way of life in which the Christian lives in expectation of the Lord's coming.

4. Whosoever committeth sin committeth also iniquity. And sin is iniquity. 5. And you know that he appeared to take away our sins: and in him there is no sin. 6. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: and whosoever sinneth hath not seen him nor known him. "Sin" is not merely some ritual infraction, or a private failing, but wickedness enacted against God and man.  "And in him there is no sin": only One who is without sin could take sin away by his own power.  A person who "abides" in him through baptism and the faith and works that flow from baptism, does not sin.  In this way, virtue is seen as a good in itself, and also as a sign of abiding in Christ.  On the other hand, a person who commits sin shows that he "does not know" the Lord. "To know" can be understood in terms of understanding, believing, and also being placed in a relationship with the Lord.  The sins of which John speaks are mortal sins, committed out of malice, the chief ones being idolatry, adultery, and willful murder.

7. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doth justice is just, even as he is just. 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  The just man performs just deeds.  An unjust man performs unjust deeds.  He cannot perform just deeds.  An unjust person, living apart from God, may perform an act which benefits Christians or the community in general, as say a king who makes peace with another king, but he does this from ulterior motives (because he cannot continue to afford to make war) and not from love of God and neighbor.

9. Whosoever is born of God committeth not sin: for his seed abideth in him. And he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  That is, he cannot sin except by the abuse of his free-will.  This can also be understood in an absolute sense if we understand "born of God" to pertain to the saints raised to Heaven, who cannot sin.

10. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just is not of God, or he that loveth not his brother.  John is encouraging the Christians to manifest their justice, but also to beware of those who might claim to be Christians, but whose works prove them otherwise.  This incidentally is a warning about Gnostic Christians and other heretics.

11. For this is the declaration which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. 12. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and killed his brother. And wherefore did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked: and his brother's just.  John says "the" declaration, about which he has been writing throughout his letter.  Here he names it explicitly.  The early Gentile Christians must have found this radical, for nothing like it existed in the culture before, and had only the example of the Apostles and other missionaries to show them what this love looked like.  "Wherefore did he kill him?"  John supplies information not given in the original story in Genesis, where Cain seems to kill Abel out of jealousy for the Lord's accepting Abel's sacrifice and ignoring Cain's.  Cain's offering of a sacrifice might seem to be a just act, but the rejection of it and the murder shows that it was not, and that Cain was an unjust man.

13. Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you.  "The world": the pagans, those attached to the things of the world, the authorities.  John tells them not so wonder at the world's hatred.  It seems a general theme in early Christian writings that the new Christians were amazed and confused by the fact that their compatriots, or even their fellow Jews, not only were not attracted to the the promise of eternal life by Jesus, but that they persecuted them, besides.  The parable of the Sower and the Seed, found in three of the four Gospels, speaks to this.

14. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death. 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself.  John insists that "we know" this, and proof of it is that "we love the brethren" -- our fellow Christians, regardless of national origin, class, or occupation.  John points out signs of God's love, of whether a person is just, of the fact of our passing from death to life in order to bolster the faith of these new Christians.

16. In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17. He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need and shall shut up his heart from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? 18. My little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth.  In the midst of daily life, with its toil, sufferings, preoccupations, demands, and petty annoyances, it is easy to forget or take for granted the love of God.  John reminds us that God's love is so deep and personal that he sent his Son to die for us in order for us to be freed from sin.  Our response to this is to be prepared "to lay down our lives for the brethren" -- that is to show them the fullness of our love for them, a love patterned after that of the Lord himself.

19. In this we know that we are of the truth and in his sight shall assure our hearts. 20. For if our heart reprehend us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. 21. Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God.  "Assure our hearts": ease our consciences.  If our consciences are stirred up as a result of our actions or inactions, God, who "knows all things" will surely know. If we are at peace with our consciences, then we may be confident that God approves of what we have done.  Our conscience is "man's most secret core and his sanctuary.  There he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his depths" (from Gaudium et Spes 16).

22. And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight.  Jesus had said, "ask and you shall receive".  Here, John notes that there are  conditions for the granting and receiving of gifts from God.  A person who asks for gifts while in a state of sin, or which would be used in sin, ask "wrongly", as St. James writes in his letter (James 4, 3).  How can we expect to be heard, much less favorably answered, by one whom we have offended, and have shown no signs of regret for what we have done?

23. And this is his commandment: That we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us. 24. And he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and he in him. And in this we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.  The laws of belief in Christ and in love for one another are so dependent upon each other that John speaks of them as a single Commandment.  James 1, 22:  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

The First Letter of St. John, Chapter Two

I apologize for failing to post last Tuesday.  I had a little health problem.  I feel much better now.  Here is the commentary for the entirety of the second chapter of the First Letter of St. John:

1. My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just. 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 3. And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments.

John tells the recipients of his letter that his purpose in confirming the truth about Jesus Christ, that he is God and man, is to assist them in living the virtuous life, "that you may not sin".  Belief is linked inextricably to action.  It is not a belief in the abstract, but in the tangible.  He reminds them, though, that if anyone does sin, Jesus -- the tangible one -- is his advocate with the Father.  Note that John does not say "when" anyone sins, but "if", as though it were difficult for John to imagine that a person acquainted with Jesus Christ would choose to sin.  John calls Jesus an "advocate".  In his gospel, John quotes Jesus as applying this term to the Holy Spirit.  Indeed, both are advocates, but of different kinds.  It is the Son who stands before the Father in heaven, pleading for us with his sacred wounds.  The Holy Spirit, proceeding from both the Father and the Son, abides with us forever (cf. John 14, 16) and will give testimony of Jesus, and will enable his followers to give testimony of him as well.  John calls Jesus the propitiation for our sins and for those of the world.  Jesus does not merely make propitiation for our sins, he is this propitiation.  This may remind us of Paul's words, that he became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5, 21), so that the propitiation might be made.  The Lord did this not for a limited number of initiates into his mysteries, or those who possess secret knowledge of him, or those who have magic words, but for everyone in the world.  He has brought about our redemption, though not all will receive salvation.  In order to hope in this salvation, we examine our lives in order to know that we keep his commandments.

4. He who saith that he knoweth him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar: and the truth is not in him. 5. But he that keepeth his word, in him in very deed the charity of God is perfected. And by this we know that we are in him. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. 7. Dearly beloved, I write not a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8. Again a new commandment I write unto you: which thing is true both in him and in you, because the darkness is passed and the true light now shineth.

"The truth is not in him", that person is a hypocrite, or, "The Truth is not in him", as Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  John emphasized the humanity of Jesus previously, and now he focuses on the consequent need to obey his commandments.  This would be especially necessary for the Gentiles to hear.  They would be acquainted, of course, with state laws, but these ordinances merely outlawed certain actions.  The laws of Christ, "You shall love the Lord your God", and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" go far beyond these, and have validity not only because God commanded them, but because the Son of God embodied them.  John speaks of the "old" commandment and the "new commandment".  He means that which concerns love of neighbors.  It is "old" in the sense that the recipients of this letter had learned it some time before, but it is "new" in that it is not a dead letter which is learned and then forgotten, but which must be lived now, with the aid of the Holy Spirit.  "Which thing is true both in him and in you": an ambiguous statement, but which could mean that the commandment was made in the old law, and is made again in the new law -- this time fulfilled in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, "the darkness" of the old law, written on stone tablets, thus giving rise to the "new Light", which illuminates those tablets. John explains this old and new commandment of fraternal love in the following verses.

9. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. 10. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light: and there is no scandal in him. 11. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth: because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.

John quotes Jesus as using the images of light and darkness in his Gospel, as in chapter 3, verses 19-21.  "Light" equates with truth, life, and grace; "darkness" with lies, death, and sin.  For this reason, one who hates his brother commits mortal sin and loses the life of grace in his soul.  On the other hand, one who loves his brother "abides" in light, that is, he dwells in light as a proper inhabitant.  There is no "scandal" in him: the Greek here is "skandalon", sometimes translated as "stumbling block".  The meaning is that hatred of one's brother is a snare laid by the enemy to catch others, perhaps tempting the hated one to hate in return.  "Brother" is the Greek "adelphon".  This work primarily is used in the Gospels and other New Testament writings to mean "one's fellow Christians".  The Lord uses a word translated as "neighbor" to mean a fellow human being, whether joined with one in religion or not (cf. Luke 10, 25-37).  The emphasis John gives on loving one's brother may help us to see the congregation(s) to whom he was writing as consisting of members of all classes, including slaves, and various ethnicities which might have harbored hostility towards each other.  "He knoweth not where he goeth": his sin causes him to stray from the "strait and narrow way" to life, leaving him to wander through the wastelands of life without grace.

12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 13. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. 14. I write unto you, babes, because you have known the Father. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

The Rheims translation here does not accurately reflect the change in the tenses of the Greek verb.  From verse twelve through verse thirteen, John says, in the present active, "I write".  In verse fourteen, he says, in two instances, in the perfect active, "I have written", implying a previous letter.  In these verses, John calls all in his Christian audience "little children" cf. below, 2, 18), whose sins are forgiven in baptism, then distinguishes between the "young men" and the "fathers".  The young men have "overcome" the devil and his temptations, considered especially dangerous for the young.  The fathers "have known" the Lord through, at least, the witness of the Apostles and through prayer, which is less distracted because the heat of youth is done with.  "I have written [or, "wrote"] to you, children" -- not "babes", but, as indicated by the Greek word (and distinct from the earlier word translated as "little children"), children under the age of twelve.  John might here also intend to address all baptized Christians, for, in grace, all have "seen the Father".  "You have overcome the wicked one".  The Greek here, "poneron" can mean "the wicked one", "the jealous one", or "the vicious one".








15. Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. 16. For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life, which is not of the Father but is of the world. 17. And the world passeth away and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever.

"Love not the world."  John does here mean the earth, which God found "good" after creating it, and which glorifies him in its beauty (cf. Psalm 8).  When the Lord and the Apostles after him speak of "the world" they mean false values such as money, fame, power, and the draw these things have on humans, and drawing them away from the love and service of God.  Thus, too much concern for one's reputation or pursuing a secular ambition are seen as "belonging to the world".   The Fathers point out also that we cannot serve two masters, as the Lord said.  The charity of the Father is "not with him" when a person is preoccupied with that which is "worldly".

2:18. Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many Antichrists: whereby
we know that it is the last hour.

"It is the last hour", that is, "the end of the age", or, "in the final age".  With the Ascension of Christ, the end of the world will come "soon", although we do not know the exact time.  Indeed, the ability to calculate the "exact" time is a modern accomplishment unimaginable to the ancients.  The very word "hour" in ancient times, had a broad meaning.  Thus, we may be in the "last hour", but we do not know where we are within it.  "As you have heard that Antichrist cometh": Only in John's letters do we encounter the term "antichrist".  It is not found in the Gospels, or in St. Paul's letters, or even in the Book of Revelation, although the antichrist(s) are described and foreseen  in those places.  St. Paul speaks of  the one "whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish" (2 Thessalonians 2, 8-10), but whom "the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit [or, "breath"] of his mouth" (2 Thessalonians 2, 8).  Jerome says that he will be born in the region of Babylon.  Other Fathers assert that he will be born from the tribe of Dan, that he will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and declare himself to be the Christ.  He will even appear to raise the dead and to cause signs to appear in the skies.  "There are many Antichrists": John here speaks of heretics who deny the humanity of the Lord Jesus.  Indeed, any who oppose the reality or commandments of the Lord can be described as "antichrists", and these are forerunners of the principal antichrist who will persecute the Church at the end of time.

19. They went out from us but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us: but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us.

Those who were denying the human nature of Jesus Christ had learned about him among the Christians and perhaps had even accepted baptism, but their faith and understanding were weak.  John, as the other Apostles in their letters, emphasizes the invisible but very real communion of true Christians with one another.  They did not have visible signs as the Jews did in their circumcision and in their use of the Hebrew language, and so their sense of belonging as members of one another required constant reinforcing.

20. But you have the unction from the Holy One and know all things.

The "unction" here, that is, the anointing, is of the Holy Spirit in baptism, conferring spiritual gifts such as faith,  wisdom and prudence.

2:21. I have not written to you as to them that know not the truth, but
as to them that know it: and that no lie is of the truth.

"The truth": "The revelation of the mystery which was kept secret from eternity" (Romans 16, 25).  That is, "the mystery of [the Father's] will . . . which he has purposed" in Christ.  (Ephesians 1, 9), God's saving plan for us in his Son, formed from before all ages, and not understood until Christ himself revealed it.

22. Who is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ?  This is Antichrist, who denieth the Father and the Son.

Jesus is the anointed one, the one sent by the Father and anointed -- Christos -- with the Holy Spirit.  Here, John presupposes the knowledge of his audience that the "Christ", with his human nature, must be the Son of God.

23. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. He that
confesseth the Son hath the Father also.

To deny that Jesus is the eternally begotten Son of God, who came in mortal flesh, is, to the mind of the Apostle, a denial of the Father as well.  The Venerable Bede reminds us that the Father was not called "the Father" until Jesus declared him to be so.  Indeed, he is Father principally in relation to his Son, begotten before eternity.  This is his natural Son, while those who are baptized are adopted children of the Father.  To deny that Jesus is the Son is to deny that God is the Father.

24. As for you, let that which you have heard from the beginning abide in you. If that abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning, you also shall abide in the Son and in the Father.

The verb John uses here, "abide", is one he uses advisedly because it refers to a wonderful intimacy with and in God.  John quotes the Lord Jesus, "If anyone love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him" (John 14, 23).  This means something more than simply that the Father and the Son will smile upon or favor the person who "keeps his word".

25. And this is the promise which he hath promised us, life everlasting.

"Life everlasting".  The Greeks believed that after death, a person's "shade" was ferried into the underworld by the boatman Charon, and that they entered into the realm ruled by Hades.  This was a place of bare existence, without joy.  In Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey", the hero Odysseus goes down alive to this kingdom and the shade of Achilles, killed at Troy, appears to him and laments his fate there.  When Odysseus attempts to console him, Achilles breaks forth with bitter words: "I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above ground than be king of kings among the dead" (Book 11, 594-597).  The life of which John speaks is something entirely new to the Gentiles, a life of perpetual happiness with God in heaven.  It is necessary, in reading the letters of Paul, and John to Gentile Christians, to keep in mind how wildly impossible this promise must have sounded to the majority of their neighbors.

26. These things have I written to you concerning them that seduce you.

That is, the warning regarding the heretics who defined the human nature of the Lord Jesus.

2:27. And as for you, let the unction, which you have received from him abide in you. And you have no need that any man teach you: but as his unction teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie. And as it hath taught you, abide in him.

"You have no need that any man teach you."  John quotes the Lord as saying, "But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your mind all things whatsoever I shall have told you" (John 14, 26).  There is no need for the formed Christian to learn from any man, but there is always need for him to learn from the Holy Church, which is filled by the Holy Spirit.

28. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be confounded by him at his coming.

As will be the damned, gathered on the King's left side (cf. Matthew 25, 44).

29. If you know that he is just, know ye, that every one also who doth
justice is born of him.

This is justice as the Lord himself defines it, rather than humans, with their varying and unsettled, and sometimes unjust definitions.  Everyone who is baptized and made an adopted child of God knows him as just in a way no one else can, and is capable, through grace, of doing the justice of God.

The First Letter of St. John, Chapter Two

Here is my commentary on the first fourteen verses of chapter two of St. John's First Letter:

1. My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just. 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 3. And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments.

John tells the recipients of his letter that his purpose in confirming the truth about Jesus Christ, that he is God and man, is to assist them in living the virtuous life, "that you may not sin".  Belief is linked inextricably to action.  It is not a belief in the abstract, but in the tangible.  He reminds them, though, that if anyone does sin, Jesus -- the tangible one -- is his advocate with the Father.  Note that John does not say "when" anyone sins, but "if", as though it were difficult for John to imagine that a person acquainted with Jesus Christ would choose to sin.  John calls Jesus an "advocate".  In his gospel, John quotes Jesus as applying this term to the Holy Spirit.  Indeed, both are advocates, but of different kinds.  It is the Son who stands before the Father in heaven, pleading for us with his sacred wounds.  The Holy Spirit, proceeding from both the Father and the Son, abides with us forever (cf. John 14, 16) and will give testimony of Jesus, and will enable his followers to give testimony of him as well.  John calls Jesus the propitiation for our sins and for those of the world.  Jesus does not merely make propitiation for our sins, he is this propitiation.  This may remind us of Paul's words, that he became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5, 21), so that the propitiation might be made.  The Lord did this not for a limited number of initiates into his mysteries, or those who possess secret knowledge of him, or those who have magic words, but for everyone in the world.  He has brought about our redemption, though not all will receive salvation.  In order to hope in this salvation, we examine our lives in order to know that we keep his commandments.

4. He who saith that he knoweth him and keepeth not his commandments

is a liar: and the truth is not in him. 5. But he that keepeth his word, in him in very deed the charity of God is perfected. And by this we know that we are in him. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. 7. Dearly beloved, I write not a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8. Again a new commandment I write unto you: which thing is true both in him and in you, because the darkness is passed and the true light now shineth.

"The truth is not in him", that person is a hypocrite, or, "The Truth is not in him", as Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  John emphasized the humanity of Jesus previously, and now he focuses on the consequent need to obey his commandments.  This would be especially necessary for the Gentiles to hear.  They would be acquainted, of course, with state laws, but these ordinances merely outlawed certain actions.  The laws of Christ, "You shall love the Lord your God", and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" go far beyond these, and have validity not only because God commanded them, but because the Son of God embodied them.  John speaks of the "old" commandment and the "new commandment".  He means that which concerns love of neighbors.  It is "old" in the sense that the recipients of this letter had learned it some time before, but it is "new" in that it is not a dead letter which is learned and then forgotten, but which must be lived now, with the aid of the Holy Spirit.  "Which thing is true both in him and in you": an ambiguous statement, but which could mean that the commandment was made in the old law, and is made again in the new law -- this time fulfilled in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, "the darkness" of the old law, written on stone tablets, thus giving rise to the "new Light", which illuminates those tablets. John explains this old and new commandment of fraternal love in the following verses.  

9. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. 10. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light: and there is no scandal in him. 11. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth: because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.

John quotes Jesus as using the images of light and darkness in his Gospel, as in chapter 3, verses 19-21.  "Light" equates with truth, life, and grace; "darkness" with lies, death, and sin.  For this reason, one who hates his brother commits mortal sin and loses the life of grace in his soul.  On the other hand, one who loves his brother "abides" in light, that is, he dwells in light as a proper inhabitant.  There is no "scandal" in him: the Greek here is "skandalon", sometimes translated as "stumbling block".  The meaning is that hatred of one's brother is a snare laid by the enemy to catch others, perhaps tempting the hated one to hate in return.  "Brother" is the Greek "adelphon".  This work primarily is used in the Gospels and other New Testament writings to mean "one's fellow Christians".  The Lord uses a word translated as "neighbor" to mean a fellow human being, whether joined with one in religion or not (cf. Luke 10, 25-37).  The emphasis John gives on loving one's brother may help us to see the congregation(s) to whom he was writing as consisting of members of all classes, including slaves, and various ethnicities which might have harbored hostility towards each other.  "He knoweth not where he goeth": his sin causes him to stray from the "strait and narrow way" to life, leaving him to wander through the wastelands of life without grace.

12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 13. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. 14. I write unto you, babes, because you have known the Father. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

The Rheims translation here does not accurately reflect the change in the tenses of the Greek verb.  From verse twelve through verse thirteen, John says, in the present active, "I write".  In verse fourteen, he says, in two instances, in the perfect active, "I have written", implying a previous letter.  In these verses, John calls all in his Christian audience "little children" cf. below, 2, 18), whose sins are forgiven in baptism, then distinguishes between the "young men" and the "fathers".  The young men have "overcome" the devil and his temptations, considered especially dangerous for the young.  The fathers "have known" the Lord through, at least, the witness of the Apostles and through prayer, which is less distracted because the heat of youth is done with.  "I have written [or, "wrote"] to you, children" -- not "babes", but, as indicated by the Greek word (and distinct from the earlier word translated as "little children"), children under the age of twelve.  John might here also intend to address all baptized Christians, for, in grace, all have "seen the Father".  "You have overcome the wicked one".  The Greek here, "poneron" can mean "the wicked one", "the jealous one", or "the vicious one".

BIBLE STUDY: THE FIRST LETTER OF ST. JOHN

The First Letter of St. John, Chapter One

We do not have definite information on when this letter was written or to whom, specifically, it was meant.  However, we can infer a few likelihoods from the interior evidence of the letter itself, and also from what we know of St. John's whereabouts after the ascension of the Lord, and from our knowledge of the history of the ancient near east.  John evidently is writing to a group of people who already know him and with whom he is on good terms.  These are gentile Christians, and not Jewish converts.  John is concerned with the problem of gnostic teachers appropriating the person of .Jesus and his Gospel into their own system, leading to confusion for the Christian believers.  This last indicates that the letter probably was addressed to Christians in Asia Minor, where Gnosticism became popular among many people, especially among the Greeks.  Basic gnostic teachings included the idea of the earthly and material as evil, while the mind and that which was immaterial and spiritual was good.  For this reason, when the Gnostics began to adopt Jesus as one of their own, some of them said that he was a higher being who took merely the form of a man, and only appeared to die on the Cross.  Other Gnostics taught that Jesus was a spirit who had possessed a man so as to walk among human beings and teach them his philosophy, and who, at the time of his crucifixion, abandoned the man and returned to heaven.  We see the problem with both ideas: if the Son of God could not redeem humanity if he did not assume a human nature and "become man".  St. John vehemently rejected the Gnosticism he saw encroaching on the new Christians, even referring to those who denied the Lord's human nature as "antichrists".  The vehemence is personal, for John had stood at the Cross and watched his Master die.

One final preliminary note: since no particular recipient is addressed by John, it would seem that his letter was meant to be handed on from one community to the next.  It seems safe to say that the communities in question would be those of the seven churches to whom the Lord writes (through John) in the Book of Revelation.  Early Church writers such as Eusebius associate John in the region of these churches, especially with that of Ephesus.

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life.  John speaks of "the beginning", echoing his introduction to his Gospel, which, in turn, echoes the opening words of the Book of Genesis.  John might mean God the Father as this "beginning", keeping in mind that while the Son refers to himself as "the beginning and the end" in Revelation, the Father calls himself "the first and the last" in Isaiah 44, 6.  These terms, in fact befit each Person of the Holy Trinity.  John may be confirming for us here that the Son whom "we have heard . . . seen with our eyes . . . touched with our hands" is indeed from the eternal Father.  John would be linking, very deliberately, this Letter with his Gospel in order to show that what he himself was about to say about the human nature of the Lord Jesus was simply a reiteration of what Jesus himself had revealed.  "The Word of life" -- Jesus tells us that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  "Word" here, a translation of the Greek Logos, may be understood as coming forth directly from the mouth of the Father, with the Holy Spirit the breath accompanying the sound.

2For the life was manifested; and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us.  Again, the insistence of John that this Word could be seen, heard, and touched.  This is not a myth from long ago or some abstract philosophy.  Life is a Person.  Truth is a Person.  The eternal Word of God, spoken for all to hear, is a Person, and John and many others knew him.

3That which we have seen and have heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.  Jewish Christians knew a firm sense of community both in their local group and with others far away, but this idea of union with Christians all over the world was completely new to the gentile Christians.  Paul repeated this teaching again and again, and so does John.  Furthermore, John says, we have this universal fellowship because it is with God himself, in what the Church would come to describe as "the mystical Body of Christ".

4And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice, and your joy may be full.  John adapts the words of Jesus in John 15, 11, in which Jesus speaks of the disciples abiding in him and him in them as the cause and completion of their joy.

5And this is the declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness.  These words may remind us of how we profess that the Son of God is "Light from Light", in the Niceness Creed.  Light and Darkness were terms the Gnostics used in talking about spirit and flesh, and good and evil.  John "takes back" these terms for the Christians and uses them to describe God's utter transcendence.  There is no "darkness" in him, no weakness of any sort, no need for learning, no possibility of growth.  He is infinite in his knowing, in his power, and in his presence.

6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not have the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.  We walk in darkness, John means, if we deny that the Son became man.  We modern Christians may think we have gotten beyond this question, but this is not so.  We often behave in ways (we "walk in darkness") when we act as though the Lord had not come among us, had not become one of us.  We act as though he were a distant figure unconcerned with our individual actions.  It is our faith in the truth about the Lord, that he is God and man, that gives us "fellowship with one another".  And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.  Faith in the Lord leads to the experience of the effects of his redemption, wrought for us on the Cross.  It is his blood that saves us, not a magic spell or secret knowledge.  His blood saves.

8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  It might seem silly to us that anyone would presume to say that he "has no sin", but how many of us act as though we have not sinned, or that we could not sin?  We do this when we forget that we belong to the Lord, who has purchased us with his blood (cf. 1 Peter 1, 18-19), and we have in our minds that we are our own.  The reference to confessing our sins may be a reference to baptism as well as to a regular practice of the devout Christian.  "We make him a liar" -- if we have not sinned, then his death was for nothing.

NEXT WEEK, CHAPTER TWO!  FEEL FREE TO ADD COMMENTS OR ASK QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION!