Tag Archives: Gospel of John

5 Things John says about Jesus in 1 John

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In the prologue to the epistle we know as 1 John, the Apostle writesThe Apostle John

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, … which we have touched with our hands … we proclaim to you

Here are 5 things that John proclaims to us about Jesus in this letter:

Jesus is the Christ

  • contra the claims of the false teachers (2:22), John boldly proclaims that Jesus is the Christ (1:3; 2:1; 3:23; 4:2; 5:1, 6, 20). All who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son sent by the Father to be the Savior, have eternal life (3:23; 4:14; 5:1,12 cmp John 3:16; 11:27).
  • John does not go to great lengths to explain the term Christ – which means Messiah — in this epistle. But it is evident from his Gospel that Messiah refers to the Savior and King promised to Israel and written about in the Scriptures (John 1:41; 4:25; 7:27,31,42; 12:34).

Jesus is Righteous Continue reading →

5 observations on the Prologue in 1 John

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The Apostle JohnJohn opens his writing with what Raymond Brown calls a “grammatical obstacle course”. Here are 5 observations that will help you navigate this challenging passage without breaking too much of a sweat.

1. The main verb – we proclaim to you – occurs in the third verse. It is buried beneath numerous relative clauses (that which …). These clauses expand on the idea communicated by the main verb. They (along with the prepositional phrase) will tell us what is being proclaimed. Continue reading →

Fear of the Dark

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Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. – Jesus

Have you ever been approached by a stern-looking man, carrying a sword with a large blade and eyes that glowed as if on fire – eyes that could pierce right through to your very soul? He walks up to you with an unmistakable urgency, wearing a robe splattered with blood and on his belt hung the keys to the land of the dead. I doubt you have so let me tell you, calling it scary is an understatement. Huge understatement! But that is a story for another time.

Yoda

I sense much fear in you

Fear of the dark. I have known it. At least I thought I did. That was until I saw this terror redefined. True darkness is the absence of all light. I can’t imagine what it would be like to experience that. But I saw someone who did once. But that is getting ahead of ourselves.

Fear. That was something that we dealt with a lot following Jesus. Continue reading →