Sin and the World in 1 John

Through the incarnation, the revelation of God’s light enters the darkness of our world. The term “world” appears 185 times in the New Testament and 78 of them occur in the gospel of John and the three letters. As in the gospel, the author of 1 John sees the “world” as in thrall to the

Responding to Christ in 1 John

One of the major themes of John’s letters is our response to Christ. The gospel focuses on the importance of belief and the opposition between belief and unbelief, but in 1 John the focus is on right and wrong belief. Here John concerns himself with false teachers who are identified with the world which is

Christology in the Letters of John

Christology means the study of the person, role and nature of Jesus. For the author of John it represents the encounter of God with our sinful world. The divine and the human come together through Jesus. In John’s usage, Christ refers to the divine aspect, the Son of God, while Jesus is used for the

The Vision of God in the Letters of John

The prologue of 1 John suggests that it will begin with a focus on Christology but this doesn’t happen. Instead in verse five, the author tells us that Jesus taught that “God is light and there is no darkness at all in him”. So, instead of the emphasis being on the second person of the

Introduction to 1 John: His Opponents

Evidence in 1 John suggests that a group had arisen within the Church that had restated the Christian message in some way that caused division and controversy. This group opposed John and caused infighting and even hatred among Christians. There is some debate about the identity of the group but many scholars think it was

Introduction to the First Letter of John

This year in St. Joseph’s Bible study group, were looking at the “catholic” epistles, seven letters that are not addressed to any particular group of people but to the Church in general. We will begin with 1 John. The first letter of John is not as obviously a letter as 2 and 3 John and