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Bible Commentaries
Mitchell's Commentary on Selected New Testament Books Mitchell Commentary
- 1 John
by John G. Mitchell
5:21
THE PURPOSE OF THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
The purpose of the Epistle is threefold:
1. That your joy may be full.
1 John 1:4. And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
Remember, our Lord has spoken so that His joy might remain in us and that our joy may be made full (John 15:11).
It is not God’s desire that we go around with a long face or with a holier-than-thou expression. God wants us to have full joy. Full joy is found in Christ and is dependent upon full fellowship with Christ, the Incarnate Word of God.
Most of our joys down here are tarnished because of weakness, failure, misunderstandings, and the sorrows of life. The world can have happiness which depends upon circumstances, but the world knows nothing of real joy.
Our joy depends upon our relationship and fellowship with God. Even in the midst of sorrow and affliction we can have real, real joy. This is a wonderful thing!
John writes these things unto us that our joy may be full.
2. That you sin not.
1 John 2:1. My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Sinning is inconsistent in one who is in fellowship with God. John writes to us that we might be free from sinning. He does not say that we have no sin. In fact, he says in the first chapter that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves; we make Him a liar (1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10). Because we do sin, provision has been made for us when we sin:
1 John 2:12. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
God has made it possible for us to be free from sin by forgiveness and cleansing through the work of Christ. Yet, John’s great desire for us is that we should not sin. God Himself empowers us by the Spirit of God so that day by day we may live lives glorifying to Him.
3. That you may know that you have eternal
life.
1 John 5:13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God; in order that you may know that you have eternal life.
In the Gospel of John eternal life is granted by believing the declaration of God, and His Word is always sure. The believer may not feel it; the believer may not know much about it. But God has said it, and He always speaks the truth. He who believes in the Son has eternal life (John 3:36).
In the Epistle of John, the believer knows that he has eternal life because he experiences Christ day by day in his life through fellowship. Thus, we can say with John,
1:3. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Remember, the theme of the Epistle is fellowship with God.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to read through the whole Epistle today and keep this theme in mind while you read?
OUTLINE OF THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
I. The introduction to the Epistle (1 John 1:1-4)
Life manifested in the Incarnate Word
Life experienced by the Apostles
Testimony given by the Apostles
The Apostles’ desire for us
The result of fellowship with God
II. Fellowship with God Who is Light (1 John 1:5 to 1 John 2:28)
The message (1 John 1:5)
The test of our profession (1 John 1:6-8)
The provision for restoration of fellowship (1:9-10)
The ground for fellowship with God (2:1-2)
The evidence of fellowship with God (2:3-11)
Obedience to His Word (1 John 2:3-5)
Submission to His will (1 John 2:6-8)
Love for the brethren (1 John 2:9-11)
The place of fellowship is in the family (1 John 2:12-28)
Declaration to the fathers (1 John 2:13-14)
Address to the young men (1 John 2:13-17)
Instructions to the little children (1 John 2:13; 1 John 2:18-28)
III. Fellowship with God Who is Righteous (1 John 2:29 to 1 John 4:6)
The fact of God’s righteousness (1 John 2:29)
The encouragement for fellowship (1 John 3:1-3)
The opposition to the fellowship (1 John 3:4-13)
The evidence of the fellowship (1 John 3:14-18)
The result of the fellowship (1 John 3:19-24)
Assurance in fellowship (1 John 3:19-21)
Assurance in prayer (1 John 3:22-23)
Assurance because of our union with Him (1 John 3:24)
The test of the fellowship (1 John 4:1-6)
IV. Fellowship with God Who is Love (1 John 4:7 to 1 John 5:5)
Divine love manifested (1 John 4:7-10)
The assurance of our union with Him (1 John 4:11-19)
Love manifested in His children (1 John 4:20 to 1 John 5:5)
V. Divine Certainties and Assurances (1 John 5:6-20)
Certainty of God’s testimony (1 John 5:6-8)
Certainty of eternal life (1 John 5:9-13)
Certainty in prayer (1 John 5:18-20)
Certainty in victory (1 John 5:18-20)
VI. The Conclusion (1 John 5:21)
Conclusion (1 John 5:21)
INTRODUCTION
TO THE FIRST
EPISTLE OF JOHN
It is usually true that in the introduction to a book we find the key to that book. In the first four verses of this Epistle we find the key.
1 John 1:1. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life--
1 John 1:2. and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--
1 John 1:3. what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:4. And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
LIFE MANIFESTED IN THE INCARNATE WORD
“What was from the beginning . . .” It is very interesting to notice that in John’s Gospel we have this statement,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2).
In the third verse of that chapter we learn that all things came into being through Him (Jesus Christ), and this leads us back to the first verse of the Bible.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
In the first verse of this Epistle which we are studying, we read, “What was from the beginning.” What are these three beginnings?
The word “beginning” in John’s Gospel has to do with eternity, that which cannot be measured by time.
In the beginning was the Word.
The beginning of what?
Back just as far as one can go, before creation, He was there! The Word did not come into being, but was with God and was God. The Gospel of John starts with the pre-incarnate person of Jesus Christ.
In point of time, John 1:3 takes us back to Genesis 1:1, when, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Here is that time of creation when the worlds were made. John 1:3 tells us that all things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. Genesis starts with God as the Creator, and John informs us that Jesus Christ is the Creator.
The Epistle of John starts with the Incarnate Word of God. “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen . . .”
This was the beginning of our Lord’s life among men, as a Man in the midst of men.
This is comparable to the fourteenth verse in the first chapter of the gospel of John:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Therefore, both the Gospel and the Epistle of John give to us the revelation of the Incarnate Son of God.
In the Gospel of John, there can be no life, divine life, imparted to us apart from relationship with the Incarnate Son of God. In the Epistle of John, there can be no fellowship with God apart from the Incarnate Word of God.
