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Before you read on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.
Before we dive into the 7 points that John makes in this passage, as I see it, I wanted to take a few moments to remind us about some important big picture things that really affect the way we read this text, things that are deeply affecting why I see what I do in this passage, as I endeavor to expound it to you. The important things I want to bring our attention to are 1) the Purpose of the book, 2) the Context, and 3) the Structure of the Passage.
II. Purpose of the Book: Why did John write the book? What was his goal? What was his purpose? What did he hope would happen in the lives of those who read it? And why did he write all the things he did?
Well, not all authors tell us why they wrote what they did. Most of the time we just have to intuit the many possible reasons why an author wrote what they did. But, in this case, John tell us why. Several times in 1 John he tells us in his own words exactly why he wrote it. So we better pay attention to what he says. In 1 John 1:4, John says, "And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete." But how is our joy going to be made complete? How is the joy of the apostles, the faithful preachers, all Christians, made complete? What's going to do that? And why are the things that he's writing going to do that?
He gives us the answer in 5:13, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." So John is writing these things, mainly to those of us who are believers, with the express purpose that we will know we have eternal life. And if we know that we have eternal life, that's going to produce joy. If you really know you have eternal life, how could you not be overflowing with joy?
So what I'm asking, throughout this passage, and every other passage of 1st John is, how is this supposed to help me know that I have eternal life, and therefore have joy. That's the question that I bring to every passage, every verse of every passage.
And so the main theme of John's letter, as I take it, from cues like those two verses I brought you to, is what the church has called the doctrine of the Assurance of Salvation. John's design is that the Holy Spirit, through your reading and hearing the words that he has written, would so move in your heart that you would know without a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, that the Holy Spirit would assure your heart through these words that you are truly and irrevocably saved. Now that's not the only doctrine of the letter, that's not the only teaching that John gives, but it seems to me from what he says, that all the other things he teaches are aimed at the doctrine of Assurance, like arrows are aimed at a bulls-eye.
And I think if you understand that, you have right interpretive grid to understand every little various bit of the book of 1st John. And that is no less true for this passage right here, where John teaches, essentially, that those who have faith in Jesus overcome the world. And so if you know that you have this kind of faith in Jesus, the kind of faith that he describes in the passage I just read, then you know that you will overcome the world, then you know that you have eternal life. Because if you have eternal life, you have to overcome the world. Why? Because John said in 2:17, that the world and its desires are passing away. And if you overcome the world, which is passing away, then that must mean you have eternal life, for only those who have eternal life overcome the world. So that's how I think John's is aiming the arrow of this passage right at the doctrine of the Assurance of Salvation. He's describing the Faith that Overcomes the World.
II. Purpose of the Book: Why did John write the book? What was his goal? What was his purpose? What did he hope would happen in the lives of those who read it? And why did he write all the things he did?
Well, not all authors tell us why they wrote what they did. Most of the time we just have to intuit the many possible reasons why an author wrote what they did. But, in this case, John tell us why. Several times in 1 John he tells us in his own words exactly why he wrote it. So we better pay attention to what he says. In 1 John 1:4, John says, "And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete." But how is our joy going to be made complete? How is the joy of the apostles, the faithful preachers, all Christians, made complete? What's going to do that? And why are the things that he's writing going to do that?
He gives us the answer in 5:13, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." So John is writing these things, mainly to those of us who are believers, with the express purpose that we will know we have eternal life. And if we know that we have eternal life, that's going to produce joy. If you really know you have eternal life, how could you not be overflowing with joy?
So what I'm asking, throughout this passage, and every other passage of 1st John is, how is this supposed to help me know that I have eternal life, and therefore have joy. That's the question that I bring to every passage, every verse of every passage.
And so the main theme of John's letter, as I take it, from cues like those two verses I brought you to, is what the church has called the doctrine of the Assurance of Salvation. John's design is that the Holy Spirit, through your reading and hearing the words that he has written, would so move in your heart that you would know without a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, that the Holy Spirit would assure your heart through these words that you are truly and irrevocably saved. Now that's not the only doctrine of the letter, that's not the only teaching that John gives, but it seems to me from what he says, that all the other things he teaches are aimed at the doctrine of Assurance, like arrows are aimed at a bulls-eye.
And I think if you understand that, you have right interpretive grid to understand every little various bit of the book of 1st John. And that is no less true for this passage right here, where John teaches, essentially, that those who have faith in Jesus overcome the world. And so if you know that you have this kind of faith in Jesus, the kind of faith that he describes in the passage I just read, then you know that you will overcome the world, then you know that you have eternal life. Because if you have eternal life, you have to overcome the world. Why? Because John said in 2:17, that the world and its desires are passing away. And if you overcome the world, which is passing away, then that must mean you have eternal life, for only those who have eternal life overcome the world. So that's how I think John's is aiming the arrow of this passage right at the doctrine of the Assurance of Salvation. He's describing the Faith that Overcomes the World.
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