Professor John’s 1st Known Contemporary History
Introduction:
Professor John writes to people that have been in Jesus’ Kingdom for some time, but presently are being persuaded by false ‘teachers’ of various ideas, who need his reminder, as to these false teacher’s errors. His contrast of being ‘abiding’ or ‘errored’ is ultimately based upon their being in ‘love’ with their King. Their being sure that they have and will continue to have eternal life in His Kingdom is a goal that is understandable and known to them. His hope is to encourage them to hold to what they had been taught and not to change their understanding by anyone other than who they already knew was a giver of Truth.
There are many ‘contrast’ in this Letter: Light/darkness, keeping Commands/liar, sin/not sinned, love/hate, abiding in Christ/antichrist, practice righteousness/practices sin, loves God/hates his brother, false teachers/we (Apostles), etc. You will note many words that need consideration: if, lie, Truth (Message), fellowship, Light, sin, write (wrote), Commandment, beginning, understand, abide, antichrist, love (about 50 times), anointed, Holy One, know, denies, Father, practices, righteous/ness, devil/evil one, eternal life, Beloved, born, God’s Son, He Himself, the Spirit, Name, etc.
Date: A.D. 85ish
Letter:
(1st) The One Who always was [<-]since [the] beginning!, Whom we [Apostles] have heard [>|], Whom we have seen [>|] with our eyes, Whom we have looked upon [x], and Whom our hands have touched [x], even the Word of Life! The Life was made visible [x, manifested], and we have seen [>|] Him, and we are testifying [->] and proclaiming [->] to you all, the eternal Life, Who always was [<-] with [face to face] the Father and made visible [x] to us. {1:3}
(2nd) The One, Whom we [Apostles] have seen [>|] and heard [>|], we are also proclaiming [->] to you all, that you also may have [->,j] fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. We write these things so that your joy can continually be maintained completely. This is the announcement which we have heard from Him, and we are proclaiming to you: God is Light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him! {1:5}
[A] If we say that we are having fellowship with Him, and if we are walking in the darkness, we are lying, and we are not practicing the Truth. But, [B] if we are walking in the Light, as He is in the Light, we continue in fellowship with one another; and the blood of Jesus His Son continues to cleanse us from every sin. {1:7}
[C] If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us. [D] If we should continue [->,j]to confess our sins, He is dependable and righteous and can forgive [x,j] us our sins, and can cleanse [x,j] us from every wrongdoing. [E] If we can say [x,j] that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Message is not in us. {1:10}
My little children, I write these things to you that you may not sin. However, if anyone sins, we have an Intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He Himself is an offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but more so, also for the whole world. {2:2}
(3rd) We understand that we have understood Him, if, we keep His Commandments. He who says, “I have understood Him”, yet does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. Whoever keeps His Message, God’s love truly has been completed in him; by this we understand that we are in Him. He who says that he abides in Him, ought also himself to walk even as He walked. {2:6}
Beloved, I do not write to you a new Commandment, but more so, an old Commandment, which you had from [the] beginning. The old Commandment is the Message which you heard. Too, I write a new Commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing, and the true Light already is shining:
[1] He who says that he is in the Light, but hates his brother, is yet in the darkness. [2] He who loves his brother abides in the Light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. He who hates his brother [a] is in the darkness, and [b] walks in the darkness, and [c] does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. {2:11}
(4th) I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His Name’s sake. I write to you, fathers, because you have understood Him from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. I wrote to you, little children, because you have understood the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have understood Him from the beginning. I wrote to you, young people, because you are strong, and God’s Message abides in you, and you have conquered the ‘evil one’. {2:14}
You all must not love the world, neither the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world: [1] the desire of the flesh, and [2] the desire of the eyes, and [3] the pride in one’s possessions, is not of the Father, but more so, is out of the world. The world is passing away, and its desire, but he who does God’s Will abides forever. {2:17}
(5th) Little children, it is the last hour, and even as you heard that antichrist* comes, also now many antichrists* have come, and so we understand that it is the last hour. They* went out from us, but more so, they* were not of us. Indeed, if they* had been of us, they* would have stayed with us; but more so, they* went out that they* might become clearly seen that they all* are not of us. {2:19}
You all have [->] an anointing [1] from the Holy One, and all of you [b] are ‘fully’ informed [->,-oida]. I have not written to you because you do not know [oida] the Truth, but more so, because you do know [oida] it, and because no lie is of the Truth. Who is a liar, except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist*, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who is confessing the Son also has the Father.
It is imperative that you let that which you heard from [the] beginning abide in you. If that which you heard from [the] beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. The promise which He Himself promised us is eternal life. {2:25}
I wrote these things to you concerning the ones who are deceiving you. The anointing (which you received from Him) [1] abides in you, and [2] you do not need that someone should teach you. [3] His anointing teaches you concerning ‘all things’, and [a] is true, and [b] is not a lie. As It taught you, continue to abide in Him.
Now, little children, continue to abide in Him, so that when He is revealed, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you all should know that He is righteous, then you must conclude that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. {2:29}
(6th) You all must see this! How glorious is the love the Father has showered upon us, that we should be called God’s children, and we are! On account of this, the world does not understand us, because it did not understand Him. Beloved, now we are God’s children, but what we will be, has not yet been made clear. We know that, as He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. {3:3}
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin is lawless, for sin is lawlessness. You know that He was revealed to take sins away, and there is no sin in Him. No one who practices sin abides in Him; everyone who practices sin has neither seen nor understood Him. {3:6}
Little children, you must not allow anyone to deceive you: the one who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has been practicing sin from [the] beginning. God’s Son was revealed to destroy the devil’s works. No one who has been born of God continues to practice sin, because His seed abides in him, and he cannot practice sin. {3:9}
God’s children and the devil’s children are clearly known by this: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, also the one who does not love his brother. This is the announcement which you heard from [the] beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. {3:12}
My brothers, if the world hates you, do not be surprised. We know we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. He that does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in Him. {3:15}
By this, we have understood love, because He laid down His life for our sake, and we are obligated to lay down our lives for the sake of the brothers. Whoever has this world’s possessions, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart to him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or in speech, but more so, in deed and in Truth. {3:18}
By this, we shall understand that we are of the Truth, and we shall set our heart at ease before Him, because if our heart convicts us, God is greater than our heart, and understands all things. Beloved, if our heart does not convict us, we have boldness before God. Whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His Commandments, and because we are doing the things that please Him.
This is His Commandment, that we should believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and should love one another, as He commanded us. The one who continues to keep His Commandments abides in Him, and He Himself in him; we understand that He abides in us, by the Spirit, Whom He gave to us. {3:24}
(7th) Beloved, you must not believe every spirit, but more so, you must test them, to see if they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. You must understand God’s Spirit by this: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This one is of the antichrist*, of whose* coming you have heard, and now he* is already in the world. {4:3}
You are of God, little children, and you have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They themselves are of the world, and because of this they speak of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who understands God, hears us [Apostles]; he who is not of God, does not hear us. By this we understand the spirit of Truth, and the spirit of error. {4:6}
(8th) Beloved, we should love one another, because love is of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God, and understands God. He who does not love has not understood God, for God is love. God’s love has been made clearly seen in us by this, that He has sent His unique Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Love is in this, not that we have loved God, but more so, that He Himself loved us, and sent His Son as an offering [appeasement] because of our sins. {4:10}
Beloved, if God loved us in this manner, we are obligated to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is made complete in us. We understand that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. We [Apostles] have seen and we testify that the Father has ‘sent the Son’ as the world’s Savior. {4:14}
Whoever does confess that Jesus is God’s Son, God abides in him, and he abides in God. We have understood and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this, love is made complete with us, that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because even as He is, we are also in this world. Fear is not in love, but complete love casts out fear, because fear has torment; and the one who is afraid is not made complete in love.
We love, because He Himself first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God Whom he has not seen. We have this commandment from Him, that he who loves God also should love his brother. {4:21}
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves Him, Who has begotten [us] , also, loves him who has been begotten of Him. In this we understand that we love God’s children, when we love God, and do His commandments. This is the love of God that we keep His Commandments, and His Commandments are not burdensome. Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world: ‘the Faith’ of us! Who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is God’s Son? {5:5}
(9th) This is He who came [1] by water and [2] blood, Jesus Christ: not by the water only, but by the water, and by the blood. The Spirit is the One Who testifies, because the Spirit is the Truth. Three are testifying: [1] the Spirit, and [2] the water, and [3] the blood; and the three agree. If we receive men’s testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because this is the testimony which He has given about His Son. He who believes unto God’s Son has the testimony in himself; he who does not believe God, has made Him a liar, because he has not believed unto the testimony which God has given about His Son.
This is the testimony: that God gave [aorist] us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have God’s Son does not have life. {5:12}
(10th) I have written these things to you, you who believe unto the Name of God’s Son, that you may know [oida] that you have eternal life. This is the assurance which we have toward Him: if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, then we know we have the requests which we have asked from Him. {5:15}
(11th) If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not to death, he will ask, and He will give life to him, to those who do not sin to death. There is sin to death. I do not say that he should ask for that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not to death.
We know that no one who has been born of God continues to sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one. We know [oida] that God’s Son has come, and has given us understanding, that we may understand the One Who is true. We are in the One Who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, it is imperative that you all guard yourselves from idols.