16th October 2023
My little children
This study is the twenty-fourth in a series of studies on the books of the New Testament
(1 John – read in 9 minutes)
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20 (NKJV)
This letter from John to believers in churches in Asia Minor, can come across as the chaotic recycling of a few core ideas seemingly lurching from critical outbursts like, ‘…If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ (1 John 2:15), intertwined with expressions of deep affection including, ‘Beloved, now we are children of God…’ (1 John 3:2). If individual statements are taken out of context it does seem to be full of contradictions and repetitions. This approach is intentional. The core principles of eternal life, truth, and love are explored, each time from different perspectives – just to make sure it is clear.
Everything is addressed to people whom John continually refers to as, ‘My little children’, a few words, repeated seven times, filled with compassion and a deep sense of caring. These expressions of pastoral love are key to understanding that John is aware of two distinct groups. There are the ‘little children’ he has committed his life to caring for, and those ‘who try to deceive you’ (1 John 2:26).
He begins his letter, as he begins his gospel: rooting everything in Jesus – ‘the Word of life’ – positioning himself as part of that group that spent over three years living alongside him, seeing him, touching him, listening to him – understanding what it was that leads to eternal life (1 John 1:1). They had fellowship with the incarnate Son of God and throughout the epistle John looks to draw those in his care into fellowship with Jesus, and with each other. With this background he sets himself against those threatening the foundation of believers, who he decries in 1 John 2:22-23: ‘Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?’ John challenges false claims that Jesus was not who he said he was – a claim that would lead to the complete unravelling of the message of salvation. He is providing those in his care with a checklist of how to recognise false teachers: someone who does not keep Christ’s commandments (v.4); who has hate for another (v.11); who ‘denies’ Jesus Christ (v.23); who does not help another in need (1 John 3:17).
Throughout, John sets light against dark; the love of the Father against the love of the world; truth against lies – echoes from Deuteronomy where God beseeches the Israelites: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life…” (Deuteronomy 30:19). There is no convenient middle ground that a Christian can inhabit.
As with other New Testament writers, John is anticipating an imminent return of Christ declaring, ‘…even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.’ (1 John 2:18). There is urgency in his tone. Those early, persecuted Christians were beginning to learn the sometimes hard lesson that the God who inhabits eternity sees time differently to us.
The conclusion can read like an afterthought, ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols…’ (I John 5:21), but it cuts to the heart of the matter. Those who receive the letter are urged to resist the temptation to remake the one God – known to the apostles as Jesus – in their own or another’s image.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that we may have true fellowship with you, and with each other, as we wait patiently for the future you have promised us. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Maggie Mitchell
About the writer:
Maggie Mitchell attends the Northampton congregation of Grace Communion International and is Chair of the Pastoral Council
Local congregation:
GCI Northampton
Ecton Village Hall
78A High Street
Ecton
Northampton
NN6 0QB
Local congregational contact:
Maggie Mitchell
Email: maggie.mitchell@btinternet.com
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church