Theological Commentary: Click Here
John pens a
letter to a group of believers with whom he has relationship. His writing looks to serve a threefold purpose. First, it verifies the Gospel account. Second, it speaks to people about deceit. Third, it speaks to people about truth.
John wants
to verify the account. There are a
myriad of reasons for this. First of
all, it is one thing to hear from someone who heard the story from someone else. However, hearing from someone who was present
and can verify the information is far more reassuring. Second, there has been a fair bit of years since
Jesus’ ascension and the writing of this letter. No doubt John wants to reassure the people
that God has neither forgotten them nor changed the plan. Third, he desires to validate the message and
teaching that the people have already received.
Wrapped up
in these purposes is John’s desire to refute deceit. He reminds the people that God is light and
He does not permit darkness. At the same
time, we have darkness within our being as we live out the evil within our
heart. If we do not acknowledge the sin
within us, we live in darkness and have no part in Him. This is interesting because we would expect
the darkness within to eliminate us from the presence of God. However, it is actually our refusal to
acknowledge the sin within that threatens to remove us from the presence of
God. God can deal with our sin so long
as we acknowledge that it needs to be dealt with.
Third, John
wishes to speak to truth. What is
truth? Jesus came to allow us to be in
relationship with the Father. He is the
light. He shatters darkness. He paves the way to God. In this fact, we not only have fellowship
with God but fellowship with one another.
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