Ep. 117 | 123 John Part 1: Introducing 3 Letters
Speaker: Hunter Hoover
Available on all podcasting platforms
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Available on all podcasting platforms -
Summary
123 John Part 1:
Hunter introduces the 3 letters written by John as an introduction to Parables Fall/Winter 24 series.
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Scriptures Explored: 1 John 5:13; 1 John 1:1-2
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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi
Speaker’s Bio
Hunter grew up in Montana and now serves the Church in Albany Oregon where he works as a youth and young adults pastor. He and his wife Ana stay busy with two kids. Hunter loves studying the Bible and communicating it in a way which encourages further exploration of others.
Transcript
Intro:
Hey there, welcome to Pickled Parables. This podcast is presented by Parable Ministries as a Bible teaching resource. Thank you for joining us. Pickled Parables is a podcast about taking in and living out the Bible. Here we will study, contemplate and testify to the Bible's incredible teachings and how it leads us to live better lives. To stay up to date with all things parable, follow us on Instagram at parable underscore ministries and visit our website at parableministries.com. We hope today's message finds you well.
Message:
Hi, everyone, welcome back to Pickled parables.
This is Hunter Hoover, and it's my pleasure to be sharing with you today, but also to be introing our new series starting right now on the letters of first, second, and third John.
We're gonna be spending time over the course of the next few months looking at these letters and exploring them as a team.
jesse, Michael, and I are going to be diving in.
And so without further ado, let's get into it.
When you receive a letter from someone, one of the first things you do even before diving into the greeting is you look at who the letter is from.
For us, we check the return address on the front of the letter or who our inbox tells us has sent us the email.
Problem is, when we check the letters of first, second and third John, other than their titles, the letters do very little to indicate who specifically is writing.
First John hardly even contains a greeting.
Rather, first John dives right in to the content of the letter.
For that matter, first John doesn't really include a closing.
Second and third John do better, but we don't get a name as much as a title.
We're told someone called the Elder is writing to us.
So, how do we arrive at this person named John as the one who is authoring these letters?
Church history tells us that this letter was agreed upon as being from the Apostle John, though there is some conversation about whether it was the Apostle John or someone writing in the spirit of the Apostle John.
One such source is the testimonies of Polycarp and Papias.
When the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD, many Christians in the area fled and came to dwell in parts of the surrounding region.
The Apostle John, the one whom Jesus loved from the Gospels, is believed to have fled to ephesus and lived there with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Remember, when Jesus went to die on the cross, he asked John to take care of his mother Mary.
It is here the Apostle John is said to have penned his Gospel while living in ephesus.
John, who knew Polycarp, is then said to have told Irenaeus, yes, John wrote the Gospel here.
So we get the account from Polycarp, who passed his knowledge to Irenaeus, telling him, yes, I can tell you, I knew John and this is where he wrote his Gospel from.
When Papias' account is passed on by Eusebius in a similar matter, where Papias had a little more first-hand information and then passed that first-hand information that was then written down by Eusebius, we learn again that the Apostle John wrote the Gospel and elsewhere, an Elder John writes the letters of 1st, 2nd and 3rd John.
And from this, there have been two conclusions about this John character, and there has been kind of a debate that has been drawn up.
While the Apostle John wrote the Gospel of John, is this the same John that is later referred to as the Elder by Papias?
Or, is this Elder John just another way of referencing the same man, the Apostle John?
To put it plainly, those who argue that the Apostle was referred to as the Elder say that the author of John's Gospel is one and the same with the Elder who wrote these letters.
Those who say this Apostle and Elder are not the same man say, the Elders were penned by another John or as I stated earlier in the Spirit of John.
For our purposes, introing the letters, we're proceeding from the perspective that the Apostle John is or is supposed to be the Elder of the letters for second and third John.
I want also to note, I proceed from that premise, not from the perspective of just arbitrarily choosing one of those options, like throwing a dart at a dartboard and it landed on the Apostle and Elder being the same.
Rather, the assertions of Polycarp and Poppius, coupled with the assertion of the early church, as these letters being written by John, throupled with the style of the letters and many of its themes matching or mirroring those found in the Gospel of John lead me to conclude that the author of the Gospel of John is one and the same as the author of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.
At minimum, we can say this, whoever this John is who wrote these letters, he was viewed as an elder in the region and had an authority to speak as one that was well known as the person of John.
For my money, that's the apostle.
When reading a letter, seemingly the second most prominent aspect in gaining understanding is observing who it was written to.
And this is one of the peculiar things about reading the epistles, the letters of the Bible, is it's kind of like we're reading someone else's mail.
Most of the time, if we're reading a letter, it was addressed to us, or it was addressed to someone we know very well, and they have decided to share it with us.
John here leaves us with little to go off of again.
Unlike most of the New testament letters, written to various churches or specific individuals in various regions of the world at the time, John's letters are not distinct in this.
At the end of the first letter, John writes in 1 John 5.13 that he wrote these things to those who believe.
So, at least the first letter, and we can presume the two that follow, are letters to believers.
these are not necessarily evangelistic in nature, but they are written to those who already believe.
We get another hint in 3 John 1, where the elder addresses a man named Gaius.
Gaius was a Christian leader in the region of Asia Minor, and he seems to have been a friend of John.
Church history suggests John settled in this area, again after the fall of the temple, in the area where Gaius is said to have come from.
After this, John and the mother of jesus are reported to have moved and settled here, and this is likely not only where John wrote his gospel, but it is believed as an extension, this is where he wrote his three letters from.
While the answer to to whom is the letter written is very non-specific, I believe it is this way on purpose.
Still today, we read John's letters as being to those who believe.
Listener, if you're hearing this, and you've put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, that is you.
If you're hearing this, and you have not yet done so, I pray that you would be moved to commit to Christ.
these letters are written to Christians, and so they still are.
Whenever you start to look at historical things, these are historical letters, they're set in history, the date that they're written becomes important as well.
The date John wrote his letters adds to the sense of why he wrote to Christians in general.
It is believed he wrote the letters between 70 and 90 AD.
During this time, the church faced much persecution, and many of the apostles and followers of Christ had died for their faith.
John's letters are some of the latest letters written, and they reflect many of the themes they were concerned with in church history at the time.
The chief of these themes that John touches on that were of a great concern were setting heresy straight.
If Christianity was to carry on and survive as Jesus has ascended and those who walked with Jesus have begun to die or be martyred, having a right belief is going to be key for this faith to move forward.
A right faith in the person of jesus Christ, which rejects deviation from the gospel is key.
The second important theme that was on the church's mind at the time were comments or concerns about who is going to lead now as the apostles face the end of their life.
It seems as if the apostles and the time of the apostles has come and gone.
Who now will lead the church in their absence?
In many ways, John's letters are a final challenge and a last warning to jesus' followers from the time of the apostles for them to carry on that faith well into a time after the apostles.
1 John's date, again, is usually placed in that window as being written around 80 to 85 AD.
The second letter of John is likely written about 85 to 90 AD, though that date is less certain.
So too with 3 John, which was written in that same window, 85 to 90 AD.
90 is issued here in church history as it is believed John has been exiled to Patmos by 95 AD, where he would write Revelation before he dies.
So to recap, the Apostle John wrote these letters from ephesus to Christians as a whole to address concerns of faith, heresy, and church leadership sometime between 70 and 90 AD.
But that begs the question, why?
Why did John write, and more importantly, why did he write three letters?
And as my brain looks at these letters, why are the second two so short?
Well, in short, he likely wrote second and third John writing again because something came up, or he felt he needed to add clarity to a topic that maybe he needed to expand more as he thought about it.
Both follow-up letters speak of having faith despite opposition.
And boy, were Christians facing opposition at the time.
As for why he wrote his initial letter, as we dive into it in the coming weeks and months, I think it's going to be more and more clear to you.
He's writing to a group of Christians, encouraging them to not only stand firm in their faith, but be grounded in right belief, know how to tell when someone is teaching wrong belief, and giving them instruction for how to live well as Christians in that reality.
Our last question when we discuss letters in the Bible has little to do with the historicity and the placement of these letters, as well as its inclusion in the Bible, but rather looks more at us today.
Why are we studying 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John?
Why study these letters?
Now, other than being held as scripture and included in the canon of scripture, which I would argue is reason alone for us to study them, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John are crucial for reminding us of three important aspects of Christian life, right belief, right practice, and right allegiance.
In light of these three, John encourages those reading his letter, Christians, us today, to stand up to false doctrine, to speak out about false teachers, and be encouraged to share and spread the right real faith in jesus Christ to those we love and live with in this life.
John desires to truly focus us in on jesus and the importance of faith in him.
And so, he wrote some letters.
And as we open the first of John's letters, we read, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and was made manifest to us.
We're going to hear more about that life made manifest next time.
Thank you all.
We'll see you soon.
Bye now.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to Pickled Parables. If you enjoyed this message, please rate us, subscribe and share with your friends. If you're interested in more things like this, check out our secondary podcast called My Dusky Bible. To stay up to date with all things Parable, follow us on Instagram at parable underscore ministries and visit our website at parableministries.com. Parable is a volunteer organization and we would deeply appreciate your prayers. Thank you for joining us today, we'll catch you later.
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