My goal is
for you to be hungry. I want your
insides to burn with a pain that can only be quenched by food. I want the desire for sustenance to overwhelm
your senses and obliterate all thoughts of any competing concerns that may be
present in your life. I want you to be
at the point where you are willing to go to extreme measures to satisfy the
need to eat. But the hunger I am hoping
for has nothing to do with food that is consumed by the mouth. I am of course referring to a spiritual
hunger. I am hoping to induce in you a
need for your soul to be filled with the absolute truth that is inherent in the
revelation of God which is found in the pages of the Bible. My wish is for you to be overcome with a
longing for what is found in Scripture that escalates into greater and deeper
and wider capacities for consumption.
Does this
seem like hyperbole? If you think so
then you would have to include the model set forth by Jesus to also be flowery
and extravagant. Consider His words in
John 4:34: Jesus said to them, “My food
is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” By making this statement He was trying to get
the point across to His disciples that just as physical food is absolutely
critical to a continuation of physical life, the spiritual food given by God is
essential for spiritual life to exist. This
is the same idea the Lord included in His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” What degree of hunger was Jesus referring
to? Consider that the word used here in
Matthew 5 is a verb, meaning it is active and full of energy, and it is the
same verb found in the previous chapter when His own level of hunger is
described after fasting for 40 days straight: And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became
hungry. I don’t think anyone would
say that the hunger Christ was experiencing here was a casual whim. No, it was a burning, consuming, painful, and
debilitating need for the body to be filled with sustenance. That is exactly the kind of attitude we are
to have in our relationship with Jesus. My hope for both myself and for you is
that the passion displayed by Jesus would dominate our lives to such an extent
that those around us who are not consumed by this appetite would look askance
at us as if we were quite mad.
But here’s
the catch and the rub. I have absolutely
no power or capacity to cause this to happen in your heart. The type of transformative spiritual
conflagration that I am describing can only happen through one medium; the
indwelling of the Spirit of God Himself.
It is He who possesses the power to overwhelm your senses with a desire
for His presence and an unveiling of His character. Paul illustrates the reality well in Romans
15:15-16: But I have written very boldly
to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was
given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles,
ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles
may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul viewed the people who came to Christ
through his ministry as an offering to be given to God. And he recognized that this sacrifice could
only be set apart and made holy by the Spirit, not by man’s effort.
In spite of
this all is not lost for me. The amazing
fact of the matter is that God in His infinite kindness delights in using human
surrogates to accomplish His purposes in this area. Paul continues his train of thought in verses
17 to 19 of the same chapter: Therefore
in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to
God. For I will not presume to speak of
anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the
obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders,
in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as
Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And so although I am not capable of the
miraculous signs and wonders that God performed through Paul nor am I invested
with the authority that was granted to him, I will perform the only part I am
capable of playing in this process. I
will attempt, over the next several months, with the help of the Holy Spirit
and your receptive participation, to take the tools God has given me for this
purpose; namely, the words of God Himself that are found in the Bible. This divine revelation is the chief method
throughout history which the Lord has chosen to display His character to
mankind.
To
accomplish my objective in this time and this place I am going to turn to the
epistles, or letters, of one of the companions of Jesus while He was on
earth. This is none other than the
Apostle John. Toward the end of his life
he penned three letters to fellow believers living in the Mediterranean world
of the Roman Empire. I believe the books
of 1st John, 2nd John, and 3rd John will serve
as an excellent vehicle for casting our vision squarely and surely straight at
the reality of who God is. This is the
ultimate question on which the universe hangs, because God designed it that
way. More on that in a minute. For now recognize that it is an understanding
of this question and a pursuit of its answer that I believe is the only way to
achieve the spiritual hunger I am talking about. These three texts offer us an amazing glimpse
into God’s character and they are immensely practical and applicable in dealing
with very specific issues that pertain to our everyday lives. Not only that but they are absolutely jam
packed with instruction on a huge and varied list of doctrinal teaching; either
as a major component for a particular doctrine or as an auxiliary support for
complementary teaching found elsewhere.
Don’t
believe me? Consider this list of issues
that the three epistles of John deal with, in no particular order: the deity of
Christ, union with Christ, the goodness of God, the indwelling presence of sin,
Christ as our mediator, the sacrificial work of Christ, the necessity of
obedience, the fulfillment of the Law, the process of sanctification,
separation from the world, apostasy, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the
family of God, glorification of the saints, the destructiveness of sin, being
born again, assurance of salvation, the importance of prayer, hostility from
the world, the importance of spiritual fruit, the need for discernment, the
blaspheming spirit of anti-Christ, loving one another, God’s embodiment of
love, confidence before God, the ease of obedience, victory over the world,
Christ’s favor with the Father, Christian accountability, eternal security, the
dominion of Satan, eternal life, election, the visible vs. invisible church,
heavenly rewards, false teachers, the importance of a good reputation,
sufficiency in Christ, the work of missions and financial support for missions,
pride vs. humility, divisions within the church, the reality of good and evil,
and the value of personal relationships.
Whew! Do you feel overwhelmed
after reading that list? Yeah, me too.
I am going
to do my best to delve as deeply into these epistles as the constraints of time,
my own abilities, and the enablement of the Holy Spirit will permit. But before I get to the text of the missives
in question I believe it is critical to set our priorities in order first. In other words, we need to approach these books
with the proper frame of mind as to their ultimate purpose. The list of issues I just gave is all well
and good. But there is an underlying,
fundamental, and foundational item of supreme significance that must be kept
clearly in view at all times; not just in the epistles of John but any time one
enters into the Scriptures.
To get at
this I will begin with a simple question.
What is the Gospel? Most
committed Christians with a good understanding of Scripture will give an answer
that has something to do with the death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus. And while such an answer would be
correct in terms of historical facts I am going to argue that it is
insufficient in terms of spiritual significance. Please understand; I am NOT saying that the
work of Christ on the cross was insufficient for salvation. What I am arguing is that the gospel is more
than just the cross of Christ. Allow me
to explain. I am absolutely convinced
that there is one over-riding theme of central significance that courses through
the pages of the Bible like the flow of blood through a human body. This theme resounds from every book, every
chapter, and even every page of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. It can best be stated with a question. Who is God?
From Genesis to Revelation God is seeking to constantly unveil His
glorious character and attributes to anyone who reads the words He caused to be
written down about Himself.
In the
opening chapter of Genesis, as God spoke each element of creation into
existence, He was making statements about His personality, the nature of His
essence, His preferences, and the structure of His being. Even the very first recorded thing that God
created is a statement about who He is.
Genesis 1:3 tell us: And God
said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. In 1 John 1:5 the Apostles informs us that: This is the message we have heard from Him
and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Now obviously John is using symbolism,
equating light with good and dark with evil.
And just as obviously the light that God created in Genesis was not
symbolic but very real. But I think it
is worth noting that the very existence of light is a constant reminder of who
God is to all of creation. Romans
1:19-20 drives home the point of creation displaying the existence and the
nature of God: For what can be known
about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the
creation of the world, in the things that have been made. And I would be remiss if I left the first
chapter of Genesis without mentioning the ultimate creative work of God that
reflects His image the most completely, that of man. Genesis 1:27 makes it clear: So God created man in His own image, in the
image of God He created him; male and female He created them. How about that for a heavy burden of
responsibility? When you wake up in the
morning and decide how to conduct your affairs throughout the day bear in mind
that your purpose for existence is to function as an image bearer of the One
who created you!
By no means
does God’s revelation of Himself stop there.
Genesis chapters 12 through 24 tell us of the life of the patriarch
Abraham, whose entire existence as presented in the Scriptures is one long
continuous chain of events through which God demonstrated visibly and
practically who He was to this man of middle eastern descent. From Exodus to Deuteronomy the Lord describes
His characteristics at every point of the Mosaic Law. Through the divinely inspired Psalms He tells
us what pleases Him. On page after page
of prophetic writing He takes great pains to explain exactly what He wants and
how He will act in a given situation.
Then when we
get to the New Testament any lingering questions about God’s character are
eliminated as He incarnates Himself in the form of a man as Jesus, the Christ,
the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel.
This is the very essence of God in human flesh. Our fallen minds tend to recoil from this
truth, as did Philip’s in John 14:8-9: Philip
said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so
long, and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? After all of the effort spent throughout
history to reveal Himself to mankind, God now at long last pulled back the
curtain and unfolded the full extent of who He is. Hebrews 1:1-4 paints the picture beautifully:
Long ago, at many times and in many
ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these
last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all
things, through whom also He created the world.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His
nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior
to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
In addition
to all this, there is another element that we must understand. God doesn’t just want us to know “about”
Him. He desires for us to know Him
personally. In John 17:3 Jesus describes
eternal life this way: That they know
You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. The Greek word translated here as “they know”
has a number of definitions all centered on the theme of knowledge. But it is also the word that comes from a
Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. It is certainly quite possible for people to
have sex with very little intimacy beyond the physical. And it is one of the great tragedies of human
existence that much of the world reduces sex to this lowest common
denominator. Because when you take a
full and accurate knowledge and understanding of another person’s personality,
patterns of behavior, and preferences and you combine that with sexual union
there is no greater intimacy possible between man and woman. And it is in this same manner that God wishes
us to know Him; backwards and forwards, coming in and going out, the heights
and the depths, the ebbs and the flows, morning and evening. This relationship between creature and creator
is the sum total of all of God’s effort He has ever expended on us.
So allow me
to bring this full circle back to my original question of what is the
gospel. The gospel, or good news, of
Jesus Christ is certainly the penultimate message of the Bible. But it occupies this lofty position of
exaltation in Scripture not because of the event itself. Rather, it is so central to Christianity
because it is the fullest and most magnificent expression of the original
question on which the universe hangs: who is God? The Apostolic authors bear this out in their
writings. In Acts 20:24 we read the
following: But I do not account my life
of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the
ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the
grace of God. Paul is speaking here
to the elders from the church in Ephesus.
He clearly equates this idea of good news to the revelation of God’s
amazing grace. Prior to this he penned
his great letter to the Romans. And
right off the bat in chapter 1, verses 16 and 17 he makes it very plain what
the gospel is to accomplish: For I am
not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by
faith.” Paul adds to our
understanding in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11.
When we consider that salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, a.k.a.
the gospel, is the means by which the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, the
teaching Paul gives here makes it crystal clear what the ultimate point of the
gospel is: But, as it is written, “What
no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has
prepared for those who love Him” – these things God has revealed to us through
the Spirit. For the Spirit searches
everything, even the depths of God. For
who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in
him? So also no one comprehends the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
What’s the
point as it pertains to the Epistles of John?
Simply this. As we journey
through these books it is imperative that we remain focused on who God is
revealing Himself to be in each and every verse and paragraph. As Jesus said, this is the point of His gift
of eternal life to us His children; that we might come to know Him. So if we enter into the study of God’s word
with any other objective in mind, frankly, we are wasting our time. And this leads me to the other point of this
introduction to 1st through 3rd John. I want to talk about the hermeneutic approach
I will be employing in this study. Don’t
worry. This will not be a long,
involved, or drawn out discussion of hermeneutical principles. Rather, I want you to understand how I go
about studying the Scriptures in the hope that it might be of some assistance
to you in your own studies.
Hermeneutics
can be defined as “the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially
of the Bible or literary texts. It comes
from a Greek word, transliterated as hermeneuo, and it simply means “translate,
or interpret”. As a discipline it covers
a wide variety of texts, both sacred and secular, Christian and
non-Christian. But when it comes to
Bible interpretation there are four principal styles that have been used
throughout history: literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical. The dominant orthodox approach throughout
church history and the one that we will employ is the literal method of
interpretation. This essentially refers
to the text as having a plain meaning.
In other words, the baseline assumption of someone using a literal
method of interpretation is that the Bible means exactly what it says. But within that broad framework there are
questions that arise. Namely, even if
one knows how to approach the biblical texts, what is one actually supposed to
do when one gets there?
Let’s
consider the tools that might be available to us in our efforts to understand
and interpret the Bible. Being taught
what the Scriptures mean through the public preaching and teaching ministry of
a church is one. Study Bibles, commentaries,
and alternate translations can be helpful tools for interpretation. One’s own sanctification through the work of
the Holy Spirit in gaining wisdom and understanding over time is in itself a
valuable asset. Other tools of the trade
might be learning the original languages or learning to use a concordance. Probably the most valuable weapon in a
Christian’s arsenal is the Scriptures themselves. The more we know of the whole of the Bible
the better we are able to interpret an individual piece of it.
Not everyone
will have access to all the helps listed above.
Some will have more, some will have less. But regardless of the size of your toolbox I
believe the core method you use to approach Bible interpretation should be the
same. It is quite simply to ask
questions of the text. They are, in
order:
- What does this mean?
- What does this reveal about who God is?
The first
question is rather obvious. After all,
that’s the whole point of interpretation; understanding what the text
means. But I have found that people
sometimes tend to overlook this most obvious and humble of beginnings. If we take the time to seriously and
carefully consider this question, even on a passage of Scripture we’re already
familiar with, the results can be eye opening.
The question itself can range from the most basic “I don’t understand
this. Therefore I need to know what it
means?” to a more introspective “I am familiar with this passage and to the
best of my ability I understand the plain meaning of the text. But what does it mean in terms of deeper
philosophical and/or spiritual implications?”
Let me give
some examples, taken directly from 1st John. Chapter 1 verse 1 reads as follows: 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”. A student of Scripture may come to this verse
and be hit with an immediate interpretive dilemma. Namely, what in the world is the “word of
life”? This would fall into the first
category of questioning: What does this mean?
Or perhaps another person comes to verse 4 and reads: And we are writing these things so that our
joy may be complete. This seems more
straight-forward. The reader understands
what joy is. The concept of something
being complete is certainly familiar.
But wait, how exactly does what John has just written cause his joy to
be complete? What does it mean for
someone’s joy to be complete in this context?
Is that different from a more normal and regular joy? What is it about the preceding verses that
results in this completion of joy for the Apostle? This line of reasoning jumps straight into
the second form of the first question: What are the philosophical and spiritual
implications of the plain meaning of this text?
And this in turn can often drive our thoughts straight to the most
important question of all: How does all of this reveal to me who God is in a
deeper and richer fashion?
As you seek
to query the text you are reading, attempt to do so as if you are a new-born
babe in Christ with no knowledge of any other Scripture or doctrines. This is easier said than done of course but
it is an important element of Bible study.
The reason is that when pre-conceived notions are brought to a passage
it is quite possible to wind up unintentionally reading more into it than it
really says. The human mind tends to do
this with everything it experiences.
This is why police officers sometimes get three different accounts of a
vehicle accident from three different witnesses. It’s not that any of them are necessarily
lying. But all three of the eye
witnesses have had their understanding of truth colored by their
perspective. Your interpretation of
Scripture on a particular topic may very well be accurate. But the specific text you are reading at this
point may not really be lending support to that understanding. So make an effort to, at least temporarily,
divorce your education and turn off your brain while you ask your
questions. Then once the inquiries are
down on paper you can re-engage those synapses.
And that
leads us to the next step. Namely, how
do I go about answering these questions I have asked? You may be surprised and hopefully encouraged
to learn that there is a rational, methodical, and orderly approach that I
believe is the best practice for solving the questions you ask as you study the
Scriptures. Picture a ring of concentric
circles. At the center is the verse that
prompted the question you are asking.
Each ring in succession represents the next place to turn in seeking an
answer, as follows:
- The verse itself
- Surrounding verses (the context)
- The flow of thought in the book being read
- Other Scripture written by the same human author
- Other Scripture written by a different human author
A diagram of
what I’m talking about may be helpful at this point...
As you can
see, the idea is to start with the verse itself and then gradually move further
away from it, one step at a time, until you arrive at a solution. The reason to do it this way is related to
why you should strive for a certain degree of innocence as you formulate your
inquiries. The goal is to stay true to
the pure and plain meaning of the text at hand.
Many passages of Scripture are quite good at explaining themselves. The conflict of original languages and
cultural perception can sometimes cloud the issue for the modern reader. But if adequate time is expended in
meditation then often solutions will become apparent from nothing more than the
text itself. However, this is not always
the case. Sometimes the surrounding
context has to be consulted. Or perhaps
the author’s flow of thought from an earlier chapter or even the beginning of
the book up to the point you are reading can be instructive. The next step is to look for other material
this same author has written. The
Epistles of John benefit greatly from a consultation of the Gospel of John in
particular. And on the search goes,
always expanding the parameters one step at a time, until a solution is
found.
Where do the
tools we looked at come into play? They
are employed on every stage in the circle to provide increasing intensity of
illumination to each point. For example,
an understanding of the original languages can help with the verse in question by
looking to see how the text was constructed when it was written. Perhaps it didn’t translate well to English,
resulting in a confusing sentence structure in our modern Bibles. Or perhaps that sentence structure just
doesn’t quite work for you, but a different translation, communicating the same
thought, might do the trick in helping you to understand.
If it is not
already obvious, the one thing this Bible study method absolutely requires is
time. This is a slow and careful
approach to the text of Scripture that cannot be dashed off quickly with a
quick glance at a Bible app on our phones that lasts as long as the commercial
break or the wait for the next match to start in an online game. We live in a high octane pedal to the metal
bull in a China shop culture. I believe
the tendency for most of us is to rush through days at breakneck pace trying to
juggle all of our various responsibilities and interests while not breaking any
of the eggs we have balanced on top of our heads. And you may be so used to this lifestyle that
to slow down and approach anything this way, let alone the Bible, seems like
anathema to you. But I will warn you now
that treating the word of God in this manner is repulsive and insulting to
Him. Listen to the Lord speaking through
Moses in Deuteronomy 11:16-21: Beware
that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve
other gods and worship them. Or the anger of the Lord will
be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there
will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will
perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. “You shall therefore impress these words
of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on
your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of
them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you
lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on
your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied
on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them,
as long as the heavens remain above
the earth.
There are a
myriad of varied ways to apply the instructions of Deuteronomy in a modern
pursuit of Bible study. What I have
described above is the method that was taught to me and that I prefer. That doesn’t make it best for you. But whether you settle on this method or
another, two things are certain. First
is that you absolutely must begin with the original question: Who is God? Beginning from any other premise than that is
ignoring the clearly stated intention He had in providing the Bible to us. The second certainty is that to not make the
attempt to understand is to dishonor the One who wrote the book. God has gone to a tremendous amount of effort
over several thousand years to provide us with a means of coming to know who He
is. And it will become blindingly
obvious as we move through the Epistles of John that He is worth the effort in
straining eagerly to know Him better and more intimately through study of His
word. There is a rich and sumptuous
feast laid before our spiritual palates.
Are you ready to dive in and partake?
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