Bible Discussion Thread

INTRODUCTION TO 1 JOHN (Part 3):

II. ABOUT THE RECIPIENTS:

The Apostle John wrote 1, 2 and 3 John to the churches of Asia Minor over which John exercised apostolic leadership in his later years.

Most of the recipients of his letters were Jewish believers but the letters were written for all of the believers in the churches.

III. ABOUT THE DATE AND LOCATION:

I John was written sometime in the late 80s or early 90s A.D. It is believed that John's letters were written soon after he composed the Gospel of John.

All five of John's letters were written from Ephesus where he spent his elder years leading the churches in Asia Minor.

IV. ABOUT I JOHN:

1 John was written to combat the beginnings of Gnosticism (from the Greek word for knowledge). The Gnostics claimed to have special knowledge that no one else could know unless they were one of the initiated ones.

What that means is that they would take scriptures and sort of piece them together, and then fill in some "special revelation" in between that you and I would never come up with just by looking at the scriptures. But they claimed that they had "special knowledge."

At the time John was dealing with Gnosticism in these churches over in Asia Minor, Paul had already dealt with legalism. Gnosticism flourished around the third century.

But Gnosticism was just beginning, and the Gnostics claimed to have special knowledge. And I'll share one of them here with you in a moment. These false teachers and teachings arose from within the church.