4And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
John says, we are writing these things that your joy may be full. What joy is John referring too and why did this letter have to be written in order to obtain this full joy. What was jeopardizing this full joy?
Let me point back to what Kajuan so eloquently stated in verse 2. John’s letter in large part was written as a response to a church that had been heavily infiltrated by A teaching known as Gnosticism. Gnostics were pseudo-Christians woh believed that all matter (physical things) were hopelessly evil. And because all matter was evil, they were teaching in the church that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh and died a perfect man. Basically, they believed that the human body along with all matter was so wicked that not even God could not be successful in overcoming it. Gnostics taught that Jesus was sort of a phantom man. They would say something like this: “If you and Jesus were walking on the beach together, only your footprints would show up in the sand. The thought was; Jesus is spiritual but He did not live in the flesh like us.
Observe a couple of scriptures where John is challenging The Gnostics school of thought and where he literally calls them Antichrist for teaching that Jesus did not come as a real human man.
1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,
2 John 1:77For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist
So refuting these Gnostics who were teaching that Jesus didn’t come as a human (in the flesh) becomes a common theme for John in this letter and 2nd John. John starts attacking this teaching in the first three verses of this chapter. Let’s revisit these verse momentarily.
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Note what John is emphasizing: 1. That which was from the beginning (Dieity), which we heard (audible), which we have seen with our eyes (visual) and our hand have handled (physical). Of the Word of life. He capitalizes “Word” in the middle of this sentence to emphasize Jesus deity again. John says, The man who we handled was the “Word” of life.
God came as physical man!!
In verse 2, John says, the life that was manifested unto us; this life we show unto you!! What type of life? John answers; That eternal life!!!! John says, that eternal life was with the Father and was manifested unto us.
God; who is the possessor of eternal life, shared that eternal life. Eternal life was with the father in heaven But gave eternal life to mortal men who were on the earth.
John confronts these Gnostics immediately as an eyewitness. John says, us Apostles We were the ones who God chose to see, tough, hear and feel eternal life incarnate.
You may be asking: Why does all this matter? Because attacking the humanity of Jesus Christ attacks the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
Listen, without the deity of Jesus, there is no resurrection but without the humanity of Jesus, thee is no atonement! Humanity needed for Jesus to be God and man!
The book of Hebrews speaks to the importance of Jesus being a man.
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.
Here we see another form of being teachers have errored in prescribing to the life of Christ; angelic being! But the author of Hebrews eloquently states that because it was human beings who needed to be saved, the Son of God had to come as a human being. One because angels can’t die and nor could the Son of Man in his deity state. The only hope of someone dying for humanity is for God to become a man which qualified him to die in order that He might break the power of the devil who had the power of death.
Satan was the progenitor of death. Satan was the one who introduced death to the human race by causing Adam to sin which led to death and perpetual death to everyone descendant who came out of Adams loins. The only hope was for there to be a man to be born who did not come out of Adams loins. So God sent Jesus as a man, born of a virgin woman.
Why were they teaching this? Because Jesus was so righteous as a man and his lifestyle was so noble that it raised the bar on Godliness. If Jesus was a man and he abstained from the indulgence of sin, why couldn’t we? Now, because these men were sinful and didn’t want God to reform them; instead of pursing Christ to be born again, they said, “Jesus is only able to be Holy and righteous because He doesn’t have to deal with the same temptation as real humans”.
They believed that the condition of the human flesh was so evil, it was incapable of living right. So, they basically taught that your lifestyle didn’t matter because we were so evil our behavior couldn’t be reformed. Taught you to believe in Christ for salvation but not to expect to be born again because the flesh is a hopeless cause.
Ironically we live in a time now where one of the biggest challenges we have is to convince non-believers that Jesus was God. Because these people lived during the life of Jesus or immediately proceeding his death and ressurection, many believed that He was a supernatural man so Satan convinced some, he wasn’t really a man. He was sort of a phantom man. They taught; he wasn’t a man, he just appeared to be one.
Note: Satan doesn’t care what false belief system you subscribe to as long as you choose one.
1 John 1:4 (Rashard)
1 John 1:4
4And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
John says, we are writing these things that your joy may be full. What joy is John referring too and why did this letter have to be written in order to obtain this full joy. What was jeopardizing this full joy?
Let me point back to what Kajuan so eloquently stated in verse 2. John’s letter in large part was written as a response to a church that had been heavily infiltrated by A teaching known as Gnosticism. Gnostics were pseudo-Christians woh believed that all matter (physical things) were hopelessly evil. And because all matter was evil, they were teaching in the church that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh and died a perfect man. Basically, they believed that the human body along with all matter was so wicked that not even God could not be successful in overcoming it. Gnostics taught that Jesus was sort of a phantom man. They would say something like this: “If you and Jesus were walking on the beach together, only your footprints would show up in the sand. The thought was; Jesus is spiritual but He did not live in the flesh like us.
Observe a couple of scriptures where John is challenging The Gnostics school of thought and where he literally calls them Antichrist for teaching that Jesus did not come as a real human man.
1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,
2 John 1:7 7For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist
So refuting these Gnostics who were teaching that Jesus didn’t come as a human (in the flesh) becomes a common theme for John in this letter and 2nd John. John starts attacking this teaching in the first three verses of this chapter. Let’s revisit these verse momentarily.
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Note what John is emphasizing: 1. That which was from the beginning (Dieity), which we heard (audible), which we have seen with our eyes (visual) and our hand have handled (physical). Of the Word of life. He capitalizes “Word” in the middle of this sentence to emphasize Jesus deity again. John says, The man who we handled was the “Word” of life.
God came as physical man!!
In verse 2, John says, the life that was manifested unto us; this life we show unto you!! What type of life? John answers; That eternal life!!!! John says, that eternal life was with the Father and was manifested unto us.
God; who is the possessor of eternal life, shared that eternal life. Eternal life was with the father in heaven But gave eternal life to mortal men who were on the earth.
John confronts these Gnostics immediately as an eyewitness. John says, us Apostles We were the ones who God chose to see, tough, hear and feel eternal life incarnate.
You may be asking: Why does all this matter? Because attacking the humanity of Jesus Christ attacks the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
Listen, without the deity of Jesus, there is no resurrection but without the humanity of Jesus, thee is no atonement! Humanity needed for Jesus to be God and man!
The book of Hebrews speaks to the importance of Jesus being a man.
Hebrews 2:14 Nlt
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.
Here we see another form of being teachers have errored in prescribing to the life of Christ; angelic being! But the author of Hebrews eloquently states that because it was human beings who needed to be saved, the Son of God had to come as a human being. One because angels can’t die and nor could the Son of Man in his deity state. The only hope of someone dying for humanity is for God to become a man which qualified him to die in order that He might break the power of the devil who had the power of death.
Satan was the progenitor of death. Satan was the one who introduced death to the human race by causing Adam to sin which led to death and perpetual death to everyone descendant who came out of Adams loins. The only hope was for there to be a man to be born who did not come out of Adams loins. So God sent Jesus as a man, born of a virgin woman.
Why were they teaching this? Because Jesus was so righteous as a man and his lifestyle was so noble that it raised the bar on Godliness. If Jesus was a man and he abstained from the indulgence of sin, why couldn’t we? Now, because these men were sinful and didn’t want God to reform them; instead of pursing Christ to be born again, they said, “Jesus is only able to be Holy and righteous because He doesn’t have to deal with the same temptation as real humans”.
They believed that the condition of the human flesh was so evil, it was incapable of living right. So, they basically taught that your lifestyle didn’t matter because we were so evil our behavior couldn’t be reformed. Taught you to believe in Christ for salvation but not to expect to be born again because the flesh is a hopeless cause.
Ironically we live in a time now where one of the biggest challenges we have is to convince non-believers that Jesus was God. Because these people lived during the life of Jesus or immediately proceeding his death and ressurection, many believed that He was a supernatural man so Satan convinced some, he wasn’t really a man. He was sort of a phantom man. They taught; he wasn’t a man, he just appeared to be one.
Note: Satan doesn’t care what false belief system you subscribe to as long as you choose one.