New Daily Study Bible: The Letters of John and Jude. William Barclay

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СКАЧАТЬ they love one another. To hate a fellow human being is in essence to be a murderer, as Cain was. If we are able out of our own wealth to help another’s poverty and do not do so, it is ridiculous for us to claim that the love of God dwells in us. The essence of religion is to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to love one another (3:11–17, 3:23). God is love; and, therefore, those who love are kin to God. God has loved us, and that is the best reason for loving each other (4:7–12). If we say that we love God and at the same time hate another person, we are liars. The command is that all who love God must love others too (4:20–1).

      It was John’s conviction that the only way in which anyone can prove love for God is by loving other people, and that that love must be not only a sentimental emotion but also a dynamic towards practical help.

       Christian Righteousness

      No New Testament writer makes a stronger ethical demand than John, or more strongly condemns a so-called religion which fails to produce ethical action. God is righteous, and the life of everyone who knows him must reflect his righteousness (2:29). Whoever abides in Christ, and is born of God, does not sin; whoever does not do right is not of God (3:3–10); and the characteristic of this righteousness is that it translates into love for other people (3:10–11). We show our love to God and to others by keeping God’s commandments (5:2). Whoever is born of God does not sin (5:18).

      For John, knowledge of God and obedience to him must always go hand in hand. It is by keeping his commandments that we prove that we really do know God. Those who say that they know him and who do not keep his commandments are liars (2:3–5).

      It is, in fact, this obedience which is the basis of effective prayer. We receive what we ask from God because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing in his sight (3:22).

      The two marks which characterize genuine Christianity are love for one another and obedience to the revealed commandments of God.

       The Destination of the Letter

      There are certain baffling problems with regard to the letter’s destination. The letter itself gives us no clue as to where it was sent. Tradition strongly connects it with Asia Minor, and especially with Ephesus, where, according to tradition, John lived for many years. But there are certain other odd facts which somehow have to be explained.

      The sixth-century Roman historian Cassiodorus says that the First Letter of John was titled Ad Parthos, ‘To the Parthians’; and St Augustine has a series of ten tractates written on the Epistle of John ad Parthos. One Geneva manuscript complicates the matter still further by titling the letter Ad Sparthos. There is no such word as Sparthos. There are two possible explanations of this impossible title. (1) Just possibly, what is meant is Ad Sparsos, which would mean ‘to the Christians scattered abroad’. (2) In Greek, Ad Parthos would be Pros Parthous. Now, in the early manuscripts, there was no space between the words, and they were all written in capital letters, so that the title would run PROSPARTHOUS. A scribe writing to dictation could quite easily put that down as PROSSPARTHOUS, especially if he did not know what the title meant. Ad Sparthos can be eliminated as a mere mistake.

      But where did ‘To the Parthians’ come from? There is one possible explanation. The Second Letter of John does tell us of its destination; it is written to The elect lady and her children (2 John 1). Let us turn to the end of 1 Peter. The Authorized Version has: ‘The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you’ (1 Peter 5:13). The phrase the church that is is printed in the Authorized Version in italics. This, of course, means that it has no equivalent in the Greek, which has, in fact, no actual mention of a church at all. This the Revised Standard Version accurately indicates: ‘She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen [elect], sends you greetings.’ As far as the Greek goes, it would be perfectly possible, and indeed natural, to take that as referring not to a church but to a lady. That is precisely what certain of the scholars in the very early Church did. Now, we find the elect lady again in 2 John. It was easy to identify the two elect ladies and to assume that 2 John was also written to Babylon. The natural title for the inhabitants of Babylon was Parthians, and hence we have the explanation of the title.

      The process went even further. The Greek for the elect lady is hē elektē. We have already seen that the early manuscripts were written all in capital letters; and it would be just possible to take Elektē not as an adjective meaning elect but as a proper name, Elekta. This is, in fact, what the second-century theologian Clement of Alexandria may have done, for we have information that he said that the Johannine letters were written to a certain Babylonian lady, Elekta by name, and to her children.

      So, it may well be that the title Ad Parthos arose from a series of misunderstandings. The elect one in 1 Peter is quite certainly the Church, as the Authorized Version rightly saw. James Moffatt translates: ‘Your sister church in Babylon, elect like yourselves, salutes you.’ Further, it is almost certain that, in any event, Babylon there stands for Rome, which the early writers identified with Babylon, the great prostitute, drunk with the blood of the saints (cf. Revelation 17:5). The title Ad Parthos has a most interesting history; but clearly it arose from a simple misunderstanding.

      There is one further complication. Clement of Alexandria referred to John’s letters as ‘written to virgins’. On the face of it, that is improbable, for it would not be a specially relevant title for them. How could that idea come about? The Greek would be Pros Parthenous, which closely resembles Pros Parthous; and, it so happens, John was regularly called Ho Parthenos, the Virgin, because he never married and because of the purity of his life. This further title must have come from a confusion between Ad Parthos and Ho Parthenos.

      This is a case where we may take it that tradition is right and all the ingenious theories mistaken. We may take it that these letters were written in Ephesus and to the surrounding churches in Asia Minor. When John wrote, it would certainly be to the district for which he had oversight – and that was Ephesus and the surrounding territory. He is never mentioned in connection with Babylon.

       In Defence of the Faith

      John wrote his great letter to meet a threatening situation and in defence of the faith. The heresies which he attacked are by no means altogether echoes of what Wordsworth, in his poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’, called ‘old unhappy far-off things and battles long ago’. They are still beneath the surface, and sometimes they even still raise their heads. To study his letter will confirm us in the true faith and enable us to have a defence against anything that would seduce us from it.

       1 JOHN

       THE PASTOR’S AIM

      1 John 1:1–4

      What we are telling you about is that which was from the beginning, that which we heard, that which we saw with our eyes, that which we gazed upon, and which our hands touched. It is about the word of life that we are telling you. (And the life appeared to us, and we saw it, and testify to it; and we are now bringing you the message of this eternal life, which was with the Father and which appeared to us.) It is about what we saw and heard that we are bringing the message to you, that you too may have fellowship with us, for our fellowship is with the Father and with Jesus Christ, the Son. And we are writing these things to you that your joy may be completed.

      EVERYONE who sits down to write a letter or gets up to preach a sermon has some object in view. The intention, and the hope, is to produce some effect in the minds and hearts and lives of those to whom that message is addressed. And here, at the very beginning of his letter, John sets СКАЧАТЬ