The Letters of John. Robert D. Cornwall

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      3 The Gospel of John starts with the declaration that in the beginning was the Word (Logos), which is God. It then declares that this Word became Flesh. In 1 John, we have reference to the Word (Logos) of Life. If we assume a dependence by the letter on the Gospel, what can we say about this “Word of Life?”

      4 What do you make of the author’s insistence that the message they declare is one that was from the beginning, and that they have heard, seen, and touched the Word of Life? Without reading the remainder of the letter, what might these words suggest about the author’s concerns?

      5 The author(s) speak of their desire to have fellowship with the reader. Do you sense in this that something is disrupting their fellowship/communion?

      6 Considering this word about fellowship/communion, what barriers to fellowship can emerge within a congregation? Why do these emerge? What can be done about them?

      7 The author(s) declare that their joy would be made complete if fellowship is restored. What is joy that we should desire it?

      Exercise:

      While we speak of these three documents as letters of John, 1 John lacks traditional markers of a letter. To gain a better sense of what these markers are, find a Bible dictionary and read articles about epistles and letters. Then compare the opening and closing verses of the three letters of John with a Pauline letter such as 1 Corinthians or Galatians. Note the differences and keep them in mind as you continue reading the letters of John.

      A Call to Prayer:

      As we go forth from this place, having shared in the light of God, may we carry that light into the world, so that God’s grace might be revealed to all. Amen.

      2 Judith Lieu, I, II, III John (New Testament Library), (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), kindle loc. 182-184.

      3 Raymond Brown, The Epistles of John (The Anchor Bible). (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1983), p. 160.

      4 C. Clifton Black, “The First, Second, and Third Letters of John,” New Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 12:371.

      5 Black, “First, Second, and Third Letters, of John,” 12:374-376.

      6 Brown, Epistles of John, p. 175.