Week Eight: \u00a0Oct 30, 2011<\/p>\n
This week we began the body of the letter.\u00a0 As is common, John starts with some positive statements aimed at framing the discussion of the problem, which begins in verse 7.<\/p>\n
Study<\/p>\n
4 \u2013 I was overjoyed to find some of your[1] children living truthfully, just as the Father has commanded us.<\/strong><\/p>\n I was overjoyed to find<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Greek word for find is the word \u03b5\u1f55\u03c1\u03b7\u03ba\u03b1 – eur\u0113ka. \u00a0This is what Archimedes supposedly said when he discovered buoyancy in a public bath and ran home naked crying Eureka. \u00a0It means “I have found it.” \u00a0It is in the Perfect tense which suggests that John’s joy was \u00a0based on a personal experience.\u00a0 Thus it is probably referring to something that happened during a recent visit to this church.<\/p>\n some of your children living truthfully<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There was a question in the class as to why the word \u201cSome\u201d was italicized is some versions. Does this mean that the translators added the word?\u00a0 The answer is yes, but the meaning is pretty clearly implied which is why some other translators don\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0 The Greek text of the key phrase reads,\u00a0 \u1f10\u03ba \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c4\u03ad\u03ba\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03c3\u03bf\u03c5 (ek ton teknon sou) \u2013 or in a literal translation: \u201cout of the children of you.\u201d Thus word translated \u201cout of\u201d\u00a0 (\u1f10\u03ba)\u00a0 is pretty clearly indicating that out of a whole there were some.\u00a0 Thus translators render this as “some of your children.”<\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While it is clear that John was referring to some, the meaning is disputed.\u00a0 One option is that he found \u201csome\u201d were and other that were not.\u00a0 In other words John was happy to find that there were still some who were following the truth (lit walking in truth ), that not all had fallen away.\u00a0 Note again the emphasis on the truth.\u00a0 A second option, however, is that while John is happy about the \u201csome\u201d\u00a0 he is saying nothing about the others. Since his comments appeared to be based on personal experience, he may have met with some during his visit, and those were the ones he is talking about. \u00a0\u00a0He is saying nothing about those he did not meet with.\u00a0 Given the positive tone in this section I would think that the second option is more likely.<\/p>\n just as the Father has commanded us<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n – \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0While the word translated commanded refers to a singular commandment, John is referring here not to any particular command but to the commandments of God in a general sense. \u00a0 All of the commandments, taken as a whole, are a commandment that we live in the Truth. \u00a0That is what God asks of us.<\/p>\n 5 \u2013 Dear lady, I am now requesting of you[2] that we all continue to love one another. It is not as though I am writing to give you[3] a new commandment, but one that we have had from the beginning.<\/strong><\/p>\n Dear lady, I am now requesting of you<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John now makes a direct request, which serves to\u00a0emphasize his request.<\/p>\n that we all continue love one another<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Notice how verse 4 and 5 link the concepts of living truthfully, and loving one another.\u00a0 Both are at the core of the Christian experience.\u00a0 For many this view of love, a view where love is something we have control over such that we can be commanded to love, does not make a lot of sense.\u00a0 In the modern view, love is something that just happens.\u00a0 We may fall in or out of love and it is really beyond our control, it just happens. \u00a0While this is a common view, this is not a biblical one.\u00a0 Biblical love is something we have a choice in. We are commanded to love:<\/p>\n John 13:34 I am giving you a new commandment to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Eph 5:25 \u00a0 Husbands, love your wives as the Messiah loved the church and gave himself for it,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Not\u2026a new commandment<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A minor issue arises with John’s claim that this is not a new command.\u00a0 How does this square with John 13:34 just quoted? \u00a0\u00a0This is really not hard to reconcile.\u00a0 While for us, 2000 years later, the New Testament is take as a whole, it must be remember that the period it covers was nearly 70 years.\u00a0 Thus while Jesus told his disciple this was a \u201cnew\u201d commandment, \u00a02 John was probably written over 50 years later to second or or even third generation Christians who had heard this from the time of their conversion. Thus for them it was not new. \u00a0This will be in contrast to the new teachings spread by the false teachers.<\/p>\n 6 \u2013 And this is what demonstrates[4] love: that we live according to God\u2019s[5] commandments. Just as you[6] have heard from the beginning what he commanded, you[7] must live by it.<\/strong><\/p>\n And this is what demonstrates love:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is Lit:\u00a0 and this is love (\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b1\u1f55\u03c4\u03b7 \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u1f76\u03bd \u1f21` \u1f00\u03b3\u03ac\u03c0\u03b7 \/ kai aut\u0113 estin \u0113 agap\u0113)\u00a0\u00a0 John now goes on to describe exactly what he is requesting.<\/p>\n we live according to God\u2019s commandments.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Note the change from The commandment (v5) to commandments (v6). The commandment is\u00a0 that we love one another.\u00a0 The Commandments \u00a0are how we love another.\u00a0\u00a0 To love God is to obey God.<\/p>\n John 14:21\u00a0 The person who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I, too, will love him and reveal myself to him.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obeying God shows love for God. But how does it show love to \u201cone another?\u201d\u00a0 God laws are not arbitrary rules, given so that he can punish us, \u00a0but are given by God to make our lives better.\u00a0 The simple fact is that sin damages relationships and damages lives.\u00a0\u00a0 While Christians are often portrayed as killjoys who irrationally follow blindly old rules that no longer apply, the simple fact is that the evidence is on our side.\u00a0 Many studies have shown that on average those who regularly attend church live happier and longer lives than those who don’t.<\/p>\n 7* \u2013 For many deceivers have gone out into the world. They refuse to acknowledge Jesus the Messiah[8] is coming in flesh[9]. Any such person is a deceiver and an antichrist.<\/strong><\/p>\n For (\u1f45\u03c4\u03b9)<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While this verse marks a change in the letter from positive exhortation to warnings, it is connect to the previous verse.\u00a0 In context,\u00a0 John was glad that they were living in the truth because\u2026<\/p>\n many deceivers have gone out into the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just as Christians missionaries that 3 John 5-6 says we should welcome have gone out\u00a0so had their counterparts. And it is these counter parts that John is now going to warn about.<\/p>\n Questions and Discussion.<\/strong><\/p>\n This week\u2019s discussion picked up on the themes of living in truth and love, and in particular old versus new commandments.\u00a0 The modern technological society has a built in bias towards the new, \u00a0and against the old. \u00a0While it is primarily driven by the rapid change in technology, cultural development is rarely so nicely compartmentalized. \u00a0For example, \u00a0after Einstein\u2019s theory of relativity came to be accepted in physics, relativity as a concept spread throughout the culture and soon many things, including morals were seen as relative.\u00a0 Likewise, modern cultures love of the the new, and\u00a0devaluing of\u00a0 the old is not restricted to technology. This has affected the church as well.<\/p>\n One of the members brought up the issue of the lack of contemplation and meditation on God\u2019s word.\u00a0 In the fast pace world there is little time for such things.\u00a0 In fact, many kids (and even some adults) are virtually addicted to their own adrenaline<\/a>, as life becomes a search for excitement and the next big rush of adrenaline. Little wonder that they do not have time to just sit and pray, contemplate study and meditate on God\u2019s word. \u00a0And yet, if we do not stop to listen, how will we ever hear the Holy Spirit? \u00a0If we do not stop to study, contemplate and\u00a0meditate\u00a0on God’s word, how will we ever know what it says for our lives? \u00a0Are you powered by adrenaline, or by the Holy Spirit?<\/p>\n Next week we will continue in 2 John 7<\/p>\n If you have question or comments about the class, feel free to send me an email at elgin@hushbeck.com<\/a> and be sure to put \u201cEpistles of John\u201d in the header.<\/p>\n See here for references and more background on the class<\/a>.<\/p>\nb.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reject False Teachers (7-11)<\/h4>\n