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Liberty University
 
 
An Exegetical Paper on I John 5:13-21
 
 
A paper submitted to Dr. Percer
In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for
the course NBST 655
 
 
Liberty Theological seminary
 
 
By
Christopher W. Myers
 
                                                                                  
Lynchburg, Virginia
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
 
 
 
Table of Contents
Outline of I John 5:13-21- 3
Introduction- 4
Historical-Cultural Context- 5
Literary Context- 7
Exegesis of 1 John 5:13-21- 8
Application- 21
Conclusion- 23
Appendix A-- 25
Appendix B- 34
Bibliography- 36
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
!!! Outline of I John 5:13-21
       In the passage I John 5:13-21, John is concluding his epistle by summarizing his overall purpose for writing and then covering again his most important points: of obedience and the confidence and love that result especially in prayer, of the security of the believer as a child of God and therefore the lack of sin that results in his life, and the reality of the person of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the true God, and that He is eternal life itself, and then, John's last words are a warning against idolatry in light of the deity of Christ.
CONCLUDING THE EPISTLE (5:13-21)
 
I.
Everything written before here is purposed so that you will know that you have eternal life.
See parallels to the purpose of John's gospel.
EPILOGUE (5:14-21)
 
II.
We have a confidence (see confidence in 2:28, 3:21) in approaching God, (connecting back to thoughts in 3:21-24) (5:14-17)
 
A.
If we ask anything according to his will (see 2:17), then he hears us (5:14)
 
B.
If he hears us, then we know he will grant whatever we ask (as long as it is according to his will among other conditions, see 3:22) (5:15)
 
C.
We should pray for our brothers sins (that do not lead to death), so that God will give them life at our request (5:16a) (connects back to 3:11-20)
                                    1.
There is sin that does not lead to death (5:16b)
                                    2.
There is sin that does lead to death (5:16b)
                                    3.
John is not saying that we should pray for sins leading to death (5:16b)
                                    4.
All unrighteousness is sin, YET (5:17)
                                    5.
There is sin that does not lead to death (5:17)
 
            III.
Those fathered by God do not sin, the one who is fathered by God, God protects him from the evil one so that the evil one cannot touch him (connecting back to discussion in 2:28-3:10) (5:18-21)
 
A.
We know that we are children of God and that the world is under control of the evil one.
(5:19)
 
B.
We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding to know him that is true.
(5:20a)
 
                        C.
We are in him who is true, which is Jesus Christ.
(5:20b)
                       
                                    1.
He is the true God and he is eternal life (5:20b)
2. So Keep away from idols (5:21)
!!! Introduction
       A quick read through the epistle of I John reveals that John does not write in the same linear logical way as Paul does.
Rather John writes in a more homily fashion, where he will repeat himself quite often and come back to issues covered before and develop them in a different direction or with a different nuance to reinforce what was said before.
John in no means is illogical in his writing.
His Greek is quite elementary, but some of his constructions tend to be obscure because of his heavy use of personal pronouns.  1 John is described as being structured like concentric circles that overlap one another; this can cause the reader who is use to Pauline writing to be quite distraught.
This also makes the scholars lament that 1 John is near impossible to outline,[1] but yet they outline the book and make themselves clear that any outline is severely disadvantaged by John's structure of the epistle.
Dr.
Wallace opines that John's structure for his first epistle would be best described by a geometric design![2]
Nevertheless, I quickly noticed that I John 5:13-21 was intimately connected to themes developed earlier in the epistle and much of the exegesis will need to take these earlier developments into consideration because John is merely rehashing some of his main points of the entire epistle.
You will find my attempt to outline the epistle under the unity of intention that John reveals in 1 John 5:13 in Appendix A.  Only by struggling through this endeavor can good exegesis be attempted on 1 John 5:13-21.
A second 'must' for exegesis is reading through John's gospel; the similarities in grammar, word usage, and theme usage to the first epistle is spectacular and will be needed in evaluating 1 John 5:13-21 in key areas.
Thirdly, Appendix B is my literal translation of the pericope from the Greek text in order that I could discover any emphases or intents of the author only to be found in the original languages or to uncover any inherent difficulties in the text critical apparatus or the translation process.
This exegetical paper will set out to define clearly the message of 1 John 5:13-21 as it would be understood by its original hearers.
This paper will seek to show that 1 John 5:13 does encompass the main intention to the entire epistle and strikes one clearly to see the similarity and dissimilarity to John's gospel intention.
The intimate connections that 1 John 5:14-21 has with earlier material in the epistle will be shown to be a summarization of the main points already covered by John.
I John 5:21 will be shown by this paper to be a necessary and appropriate ending to the epistle given the near context connect and its antichrists connect made throughout the larger context of the epistle.
!!! Historical-Cultural Context
 
        John does not address any specific group of people, but it is clear that John had a specific group of people in mind because he addresses them very personally as "my little children."[3]
This is probably explained by the fact that this letter is similar to Revelation where the letter is purposed for a certain amount of congregations within the ministry of the author.
Early church tradition places John in Ephesus at the time of the writing of this epistle, so it is most likely that 1 John is written to congregations within Asia Minor, perhaps even the ones addressed in the Apocalypse, some even are certain that Colossae must be one of the destinations, since the problems within the church as reported by Paul are so similar to the problems that are addressed in 1 John.[4]
The problem is antichrists, the false teachers who have left the church[5] and were harassing the church through their false doctrines from outside the church.[6]
It is clear that the doctrine at stake was the apostolic teaching of Christ's person; Christology is the main issue.
We know this because of 1 John's prologue where right away John's apostolic authority is established and John makes it clear that he saw, heard, and also touched "that which was from the beginning" with the Father.[7]
The prologue of the epistle puts heavy emphasis on the fact of the Incarnation and the necessity of the fellowship needed with the Son.
It seems that the false teachers openly rejected the Incarnation[8] and that Jesus was the Son of God and that he was the Messiah.[9]
From this data it has been opined what specific false teachings John was battling against.
The proposals have been three-fold: first, Gnosticism anchored in neo-platonic thought and dualism, secondly, Doceticism, which is a specific branch of Gnosticism that believed all matter was evil and therefore rejected the Incarnation, and lastly, the heresy of Cerinthus, which Polycarp makes clear was a heretic who directly interacted with the apostle John.
Irenaeus documents Cerinthus' heresy.
Cerinthus taught that Jesus humanity was separate from his divine nature.
He taught that the Spirit came upon Christ at his baptism and left him alone to suffer upon the cross.[10]
The explanatory power of these proposals are very much equal.
It seems that although Gnosticism was not fully developed in John's day; it is obvious that the seeds of neo-platonian philosophy and Docetic embryonic mythologies were planted and growing and causing dissension among the Gentiles who were battling worldviews of the Evil One.
Cerinthus' teaching exist even this day by those who are anti-trinitarian and call themselves "Oneness Pentecostals" or "Oneness Baptist."[11]
So it is clear that the most likely explanation for the false teachers is not just one specific force, but rather a conglomeration of lies formed from the Enemy to combat the flourishing gospel implanted by the Holy Spirit among the gentiles through mostly Paul and some of the other apostles.
John was called to defend the Gentile Christians against the lies put forward by the worldviews of the wicked Gentile world and those who first moved into the Kingdom community and then distorted its teachings and left the Kingdom community to show that they were never a part of it in the first place, but merely agents of the Evil One.
The last historical-cultural discussion that is pertinent to the understanding of our passage is the imminent eschatology[12] that is apparent in this epistle, but obscure in the gospel of John.
Daniel Wallace harmonizes this difference with a valid theory.
He opines that the epistle was written during the Jewish war in the 68-69 AD timeframe.
This heightened John's senses to the imminence of Christ's second coming.[13]
!!! Literary Context
 
       Amidst the complexity of the literary structure of John's first epistle, it cannot be denied that John was writing for multiple purposes, but there was one purpose that trumped all of them, namely, that John wants his readers to be assured of their eternal life through Jesus Christ.
By assuring them of eternal life he must, among other things, review the doctrine of Christology to prevent them from falling away by the deceptive lies of the antichrists.
His main themes of obedience and commandments, and confidence, and love, and faith are repeated more than once throughout the epistle as a means of emphasis and as a means to developing different sub-topics within each theme.
Therefore, we have John discussing the love of God in us[14] and the evidence of our love for God being shown by our obedience to his commandments and then also the exhortations never to place our love in the worldly things that merely pass away.[15]
And yet he further develops this theme to show us that since God is love, we have the very ability to love him only because he first loved us.[16]
This is why our pericope of verses are so important because after the most ultimate purpose for the epistle is revealed then John rehashes the main points of his endeavors[17] and ends on a high Christological note that exalts the Son of God to his rightful place as God and dispenser of the graces of eternal life.
Our human responsibility is to work out our salvation, so to say, that we never place any type of idol before what God has revealed himself to be, the Savior of the World, the Son of God, triune and majestic.
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