JOHN: "Yeah, I saw it all"

Welcome to the Guv's Desk Bible Study! We're going to begin with John's 1st epistle...
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So how do we know who wrote '1 John'? (or even the Gospel of John?) The early Church fathers tell us it was John the fisherman - let's see if they were right...

Reading 1 John 1:1-4 the author hides his identity. He tells us he heard, saw...yes, close up! (Gk:'theaomai') and even handled the 'Word of Life' - the Son of God, Jesus Christ. WOW! This is not just an eye-witness - this is up real close and personal. (In the same way, we know John wrote his gospel cos the author hides his identity among the other disciples named. As far as he is concerned John the Baptist is the real John!)

Notice the similarity with "In the beginning was the Word..." (John 1:1 and check Micah 5:2) What a privilege John had - a 3 1/2 YEAR in-depth tutorial, in the field, from the SON of GOD - in person! What fellowship (koinonia) they enjoyed with the One who even raised people from the dead, then rose Himself! Full joy only comes from The Word of life. We know that Gnostics were disputing that this wasn't really God manifest in flesh, just like religions and cults today that deny the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a guy who was THERE, saw and heard it all (John's Gospel) so close it was hands-on! (theaomai)...and now he's going to spell it out for us - loud & clear!

James B: Woah! "Yeah I saw it"
GD: Yup! John saw it - up close - even hands on!                                              
There's no way this guy will accept Jesus Christ wasn't real.

Before we launch into John's message, just who is this guy John?
One day he and his bro James were mending fishing nets with their dad Zebedee but as soon as Jesus called...they just up and followed! "See you later Dad!" Never a dull moment with these guys who Jesus called 'sons of thunder' - but with Peter they got to see...Jesus in glory! He was slow to believe Jesus had risen from the dead, having watched Him die from crucifixion and so taken His mother back home. Like the other disciples John was also slow to get out there and take the gospel to the world. Meanwhile, bro James was executed.

Well he might have been slow (who hasn't been!) but now - he's a lot older and wiser.
Let's see what he's got to say...but first, who is he writing to?...and why?

Who does John address this first epistle to? He doesn't! What we do know from Galatians 2:9 is that, like the other 11 apostles, his focus had been JEWISH - they found it very hard to connect with us Gentiles. Did you know?... the word 'ekklesia' (church/assembly) appears in EVERY ONE of Paul's letters...but in this letter of John's?? - NOT ONCE! So if we sneek a look at 2:18 it's 'the last hour' with antiChrist looming on the horizon. Mmm...last hour?...antiChrist looming?...no mention of the Church? (I'll leave you to think about that) This might not be addressed directly to us today but we'd better pay attention cos this guy knows what he's talking about! (2 Timothy 3:16)

NEXT: Why does John write this? Click the link:
http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/john-why-write-your-letter.html