1 John, 2 John, 3 John

All three of these books were written about A.D. 85, or late 80’s and early 90’s. These letters were probably written after the Gospel of John and before the persecution under Domitian in A.D. 95. John probably wrote from Ephesus because there is a strong tradition that John spent his old age in Ephesus. He had been exiled not far away on the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:9).

The first epistle opens by summarizing the Fourth Gospel (I John 1:1; cf. John 21:31). The stated purpose of the First Epistle is found in 5:13, and carries the reader one step beyond the Gospel. "The Gospel was written to arouse faith; the First Epistle was written to establish certainty," observes Merrill Tenney.

1 John

The lack of personal references in this letter indicates that it was written in sermonic style to Christians all over Asia Minor. It was probably a circular letter, much like Ephesians. The purpose of this letter was to tell believers how they might know they have eternal life. This epistle deals with the same heresy that Paul confronted in his Epistle to the Colossians: Gnosticism. The readers were preoccupied with a secret "knowledge" which is evident by how many times John uses the word "know" in this letter. He writes to strengthen their faith and fellowship and warn them about the false teachers with their "secret" knowledge.

KEY WORDS: know, believe, life, light, love, and fellowship. Study the opposites in this letter (cf. "light" and "darkness," "life" and "death," "truth" and "lying," etc.). These same themes are developed in the Gospel of John.

2 John
The second epistle is a personal letter from the Apostle to the "elect lady." Much discussion has been around who this "lady" is. John sends this postcard to the "elect lady" to correct a situation that had developed from the normal practice of showing hospitality to itinerant teachers and preachers. It was common practice for people to open their homes to those in the ministry. Jesus was a frequent guest in the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany. Some Christians were inadvertently providing this type of support to the false teachers. Loving believers (II Jn. 5-6) must not be construed as the encouragement of false doctrine. The key theme that John is devloping is Practice the truth and have nothing to do with false teachers.

3 John
The letter is addressed to Gaius which is a very common Greek name. He is described as a "dear friend" who was loved by the aged apostle (vv. 1, 2, 5, 11). Perhaps Gaius had been a dear loyal friend of John’s for a long time. This Christian friend had contributed to the missionaries who had desired to visit his church. One Diotrephes, the self-assertive church boss had an anti-missionary spirit, and influenced the church not to receive missionaries. Diotrephes had succeeded in having Gaius excommunicated from the membership. John condemns Diotrephes and commends Gaius for his faithfulness. Demetrius may have been a traveling teacher and probably delivered the letter to Gaius. There are words of praise to Gaius for his hospitality for missionaries, and condemnation for Diotrephes. The key theme of the book is a healthy believer will follow the truth, help others, and do good.

My personal Biblical mission statement comes from 1 John 3:18 - What would happen if we stopped talking the talk, and starting walking the walk? - Pastor Jim Mueller