Interpretation of the 1st Council Epistle of the Apostle John the Theologian

About the first Catholic Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian 1st Council Epistle of St. The apostle and evangelist John the Theologian does not have the writer’s name either in the title or in the text; only in the first verses of the epistle does the writer indirectly make himself known as a witness and eyewitness to the events of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1-3). Nevertheless, the idea that the message originated from the pen of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian constitutes the firm conviction of the Church. Blessed Theophylact following St. Athanasius the Great (“Synopsis”) says: “The same John who wrote the Gospel also wrote this epistle in order to confirm those who had already believed in the Lord. And both in the Gospel and in this epistle, first of all, he theologizes about the Word, shows that it is always in God, and teaches that the Father is light, so that from here we would know that the Word is, as it were, a reflection of Him.” All Christian antiquity unanimously recognized this epistle as the writing of the Apostle and Evangelist John: according to Eusebius, “from the epistles of John, in addition to the Gospel, both modern and ancient Christians recognize, without any dispute, his first epistle” (Church Ist. III, 24). Already St. Polycarp of Smyrna, an apostolic man, a disciple of the Apostle John (“Sent to Philip” ch. VII) cites one place (1 John 1.4:3) from the first letter of St. John. An equally ancient man, Papias of Hieropolis, according to the testimony of Eusebius (Church. Ist. III, 39), used the first epistle of John, as well as the first epistle of St. John. Petra. And St. Irenaeus of Lyons, according to the testimony of Eusebius (Ts.I. V:8), in his work “Against Heresies,” cites many evidence from the first letter of the Ap. John (it is in book III, 15, 5 that he cites 1 John II, 18–22, and in III, 15, 8–1; 1 John 4: 1–3, 5: 1). The testimony of these three ancient men, immediately adjacent in time to the apostolic age, is especially important, confirming the original faith of the Church in the canonical dignity of the epistle. From the 2nd century there is undoubtedly familiarity with the message of St. John - St. Justin Martyr (“Conversation with Tryphon,” chapter CXXIII, see 1 John 3:1), author of the “Epistle to Diognetus” (chap. II, see 1 John 4:9–10). By the end of the 2nd century or the first half of the 3rd century there are important and authoritative evidence of the generally recognized canonical dignity of the first letter of John - the so-called. The Muratorian canon, the Syriac translation of the New Testament sacred books by Peshito and the ancient Latin translation. Similar evidence of the authenticity and canonicity of the message is found in Clement of Alexandria (Strom. II, see 1 John 5:16), in Tertullian (Adv. Prax. p. 15 1 John I1), in Origen (Eusev. Ts. I. VI24), Dionysius of Alexandria (in Euse. Ts. I. VII25), etc. In general, from the above evidence it is obvious that the canonical dignity and authenticity the first epistle of John were generally accepted and were not subject to any doubts or disputes. And all the internal signs of the message, all the characteristic features of its content, tone and presentation convincingly indicate that the message belongs to the same great apostle of love and sublime Christian contemplation, by whom the fourth Gospel was written. And in the message, as in the Gospel, he ranks himself among the witnesses of the Word, and the entire content of the message is imbued with a living memory of the example the Savior gave to Christians throughout His earthly life (1 John 2:6, 3:3, 5, 7, 4:17), about His word and commandments (1 John 1:5, 3:23, 4:21), about the events of His baptism and death on the cross (1 John 5:6). The epistle breathes the same spirit of love and, at the same time, fiery zeal for the glory of God and the purity of God’s reverence, the same depth and power of feeling, the same image and character of presentation and presentation as in the Gospel. This inner closeness and kinship of the content of the epistle and the Gospel of St. John were well noticed and appreciated in the sense of proof of authenticity even in antiquity, for example, St. Dionysius of Alexandria in the 3rd century. “The Gospel (John) and the epistle,” he says, agree with each other and begin the same way; the first says: “in the beginning was the Word”, the last: “from the beginning”; in this it is said: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14), the same in this, with only a slight change: “as we heard, as we saw, as our eyes saw, as we saw and touched with our hands, the Word was revealed to the living creatures”... (1 John 1:1-2). John is true to himself and does not deviate from his goal; he reveals everything in the same periods and in the same words. Let us briefly summarize some of them. The attentive reader in each of the mentioned books will often encounter the words: life, light, the passing of darkness, will constantly see: truth, grace, joy, the flesh and blood of the Lord, judgment, forgiveness of sins, God's love for us, the commandment about our mutual love and that we must keep all the commandments, also the condemnation of the world, the devil, the Antichrist, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the sonship of God, the faith required in us in everything, the Father everywhere and Son. In general, with continuous attention to the distinctive features, one involuntarily imagines the same image of the Gospel and the message” (in Eusebius, Church History VII, 25). If some Western biblical scholars of modern times saw the Gnostics of the 2nd century in the false teachers exposed by the first letter of John and on this basis denied the authenticity of the message, its belonging to the 1st century and St. the apostle of love, then, of course, it is true that the Gnostic teachings received a complete and fully developed form only in the 2nd century, but the seeds and beginnings of Gnostic errors arose in the apostolic age. “And just as the error that the writer of the epistle refutes is different from the Gnostic and Docetic heresies of the 2nd century, so the method of polemic is different: the writer does not direct the epistle against the particular teachings and personalities of the heretics, as is typical for later polemics; but against the general and fundamental provisions, against the emerging anti-Christianity, he puts forward the general and fundamental provisions of Christianity” (Prof. N. I. Sagarda). As for the time of writing the message, there is no positive historical evidence, just as in the message itself there are no direct indications of the time of its origin. Still, the content of the message contains indirect evidence according to which the origin of the message should be attributed to the late time of the Apostle’s life or to the last years of the apostolic century. In his message Ap. John makes the subject of his concerns not the foundation and initial structure of Christian church communities, but only a reminder and confirmation of that eternal Christian truth, which they have long heard, known and have as a grace-filled “anointing” (1 John 2:20, 27). Apparently, by the time the epistle was written, the Christian communities of Asia Minor, to whom the epistle was primarily addressed, had long since received a church organization, and in them, along with the extinct members of the first generation, there were also those who had already been born and raised in Christianity (1 John 2:13–14). The late origin of the epistle is also supported by the internal growth of the Church reflected in it, apparently going far beyond the activities of St. Pavel. Jewish disputes that fill the entire history of the Acts of the Apostles and all the epistles of St. Paul, were not reflected in any way in the message: there is no hint of any struggle between the defenders of the Law and the Gospel, of debate about circumcision, etc. Judaism and paganism do not appear as independent entities hostile to Christianity; they rather united in a common hostility towards him, forming the hostile principle of the “world” (κόσμος, space). But in the depths of the Christian community itself there are new enemies - false teachers, who perverted the main dogma of Christianity - the Incarnation - and quite clearly revealed their complete opposition to the teaching and life of the true Church of Christ, although they came from the depths of it (1 John 2:19). Such a profound change in the nature of doctrinal subjects and disputes and in general in the state of the Church requires almost entire decades of the activity of St. to explain it. Paul before writing his epistle. In view of the already noted close relationship between the epistle and the Fourth Gospel, the epistle is usually considered either a letter of recommendation to the Gospel - a kind of prolegomena to the Gospel, or the second, so to speak, practical or polemical part of the Gospel. In both cases, the proximity of the message to the Gospel and the time of writing is obvious. Church tradition quite agreeably attributes the writing of both Holy Scriptures to St. Apostle by the time after his return from exile from the island of Patmos, during the reign of Domitian. Thus, the end of the 1st Christian century, years 97–99, can be considered the chronological date of the origin of the first letter of St. Ap. John. And since the Apostle John spent all his last years in Asia Minor, more particularly in the city of Ephesus, this city can be considered the place where the letter was written. The immediate motivation for writing a letter addressed to the Christians of Asia Minor, closely known to St. The Apostle of Love, according to his many years of stay among them and their leadership after the death of the Apostles Peter and Paul, was the desire of the Ap. John to warn Christians against false teachers (see, for example, 1 John 2:19–22, 4:1–3), who distorted, as can be seen from the message, the teaching about the Divinity and incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, about the blessedness of unity with God and Christ (1 John 2:22, 4:2, 3, 1:6–7, 2:2, 3, 12–17 and etc.). Therefore, the general character of the epistle is exhorting and accusatory, although it does not contain direct polemics: rising with his thought above the temporary circumstances that gave rise to writing, the Apostle here, as in the Gospel, most of all has the eternal needs of the members of the Church of Christ, confirming in them faith in Jesus Christ as the true Son of God, true God and true man, and through this opening to everyone the path of eternal life (1 John 5:13, 20; see John 20:31). About the first letter of St. You can read the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in Russian: 1) by G. F. Yakovlev - Apostles. An outline of the life and teaching of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in the Gospel, three epistles and the Apocalypse. Vol. II. Moscow, 1860; 2) at prot. A. Polotebnova – Conciliar Epistles of the Apostle of Love I, II, III. To the glory. and Russian, with a preface and explanatory notes. Moscow 1875; 3) in the articles of G.I. Uspensky: The question of the stay of St. Apostle John the Theologian in Asia Minor, Christ. read 1879, I, 3, 279, and the Activities of St. Apostle John the Theologian in Asia Minor, ibid., II, 245; 4) from the Reverend. Bishop Michael – “The Intelligent Apostle” II. Kyiv 1905, p. 305 ch. There are also two special monographs: a) prof. prot. D.I. Bogdashevsky - “False teachers exposed in the first letter of the Ap. John." Kyiv 1890, and b) prof. V.I. Sagarda - “1st Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. Isagogical-exegetical research. Poltava. 1903. You might be interested in: