1, 2, 3 John

Plumbing the Depths of John’s Epistles

The Epistles of John contain some of the sublimest truths that true believers hold to. In it is “the high serenity of a mind that lives in constant fellowship with the greatest thoughts and is nourished at the eternal fountain-head; but also the fervent indignation and vehement recoil of such a mind in contact with what is false and evil”, one whose mind is dominated by God’s truth (R. Law, ISBE). First John has been called “the most passionate” book in the New Testament written by the “Apostle of Love”. It is full of antithesis and clear statements of spiritual reality. “The absolute antagonism and incompatibility between the Christian life and sin of whatsoever kind or degree is maintained with a vehemence of utterance that verges at times upon the paradoxical (1 Jn 3:9; 5:18). So long as the church lays up this Epistle in its heart, it can never lack a moral tonic of wholesome severity” (ibid).

You will be transformed if you will take these truths to heart. Never was there such a time when these basic and essential truths have been under greater attack by those within the church. The clarion call of these epistles to live pure lives as “He is pure” (1 John 3:3) must be heeded if we don’t want to be ashamed when our Lord Jesus returns (1 John 2:28).

An Overview

1 John

2 John

3 John