Bible Discussion Thread

INTRODUCTION TO 3 JOHN (Part 2):

II. ABOUT THE RECIPIENTS:

The apostle John wrote 1, 2 and 3 John to the churches of Asia Minor over which John exercised apostolic leadership in his later years.

Most of the recipients of his letters were Jewish believers, but the letters were written for all of the believers in these churches.

III. ABOUT THE DATE AND LOCATION:

I John was written sometime in the late 80's or early 90's A.D.

It is believed that John's letters were written soon after he composed the Gospel of John.

All five of John's letters were written from Ephesus where he spent his elder years leading the churches in Asia Minor.

IV. ABOUT I JOHN:

1 John was written to combat the beginnings of Gnosticism (emphasis on the beginnings). This had just begun.

Gnostic is the Greek word for knowledge. The Gnostics claimed to have special knowledge from God that no one else could know unless they were one of the initiated ones.

And we get that a lot today. People receive "revelation" and "knowledge" supposedly from God, but it's outside of the scriptures. It's not found in the bible.

These false teachers and teachings arose from within the church. Gnostic doctrine was based on dualism which asserted that physical matter was inherently evil, and spirit was good.