NOTES ON THE EPISTLES OF JOHN

I John 1:1-4 refutes two opposite heresies: Jesus was not human, Jesus was not divine.

I John 1:5-10 contain five "if" statements.

I John 1:7 You can't see the light itself, but it illumines everything it touches, as C.S. Lewis explained 

in his  "Light in a shed" essay.

I John 2:10 The Greek word translated as "stumble" can also mean a stick that triggers an animal trap.

I John 3:6,9 seem to conflict with 1:8,10. The tension is between the ideal and reality of sinlessness.

I John 4:8 There are three "God is" statements in John's writings: spirit (also believed by the Greeks), 

light (believed by the Persians, and love (which could only be revealed by God directly). (J. Rose)

I John 4:10, 19 Christians are always in the position of saying, "I love you too."

I John 5:2 combines the three tests of a Christian. Like Jacob serving Laban for the best motivation--

love.

I John 5:6 combines the start (baptism) and end (crucifixion) of Christ's ministry. The Message 

version: “Jesus experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death.”

I John 5:6-7 KJV reads verses 6-7 as verse 6 and has as verse 7 "For there are three that bear record in 

heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." Verse 8 then begins "and 

there are three that bear witness in earth, etc." When Erasmus was putting together the standard Greek 

text that would later become the basis for the KJV, he refused to include these words because they 

appeared in no ancient Greek manuscripts. The story is that when he told the pope this, he was soon 

given a manuscript that did have the missing words, and the ink was still wet.

 Christians should be aware of this since Jehovah Witnesses will quote it to prove that the Trinity was a 

doctrine made up by the Catholic Church, and Mormons will use it to show that we can't trust any

of our Bible translations since the text was in the hands of the Roman Catholics so long that they 

altered the wording to suit themselves.

I John 5:13-20 "Know" appears 7 times, a number symbolic of perfection.

I John 5:14 reads literally "if we keep asking."

I John 9:21 “This seems like an afterthought until you recognize it's what the whole letter has been

 about. 'God is light; in him there is no darkness at all' (1:5). John knows that the light that is God the 

Son who 'has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were 

evil' (John 3:19). And so we lie to ourselves – and in such diverse and sundry ways!” And one of these 

ways is to “make up a God in our own image who minimizes sin, rarely judges, and never punishes.” 

Derek Rishmawy, CT, Dec. 2020, p. 28

II John 9-11 

v. 9. doctrine = teaching 

v.10. The tense assumes that this has indeed happened. Contrast this verse with III John 3.

v. 11. See Didache 11, a very early church document which teaches the same thing.

II John 12 "Face to face = mouth to mouth, literally.  Also see I John 1:4.

III John 3 Contrast this verse with II John 10-11. 

III John 10 "Prating" = lit. boiling over or bubbling up.