Scripture Analysis: 1 John 5:13-21

1931 Words4 Pages

When contrasting First John to Second and Third John, you notice how First John lacks the typical stylistic features of a letter. However, the genre of First John is an epistle. This outstanding book joins twenty other letters in the New Testament. First John is probably best regarded as a written sermon or pastoral address. Walt Russell gives us clear principles when reading and interpreting an epistle. He states the following steps: read the whole epistle in one setting the get the big idea of the letter and its main contours, think in terms of the paragraphs being the main units of thought, knowing the structure of epistles helps you know where you are in the letter, and do some background reading in order to understand better the epistle’s main concerns and its historical and cultural setting. One of the most important tools to use while interpreting an epistle is to thoroughly know the historic background of the human author and the readers.

The human author, John, was likely to be a pastor or evangelist who built churches in the Mediterranean world. John the apostle, son of Zebedee, one of the twelve was extremely passionate for Christ and was writing a letter to a church who needed to hear God’s truth. Though we are not sure which church it was specifically, we can be confident that this letter was to teach the believers about Jesus, God’s commandments, and love. Fortunately, this letter can also be applied to our own daily lives.

1 John 5:13-21 fits within the larger flow of the whole book of First John by reinforcing themes sounded throughout the previous chapters. It is interesting to note that the word groups surrounding the Greek “to know” (oida and ginosko) make their strongest appearance in this passage than ...

... middle of paper ...

...s attacking me and, unfortunately, it is difficult for me to lean and trust on the strength and protection of God. This passage assured me that I do have power in Christ, I can have confidence in His Word, and I am able to fully trust and lean on God’s strength when my own strength is lacking (emphasis added).

Works Cited
Akin, Daniel. The New American Commentary. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001.

Burge, Gary. Letter of John The NIV Application Commentary From Biblical Text to Contemporary Life. Zondervan, 1996.

Fee, Gordon. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans Pub Co, 1984.

Johnson, Thomas. New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, Massachusetts: Original Hendrickson Publishers, 1993.

Russell, Walt. Playing With Fire. Colorado Springs: NevPress, 2000.

Smalley, Stephen. Word Biblical Commentary. Waco, Texas: Word Co, 1984.

Open Document