God gave me outstanding talents for writing software. Relevant to Bible study, the two main talents are:
- I notice details.
- My mind automatically thinks in contradictions. That is, when I read something or hear something – without any conscious effort on my part – exceptions to what I read or heard leap to the front of my mind. Now that my beard is mostly gray I keep my mouth shut most of the time when someone says something that is only 99.5% true. As a rule they are talking in general and are completely disinterested in “edge cases” that disagree with their statement. But I didn’t always have this much discretion. 😉
The God-given talent of perceiving “edge-case conditions” that would cause software to fail means I can write the software to not fail if those conditions happened! I know people who could write more software in a day than I could, but I don’t know anyone who could write more reliable software than I could. I was born to distill thought into code.
But these strong talents mean I find trying to understand the book of 1 John intensely frustrating, almost to the point of tears. Why? On the surface 1 John is full of seeming contradictions both within itself, and with the rest of the Bible. Here are three of the apparent contradictions.
Plural / Singular Authorship
Plural authorship in the first chapter.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
1 John 1:1-4 NKJV
Singular authorship thereafter.
… these things I write to you …
7 … I write no new commandment to you… 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you …
12 I write to you, little children, …
13 I write to you, fathers, …
I write to you, young men, …
I write to you, little children, …
14 I have written to you, fathers, …
I have written to you, young men, …
1 John 2:1, 7-8, 12-14 NKJV
Know All, Don’t Need Teachers
John (singular?) writes,
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
1 John 2:20, 27 NKJV
Paul writes differently about knowing it all and needing teachers.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
1 Corinthians 13:9 NKJV
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Ephesians 4:11-13 NKJV
“No one has seen God at any time.”
John writes,
No one has seen God at any time.
1 John 4:12 NKJV
This seems to contradict not only what plural-John wrote,
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:1-3 NKJV
but also what Jesus Himself said.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
John 14:9 NKJV
These seeming contradiction bother this detail-oriented, exception-thinking individual very much! It has been my habit when reading 1 John to not “dive deep,” but just notice the more well-known passages:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 NKJV
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 NKJV
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
1 John 5:4 NKJV
But now I am feeling the need to really study 1 John. God’s word is Truth, and with the Holy Spirit’s help, I can understand it. Step one, for me, is to be able to see all the Scripture without flipping pages. I need to be able to look from one place to another, quickly, without losing focus or concentration. Note that this is nothing new for me. These are pictures of some of my past computers. I am much more able to maintain concentration writing software if I can just glance to find information, and not fumble with a mouse.
Now you have seen a 7-monitor laptop. 🙂 It’s the first picture.
I photocopied 1 John from my copy of The Scriptures. Since I knew there would be plenty of space, I copied 2 John and 3 John in different colors. Here are pictures of making the study poster.
Here are a couple pictures taken two or three hours later. I have not yet resolved the apparent conflicts, but I’m starting to get an inkling on one of them.
If this seems like a lot of work, consider how hard you would work if you knew there was buried treasure in your backyard.
My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:1-5 NKJV
Has the rapture happened? You can still be saved and go to heaven! --- Are you following God's plan for your life? You should. Your plan is not going to work. It is a really, really bad plan. Please come to Jesus to escape your plan! Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Jesus is coming. Are you ready to meet Him? Give your life to Jesus Christ. Time is running out.
Lift Up Your Eyes! 