CHAPTER 1
1. That which existed since the beginning--which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have observed intently, which our own hands have touched—concerning the Word of Life,
There could not be a more firsthand witness than this. He continues the theme he began in Yochanan 1:1 of the Word which was fleshed out, now not detailing the biographical facts about Yeshua, but the implications of his life for us.
2. and the Life was brought into open view, and we have looked upon [it], and we give testimony and proclaim to you [as glad news] the age-old life that was with the Father, and was made manifest to us--
3. what we have seen and heard we [gladly] proclaim to you as well, so that you also might have a share with us. And, indeed, our participation is with the Father and with His son, Yeshua the Messiah.
Share/participation: or fellowship, a contributing part, helping to get the job done and having something in common.
4. And we write these things so that our joy may be filled to capacity.
Joy: a type specifically resulting from favor shown to someone who did not deserve it.
5. And this is the message that we have heard from him and [now] announce to you: Elohim is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
6. If we should say that we have a partnership with Him, and yet walk in darkness, we are pretending and not practicing the truth.
Walk in darkness: continue to conduct our lives as we did before we received this great gift of reconciliation with Elohim, doing things underhandedly, secretly, or just in a selfish manner that causes pain or hardship for others—i.e., anything that is not loving one’s neighbor as oneself.
7. However, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua the Messiah, His Son, purges us from all sins.
Fellowship: see note on v. 3. Sins: particular ones, not the general condition of sin, from which He has already cleansed us if we accept His invitation to be reborn (Yoch. 3:16) and moved to a spiritual position under Yeshua rather than Adam. (Custance) Blood: untainted by the poison all others inherited from Adam, his blood is the rarest type, and acceptable to YHWH as an offering, especially as our kinsman redeemer, i.e., who has “blood ties” to the House of Israel as well as Yehudah.
8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Sin: here, the condition resulting from Adam’s fall and possibly the poisoned fruit he ate which was passed on to us. While we have been freed from judgment in regard to this (see note on v. 7), the evil inclination can still affect us if we allow it to. Deceive ourselves: or cause ourselves to go astray, for we will not be on guard against that remaining predisposition to wander, which stays with us until our physical death. The idea that one’s spirit has no sin, but only his body does, made people think they had liberty to do whatever was pleasurable, often at the expense of others, thereby hampering that fellowship mentioned in vv. 3 and 7.
9. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just in order that he might remit the sins on our behalf, and purge us from all unrighteousness.
Purge: or cleanse, as David asked after he confessed his sin. (Psalm 51).
10. If we should say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His way of thinking is not [at work] in us.
Him: YHWH, who says that we have indeed sinned. (Yeshayahu 59:2; Yirmeyahu 5:25) To contradict Him like this for the sake of a philosophy only divides us from Him in practicality, as well as from one another, for we will be careless about how we treat one another if we do not recognize the potential to do wrong. And who likes to be around someone who is “never wrong”? There is no “fellowship” in that.
CHAPTER 2
1. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not miss the target. Also, if anyone does miss the target, we have one to intercede [for us] toward the Father—righteous Yeshua the Messiah.
Miss the target: the literal meaning of “to sin”.
2. He is also a means of appeasement concerning our errors—and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the world [civilized] world.
3. Now this is how we know that we have come to understand him: if we keep his commandments.
Keep His commandments: carefully pay attention to His orders. This is a very Hebraic phrase, constantly used by Moshe. Yeshua was very clear that nothing he said was to be interpreted as opposing the Torah. So his commands are the same as YHWH’s.
4. Anyone who says, “I have come to know him”, but does not keep his commandments is a counterfeit, and the truth is not in him.
5. But whoever keeps his word, the love of Elohim has most certainly been carried through to completion in him. This is how we know that we are with him.
6. The one who says he is continuing with him ought to himself walk in the same way that he walked.
Walk: conduct himself as a way of life. Yeshua kept YHWH’s commandments and lived them out in a compassionate way.
7. Brother, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but rather an ancient commandment, which you have had since the beginning. The ancient commandment is the saying that you have heard since the beginning.
8. Then again, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is realized in him--and in yourselves, because the darkness is departing, and the genuine light is already becoming manifest.
New: fresh and unused. It has scarcely been “taken out of the package”, because though we have possessed it, we have not put it to use. Genuine: true, real, but from a root meaning “not hidden”.
9. One who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is still in the dark even now.
10. The one who loves his brother [continually] remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that will cause him to stumble,
11. but the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12. I write to you, little children, because the sins have been forgiven you for his name’s sake.
Because of the merit of Yeshua and his reputation as deliverer, YHWH recognizes any who asked to be included under him as part of a restored human race and looks beyond their faults to what they are becoming.
13. I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father.
Fathers: They have a special insight into YHWH’s love for, longing for, and willingness to go to great lengths to provide for His children. Overcome: or conquered, been victorious over, implying a battle or contest of wills. Each of these aspects of our relationship with YHWH is important at that stage in our spiritual growth.
14. I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the reasoning of the Messiah remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Strong: specifically in an engaging, combative way, through YHWH’s power, which is standing by and ready to unleash itself when we need it.
15. Do not love the world [order], or the things [operative] in [the realm of] the world [system]; if anyone would love the world, [it would show that] the love of the Father is not in him,
16. because all that is [operative] in [the realm of] the world—the passionate desire of the flesh, the eager desire of the eyes, and the arrogant, ostentatious boasting of [physical] life—is not coming from the Father, but is coming out of the world [order],
These are the remnants of the order of the fallen Adam and those who, with him, no longer bear the complete image of Elohim, whereas what the Father has wrought is a new order based on Yeshua’s recovery of that image of Elohim for any human being who chooses to be included under his victory, giving allegiance to his authority that characterizes the age into which we are transitioning, though the old order is still outwardly intact, but has been gutted of its power, which is based on these ways of interacting with one another, none of which reflect YHWH’s original intent for humankind.
17. and the world [order], along with its inordinate desire, is being done away with, but the one who is carrying out the wishes of the Elohim remains into the [impending] age.
Done away with: or departing, passing away, disappearing—i.e., “on the way out”; its days are numbered because it has been defeated, though not all of its citizens have as yet been informed of the change of authority, and many are therefore still living as if they owed some allegiance to the old tyrant.
18. Little children, it is the final hour, and, insofar as you have heard that a counterfeit messiah is coming, even now many counterfeit messiahs have emerged, for which reason we ascertain that it is the final hour.
Final hour: of the old system, which is passing away, so we should not cling to its vestiges. Emerged: arisen (on the earthly stage) or come into being. These two kingdoms are at war with each other, and we can only give our loyalty to one of them. Counterfeit: or false, but most literally putting themselves in the place of the Messiah, not so much opposing him directly as trying to usurp his position—whether the “vicar of Christ” in a high official role, or just someone who wants to do his own will rather than follow the orders of his new king.
19. They have gone out from among us (though they were not [really] from us, for if they had been from us they would in any case have remained with us, but [they left]) in order that it might be made plain that not all [of them] are from us.
These “replacers of Messiah” need not be high-ranking over the whole world, as one of them apparently will be, but may be people we once considered companions, who were taught the new ways along with us, but for one reason or another decided this path was too difficult for them or just not what they wanted to make sacrifices for. Not everyone who has received the glad news of the impending kingdom will decide to belong to it. (Markos 4:14-20)
20. And you have an anointing [that originates] from the Set-Apart One, and you have become able to perceive all [of these] things.
I.e., through His Spirit, YHWH has given us a way to discern who is genuinely our ally and who is not.
21. I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and that no falsehood comes out of the truth.
A falsehood that is closest to the truth makes for the best counterfeit, but there is always another factor in its origin, whether it be deliberately misleading or ignorance of the facts, or merely a misunderstanding of the proper context of an idea.
22. Who is the deceiver, if not the one who denies, [saying] that Yeshua is not the Messiah? This is the one who opposes the Messiah: the one who denies the Father and the Son.
Denies: or repudiates. Yeshua said that the one who knows him also knows his Father. (Yoch. 8:19; compare v. 23 below.)
23. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. [But the one who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.]
Yeshua said that no one come to the Father except through him (the Son). (Yoch. 14:6) Some manuscripts do not have the second sentence in this verse. Some only leave out the word “but”. The Aramaic version has it, using the term “covers up” where the Greek has “denies”, saying, “He who covers up the Son does not believe in the Father”; it also “gives tribute to” where the Greek has “acknowledges”.
24. [As for] you, let what you heard from the beginning stay within you, because if what you heard from the beginning stays within you, you will also remain in the Son as well as in the Father.
What you hear from the beginning: as opposed to newer ideas that were being thrown around about what Yeshua was or was not. Remain: the Aramaic has “continue”; i.e., you will not be one of those people spoken of in v. 19 who desert the faith.
25. Now this is the appropriate promise which he has announced to us: eternal life.
Appropriate promise…announced: both the same term though different grammatically, and having the common usage meaning “officially-sanctioned”. Eternal life: or, the life of the Age, referring to the Hebraic concept of the age to come, which includes the Messianic Kingdom, whether we live to see it arrive or return to it via resurrection.
26. I have written these things to you on account of those who are leading you astray [into error].
27. And [as for] you, the anointing that you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need of anyone to instruct you; rather, as the same anointing [both] instructs you in regard to all things and is true, it is likewise not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you do remain in him.
Him: in the first instance, YHWH; in the second, Yeshua (compare Yoch. 15:4-7, where he compares it to a branch only being able to bear fruit as long as it remains connected to the trunk vine). The anointing: not by oil but by the spirit of Elohim which was given to us when we acknowledged Yeshua, and remains with us to guide us if we pay attention to it rather than to the other voices that contradict it.
28. Now then, dear little children, remain in him, so that whenever he is made manifest, we may have [bold] confidence and not be put to shame [and shrink back] from him [in disgrace] when he does arrive.
The Aramaic version says “my children”. Made manifest: Aramaic, uncovered, i.e., revealed, brought to light—seen visibly by all rather than only being acknowledged by faith based on reliable firsthand eyewitnesses like Yochanan. (1:1-2)
29. If you perceive that He is righteous, you recognize that everyone who practices righteousness has been born out of Him.
He: again speaking of YHWH, as shown in 3:1, though Yeshua was the means YHWH used to accomplish this restoration. Born: or begotten, in a spiritual sense rather than physical, but as a very real partaking in the nature that Yeshua attained by his perfect obedience, which set the stage for YHWH to “propagate” a restored human race (“brothers” of Yeshua through connection with him) which takes on the Second Adam’s characteristics (1 Cor. 15:45-47) rather than the fallen Adam’s (Heb. 2:10; Romans 8:29)—the “rebirth” Yeshua described in Yochanan 3:16.
CHAPTER 3
1. Just look what kind of love the Father has extended to us: that we can be called the offspring of Elohim! That’s why the world cannot understand us, because it did not understand him.
Offspring of Elohim: “born of Him” (as in 2:29), as younger brothers of the one particularly called the Son of Elohim. This is a direct allusion to Hoshea 1:10, where it refers to the descendants of Israel, the Northern Kingdom in particular, who were punished for wanting to be like Gentiles with the poetic justice of no longer being a people, and YHWH’s people in particular, but would nonetheless one day be regathered, together with Yehudah, not only back into covenant with YHWH, but back to our homeland. This is a vivid demonstration of how the Renewed Covenant is addressed in particular to the descendants of those who were once part of Israel, but abandoned that calling. It is an invitation to come back, because our kinsman redeemer has paid our way. Yirmeyahu 31 specifies that this covenant will only be made with the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah. Cannot understand us: compare 1 Corinthians 2:14.
2. Dear friends, henceforth we the are the offspring of Elohim, though what we will be has not yet been fully realized, but we [can] discern that whenever he is made manifest, we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is,
Like: resembling or corresponding to him.
3. and everyone who holds onto this expectation, [based] on him, purifies himself in the same way that he is pure.
Purifies: cleanses himself from contaminants—in this context, morally, in regard to hatred for his brothers in particular. The hope both prods him and gives him the power to regain the right motives and, even more importantly, to act rightly toward them.
4. Everyone who practices error also practices lawlessness; in fact, the error is the [condition of] being without the Torah.
Without a knowledge of the standard, of course we will not aim at it and will miss the target, and the times we may hit it (as statistical probability says we might) are merely vestiges of whatever good remained in Adam after his soul was divided by the “knowledge of good and evil”. (Gen. 3)
5. And you know that [the reason] that one was brought into plain view [tangibly] was so that he might do away with sins; there is also no sin in him.
Sins: the actions that reveal an underlying imbalance—this sin (in singular form), the poison that pervaded the genes that Adam passed on to all of us, predisposing us to err much of the time and making us mortal. But YHWH bypassed in this in Yeshua’s case through the “seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15), which retained the potential of sinlessness and immortality if never fertilized by male sperm, which carried on the poison. (Custance) Thus Yeshua always had one foot on solid ground when he stepped into the swamp with the other to rescue the rest of us.
6. Anyone who remains in him does not sin; anyone who [goes on] sinning has neither seen Him nor come to know Him.
Yeshua said he only did what he saw the Father doing (Yoch. 5:19, 30); we must do the same if we want to avoid missing the target; to the extent that we are letting other things obscure Him from our “sight”, we will not see clearly where the target is. If we study His Torah intently, we will have a clear definition of the target, as it is the primary way to discern what His purposes are.
7. [Dear] children, don’t let anyone lead you astray; whoever practices righteousness is righteous just as he is righteous.
While our position in Messiah is based on faith, as Yaaqov says, the only way the genuineness of our faith can be proven to other people is through our actions. (Yaaqov/James 2:20-26) If there is a pattern that varies from this, all can rightly be suspicious of whether we have really experienced that new birth from Elohim.
8. The one who practices the sin is [operating] from the Accuser, because since the beginning the Accuser has been sinning. For this [reason] the Son of Elohim was made manifest: in order that he might undo the deeds of the Accuser.
Accuser: or slanderer, i.e., the one making false accusations as our adversary; the word “devil” comes from this Greek word. At any given point in our walk we have the choice of acting from the mind and will of the new man recreated in the image of Elohim after the pattern of the Second Adam, or drawing on our old ways inherited from the first Adam, who learned those ways directly from the Accuser. Sinning: literally, missing the target.
9. Anyone who has been born of Elohim does not practice sin, because His “seed” remains in him, and he is not able to continue to practice sin, because he has been born of Elohim.
As Yeshua was born by means of the spirit of holiness, apart from the sperm of a man, the same “spiritual seed” that conceived him can beget within each of us a “new self” that agrees with YHWH’s commandments, though it must constantly vie with the “old self” for ascendancy in our day-to-day decisions. (Romans 7)
10. Through this it is revealed [which are] the offspring of Elohim and [which are] the offspring of the Accuser: Anyone who does not practice righteousness does not proceed forth from Elohim, and the same [is true of] the one who does not love his brother,
Offspring of the Accuser: similar to the judgment Yochanan the Immerser, and Yeshua after him, made when he called even some very religious people “brood of poisonous snakes” (Mat. 3:7; 12:34; 23:33), because that is the form in which the Accuser first manifested himself. Yeshua said that murderers and liars were only carrying out the desires of their “father the Accuser”. (Yochanan 8:44)
11. because this is the message that you have heard from the start: that we should love one another,
12. unlike Qayin, who was [acting] out of the evil [inclination] when he mortally wounded his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his actions were wrong, while his brother’s were right.
This story is from Genesis 4:3-16.
13. So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world [system] hates you.
14. We see [evidence] that we have crossed over from death into life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.
Death: the condition that Adam passed down to all of his offspring except Yeshua, who would not have needed to die if there had not been a special purpose for which he voluntarily laid down his life (v. 17), and because the Accuser had nothing on him (Yochanan 14:30), the Accuser became a legal murderer when Yeshua was slain, and therefore lost his rights to the earth. Life: the legacy of Yeshua to his new brothers, who now have the right to be brought back to what Adam would have been had he not disobeyed. This will be complete in the resurrection, but its characteristics are already taking root in our hearts and bearing fruit even while we remain in our mortal bodies.
15. Anyone who hates his brother is a man-slayer, and you are aware that no murderer has [the] life of the age [to come] remaining in him.
16. This is how we have come to know [what] love [is]: because that one laid down his life for us. Thus we owe [it to him] to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Laid down: or laid aside. Life: literally, soul—that interface between body and spirit which we perceive as a “self”. So laying this down does not always mean dying for someone, but setting aside one’s own personal preferences for the betterment of another. Brothers: inclusive also of sisters, but by not saying “our brothers”, it puts the focus back on being his (Yeshua’s) brothers, who are also born of Elohim.
17. But if anyone, for example, may have [this] world’s livelihood and see his brother who has a need, yet closes off his compassion from him, how can the love of Elohim be remaining in him?
Compassion: literally, gut—where many of our deepest sympathies are felt. This is very much in line with what Yeshua’s brother wrote in Yaaqov/James 2:15-17. It would be a logical outgrowth of Gnosticism to think that physical needs do not ultimately matter, and that we should therefore not waste our time or resources to meet them. This goes sharply against the Torah’s emphasis on justice, however.
18. Little children, we should not love in theory or with the tongue [alone], but in action and in reality,
Theory: from the word from which we get “logic”. Reality: or sincerity, truth, straightforwardness.
19. and this is how we will know [for certain] that we belong to the truth and can assure our own hearts before Him
Assure: or persuade or convince ourselves with confidence so there is no doubt left. Before Him: or, in His presence.
20. since, in case our heart should condemn us, Elohim is greater than our heart, and He knows all things.
Condemn: or blame, make us feel guilty. Greater: or, more important. Sometimes we think we could have and should have done better, but our true heart shows through in the things we do, and YHWH is more interested in the direction we are going than some of the finer details that need tweaking. (Compare 1 Corinthians 13.) There is a zeal without knowledge, but this seems to say that that would be better than knowledge without action. On the other hand, we should strive to do better in both areas:
21. Beloved ones, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward Elohim,
Confidence: includes the freedom and boldness, openness of speech that come with it.
22. and whatever we might ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and [regularly] do the things that are pleasing before Him.
23. And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Yeshua the Messiah, and that we should love one another, just as He gave us the commandment.
Where is this command? In a general sense, it is in Deut. 18:18-19. The second is in Lev. 19:18.
24. And the one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. And this is how we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit which He gave us.
CHAPTER 4
1. Beloved ones, do not trust every spirit, but put every spirit to the test [to determine] whether it originates from Elohim, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2. By this you can discern the Spirit of Elohim: every spirit that agrees that Yeshua the Messiah has come in the flesh is from Elohim,
3. and any spirit that does not agree that Yeshua the Messiah has come in the flesh is not from Elohim. And this is that which [tries to] usurp the place of the Messiah, which you have heard it coming—but it is already in the world now.
Incipient Gnosticism was denying that Yeshua was truly human, positing a “spiritual Christ” who would not dirty himself by association with a physical body. Other substitutes for the true Messiah have been the “vicar of Christ”, the Hercules-like “God-man”, the insurrectionist, or the opposite, the one who loves everyone unconditionally without judging—or any other distortion that gets one aspect of his story out of balance.
4. You are of Elohim, dear children, and have prevailed over them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Of Elohim: literally, out from Elohim, an interesting phrase in light of how Gnosticism posited that there had to be a series of lesser gods emanating from YHWH, only the lowest of which would even dare to rub shoulders with defiled, defiling flesh. Yochanan says, however, that our only mediator is the Messiah, and if we remain connected to him, the very purifying spirit that Yeshua receives from the Father can flow through us just as directly as it comes into him, and we can have a very close relationship to YHWH, not a remote, mysterious one that requires all kinds of spooky rituals to maintain.
5. They proceed out from the world [order]; because of this, they speak [as] from the world [system], and the world listens to them.
6. We are from Elohim. Whoever knows Elohim listens to us [and hears]; whoever is not from Elohim does not listen to us. By this we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of wandering [into error].
7. Beloved ones, we should love one another, because love [comes] out of Elohim, and everyone who loves is from Elohim and knows Elohim [by experience].
Being truly committed to one another, even at personal expense, is how we defeat the evil one in practicality.
8. The one who does not love has not come to know Elohim, because Elohim is love.
The bottom line is that all true love cannot come from anywhere but the One who was the first to love (v. 19), since He created us so He could share Himself with someone else, and He went to the greatest just lengths possible to provide a way even for His alienated creations to be reconciled to Him.
9. This is how the love of Elohim has been demonstrated among us: that Elohim has sent His one-of-a-kind Son into the world so that through him we might live.
Demonstrated: made manifest, made clear, brought to light openly in a way that we can grasp. One-of-a-kind: the only one of his class (genus), unique, a carry-over from the Hebrew yakhid (idiomatically, specially-loved). Live: not just survive, but come alive in a way we had not known before, to the point that somehow the innocence that Adam lost can be regained, and more—that we can go on to righteousness through having made the right decisions, motivated by the spirit He breathes into us.
10. Herein lies love: not that we loved Elohim, but that He loved us, and sent His own Son as a means of appeasing [wrath] in regard to our mistakes.
This is the classic story of the judge who hands down a just sentence as he must, but makes provision himself for the payment of the fine.
11. Beloved ones, if Elohim loved us to that extent, [then] we also owe it [to Him] to love one another.
If He, who had no obligation to us, having done us no wrong, still went to such great lengths, how much more should we, who all make many mistakes, put up with each other’s shortcomings and remain committed to raising one another to higher levels through our forgiveness, support, and help?
12. No one has ever looked upon Elohim; when we love one another, Elohim remains among us, and His love has accomplished its complete [work] in us.
The first phrase here should immediately preclude the doctrine that Yeshua was YHWH in the flesh, but he was the one who blazed the trail for all of us to in this way flesh out YHWH’s word.
13. By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us: because He has given us some of His Spirit.
Some of: literally, given to us from out of.
14. And we have beheld and testify [as witnesses] that the Father has sent the Son [as] Deliverer of the world.
Beheld: gazed upon, contemplated. Deliverer: or Savior, preserver—salvaging the world from total loss by ensuring a remnant of people within it who are sufficiently righteous to hold off its destruction as in Noakh’s day.
15. If anyone agrees that Yeshua, the Son of Elohim, is the Messiah, [then] Elohim remains in him and he [remains] in Elohim,
Or possibly, that Yeshua the Messiah is the Son of Elohim. It is the same equation with a slightly different emphasis.
16. and we have come to know [by experience] and have become confident [of] the love that Elohim has toward us. Elohim is love, and the one who continues in love remains in Elohim, and Elohim remains in him.
Toward us: or, in us, among us. Yochanan clearly meditated much on the sayings of Yeshua just before his arrest, which he recorded in Yochanan 17, and learned by experience the peace that comes from keeping the connection alive and strong so that the flow of power that comes from YHWH, through Yeshua, and to us will be unbroken. It is allowing resentment toward one another to grow (because we focus on receiving and trapping rather than being a conduit of that flow of love) that breaks the circuit and lets the effects of death again be manifest in us. But we can, through confession of our sin and renewed application of what Yeshua accomplished on our behalf, reactivate the connection and be restored to full function.
17. In this [way] the love has finished [its work] with us, in order that we might have confidence in [regard to’ the Day of Judgment, since just as He is, we are also—in this [present] environment.
With us: we are active participants, teammates with it, in accomplishing in others what it has accomplished in us, and as we do that, it only becomes stronger in us rather than draining us as we pass it along. Present environment: or, world order. I.e., we do not have to wait until we are resurrected to start manifesting the regeneration that will be complete then. If anything, the present evil age is when that love is most needed, though it will be more at home in the age to come. (2 Kefa/Peter 3:13)
18. There is no fear in love; rather, fully-matured love casts out fear, because the fear involves torment [due to fear of upcoming punishment]; moreover, the one who fears has not reached the final phase of the love.
Involves: literally, holds.
19. We love because He loved us first.
20. If anyone should say, “I love Elohim” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. In fact, the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen is not able to love Elohim, whom he has not seen.
21. And this is the commandment that we have from Him: that the one who loves Elohim should also love his brother.
CHAPTER 5
1. Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has been born from Elohim, and everyone who loves the One who has begotten also loves the one who has been begotten from Him.
It makes no sense to say we love YHWH but not love those He has so carefully crafted!
2. This is how we know that we love the children of Elohim: when we love Elohim and keep His commandments.
Remember that “children of Elohim” is a special name given those from the Northern Kingdom of Israel who had once been called “not a people”. How will we become a people again? By doing all three of these things.
3. After all, this is what it means to love Elohim: that we should keep His commandments—and His commandments are not burdensome!
Keep: includes the sense of watching (observing in both senses), guarding, and maintaining intact. Burdensome: weighty and oppressive (as YHWH Himself said in Deut. 30:11 that it is not too difficult for us, either to understand or to do, especially according to Yeshua’s halakhah, which opposes burdening widows and orphans with without lifting a finger to help them, Mat. 23:4)
4. Because all who have been born of Elohim overcome the world, and this is the [means of] victory by which we overcome the world: our faith.
Faith: trust or confidence, specifically in YHWH.
5. But who is the one who overcomes the world [order] if not the one who is persuaded that Yeshua is the Son of Elohim?
6. This is the one who has come through water and blood—Yeshua the Messiah--not in the water alone, but in the water and in the blood. And the Spirit is the one testifying, because the Spirit is the truth.
7. For there are three that are bearing testimony in the heaven: the Father, the Word, and the spirit of holiness, and these, the three, are in unity.
In unity: or, alike, one, unified. Yeshua promised that the spirit, as a comforter (one called alongside to help) wouid bear witness about him. (Yochanan 15:26)
8. The Spirit and the water and the blood: these three also form a unity.
Also form a unity: literally, also are into the one. If he had the idea of a trinity in mind, as some interpret, then he is speaking of two trinities, which would be even more confusing. Three witnesses that agree are, in Torah, what confirms a matter even more strongly than the minimum of two (Deut. 17:6), so he is saying that this is firmly established.
9. If we accept the testimony of human beings, the testimony of Elohim is [even] stronger, because this is the testimony of Elohim, [by] which He has borne witness: that He has testified concerning His Son:
Stronger: or greater, more important.
10. The one who places [his] confidence into the Son of Elohim possesses the testimony within himself. The one who does not believe the Elohim has made Him [out to be] a liar, because he has not trusted the witness that Elohim has borne concerning His Son.
“The testimony” has a specialized meaning in Hebraic terms: the contract placed beside the Torah in the Holy of Holies which stipulated the blessings and curses that would alternately come if we kept or repudiated the commandments of Elohim. Possessing the Testimony within oneself could be part of the Renewed Covenant’s “writing His Torah on our hearts”. (Yirmeyahu 31:33)
11. And this is the testimony: that Elohim has given us eternal life, and this (the life) is in His Son.
12. The one who has the Son has life; the who has does not have the Son of Elohim does not have life.
13. I have written these things to you (to those who put their trust into the name of the Son of Elohim) so that you may recognize that you have eternal life and that you may [continue to] put your trust into the name of the Son of Elohim.
Name: in Hebraic thought, reputation—i.e., what he is known to have accomplished for us. Yeshua was also given YHWH’s name (Yochanan 17:6, 12, 26), and therefore, in one sense, it was the name that he has. Have eternal life: not that they have to go through all kinds of ascetic disciplines to get to it, as the Gnostics would have taught them. It has already been provided for us through what Yeshua accomplished if we appropriate the gift—i.e., take it to the “bank” and “cash” it.
14. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we make any request that comes down from what He desires, He hears us.
Confidence: freedom, openness, boldness—with no need to shrink back in fear or timidity, because He has welcomed us. Comes down from: i.e., originates in His will, or agrees with it. Hears us: We do not need magic or secret formulas or to make lavish promises that we really could not keep in order to get His attention or persuade Him to answer our prayers.
15. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we might ask, we know that we have obtained the things that we have requested from Him.
Things…: Gk., requests that we have asked. Now here is where this becomes most practical:
16. Now if anyone should see his brother committing a sin that does not [lead] toward death, he may ask and He will give him life—those who are not sinning toward death. (There is a sin that leads toward death; I am not saying he should plead concerning that.)
“Sin” simply means “missing the mark”, and it is individual sins that are being spoken of here. Deliberate sins carry the death penalty and cannot be forgiven in this life (e.g., Exodus 21:12, 15, 16; 22:19), whereas others are merely mistakes, and others can be forgiven at a price (Ex. 21:30).
17. All unrighteousness is sin, though there is a sin that [does] not [lead] to death.
18. We know that one who is born of Elohim does not continue to sin, but the one who has been born of Elohim protects him, and the evil one cannot fasten onto him.
Protects: keeps guard over, preserves, maintains, keeps him intact. Fasten onto: or touch, in the sense of influencing, altering, or impacting him.
19. We know that we [proceed] from Elohim, and that the whole world [order] lies [under the control] of the evil one.
20. We know, moreover, that the Son of Elohim has arrived [on the scene] and has given us understanding so that we might recognize the [one who is] genuine. And we are in him who is genuine—in His Son Yeshua the Messiah (“He” being the true Elohim)—and [have entered into the] life of the Age.
Understanding: or critical powers of thought.
21. [Dear] little children, guard yourselves from idols. So may it be!
Idols: anything that takes our focus off YHWH and what He already provided for us to walk in.
THE FIRST LETTER FROM
Yochanan
INTRODUCTION: This was written by one of the three men closest to Yeshua, one of the students he taught most intensively, so he should have one of the best grasps of what Yeshua had in mind as his mission. Written between 85 and 95 C.E., Yochanan was addressing an early form of Gnosticism, without specifying a particular audience, so it appears to be intended as a general letter to those whom he has taught in the past who have fallen victim to this philosophy that taught that spirit is always good and matter is always evil—a dualism foreign to the Torah, though our physical bodies are indeed tainted by the truncated human proclivities inherited from Adam. Still, what is corrupted points back to a form that was once better, and will be restored when we are resurrected—a very physical life, though different from what we know now. Some proponents of a form of Gnosticism known as Doketism (“seemingness”) within Messianic circles were denying that Yeshua was actually a physical man (see chapter 4), and others, called Cerinthians, taught that a form of divinity came upon Yeshua at his immersion by Yochanan and departed before he died. So Yochanan emphasizes the fact that he was a real man, truly tangible. The idea that the body is inherentlyt evil led to both harsh asceticism and license to engage in whatever physical pleasure one wanted, since it did not ultimately matter what one did with one’s body. (See 3:4) Gnosticism (“knowingness”) taught that salvation was about escaping the body rather than escaping or avoiding sin and its consequences. Though he often speaks in highly-mystical terms, his bottom line is very simple: you are a hypocrite if you say you follow Yeshua but do not keep YHWH's Torah, and in particular, love your neighbor as yourself, for that is a theme that underlies every one of its commands.
