Purpose of writing this letter
“These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. … My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; … These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 1:4; 2:1; 5:13).
In 2015 this year, my wife and I prepared and sent our family Christmas cards separately. My wife sent Christmas cards to relatives, church family and friends in the United States, college/seminary alumni, etc. And I wrote a short note along with Christmas cards to my friends in Korea, the churches I served, and the members I got to know through the Internet ministry. During the Christmas season to celebrate and rejoice in the birth of the baby Jesus, I sent our family Christmas cards like this, and I was grateful for it as I write letters and memos. The reason is because many of them put pictures of our family Christmas card that I sent and put it on the refrigerator or on the wall and they are praying for our family and church. One day, when I visited my church member last year, late Grandma Bun-nam Choi, I saw a picture of our family Christmas card on the wall near the hospital bed in her living room. Late Grandma Bong-hee Lim and late Deacon Dong-yoon Kim also used to put my family Christmas card on the wall of their beds when they were in the nursing home. Also, some of the Seohyun Church members whom I know put our family Christmas card on the refrigerator and pray for our families and churches whenever the Holy Spirit reminds them. So, with a grateful heart, I sent our Christmas card with a letter and memo again this year. At the same time, I and my wife sent the card with the hope that they would continue to pray for our family and church. And I sent our family Christmas card to many people by e-mail, and also put it all over my personal websites because I wanted to celebrate and rejoice with the birth of the baby Jesus.
In 1 John 1:4, 2:1, 5:13 tells the purpose of the Apostle John writing the letter of 1 John. There are three purposes:
The first purpose is that those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, may know that they have eternal life.
Look at 1 John 5:13 – “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” The first purpose of the Apostle John in writing 1 John is to make known that those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have eternal life. Here is something we should keep in mind. We should remember that when we believe in Jesus, we have eternal life And that eternal life isn’t just life in heaven forever. It is because we are partially enjoying eternal life in this earth right now. The place where the word “eternal life” appears intensively is the Gospel of John. The word “eternal life” in Greek is “zoe” (life) plus “aionion” (eternal). In other words, the word “eternal life” has two meanings literally (Internet): This means, first of all, "life that lasts endlessly" in time, Second, qualitatively means "a divine life different from human life." Therefore, the term “eternal life” includes both the meaning of the eternal life in time, And divine life that we enjoy in God. In particular, when we look at the Gospel of John, the term “eternal life” means ‘the eternal blessings that we will enjoy in the future’ as in the Synoptic Gospel but more than that it emphasizes the blessings of the present. The Gospel of John says that those who believe in the Lord have eternal life, And that the blessing of eternal life can be enjoyed even in present reality in the Lord. Then what are the blessings of eternal life that we enjoy in present? They are the blessings of the afterlife that we receive in sharing intimate fellowship with eternal God and His Son Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit (J. 17:3). A typical example is to participate in God’s divine character. In other words, the blessing of eternal life that we now partially enjoy in the present reality is to imitate Jesus Christ in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Another, the blessing of eternal life that we now enjoy partially is love. When we love our God and our neighbors with the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we partially taste the joy of heaven. Also, the blessing of eternal life is peace. Although we live in the world without peace, We who believe in Jesus partially enjoy the blessing of eternal life, that is peace, While living in this world.
The Bible 1 John 5:13 says that the purpose of the Apostle John's writing of 1 John is to show that those who believe in Jesus Christ have eternal life. Interestingly, the purpose of the Gospel of John, written by the Apostle John, is to “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” and “that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31). Comparing these two verses, the purpose of the Apostle John's writing the Gospel of John is to have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, while the purpose of writing 1 John is that those who believe in Jesus Christ already have eternal life. Another interesting point is that “Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life” (1 Jn. 5:20). It is also the fact that Jesus Christ is “the Word of Life” (1:1) and “eternal life” (v. 2). In a word, Jesus Christ is the Word of eternal life. The Bible says that those who believe in Jesus Christ already have eternal life through the truth of Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have eternal life.
The second purpose is to prevent those who believe in Jesus Christ from sinning.
Look at 1 John 2:1 – “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The second purpose of the Apostle John's writings in 1 John is to prevent those who believe in Jesus Christ from sinning. What we need to keep in mind here is that sin is not keeping the commandments of God (v. 4). What is God's commandment here? It is believing in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and loving one another just as He commanded us (3:23). But whoever doesn’t keep the commandments of God is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (2:4). Those who keep God's commandments are those who know God (v. 3) and who love God (5:3; Note: Jn. 14:21). And those who don’t keep His commandments don’t really know God, and love God. The reason is because God is love (1 Jn. 4:16). But “whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected By this we know that we are in Him” (2:5). “God is Light” (1:5). “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now” (2:9). Anyone who doesn’t love his brother isn’t a child of God (3:10). “Anyone who does not love remains in death” (v. 14). “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (v. 15). And “no murderer has eternal life in him” (v. 15). But whoever has eternal life abides in Him loves his brother. He who loves his brother belongs to the truth (v. 19). And “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble” (2:10). Those who love their brother find no condemnation, so they have confidence before God (3:21). And they will receive from Him anything they ask (v. 22). The reason is because they obey His commands and do what pleases Him (v. 22). They who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them (v. 24). “And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” (v. 24). “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (4:13).
Although the purpose of the Apostle John in writing 1 John was to prevent us from sinning, he wanted to let us know before the Father that we have Jesus Christ the righteous as our Advocate (2:1). He wrote this letter to let us know that our sins have already been forgiven for His name’s sake through the name of Jesus Christ (v. 12), who is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world (v. 2). This is love. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (4:10). “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness” (v. 4). But the sinless Jesus “appeared in order to take away sins” (v. 5), and “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1:7). And “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (v. 9).
The third purpose is that our joy may be made complete.
Look at 1 John 1:4 – “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” The third purpose of the Apostle John's writing of 1 John is that our joy may be made complete. In order for our joy to be made complete, we must have fellowship with our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (v. 3). The Heavenly Father we have fellowship with here is love (4:8, 16). To have fellowship with a loving God is to love one another with the love that is from God (v. 7). If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (v. 11). That is, as He laid down His life for us, “we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren” (3:16). We are to love our neighbor in deed and in truth with compassionate heart (vv. 17-18). There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear (4:18). “If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (v. 20). Jesus Christ with whom we have fellowship is “the true God and eternal life” (5:20). Jesus, who is this “eternal life,” is “the Word of Life” (1:1-2). And God the Holy Spirit, who brings us into fellowship with God the Father and Jesus the Son, is “the truth” (5:6).
The Apostle John says in 1 John that ‘God the Father is love’, ‘Jesus the Son is eternal life’ and ‘God the Holy Spirit is the truth.’ Speaking of the Triune God, he says that the third purpose of writing 1 John is “that our joy may be made complete” (1:4). This complete joy is due to fellowship with God the Father who is love and Jesus the Son who is eternal life. And this fellowship between God the Father and Jesus the Son is fellowship through God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. God the Holy Spirit produces love, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, in us (Gal. 5:22), making us obey the twofold commandment of Jesus, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “'Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37, 39), that is the commandments of heaven. Therefore, we must abide in the love of Jesus by keeping His twofold command, just as Jesus has kept His Father’s commandments and abide in His love (Jn. 15:10). Jesus has told us this so that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete (v. 11). In this way, the Holy Spirit fills us with the joy of the Lord, our joy, by allowing us to partly enjoy eternal life of heaven on this earth.
The purpose of the Apostle John writing 1 John is so that we who believe in Jesus Christ may know that we have eternal life. It is also to prevent us from sinning. And the purpose of this letter is that our joy may be made complete.
With gratitude that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, writes the letter of Christ on tablets of our hearts (2 Cor. 3:3),
James Kim
[December 22, 2015, The purpose of God the Holy Spirit writing Christ's letter was to make us “holy and blameless in His sight” so that we, who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, “predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ” and “in order that we … might be for the praise of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5, 12)]