Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
Bold and willful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,
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11
whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgment from the Lord.
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12
These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed,
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they also will be destroyed,
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suffering
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the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation
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while they feast with you.
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They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
15
They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor,
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who loved the wages of doing wrong,
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but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
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These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved.
18
For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with licentious desires of the flesh they entice people who have just
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escaped from those who live in error.
19
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for people are slaves to whatever masters them.
20
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
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For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them.
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It has happened to them according to the true proverb,
“The dog turns back to its own vomit,”
and,
“The sow is washed only to wallow in the
mud.”
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This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you
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that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles.
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First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts
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and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died,
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all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!”
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They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water,
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through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished.
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But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.
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But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.
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The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you,
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not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
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But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
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Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness,
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waiting for and hastening
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the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire?
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But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
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Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish;
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and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
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speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.
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You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability.
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But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
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THE FIRST LETTER OF JOHN
AUTHORSHIP AND DATE
First John is the traditional title of one of three documents collectively called the “Johannine Letters.” Even though the author is not named in any of the three, and they do not claim to have been written by the author of the Gospel of John, the title reflects the understanding that there is a relationship among the three documents, and between them and the Gospel of John.
CANONICAL STATUS
The text shares much of the vocabulary, and a number of themes, with John’s Gospel (e.g., light and darkness [1 Jn 1.5–7; 2.9–11; cf. Jn 8.12; 12.46]; abiding in Christ [1 Jn 2.27–28; cf. Jn 13.34–35, also Jn 15.5]; new commandment [1 Jn 2.7–8; Jn 13.34–35]; eternal life [1 Jn 1.2; 2.25; 3.15; etc., and Jn 3.16]). However, given the significant differences in style and content between the letter and the Gospel, most modern scholars do not believe that 1 John was written by the author of the Fourth Gospel. Rather than attributing the responsibility for the writing of both the letters of John and the Gospel to a single author, they propose a “Johannine school” or “Johannine community” that shared a common vocabulary and theological outlook.
The earliest attestation of 1 John occurs in the letter of the Christian author Polycarp,
Phil
. 7.1, dated to ca. 117–120. While some argue that 1 John predates the Gospel of John (ca. 90–100 CE) the majority of experts place its composition to sometime after the writing of the gospel, therefore putting its date of composition at approximately 100–110. Likewise, the location of the community to which 1 John is written cannot be firmly ascertained. The majority of scholars place the Johannine community in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey), in Ephesus, which is the location most often named by tradition. Recently, however, Syria has gained supporters as a possibility.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND LITERARY HISTORY
In contrast to 2 and 3 John, 1 John lacks the elements typically found in a letter (e.g., salutation, identification of recipients and senders, greetings to local persons); hence it is more accurately described as a persuasive essay or exhortation. Its author wished to encourage and instruct his fellow believers when the community was reeling from a recent acrimonious schism (see 2.19).
What is not certain, however, is precisely what created the rift. This letter reflects a tension between two distinct views regarding Jesus, and this issue may lie at the heart of the schism. The author asserts that Jesus “has come in the flesh” (4.2). Others—perhaps those who had split from the community—deny this claim. They may represent a theology known as “Docetism.” This term is derived from the Greek word (“dokeō”) meaning “to seem,” and according to docetic belief, Jesus only
seemed
to be human but was fully, and only, divine. This perspective may have derived from the philosophical principle that God, as spirit, cannot suffer pain and death. The author associates this docetic view with the “spirit of the antichrist” (4.3). This term refers not to a supernatural agent, but to false teachers, and the author appears to be concerned that other members of his community may find the docetic perspective appealing, hence his repeated encouragement that they are the children of God (3.2; 4.4,6; 5.19), with the implication being that the others are not.
INTERPRETATION
In contrast to the Gospel of John, 1 John does not reflect a polemical attitude toward Jews. In 1 John 2.7, the author states: “I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning,” but in v. 8 he asserts: “Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you” and continues by explaining that loving one’s brothers and sisters is more consistent with “liv[ing] in the light” than hating them (9–11). The reference here to “a new commandment” likely refers to the “new commandment” introduced by Jesus in the Gospel of John 13.34: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” and is not a reference to a new set of precepts that would replace the Torah. Indeed, the idea of loving one’s brothers and sisters and neighbors is one of the central tenets of Judaism expressed in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Lev 19.18), and in later Jewish sources as well. A version of this “golden rule” teaching is expounded by one of Judaism’s most distinguished first-century CE teachers, Hillel, in response to a request from a non-Jew that Hillel teach him “all” Jewish traditions, values, and practices while standing on one foot. Hillel’s response, found in the
b. Shabb
. 31a, is: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. All the rest is commentary; go and learn.” The well-known Rabbi Akiva, who lived approximately one hundred years after Jesus, is said to have declared, “Love your neighbor as yourself—this is the major principle of the Torah” (
y. Ned
. 9.4). Other Jewish documents dated to around this time likewise reflect the importance of loving one’s neighbor in connection with loving God (e.g.,
T. Iss
. 5.2). If there is anything “new” about the commandment to love one another in the Gospel of John or in 1 John 2.8, it might be the last part of the statement from the Gospel: “Just as I have loved you.” (See “The Concept of Neighbor,” p.
540
.) First John’s use of images of light and darkness (1.5–7; 2.9–11), which reflect the Gospel of John’s influence (Jn 8.12; 12.46), appear as well in Jewish writings from late antiquity. The Dead Sea Scrolls, for example, denounce competing groups by labeling them “sons of darkness” who are led by an “Angel of Darkness,” while their own supporters are identified as “sons of light” who are followers of the “Prince of Light” (IQS 3.10–21; 1QM).
Michele Murray
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We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
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this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—
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we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
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We are writing these things so that our
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joy may be complete.