The Hebraic Epistle of First John – Intro

Download Notes

The Yochanite communique/Johannine Epistles!

About six hundred manuscripts, in part or as a whole, including two papyri found within the great Codices from the Fourth and Fifth Centuries C.E (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus) With very little text-critical problems – variants in only some thirty-nine junctures. Interestingly they are missing from Codex Bezae because the sixty-seven sheets went missing after the Council of Nicea!

Reformulation: Yochanan Alef addresses the schismatics concerning the Christological reformulation of monotheism. The Hebrew Roots and Christian community have no problem with this reformulation – because it’s true…….(singular monotheism Vs. plural- echad-monothiesm.)

We’re finding that Pseudo Jew’s and Pseudo Levites are clearly the adversaries of the gospel of Malki-Tzedik.

Yochannan admonishes us today: First John chapter 2:28 And now, little children, stay in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not being sent from His presence in shame. 29 If you know that He is Malki- tzadik, you know that everyone who practices this tzedakah is born of Him.

A Perverted/Disingenuous form of the Melchizedik is being taught by a few, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest.”

Eight points of authentication of the true Melchizedek Covenant that will expose the Charlatans that are trying to ride on the wave of this message and gain disciples for themselves through high brow Hebrew language rhymes and reasoning.

1. The BoC and the BoL are not Synonymous – Deuteronomy 31:26
2. There has been a change of law Torah – Hebrews 7:12, 7:18, Genesis 49:10
3. The rightly dividing point of that law is Exodus 24:11 – We keep the Covenant Torah from Genesis 1:1 – Ex 24:11 NOT the maintenancing, added, imposed, BoL of carnal commandments that is against us.
4. The Book of Ezekiel isn’t Millennial but a collection of 13 date stamped scrolls.
5. Jeremiah 33:17 speaks to the Kingship and Levitical conditional covenant promise outlined in (1 King 9:5, Jeremiah 22:30) which they broke!
6. There is an order of Melchizedek Priests today on earth. Hebrews 8:4 – you can’t isolate this verse from the 7 proceeding chapters in Hebrews to make a Levitical point.
7. The Temple that The Temple Institute and the pseudo-Jew’s have planned will be ‘the abomination’ – יהוה has chosen His temple and it’s His Kingdom of Melchi-zedik priests. Hebrews 9:10.
8. You cannot add to an already blood ratified covenant (Exodus 24:7, Galatians 3:15).

Yochanan Aleph (1st john) is the longest of the communique with 2137 words, while Yochanan Bet(2nd John) 245 words and Yochanan Gimel (3rd John) 219 – making them the two shortest manuscripts in the Brit Hadasha (New Testament) that would of fit on one single sheet of papyrus.

Theme: set during a time of dispute between believers involving theological and behavioral concerns which include the person of Messiah, the composition of Messiah, the role of the Ruach in the community, believers relation to perfection, atonement and Christology.

Theme today: set during a time of dispute between believers involving the Priesthood of Messiah, the composition of the Priesthood, the role of the Book of the Covenant and the Book of the Law in the community, and believers relation to the temple, sacrifice and Synagogue of Satan.

Timing: There’s a very close relationship to the three letters of Yochanan and the Fourth Gospel – Yochanan.

Setting: sometime after the writing of the Fourth Gospel troubles started to brew within the Nassene Community of believers in Yahusha. ‘The secessionists.’

Historical situation – 4 things:

1. Yochanan speaks of those who, ‘have gone out into the world’ and ‘do not acknowledge that Yahusha as coming in the flesh.’
2. He labels these false teachers as Moshiach-Neged’s.
3. He places utmost importance on the love command – which was received at the beginning along with the true gospel.
4. He finds his joy knowing that his flock – his children are walking in the truth of the gospel.

Yochanan Aleph is written as a homily, would of been a circular homily that would of been spoken to all the assemblies involved.

Yochanan Bet & Yochanan Gimel were then followup letters sent out later. The main course of action determined in Yochanan-Bet was not to provide hospitality and support for such Morim/teachers, addressed to, ‘the elect lady and her children.’

4 interpretations of the meaning, ‘elect lady’:

1. the lady Electa, referring to a certain Babylonian lady named ‘Electa.’
2. The noble ‘Kyria.’
3. ‘Dear lady’ , a colorless term of courtesy, addressed to a certain woman.
4. An elect lady and her children, a symbolic reference to the synagogue in a town at some distance from the communities center where the author is living – a designation of an assembly and its members.

Yochanan Gimel was written by, ‘the elder’ to an individual called Gaius in one of the community assemblies. Finally the commendation of Demetrius.

Fourth Gospel, Gilyahnah and the three letters of Yochanan are no doubt closely related with similarities in language and concepts and parallels in words and ideas – faith in Messiah and receiving eternal life (John 20:31 & 1st John 5:13).

Author The Fourth Gospel, the three letters of Yochanan and Gilyahnah are all written by the same person – the Apostle – the Beloved disciple of Yahusha – Yochanan the son of Zebedee. The textual witness for Yochanan’s authorship in uniform and pervasive.

Mid second century writings cite Yochanan’s letters – Irenaeus, Polycarp, the Muratorian Fragment, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Dionysius of Alexandria – and they all deduced that the letters were written by the Apostle Yochanan. It’s worth mentioning that no ancient manuscripts of Yochanan’s Epistles do not bear his name.

Based upon the writings of Papias as interpreted by Eusebius, (60-70C.E) consider there to be two Yochanan’s.

Date: early part of the last decade of the First century. We know that the apostle spent his latter days in Ephesus, so then these were letters sent from Ephesus to the Yochanite community of assemblies in the region around Ephesus who were being infiltrated by the secessionists.

Secessionist Movement – 8 points:

1. They claim to ‘know Elohim’ yet Yochanan responds with, ‘if we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.’ The secessionists behavior doesn’t match their claims.
2. They make claims of sinlessness to which he responds, ‘if we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.’
3. The person of Messiah: they teach errors in the composition and person of Messiah – Christology to which Yochanan responds, ‘who is a liar? It is the man who denies that Yahusha is Moshiach. Such a man is Moshiach Neged – he denies the Abba and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father, whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.’ The secessionists denied Yahusha came in the flesh.
4. Yochanan refutes their teaching when he says, ‘This is the one who came by water and blood – Yahusha Ha Moshiach.’ The secessionists denied Yahusha came by blood, that is, the importance of Yahusha’s atoning death.
5. The secessionists don’t show love to fellow believers. Yochanan writes, ‘Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness, he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.’
6. What was important to the secessionists was their own personal experience with Elohim, or their ‘koinonia’ with him, and human relationships were deemed as unimportant.
7. They deemphasized the incarnation and vicarious death of Yahusha and the resulting deemphasizing of the commandments of Yahusha too!
8. They were Docetic’s (‘to seem’ dókēsis (apparition, phantom) mere semblance without any true reality.” Yahusha only seemed to be human, his human form was an illusion – a phantom.

Five-fold thrust of Yochanan’s letters:

1. יהוה is light
2. יהוה is love
3. יהוה is revealed as the Father or Yahusha Ha Moshiach
4. Eternal life awaits the tzadiks.
5. Atonement ‘hilasmos’ is the only means of obtaining it.