1-3 John (Reformed Expository Commentary | REC)

by Douglas Sean O’Donnell

Publisher:

P&R

, 2015

Overview

How can we know that we possess eternal life? The apostle John lays out the answer in his three eponymous epistles. John answers that we must first believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that Christ came in the flesh. Second, we are to obey God’s commandments. Third, we must love others. In this illuminating and engaging commentary on John’s letters, pastor-scholar Douglas Sean O’Donnell illustrates and applies these three essential questions to the text and to modern Christian lives. He helps believers to know they possess eternal life and to grow in knowledge of Christ as Savior. His highly applicable exploration will help Christians know how to live in the light and to transform their life by the power of the gospel.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Yet the message itself is plain enough: divine fellowship demands apostolic fellowship. Put metaphorically, if we want to hold the hand of God (stay in fellowship with him), we must hold the apostles’ hands (stay in fellowship with their God-appointed and God-approved testimony concerning Jesus Christ).” (Page 4)

“John teaches that whoever wants to have fellowship with God must first be joined to the apostolic testimony about God incarnate.” (Page 8)

“Think of it this way. Our text covers three periods: first, the timeless preexistence of Christ; second, the era of eyewitness testimony; third, the occasion when John wrote the letter and its intended audience received it.¹³ The ‘we’ is the key to the second and third eras.” (Page 7)

“Following many commentators before me, I will explain John’s letters by agreeing with Robert Law’s classic thesis that John presents us with ‘three cardinal tests’ by which we may judge whether we possess eternal life or not.⁷ The first test is theological: we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 3:23; 5:5, 10, 13; 2 John 3, 9; cf. 3 John 1–4), the Christ come in the flesh (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7). The second test is moral: we must obey God’s commandments (e.g., 1 John 2:1–6; 2 John 6). The third test is social: we must love others (e.g., 1 John 2:10; 2 John 5; 3 John 5).” (Page xv)

“This creed is the death of Docetism (the belief that Jesus only appeared to have a body), Gnosticism (the belief that physical matter is evil), and a hundred other heresies. And it is life for those who confess that Jesus is Lord!” (Page 120)

Product Details

• Title: 1-3 John
• Author: Douglas Sean O’Donnell
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Series: Reformed Expository Commentary
• Publisher: P&R
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2017
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible. N.T. 1 John › Commentaries; Bible. N.T. 2 John › Commentaries; Bible. N.T. 3 John › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9781596389878, 9781596389885, 9781596389892, 1596389877, 1596389885, 1596389893
• Resource ID: LLS:REC83JN1
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:39:25Z

About Douglas Sean O’Donnell

Douglas Sean O’Donnell (MAs, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Wheaton College) is senior pastor of New Covenant Church in Naperville, Illinois. In addition to serving as an instructor for the Charles Simeon Trust, O’Donnell is a member of the North American Patristics Society, the US Board of the Irish Bible Institute, the Center for Pastor Theologians, and the Evangelical Theological Society. He is the author of a number of books, including The Beginning and End of Wisdom, The Song of Solomon and Matthew in the Preaching the Word commentary series.