1 and 2 Peter, Jude, 1, 2, and 3 John by Peter H. Davids & Douglas J. Moo & Robert W. Yarbrough

Author:Peter H. Davids & Douglas J. Moo & Robert W. Yarbrough [Davids, Peter H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL006070 Religion / Biblical Commentary / New Testament
ISBN: 9780310530251
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2016-02-10T16:00:00+00:00

The truth (1:6, 8; 2:4). See comments on 2 John 1.

The blood of Jesus … purifies us from all sin (1:7). If God is perfectly pure and people are weighed down by sin, how can they be brought together? How can there be “fellowship … with the Father and with his Son” (1:3)? John’s answer: through Jesus’ death on the cross—his blood shed for sin.

ZEUS

Marble statue of the god from Istanbul.

Others in John’s day would have completely disagreed. Philo (influenced by Stoic doctrine) writes that “reason is a priest.”21 Thinking the right thoughts and saying no to bodily pleasures will purify from sin: “The perfect man is always trying to attain to a complete emancipation from the power of the passions” (3.131). The notion of reason, or knowledge, being the key to salvation is foundational to Gnosticism. It is grounded in the older conviction of Greek religion that reason is the key to blessedness.

In contrast to this, John does not think the human mind can attain what is necessary for salvation. Only an act of God can provide this, and that act is the saving death of Jesus, which saves all who believe (John 1:12).

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