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N e w T e s t a m e n t G u i d e
1-3 JOHN, JUDE
By Antonio Fuentes
THREE letters are attributed to John. The first, written from
Ephesus towards the end of the first century, carries no opening greeting and no
sign-off but John's authorship is apparent from the content. He who has heard,
seen, looked upon and touched with his own hands the Word of life (1:1) bears
witness so that all may know what was revealed from the beginning. The letter
has very much the same tone as the fourth Gospel and it has been described as a
kind of introduction to the Gospel. The writer seeks to show, in this letter
also, the divinity of Jesus Christ and to confront the heresies which were
beginning to make inroads among the Christians of the time. Therefore, it
contains the same type of doctrine as is found in John's Gospel. Starting out
from the Word who is life, truth and love, as befits one who exists for all
eternity, one who gives existence to all things, it draws the logical
conclusion: that is, it spells out the consequences this has for those whom
grace has made children of God, even though they be still sinners.By Baptism we
have been justified, sanctified, called to full communion with God. But anyone
who believes that during his earthly life he can stay free from sin would be
mistaken. All of us are sinners-with the exception of the Blessed Virgin, who by
a singular grace of God was "conceived without any stain of sin, in
anticipation of the merits of Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the human race"
(Pius IX, Bull Ineffabilis, 8 December 1854). Everyone else, even the
just, was born in sin, and no one can say that he is free of sin in this life.
If he dared to do so he would be contradicting God, who has explicitly said that
all men are sinners (cf. Ps. 13:3; Prov. 20:9; Eccles. 7:20).
In essence the letter deals with the love of God and of the brethren which are
the hallmark of the Christian. For "if anyone says 'I love God', and hates
his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has
seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from
him, that he who loves God should love his brother also" (4:20-21). As we
have seen in many places, the commandment of fraternal love is an old
commandment: God always wanted us to love others and he made this a basic
commandment for the people of the Old Alliance (Lev. 19:18). But it is also a
"new" commandment because it finds its fullest meaning in Christ's
life and teaching an 15:12-13). Through fidelity to this commandment, Jesus
said, "all men will know that you are my disciples" an 13:35).
Therefore, "he who hates his brother is in the darkness" (1 John 2:9).
Jerome tells us that when John was a very old man his only message was
"little children, love one another." And when his disciples asked him
why he was always saying the same thing he always replied, "My children,
this is what the Lord commands; if we do this, nothing else is necessary."
The reason for this is that there is no other way to conquer the world, which is
God's enemy.
John sums up in this way the things which separate us from God: "the lust
of the flesh"-disordered love of pleasure, surrender to the sensual part of
our nature; "the lust of the eyes," that is, disordered love of
things, which leads to envy, etc.; and "the pride of life," which is
the root of the more internal vices of pride, ambition and vanity. All this
comes from the world insofar as it is at odds with the will of God.
John's second letter is addressed to "the elect lady and her
children"-a symbolic reference to a church, which we cannot identify, which
is under threat from false teaching. While expressing his joy at its
perseverance in the faith, John exhorts the Christians of that church to
practice charity and fraternal love as the best weapons for combating heresy.
The third letter, which is very short, is addressed to Gaius, a Christian in a
church of Asia Minor, for whom the Apostle has special affection. He praises
Gaius' faith and charity, but upbraids Diotrephes for refusing hospitality to
pilgrims.
Jude
JUDE, surnamed Thaddeus, was one of the Apostles, "the brother of James" (1:1) and therefore one of the "brothers of the Lord" (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3). His short letter was accepted as canonical from the very beginning, although some people cast doubt on its inspiration on the grounds that it quotes the apocryphal book of Enoch and the "Assumption of Moses." But just as Paul twice quotes Greek poets in his letters, so Jude cites these works, which were held in high regard in his time, to illustrate a point of doctrine. That is the opinion of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Cyril of Jerusalem, to mention a few. This letter was formally included in the canon by the Council of Trent.