The author of this letter is not named, but some believe it was written by John (Yochanon), the youngest shaliach (apostle) of Yeshua. His Hebrew name is Yochanon ben Zebedee, the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother was Ya’akov or Jacob, written in English Bibles as “James.” The letter was written around 85-90 AD to Jewish believers possibly in Asia Minor. This is a halachic commentary on the Torah and he is giving basic instructions for the congregations who will read it about loving the Lord and one another, and that a believer in Yeshua may know that they have eternal life by giving certain things to look for. It exhorts believers to walk in the Torah and to study the Scriptures, which at that time was the Tanak, using Hebrew thought as opposed to Greek thought. We need to define four words in Greek that are used quite often in this letter for sin. These definitions will come from the classic Greek lexicon by Walter Bauer, augmented by William F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and Frederick Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, London, England: The University of Chicago Press, 1979, p.42, section 5. We will try to translate these words with the understanding we have according to these definitions. The Greek word “ah-mar-tea-on” means sins or sinful acts; the Greek word “ah-mar-tea-as” or “ah-mar-tea-ah” means the sin nature; the Greek word “ah-mar-tah-nay” or “ah-mar-tah-nain” means to direct sin against someone; and the Greek word “ah-mar-tah-no” is a great sin or a special sin leading to death. Before reading and studying any of the writers of the Brit Chadasha, we suggest that you read the teachings on this website called, “Torah and New Testament Foundations-Was Paul Torah Observant” and Torah and New Testament Foundations-The Real Paul” before proceeding with any study of these books. It will show that these writers had a Torah-based faith in Yeshua.
1 John 1.1-10 begins with a summary very similar to John’s gospel.
v 1…What was from the beginning (Greek “arches” or archaic, ancient) what we have heard, what we have seen (he is revealed) with our own eyes, what we beheld and our hands touched (Yeshua was not a “spirit”), concerning the word of Life (Yeshua is the audible, visible, tangible Torah)-
v 2…and the life was manifested (broke forth) and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life (he is experienced in this), which was with the Father (the kind of life possessed by Yehovah) and manifested to us (what John experienced)-
v 3…what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you (share) also, that you may have fellowship with us (in hearing, seeing and handling him spiritually); and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son (heir) Yeshua the Messiah (believers born into the family of God receives the very life and nature that Yehovah has).
v 4…And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete (what Yeshua said at the last supper-John 16.24).
v 5…And this is the message we have heard from him and announce (preach) to you, that God is light (of perfect understanding and truth), and in him there is no darkness (that would contradict that perfect understanding and truth; ignorance).
v 6…If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness (ignorance of the truth as defined in the Torah/Scriptures) we lie and do not practice the truth (as defined in the Torah-1 John 2.1-4; Psa 119.105, 142, 151);
v 7…but if we walk in the light (of understanding and truth as defined in the Torah-Psa 119.105) as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another (communion with Yehovah) and the blood of Yeshua his son cleanses us from all sin (“ah-mar-tea-ah” or sin nature).
v 8…If we say that we have no sin (“ah-mar-tea-on” or sinful acts), we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
v 9…If we confess our sins (“ah-mar-tea-as” or sin nature), he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (“ah-mar-tea-as” or sin nature) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
v 10…If we say that we have not sinned (“hemartekamen” meaning against the Torah) we make him a liar and his word is not in us-Rom 3.23).
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