Ohio Yearly Meeting's Podcast

Conservative Friends Bible Study of 1 John #13 Chapter 5 Verse13 through 2 John Verse 13

Henry Jason

Henry begins this session by taking questions and comments regarding 1 John 5:1-12 commenting on several vital words/phrases included in those verses such as: “the way”, “the life”, “eternal life” and “truth”. 

 About seven minutes into the podcast, Henry goes on to begin his comments on 1 John 5:13-21, and then on to 2 John 1-13. 

Verse 5:17

            The King James Version (KJV) translation of “thanatos” in verse 5:17 “. . . sin unto death . . . .” is sometimes translated “mortal sin”. However, the Greek word “thanatos” seems to be more correctly translated as “a sin that leads to death.”

Verse 5:21

            It was assumed that people in the Roman Empire would sacrifice to the idols, most especially to the Roman Emperor. In verse 21, the command to stay away from idols was a reminder that Christ is the only one worthy of our sacrifice. 

Second John 1-13 

Verse 1

            There are several ways to interpret the recipient(s) of the Second Epistle of John. One is to see the recipients as the elected ones. Another is that John was writing to a specific house church, the latter being the interpretation toward which Henry leans.

Verse 2

            The Greek word “alethea” (“truth”, “reality”) occurs frequently in this epistle (along with all the works of John in the Holy Scriptures). In its use here, it should be considered “Truth”, with a capital “T”. 

Verses 4 s& 6

            Greek: “peripatountas”: “walk”, “walking”/ “behave”, “behaving”. The walk/walking is to be done in love: walk/conduct yourself/act in this way, and was a core concept for early Friends.  

Verse 7 

             Greek: “sarx”: “flesh”; There were those who claimed that Christ had not come in the flesh, but only in the Spirit. This is a reminder that Jesus truly dwelt among us in the flesh as fully man and fully God. 

Verse 13 

            “The children of your elect sister . . . .” Henry sees this verse as more support that this letter was probably written from one house church to another. 


The advice in our introduction is from page 30 of the Ohio Yearly Meeting

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