Review article
Exegetical analysis and message of 1 John 1:1 - 2:2
Darko Tomašević
orcid.org/0000-0002-4900-8308
; University of Sarajevo - Catholic Theological Faculty in Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
1 John contains many conundrums and questions that do not have a definitive answer. One of these relates to structure, specifically to the optimal way of dividing the work structurally. How this is done depends on interpretation, i.e. on a view of what may have been the main points that the writer wanted to convey. This paper offers its own structural proposal for the first part of 1 John, i.e. 1 John 1:1 – 2:2; and from this starting point it explains the text. Beginning with a three-fold division of 1 John 1:1 – 2:2, three main messages may be discerned: 1:1-2 stresses eternal life; 1:3-8 stresses communion with God, who is defined as light; and 1:9 – 2:2 stresses the confession of sins. When we place these three messages in relation to one another, it becomes apparent that the author’s intention is to stress that we can possess eternal life (1:2) through communion with God (1:3) and confession of sins (1:9). And this is confirmed by exegetical analysis of the whole passage.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
260484
URI
Publication date:
1.7.2018.
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