Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 John 5:13-21, The sin that leads to death, the evil one and idols
John writes so that believers may know they have eternal life, and that God hears them. They are to pray for a brother or sister whose sin does not lead to death, though there is a sin that does. Those born of God are kept from the evil one, while the whole world lies under his power; the letter ends with a warning to keep away from idols.
1 John 5:13-21, in every translation this tool compares.
The writer states his purpose: he wants believers to be sure that they have eternal life and that God hears their prayers. They should pray for a fellow believer who sins in a way that is not deadly, though some sin is. Those born of God are kept safe from the evil one even though the world lies in his grip, and the letter ends abruptly with a warning against idols. Which sin leads to death, and what idols means here, are both read in more than one way.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/deliberate-sin-and-apostasy\/","n":"Deliberate sin and falling away","s":"The law set sins done in ignorance apart from sins done in defiance, and sacrifice covered only the first. Many Jews held that someone who knowingly threw off God's law could not be restored, though teachers argued over who had gone that far.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-satan\/","n":"The satan, the tempter","s":"The accuser, tempter and deceiver of Jewish belief, seen as the power behind human and political evil. In the Gospels he tests Jesus and is the strong man Jesus binds, and John calls him the ruler of this world.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/powers-over-the-nations\/","n":"Rulers and powers over the nations","s":"Many Jews believed each nation had a spiritual ruler set over it, often hostile to God's people. Paul's rulers, authorities, powers and thrones belong to that picture.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/pagan-gods-and-idols\/","n":"Many gods and their images","s":"The Greek and Roman world was full of gods, each with temples, statues, priests and local stories. Jews and Christians called the images things made with hands, while holding that there were real powers behind them.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/imperial-cult\/","n":"Caesar worshiped as savior and lord","s":"Augustus and the emperors after him were hailed as savior, lord and son of a god, and in the eastern provinces they were worshiped. The titles the Gospels give Jesus were already being used for Caesar.","r":""}
Some Jewish texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls among them, called a grave offense "a matter of death", enforced by expulsion (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Which sin leads to death is read in several ways: the secessionists' hatred and false view of Jesus (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes; Wright's commentary, tentatively, denying that Jesus came in the flesh), unrepented rejection of Christ (the ESV Study Bible); apostasy, left to God (the CSB Study Bible); or cutting oneself off from the Son (Wright and Bird). Judaism held all the nations but Israel to be under Satan and his angels (Keener), and Arnold reads the whole world lying under the evil one as a world that "stands apart from God", Satan's rule reaching its institutions. Idols flourished in John's world (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes): the cultural backgrounds article on the imperial cult notes Ephesus's imperial temple, and that "Christians expelled from synagogues might well lose their exemption." Keener thinks a literal meaning makes good sense in Asia Minor; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles and Wright and Bird read any rival to God, and Wright's commentary a false god called God by some who called themselves Christians.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 1 John (Situation), and on 1 John 5:16-17, 5:18, 5:19-20 and 5:21
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Introduction to 1 John (Background), and notes on 1 John 5:16, 5:18, 5:19 and 5:21
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on 1 John 5:16, 5:18 and 5:21
- CSB Study Bible, notes on 1 John 5:16, 5:19 and 5:21
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 33, The Argument of 1 John, section 11, and 1, 2, and 3 John in the Big Picture
- Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 5, The Teaching of Jesus, section The World Is Under the Authority of Satan
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, article The Imperial Cult
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 21, 1, 2, 3 John, The Johannine Epistles in Recent Study
- N. T. Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone, comment on 1 John 5:13-21
