NOTES for Jo3 1:1-14

It is not surprising that John is joyful for the faithfulness of his spiritual children to the truth. Probably, there is in the world no spiritual professor or instructor, who won’t be joyful of his spiritual children or his pupils for their faithfulness to what he learnt them. But indeed, Christianity is not a certain new doctrine, of which we could on one hand, learn, and with which on the other hand, could be studied, as the adepts study whatever positions of their doctrine. It is not accidentally for the description of the spiritual state of his spiritual children the apostle uses the verb "walk": in the Hebrew, and the Aramaic the corresponding word is also used in the meaning "to hold something" or "to follow something ". And in the Greek variant of his message, John uses the word, used again at the time of Aristotle to denote a leisurely philosophical conversation, during which gradually, step by step the interlocutors approach the truth.

Such conversations, moreover, were well known not only by the Greek philosophers, but also by the teachers of the Jewish traditional schools and academies. Well then: is the truth inaccessible? As something abstract, definitely not. As a concrete Kingdom brought to the world by a concrete Messiah - definitely yes. But the Kingdom is above all life, these very living relationships with God, with Christ, with the neighbors, which form the spiritual space of the Kingdom.

This is, as to say, the specifics of the Kingdom, all the rest which we can say of it, including also from the theological point of view, is rather abstraction. And we can live, or, in other words, indwell in the Kingdom - be in communion with God and men and experience this communion. Here is, such experience could have been probably called indwelling in the truth from the point of view of the Christian. Indeed, staying in the truth for the Christians is not faithfulness to the doctrine, but faithfulness to the Kingdom. And in the One, Who brought the Kingdom to the world. And thus it is a continuous communion, relationships constantly renewed and updated. It is in fact what is called life.

Today the apostle John speaks about the virtue of hospitality—he calls Gaius, and with him all of us, to welcome brothers and strangers in God’s name. Here he is speaking about those who set out on a journey for His name’s sake, but in essence, to welcome any person for Christ’s sake is to welcome Christ Himself. Why, strictly speaking, is this important? Is it merely a matter of “giving them food and drink and putting them to bed”? Probably not only that. To welcome someone in God’s name means letting them not only into one’s house but also into one’s heart. This is especially important for both host and guest. Through it, special and important relationships are created, and in this way too the unity of the Church is built up.

Speaking of faithful brothers, John especially notes the need to support them, including, in his words, strangers from elsewhere, those who live far away. The word "receive" in the Synodal translation corresponds to a Greek word meaning support, including material support if the need arises. It is not surprising that a person who has found himself in an unfamiliar place first of all seeks support from his fellow believers and like-minded people. But in early Christian times such support was also a visible manifestation of the unity of the Church.

In those days there was not yet a complex church organization, nor those church structures that in later times could support pilgrims or missionaries. The Church at that time was a communal movement led by a council of elders. And a Christian who found himself in foreign places could count first of all on the support of the local Christian community, the local church. Of course, not every foreigner could turn out to be an apostle or missionary. But in those days a Christian's spiritual life in general was more intense and rich than it usually is today.

Today, on the one hand, in many countries Christians make up a nominal majority; on the other hand, Christians often regard their Christianity as a certain system of religious and moral beliefs they profess, one that often does not especially affect their everyday life. In early Christian times Christianity had not yet become a religion; it was felt and experienced by most Christians, who of course were far fewer than today, as a new life, life in the Kingdom of God.

The life of the Kingdom overflowed in them and made each one to some degree a missionary and certainly a witness of this new life. And Christians of those times sought fellow believers in an unfamiliar city or village not only in order to receive help and support from them, but also in order to share with them this common new life, the life of the Kingdom. And if necessary, to become witnesses before the local pagans. For unlike views and convictions, it is rather difficult to hide one's life from those around. Especially if the issue is the life of the Kingdom.

The idea that evil is only the absence of good, is quite widely spread today. And in a certain sense, it can be considered as profoundly true: because if God creates the world, according to the words of the Holy Scriptures "quite well", then the evil in it is possible only as distortion, mutilation and destruction of what was created by God. And this means in a certain sense that evil can be considered as a consequence of the reduction of the measure of goodness, which God put in His creation. And, of course, the one who knows God would never oppose Him and spoil what was created by the Creator. If there wasn’t of course, a "but": damage may not necessarily be intentional. But can also turn out deliberate, if the one who spoils aspire consciously to reduce the measure of the presence of God in the world created by Him. But all the same, on the basis of any action, increasing the measure of evil in the world is particularly the ignorance of God. And it is not about the doubt that God exists, and even not about violent denial of His existence. It is about the unwillingness of admitting Him into our world and in our life.

And paradoxically, in the final analysis is not so important, which intentions from the beginning caused such unwillingness: because independently of the intentions separating from God, objectively their position brings to the spiritual degradation as they themselves, quite as this part of the creation of God, which thanks to their efforts lost connection with its Creator. And in such conditions even the good intentions and initiatives can bring to evil or turn to evil. In such situation the call "follow not that which is evil" means obviously not the outward following, not the copying of the sinful actions of others, although the copying of the sin of others can bring of course to nothing, except to sin.

It is about the relation to God, to people and to the world that breaks all the links linking man to God, and destroys all his relations with Him. Moreover, what begins with the ordinary following of the sin of others can become easily afterward a habit, that the ancients called not accidentally "the second nature" of man.

And to take alien nature to oneself can in the final result make man quite stranger to himself, and to God. That is why, as seen, the apostle warns of any following of the sins of others, from any participation in evil. It is horrible not in itself, not only because in such case man is inevitably going to sin himself, but because it corrupts the very nature of man, making it inappropriate for the Kingdom. And thus, inappropriate for salvation.