Kyle Towle

in Christ. Husband. Father. Student of the Bible. Writer. PNW. Angler. Hunter. Gatherer of foods

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

21 Little children, keep yourselves away from idols
1 John 5:21 KTV

What is the reason for this final verse? The flow of thought seems to make sense all the way until you hit this final sentence. Was this tacked on as a final warning, or was it related to the entire flow of thought to this point? And if it’s related, how is that so? It’s not possible to know John’s intent here definitively, but I suspect he is tying together many strands of thought with one final jarring verse.

Conceptually, it fits with many other larger themes. Idolatry was a very serious topic for someone within Judaism. It’s largely blamed as the reason for exile, not to mention its prominence as the second commandment right after “you shall have no other gods before me,” which is certainly related. After the exile, the people who returned to Judea and the surrounding areas largely kept themselves from idols in a way the pre-exilic community did not.

However, when Jesus shows up, he addresses the people as though their greatest affliction is in fact, idolatry still:

10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
Matthew 13:10-15 ESV

He quotes this famous passage from Isaiah 6 that uses the classic language of idolatry we find in Psalm 115:

2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
Psalm 115:2-8 ESV

This language is used again in the final chapter of Acts by Paul, according to Luke:

25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:
26
“‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
27 For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”
Acts 28:25-28 ESV

Perhaps John saved this line to the end because it’s such a repulsive accusation that it ends conversations as it did in Acts 28. The problem the NT speaks to is the way the people of God become attached to the salvation of God in an idolatrous way. It’s like the dark powers of evil see the trend of salvation God has prepared and realize they are at risk of losing their grip on the hearts of God’s people, and so they infect the attachment point and offer an alternate way of relating to God that becomes attractive and desirable.

Among the Judeans of the 1st century, this shows up as idolizing Moses and Torah (John 5), as well as the Temple and Election. Jesus specifically speaks against all of this throughout John’s gospel. Now, in John’s epistle, he’s dealing with another corrupted way of relating to God that becomes what people would later refer to as Gnosticism.

4 Whoever says “I know him thoroughly” but does not keep his commandments is a liar and is not living sincerely.
1 John 2:4 KTV

9 The one who says they are in the light and yet hates their brother is still in darkness.
1 John 2:9 KTV

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know the truth sufficiently.
21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because not one lie comes from the truth
22 Who is the liar? Isn’t it the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, denying the Father and the Son.
23 Everyone who denies the Son has neither the Son nor the Father. The one who is committed to the Son has the Father also.
1 John 2:20-23 KTV

The above are just a few selections from chapter 2, highlighted to show some of what John was concerned about. The idea that we would claim knowledge of God but not do what he says. That we would claim enlightenment, but still hate our brother. Or that we would remain enmeshed in the desires of this world (2:17-19) and yet claim to have the love and knowledge of God. And finally, to deny that Jesus is not the Christ or the Son. Even today, we know there are ways of relating to Jesus that deny that he is both the Christ and the Son, though they aren’t thought of that way specifically.

To claim the saving powers of Jesus, but then not to obey him, is to deny that he is the Christ. To make Jesus into what we need him to be, rather than what he reveals God to be, is to deny the Son.

20And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know intimately him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and the everlasting life of the age of God’s reign.

The very idea of taking Jesus and making him into something we want him to be so that we can continue in our corrupted, deceitful desires is the kind of idolatry John is writing against throughout this entire Epistle. And he saves it until the end.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

@DoulosOfJesus 1 John 5:21

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know intimately him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and the everlasting life of the age of God’s reign.
1 John 5:20 KTV

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not go on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot lay hold of him.

19 And we know that we are from God, and the whole world lies vulnerable within the evil one.
1 John 5:18-19 KTV

I translated verse 19 a little differently than many common versions because of how I'm reading the verb keimai (to lie, to be laid, to be set). I believe in this context of protection from the evil one that the contrast is one of vulnerability, not simply of orientation. The word power is not actually in the Greek; it's implied from the context as well, but unlike the ESV and other major versions, I chose to highlight the vulnerability aspect of the relationship to the evil one.

Those who are "in Christ" ought to be running toward the center of what that means, not seeking the edges and boundary lines of what is "permissible." The lair of the lion is a place of vulnerability that we are only subject to by wandering from the protection we have in Christ.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not go on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot lay hold of him.
1 John 5:18 KTV

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

@hookskat It's pretty overused and sometimes even to excuse quite inexcusable behavior. The apostle Paul didn't use that; in fact, the opposite. He accused leaders who were squabbling over power of being "merely human" when they're supposed to be new creation.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

@DoulosOfJesus Breathing, prayer, and magnesium glycinate 🤣

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

The whole topic of will vs desire is fascinating...I've been researching it, and I think only scratching the surface on the topic...There is some evidence to suggest, and I'm far from the first to make this observation, but pre-scientific revolution, the way we thought and our experience of consciousness made desire more subject to will than it is now.

This is a lot of the work of Barfield, Taylor, Vervaeke, and others who talk about the evolution of consciousness. It's fascinating to try to take scripture and theology through the evolution and understand the meaning as it has gone through the transformation over the centuries.

I wrote what is essentially a book on this topic that I may try to publish soon, called Recovering Transcendent Faith.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life. I’m talking about those who commit sins not leading to death. There is sin that leads to death; I’m not saying he should make requests for those sins.
1 John 5:16 KTV

What are the sins that do not lead to death? What are the sins that do? How can we tell the difference?

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

Oooh, I love that! The passover connection of staying inside the house. I've been searching for more language, and words to describe how extremely high the stakes are of being "in Christ."

Like if only we knew, we wouldn't be searching for the edge, but running toward the center.

This is going to add more to my explanation on this topic. This is a great gift, thank you!

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

@DiscoverJesus3 Jesus is the logos become flesh. The Bible/Scriptures is the graphe. Nowhere are they used interchangeably until we started calling the Bible "the word."

You search the Bible thinking that in them you have eternal life, but the Bible points to Jesus...

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

@Jerrsosaved Show me someone who idolizes "St Augustine," and I will show you someone who hasn't learned much about church history.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

@mercymaxxing That makes sense to me! Thanks for the feedback.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

I appreciate the feedback here!

I typed out a long reply in my discord channel with a few people who were discussing this with me and I've posted on my substack as well as to what I think the answer is. It pretty well aligns with you all have added here as well, assuming we define faith in a similar way:

https://t.co/pwfKEpJjCB

What do you think? Is this a good answer to the question?

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

17 All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
1 John 5:17 KTV

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

This is a great post. He also pursued violent persecution of other Christians. His doctrines became the ethos of the corrupted church, the mix of God's kingdom and man's empire with violence as a context subtext.

He did contribute a lot of positive, but I agree with the conclusion of your post, he missed some really important things, and just like with Luther and Calvin we ought to eye with suspicion the ideas he espoused, and check them against God's living and active logos.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

15 And if we know that he listens to us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him.
1 John 5:15 KTV

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

14 And this is the confidence that we have with him, that if we ask anything according to his desire, he hears us
1 John 5:14 KTV

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
1 John 5:14 ESV

23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
John 16:23-24 ESV

It’s interesting to put these passages together and note that they automatically underscore what I just wrote. I should have read one more verse ahead to find 1 John 5:14, saying simply what I wrote many words to explain. According to his desire/will, and “in my name” are saying the same things differently, but we did get to explore the whole name topic a little bit by not reading ahead.

Now, this new angle is fascinating to me because it places the axis of asks/requests squarely along the lines of desire, and specifically “His desire.” When I have read this using the word will to translate the noun thelema, it always makes me think of a specific willed outcome, but desire sounds more like a broad spectrum of possibilities.

Isn’t this a direct reflection of the expected co-creativity we are supposed to share with God? His desire, carried by his spirit into our hearts through our belief into the Son of God, becomes our desire, and we then ask, desire, hope for outcomes in line with his desires and see them show up over time in our lives?

Now this is interesting, because the boundaries of how this works seem to exist in many places and in many ways I don’t understand. And the engineer in me wants to really attempt to hammer out how this works or doesn’t work, and to look for all the parameters, and I’m not sure that’s the intended effect of understanding this.

There is a range of outcomes God desires, and he lets us put our own personal touch on these things as we co-create a heaven-on-earth reality with him, by his spirit.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

13 I have written these things to you, those who believe into the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have the everlasting life of the age of God’s reign.
1 John 5:13 KTV

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 John 5:13 ESV

This was even more difficult to translate, but I’ve left some word-for-word accuracy elements in my translation at the cost of English smoothing that the ESV has chosen. You might be familiar with my different choices at this point for eternal life and using into instead of in for the Greek preposition “eis.” There’s also an additional emphasis after “to you” that I’ve left in, the “those who” instead of just “who.”

Here's the whole section of verses from 5-13 again:

5 And who is it that overcomes the world if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is he who came through water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water alone, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that bear witness: 8 The spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three point together toward one truth.
9 If we take seriously the testimony of men, how much greater is the testimony of God. Because this is the testimony of God that has borne witness about his Son.
10 The one who believes into the Son of God has the testimony in him. The one does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed into the testimony that God has borne about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony, that God has given to us everlasting life in the age of his reign, and this is the life in his Son.
12 The one who has the Son has the Life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have the Life.
13 I have written these things to you, those who believe into the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have the everlasting life of the age of God’s reign.
1 John 5:5-13 KTV

There are many things happening in this passage that seem to reflect a mindset and thinking that would benefit us to have some understanding of when trying to apply this to us.

The writing to give assurance to the audience seems to speak to the 1stcentury reality within Judaism of debating what exactly was the entryway or key to the life of the age of God’s kingly rule, the life that participated in the end of exile. The Dead Sea Scrolls community revealed in their writing that they thought they had the answer, and scholars of ancient Judaism point to this and other evidence that this was a significant debate.

Among Gentiles, Eternal Life had more natural links to the ideas of Plato and other philosophers around escaping the death and decay of “biological life” on earth. It is understood that the explicit explanation of this term would have been passed on orally, but as the Jewish presence in the church began to fade, we see the explanation show up in a few of the ancient Christian writings as well, linking eternal life to the “kingdom of God.”

The idea that “eternal life” could be summed up as “knowing the Son” (John 17:3) was difficult for a more nationalistic/zealous Jewish audience expecting a much more literal political kingdom of God to show up. In the same way, the idea of a supreme ruler/Lord/Christ that had been crucified by the power of the Roman Empire would also have been a difficult idea to accept.

This is where I want to do more research into as well though, because I’m curious to see if there is more ancient context to the idea of the “Son of God.” In contemporary Christianity, I think we see the Son as a primarily relational term in the Godhead, or a way to explain the sacrificial love of the Father. Yet, “Son of God” seemed to carry a power/authority, “representative of God” connotation in an ancient context. To the Gentile, it would have competed directly with the political legitimacy of Caesar as God’s representative on earth. Augustus even had “Son of God’ stamped on his coins. To the Jew, it would have pointed to the special father/son relationship expected between the Messiah, the heir to David’s throne, and God (2 Sam 7:14, Ps 2:7). It also pointed to Israel (Exo 4:22, Hos 11:1).

But I also wonder to what degree this understanding was synthesized for the Christian as the ultimate disclosure of God in the last days:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being

Heb 1:1-3a ESV
Whoever has the Son has the Life. This is the settling of the debate, the trump card, established by the 3 witnesses.

The last thing I want to draw our attention to is the name. Why is the name so important? In an ancient worldview, names had mythic power in them. They were not dead labels, but powerful entry ways to something beyond the normal experience of reality. To know something or someone’s name was to access it and the exact character of it.

11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me.

John 17:11-12 ESV
Notice the importance of the “name” in this context.

23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

John 16:23-24 ESV
This is not simply asking for something and then adding “in Jesus name” at the end of a prayer. In my name is a powerful reference to the exact character of Jesus, not a magical incantation we can tack on to prayers that are adjacent or orthogonal to Jesus. Barfield has a section on names that I might try to find and refer to here later. But one of his more powerful references to the idolatry of God in a modern context is the constant use of the supposed name of God. If we thought of God as beyond/other/infinite, we would not so casually use his name. Contrast our frequent mundane uses of God/Jesus with the way ancient Israel would only utter God’s sacred name rarely and in very specific sacred circumstances.

Should we be throwing around “Jesus” and “Father God” all over our prayers and references?

6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”
Mark 5:6-9 ESV
Here’s an interesting name-based interaction…The demon is naming Jesus as a “counter-attack,” not merely an innocent disclosure. Yet the demon submits to Jesus’ authority when he’s asked the question: “What is your name?” which is not simply a polite introduction, but a means of taking authority/power over the demon, which he then casts into the herd of pigs.

To believe “into” the “name” of the Son of God is kind of a big deal.

[Kyle Towle @KyleTowleWA]

12 The one who has the Son has the Life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have the Life.
1 John 5:12 KTV