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00:00Love
00:01Dear brothers and sisters, we must love one another because love comes from God.
00:12Everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
00:17He who does not love has not known God, for God is love.
00:22God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.
00:30This is what love is all about.
00:33Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son so that by offering Himself as a sacrifice our sins might be forgiven.
00:47The letters of John are usually placed together with the rest of the writings to which the common authorship of the apostle John is attributed.
00:58Within this course, the Gospel according to Saint John was studied when we looked at the rest of the writings called Gospels.
01:07However, we wanted to maintain this classification in relation to the book we know as Revelation.
01:14Therefore, in the final part of our course we will look at the Johannine letters and the book of revelations as part of the Johannine corpus.
01:24This letter is not addressed to a particular community, but it does have a particular difficulty in mind.
01:37Placing ourselves in a community whose problems place us in the final part of the 1st century, towards the 90s,
01:46It is understood that he had to confront a current of thought that is inclined to present Jesus as an evanescent figure,
01:55a kind of ghost that would not have had a real earthly existence.
02:01That is why the author writes a prologue that contains the essential statements to combat these beliefs.
02:10We are writing to you about that which has existed from the beginning,
02:17from what we have heard and what we have seen with our own eyes,
02:23because we have seen it and touched it with our own hands.
02:27It is the word of life.
02:30This life manifested itself.
02:32We have seen her and testify to her, and we proclaim to you this eternal life,
02:40who was with the Father and has been revealed to us.
02:44We announce to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may be united with us,
02:51as we are united with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
02:57A dominant element is the mention of a "we,"
03:04That is, the existence of some bearers of the Johannine school
03:09who preserve the eyewitness testimony of the beloved disciple.
03:14This we have seen and touched with our own hands.
03:18It serves to make it very clear to the community that Jesus exists
03:23It's not just mere appearance, as some seducers claim,
03:28and that have led a group within this community to listen to these beliefs,
03:34but the person of Jesus is the incarnate word, real humanity,
03:41And they can testify to this.
03:44The same reading of these three writings, especially the first letter,
03:50They help us discover certain characteristic features of this community.
03:54Here are some of them.
03:57Section A, a group of disciples who are under the guidance of an apostle of the Lord.
04:03Section B, a Christian community with a much more mature faith and that believes in Jesus, Son of God.
04:11Section C, a community that has received a new commandment in charity and strives to live by it,
04:19always reminding its members of the importance of this mandate.
04:24Love one another as the Lord loved you.
04:28Section D, a group of Christians who base their experience of faith on the word and the sacrament.
04:35Section E, a community that as a witness becomes an apostolic missionary that proclaims the gospel.
04:48The first letter of St. John is written in a literary form distinct from the common formula of a letter.
04:57Instead of mentioning the name of the author and the recipients, this writing begins with an introduction similar to the prologue of the fourth gospel
05:07and it ends without the farewell or the typical blessing formula of other letters.
05:14There are three main themes in this writing that are developed in various ways.
05:21Sometimes they are woven together and are arranged in the following way.
05:27Before these topics, the letter begins with an introduction in chapter 1, verses 1-4, talking about the word of life.
05:36Number 1. The first theme relates to deliverance from sin and appears developed first in chapter 1 verse 5 to chapter 2 verse 2 and then again in chapter 2 verse 29 to chapter 3 verse 10.
05:55He who lives in the darkness of sin cannot be in communion with God.
06:00It is true that we are sinners, but He frees us from sin through His Son.
06:062. The second theme of the letter is dedicated to the theme of brotherly love.
06:11This is the commandment given from the beginning by Jesus, which derives from the very being of God, because as it says in 4, 8 and 16, God is love.
06:23Communion with God is inseparable from communion with brothers.
06:28This topic is touched upon three times in chapter 2 verses 3 to 11, in chapter 3 verses 11 to 24 and in chapter 4 verses 7 to 21.
06:413. The third theme has to do with faith, through which the author seeks to defend the true faith in Christ, pointing out the deviations of some who, having belonged to the community, separated themselves from it.
06:574. These people denied some of the fundamental truths about Jesus, which is why the author calls them antichrists.
07:05This theme is developed three times in the letter, in chapter 2 verses 12 to 28, in chapter 4 verses 1 to 6 and in chapter 5 verses 1 to 12.
07:19It ends with a brief conclusion in chapter 5, verses 13 to 21.
07:26This is one of the fundamental topics of this writing.
07:33A brief statistical reference makes this clear.
07:37John's first letter uses the verb "to love" 28 times.
07:43The gospel, for its part, uses it 18 times, mostly in chapters 13 through 21.
07:51If we take into account the difference in length, the figure is still significant, but the contrast in the use of the noun love is even more important.
08:03The First Letter of John uses it 18 times, whereas John in his gospel only uses it in 6 texts.
08:13The theme of love is one of the traditional themes of the community.
08:17It is the subject of the announcement that has always been transmitted, but love is also the subject of a precept, of a commandment.
08:28And his commandment is that we believe in his son Jesus Christ and that we love one another as he commanded us.
08:37The deepest reality of love has been revealed through Jesus.
08:42We too must lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
08:46And regarding this fundamental issue for the people of God, Saint Augustine in his commentary on the first letter of John instructs us in the following way.
08:56Love, then, is the only thing that distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil.
09:03They may all cross themselves with the sign of the cross.
09:07They may all answer amen.
09:10Let everyone sing hallelujah, let them be baptized, let them enter the churches, let them build the walls of the basilicas.
09:18But when it comes down to it, love is the only thing that distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil.
09:27Those who have love are born of God.
09:31Those who do not have it, were not born of it.
09:34Here is the great sign.
09:36Herein lies the great discernment.
09:39Have whatever you want, but if you lack this, nothing else will do you any good.
09:45On the other hand, if you lack everything else, but you have love, you have fulfilled the law.
09:52I believe this is the pearl the gospel merchant was looking for.
09:56He found it and sold everything he owned to buy it.
10:00Love is that precious pearl; if you don't have it, everything else is useless.
10:08And if that's all you have, that's enough for you.
10:12Now you see with faith, then you will see with vision.
10:16And if we love each other now that we can't see each other, what will our hugs be like when we can see each other again?
10:22But what should we practice?
10:25In brotherly love.
10:27Because you can tell me, I haven't seen God.
10:31But can you really tell me that you haven't seen the man?
10:34Love your brother.
10:36For if you love the brother whom you see, you will at the same time see God.
10:41Because you will see love itself, and God dwells in it.
10:46There is not much to add to these beautiful words of Saint Augustine.
10:51God is love.
10:53And as such, love cannot be imposed on anyone.
10:57If we recall the book of Genesis, we can see how the attribute of free will
11:03It puts man in a position to choose or not to choose God, to show his love by doing His will,
11:10fulfilling his commandments.
11:12But as John tells us, his commandments are not a burden.
11:17The measure of obedience is love.
11:21A love that is evident in the way he treats his siblings.
11:25For he who loves the Father loves his children.
11:29But God does not force anyone.
11:32He wants us to love him freely.
11:35Loving God should be the greatest desire and goal of every Christian.
11:43We can never doubt His love.
11:47Our love for him is what is imperfect.
11:51The one who fails time and time again.
11:54But what did God make us?
11:57Be aware of our limitations.
11:59And he knows that without his help, we can do nothing.
12:03Not even to love.
12:05That is why he gives us his own spirit which enables us to conform ourselves to the likeness of Jesus.
12:12Let us love one another as he did.
12:16The call to God's people is clear.
12:19Let our love not be just words, but be shown through actions.
12:24That through us the love we have received from God may reach all those who need it.
12:31No one ever has enough love to receive, and no one can say they have given enough.
12:37Because having God himself as its source, love knows no limits.