1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude

It is time to get your whole bible back! If you want to know what God is saying – go read all the verses in your bible that are NOT underlined. Author Russ Walden expounds on the books of 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, and Jude with prophetic insight and revelatory understanding. In church culture today it is more common to hear topical messages than an expositional study of the bible, yet in 1 Tim. 4:13 Paul exhorts young Timothy to “give attention to reading…” The revelatory reading and verse by verse exposition of scripture is very much needed in Christianity today. In this volume, Russ brings a dynamic, inspirational and anointed insight to the books of 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, and Jude in an anointed perspective and powerful style that will impact your life. (Format: e-Book/PDF)

The letter of 1 Peter originates its authorship from Jesus’ disciple Peter, although scholars hotly dispute this, claiming that it references events that took place after Peter’s death and that its style and formality indicate it was written by someone more educated than the Galilean fisherman. The most practical answer to all of this is that Peter dictated the letter to John Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark, who was a known traveling companion of the first apostle. The message was written to Christians dispersed throughout five different Roman provinces after the time that Jerusalem was sacked, and the temple destroyed. It is an encouragement to the faithful to remain patient and hopeful while suffering great persecution for their faith in Christ.

The letter of 2 Peter is written to Christians throughout Asia Minor and addresses primarily disputes about the coming of Christ and other controversies. There are also thinly veiled quotes undoubtedly from the book of Enoch and acknowledgments of gnostic heresies that were already surfacing even at this early dating. There are also several portions similar in content to the book of Jude, and lastly, this is the only book of the Bible that refers to other canonical writings (in this case, those of Paul) as “scripture.”

The epistle of 1 John’s opening remarks emphasize the importance of authenticity in the preaching of the gospel. What must be conveyed from the life of a leader is what they have seen with their eyes and have handled with their hands of the word of life. What John and the apostles gave us was their witness and their experience of being with Jesus and witnessing the resurrected Lord and His ascension. This is very needed today. It is not enough to teach something doctrinally correct. You must tell what you have seen and heard. Two ministers can give the same message, but one speaks from experience and the other by only theory. There is no life in a doctrinal theory. You must tell what you have seen and heard, ministering from the impact of Christ on your life. Life begets life – all else is deception, misdirection, and vain jangling. You cannot give to others what you do not have.

The epistle of 2 John is believed to be written by the same person who wrote 1st and 3rd John according to church tradition. Modern scholarship, as is their custom disputes the authorship of the Gospel of John and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, believing them all to be pseudepigrapha (written anonymously while claiming to be authored by John, the disciple of Jesus). 2nd and 3rd John are similar in content, each addressing false doctrines concerning the incarnation of Jesus.

The epistle of 3 John is not so much a doctrinal treatise as a personal letter between friends. John writes to his friend Gaius expressing his love and his concern for the man’s well-being. John the Beloved, who wrote so often about love and the need to walk in love, demonstrates for us how that love flowed through him out to others. We are particularly advantaged not only to have John’s teachings on love but to have a demonstration of the same.

The book of Jude identifies itself by an author of the same name. He mentions being the brother of James, who was the half-brother of Jesus being born of Mary and Joseph after Jesus’ birth. James was martyred in the early days of the church, and Jude was martyred about the same time as Paul. We know he had descendants as well, for their persecution is recorded in the histories of the Romans. They are of interest because, as natural relatives of Jesus, they were the last of the line of David. These were grandchildren of Jude who were executed under persecution by the emperor Trajan as he sought to wipe out the last descendants of King David.