1 John

About 1 John

First John is a pastoral letter written to reassure believers after false teachers had split their community by denying that Jesus truly came in the flesh. John circles around a few simple tests of genuine faith: believing in Jesus the Son of God, obeying his commands, and loving one another. Its warm, repeated refrain is that God is light and God is love, and that those who believe can know they have eternal life.

Written by

The letter itself is anonymous, but church tradition credits the apostle John, whose voice and vocabulary it clearly shares with John's Gospel; some scholars attribute it to another leader known as John the Elder.

When

It is usually dated around AD 85-95, written late in the first century to churches likely connected with Ephesus.

Themes

• God is love
• Walking in the light
• Assurance of eternal life
• Truth versus deception
• Loving one another

Key verses

• 1 John 1:9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 1 John 4:9-11In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
• 1 John 5:13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.