General Information | |
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| Name | This is the first letter the Apostle John wrote. |
| Author and Date | Although the letter does not name its author, very early tradition assigned it to the Apostle John, the "beloved disciple." Ignatius and Polycarp (a disciple of John) assigned authorship of the letter to John, among many other Church Fathers. This tradition is backed up by the fact that the vocabulary and style of 1 John is almost identical to the Gospel of John, so they are most likely written by the same person. If John wrote the Gospel bearing his name, he also wrote 1 John (and vice versa). Despite this evidence, some contemporary scholars assign 1 John (along with 2 and 3 John) to the "Johannian School" (i.e. the later disciples of John), but their arguments cannot surmount the strong evidence for John being the author of the letter. If John the Apostle is the author of 1 John, it must have been written during his lifetime, which ended around A.D. 100. Also, since the letter contains allusions to Gnostic thought, time needs to be given for these ideas to have developed and become a problem for the early church. Taking these considerations into account, it is likely the letter was written sometime around A.D. 90. |
| Audience | Just as the author, the audience is not specifically named in 1 John. However, it is clear his audience was very dear to him. He used the phrase "little children" 9 times in the letter and "one another" 6 times (including 5 where it is "love one another"). Beyond this, both the New Testament and tradition place John in southwestern Asia Minor toward the end of his life, so it is most likely John's recipients were somewhere in this region. |
| Message and Occasion | John packed as much theology as he could into this letter, and presents it in a simple and easy to understand way. John's message in 1 John is fourfold: he wanted the joy of his readers to be "complete" (1:4), he admonished them to avoid sin but also to ask forgiveness if they did sin (2:1), he wanted them to be able to refute false teachers (2:26), and he wanted them to know that they "have eternal life" (5:13). Since we do not know with absolute certainty who the recipients of the letter are, we do not know the exact occasion for its writing. However, John did give clues to why he wrote 1 John. He opens the letter by reminding his readers that he was a firsthand witness of the Lord, and literally heard, saw and even touched Him (1:1). He also admonished that "every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God" (4:2) and said that Jesus "came by water and blood" (5:6). All these signs give evidence that John was writing against an early Gnostic theology called Docetism, which taught that Jesus only appeared to be a man in the flesh - but could not have actually been, because matter is evil. According to this view, Jesus did not actually suffer and die on the cross. John also seems to be countering another heresy, named for its founder, called Cerinthianism. Church tradition says that John had confrontations with Cerinthus himself in Ephesus. Cerinthus taught that Jesus was a mere man, on whom the spirit of Christ descended at Jesus' baptism and left at the cross. |
Key Information | |
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| Key Verses | 1:1-3 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life — the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us — that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 3:1 "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" 4:4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 5:13 "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." |
Important Theology in 1 John | |
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| Assurance of Salvation | Sometimes people see John teaching that true Christians can lose their salvation, however, if 1 John is read plainly (in what is called a historical-grammatical interpretational style) it is clear he is actually teaching how a believer may be assured of their salvation. He does this through contrasting opposites: light or darkness (2:8-9), being children of God or children of the devil (3:2-12; 4:4; 5:2), life or death (3:14; 5:16), love or hate (4:20), and commandment-keeping or lawlessness (3:4; 5:2-3). Those who exhibit the former characteristics may have full assurance of their salvation. |
| Two Natures of Christ | John combated two different heretical views of Jesus in 1 John by emphasizing the two natures of Jesus Christ: true humanity and true deity (called the hypostatic union). He says he heard, saw and even touched Jesus, confirming the actuality of His humanity. He pulled no punches, saying "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God" (4:2-3). In fact, he said that those who deny the humanity of Jesus are "the spirit of the Antichrist" (4:3). He also confirms the deity of Jesus, calling Him "the true God and eternal life" (5:20), and affirming Him as one of the Trinity (5:7). |
General Outline | |
Prologue (1:1-4)
Message of the Letter (1:5-10) |
Used by permission. ©2017 H. Wayne House, Charting the New Testament. All Rights Reserved.