The book of 1 John

At a glance

Chapters

5

Author

Traditionally John; formally anonymous

Written

Probably 90s AD

Written for

A community that has just split

Themes

light, love, assurance, truth

What it is about

1 John has no greeting, no named sender and no named recipients, which is unusual. What it does have is a situation: some people have left the community, and the letter says plainly that they went out from us.

The response is a set of tests, repeated in cycles rather than argued in sequence: do you keep his commands, do you love your brother, do you believe he came in the flesh. The last one suggests the departing group denied the physical reality of the incarnation.

It is also the most reassuring book in the New Testament for people troubled about their standing, and it contains the plainest sentence about confession anywhere in Scripture.

Where to start

Chapter 1, which is short and contains the confession verse, then chapter 4 on love.

The chapters worth knowing

• 1 John 1 — Walking in the light, and the plainest sentence about confession in Scripture.
• 1 John 3 — Love in action rather than in words, and the reassurance for a heart that condemns itself.
• 1 John 4 — God is love, and the test about Christ come in the flesh that the letter keeps returning to.

What people get wrong about it

That its tests are for examining other people. The letter's repeated purpose statement is that its readers may know they have eternal life; the tests are for reassurance, not for auditing the congregation.

From this book

• Bible verses about forgivenessTen passages from the World English Bible with a note on each — including what forgiveness does not require, which is the part most of these pages leave out.

Questions