1 John

What makes 1 John special?

Though 1 John is called a letter, it does not have many of the features of a typical ancient Greek letter. For example, it does not have a formal greeting. Because it calls Jesus the “Word of God” and emphasizes that Christians should love one another, 1 John has always been linked with the Gospel of John. See Introduction to John, JHN 1.0. The book also provides a look at how the early church settled disagreements between true followers of Jesus and those who had false ideas.

Why was 1 John written?

First John and the other letters of John seem to have been written to encourage the followers of Christ to remain faithful to the truth: Jesus, God's Son, was truly human and really shed his blood to take away sins (1.7). Some followers were falsely claiming that Jesus only appeared to be a human being, but he was really a purely spiritual being. These teachers also believed that spiritual life was greater than moral life and spiritual knowledge was more important than moral rules. They taught that moral rules were only for those people who could not see beyond the physical level of life. For example, they believed that their spiritual rebirth made it impossible for them to sin, so they had no sins to confess (1.9,10).

Besides believing that Jesus “had a truly human body” (4.2) and is truly God's Son (2.22; 3.23), God's true children (“the children of light”) are those who also obey God and love one another (3.11-24). Only those who believe that Jesus Christ was truly human and who love one another really have eternal life.

What's the story behind the scene?

This book was probably written late in the first century or very early in the second century a.d. At that time the early church was trying to determine what made someone a true child of God. It was a time of many new religions. One trend among these new religions was toward Gnosticism, a movement which described the physical world as evil and the spiritual world as good. Gnostics believed that the goal of humans is to get special knowledge that would free them from the real world. They claimed that this superior knowledge separated them from this corrupt world. But the writer of 1 John shows that God made the world and sent Jesus to free the world from evil and to unite the physical world with God.

How is 1 John constructed?

The book does not have a formal opening greeting or final greeting, though it was likely intended to be a letter (1.4). The book may be outlined in the following way: