First John is a letter written to reassure Christians of
the security of their salvation in Christ. The letter contrasts the
truth of the original gospel taught by the author with the heretical
doctrines of traveling teachers who sought to instill doubt and fear
in the churches. The incarnation takes center stage as the climactic
confession of Christianity (1 John 4:2–3). Christian love
flows out of God’s ultimate example of love in the atoning
death of Christ.
Genre
First John
is commonly referred to as a letter, but it bears none of the
traditional marks of a Greco-Roman letter. The author does not
introduce himself, the recipients are not named, there is no opening
greeting or wish for health, and there are no closing salutations.
Some have suggested that 1 John is a universal tract, but the
content is too specific and polemical. First John is probably a
circular letter intended for general distribution among the churches
associated with the author.
Main
Themes
First John
repeats many of the same themes as the Gospel of John. The historical
reality of the incarnation of Christ is a central theme in 1 John
(1:1–3). The incarnation is rooted in history and cannot be
divorced from that foundational fact. Christ’s “atoning
sacrifice” is another foundational fact of Christian belief;
however, it is not simply that Christ died a sacrificial death, but
that he did so “for our sins” (2:2; 4:10). The author
explains the meaning of the atonement to help build the salvation
confidence of the struggling Christians. In a number of places the
author places special stress on the forgiveness of sins that comes
through Jesus’ blood. His death “purifies us from all
sin” (1:7). He came to take away sin and to destroy the work of
the devil (3:5, 8).
Love
is another resounding theme. Christians are to love one another in
concrete ways, reflecting the sacrificial love of Christ (2:16–18).
Love is rooted in God and ultimately demonstrated at the cross (4:9).
We will never find what love means if we start from the human end. We
must start from the cross, where we see the love of God (4:10). The
author reminds his readers that they have the Holy Spirit and have no
need for further instruction by the false teachers (2:20–21,
26–27). The Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth, who bears
witness that Jesus is Christ in the flesh (4:2, 6). Competing spirits
should be tested and rejected as “antichrist” if they
fail to confess Christ (4:3).
First John
is full of family imagery. The author repeatedly addresses his
readers as “children,” “brothers,” and
“beloved.” Being “born of God” is the
hallmark of those who are “children of God” (2:23; 3:1–3,
9–10). Children of God love one another and do what is right
(3:10–11). Eternal life is a present possession that believers
can be assured of (5:13). Although the false teachers sow seeds of
doubt, the author seeks to uproot them. Salvation is not for those
who are spiritually enlightened but for all whose faith is in the
blood of Christ.
Literary
Features
One
of the author’s favorite literary features is the repetition of
key words. The word “love” appears over fifty times in
1 John. Love is the bedrock of the Christian faith. The verb “to
know” appears approximately forty times in 1 John. The
author reassures his readers of their salvation by repeating what
they already “know.” They “know” God and
should not fear the false teachers’ so-called knowledge. The
verb “to remain” appears twenty-four times. God, God’s
word, Christ, truth, life, love, and the Holy Spirit all remain in
believers. They, in turn, should remain in God, Christ, and the
light. In contrast, unbelievers remain in death (3:14). First John
also has strong dualistic contrasts: light/dark, love/hate,
truth/falsehood (1–2; 4:6). The dualism of 1 John is
similar to that found in the DSS, but its Christian character gives
it a unique christocentric emphasis.
Authorship
First John
and the Gospel of John share common vocabulary, writing style, and
many interlocking themes that point to a common author. The opening
verses of 1 John show a close affinity with the beginning of the
Gospel (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1). Also, the purpose statements of
both the Gospel and 1 John concern faith in Christ and receiving
eternal life (John 20:31; 1 John 5:13). Some scholars believe
the apostle John is the author, but this is impossible to prove from
the text itself, since the author never mentions his name. Church
fathers such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian
attributed 1 John to the apostle. An alternative theory is that
the three letters were written by another John, known as John “the
elder” (2 John 1; 3 John 1). The church historian
Eusebius thought that this elder John rather than the apostle John
was the author of the Johannine Letters. John the elder is thought to
have lived in Ephesus at about the same time as John the apostle. Yet
there is no indisputable proof that this person existed or that he
wrote anything to churches in the area. Nevertheless, there is
nothing in 1 John that hinges on the exact identity of the
author. He seems to be well advanced in years and regards the church
members as his “children” (2:1, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4;
5:21) and “friends” (3:2, 21; 4:1, 7, 11). He has a close
relationship with them and shows a genuine pastoral concern for their
well-being. He claims to be an eyewitness of Jesus, the Word of life
(1:1–3).
Audience,
Life Setting, and Date
Audience
and date.
The audience is a group of churches in fellowship with the author’s
church. This group of churches is often referred to as the Johannine
Community, a community represented by the Johannine literature of the
NT (Gospel of John, 1–3 John, Revelation). Whether this
community functioned formally as such is unclear, but there seems to
be a close-knit network of churches associated with the author.
Tradition places these churches in and around Ephesus at the end of
the first century. Since John’s Gospel was written sometime in
the years AD 85–95, 1 John was written probably not long
afterward to churches in and around Ephesus.
Life
setting.
The exact life setting behind 1 John is uncertain, but the
churches apparently were endangered by itinerant false teachers
intent on distorting the gospel preached by the author. Their
teachings may have stemmed from a misinterpretation of John’s
Gospel, but this is difficult to prove. They were in fellowship with
the author at one time but broke away and charted their own deceptive
direction (1 John 2:18–19, 26). The audience had already
heard the message of the gospel, including its command to love, and
this had already impacted their lives (2:8). They already knew the
truth of the gospel (2:21), but the false teachers began to sow seeds
of doubt. This explains the purpose statement of 1 John: “I
write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God
so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). The
author’s purpose was not to correct the heretics, for the
letter was not written to them, but to show his readers that the
false teachers’ claims were indeed false.
The
identity of the false teachers is unknown, but their teachings
reflected seeds of gnosticism and docetism and may have included some
Jewish influences. The more-advanced forms of gnosticism and docetism
that threatened the church in the second century were not yet fully
developed by the time of John, but similar ideas were already
beginning to infiltrate the church. Gnostics taught a radical
division between flesh and spirit. Flesh and matter were bad, but
spirit was good. Because of this false premise, they may have
misinterpreted Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel: “Flesh
gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit”
(John 3:6). A gnostic or a docetic who was “born from above”
(see John 3:3 NIV mg.) was resurrected and became “otherworldly”
and truly “spiritual.” Flesh was discarded as worthless
and evil. Although this was only one aspect of the false teaching, it
was enough to threaten the very core of the gospel of Christ in the
flesh as well as a bodily resurrection. For the false teachers, Jesus
only seemed to have a genuine body of flesh and to suffer and die
(docetism), since flesh was evil by nature (gnosticism). This notion
threatened the very heart of the Christian gospel.
Among
the debated issues were the identity of Christ, the significance of
his atoning death, the nature of salvation, and the shape of
Christian discipleship. The heretics claimed to be without sin
(1 John 1:8–2:2), continued to sin (3:6, 8, 10), disobeyed
God’s commands (1:6–7; 2:4–6; 5:2–3), did not
love their brothers and sisters in Christ yet claimed to love God
(2:7–11; 3:10–18, 23; 4:7–11, 20–21), and
loved the world (2:15–17; 4:4–6; 5:19). They erred
regarding the nature and work of Christ. They denied that Jesus was
the Christ and, by doing so, denied God as well (2:22; 5:1). By
denying Jesus, they did not remain in God (4:15; 5:5, 10, 13). They
rejected the historical fact that Christ came in the flesh (4:3).
They also rejected the atonement of Christ (2:2; 3:5; 4:10; 5:6).
Those who threatened the church may have valued the heavenly and
spiritual realm and despised physical matter in such a way that it
led them to place all their emphasis on the heavenly Christ rather
than the human Jesus, and on their own “spiritual” status
as the children of God rather than their day-to-day actions. They
were committed to a fundamentally different understanding of the
Christian faith.
The
heretics were not content to keep their ideas to themselves, so they
circulated among the churches in order to spread their beliefs. They
sought to win people over to their understanding of things (2:26;
4:1–3). This led to confusion among the believers who remained
faithful to the gospel as it was proclaimed at the beginning, the
gospel that had come from eyewitnesses such as the author. As a
result, these Christians doubted their salvation, doubted that they
really knew God and Christ, and doubted that they were experiencing
eternal life. Clearly, the author viewed the teachings and practices
of the false teachers as a threat to the proper understanding of
truth and to the well-being of his readers.
Outline
I.
Prologue: The Incarnate Word of Life (1:1–4)
II.
Walking in the Light (1:5–2:2)
III.
Keeping His Commands (2:3–11)
IV.
Do Not Love the World (2:12–17)
V.
A Warning against Antichrists (2:18–27)
VI.
The Hope of God’s Children (2:28–3:3)
VII.
Born of God (3:4–10)
VIII.
Love One Another (3:11–18)
IX.
Assurance and Obedience (3:19–24)
X.
The Spirits of Truth and Falsehood (4:1–6)
XI.
The Priority of God’s Love (4:7–12)
XII.
Christian Love (4:13–5:4)
XIII.
The True Faith Confirmed (5:5–12)
XIV.
Concluding Remarks (5:13–21)
