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New Testament

1 John

5 chapters

Start reading: 1 John 1

About this book

First John is a warm, plainspoken letter written to help believers know that they have eternal life and to keep them close to the truth. The author writes as an eyewitness to Jesus, and he circles back again and again to three tests of genuine Christian life: believing that Jesus is the Son of God who came in the flesh, obeying his commands, and loving one another. God is described as light and as love. Believers are urged to walk in the light, to confess their sins honestly, and to trust that Jesus is their advocate and the sacrifice for sin. The letter warns against those who left the community and denied that Jesus had come as a real human being, and it cautions against loving the world's desires more than the Father. Its repeated address to little children and dear friends gives it a pastoral, family tone. The author never names himself; church tradition has long connected the letter with the apostle John, and some scholars think it came from a close circle around him.

Author
Unnamed; traditionally the apostle John, while some scholars point to a close circle around him.
Date
Usually placed in the late first century AD, perhaps around 90 to 95, likely from Ephesus.
Audience
Christian communities in Asia Minor unsettled by teachers who had broken away.

Themes

God is light and loveAssurance of eternal lifeObedience and love for one anotherTruth about JesusConfession and forgiveness

Outline

  1. 1:1–1:4The word of life and the eyewitness
  2. 1:5–2:17Walking in the light and not loving the world
  3. 2:18–3:10Truth, antichrists and children of God
  4. 3:11–4:21Love one another, for God is love
  5. 5:1–5:21Faith, victory and knowing eternal life

Key verses

1 John 1:91 John 4:7-81 John 5:13

Chapters of 1 John

  1. 11 John 1John writes as an eyewitness of the Word of life, whom the apostles heard, saw and touched, and he proclaims what they saw so that others may share fellowship with them and with the Father and the Son.
  2. 21 John 2John writes so that his readers may not sin, and if anyone does, they have an advocate with the Father in Jesus Christ, the righteous one and the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.
  3. 31 John 3John marvels that the Father has lavished such love on us as to call us his children, and that when Christ appears we will be like him.
  4. 41 John 4John tells believers not to trust every spirit but to test them, since many false prophets have gone out.
  5. 51 John 5John says that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and that loving God means keeping his commands, which are not burdensome.
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