1 John
📘 New Testament
🗺️ Overview
1 John is a pastoral letter written to assure believers of eternal life in Christ, to guard against false teaching, and to call the church to walk in truth, obedience, and love. John emphasizes the incarnation of Jesus, the reality of sin, and the marks of true fellowship with God.
💡 1 John calls believers to live lives of holiness, love, and assurance. It challenges false teaching by affirming Christ’s incarnation and calls the church to reflect God’s love in community. Believers are encouraged to walk in truth and to have confidence in their salvation.
🏛️ Historical & Cultural Notes
Insights into the cultural, historical, or geographical background of the book.
Combating Early Gnosticism
John’s letter confronts false teachers who denied Jesus came in the flesh and promoted lawless living.
📚 Source: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary
A Pastoral Letter
Unlike typical epistles, 1 John reads more like a sermon — circular in structure and rich in repeated themes.
📚 Source: The Bible Project
John the Elder
The author is traditionally believed to be the Apostle John, also known as the elder and writer of the Gospel of John.
📚 Source: ESV Study Bible
📊 Book at a Glance
- 📝 Author
- John the Apostle
- 📅 Date
- c. AD 85–95
- 📖 Chapters
- 5
- 🏷️ Genre
- Epistle
- 📍 Location
- Written to early Christian communities in or around Ephesus facing false teaching (likely early Gnosticism)
- 🧵 Main Themes
- God is light and love, True believers obey God’s commands, Love for others is the evidence of new life, Jesus Christ came in the flesh, Assurance of salvation through Christ
📚 Outline
- Fellowship with God in Light (Ch. 1)
- Knowing God Through Obedience and Love (Ch. 2)
- The Marks of God’s Children (Ch. 3)
- Love Perfected in Believers (Ch. 4)
- Faith, Victory, and Assurance (Ch. 5)
📖 Key Stories
Walking in the Light (1 John 1)
John teaches that fellowship with God requires confessing sin and walking in the light of truth and holiness.
Do Not Love the World (1 John 2)
Believers are warned not to love the world or its desires, but to abide in God and do His will.
Children of God (1 John 3)
John explains how God’s children live righteously and love one another as evidence of new birth.
God Is Love (1 John 4)
John proclaims that love comes from God and that those who know Him must love others, because God first loved us.
Assurance and Victory (1 John 5)
John gives believers confidence that they have eternal life and that faith in Jesus overcomes the world.
👤 Key Figures
🔍 Christ Connections
How this book anticipates or reflects the person and work of Christ.
- Theme1 John 1:1–4, John 1:1–14
Jesus is the incarnate Word of Life, through whom we have fellowship with the Father and assurance of eternal life.
- Fulfillment1 John 2:1–2, Isaiah 53:5–6
Christ’s sacrificial love and atonement fulfill the Old Testament promises of God’s redemptive plan.
🧠 Key Verses
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. — 1 John 2:1
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. — 1 John 2:15
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. — 1 John 3:1
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. — 1 John 3:16
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. — 1 John 4:7
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. — 1 John 4:8
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. — 1 John 4:9
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. — 1 John 4:18
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. — 1 John 5:12
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. — 1 John 5:13
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