1 John

That ye may know that ye have eternal life: the tests of fellowship, obedience, love, and faith.

First John was written by the aged apostle to believers shaken by a split. False teachers—forerunners of the Gnostics—had left the fellowship, denying that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh and claiming a higher knowledge that made sin irrelevant. “They went out from us, but they were not of us” (2:19). Those who remained were left wondering whether their foundation was secure.

John answers with the authority of an eyewitness: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes... and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1:1). He writes in stark contrasts—light and darkness, truth and lies, love and hate, Christ and antichrist, life and death. There are no shades of gray.

The letter offers a series of tests by which believers can know they know God: fellowship with Him and confession of sin, keeping His commandments, loving the brethren, doing righteousness, confessing Christ come in the flesh, and believing on the Son. The purpose is stated plainly: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (5:13).

Writer: John the apostle
Written: From Ephesus late in John’s life, about AD 80–85 (within AD 68–90).
Name: John means Jehovah is gracious.

Title and authorship

The first epistle general of John. John (Ioannes) means “Jehovah is gracious.”

The apostle John, son of Zebedee, wrote the letter. The author does not name himself but claims to be an eyewitness of Christ (1:1–3; 4:14) and writes with apostolic authority. The vocabulary—light, life, love, truth, abide, world, know—matches John’s Gospel.

Historical background

Probably written from Ephesus late in John’s life, between AD 68 and 90.

Believers in the churches of Asia, whom John calls “little children,” troubled by false teachers who had departed.

Early Gnosticism

The false teachers John opposed claimed special knowledge (gnosis), taught that matter is evil and so Christ could not truly have come in the flesh, and held that sin in the body did not affect the spirit. One teacher, Cerinthus, taught that the divine Christ came upon the man Jesus at His baptism and left before the cross. John’s insistence on Jesus Christ come in the flesh answers them directly.

John at Ephesus

Early tradition places John at Ephesus in his old age, where he is said to have fled a bathhouse on seeing Cerinthus inside. Another story says that, when too old to preach, he was carried into the assembly and repeated, “Little children, love one another.”

The Johannine comma

First John 5:7 (“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one”) is absent from most Greek manuscripts but present in the Latin tradition, cited by Latin writers from the early centuries, and required by the grammar of the Greek context. The King James Bible retains it.

Key passages

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 5:11–13

God has given us eternal life in His Son; he that hath the Son hath life. These things are written that ye may know.

1 John 3:2

When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.

1 John 1:7–9

Walking in light includes honesty about sin and confession before God.

Outline

1 · Fellowship in the light

The manifested life is proclaimed, and honest confession sustains fellowship.

2 · Obedience and discernment

Christ’s advocacy, obedience, love, and warnings about antichrists establish practical tests.

3 · The family likeness

The children of God are called to righteousness and sacrificial love.

4 · Truth and love

The confession of Christ and the practice of love reveal spiritual allegiance.

5 · The testimony of life

Faith in the Son, prayer, and confidence in God’s testimony establish assurance.

Original language

κοινωνία (koinonia, G2842) — “fellowship”

Sharing in common, partnership. Fellowship with the Father and the Son is the purpose of John’s testimony (1:3), and it is broken by walking in darkness and restored by confession.

ἱλασμός (hilasmos, G2434) — “propitiation”

The means of appeasing God’s wrath. Christ “is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (2:2; see 4:10).

μένω (meno, G3306) — “abide, dwell, remain”

One of John’s favorite words, used more than twenty times in this letter. The believer abides in Christ and His word abides in him.

ἀντίχριστος (antichristos, G500) — “antichrist”

One who opposes Christ or sets himself in the place of Christ. Only John uses the word (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). The spirit of antichrist denies that Jesus is the Christ and that He is come in the flesh.

οἴδαμεν (oidamen, G1492) — “we know”

“We know” and “ye know” run through the letter. The words know and knowledge occur about forty times. John does not want believers to hope or guess but to know.

Doctrinal study

Fellowship and confession

A believer who says he has no sin deceives himself (1:8), but if he confesses his sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse (1:9). This is family forgiveness that restores fellowship, not the one-time justification by which a sinner becomes a child of God. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (2:1).

Sinneth not

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (3:9). John is not teaching sinless perfection, which he has already denied (1:8). The new man born of God does not sin; the believer’s sin comes from his flesh, which will one day be destroyed. Compare Romans 7:17–20.

The Trinity in 1 John 5:7

The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost bear record in heaven, and these three are one; the Spirit, the water, and the blood agree on earth. First John 5:7 is the plainest statement of the Trinity in Scripture, and its removal from modern versions weakens the testimony.

Commentary notes

Twelve tests

Do you enjoy fellowship with Christ and His people (1:3)? Are you sensitive to sin (1:8, 10)? Do you keep His commandments (2:3–5)? Do you love not the world (2:15)? Do you look for Christ’s coming (3:2–3)? Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin (3:5–6)? Do you love and sacrifice for other Christians (3:14–17)? Do you experience answered prayer (3:22)? Do you have the inward witness of the Spirit (3:24; 4:13)? Can you discern truth from error (4:1–6)? Do you believe what God says about His Son (5:1, 10)? Do you suffer for your faith (3:13)?

Assurance and its absence

If a person lacks assurance, one of several things is likely true: he is not saved; he is backslidden; he does not believe what the Bible says about salvation; or he is being buffeted by Satan, who asks, as in Eden, “Yea, hath God said?” Each has its remedy in the word.

Gospel, epistles, Revelation

John’s Gospel emphasizes salvation—past history, Christ died for us, Christ the Prophet. His epistles emphasize sanctification—present experience, Christ lives in us, Christ the Priest. Revelation emphasizes glorification—future hope, Christ comes for us, Christ the King.

Christ in the book

• The Word of life, seen and handled (1:1)
• Jesus Christ the righteous, our advocate (2:1)
• The propitiation for the sins of the whole world (2:2)
• The Son of God who came by water and blood (5:6)
• The true God, and eternal life (5:20)

Applications

Historical

• John’s letter of assurance to the saints of Asia under attack by the spirit of antichrist, giving practical and doctrinal tests of true believers.
• The departure of false teachers had shaken believers. John answers with the authority of apostolic witness and the settled message received from the beginning.

Doctrinal

• The Lord’s fifth letter to the saints of the last days, assuring them of the truth they have received and warning of the spirit of antichrist, which is already in the world and will culminate in the Antichrist himself (2:18; 4:3).
• The identity of Jesus Christ is decisive: eternal life is in the Son, and denial of the Son cannot be reconciled with fellowship with the Father.
• The letter’s tests do not teach sinless perfection; the same writing commands confession and presents Christ as advocate.

Devotional

• The Lord’s letter to His bride assuring her of eternal life and giving her tests of genuine salvation—not to create doubt, but to settle assurance.
• Confession of sin and confidence in Christ’s advocacy belong to continued fellowship with God and walking in the light.
• Love must take practical form, especially when a brother has material need.
• Build assurance on God’s testimony and allow obedience to strengthen the enjoyment of that assurance.

Answering the critics

Critics debate the authorship, date, and order of John’s letters, and they have removed 1 John 5:7 from the text, arguing that it is absent from the earliest Greek manuscripts.

No substantial argument against John’s authorship has been established. The case against 1 John 5:7 depends on the Alexandrian manuscripts favored by modern critics; the verse has ancient Latin support, was defended by the church against heresy, and fits the grammar of its context. It stands in the preserved English Bible.