THE FIRST LETTER OF
JOHN
John’s Gospel explains how Jesus Christ came to offer eternal life; his first letter tells how to know, by our experience and behavior, that we have eternal life. John’s Gospel tells us how Jesus came to reveal the Father; his letter shows how we can be confident in our relationship with him. John’s Gospel relates how Jesus gives the Spirit to each one who is born again; his letter explains daily life in the Spirit. John’s Gospel encourages Jesus’ disciples to practice spiritual unity by loving one another; his letter clarifies how to put that love into action.
John and the other apostles were probably forced to leave Jerusalem by AD 68, if not earlier, due to the mounting persecution against the church and the siege of Jerusalem by Roman armies. Sometime later (probably after AD 70), John migrated to the Roman province of Asia (the western region of modern Turkey) and began a successful ministry, primarily among the Gentiles. By AD 90, John had written his Gospel for these believers to whom he had been ministering.
Soon after this, some members of the Christian community left to form a rival group. These rivals were a heretical faction that promoted teachings about Jesus Christ that later characterized Gnosticism, such as denying that Jesus was God in the flesh (see 1 Jn 4:1-3). By leaving the fellowship of the apostles, they demonstrated that they did not genuinely belong to God’s family (1 Jn 2:18-19). However, the effects of their false teachings still lingered in the minds of the faithful, so John wrote this letter to clear the air of these falsehoods, to bring the believers back to the basics of the Christian life, and to reinforce their faith.
Another heresy that John confronted was promoted by Cerinthus, who taught that Jesus was not born to a virgin but was a normal human being born to Joseph and Mary and was more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. Cerinthus taught that at Jesus’ baptism, “the Christ” descended upon him in the form of a dove from the supreme Ruler; he then proclaimed the unknown Father and performed miracles. At last “the Christ” departed from the man “Jesus,” and then Jesus (but not “the Christ”) suffered and rose again, while “the Christ” remained untouched, inasmuch as he was a spiritual being. John specifically refutes the heresy of Cerinthus in 1 Jn 5:5-8.
John wrote this epistle to encourage believers in the Roman province of Asia to remain steadfast in Christ, and he denounced those who had not remained in the apostolic fellowship. This first letter went out to the churches under John’s care around AD 85–90 (including the churches that are mentioned in Rev 1:11).
John stressed that Christians must maintain loyalty to Jesus’ apostles—those who had followed Jesus during his life and had known him personally—in order to safeguard against pseudo-spirituality and heresy. John urged his Christian readers to:
1. maintain loyalty in fellowship toward the apostles and thus to have fellowship with God, who is light, by living in the light he gives us;
2. confess their sins to God and thus know the advocacy of Jesus Christ, the righteous one;
3. esteem Jesus Christ as the Word of life, the Son of God;
4. love God, who is love, and love other Christians;
5. remain in Christ, become like Christ, and purify themselves of worldly lusts;
6. know and experience God personally and understand the truth through the Spirit;
7. discern false teaching by the aid of the Spirit and recognize the spirit of false prophets and of the antichrist; and
8. enjoy eternal life.
Some scholars have suggested that a Christian elder named John, but not the apostle, was the author of these letters. They make this judgment on the basis of a quotation from Papias (bishop of Hierapolis in the province of Asia, AD 100–130), who mentioned John the apostle and then later mentioned John the elder (see Eusebius, Church History 3.39.4). But most evangelical scholars think that John the apostle and John the elder are the same person (cp. 2 Jn 1:1; 3 Jn 1:1). The writing style of John’s Gospel is undeniably similar to that of these three letters. The apostle John was an eyewitness of Jesus and one of the very first to follow him. In John’s Gospel, John is called “the one whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). He was one of the twelve disciples and a very close friend to Jesus. The author’s claim to be an eyewitness is as strong in the letters (see 1 Jn 1:1-4) as it is in the Gospel (John 1:14; 19:35). The author of 1 John claims to have personally heard, seen, and touched the eternal Word made flesh (1 Jn 1:1-4).
First John is a natural extension of John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel shows that it was Jesus’ mission to reveal God the Father and to bring believers into union with the Father and the Son through the Spirit. John’s first letter emphasizes how Christians experience God in daily life, as demonstrated by their relationships with the other members of the church community. We must exhibit our love for God by loving one another. This command came straight from Jesus (John 14:24; 15:17), and John repeated it often (1 Jn 2:7; 3:11, 23; 2 Jn 1:5-6). Since God is love, all who claim to know God must love other Christians.
To love other Christians, however, does not mean accepting everything they say or all that independent teachers teach. There were people in the breakaway churches denying that Jesus is the Christ, the unique Son of God, or that he had come as a human being. All such people are antichrists when they deny the true humanity and the full deity of Jesus Christ. This letter warns strongly against those who teach such heresy and lead Christians away from fellowship with the true apostles of Christ.
History shows that many heretical movements have infiltrated the church, but the truth has withstood these assaults. We need to be wary of teachings that are contrary to the teaching of the apostles; the word of God and the Holy Spirit are our guides.