AUTHORSHIP.--POLYCARP, the disciple of John [Epistle to the Philippians, 7], quotes 1Jo 4:3. EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.39] says of PAPIAS, a hearer of John, and a friend of POLYCARP, "He used testimonies from the First Epistle of John." IRENÆUS, according to EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 5.8], often quoted this Epistle. So in his work Against Heresies [3.15; 5, 8] he quotes from John by name, 1Jo 2:18, &c.; and in [3.16,7], he quotes 1Jo 4:1-3 5:1, and 2Jo 1:7:8. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 2.66, p. 464] refers to 1Jo 5:16, as in John's larger Epistle. See other quotations [Miscellanies, 3.32,42; 4.102]. TERTULLIAN [Against Marcion, 5.16] refers to 1Jo 4:1, &c.; [Against Praxeas, 15], to 1Jo 1:1. See his other quotations [Against Praxeas, 28; Against the Gnostics, 12]. CYPRIAN [Epistles, 28 (24)], quotes as John's, 1Jo 2:3,4; and [On the Lord's Prayer, 5] quotes 1Jo 2:15-17; and [On Works and Alms, 3], 1Jo 1:8; and [On the Advantage of Patience, 2] quotes 1Jo 2:6. MURATORI'S Fragment on the Canon of Scripture states, "There are two of John (the Gospel and Epistle?) esteemed Catholic," and quotes 1Jo 1:3. The Peschito Syriac contains it. ORIGEN (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 6.25]) speaks of the First Epistle as genuine, and "probably the second and third, though all do not recognize the latter two"; on the Gospel of John, [Commentary on John, 13.2], he quotes 1Jo 1:5. DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, ORIGEN'S scholar, cites the words of this Epistle as those of the Evangelist John. EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.24], says, John's first Epistle and Gospel are acknowledged without question by those of the present day, as well as by the ancients. So also JEROME [On Illustrious Men]. The opposition of COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES, in the sixth century, and that of MARCION because our Epistle was inconsistent with his views, are of no weight against such irrefragable testimony.

The internal evidence is equally strong. Neither the Gospel, nor this Epistle, can be pronounced an imitation; yet both, in style and modes of thought, are evidently of the same mind. The individual notices are not so numerous or obvious as in Paul's writings, as was to be expected in a Catholic Epistle; but such as there are accord with John's position. He implies his apostleship, and perhaps alludes to his Gospel, and the affectionate tie which bound him as an aged pastor to his spiritual "children"; and in 1Jo 2:18,19 4:1-3, he alludes to the false teachers as known to his readers; and in 1Jo 5:21 he warns them against the idols of the surrounding world. It is no objection against its authenticity that the doctrine of the Word, or divine second Person, existing from everlasting, and in due time made flesh, appears in it, as also in the Gospel, as opposed to the heresy of the Docetæ in the second century, who denied that our Lord is come in the flesh, and maintained He came only in outward semblance; for the same doctrine appears in Col 1:15-18 1Ti 3:16 Heb 1:1-3; and the germs of Docetism, though not fully developed till the second century, were in existence in the first. The Spirit, presciently through John, puts the Church beforehand on its guard against the coming heresy.

TO WHOM ADDRESSED.--AUGUSTINE [The Question of the Gospels, 2.39], says this Epistle was written to the Parthians. BEDE, in a prologue to the seven Catholic Epistles, says that ATHANASIUS attests the same. By the Parthians may be meant the Christians living beyond the Euphrates in the Parthian territory, outside the Roman empire, "the Church at Babylon elected together with (you)," the churches in the Ephesian region, the quarter to which Peter addressed his Epistles (1Pe 5:12). As Peter addressed the flock which John subsequently tended (and in which Paul had formerly ministered), so John, Peter's close companion after the ascension, addresses the flock among whom Peter had been when he wrote. Thus "the elect lady" (2Jo 1:1) answers "to the Church elected together" (1Pe 5:13). See further confirmation of this view in Introduction to Second John. It is not necessarily an objection to this view that John never is known to have personally ministered in the Parthian territory. For neither did Peter personally minister to the churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, though he wrote his Epistles to them. Moreover, in John's prolonged life, we cannot dogmatically assert that he did not visit the Parthian Christians, after Peter had ceased to minister to them, on the mere ground of absence of extant testimony to that effect. This is as probable a view as ALFORD'S, that in the passage of AUGUSTINE, "to the Parthians," is to be altered by conjectural emendation; and that the Epistle is addressed to the churches at and around Ephesus, on the ground of the fatherly tone of affectionate address in it, implying his personal ministry among his readers. But his position, as probably the only surviving apostle, accords very well with his addressing, in a Catholic Epistle, a cycle of churches which he may not have specially ministered to in person, with affectionate fatherly counsel, by virtue of his general apostolic superintendence of all the churches.

CONTENTS.--The leading subject of the whole is, fellowship with the Father and the Son (1Jo 1:3). Two principal divisions may be noted: (1) 1Jo 1:5-2:28: the theme of this portion is stated at the outset, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all"; consequently, in order to have fellowship with Him, we must walk in light (1Jo 1:7); connected with which in the confession and subsequent forgiveness of our sins through Christ's propitiation and advocacy, without which forgiveness there could be no light or fellowship with God: a farther step in thus walking in the light is, positively keeping God's commandments, the sum of which is love, as opposed to hatred, the acme of disobedience to God's word: negatively, he exhorts them according to their several stages of spiritual growth, children, fathers, young men, in consonance with their privileges as forgiven, knowing the Father, and having overcome the wicked one, not to love the world, which is incompatible with the indwelling of the love of the Father, and to be on their guard against the Antichristian teachers already in the world, who were not of the Church, but of the world, against whom the true defense is, that his believing readers who have the anointing of God, should continue to abide in the Son and in the Father. (2) The second division (1Jo 2:29-5:5) discusses the theme with which it opens, He is righteous; consequently (as in the first division), "every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him." Sonship in us involves our purifying ourselves as He is pure, even as we hope to see, and therefore to be made like our Lord when He shall appear; in this second, as in the first division, both a positive and a negative side are presented of "doing righteousness as He is righteous," involving a contrast between the children of God and the children of the devil. Hatred marks the latter; love, the former: this love gives assurance of acceptance with God for ourselves and our prayers, accompanied as they are (1Jo 3:23) with obedience to His great commandment, to "believe on Jesus, and love one another"; the seal (1Jo 3:24) of His dwelling in us and assuring our hearts, is the Spirit which He hath given us. In contrast to this (as in the first division), he warns against false spirits, the notes of which are, denial of Christ, and adherence to the world. Sonship, or birth of God, is then more fully described: its essential feature is unslavish, free love to God, because God first loved us, and gave His Son to die for us, and consequent love to the brethren, grounded on their being sons of God also like ourselves, and so victory over the world; this victory being gained only by the man who believes in Jesus as the Son of God. (3) The conclusion establishes this last central truth, on which rests our fellowship with God, Christ's having come by the water of baptism, the blood of atonement, and the witnessing Spirit, which is truth. As in the opening he rested this cardinal truth on the apostles' witness of the eye, the ear, and the touch, so now at the close he rests it on God's witness, which is accepted by the believer, in contrast with the unbeliever, who makes God a liar. Then follows his closing statement of his reason for writing (1Jo 5:13; compare the corresponding 1Jo 1:4, at the beginning), namely, that believers in Christ the Son of God may know that they have (now already) eternal life (the source of "joy," 1Jo 1:4; compare similarly his object in writing the Gospel, Joh 20:31), and so have confidence as to their prayers being answered (corresponding to 1Jo 3:22 in the second part); for instance, their intercessions for a sinning brother (unless his sin be a sin unto death). He closes with a brief summing up of the instruction of the Epistle, the high dignity, sanctity, and safety from evil of the children of God in contrast to the sinful world, and a warning against idolatry, literal and spiritual: "Keep yourselves from idols."

Though the Epistle is not directly polemical, the occasion which suggested his writing was probably the rise of Antichristian teachers; and, because he knew the spiritual character of the several classes whom he addresses, children, youths, fathers, he feels it necessary to write to confirm them in the faith and joyful fellowship of the Father and Son, and to assure them of the reality of the things they believe, that so they may have the full privileges of believing.

STYLE.--His peculiarity is fondness for aphorism and repetition. His tendency to repeat his own phrase, arises partly from the affectionate, hortatory character of the Epistle; partly, also, from its Hebraistic forms abounding in parallel clauses, as distinguished from the Grecian and more logical style of Paul; also, from his childlike simplicity of spirit, which, full of his one grand theme, repeats, and dwells on it with fond delight and enthusiasm. Moreover as ALFORD well says, the appearance of uniformity is often produced by want of deep enough exegesis to discover the real differences in passages which seem to express the same. Contemplative, rather than argumentative, he dwells more on the general, than on the particular, on the inner, than on the outer, Christian life. Certain fundamental truths he recurs to again and again, at one time enlarging on, and applying them, at another time repeating them in their condensed simplicity. The thoughts do not march onward by successive steps, as in the logical style of Paul, but rather in circle drawn round one central thought which he reiterates, ever reverting to it, and viewing it, now under its positive, now under its negative, aspect. Many terms which in the Gospel are given as Christ's, in the Epistle appear as the favorite expressions of John, naturally adopted from the Lord. Thus the contrasted terms, "flesh" and "spirit," "light" and "darkness," "life" and "death," "abide in Him": fellowship with the Father and Son, and with one another," is a favorite phrase also, not found in the Gospel, but in Acts and Paul's Epistles. In him appears the harmonious union of opposites, adapting him for his high functions in the kingdom of God, contemplative repose of character, and at the same time ardent zeal, combined with burning, all-absorbing love: less adapted for active outward work, such as Paul's, than for spiritual service. He handles Christian verities not as abstract dogmas, but as living realities, personally enjoyed in fellowship with God in Christ, and with the brethren. Simple, and at the same time profound, his writing is in consonance with his spirit, unrhetorical and undialectic, gentle, consolatory, and loving: the reflection of the Spirit of Him on whose breast he lay at the last supper, and whose beloved disciple he was. EWALD in ALFORD, speaking of the "unruffled and heavenly repose" which characterizes this Epistle, says, "It appears to be the tone, not so much of a father talking with his beloved children, as of a glorified saint addressing mankind from a higher world. Never in any writing has the doctrine of heavenly love--a love working in stillness, ever unwearied, never exhausted--so thoroughly approved itself as in this Epistle."

JOHN'S PLACE IN THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH.--As Peter founded and Paul propagated, so John completed the spiritual building. As the Old Testament puts prominently forward the fear of God, so John, the last writer of the New Testament, gives prominence to the love of God. Yet, as the Old Testament is not all limited to presenting the fear of God, but sets forth also His love, so John, as a representative of the New Testament, while breathing so continually the spirit of love, gives also the plainest and most awful warnings against sin, in accordance with his original character as Boanerges, "son of thunder." His mother was Salome, mother of the sons of Zebedee, probably sister to Jesus' mother (compare Joh 19:25, "His mother's sister," with Mt 27:56 Mr 15:40), so that he was cousin to our Lord; to his mother, under God, he may have owed his first serious impressions. Expecting as she did the Messianic kingdom in glory, as appears from her petition (Mt 20:20-23), she doubtless tried to fill his young and ardent mind with the same hope. NEANDER distinguishes three leading tendencies in the development of the Christian doctrine, the Pauline, the Jacobean (between which the Petrine forms an intermediate link), and the Johannean. John, in common with James, was less disposed to the intellectual and dialectic cast of thought which distinguishes Paul. He had not, like the apostle of the Gentiles, been brought to faith and peace through severe conflict; but, like James, had reached his Christian individuality through a quiet development: James, however, had passed through a moulding in Judaism previously, which, under the Spirit, caused him to present Christian truth in connection with the law, in so far as the latter in its spirit, though not letter, is permanent, and not abolished, but established under the Gospel. But John, from the first, had drawn his whole spiritual development from the personal view of Christ, the model man, and from intercourse with Him. Hence, in his writings, everything turns on one simple contrast: divine life in communion with Christ; death in separation from Him, as appears from his characteristic phrases, "life, light, truth; death, darkness, lie." "As James and Peter mark the gradual transition from spiritualized Judaism to the independent development of Christianity, and as Paul represents the independent development of Christianity in opposition to the Jewish standpoint, so the contemplative element of John reconciles the two, and forms the closing point in the training of the apostolic Church" [NEANDER].

Summary of the Book of First John

By H. A. "Buster" Dobbs


I.  Introduction (1:1-4).
    A.  Statement about Jesus (1:1).
        1.  Jesus was from the beginning (1:1-2; John 1:1-2).
            a.  Jesus existed before the beginning, but he was 
                 present at the beginning.
            b.  Jesus created all things (John 1:3).
        2.  John says he and others saw, heard, and touched Jesus 
            (1:1).
            a.  Jesus appeared in a body of flesh (1:1).
            b.  Jesus is the word of Life (1:1).
    B.  John wrote this letter that the reader might have fellowship 
        with Jesus and therefore have fullness of joy (1:2-4).
        1.  The eternal life which was with the Father came to earth 
            (1:2).
        2.  John wrote a declaration about Jesus so the reader could 
            have fellowship with John and the other apostles (1:3).
            a.  The apostles were special witnesses of the 
                resurrection (Acts 10:39-41).
            b.  The resurrection proved Jesus to be the Son of God 
                (Rom. 1:4).
            c.  We cannot witness the resurrection of Jesus, but we 
                can know he is risen on the testimony of the apostles
                and have fellowship with the apostles (1:3).
            d.  The apostles have fellowship with Jesus and the Father 
                (1:3).
            e.  If we have fellowship with the apostles, we also have
                fellowship with Jesus and the Father (1:3).
        3.  John also wrote so that all who are in fellowship with the
            apostles, Jesus, and the Father, may have a fullness of 
            joy (1:4).
            a.  Obeying the teaching of the Bible brings fellowship with 
                God (1:2-4).
            b.  Communion with God--sharing with him--brings joy to 
                all who understand the good news of salvation (1:4).
            c.  The complete life, the abundant life, provides all our 
                psychological and spiritual needs.
II.  God is Light (1:5 to 2:28).
     A.  What walking in the light involves (1:5 to 2:28).
         1.  Fellowship with God and the brethren (1:5-7).
             a.  God is light and there is no darkness in him, which 
                 is to say God is pure and in him there is no sin (1:5).
             b.  Those who walk in darkness (sin) have no fellowship
                 with God (1:6).  God cannot be associated with evil 
                 because his purity would be defiled.
             c.  If we sin, we have no fellowship with God (1:6).
             d.  Walking in light (purity) brings fellowship with all 
                 others who walk in the light (1:7).
             e.  The blood of Jesus keeps us clean, but the blood must
                 be applied.  This is true of the outsider and of the child 
                 of God (1:7).  The alien reaches the saving blood in 
                 baptism and the saint receives its benefits in 
                 confession and prayer.
         2.  Consciousness and confession of sins (1:8-10).
             a.  If we deny sin in our lives we are deceived, the truth is
                 not in us, we make God a liar, God's word is not in us 
                 (1:8,10).
             b.  If we confess our sins God will forgive us (1:9). 
                 Confession implies repentance.  Confession is to be 
                 made first to God and then to those we have sinned 
                 against. Confession to God is made through prayer (1:9).
         3.  Imitating the obedience of Christ (2:1-6).
             a.  God does not want us to sin (2:1).
             b.  If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus  
                 Christ the righteous (2:1). The "if we sin" does not imply 
                 that we may not sin--John has already observed that we
                 all sin--but means when we sin.
             c.  Jesus made provision to forgive the sins of the whole 
                 world on the cross (2:2).
             d.  The saving blood must be made actual through trust 
                 and obedience (2:3).
             e.  The disobedient person does not know Jesus (2:4).
             f.  We know we are in God when we keep his word (2:5).
             g.  If we are in God we will follow the example of Jesus in 
                 giving complete obedience to God (2:6).
     B.  What walking in the light excludes (2:7-29).
         1.  Hatred of the brethren is inconsistent with walking in the 
             light (2:7-11).
             a.  An old, new commandment (2:7-8).
             b.  He who hates his brother walks in sin (2:9).
             c.  He who loves is brother walks in purity (2:10).
             d.  He who hates his brother is blind (2:11).
         2.  Worldliness is inconsistent with walking in the light 
             (2:12-17).
             a.  John wrote to little children because their sins were 
                 forgiven and they knew the Father (2:11,13).
             b.  He wrote to the fathers because of their knowledge 
                 (2:12).
             c.  He wrote to young men because they had overcome
                 the evil one and were strong and the word of God 
                 lived in them  (2:12,14).
             d.  Warning not to love the world nor the things that are
                 in the world (2:15).
             e.  Those who love the world do not love God (2:15).
             f.  The world consists of the lust of the flesh, the lust of 
                 the eyes, and the vain glory of life (2:16).
             g.  The world is perishing (2:17).
             h.  He who does the will of God abides for ever (2:17).
         3.  The teaching of antichrist is inconsistent with walking in 
             the light (2:18-29).
             a.  We live in the last dispensation of the world. We know 
                 this because the antichrist has come (2:18).
             b.  The antichrist went out from the saints because they 
                 were not of the saints (2:19).
             c.  True disciples of Jesus have an anointing and know 
                 all things (2:20).  Saints know all things that pertain to
                 life and godliness because they have the word of God. 
                 If the anointing is the means by which the followers of 
                 Jesus know all things, then the anointing must be the 
                 revealed word (2:20).
             d.  They knew the truth - we can know the truth (2:21).
             e.  The antichrist denied that Jesus has come in the flesh 
                 (2:23).
             f.  The gospel does not change and they were told to 
                 abide in what they were first taught (2:24). It is a 
                 mistake to run after some novelty.  Innovations cannot 
                 be truth because the apostles were guided into all truth
                 (John 16:13).
             g.  God gives eternal life (2:25).
             h.  Do not be led astray because that means losing eternal
                 life (2:26).
             i.  You have an anointing--the revealed gospel--and do not 
                 need to be taught something different;  God's anointing--
                 the gospel--is teaching you, and it is no lie (2:27).
             j.  Abide in God by abiding in the truth of the gospel (2:28).
             k.  Doing righteousness (works of righteousness) means we
                 are living in the Father and the Son (2:29).
III.  God is love (3:1 to 5:12).
      A.  Righteousness is the evidence of sonship (3:1-24).
          1.  The children of God (3:1-9).
              a.  Those who are obedient to the heavenly Father are 
                  children of God (3:1).
              b.  Children of God will share in Jesus' glory when he 
                  comes (3:2).
              c.  Children of God are to be pure because of this hope 
                  (3:3).
              d.  Sin is a rejection of the law or will of God and the 
                  substitution of the will of self (3:4).
              e.  In Christ there is no sin, therefore, being in Christ 
                  involves keeping the law or will of God (3:5).
              f.  If you abide in Christ, you do not sin. If you sin, 
                  you do not abide in Christ (3:6).
              g.  Do not be deceived. If you do righteousness, you 
                  are righteous (3:7).
              h.  Sin is of the devil. Jesus came to destroy the works 
                  of the devil (3:8).
              i.  The child of God does not sin (3:9).
          2.  The children of the devil (3:10-12).
              a.  Children of the devil do not righteousness 
                  (righteousness is something done).  He that does not 
                  love his brother in the Lord is a child of the devil 
                  (3:10).
              b.  Children of God love one another (3:11).
              c.  Children of God are not like Cain who killed his 
                  brother (3:12).
              d.  Cain killed his brother because his works were evil 
                  and his brother's works were righteous (3:12).
          3.  Righteousness means love and not hate; life and not 
              death (3:13-24).
              a.  Those who love the world will hate the child of God 
                  (3:13).
              b.  Loving the brethren is an indication that we have 
                  passed from spiritual death to spiritual life (3:14).
              c.  He who hates his brother murders his brother (3:15).
              d.  No murderer has eternal life (3:15).
              e.  We know Jesus loved us because he died for us. 
                  We must be willing to lay down our lives for the 
                  brethren (3:16).
              f.  If we are able to help a needy brother and refuse to 
                  do so the love of God is not in us (3:17).
              g.  Love is not in saying but in doing (3:18).
              h.  If we know and obey the truth, we are sure of our 
                  relationship with God (3:19).
              i.  You know what is in your heart (mind), but God is 
                  greater than your heart and he, too, knows all things 
                  (3:20).
              k.  If we know ourselves to be obedient to the Father's 
                  will,  we have boldness toward God (3:21).
              l.  He gives us what we ask because we keep his 
                  commandments and do the things that please him (3:22).
              m.  God wants us to believe in the power and authority of 
                  Jesus and love one another (3:23).
              n.  We know we are in God if we keep his commandments 
                  (3:24).
      B.  Possession of the Spirit is the source of sonship (4:1 to
          5:12).
          1.  The spirit of truth and the spirit of error (4:1-6).
              a.  We prove the spirits because many false teachers 
                  are in the world (4:1).  We prove the spirits by testing 
                  the teaching with the gospel.
              b.  Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has 
                  come in the flesh is of God.  Confession of Jesus as 
                  the Son of God implies keeping his commandments 
                  (4:2).
              c.  Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is antichrist 
                  and not of God (4:3).
              d.  Those who trust Jesus and obey him will overcome 
                  because God guarantees his victory (4:4). God is on 
                  our side!
              e.  The world hears those who are of the world (4:5).
              f.  We are of God because we keep his commandments. 
                  This is how we know the spirit of error and the spirit 
                  of truth (4:6).
          2.  The duty and power of love (4:7 to 5:3).
              a.  To know God is to love, for God is love (4:7-8).
              b.  God loved us and give his son for us (4:9).
              c.  God loved us before we loved him (4:10).
              d.  If God loved us this much, we ought to love each 
                  other (4:11).
              e.  We cannot become acquainted with God by sight, 
                  but we can know him by the power of love (4:12).
              f.  We know we are right with God because he has 
                  given us of his Spirit (4:13).  The Spirit reveals the
                  word of truth to us through apostles and prophets 
                  (John 16:13).  It is by this word that we can know we 
                  are the children of God (Rom. 8:14-16).
              g.  The gospel is: God sent his son to save the world 
                  (4:14).
              h.  If we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God is in us 
                  and we are in God (4:15).
              i.  If we abide in God, we abide in love and have 
                  boldness in the day of judgment (4:16-17).
              k.  We have no fear of the last judgment because we 
                  love God (4:18-19).
              l.  Loving God means also loving the brethren (4:20-21).
              m.  Faith makes us children of God. If we love God we 
                  must also love all those who are begotten of God 
                  (5:1).
              n.  The key is loving God and doing his commandments 
                  (5:2-3).
          2.  Overcoming the world is proof of sonship (5:4-5).
              a.  Lovers of God overcome the world by faith (5:4-5).
          3.  Evidence that Jesus is the son of God (5:6-12).
              a.  Jesus came by water and the blood (5:6; John 19:34).
              b.  The Spirit is the truth (5:7).
              c.  The three who bear witness are the Spirit (truth), 
                  the water, and the blood (5:8).
              d.  We believe credible testimony from men, but the
                  witness of God is greater and he bore witness of his
                  Son (5:9; Matt. 3:17; 17:5).
              e.  To reject this witness is to reject God (5:10).
              f.  God gave us life in his Son. If we do not have the 
                  Son, we do not have the life (5:11-12).
IV.  Conclusion (5:13-21).
     A.  How we may know that we are of God (5:13).
         1.  We may know we are right with God on the basis of what 
             is written (5:13; John 20:31).
         2.  We know we are of God because of the power of prayer 
             (5:14-17).
             a.  If we ask according to his will, he hears us and we 
                 know that we are of God (5:14-15).
             b.  We must not pray for those who sin unto death 
                 (those who will not confess their sin) (5:16).
             c.  Unrighteousness is sin. Not all unrighteousness 
                 is sin unto death, but some unrighteousness is sin 
                 unto death (5:17).
         3.  Children guard themselves from sin (5:18).
     B.  We know we are of God (5:19-20).
         1.  The whole world belongs to the devil (5:19).
         2.  We know that we are of God because he has given us
             understanding trough his revealed word (5:20).
             a.  Through the things that are written in his revealed 
                 word we know that Jesus came in the flesh for our
                 salvation (5:20).
     C.  Guard yourselves from idols (5:21).