1 John

What 1 John is about

First John reads like it was written by someone very old to people he thinks of as children. The tone is intimate, the sentences are short, and the same few ideas circle back again and again — light, love, truth, life — each time from a slightly different angle.

Behind it is a rupture. A group has left the congregation, teaching something about Jesus that John regards as fatal: a denial that Christ truly came in the flesh. Those who remain are shaken and wondering whether they were the ones who got it wrong. Much of the letter is written to settle them.

John offers what amount to tests, and he applies them without softening. Do you walk in the light, or claim fellowship with God while living in the dark? Do you keep his commands? Do you love your brother — because anyone who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar, since the one he can see is easier than the one he cannot. Do you confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?

Alongside the tests runs constant reassurance. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive. If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart. See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God — and so we are. And the sentence the letter builds toward twice: God is love, demonstrated not in our loving him but in his sending his Son.

Where it sits in the story

First John shares its vocabulary and concerns with the Gospel of John and is traditionally attributed to the same author. Where the Gospel is written that readers may believe, this letter is written that those who already believe may know that they have eternal life.

Why it is worth reading

Because it manages to be both demanding and comforting without diluting either. First John is the book to read when faith has become anxious — it takes assurance seriously as something God intends his people to have.