THE PURPOSE: To emphasize the importance of maintaining fellowship with God and holding fast to apostolic doctrine.
THE THEME: Fellowship with God and other believers promotes true joy (1:3-4).
THE AUTHOR: From its early history the church believed the apostle John wrote 1 John. Several ancient writers referred to this book as John's writing (e.g., Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian). The writer also claimed apostolic authorship and knew Christ intimately (1:1-4). Furthermore, many similarities exist by way of key words (''abide'') or contrasting figures like ''light and darkness,'' ''righteousness and sin,'' ''life and death,'' ''love and hate,'' and ''truth and error.''
THE AUDIENCE: According to early church tradition John ministered in Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia, for many years after he left Palestine. We know that John knew the churches and Christians in that Roman province well from Revelation 2 and 3. Perhaps his readers lived in that province. It is also possible that 1 John was a circular letter to be distributed among several churches. John's readers are undoubtedly saved individuals. They are regularly referred to as ''little children'' (2:1, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 5:21), ''beloved'' (3:2, 21; 4:1, 7, 11), they are cleansed from their sins (1:7; 4:10), and they have eternal life (5:11-13).
DATE AND SETTING: It is difficult to precisely date 1 John, but since many of the themes and words are so similar to the gospel of John, it is reasonable to assume it was written after the gospel but before the persecutions of Domitian in A.D. 95. The letter is a polemical discourse against heretics who are explicitly denying that Jesus was/is the Christ (2:22-23). These antagonists claim to have fellowship with the Father apart from Christ (1:6). In so doing, they contend that works may achieve access to the Father and to eternal life.
KEY VERSES: 1 John 1:3-4: ''what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.'' See also 1 John 5:11-13.
KEY PHRASES: There is a wealth of antithetical parallelism: light vs. darkness, truth vs. falsehood, love vs. hatred, love of the world vs. love of the Father, Christ vs. antichrists, children of God vs. children of the devil, righteousness vs. sin, the Spirit of God vs. the spirit of the Antichrist, and life vs. death. KEY WORDS: The key concept is intimate fellowship as expressed in the terms ''fellowship'' (koinonia, 1:3 [twice], 6, 7) and ''abide/remain/continue'' (meno, twenty-four times 2:6, 10, 14, 17, 27, 28; 3:6, 9, 14, 15, 17, 24; 4:12, 13, 15, 16). The most prolific word in the letter is ''love,'' which occurs forty-six times. Another especially significant word is the verb ''know,'' which is used a total of forty times (ginosko = fifteen times; oida = twenty-five times). The word ''brother'' (adelphos) is also used fifteen times in this epistle.
THE OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTICS: - The epistle contains the simplest Greek in the NT, yet incredibly deep truths. - The epistle is missing the author's name, greetings, wish, or prayer. -The epistle is sermonic in its literary genre. - The epistle is one of the earliest books to be accepted into the NT canon. - The epistle grew out of the Upper Room Discourse (John 14-17). - There is a pastoral element to the book. - There are no OT quotations. - Familiar truths are repeated and reemphasized in a circular fashion. - The doctrine of regeneration is prominent, while in Paul the doctrine of justification is prominent.
CHRIST IN 1 JOHN: The present ministry of Christ is portrayed in this epistle (1:5-2:22). His blood continually cleanses the believer from all sin (1:9), and He is our righteous Advocate before the Father (2:1). The epistle places particular stress on Jesus' incarnation, His identity as the Christ (2:22; 4:2-3), and His return (2:28-3:3).
