First Epistle of John

The First Epistle of John\nis a book of the Bible New Testament. It the fourth of the catholic or "general" epistles. It was\ntraditionally held to have been written by John the Evangelist, \nand probably also at Ephesus, and when the writer was in \nadvanced age. The Epistle's content, language and conceptual style is an indication that a common authorship existed between this letter, the two other letters attributed to the Apostle John, as well as the Gospel of John. Whether the author was the Apostle John himself, someone who wrote under his name and spoke "for him", or whether a body of authors contributed to the writing of all four Johannine texts is an open question. \nThe author wrote the Epistle so that "you who believe in the name of the Son of God... may know that you have eternal life." (5.13) It appears as though the author was concerned about heretical teachers that had been influencing churches under his care. Such teachers were considered Antichrists (2.18-19) who had once been church leaders but whose teaching became heterodox. It appears that these teachers taught that Christ was a Spirit being without a body (4.2), that his death on the cross was not as an atonement for sins (1.7) and that they were no longer able to sin (1.8-10) \nThe purpose of\nthe apostle (1:1-4) is to declare the Word of Life to those to\nwhom he writes, in order that they might be united in fellowship\nwith the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. He shows that the\nmeans of union with God are, (1) on the part of Christ, his\natoning work (1:7; 2:2; 3:5; 4:10, 14; 5:11, 12) and his\nadvocacy (2:1); and (2), on the part of man, holiness (1:6),\nobedience (2:3), purity (3:3), faith (3:23; 4:3; 5:5), and love\n(2:7, 8; 3:14; 4:7; 5:1).

External Link

\n* Read 1 John at Bible Gateway \n\n\n Category:Christian texts\nJohn 1