Pastoral exhortation · 5 chapters
1 John
True fellowship brings together confession of Jesus, obedience, and love. Assurance rests in God’s life given through the Son, not in pretending to be sinless.
Historical & literary context
Traditionally associated with John the apostle; the author is unnamed. It addresses a community fractured by disagreement about Jesus and Christian life.
Introduction and study notes are commentary, not Scripture.
The shape of the book
- 1–2 · Light, sin, and fellowship
- 3–4 · God’s children, discernment, and love
- 5 · Faith and assurance
A passage to begin with
1 John 4:7-12
7Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. 10And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Read the full chapterThink it through
How does love reveal whether claims to know God have substance?