Introduction to I John

 Dr. Gail E. Terrell
Pastor, Grace Baptist Church, Hamilton, Ohio

  1. Author. Although the author does not identify himself by name, he does write in the first person. The writings of early Christians uniformly recognize apostle John as the author of I John. The following are examples of similarities of vocabulary and style found in I John which are similar to the Gospel of John: to do truth (1:6; John 3:21 ); to walk in darkness ( 2:11; John 8:12 ); children of God (3:2; John 11:52 ); to be born of God (3:9; John 1:13 ); children of the devil (3:10; John 8:44 ); to pass from death to life (3:14; John 5:24 ); the Spirit of truth (4:6; and John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13 ); the only begotten Son (4:9; John 3:16,18); no man has ever seen God (4:12; John 1:18 ); the Savior of the world (4:14; John 4:42 ); the water and the blood (5:6; John 19:34 ). The author probably wrote I John from Ephesus in about 85-95 A.D.
  2. Recipients. I John does not have an addressee; however, I John was written ... to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (1:1).
  3. Theme. That Christian joy might be full, that Christians sin not, and that Christians know and have confidence that they have eternal life in Christ.
  4. Key verses. 1:4And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
  5. Keywords used in I John: know, knoweth, known – 37 times; world­ – 23 times, always in an evil sense as our enemy (cf., 2:15-17); love, loved, loveth – 46 times; sin, sins, sinneth – times; brother, brethren – 17 times; life – 15 times; children – 12 times; truth – 11 times; witness – 7 times; light – 6 times; darkness – 6 times; fellowship – 4 times (more than any other book of the Bible); antichrist – 3 times (all 4 times in the Bible are in John’s epistles).
  6. References to the Lord's church in I John: the word church does not appear in I John. The words love, fellowship, brother and their cognate forms appear 47 times in I John. Loving brethren fellowship together and praise God in the institution that Christ founded, His churches, the assemblies that have Christ as their head! Any Chris­tian that is not a member of a church body is a displaced person, like a bone dislocated from a body. To stay out of church is to stay out of God's will for fellowship and service.
  7. I John has 5 chapters, 105 verses, and about 2,523 words.

Notes