About This Book

1 John is written to strengthen believers who have been unsettled by confident spiritual claims and painful division. John brings the church back to what was heard, seen, and proclaimed from the beginning, the apostolic testimony to the Son of God, so that fellowship with God is enjoyed in the light, and joy, holiness, and love take concrete shape in ordinary church life.

The letter does not read like a straight line argument. It moves in strong, repeated turns, exposing false claims, reassuring true believers, and pressing home the single, integrated obedience God requires, faith in his Son expressed in love for the brothers and sisters. There is a distinctly reassuring centre (vv.2:12 to 14), then a direct call to live in a passing world without being ruled by it (vv.2:15 to 17), to resist deceivers (vv.2:18 to 27), to live as God’s children in purity and love (vv.2:28 to 3:24), to test the spirits (vv.4:1 to 6), and to rest in the life God has given in his Son with a clear conscience before him (vv.5:1 to 21).

1 John trains the church to rest its assurance on Christ, and to prove that assurance in a life of light, love, and truth.

Preach 1 John as both unmasking and reassurance, keep the apostolic gospel at the front, and handle the letter’s stark contrasts as pastoral clarity, not as a blunt weapon against bruised believers.

Structure of the Book

This outline is intentionally high level. It is designed to keep sermon planning tethered to the flow of the book.

1. The apostolic gospel and the fellowship it creates
   John begins with what has been seen and proclaimed, so that the church shares fellowship with the Father and the Son, and joy is made complete, vv.1:1 to 4
2. Walking in the light with honest dealing with sin
   God is light, so believers walk in the light through confession, cleansing, and Christ’s advocacy, while false claims are exposed, vv.1:5 to 2:2
3. Knowing God in obedient love
   True knowledge of God shows itself in keeping his commandments and loving the brothers, with light and darkness used to reveal what is real, vv.2:3 to 11
4. The great reassurance to God’s people
   A carefully shaped word to children, fathers, and young men that steadies identity, forgiveness, and spiritual strength, vv.2:12 to 14
5. Life in a passing world and resistance to deception
   Do not love the world, recognise antichrists and the spirit of denial, and abide in what you received from the beginning, vv.2:15 to 27
6. Children of God, purity, and costly love
   Abide in Christ, practise righteousness, refuse hatred, and love in deed and truth with confidence before God, vv.2:28 to 3:24
7. Testing spirits, learning love, and settling assurance
   Discern truth from error, see love defined by God’s sending of his Son, overcome the world by faith, and rest in the testimony God has given, vv.4:1 to 5:21

Key Themes

• Apostolic testimony to the Son, assurance is grounded in the public, proclaimed reality of the incarnate Christ, not private spirituality or novel claims.
• Fellowship in the light, communion with God cannot be separated from a life that matches God’s character, yet the light also brings cleansing, not despair.
• Honest dealing with sin, believers confess sin without excuse, and they rest in Christ’s advocacy and atoning work when they fail.
• Assurance for believers, John writes so that those who believe may know they have eternal life, a settled confidence that fuels obedience.
• The integrated command of God, faith in Jesus Christ and love for one another belong together, obedience is not a separate track but the lived form of true belief.
• Love for the brothers, love is not sentiment but self giving action that mirrors the love of God and protects the church from hatred and division.
• Truth and lies, the church must not be naive, deception is doctrinal and moral, and the truth is guarded by abiding in what was heard from the beginning.
• Antichrists and discernment, false teachers are unmasked by what they deny about Jesus and by the fruit they produce, so the church must test the spirits.
• Overcoming the world, the victory John describes is not bravado but persevering faith that clings to the Son in a passing age.

Recommended Commentaries

Recommendations are grouped to help you build a working shelf. A top choice aims to serve as your primary companion for preaching and teaching. A strong recommendation provides a second trusted voice that complements your main volume. A useful supplement helps with structure, background, or a particular angle, without demanding more time than it is worth.

A simple strategy, choose one main commentary you will actually consult weekly, then add a second voice only where the passage is especially dense or pastorally sensitive.

• The Message of John’s Lettersby David Jackman, Score: 8.9

  A clear, heart-searching guide that weds careful exegesis to searching application for those teaching John’s letters.

• The Epistles Of Johnby I. Howard Marshall, Score: 8.7

  A clear, faithful, and pastorally sensitive exposition of the Johannine Epistles.

• James, Epistles of John, Peter, and Judeby Simon J. Kistemaker, Score: 8.4

  A well-rounded and thoughtful volume that handles each letter with balance, clarity, and a steady pastoral instinct.

Browse all 1 John reviews

Additional help is often most valuable in vv.2:18 to 27 on antichrists and abiding, vv.3:4 to 10 where John’s language about sin is sharp and easily mishandled, and vv.4:1 to 6 on testing spirits in the life of the church.

Preaching and Teaching Helps

1 John rewards slow, confident preaching that lets the letter’s repeated turns do their pastoral work, and that keeps assurance and obedience together rather than setting them against each other.

• Preach the purpose of reassurance, keep vv.5:13 in view so hard edged passages serve comfort, not confusion.
• Handle the letter’s structure honestly, it is not a tidy linear argument, so use clear section headings and show how John returns to the same burdens from different angles.
• Resist turning it into three disconnected tests, keep faith, love, and obedience integrated, and show how one gospel obedience expresses itself in all three.
• Explain John’s stark contrasts, light and darkness, truth and lies, children of God and children of the devil are meant to unmask falsehood and steady the genuine.
• Apply with tenderness and precision, passages on sin and assurance can wound the weak or flatter the hard heart, so aim application at both kinds of hearer with care.
• Teach discernment without paranoia, vv.4:1 to 6 calls for testing spirits by Christ centred truth, not suspicion of everyone, and it should strengthen the church’s confidence in the gospel.

This Book in the Story of Scripture

1 John stands as a mature apostolic witness to the fulfilment of God’s promises in the coming of the Son. The God who is light has revealed himself in the incarnate Christ, and the gospel creates a new fellowship that shares in the life of the Father and the Son, cleansed by the blood of Jesus and kept by the truth handed down from the beginning.

The letter shapes the church’s assurance and holiness together. It teaches believers to live as God’s children in a hostile world, to practise love that looks like the cross, to resist deception by abiding in Christ, and to pray with confidence before the God who gives eternal life in his Son.

Because God has given life in his Son, believers can walk in the light with honest confession, persevering love, and steady hope that does not fail.