The First Epistle of John is a book of the Bible New Testament.

The fourth of the catholic or "general" epistles. It was traditionally held to have been written by John the Evangelist, and probably also at Ephesus, and when the writer was in advanced 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.

The 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

The purpose ofthe apostle (1:1-4) is to declare the Word of Life to those towhom he writes, in order that they might be united in fellowshipwith the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. He shows that themeans of union with God are, (1) on the part of Christ, hisatoning work (1:7; 2:2; 3:5; 4:10, 14; 5:11, 12) and hisadvocacy (2:1); and (2), on the part of man, holiness (1:6),obedience (2:3), purity (3:3), faith (3:23; 4:3; 5:5), and love(2:7, 8; 3:14; 4:7; 5:1).

Comma Johanneum

One of the most controversial verses of the bible is the Comma Johanneum, verses 5:7 through 5:8. They do not appear in any version of the text prior to the sixteenth century, but do appear in the King James Bible. This is sometimes used as evidence to counter the King-James-Only Movement.

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This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.