The central theme of 1 John is the marks of the saving knowledge of God. John begins with the message regarding this knowledge of God, or “fellowship with Him” (1:5-7). John then goes through three rounds[1] of the threefold signs of salvation: faith[2], love[3], and obedience[4]. John describes salvation in the very words Jesus used: abiding,[5] life,[6] birth,[7] and knowledge.[8] Only those who in these ways are connected to God are truly saved and are ready to meet Jesus when He appears again and to face judgment day as His redeemed people.[9]
Introduction:
1:1-4 Apostolic Witness: testimony from first-hand eyewitness
1:5-7 Message from Jesus: fellowship with the God who is light
1:8-2:2 Sin: confess and repent from sin
Round
1:
2:3-6 Obedience: keep God’s commandments
2:7-11 New Commandment: all who are in the light love one another
2:12-14 Addressee: believers of all ages and stages of life
2:15-17 The World: loving the world cannot coexist with the love of God
2:18-28 Last Hour: be ready for Christ and abide in the truth you heard from the beginning (Scripture)
Round
2:
2:29-3:9 Children of God: practice righteousness, not lawlessness
3:10-24 Love one another: with sacrificial and tangible love
4:1-6 The Spirit of truth: listen and believe the Spirit of truth
4:7-21 God is love: God’s love leads us to love one another
Round
3:
5:1-5 Faith, love, and obedience
5:6-9 Testimony of God: threefold testimony of God regarding His Son
5:10-13 Eternal Life: internal testimony of the life of Jesus in us
5:14-17 Intercession: God answers our prayer for a brother who sins
5:18-21 Preservation: Jesus the true God and eternal life preserves believers
[1] This recurring structure of John is observed by Bible scholars. Kruse writes: “As a piece of epideictic rhetoric, 1 John, not surprisingly, lacks a structure. Instead it revisits the same themes over and over, each time amplifying them further” (Colin Kruse, The Letters of John [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000], 31). Moberly writes: “John's pattern of thinking does not involve sequential logic in the manner of a conventional argument so much as the literary equivalent of musical variations on a theme—a constant circling around the basic issue, coming at it from a variety of angles, developing now this aspect and now that aspect, balancing one statement with another to clarify what is and is not entailed, returning to a point already made so that it may be seen afresh in the light of what has been said subsequently” (R. W. L. Moberly, "Test the Spirits: God, Love, and Critical Discernment in 1 John 4,” in The Holy Spirit and Christian Origins: Essays in Honor of James D. G. Dunn [ed. G. Stanton, B. Longenecker, and S. Barton; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004], 298).
[2] The idea of faith pervades this book in the language of “believe” and “truth” as that which we believe. The language of “believe” is seen in 3:23; 4:1, 16; 5:1, 5, 10, 13, and “truth” seen in 1:6, 8; 2:4, 21; 3:19; 4:6; 5:6. Set in contrast to the truth is deception (1:8; 2:26; 3:7) and John condemns those who espouse it in doctrine or practice as liars (1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20).
[3] The love of God and our reflection of that love in our love for one another is one of the most repeated ideas in this book: 2:5, 10, 15; 3:10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 23; 4:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21; 5:1, 2, 3.
[4] The idea of obedience is seen in the language of commandments and our keeping of them (2:3, 4, 7, 8; 3:22, 23, 24; 4:21; 5:2, 3). By way of contrast, this idea is also seen in the references to “sin” (1:7, 8, 9, 10; 2:1, 2, 8, 12, 17; 3:4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 22; 5:16, 17, 18). Sin is fundamentally “lawlessness” (3:4) and no believer continues in a state of lawlessness.
[5] Abiding in God (2:6, 24, 27, 28; 3:6, 9, 24; 4:12, 13, 15, 16) is also seen in our abiding in His attributes of love (3:17, 24; 4:16) and truth (2:14, 24, 27). This is also a mutual abiding, we abide in Him and He abides in us (4:13, 15, 16), much like Jesus spoke of the vine and the branches (John 15:1-8).
[6] The life of Jesus in the believer is another motif of this book. First, this life is who Jesus is (1:1-2, 5:20). Believers have already passed out of death unto life (3:14) and they presently have eternal life abiding in them (3:15). This is the life which believers possess in the present and forever (5:11-13). This is the life which God gives to all who are repentant (5:16). This life is also seen in our conformity to Christ (2:6; 3:3, 7; 4:17) which is ultimately our conformity to God (1:5-7; 2:29). This also reflects the language of our Lord (John 1:4, 3:16; 4:14; 5:24, 26, 40; 6:33, 35, 47, 53, 54; 8:12; 10:10, 28; 11:25; 12:25; 14:6; 17:2; 20;31).
[7] Spiritual birth is seen in the language of being born of God (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18) as well as the language of children (3:1, 2, 10; 4:4; 5:2) and seed (3:9). This is also language from Jesus (John 3:3-8).
[8] John describes our reconciliation and fellowship with God in terms of knowing God (2:3, 4, 13, 14; 3:6; 4:2, 6, 7, 8; 5:20), which is reminiscent of how Jesus spoke (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 8:19; 14:7, 9; 16:3; 17:3, 25).
[9] John also makes repeated references to the second coming of Christ. John speaks of this in terms of the last hour (2:18), the appearing of Jesus (2:28; 3:2), and judgment day (4:17).