introduction of 1 John by Stephen Butawo

Who wrote the book of 1 John?

The the boo of the first John is different like other books in the sense that the author is not mentioning his name as other authors do to their works. the book of 1 John is believed that it was written by one of the of Disciples of Jesus Christ known to be John. We can understand and see the same style of writing in other books which are also known to be written by apostle John the son of Zebedee. “John, the son of Zebedee and brother of James (the first apostle to be martyred, cf. Acts 12:2), wrote five books of the New Testament. He wrote the Gospel of John to convert sinners. He wrote the epistles of John to confirm the saints. And he wrote the book of Revelation to coronate the Savior.”we have come to the knowledge that John the son of Zebedee is the author.

To whom was it written?

The audience are not mentioned by name but what the author John did not forget is that , he gave us the hint that the receivers were believers and he know them. How do we come to that truth? Chapter 2:1, we see the John refereeing the receivers as “my little children” and in verse 3 he even include himself by using the pronoun “we”. we see that the author knows his audience well by mentioning them as “beloved”, “my father” “we”, and “my little children.” in short the the book of 1 john was written to believers.

when was it written?

Church fathers like Tertullian,Eusebius,and Origen just to mention a few said the the book of 1 john was written around 95 and 110 AD in Ephesus.

why was it written?

we have to come to the knowledge why this book was written. the author is writing this book as a call to fellowship with God which is found in this same book. “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” apostle John is calling the receivers or all the believers to the fellowship with one another and with Christ our Lord.

Application

from above information we now understand that the book of 1 John was written to the believers which the author is even including himself as one in faith with his audience. we understand also that, the author is the eye witness to what he saw and heard. that is the great information which we can get, that author is even calling us as believers to the fellowship and be one in Christ because is exact of what God desires.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Akin, Daniel L. 2014. Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference.