Short Summary 1 John
Chapter 1. Jesus Christ, God’s nature, fellowship. The apostles knew Jesus intimately. They saw him, heard him, touched him, and had fellowship with him. He was a real person and also God. They spread the message about Jesus who was the word of Life and the eternal life so others may have fellowship with him and with each other. God is light and without sin. To have fellowship with God a believer must not sin, or if he does sin he needs to confess that sin to God and God restores him to fellowship. It is wrong to claim you do not sin.
Chapter 2. Knowing God, worldliness, antichrists. Jesus is the believer’s advocate (he defends us from accusers) and propitiation (God the Father accepted his sacrifice) for the sins of the whole world. The believers who intimately know God and abide in him will love God, keep his commandments, and love believers. This is walking in God’s light. Hating the brother is a sign of walking in darkness or sin. If they hate, they do not love the Father. Little children, fathers, and young men are apparently different groups or stages of spirituality maturity. John gives two more warnings: do not love the world, and beware of antichrists. Love for the world contradicts love for God our Father. Antichrists, directed by false spirits, deny Jesus’ true humanity and deity. The indwelling Holy Spirit teaching through the apostles has taught them about Jesus Christ. John concludes this section by affirming that abiding in Christ—to be closely associated with him—is vital, both for the present time and to give us confidence for Jesus’ return.
Chapter 3. Children of God, God’s seed, God’s commandment. God the Father loves his children so much. When Jesus returns to earth we will see him and be changed to be like him. Awaiting this event should motivate believers to live righteously. Sin is contrary to Jesus’ character, and when we sin we are imitating the devil. One who abides in Jesus will not sin. God’s seed, the new Christ nature is in us, and that seed cannot sin. We sin when we chose to live from our sinful or Adam nature. We are to love the Christian brethren, not hate like Cain did toward his brother. Love and righteousness go together. Love for the brethren includes what we say, what we do, and is the application of God’s truth in life. If you love rightly, God knows so do not condemn yourself for not doing enough. God’s summary command is to believe Jesus Christ and love one another. If we do, we abide in God and he in us.
Chapter 4. Test the spirits, God is love, abide. We are to test the spirits that speak through the prophet teachers to confirm that they agree that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Those who deny that Jesus is God in the flesh reject this. They are antichrists. Children of God have overcome these false teachers through the apostles’ teaching combined with the Holy Spirit inside them. We are to love other believers since we are spiritually born from God and God is love. When we do not love believers, we are also not abiding in God. What is godly love like? God demonstrated his love by sending Jesus Christ to be the savior of the world. Since God loved us we should love one another. People cannot see God but they see his love in us. Godly love indicates mutual abiding between God and the believer. Furthermore, godly love removes any fear and replaces that with confidence as we anticipate the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Chapter 5. Victory, assurance, prayer, sin. Faith begins this section: Believers in Jesus Christ are born of God people. We have positional victory over the world because of relationship with God by faith. We also can have day to day victory by faith over sin, fear, and the world with its values and temptations. Three witnesses testified that God sent Jesus to be the savior of the world: water—the baptism of Jesus, blood—his crucifixion, and the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus. God’s testimony about his Son is much greater than any other testimony. Whoever believes in God’s Son has believed God’s testimony for himself; it is part of him. God testified: God gave his Son; life is in his Son; he who has the Son has life. God wants everyone who believes in his Son to know that he possesses eternal life (assurance of salvation). Confidence in our salvation gives us confidence in our prayer life. John finishes his letter by warning about sin unto death, praying for sinning believers, that our born of God nature keeps us from sin, that Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life, and a warning against idols (Ephesus was a center for idol production). John ends his letter like he began: Jesus Christ is God and eternal life—bookends.