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At the end of the first century, several currents of religious thought described as “Gnostic” were beginning to circulate; their spokesmen emphasized a special religious “knowledge” (Greek: gnosis), from which they expected salvation. Among them certain themes were constantly repeated, but in a radically dualistic perspective: light and darkness, truth and falsehood, life and death.
Against these innovators, four ideas had to be developed: knowledge of God, the person of Jesus, the reality of sin, and fraternal love.
Knowledge of God, who is light and love, brings Christians their happiness. This knowledge comes not from an inspiration from on high nor from the searching of our minds; it is given in Jesus Christ, in whom we touch, as it were, the self-manifestation of God, a point that is emphasized at the beginning of the Letter. Christian faith goes back to the direct testimony of those who were with the Lord. Jesus is the Son of God. But he had a real body, really gave his blood, suffered, and rose from the dead. If the coming of Christ in the flesh is rejected (see 1 Jn 4:2), Christianity in its entirety collapses. There is no longer any redemption or any knowledge of God. Christ saves from sin. Therefore, sin exists. We must acknowledge this and accept our being saved from it. This realism does not open the way to discouragement, but on the contrary is a prerequisite for hope.
Finally, God is love, communion. He first loves, and Jesus bears witness to this love. To believe in God means to enter into this relationship of love.
Never has it been made so clear that fraternal love is so essential to faith. Faith is not a form of abstract speculation, but a participation with God in the victory over evil, which is here called “the world.”
The way of entering into the themes, repeating them, enriching them, and advancing in a spiral fashion is characteristic of this document, as it already was of the Gospel of John. We cannot regard the work as an occasional Letter; rather it is a long-matured effort to respond to the crisis that was agitating the communities.
Let us think of it, therefore, as a circular Letter, a meditation rather than a treatise, a text for preaching and teaching.
Where did it come from?
So great is its affinity in thought and form with the fourth Gospel that it evidently came, if not directly from the author of that work, then at least from circles close to him. The document was probably written toward the end of the first century, in Asia Minor (perhaps at Ephesus), and for the Churches of that province.
The First Letter of John may be divided as follows:
Prologue: (1:1-4)
I: Walk in the Light (1:5—2:28)
II: Children of God (2:29—4:6)
III: Remain in Love (4:7-21)
IV: Believe in the Son of God (5:1-12)
Epilogue: (5:13-21)