1st John is a wonderful epistle full of deep sayings about God and his love for us. John wrote the Epistle so that the joy of his audience would "be full" (1.4) and that they would "sin not" (2.1) and that "you who believe in the name of the Son of God... may know that you have eternal life." (5.13) The letter was written to (1:1-4) is to declare the Word of Life to those to whom he writes, in order that they might be united in fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. He shows that the means of union with God are, (1) on the part of Christ, his atoning work (1:7; 2:2; 3:5; 4:10, 14; 5:11, 12) and his advocacy (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).
There are many scriptural gems here -- and the whole book bears reading often. in Chapter 4 alone you find the amazing verse pictured above, as well as that wonderful promise of 4:4 "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world!" And then there is the sage advice of 4:11 "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." We are called to be people of remarkable, radical love, not as the world loves, but as Jesus loves us.
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