• 1.9 // 1 JOHN 1:1-4
• 1.16 // 1 JOHN 1:5-10
• 1.23 // 1 JOHN 2:1-2
• 1.30 // 1 JOHN 2:3-6
• 2.6 // 1 JOHN 2:7-11
• 2.13 // 1 JOHN 2:12-14
• 2.20 // 1 JOHN 2:15-17
• 2.27 // LORD’S SUPPER SERVICE
• 3.6 // 1 JOHN 2:18-19
• 3.13 // 1 JOHN 2:20-25
• 3.20 // 1 JOHN 2:28-3:3
• 3.27 // 1 JOHN 3:4-10
• 4.3 // 1 JOHN 3:11-18
• 4.10 // 1 JOHN 3:19-24
• 4.17 // EASTER SUNDAY SERVICE
• 4.24 // 1 JOHN 4:1-6
• 5.1 // 1 JOHN 4:7-12
• 5.8 // 1 JOHN 4:13-21
• 5.15 // 1 JOHN 5:1-5
• 5.22 // 1 JOHN 5:6-12
• 5.29 // 1 JOHN 5:13-21

      John uses the phrase “by this we know” or some iteration of that phrase thirteen times. He also uses the phrase “I write these things in order that” nine times throughout his first letter. In these twenty-two statements, we find that John’s purpose in his letter is to explain to the church the difference between authentic believers and false followers. Authentic believers are those who confess Jesus as the Son of God who has come in the flesh to save the world from its sin. Authentic believers know they have confessed Jesus, because they obey the Lord, love their Christian brothers and sisters, have confidence before, and have received the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth of Jesus to them.

         False followers are those who deny the central truths of Jesus’s essence. They do not obey the truth, nor do they love one another. Instead, they teach a different gospel and ignore the necessity of morality. In the end, they seek to serve themselves by separating from God’s church and following whatever message or person that seems to sound good in the moment. The false followers are urging the church (John’s audience) to reject the message they once heard (as revealed in John’s Gospel) and follow the more modern way of thinking (some form of Gnosticism that rejects Jesus as the Son of God). The church struggles to know who is correct: John or the false followers (the secessionists). John writes his letter to reassure the church that they have come to know the truth in Jesus.

       Therefore, John shows them (and us) that authentic follows of Jesus have three characteristics: right belief that exalts Jesus as the Son of God, right behavior to God’s truth as revealed in God’s Word through God’s Son and Spirit, and right brotherly love for those who claim to know Jesus.