Where Jesus is in this book
Jesus in 1 John
John writes so that believers may know they have eternal life. With warm, plain words he tests true faith by three marks: right belief that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh, obedience to His commands, and love for one another. God is light and love, and Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The book in brief
1 John is a pastoral letter written to assure believers and to protect them from teachers who denied that Jesus had truly come in the flesh. John writes so that his readers may know they have eternal life. He gives tests of genuine faith. Those who walk in the light confess their sins and are cleansed by the blood of Jesus (chapter 1). Those who belong to God keep His commandments and love their brothers and sisters rather than the world (chapters 2 to 3). Those who are born of God believe that Jesus is the Christ and love one another, for God is love and showed it by sending His Son as the atoning sacrifice (chapter 4). John closes with confidence that whoever has the Son has life, and that believers can know they possess eternal life (chapter 5).
A moment that points to Him
1 John 4:9 to 10 shows Christ most clearly, where John writes that God's love was revealed among us in this way: He sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Here the whole letter comes to a point. Christ is the proof and the measure of God's love, the propitiation who bears our sins, and the source of the eternal life John wants his readers to know they have.
Where Jesus is in this book
1 John presents Christ as the eternal Word of life made flesh, the atoning sacrifice, and the ground of assurance. John opens as an eyewitness who heard, saw, and touched the Word of life, insisting that Jesus came in real flesh against those who denied it (chapter 1:1 to 3). Christ is our advocate with the Father and the propitiation for our sins and for the whole world (chapter 2:1 to 2). He is the Son of God who appeared to take away sins (chapter 3:5 to 8). He is the supreme revelation of divine love, sent so that we might live through Him (chapter 4:9 to 10), and the giver of eternal life, so that whoever has the Son has life (chapter 5:11 to 12). To confess this Jesus, truly God and truly come in the flesh, is the heart of saving faith.
Questions people ask
How can I know I am saved according to 1 John?
John gives three tests woven through the letter. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh, the Son of God? Do you seek to obey His commandments? Do you love other believers? These marks do not earn salvation but reveal it. John writes so that those who trust the Son may know they have eternal life (chapter 5:13).
What does 1 John mean that God is love?
In 1 John 4:8 to 10 John says God is love, then defines it not by feeling but by action. God showed His love by sending His only Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Love is grounded in that gift, and because God first loved us, we are called and enabled to love one another as evidence that we know Him.