In the judgment of many critics, the Epistle possesses nothing that can be called an articulate structure of thought, its aphoristic method admitting of no logical development; and this estimate has a large measure of support in the fact that there is no New Testament writing regarding the plan of which there has been greater variety of opinion. The present writer believes, nevertheless, that it is erroneous, and that, in its own unique way, the Epistle is a finely articulated composition. The word that best describes the author's mode of thinking is "spiral." The course of thought does not move from point to point in a straight line. It is like a winding staircase--always revolving around the same center, always recurring to the same topics, but at a higher level.
Carefully following the topical order, one finds, e.g., a paragraph (1Jo 2:3-6) insisting upon practical righteousness as a guaranty of the Christian life; then one finds this treated a second time in 1Jo 2:29 through 1Jo 3:10a; and yet again in 1Jo 5:3 and 1Jo 5:18. Similarly, we find a paragraph on the necessity of love in 1Jo 2:7-11, and again in 1Jo 3:10b-20, and yet again in 1Jo 4:7-13, and also in 1Jo 4:17 through 1Jo 5:2. So also, a paragraph concerning the necessity of holding the true belief in the incarnate Son of God in 1Jo 2:18-28, in 1Jo 4:1-6, and the same subject recurring in 1Jo 4:13-16 and 1Jo 5:4-12. And we shall observe that everywhere these indispensable characteristics of the Christian life are applied as tests; that in effect the Epistle is an apparatus of tests, its definite object being to furnish its readers with the necessary criteria by which they may sift the false from the true, and satisfy themselves of their being "begotten of God." "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1Jo 5:13). These fundamental tests of the Christian life--doing righteousness, loving one another, believing that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh--are the connecting themes that bind together the whole structure of the Epistle. Thus, if we divide the Epistle into 3 main sections, the first ending at 1Jo 2:28, the second at 1Jo 4:6, the result is that in the first and second of these sections we find precisely the same topics coming in precisely the same order; while in the third section (1Jo 4:7 through 1Jo 5:21), though the sequence is somewhat different, the thought-material is exactly the same. The leading themes, the tests of righteousness, love, and belief, are all present; and they alone are present. There is, therefore, a natural division of the Epistle into these three main sections, or, as they might be descriptively called, "cycles," in each of which the same fundamental themes appear. On this basis we shall now give a brief analysis of its structure and summary of its contents.
1. The Prologue, 1 John 1:1-4:
The writer announces the source of the Christian revelation--the historical manifestation of the eternal Divine life in Jesus Christ--and declares himself a personal witness of the facts in which this manifestation has been given. Here, at the outset, he hoists the flag under which he fights. The incarnation is not seeming or temporary, but real. That which was from the beginning--"the eternal life, which was with the Father"--is identical with "that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled."
2. First Cycle, 1 John 1:5 through 2:28:
The Christian life, as fellowship with God (walking in the Light) tested by righteousness, love and belief.--The basis of the whole section is the announcement: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1Jo 1:5). What God is at once determines the condition of fellowship with Him; and this, therefore, is set forth: first, negatively (1Jo 1:6): "if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness"; then, positively (1Jo 1:7): "if we walk in the light, as he is in the light." What, then, is it to walk in the light, and what to walk in darkness? The answer is given in what follows.
(a) Paragraph A, 1 John 1:8 through 2:6:
(Walking in the Light tested by righteousness): First, in confession of sin (1Jo 1:8 through 1Jo 2:2), then in actual obedience (1Jo 2:3-6). The first fact upon which the light of God impinges in human life is sin; and the first test of walking in the light is the recognition and confession of this fact. Such confession is the first step into fellowship with God, because it brings us under the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus, His Son (1Jo 1:7), and makes His intercession available for us (1Jo 2:1). But the light not only reveals sin; its greater function is to reveal duty; and to walk in the light is to keep God's commandments (1Jo 2:3), His word (1Jo 2:5), and to walk even as Christ walked (1Jo 2:6).
(b) Paragraph B, 1 John 2:7-17:
(Walking in the Light tested by love):
(i) Positively:
The old-new commandment (1Jo 2:7-11). Love is the commandment which is "old," because familiar to the readers of the Epistle from their first acquaintance with the rudiments of Christianity (1Jo 2:7); but also "new," because ever fresh and living to those who have fellowship with Christ in the true light which is now shining for them (1Jo 2:8). On the contrary, "He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness" (1Jo 2:9). The antithesis is then repeated with variation and enrichment of thought (1Jo 2:10-11). (Then follows a parenthetical address to the readers (1Jo 2:12-14). This being treated as a parenthesis, the unity of the paragraph at once becomes apparent.)
(ii) Negatively:
If walking in the light has its guaranty in loving one's "brother," it is tested no less by not loving "the world." One cannot at the same time participate in the life of God and in a moral life which is governed by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vain-glory of the world.
(c) Paragraph C, 1 John 2:18-28:
(Walking in the Light tested by belief): The light of God not only reveals sin and duty, the children of God (our "brother") and "the world" in their true character; it also reveals Jesus in His true character, as the Christ, the incarnate Son of God. And all that calls itself Christianity is to be tested by its reception or rejection of that truth. In this paragraph light and darkness are not expressly referred to; but the continuity of thought with the preceding paragraphs is unmistakable. Throughout this first division of the Epistle the point of view is that of fellowship with God, through receiving and acting according to the light which His self-revelation sheds upon all things in the spiritual realm. Unreal Christianity in every form is comprehensively a "lie." It may be the antinomian "lie" of him who says he has no sin (1Jo 1:8) yet is indifferent to keeping God's commandments (1Jo 2:4), the lie of lovelessness (1Jo 2:9), or the lie of Antichrist, who, claiming spiritual enlightenment, yet denies that Jesus is the Christ (1Jo 2:22).
3. Second Cycle, 1 John 2:29 through 4:6:
Divine Sonship Tested by Righteousness, Love and Belief.
The first main division of the Epistle began with the assertion of what God is as self-revealing--light. He becomes to us the light in which we behold our sin, our duty, our brother, the world, Jesus the Christ; and only in acknowledging and loyally acting out the truth thus revealed can we have fellowship with God. This second division, on the other hand, begins with the assertion of what the Divine nature is in itself, and thence deduces the essential characteristics of those who are "begotten of God."
(a) Paragraph A, 1 John 2:29 through 3:10a:
(Divine sonship tested by righteousness): This test is inevitable. "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of him" (1Jo 2:29). But this new idea, "Begotten of God," arrests for a time its orderly development. The writer is carried away by wonder and thanksgiving at the thought that sinful man should be brought into such a relation as this to God. "Behold what manner of love!" he exclaims. This leads him to contemplate, further, the present concealment of the glory of God's children, and the splendor of its future manifestation (1Jo 3:1-2). Then the thought that the fulfillment of this hope is necessarily conditioned by present endeavor after moral likeness to Christ (1Jo 3:3) leads back to the main theme, that the life of Divine sonship is by necessity of nature one of absolute antagonism to all sin. This necessity is exhibited (1) in the light of the moral authority of God--sin is lawlessness (1Jo 3:4); (2) in the light of Christ's character, in which there is no sin, and of the purpose of His mission, which is to take away sin (1Jo 3:5-7); (3) in the light of the diabolic origin of sin (1Jo 3:8); (4) in the light of the God-begotten quality of the Christian life (1Jo 3:9). Finally, in this is declared to be the manifest distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil (1Jo 3:10).
(b) Paragraph B, 1 John 3:10b-24a:
(Divine sonship tested by love): This test is inevitable (1Jo 3:10b,11). The thought is then developed pictorially instead of dialectically. Cain is the prototype of hate (1Jo 3:12). Cain's spirit is reproduced in the world (1Jo 3:13). Love is the sign of having passed from death into life (1Jo 3:11Jo 4:1-21a); the absence of it, the sign of abiding in death (1Jo 3:11Jo 4:1-21b,15). In glorious contrast to the sinister figure of Cain, who sacrifices his brother's life to his morbid self-love, is the figure of Christ, who sacrificed His own life in love to us His brethren (1Jo 3:16a); whence the inevitable inference that our life, if one with His, must obey the same law (1Jo 3:16b). Genuine love consists not in words, but in deeds (1Jo 3:17-18); and from the evidence of such love alone can we rightly possess confidence toward God (1Jo 3:19-20) in prayer (1Jo 3:22). Then follows recapitulation (1Jo 3:23,11Jo 4:1-21b), combining, under the category of "commandment," love and also belief on His Son Jesus Christ. Thus a transition is made to Paragraph C.
(c) Paragraph C, 1 John 3:24b through 4:6:
(Divine sonship tested by belief): This test is inevitable (1Jo 3:21Jo 4:1-21b). "We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he gave us"; and the Spirit "which he gave us" is the Spirit that "confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh" (1Jo 4:2). On the contrary, the Spirit that confesseth not Jesus is the spirit of Antichrist (1Jo 4:3) Then follows a characterization of those who receive the true and of those who receive the false teaching (1Jo 4:4-6).
4. Third Cycle, 1 John 4:7 through 5:21:
Closer Correlation of Righteousness, Love and Belief.
In this closing part, the Epistle rises to its loftiest heights; but the logical analysis of it is more difficult. It may be divided into two main sections dealing respectively with love and belief.
(a) SECTION I, 1 John 4:7 through 5:3a.
(i) Paragraph A, 1 John 4:7-12:
This paragraph grounds more deeply than before the test of love. Love is indispensable, because God is love (1Jo 4:7-8). The proof that God is love is the mission of Christ (1Jo 4:9); which is also the absolute revelation of what love, truly so called, is (1Jo 4:10). But this love of God imposes upon us an unescapable obligation to love one another (1Jo 4:11); and only from the fulfillment of this can we obtain the assurance that "God abideth in us" (1Jo 4:12).
(ii) Paragraph B, 1Jo 4:13-16:
This paragraph strives to show the inner relation between Christian belief and Christian love. The true belief is indispensable as a guaranty of Christian life, because the Spirit of God is its author (1Jo 4:13). The true belief is that "Jesus is the Son of God" (1Jo 4:14-15). In this is found the vital ground of Christian love (1Jo 4:16).
(iii) Paragraph C, 1Jo 4:17 through 1Jo 5:3a:
Here the subject is the effect, motives and manifestations of brotherly love. The effect is confidence toward God (1Jo 4:17-18); the motives: (1) God's love to us (1Jo 4:19); (2) that the only possible response to this is to love our brother (1Jo 4:20); (3) that this is Christ's commandment (1Jo 4:21); (4) that it is the natural instinct of spiritual kinship (1Jo 5:1). But true love is inseparable from righteousness. We truly love the children of God only when we love God, and we love God only when we keep His commandments (1Jo 5:2-3a).
(b) SECTION II, 1 John 5:3b-21.
(i) Paragraph A, 1 John 5:3b-12:
Righteousness is possible only through belief. It is our faith that makes the commandments "not grievous" because it overcomes the world (1Jo 5:1-21:1Jo 3:1-24b,1Jo 4:1-21). Then follows a restatement of the contents of the true belief, specially directed against the Cerinthian heresy (1Jo 5:5-6); then an exposition of the "witness" upon which this belief rests (1Jo 5:7-10); then a reiterated declaration of its being the test and guaranty of possessing eternal life (1Jo 5:11-12).
(ii) Paragraph B, 1Jo 5:13-21:
This closing paragraph sets forth the great triumphant certainties of Christian belief: its certainty of eternal life (1Jo 5:13), and of prevailing in prayer (1Jo 5:14-15). Then the writer guards himself by citing an instance in which such certainty is unattainable--prayer for those that sin unto death--and reminds his readers that all unrighteousness, though not sin unto death, is sin (1Jo 5:16-17). He then resumes the great certainties of Christian belief: the certainty that the Christian life stands always and everywhere for righteousness, absolute antagonism to all sin (1Jo 5:18); the certainty of the moral gulf between it and the life of the world (1Jo 5:19); its certainty of itself, of the facts on which it rests, and the supernatural power which has given perception of these facts (1Jo 5:20). With an abrupt, affectionate call to those who know the true God to beware of yielding their trust and dependence to "idols," the Epistle ends.
Continued in JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF, PART 4-9.