Overview
Against teaching that denied that Yeshua is the Messiah come in the flesh, the letter sets forth the marks of the true believer: keeping God's commandments, love for one another, and right confession. It was written so that believers may know that they have eternal life.
Theme Fellowship with God, who is light and love, marked by keeping His commandments and by love
Historical background
The letter presupposes a situation in which some had departed from the community (1 John 2:19). These are generally associated with an early docetic tendency that denied Yeshua's coming in the flesh. It is closely linked in vocabulary and themes to the Gospel of John, and it defines sin as lawlessness, anomia (1 John 3:4).