The book of First John is one of five books written by John, the apostle

• The Gospel of John; 
• John’s three epistles- First, Second, and Third John;
• Revelation. 

 Although John’s name is never mentioned in the Three Epistles of John , tradition affirms that John, the apostle, is the author.  A careful study and comparison of the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John provides too many similarities in the writings to deny that John, the Apostle, wrote these books.

First John was probably written around 80 to 100 A.D., while John was living in Ephesus.  Some Bible scholars consider the epistles of John to be the last books that John wrote and were probably the last books in the Bible to be written. 

Dr. J. Vernon McGee, in his Thru the Bible Commentary tells us that:  “the three epistles are called letters; yet the first epistle is not in the form or style of a letter. It has no salutation at its beginning nor greeting at its conclusion. Its style is more that of a sermon. It bears all the marks of a message from a devoted pastor who had a love and concern for a definite group of believers. 

John served as pastor of the church in Ephesus, which was founded by Paul. It has been the belief of the church down through the years that John wrote his Gospel first, his epistles second, and finally the Revelation just before his death.

However, in recent years some of us have come to the position that John wrote his epistles last. Therefore, he wrote his first epistle after his imprisonment on the Island of Patmos. This places the date about B.C. 100.  

John died in Ephesus and was buried there. The Basilica of St. John was built over the grave of John by Justinian in the fifth century.”


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