Exposition of 1 John

When we completed our 1,500-page exposition of John’s Gospel more than twenty years ago, we were urged to take up the First Epistle of John, but felt quite incompetent to engage in it. The closing books of the New Testament, as their position indicates, require their expositor to possess a fuller knowledge of God’s Word and a more mature spiritual ex- perience than do the earlier ones. The style of John’s Epistle is quite different from that of the other apostles, being more abstract, and for that reason more difficult of apprehension and elucidation. We still feel very unfit for the task upon which we are now entering, but if we wait until we deem ourselves spiritually qualified it will never be essayed. During the past quarter of a century we have given no little prayerful thought to its contents, and have studied carefully all the writings of others on it which the Divine providence has brought our way. The benefits of, and gleanings from this we shall now share with our Christian friends.