1 John 1:3

"You," the recipients of this epistle, must have been genuine believers in view of how John referred to them (cf. 1 John 2:12-14; 1 John 2:21; 1 John 2:27; 1 John 5:13). They had not known Jesus Christ in the flesh as the apostles had. John wrote so they could enter into and continue to enjoy the intimate fellowship with Him that the apostolic eyewitnesses enjoyed (cf. Acts 10:40-41). [Note: Westcott, p. 4.]

"This verse introduces the purpose of the Epistle: ’that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.’" [Note: Glenn W. Barker, "1 John," in Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 12 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 307.]

"The main theme of the Epistle is fellowship with God." [Note: John G. Mitchell, Fellowship, p. 14. Cf. Hodges, The Epistles . . ., pp. 34, 50.]

"Here we are given, without any hesitation, a description, the summum bonum, of the Christian life; here, indeed, is the whole object, the ultimate, the goal of all Christian experience and all Christian endeavour. This, beyond any question, is the central message of the Christian gospel and of the Christian faith." [Note: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Fellowship With God: Studies in 1 John, p. 77.]

Fellowship requires and rests on information, a common body of knowledge, and mutual acceptance of that data. John wrote to share this information with his readers.

"Thus two fundamental truths, which the philosophical heresies of the age were apt to obscure or deny, are here clearly laid down at the outset: (1) the distinctness of personality and equality of dignity between the Father and the Son; (2) the identity of the eternal Son of God with the historical person Jesus Christ." [Note: Alfred Plummer, The Epistles of S. John, p. 20.]

"It is an interpretive mistake of considerable moment to treat the term ’fellowship’ as though it meant little more than ’to be a Christian.’" [Note: Hodges, "1 John," p. 883. See 3:24.]

False teachers were preaching information about Jesus Christ that was not true. John also wrote to combat their deception.

". . . the epistle . . . is written to a believing community that is dealing with fallout from the departure (1 John 2:19) of persons with beliefs and practices the author cannot endorse." [Note: Yarbrough, p. 29.]