The First Letter of St. John is unique in that it has no greeting at the beginning and no words of farewell at the end. The letter begins with a prologue very much like the Gospel of St. John.
“Beloved: What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life – for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us – what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.”
The two prologues of the Fourth Gospel and the First Letter of St. John share many common themes and words: “Word,” “beginning,” and “life.”
The prologue of the First Letter of St. John gives special attention to the eyewitnesses for the historical manifestation of the Word. In the Church’s liturgy, the First Letter of St. John will be read during the Christmas season beginning on the Feast of St. John the Apostle (Dec. 27).
St. John bore witness to Christ for two purposes: to encourage fellowship (communion) and to make Christians’ joy complete. The main subject of the letter is communion with God, with Christ, and with one another. St. Augustine pointed out that what this letter especially commends to us is love.
St. Bede said, “John shows quite clearly that those who want to have fellowship with God must first of all be joined to the Church and there learn that faith and be blessed with its Sacraments, which the disciples truly received during the time of Christ’s Incarnation.”
The saint added: “The joy of all teachers is complete when by their preaching they bring many into the fellowship of the holy church and also into the fellowship of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, through whom the church is strengthened and grows.”
Vatican II teaches that the messianic people is established by Christ as a communion of life, charity, and truth. (Lumen Gentium, 9)
The fruit of fellowship or communion is joy. St. Augustine said, “The disciples saw the Lord in the flesh, and they heard his words, which they made known to us. We have also heard but have not seen. Are we less happy than they, who both saw and heard? No, for John goes on to say that the reason for his preaching is that we might share in their fellowship.”
The author of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture states: “There are many facets to the broad work of evangelization, but the prologue reveals its heart and centre: to proclaim the One we have personally encountered so that we may all joyfully share in the eternal life of God.”
St. John urges us not to walk in darkness but to walk in the light. St. Bede commented, “John calls sin heresies, and hatred darkness. Therefore, the mere confession of one’s faith is not enough for salvation if there is no sign of good works confirming that faith. But at the same time, the goodness of the works is of no value either, if they are not done in the simplicity of faith and love.”
St. John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 Jn 1:8)
St. John Paul II commented, “Deceived by the loss of the sense of sin and at times tempted by an illusion of sinlessness which is not at all Christian, the people of today also need to listen again to St. John’s admonition, as addressed to each one of them personally: ‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’ (1 Jn 1:8), and indeed ‘the whole world is in the power of the evil one’ (1 Jn 5:19). Every individual therefore is invited by the voice of divine truth to examine realistically his or her conscience, and to confess that he or she has been brought forth in iniquity, as we say in the Miserere Psalm (cf. Ps 51:5).”
St. Bede said, “Since we cannot live in this world without sin, the first hope we have of salvation is through confession.”
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教會團體帶來喜樂
聖若望的第一封信獨特之處在於它開頭沒有問候，結尾沒有告別的話。這封信以序言開頭，非常像聖若若望福音。聖奧斯定指出，這封信特別命我們的是愛。
第四本福音和聖若望一書的兩個序言有許多共同的主題和詞語—『聖言』、『起初』和『生命』。聖若望第一封信的序言特別關注了聖言在歷史中顯現的目擊者。在教會的彌撒禮儀中，聖若望的第一封信是在聖誕節期間從聖若望瞻禮（12月27日）開始誦讀的。
聖若望為基督作見證有兩個目的——鼓勵相通（共融）和使基督徒的喜樂得以圓滿。這封信的主題是與天主、與基督以及彼此相通。
聖伯達說：『若望非常清楚地表明，那些想要與天主相交的人首先必須加入教會，在那裡學習這種信仰並得到聖事的祝福，這是門徒在基督降世時真正領受的。』這聖人補充說：『當所有教師的講道愉快地完成時是將許多人帶入神聖教會的團體中，也帶入天主和祂的聖子耶穌基督的團體中時，教會通過他們得到鞏固和成長。』梵二教導說，默西亞的子民是由基督建立的，是生命、憐愛和真理的共融。（教會憲章，9）
教會團體或共融的果實是喜樂。聖奧斯定說：『門徒們看見了主的肉身，他們聽見了祂話語，他們把這些話告訴了我們。我們也聽說過，但沒有看到。難道我們不如那些既看到又聽到的他們快樂嗎？不，因為若望接著說，他講道的原因是我們可以分享他們的相通』
一位聖經註釋的作者稱：『福傳的廣泛工作有許多方面，但序言揭示了它的核心和中心：宣揚我們親身遇到的那一位，以便我們都可以喜樂地分享天主的永生。』
聖若望敦促我們不要在黑暗中行走，而是在光明中行走。聖伯達評論說：『若望稱罪惡為異端，仇恨為黑暗。因此，如果這種信仰沒有善行相輔，僅僅承認一個人的信仰是不夠的。但與此同時，如果行為的良善不是在信仰和愛的簡單中完成的，那麼它們也是毫無價值的。』
聖若望寫道：『如果我們說我們沒有罪過，就是欺騙自己，真理也不在我們內。 』（若望一 1:18）聖若望保祿二世評論道：『今天的人們被喪失罪惡感所欺騙，有時被一種根本不是基督徒的無罪幻覺所誘惑，他們也需要再次聆聽聖若望的勸誡，這是對他們每一位個人說的：「如果我們說我們沒有罪過，就是欺騙自己，真理也不在我們內」（若望一 1:18），確實的是「而全世界卻屈服於惡者」（若望1 5:19）。因此，每一個人都被神聖真理的聲音所邀請，實事求是地審視他或她的良心，並承認他或她是在罪孽中被帶出來的，正如我們在求憐憫的聖詠 (cf. Ps 51:5)中所說的那樣。』聖伯達說：『既然我們不能生活在這個世界上沒有罪，我們得救的第一個希望就是通過告明。』
