As we enter the final chapter of I John it’s quite possible, perhaps even likely, that this is the last apostolic message written to a church. What about 2^nd & 3^rd John? They were written to individuals.

So this week we come to the last chapter of the last letter to a church, from the last living Apostle. It’s not that these words carry any more weight than the rest of Scripture but in my mind there is something about final words that makes them significant. I feel the same way about the words of Paul in II Timothy and Jesus in the Upper Room.

As John begins to wrap things up, he doesn’t really say anything radically new. In 1 John 5:1–5, he writes again about his three favorite topics: love, obedience and faith – but there is a magnificent progression of thought in this passage that pulls it all together for us.