When was 1 John written?

The wide recognition in the early church does also confirm the above. The first to cite from John's First Epistle is Polycarp of Smyrna (around 70 to 155 AC) who himself knew John personally. (The quotation is not explicitly attributed to John, though.) Further references are made by Irenaeus (around 140 to 202 AC), Clemens of Alexandria (around 150 to 215 AC), Tertullian (around 160 to 220 AC), Papias (around 65 to 150 AC according to Eusebius) and the Muratori Canon (end of 2nd century). Modern criticism tends to suggest that the epistle was written either by a "presbyter called John" or by a student of the apostle John.

Most researchers date the epistle towards the end of the first century that is between 90 and 100 AC (the Gospel of John is dated at around the same time). It is probably not possible to state whether the Epistle or the Gospel of John has been written first.

The Epistle itself gives no definite answer to these questions. Some have attempted to fix the date as being before the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. They base their assumption on chapter 2:18 and claim that "the last time" means the closing days for Jerusalem , which is incorrect. The term, "the last time," has in this Epistle the same meaning as in 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Timothy 3:1, and therefore does not mean the last days before the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. But it is clear that John wrote the fourth Gospel record first and his Epistle was written after the Gospel, so that the Epistle was written possibly about the year 90, preceding the Revelation, which was written about the year 96.

Irenaeus states that the Gospel was written by John in Ephesus ; an ancient tradition states that the Epistle was written from the same place.

It is very evident that the Apostle John wrote this epistle late in the first century, when the other Apostles were gone and antichristian teachers were appearing, doing their utmost to seduce and corrupt the saints, particularly those more recently converted, whom he calls "little children," or "babes."

THE MOST CURSORY reading of the first Epistle of John is enough to show us that it bears a very strong likeness to the Gospel of John. The same themes are prominent in both. In the Gospel they are set forth, mainly but not exclusively, in the Lord's own words, and as illustrated in His life. In the Epistle they are still enforced, but the main point now is that they are to be demonstrated in the lives of the children of God. The Gospel shows us things that are true in Him. But the Epistle speaks of "a new commandment … which thing is true in Him and in you" (1 John 2:8). This brief sentence furnishes us with a key to the whole epistle.

This epistle was amongst the last to be written. There were already "antichrists" about, as the second chapter states. These men laid claim to superior knowledge. They claimed that their teachings were a moving forward, an improvement on what had gone before. But under pretence of moving forward they moved clean away from the foundation which had been laid in Christ, and from the life which from the beginning had been manifested in Him, when He came amongst us in flesh. Hence the first thing needful was to make very plain that there had been a real, true, objective manifestation of the eternal life in Christ.

This was doubtless written after the epistles of Peter and Paul. Morally John's writings have their place when the church as a testimony had failed, and the 'last time' had arrived. The three Epistles come in between the Gospel of John and the Revelation. The real remedy for the evils spoken of is the coming in of the Lord as the faithful witness.

The First Epistle of John, we may add, hardly belongs to any particular period, save that (in setting forth the nature and character of the life of God, the touchstone of all profession, and safeguard against all error, against all that does not bear its stamp, and against all the pretensions which, being devoid of it, betray themselves by that very fact) this epistle supposes the entrance of these errors, and thus the latter days of the apostolic age. And this indeed is more or less the case with the epistles called catholic, from not being addressed to any particular assembly, as Paul's, the master-builder's, were. In these we find prophecies of the evil from the very first, and the fact that the mystery of iniquity was at work already. But the catholic epistles take that ground. Jude speaks of corruption entering in, John of apostates going out.

About two years, it seems, after those apostles had finished their course, and just before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, John wrote his epistles. Not only was the Church in ruins, but the holy city and the temple were about to be razed to the ground. How fitting it was that the Spirit of God should move the last surviving apostle to present more saliently than ever before the glories of the incarnate Son, now that "that which was from the beginning" had become so much more evidently the only unchanging resource for the saints! After bestowing upon the Church of God these precious scriptures, the Spirit of God kept silence as to revelation for a space of about thirty years, and then during his banishment in Patmos "the prisoner of the Lord" was inspired to give that great prophecy which is termed "the revelation of Jesus Christ," embracing the history of the professing Church and its judgment - the judgment of Jew and Gentile, the kingdom and glory of Christ and His bride, and, finally, the eternal state. John must have been now over ninety years of age, and his course well-nigh finished. Accordingly, rapidly following the Revelation, the Spirit of God moved him to write the gospel which bears his name, in which Scripture the written word of God was completed. In his gospel John gives us Christ as the eternal Son in the glory of His person, and what He was in His humiliation; in his epistles what He was and is, and in Revelation what He was, is, and will be. Even as to the earth He is seen in this threefold way. (Chap. 1:5.) He was "the faithful witness" in it; He is "the first begotten of the dead" out of it, and He will be "Prince of the kings of the earth" as set over it. But returning to his gospel, we find the Father and the promise of the Father - the Holy Ghost, revealed in a supremely blessed way, the top-stone of divine revelation. May we not say that the gospel of John is the crowning revelation given of God to the Church? and the crown of this crowning revelation is that of which John pre-eminently speaks - the Holy Ghost as the Comforter.

The five books written by the apostle John were all published later than any other writings of Scripture, his gospel considered to be written about A.D. 85, his three epistles about A.D. 90 and Revelation about A.D. 95. His own age would likely be between 85 and 95 during the time of writing, and therefore these books show evidence of a dignity and maturity gained by long experience, yet with no marks of the infirmity of old age. John has been called “the apostle of love,” and his loving admiration of the person of the Son of God is specially evident in his gospel and epistles. However, God chose him to announce the awesome judgments of the Lord Jesus in this book of Revelation. This reminds us that genuine love is not weak and permissive, but faithful and true.

There is a widely spread and generally received tradition that John remained in Judaea till after the death of the virgin Mary. The date of this event is uncertain. But soon after he proceeded to Asia Minor. Here he planted and watched over several churches in different cities, but made Ephesus his centre. Thence he was banished to the Isle of Patmos towards the close of Domitian's reign. There he wrote the Revelation. (Rev. 1:9) On his liberation from exile, by the accession of Nerva to the imperial throne, John returned to Ephesus, where he wrote his Gospel and Epistles. He died about A.D. 100, in the third year of the emperor Trajan, and about one hundred years of age.*

With reference to this persecution, little is known; though that little is undoubtedly interesting. Among the numerous martyrs who suffered were John, the beloved disciple, and Timothy, whom. Paul had written to with such affectionate solicitude. The former is said to have been cast, by the tyrant's command, into a cauldron of boiling oil, but a miracle was wrought in his behalf, and he came out unscathed. Unable to hurt the body, the emperor banished him to Patmos, where he was forced to labour in the mines. Here he wrote the book of the Revelation; and would doubtless have ended his course, but for the unexpected death of the emperor; who was assassinated by the comptroller of his own household on the eighteenth of September, A.D. 96. Being now set at liberty, the apostle returned to Ephesus, where he wrote his gospel history, and the three epistles which bear his name. Love, as ever, seems to have been the ruling motive of his life here; and when he died, at the advanced age of one hundred years, he left as an enduring legacy this simple charge, "Little children, love one another." A simple word, and uttered many years ago, but which of us has learnt it even now?