DEVELOPED FROM ANALYSIS OF THE DESIGN STRUCTURE OF 1 JOHN

INTRODUCTION
♦ I studied, wrote a commentary for and taught 1 John in 1995. In my study I noticed that John seemed to be teaching the same basic theme three separate times using slightly different language but with repeated phrases. Twelve years later, in 2007, I began studying and writing a commentary on the book of Revelation, also written by John. As I began my study the first thing I had to do was to convince myself whether there were three sets of seven separate judgments presented in Revelation or one set of seven judgments presented three times using similar language but yet with different features being emphasized. That is what led me to do this study. The results along with several other clues in Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible led me to conclude that the second case is in fact what is intended. I discovered that John did in fact write in repeating patterns in his Gospel, his letters and in Revelation.
♦ John says that he wrote 1 John so that believers might know for certain that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13). This book is John’s proof to believers that they can be sure that they have eternal life.
♦ John used several major arguments or topics in making his proofs. He presented each topic or argument over and over, each time in somewhat different language or in somewhat different contexts for emphasis. He used the word “know” in repeated phraseology, in a very mathematically structured way, in making his arguments. That structure will become evident as we go on.
♦ In fact, in revealing ways in which believers might know within themselves that they have eternal life, John repeated the phrase “by this we know” seven times in this letter. This phrase is translated “this is how we know” in the NIV Bible. Each of these seven “by this we know” statements seemed to key one of John’s repetitive topics.
♦ In both the NIV and Greek versions of 1 John we see three sets of seven ways that John uses “by this we know,” “we know that” or other variations of “know” statements. In the attached table I have ordered the verses that contain the phrase “by this we know” in the order in which they appear in 1 John. I discovered that the latter two sets of seven each have a particular topic that amplifies one particular topic in the first set, which is the basic and most important set. It is interesting that in a few instances the NIV did not properly translate the Greek. For that reason the analysis and conclusions that are contained herein were made using the Greek/English Interlinear Bible.
♦ These three sets of seven variations of “know” statements from the Greek are shown in the following table.
♦ One of the very interesting things that I discovered in my analysis is that each of the “by this we know” statements somehow relates to God’s New Testament command given in 1 John 3:23, “to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” Of course that means that each of the other “we know” statements also relates to this command in some way.
♦ Possibly the most amazing thing that I discovered in this study was that when I ordered the topics in the same sequence that the “by this we know” topics appeared in 1 John, they seemed to be ordered according to John’s statement in John 14:6-7. This statement tells us the only way that we can KNOW the Father. “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” An analysis that shows this quite clearly is presented on the second page of the accompanying table.
♦ Another quite fascinating thing that I discovered in this analysis is that each one of the seven topics presented has an action associated with it that is required for “knowing” that we have eternal life. Several results are presented that are associated with each action. These actions and results are also presented in the table. Another interesting discovery is that the actions required in all seven of the topics are all described by variations of two phrases (1) to OBEY his commands and (2) to LOVE as Jesus did. Of course we can note that this goes right back to what is required of us in God’s New Testament command as described above.
♦ As we outline and analyze 1 John in the accompanying tables I believe that the mystical, repetitive writing style used by John (as inspired by the Holy Spirit) will become obvious. It will require patience and considerable concentration to do this. So, put on your “thinking cap,” read on and enjoy the fruits of your study.

THE UNIQUE DESIGN STRUCTURE OF 1 JOHN
♦ 1 John contains 3 parallel teachings with each centering on how we can “know” for certain that we have eternal life, with each involving “know” statements, and with each of the 3 having 7 related topics.
♦ Each of the 7 topics has 3 key features; an act, a goal & a result.
♦ Each of the 7 topics amplifies Johns key passage in his gospel concerning Jesus being the “only way to heaven,” John 14:6. The obvious reason for this is that John’s stated purpose for writing 1 John was to teach us “how we can know for sure that we are going to heaven.”
♦ Just how do we get to heaven? It is only through Jesus. In each of these 7 related topics John is telling us what our goals should be, what we must do to achieve those goals, and finally the results we achieve by meeting the goals. Each of the 7 results gives us confidence that we have eternal life with God, with Jesus, in our future.

John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

THE 7 “BY THIS WE KNOW” VERSES in 1 John
1 John 2:2 I Am; Jesus, as the I AM, takes away our sins.
1 John 2:5 The way; Jesus is the only way to God. We live in him; are his children.
1 John 3:19 The truth; Jesus is the truth and the true God.
1 John 3:24 The life; he lives in us and gives us eternal life.
1 John 4:6 No one comes; There is an alternate path that leads to destruction; some choose death over life.
1 John 4:13 To the Father; The Father is love; love leads us to the Father.
1 John 5:2 Except through me; Jesus gave his life for us because he loves us; this enables us to get to heaven.

Isn’t it interesting that all of this intricate design is contained in 1 John but it is essentially hidden from us unless we do as we are told by Paul and “eat” or “consume” God’s Word.