1, 2, and 3 John are epistles written by one who was a close companion of Jesus and the last disciple to die - John. John was a part of Jesus's inner circle. He was one of the three disciples that Jesus took with him to witness his transfiguration. At the Last Supper, John was the disciple sitting next to Jesus. And John is thought to be the disciple Jesus loved. Surely, no human knew Jesus better than John did. John wrote these epistles to reassure Christians in their faith, to encourage them to experience the divine life, and to counter false teachings. In the first two epistles, John urged his readers to (1) live in the truth, (2) love one another, (3) be on guard against false teachers, and (4) adhere to the apostolic teachings - especially about Jesus, God's Son come in the flesh - in the face of Gnostic infiltration into the church. As you read these epistles, you can discover how to live in the truth, love other Christians, stay clear of deceivers, and remain faithful to the orthodox teaching that Jesus is fully God and fully man.