Read this if you…
- want a short meditative read where "God is love" is the whole point
- curious about the proto-Gnostic heresy the early church was already fighting
- like epistles that read more like sermons than letters
Skip this if you…
- don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts
Depicted in Art
John stands at the front holding an open New Testament, reading the opening verses of his Gospel; Peter looks over his shoulder holding the golden key.
Albrecht Dürer, 1526
John, three-quarter length in a green tunic and red cloak, looks upward with quill poised over an open book in his lap; the eagle attribute beside him.
Pompeo Batoni, 1742
John in three-quarter profile, looking upward in inspiration, writing in an open book with a quill; an eagle visible at his elbow.
Frans Hals, 1625
John, seated and twisting upward in Laocoön-like contrapposto, gazes toward heaven with a quill in hand and an open codex beside him, the eagle at his feet.
Domenichino, 1628
Recommended Editions
King James Version
Oxford University Press · 1611
The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.
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Notable Quotes
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
- Augustine of Hippo, Bishop of Hippo, Church Father, 354–430: "Love, and do what you will."
- Martin Luther, German theologian, leader of the Protestant Reformation, 1483–1546: He counted John's writings among the true kernel and marrow of the New Testament.
- John Calvin, Protestant Reformer, theologian (Geneva), 1509–1564: "He especially commends and extols the inestimable grace of divine adoption."
- John Wesley, English cleric, founder of Methodism, 1703–1791: "Here are sublimity and simplicity together, the strongest sense and the plainest language."
More by John
- 1 John~90John—·Quick·8 pagesInfluence—Popularity—BibleEpistleAncient Greek
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- 3 John~90John—·Quick·1 pagesInfluence—Popularity—BibleEpistleAncient Greek
- Revelation~95John—·Quick·40 pagesInfluence—Popularity—BibleApocalypticAncient Greek