To know God's love, to show God's love

That you may know

John explains his motivation in writing 1 John towards the end of the letter, and he says it was …

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5:13

But one of his dominant themes isn’t a reassurance, but a command, “love one another”. The key to understanding the letter is seeing the connection between the two.