This Epistle was not written to any particular church or to any particular individual. It is an Epistle that is spoken of as being catholic in its character because it is written for the whole family of God. The subject of the Epistle is eternal life and the evidences of it, such as love, obedience, boldness and having no fear.

Men speak of their business life, which is life connected with their business, or of their home life, life connected with their home. When it is eternal life that is being considered, it is life that is connected with the Father. Thus, John speaks in this Epistle of ‘that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us’, 1.2. In the Gospel, he writes that we might have eternal life, but in this Epistle he writes that we may know that we have eternal life.

ALBERT LECKIE was born into a Christian family in Lanarkshire in 1920. He was saved at four-and- a-half years of age and, later, was received into fellowship in the assembly meeting at Hebron Hall, Airdrie. He became a meticulous student and a careful expositor of the scriptures. His gift was widely appreciated throughout the UK and in many other parts of the English-speaking world.

He ministered regularly at The London Convention and conducted Bible Readings at Eastbourne in England; at Ayr and Largs in Scotland; and at Trimsaran in Wales. He also ministered the word in all parts of the UK and made many visits to North America, particularly the west coast. He was called home at the relatively young age of sixty-eight while engaged in meetings at the assembly in Nantgarw, Wales, in 1988.