Responding to 1 John

John ends with this little tag. At first glance, it is unlike the ending of any other book in the Bible. A little more thought shows that most of the epistles actually end with a warning of some kind — thus, 2 Peter (immediately before 1 John in canonical order) talks about falling away with the wicked, while James ends with the warning about someone wandering from the truth. Nonetheless, John bucks the desire to end on a positive note, e.g., the declaration that Jesus is the true God, and instead ends on a major downer. He was old and had lived long enough to see that oftentimes a warning is the best way to leave the conversation. And so, he tells us readers that if we really got his point, we will flee idolatry.