1, 2, and 3 John: An Introduction and Study Guide

This insightful study engages the debates and interpretations of the brief and somewhat elusive writings known in the Christian canon as 1, 2, and 3 John. Chapter 1 identifies six unknowns about the origins of the three writings: authors, relationship to Johns Gospel, order, date and location of the writings, and their audiences. Chapters 2 and 3 delineate the debate concerning the relationship of these writings to a purported Johannine tradition and Johannine community in which a schism is claimed to have occurred. An alternative view recognizes that while there are some connections with Johns Gospel, it is more compelling to see the writings as independent rather than derivative, as internally not externally directed, as pastoral not polemical, and as schism-free. Chapters 4-7 discuss important aspects of 1 John. Chapter 4 argues that its structure or organization is based on rhetorical and conceptual links among the writings small units. Chapter 5 reads 1 John as a pastoral in-house writing, rather than a polemical attack on opponents. Chapter 6 identifies the genre of I John as not a letter or sermon but an epideictic speech that seeks to strengthen the identity, commitments, and practices of its believing recipients. Chapter 7 outlines theological understandings that underpin the writings pastoral work. Chapters 8 and 9 focus on 2 and 3 John as writings that provide two different approaches to itinerant teachers. The narrative fiction in 2 John presents the elders warning and skepticism about itinerant teachers whereas the author of 3 John, by contrast, advocates reception and welcome for itinerant teachers.