Intro to John’s Epistles

When studying the Bible, it is important to not only know what is being said but the circumstances in which it is said.

IE. When Jesus tells the rich young ruler to sell all he has in Matt. 19:16-22, he is not prescribing a pattern for all his followers.

So to understand the letters of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, we need to ask a few questions.

Who wrote them?

Tradition says that John the Apostle what the author.

NoWe read about three John in the NT.

John the Baptist

The Elder ( as identified in 2 & 3 John).

John the Apostle

1. Few argue for John the Baptist as the author for his untimely murder does not allow for time needed to wrote these letters.

2. The elder is identified in the first chapter of the 2 and 3 letters of John but is this a different person from John the Apostle?

John the apostle would fit the description of an elder. In antiquities all the apostles were described as elders.

3. John the Apostle seems like the most probable author.

The writing style between the three letters have too many similarities to discount all being written by the same author.

The Gospel according to John has an introduction and prologue that support the idea that one person authored both.

Taking this it is no surprise that most scholars agree John is the author of the gospel and all three letters.

Believing that all these letters/gospel were written by the same person, who was that person? 1 John 1:1 “1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.”

Most reliable external sources gives us indication that John the Apostle was the author of all four writings. People like, Polycarp of Smyrna, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian.

When were they written?

John was born about 6 AD so if he lived to be 95, the latest he could have written would be 100 AD. No one knows for sure when he died.

We also know that there are some heresies that get addressed in the letters and it takes time for heresies to formulate to a point where they become a problem.

Most likely 70-90 AD would be a good date for the writing of these letters, (as well as the gospel and apocalypse).

To whom were they written?

We will dive a little more into who they were written to as we look in the letters themselves, but we know this

1 John 2:1 “1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.”

2 John 1 “The elder. I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth—”

3 John 1 “The elder. I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.”

Why were they written?

Again we will look more closely at this when we are going through the letters, but we know that you know the reason for the letter in the letter itself.

When you are writing to someone sometimes you specifically tell the readers what you are writing for, other times the reason comes out later in the letter.

1 John 1:4 “4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.”

1 John 2:1 “1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.”