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                    THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
                       ABOUT A.D. 85 TO 90

                      BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

                  RELATION TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL

        There are few scholars who deny that the Epistles of John
and the Fourth Gospel are by the same writer. As a matter of fact
"in the whole of the First Epistle there is hardly a single
thought that is not found in the Gospel" (Schulze). H. J.
Holtzmann (_Jahrbuch fur Protestantische Theologie_, 1882, P.
128) in a series of articles on the "Problem of the First Epistle
of St. John in its Relation to the Gospel" thinks that the
similarities are closer than those between Luke's Gospel and the
Acts. Baur argued that this fact was explained by conscious
imitation on the part of one or the other, probably by the author
of the Epistle. The solution lies either in identity of
authorship or in imitation. If there is identity of authorship,
Holtzmann argues that the Epistle is earlier, as seems to me to
be true, while Brooke holds that the Gospel is the earlier and
that the First Epistle represents the more complete ideas of the
author. Both Holtzmann and Brooke give a detailed comparison of
likenesses between the First Epistle and the Fourth Gospel in
vocabulary, syntax, style, ideas. The arguments are not
conclusive as to the priority of Epistle or Gospel, but they are
as to identity of authorship. One who accepts, as I do, the
Johannine authorship of the Fourth Gospel for the reasons given
in Volume V of this series, does not feel called upon to prove
the Johannine authorship of the three Epistles that pass under
the Apostle's name. Westcott suggests that one compare #Joh
1:1-18| with #1Jo 1:1-4| to see how the same mind deals with the
same ideas in different connections. "No theory of conscious
imitation can reasonably explain the subtle coincidences and
differences in these two short crucial passages."

                            GNOSTICISM

        The Epistle is not a polemic primarily, but a letter for
the edification of the readers in the truth and the life in
Christ. And yet the errors of the Gnostics are constantly before
John's mind. The leaders had gone out from among the true
Christians, but there was an atmosphere of sympathy that
constituted a subtle danger. There are only two passages (#1Jo
2:18f.; 4:1-6|) in which the false teachers are specifically
denounced, but "this unethical intellectualism" (Robert Law) with
its dash of Greek culture and Oriental mysticism and
licentiousness gave a curious attraction for many who did not
know how to think clearly. John, like Paul in Colossians,
Ephesians, and the Pastoral Epistles, foresaw this dire peril to
Christianity. In the second century it gave pure Christianity a
gigantic struggle. "The great Gnostics were the first Christian
philosophers" (Robert Law, _The Tests of Life_, p. 27) and
threatened to undermine the Gospel message by "deifying the
devil" (ib., p. 31) along with dethroning Christ. There were two
kinds of Gnostics, both agreeing in the essential evil of matter.
Both had trouble with the Person of Christ. The Docetic Gnostics
denied the actual humanity of Christ, the Cerinthian Gnostics
distinguished between the man Jesus and the \aeon\ Christ that
came on him at his baptism and left him on the Cross. Some
practised asceticism, some licentiousness. John opposes both
classes in his Epistles. They claimed superior knowledge
(\gnôsis\) and so were called Gnostics (\Gnôstikoi\). Nine times
John gives tests for knowing the truth and uses the verb
\ginôskô\ (know) each time (#1Jo 2:3,5; 3:16,19,24; 4:2,6,13;
5:2|). Some of the leaders he calls antichrists. There are
stories about John's dread of Cerinthus and his unwillingness to
be seen in the same public bath with him. The Apostle of love, as
he is, is a real son of thunder when Gnosticism shows its head.
Westcott thinks that the Fourth Gospel was written to prove the
deity of Christ, assuming his humanity, while I John was written
to prove the humanity of Christ, assuming his deity. Certainly
both ideas appear in both books.

                           DESTINATION

        It is not clear to whom the Epistle is addressed. Like
the Gospel, the Epistle of John came out of the Asiatic circle
with Ephesus as the centre. Augustine has the strange statement
that the Epistle was addressed to the Parthians. There are other
ingenious conjectures which come to nothing. The Epistle was
clearly sent to those familiar with John's message, possibly to
the churches of the Province of Asia (cf. the Seven Churches in
Revelation).

                             THE DATE

        The time seems to be considerably removed from the
atmosphere of the Pauline and Petrine Epistles. Jerusalem has
been destroyed. If John wrote the Fourth Gospel by A.D. 95, then
the First Epistle would come anywhere from A.D. 85 to 95. The
tone of the author is that of an old man. His urgent message that
the disciples, his "little children," love one another is like
another story about the aged John, who, when too feeble to stand,
would sit in his chair and preach "Little children, love one
another." The Muratorian Fragment accepts the First Epistle and
Origen makes full use of it, as does Clement of Alexandria.
Irenaeus quotes it by name. Polycarp shows knowledge of it also.

                           BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander, _Epistles of John_ (Speaker's Comm., 1889).
Barrett, _Devotional Comm. on John_ (1910).
Baumgartner, _Die Schriften des N.T_. (IV. 3, 1918).
Belser, _Komm_. (1906).
Bennett, _New-Century Bible_.
Brooke, _Int. Crit. Comm_. (Johannine Epistles, 1912).
Cox, _Private Letters of St. Paul and St. John_ (1887).
Ebrard, _Die Briefe Johannis_ (1859).
Ewald, _Die Johanneischen Schriften_ (1861).
Findlay, _Fellowship in the Life Eternal_ (1909)
Gibbon, _Eternal Life_ (1890).
Gore, _Epistles of John_ (1921).
Green, _Ephesian Canonical Writings_ (1910).
Haring, _Die Johannesbriefe_ (1927).
Haupt, _I John_ (1869).
Hilgenfeld, _Das Evangelium und die Briefe Johannis nach
   ihrem Lehrbegriff dargestellt_ (1849).
Holtzmann-Bauer, _Hand-Comm. sum N.T_. (1908).
Holtzmann, _Das Problem des I Johannesbr. in seinem Ver-
   haltniss zum Evang_. (Jahrbuch fur Prot. Theologie,
   1881, 1882).
Huther, _Crit. and Exeget. to the General Eps. of James and
   John_ (1882).
Karl, _Johanneische Studien_ (der I Johannes Brief, 1898).
Law, _The Tests of Life_ (1909).
Lias, _Epistles of John_ (1887).
Loisy, _Les epitres dites de Jean_ (1921) in le quatrieme evan-
  gile.
Lucke, _Comm. on Epistles of John_ (1837).
Luthardt, _Strack-Zoeckler Komm_. (1895).
Maurice, _The Epistles of St. John_ (1857).
Plummer, _Cambridge Greek Test_ (1886).
Ramsay, A., _Westminster N.T_. (1910).
Ritter, _Die Gemeinschaft der Heiligen_ (1929).
Robertson, J. A., _The Johannine Epistles_ (1920).
Rothe, _Der erste Brief Johannis_ (1879).
Sawtelle, _American Comm_. (1890).
Smith, David, _The Expositor's Greek Testament_ (1910).
Watson, _Epistles of John_ (1910).
Weiss, B., _Die drei Briefe des Apostels Johannis_ (Meyer
Komm. 1900).
Wendt, _Die Johannesbriefe und das Johanneische Christen-
   tum_ (1925).
Westcott, _The Epistles of St. John_. 3rd ed. (1892).
Windisch, _Die Katholischer Briefe_ (Handbuch zum N.T., 2
   Aufl., 1930).
Wrede, _In Die Heiligen Schriften des N.T_. (2 Aufl., 1924).
Wurm, _Die Irrlehrer im I Johannes Brief_ (1903).