THE LIFE OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD
The Epistles of John
1. AUTHORSHIP OF THE FIRST EPISTLE
The First Epistle of John does not contain the name of its author. According to tradition, however, it was written by the apostle John, and tradition is here supported by the characteristics of the epistle itself. The author of the epistle was evidently the same as the author of the Fourth Gospel. The marked similarity in style can be explained in no other way. Even the careless reader observes that the style of the Fourth Gospel is very peculiar. Short sentences are joined to one another with the utmost simplicity; the vocabulary is limited, but contains expressions of extraordinary richness; the total effect is singularly powerful. These same characteristics, though they are so peculiar, appear also in the epistle. There is the same simplicity of sentence structure, the same use of such terms as "life" and "light" and "love," the same indescribable spirit and tone. Yet the epistle is no slavish imitation of the Gospel—differences stand side by side with the similarities. These two works are evidently related, not as model and copy, but as living productions of the same remarkable personality.
2. TESTIMONY OF AN EYEWITNESS
As in the Gospel, so also in the epistle the author presents himself clearly as an eyewitness of the life of Jesus, I John 1:1-3; 4:14; as in the Gospel he lays stress upon simple testimony. Even those things which have just been noticed as characteristic of his style are connected ultimately with the teaching of Jesus. In both Gospel and epistle, the beloved disciple has reproduced what he heard in Galilee and in Judea, though in both he has made the memory a living, spiritual fact.
3. DESTINATION AND DATE
The First Epistle of John is perhaps scarcely to be called an epistle at all. Practically all the characteristics of a letter are missing. There is no address; there is no greeting at the close; there are no personal details. The readers are indeed referred to in the second person; but preachers as well as letter-writers say, "you." First John is a sort of general address written probably to some extended group of churches.
These churches are probably to be sought in Asia Minor. Throughout the epistle the readers are addressed in a fatherly tone. See, for example, ch. 2:1. Evidently the writer was well known as a sort of patriarch throughout an extended region. Such conditions prevailed in Asia Minor after the apostle John had begun to reside at Ephesus. Trustworthy tradition as well as the New Testament informs us of a period in the apostle's life when he had outlived all or most of the other apostles and was revered as the head of the Asian church. At some time within this period—probably nearer the end than the beginning—the First Epistle of John was written.
4. THE FALSE TEACHERS
The form of error against which the epistle is directed becomes clearest, perhaps in ch. 4:2,3. The false teachers had denied that Jesus Christ was come in the flesh. This may be interpreted in several different ways.
(1) Docetism.—In the first place, John may mean that the opponents simply denied the reality of the earthly life of Jesus. Such a form of error is by no means unknown in the history of the Church. It is called "Docetism." According to Docetism the Son of God did not really live a human life—with human sufferings and a human death—but only appeared to do so.
(2) Cerinthus.—In the second place, the meaning of the passage may be that the opponents denied the unity of the person of Jesus Christ. Compare ch. 2:22. Some persons in the early Church supposed that there were two separate persons in the figure that is described in the Gospels. A heavenly being, the Christ, it was thought, united himself with the man Jesus at the time when the dove descended after the baptism. Matt. 3:16,17. Such was the view of Cerinthus, who is declared by tradition to have been an opponent of the apostle John at Ephesus. It has been suggested, therefore, that it was actually Cerinthus, with his disciples, who is combated in the First Epistle of John.
(3) Denial of the Incarnation.—Both Cerinthus and the Docetists denied the reality of the incarnation—both denied that the Son of God actually assumed a human nature and lived a complete human life. According to Cerinthus and others like him, the Christ stood only in somewhat loose relation to the man Jesus. He was united with him only late in life, he left him before the crucifixion. On this view, it was not the Christ who lay in the manger at Bethlehem, it was not the Christ who suffered on the cross. Cerinthus, like the Docetists, kept the Son of God out of any close relation to the world and to us.
(4) John's Reply.—Against some such view as one of these, John was concerned to establish the reality of the incarnation—the truth that "the Word became flesh." In the Gospel, that truth underlies the whole of the narrative; in the First Epistle it is directly defended against the opposing error. It is defended first of all by an appeal to what the writer had seen and heard. "We knew Jesus in Palestine," says John in effect, "and we can testify that Jesus himself was none other than the Christ, the Son of God." I John, 1:1-4.
(5) John, the Opponents, and Cerinthus.—The false teachers who are combated in the epistle had apparently withdrawn from the Church and formed a separate sect. I John 2:19. Their separateness of mind and heart and life had found expression in open schism. Whether they are to be identified with disciples of Cerinthus is at least doubtful. False speculation about the person of Christ no doubt assumed many forms in the closing years of the first century.
5. CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THE THIRD EPISTLE
In III John 9, the apostle tells Gaius that he had written "somewhat unto the church." This letter to the church may have been written at some previous time. It is also possible, however, that it was written together with the letter to Gaius. The Greek word for "I wrote" admits of that interpretation. If that interpretation be correct, then John perhaps means to say that although he has written a letter to the church he could not in that letter urge the hospitable reception of the missionaries. For the present, the influence of Diotrephes was too strong. The letter to the church had to be concerned with other matters.
If this view of the letter mentioned in III John 9 be adopted, then the Second Epistle of John corresponds to the description. The Second Epistle is addressed to a church, and it is written with some reserve. If "certain" of the children of "the elect lady" were walking in truth, II John 4, the inference is that others were conducting themselves very differently. Evidently there was danger of false teaching among the readers. Hospitality to men like Demetrius and his companions could hardly be expected of such a church. If hospitality should be practiced, it was only too likely to be hospitality to men of a very different stamp. Vs. 10, 11.
Possibly, therefore, the Second Epistle of John is actually the letter that is referred to in III John 9, a letter to the church of which Gaius was a member. This hypothesis is supported by the striking formal similarity of the two letters. They are of almost exactly the same length; the openings and especially the conclusions, II John 12, 13; III John 13, 14, are couched in almost exactly the same terms. They look very much like twin epistles, written on two sheets of papyrus of the same size.
Of course the hypothesis is by no means certain. Perhaps the letter referred to in III John 9 was a previous letter bespeaking hospitality, which had failed of its effect. When the apostle saw, from the answer or lack of answer to the previous letter, that the church was ill disposed, he had recourse to an individual member of it. Even in this case, however, it remains probable that our two epistles were written at about the same time.
6. VALUE OF THE SHORTER EPISTLES
These last two epistles of John do not deserve the neglect which they have sometimes suffered. Despite their brevity—they are the shortest books of the New Testament—they are instructive in a number of ways.
(1) Historical.—It is exceedingly interesting, for example, to compare them with the private letters of the same period which have recently been discovered in Egypt—see Lesson III, Teacher's Manual, in this course. In form, the opening of the Third Epistle is very much in the manner of the papyrus letters. Compare, for example, with III John 1-4 the following opening of a letter of the second century after Christ: "Apion to Epimachus his father and lord heartiest greetings. First of all I pray that you are in health and continually prosper and fare well with my sister and daughter and my brother. I thank the lord Serapis...." (The translation is that of Professor Milligan. See p. 20 of Teacher's Manual, Part I, of this course.) The differences, however, are even more instructive than the resemblances. What was said in Lesson I about the epistles of Paul applies in full measure to the epistles of John. Even the epistolary forms are here modified so as to be the vehicle of a new message and a new spirit.
Furthermore, the two epistles, especially Third John, cast a flood of light upon the internal development of the Church. In one respect indeed the historical significance of the Third Epistle has sometimes been exaggerated. It is not true that we have here the emergence of the monarchical episcopate—that is, the preëminence of one presbyter, called a "bishop," over his brother presbyters. Diotrephes does not appear clearly as a bishop. At about A. D. 110 in the epistles of Ignatius the episcopate is very prominent; but Third John belongs to an earlier period.
Nevertheless, this concrete picture of the internal affairs of a late first-century church is absolutely unique. The period is very obscure; these few brief lines illumine it more than pages of narrative. The traveling preachers of Third John are particularly interesting. Similar missionaries appear also in the "Didache," a sort of church manual which may probably be dated in the early part of the second century. In that later period, however, care had to be taken lest the hospitality of the churches should be abused. "But let every apostle," says the writer—the word "apostle" is used in a very broad sense to designate wandering preachers—"who comes to you be received as the Lord. He shall remain, however, no more than one day, or if necessary two. If he remains three days he is a false prophet." Such precautions, we may be sure, were not needed in the case of Demetrius and his companions.
(2) Practical.—Despite its individual address and private character, the Third Epistle of John is not an ordinary private letter. Like all the books of the New Testament, it has a message for the entire Church. The devout reader rises from the perusal of it with a more steadfast devotion to the truth and a warmer glow of Christian love.
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 272-274, 294-308. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": Purves (supplemented), article on "John, Epistles of." M'Clymont, "The New Testament and Its Writers," pp. 144-149. Ellicott, "A New Testament Commentary for English Readers," vol. iii, pp. 467-502: Sinclair, "The Epistles of St. John." Westcott, "The Epistles of St. John." Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament," vol. iii, pp. 355-384. The two last-named works are intended primarily for those who have some knowledge of Greek, but can also be used by others.