[3] This is very clearly stated by Dr. G. B. Stevens in his valuable Theology of the New Testament, although he decides against the genuineness of 2 Peter.
[4] This is done by Harnack, who places Jude between A.D. 100 and 130.
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CHAPTER XXIII
THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN
THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN
[Sidenote: The Author.]
The authenticity of this Epistle is bound up with the authenticity of St. John's Gospel. Like the Gospel, it does not contain any statement as to the name of the author. Like the Gospel, it is attributed by a very ancient tradition to the nearest friend of Jesus Christ. The external evidence is particularly good. We learn from the unimpeachable testimony of Eusebius[1] that it was used by Papias, who was a disciple of St. John. Polycarp, another disciple of St. John, directly quotes 1 John iv. 3 in his still extant letter. It is quoted by Irenaeus, the pupil of Polycarp, and was recognized as genuine in widely distant Churches at the close of the 2nd century.
The internal evidence shows that the writer claims to be an eye-witness and intimate personal friend of Jesus Christ (i. 1-3).[2] And this eye-witness must be St. John, if the fourth Gospel was written by St. John. The style is similar, and the ideas are the same. It is true that Christ is not called our "propitiation" in the Gospel as in this Epistle (ii. 2; iv. 10), that in the Gospel there is no mention of "antichrists" (as in {256} ii. 8), and that the word "Paraclete" is in the Gospel applied to the Holy Ghost, while it is here applied to our Lord (ii. 1). But the idea of propitiation is expressed in the description of our Lord as "the Lamb of God" (John i. 29), the mention of antichrists is uncalled for in the Gospel, and by naming the Holy Ghost "another Paraclete" our Lord gave St. John the best possible reason for calling Christ Himself by the same title. The description of our Lord as "the only begotten Son" (iv. 9) is an important point of contact with John i. 14, 18. The language about "light" and "darkness," "God" and "the world," the "new commandment," the "love" of God, being "born of God," "eternal life," "abiding in Christ," recalls the Gospel at every turn.
The Epistle, however, does contain some phrases and ideas which are not to be found in the Gospel. Such are "love perfected," "a sin unto death," "the lust of the eyes," "to come in the flesh," "to walk in the light," "to do lawlessness," "to be from above." Yet they fit quite naturally with the language and theology of the Gospel. Therefore there does not seem to be any sufficient reason for holding that it was the work of another writer. F. C. Baur and Hilgenfeld thought it to be the work of a second forger of that mysterious band to which they attributed such versatility and success. And several more recent critics who have denied the authenticity of the Gospel, have maintained with Baur that the Epistle is the work of a second forger. But these negations have led to no assured result. They are seen to be fruitless as soon as we realize that these critics have been quite unable to agree whether the Epistle was composed before the Gospel or after it. Some consider that it was a theological balloon sent to try the credulity of Christian readers before the Gospel was despatched. Others consider that there are "overwhelming indications" to prove that the Epistle is only a poor imitation of the Gospel. Renan and Davidson favoured the former view, F. C. Baur and C. Weizsäcker the latter. At the present time the majority {257} of critics, both Christian and non-Christian, believe that it was written by the writer of the fourth Gospel.