1 2 and 3 John: An Introduction and Study Guide

<p><b>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.</b> Chapter 1 identifies six unknowns about the origins of the three writings: authors relationship to John's 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 John's 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. <p/>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 writing's 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 writing's pastoral work. <p/>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 elder's warning and skepticism about itinerant teachers whereas the author of 3 John by contrast advocates reception and welcome for itinerant teachers.</p>