(8 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
Loading...I move now in this “NT in a Nutshell” series to provide an overview of the epistle of 1 John, one of the General or Catholic Epistles. This short, five-chapter book is normally called a “letter” even though it does not have the standard features of an ancient piece of correspondence.
Normally (not just in the New Testament, but in the ancient world generally) personal correspondence used several standard conventions (just as today you might write a letter to your IRS agent and begin with Dear Mr. Elliott, even if you are not endeared to him at all: it’s a convention). As a rule, letters had fairly fixed features at the beginning; e.g. the author names themselves, indicates to whom they are writing, extends some kind of greeting, often indicates a prayer being said for the person and/or a thanks to God for them. Then they get down to the business of what they want to say, and typically end the letter with some words of encouragement, consolation, or admonition, an expression of hope to see them at some point, greetings to other family members or friends, a farewell, and/ or a final prayer of well-wishing.
Get access to Dr. Ehrman's library of 4,000+ articles plus five new articles per week about the New Testament and early Christianity. It costs as little as $2.99/mth and every cent goes to charity!
Unlock 4,000+ Articles Like This!
Dr. Ehrman I’ve been trying to submit a help request on the help request page but it keeps failing. Can I get someone from support to reach out?
It should be better now.
Help request still not working for me as of 9-15-2025. Older posts and this one are still missing a lot of content even for members.
Yes, we’re still working out the issues — as of today, it’s working fine on my end. Hopefully yours as well.
Paul says that Jesus was “born of a woman”, a strange thing to say.
Could Paul also be oposing Christians who denied that Jesus was human?
It’s possible, but we don’t know of any “docetists” that early. He does seem to be affirming an incarnational view, such as found in Philippians 2:6-10, “he really became a human,” (just as he goes on to say he was “born under the law,” but probably not because there were Christians claiming he had been a gentile.)
I was today years old when I discovered that “endearing” is a derivative of “dear.” 🤦
This post seems truncated. No 50 word description. No overall gist of the major themes of the letter. Or am I missing something?
It shows up fine for me. The blog had a problem for a few days after we moved over to the new system. See if it’s all OK now.
If you log in, the whole text appears. Just push the “Read more” button.
Is there something missing in this post?
It shows up fine for me. The blog had a problem for a few days after we moved over to the new system. See if it’s all OK now.
This seems to be an incomplete version of the blog entry—it doesn’t address the content of I John at all (just what it does not contain) and doesn’t include the information that the next entry says it did. When I tried to access the full version by clicking the link in the next entry, I got the “Pardon our dust” page.
It should be OK now. We’re still working out the kinks in the system.
1 John uses the phrase, “Little Children.” Could this indicate an author who sees himself as a pastor to his flock?
Something that interests me in John is the harsh punishment for false beliefs. In chapter 3, it says “anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” The book appears to introduce a command structure, “We are from God, whoever is from God listens to us, whoever is not… does not.” I think this sets up a community that is wary of outsiders and rigorously enforces its own rules. While love is a common theme in this book, the book seems to encourage separation from the outside world. If hate is murder, and some sins lead to death, does hate lead to death?
Yes, it’s strikig out apocaly[tic views can lead to such harsh judgment of the “other.” And yes, love is of God so hate is not; God provides life the other side provides death.