A call back to a true community of the Spirit centered in Christ: A re-examination of the purpose of 1 John

Abstract

This study re-examines the purpose of 1 John in light of the three prevailing theories in Johannine scholarship: the "Tests of Life" view, the "Tests of Fellowship" view, and the "Tests of Orthodoxy" view. Each theory can point to explicit purpose statements in the epistle, yet each appears incomplete as a comprehensive account of John's intention. The "Tests of Life" view cannot account for John's apparent assumption that his readers are already assured of their salvation (1 John 2:21); the "Tests of Fellowship" view, while capturing the communal emphasis of the prologue (1:1–3), does not cover the epistle's further affirmations; and the "Tests of Orthodoxy" view misreads the first-person plural claims of 1 John 1:6–10 as the words of the secessionists alone. This study proposes a fourth theory that encompasses and extends the existing ones: the purpose of 1 John is a call back to a true community of the Spirit centered in Christ. The argument draws on the γράφω purpose statements (1:4; 2:1, 26; 5:13) and other purpose-indicating passages, and incorporates four elements: John's persistent pastoral appeal to his readers, his insistence on a fellowship that is of the Spirit of God and not of the spirits of the world (4:1–6), his central appeal to Jesus Christ as the message "from the beginning" (1:1–3), and the corollary imperative to love one another as Christ has loved them (3:11–24). Primarily pastoral and inclusive in intent, the theory is tested by using it to outline the epistle and to interpret 1 John 1:5–2:11, with closing applications to contemporary church life. [AI generated abstract from author-supplied text; reviewed by cataloger.]