The Johannine writings have long been recognised as contributing a vital element to the theology of the New Testament. Usually it is to the Gospel that we turn first in order to explore that contribution; the First Epistle is treated as a supplement while 2 and 3 John, on account of their brevity, receive little attention. Our task here is to allow the Epistles to speak for themselves; they have a distinctive voice to be heard both within Johannine theology and within the thought of the New Testament. To do that, and to avoid confusing their voice with that of the Gospel, we must first recognise their distinctive identity.

THE JOHANNINE LETTERS

As soon as we speak of a document as a letter we set up various expectations – we know what a letter is and the sort of information that will help us to understand it. We look for author (s) and for recipient (s), we expect it will probably reflect a particular historical setting and that it will convey information, exhortation, requests or similar material. A letter is not a soliloquy, the meditation or reflection of a solitary author, but a form of communication with others. Admittedly the letter form can be used as a device by an author who has no intention of sending it to the addressee, who may in any case be fictional; there are in the ancient world examples of letters of this type, where the form is an excuse to deal with a subject, philosophical or novelistic.