“Although 1 John had its origins during a period of false teaching, the author’s main purpose is not to confront heresy, but to reassure those who remain that they do indeed know the truth about Jesus, and consequently do have eternal life.” 1 John was written to reassure believers to keep the faith and continue to hold the values that they have, through a time when a schism was taking place within the church. The believers were living in a confusing time and according to Thompson “The turmoil within their congregation undoubtedly caused many to question their own faith and practice, and to wonder whether they were also guilty of or prone to the failings of the departed dissidents.” The people leaving the faith or “secessionists” were the people the author refers to in chapter 2 verse 19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us…” The author is warning against following the teaching of these “secessionists.” Who were these “secessionists”? There has been much debate among scholars over the years, Jobes states that: “Much scholarship on 1 John for the past thirty years has attempted to reconstruct the precise nature of the schism, usually labeled as Docetism, Cerinthianism, or incipient Gnosticism, and this has led to scholarly reconstructions of the Johannine community… More recently, some are arguing for what they call a nonpolemical reading of the letter that does not depend so heavily on identifying what the secessionists believe and why they left…The true concern of the author is pastoral, not dealing with the secessionists in any direct way, but assuring those under his spiritual care that they remain within the fellowship of apostolic orthodoxy. ... ... middle of paper ... ...Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 2001. Barker, Kenneth L. Zondervan Nasb Study Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, ©1999. Jobes, Karen H. Letters to the Church: A Survey of Hebrews and the General Epistles. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2011. Kruse, Colin G. The Letters of John. Leicester, England: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000. Talbert, Charles H. Reading John : A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles. Macon, Ga: Smyth & Helwys Pub, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed April 27, 2014). Thompson, Marianne Meye. 1-3 John. Downers Grove, Ill., USA: InterVarsity Press, 1992. Yarbrough, Robert W. 1-3 John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008. Yarbrough, Robert W. 1 and 2 Peter, Jude, 1,2, and 3 John (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Bible. Eds. Dom Bernand Orchard, Rev. R. V. Fuller. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1966. Print.
Kodell, Jerome. "Luke." In The Collegeville Bible Commentary. Edited by Dianne Bergant and Robert J. Karris. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1988.
...yne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible New Revised Standard Edition . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 1645-1722. Print.
Malick, David. "An Introduction to the Gospel of John." (1996): n. pag. Online. Internet. 5 July 2000. Available http://www.bible.org/docs/nt/books/joh/joh-intr.htm
Coogan, Michael David., Marc Zvi. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Standard Version with the Apocrypha : An Ecumenical Study Bible. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Grayston, Kenneth. The Letters of Paul to the Philippians and to the Thessalonians. CBC. London: Cambridge U.P., 1967.
New Testament. Vol. 2. Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964.
"Genisis, Matthew, and John." Holy Bible: NIrV, New International Reader's Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1998. N. pag. Web.
...pse." In Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation, edited by W. Klaasen and G.F. Snyder, 23-37. New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1962.
Lane, William. The Gospel According to Mark: The English Text With Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (New International Commentary on the New Testament). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974.
Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995. Print. (BS195 .C66 1995)
John was one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus and therefore an eye-witness (John 19:35); John brings out the spiritual significance as well as recording the practical aspects of Jesus' works and words. John lived to be older than any of the other writers. It is therefore likely that he was familiar with their accounts and wanted to supplement theirs with additional teaching and miracles by Jesus which had a bearing on the situation towards the end of the first century AD.
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
‘An Authentic Narrative of some … Particulars in the Life of … John Newton,’ 1st ed. 1764; 2nd ed. 1764; 3rd ed. 1765; other editions 1775, 1780, 1792. 2. ‘Omicron: Twenty-six Letters on Religious Subjects,’ 1st ed. 1774; 2nd ed. 1775. 3. ‘Omicron … to which are added fourteen Letters … formerly published under the signature of Vigil; and three fugitive Pieces in verse,’ 1785; other editions 1793, 1798. 4. ‘Olney Hymns,’ 1st ed. 1779; 2nd ed. 1781; 3rd ed. 1783; 4th ed. 1787; other editions 1792, 1795, 1797, &c. 5. ‘Cardiphonia, or the Utterance of the Heart,’ 1st ed. 1781; frequently reprinted. Other works: 6. ‘Discourses … intended for the Pulpit,’ 1760. 7. ‘Sermons, preached in the Parish Church of Olney,’ 1767. 8. ‘A Review of Ecclesiastical History,’ 1770. 9. ‘Messiah: Fifty … Discourses on the … Scriptural Passages … of the … Oratorio of Handel,’ 1786. 10. ‘Apologia: Four Letters to a Minister of an Independent Church,’ 1789. 11. ‘The Christian Correspondent: Letters to Captain Clunie from the Year 1761 to 1770,’ 1790. 12. ‘Letters to a Wife,’ 1793. Posthumous works: 13. ‘The Works of Rev. John Newton,’ 6 vols. 1808; new ed. 12 vols. 1821. 14. ‘The Works of Rev. John Newton,’ 1 vol., with ‘Memoir,’ by R. Cecil, 1827. 15. ‘One Hundred and Twenty Letters to Rev. W. Bull from 1703 to 1805,’