THE LETTERS OF JOHN · ON THE MAP · 3 JOHN · IN TIME · OPEN QUESTIONS

The elder and his churches

Where the letters were read, who 3 John names, and the questions readers still ask.

ON THE MAP

Ephesus and the churches of Asia

Ephesus and the churches of Asia, by tradition.

None of the three letters names a place. Early tradition sets John at Ephesus late in his life, and the letters are usually linked with the churches of the province of Asia around it.[15][16][11][24][3][2]

3 JOHN

Who's who in 3 John

Everyone in 3 John, and how the letter links them.

  • The elder loves in the truth praises: “thou doest faithfully” wrote unto receives not; prates against WRITER 3 John 1:1 3 John 1:5 3 John 1:9 +3 more
  • Gaius loves in the truth praises: “thou doest faithfully” receives and sends on their way bear witness of his love before the church FRIEND 3 John 1:1 3 John 1:5 3 John 1:5–6 +1 more
  • Diotrephes receives not; prates against refuses to receive forbids them, and casts them out will remember his deeds OPPONENT 3 John 1:9 3 John 1:9–10 3 John 1:10
  • Demetrius bears record for COMMENDED 3 John 1:12
  • The brethren Travelling missionaries. receives and sends on their way bear witness of his love before the church refuses to receive TRAVELLERS 3 John 1:5–7 3 John 1:5–6 3 John 1:6 +1 more
  • The church wrote unto forbids them, and casts them out CHURCH 3 John 1:6 3 John 1:9–10 3 John 1:9 +1 more

The whole story of 3 John in one picture: a host, a blocker and a newcomer. The edges use the letter's own words; the reading of the story follows Law, Brooke and Plummer. 3 John 1:1–14 [5][2][3]

IN TIME

The three heavenly witnesses

How the "three that bear record in heaven" entered the printed Bible.

The King James Version, following the printed Greek text of its day, includes these words. Nearly all Greek manuscripts and the oldest translations do not have them, and 19th-century textual critics such as Westcott, Scrivener, Plummer and Brooke concluded they entered from a Latin note. A minority of earlier writers, such as John Gill, defended them. Dates are as these critics report them. 1 John 5:7–8 [1][7][3][2][8]

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

5 questions about these letters. Each answer is shown with the people who held it; this page does not choose between them.

The apostle John wrote all three

Irenaeus (c. 180); Dionysius of Alexandria for 1 John (c. 250s); B. F. Westcott; A. Plummer; Robert Law; William Smith; M. G. Easton

Irenaeus quotes 1 and 2 John as the work of “John, the disciple of the Lord”. Westcott argues that “the elder” marks a unique standing and fits the aged apostle, and Law notes that an apostle could call himself an elder, as Peter does. Plummer holds that the case for 2 John carries 3 John with it. 1 Peter 5:1 2 John 1:1 3 John 1:1 [18][13][1][3][5][10][9]

The apostle wrote 1 John; John the Elder wrote 2 and 3 John

“Many” in Jerome's day (392); raised as an open question by Eusebius (c. 325); A. E. Brooke (1912)

Papias, as quoted by Eusebius, names two Johns: the apostle, and “the presbyter John”, a disciple of the Lord. Eusebius adds the report of two tombs at Ephesus, each called John's. Jerome says many held the last two letters to be the presbyter's. Brooke finds this best supported by tradition and by the letters themselves, while leaving the Elder's relation to the apostle an unsolved mystery. 2 John 1:1 3 John 1:1 [11][19][2]

Different hands, or none of them the apostle's

Joseph Scaliger (1540–1609); F. C. Baur, H. J. Holtzmann, Pfleiderer and von Soden, as reported by Robert Law (1915)

Scaliger rejected all three letters as not the apostle's. Baur and others argued that the Gospel and 1 John had different authors, Baur explaining the likeness as imitation; Jülicher, Wrede and Wernle, by contrast, accepted a single author.[5][2]

WHERE THIS PAGE COMES FROM

  • B. F. Westcott, The Epistles of St John: the Greek Text with Notes and Essays (1883 (3rd ed. 1892 used)), Introduction pp. xxx–lvi; note on 1 John 5:7–8 pp. 202–209.
  • A. E. Brooke, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Johannine Epistles (International Critical Commentary) (1912), Introduction pp. i–xc; note on 5:7 pp. 154–158.
  • A. Plummer, The Epistles of S. John (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1886 (1890 reprint used)), Introduction pp. 9–70; Appendix D pp. 204–212.
  • Robert Law, The Tests of Life: A Study of the First Epistle of St. John (1909), Ch. I, pp. 1–24; synopsis pp. 21–24.
  • Robert Law, “John, the Epistles of”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, ed. James Orr (1915), vol. III pp. 1711–1720.
  • Robert Law, “Elect Lady”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, ed. James Orr (1915), vol. II.
  • F. H. A. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 4th ed., ed. Edward Miller (1894), vol. II pp. 401–407 (“1 John v. 7, 8”).
  • John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746–48), on 1 John 5:7.
  • M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed. (1897), “John, First/Second/Third Epistle of”, “Diotrephes”, “Elect lady”.
  • William Smith, Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863 (online text of 1901)), “John, The First Epistle General of”; “John, The Second and Third Epistles of”; “Gaius”; “Diotrephes”; “Demetrius”.
  • Eusebius, trans. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, Book 3 (c. 325 (trans. 1890)), 3.20, 3.24, 3.25, 3.39.
  • Eusebius, trans. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, Book 6 (c. 325 (trans. 1890)), 6.25.10 (Origen).
  • Eusebius, trans. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, Book 7 (c. 325 (trans. 1890)), 7.25 (Dionysius of Alexandria).
  • Irenaeus, trans. Roberts & Rambaut, Against Heresies, Book 1 (c. 180 (trans. 1885)), 1.26.1.
  • Irenaeus, trans. Roberts & Rambaut, Against Heresies, Book 3 (c. 180 (trans. 1885)), 3.1.1.
  • Irenaeus, trans. Roberts & Rambaut, Against Heresies, Book 3 (c. 180 (trans. 1885)), 3.3.4.
  • Irenaeus, trans. Roberts & Rambaut, Against Heresies, Book 3 (c. 180 (trans. 1885)), 3.11.1.
  • Irenaeus, trans. Roberts & Rambaut, Against Heresies, Book 3 (c. 180 (trans. 1885)), 3.16.5, 3.16.8.
  • Jerome, trans. E. C. Richardson, Lives of Illustrious Men (392 (trans. 1892)), chs. 9 and 18.
  • Clement of Alexandria, trans. W. Wilson, Fragments: Comments on the Second Epistle of John (c. 200 (trans. 1885)).
  • Clement of Alexandria, Stromata (c. 200 (trans. 1885)), 2.15.
  • Polycarp, trans. Roberts & Donaldson, To the Philippians (c. 110–115 (trans. 1885)), ch. 7.
  • Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans (c. 110 (trans. 1885)), ch. 2.
  • trans. J. Donaldson, Apostolic Constitutions (4th century (trans. 1886)), 7.46.
  • Athanasius, trans. R. Payne-Smith, Festal Letter 39 (367 (trans. 1892)).
  • Unknown (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5), The Muratorian Fragment (Canon Muratorianus) (late 2nd century (trans. 1886)), lines 26–31 and 68–69.

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