John

John, EPISTLES OF. Of the three canonical epistles ascribed to the apostle John, the first is not in form an epistle, but a warm practical hortatory treatise based on the theological principles of the fourth gospel, with warnings against Docetic and Antinomian gnosis. The second and third are short letters of an occasional character, addressed to individuals—unless indeed the 'elect lady' of 2 John be a figurative title for a church, a view which has great probability and has found very large acceptance among modern interpreters. The first express mention of epistles as written by John the Apostle is in the Muratorian Canon (about 170 A.D.), which quotes 1 John i. 1, and elsewhere enumerates two under his name. From the time of Origen 2 John and 3 John were classed among the books of the canon whose authenticity was disputed; Eusebius and Jerome attributed them to John 'the Presbyter,' as distinguished from John the Apostle, and this view has been followed by many modern writers, beginning with Erasmus. On the internal evidence critics are for the most part agreed that 1 John has the same author as the fourth gospel, or is at least by a writer of the same school. The epistle has occasionally been attributed to the apostle by critics who denied his authorship of the gospel. As to the priority of the two works in point of date, opinion is almost equally divided. For commentaries, see the expositions of the whole Johannine writings by Lücke, Baumgarten-Crusius, and Ewald; also the special works by Huther (in Meyer's Commentar, 4th ed. 1880; Eng. trans.), Braune (in Lange's Bibelwerk, 3d ed. 1885; Eng. trans.), Plummer (2d ed. 1886), and Westcott (2d ed. 1886).