The book of first John is one of a distinct nature and character, a book that stands in a sense on its own, a book that by the questions about it's authorship and structure proclaims it individuality and inclusion in the canonical structure of the scriptures themselves. We see in the book of first John, the dealing with a very specific issues, a sort of which carries with it a legacy to our contemporary times, in it's relevance and subject. With a distinct vantage point in a temporal sense, the epistles of John shows how the theologies of the apostles where specific, logical, and Christ focused, a focus that history has a way of distorting. The author(s) of the Johannine epistles had a clear focus on the fellowship of the body of Christ, the logical defense of the nature of Christ and a need to confirm the loving nature of the Son of God in both action and deed. Through a thorough examination of the historical, literary and theological distinctives of this book, we come to a fuller understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and the nature of both his divinity and humanity.
The Historical Issues
Because of the nature of the texts in the Christian scriptural canon (i.e. their age) it is often left up to many different theologians and historians to debate the nature of different characteristics of the different books, characteristics like the authorship, dating, recipient groups, historical setting and vantage points of said recipient groups. For the book of first John these debates are not lessened. For example the author of the epistles recognized as the apostle Johns, is debated widely. There are those that believe that the author of John has always been unanimous (even historically) that the author of the fourth gospel ...