Some thoughts about the authorship of the Gospel of John and these three letters.
Science
and Health, our inspired textbook, speaks of “the beloved disciple...in one
of his epistles {saying] 'God is love'”. (See S&H 319:32-1.) Now I have been
taught that inspiration is higher than scholarship, so I am assured that indeed
John the apostle did write these books of the Bible.*
II and III
John are so small one wonders how they came to be included in the New
Testament. John's theme “let us love one another” is repeated. And we are
warned to guard our thinking - to make sure we are abiding in the teaching of
Christ, and take care who we associate with.
In both of
these little letters, John speaks of having lots to say, but not wanting to say it
with pen and paper – he hopes to come to speak with the congregation face to
face (II John 12).
III John takes up truth as his main topic. He loves to hear that his children are “walking in
the truth" (verse 4).
We trust that
indeed John was able to come and visit. There were various things to be sorted out
– Diotrephes for instance “who does not acknowledge our authority” (III John 9, NRSV).
Joyce Voysey
* Ed. Readers will be interested to learn what modern scholarship is saying, e.g. https://bible.org has a fascinating article by W. Hall Harris III (Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary) which examines historical evidence which might offer clues as to both writer and recipient of these famous letters. Harris suggests that there is nothing to contradict the long-held belief that it was John the beloved disciple who authored these letters. See
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