Introduction

The document known as First John does not follow the form of other NT epistolary documents. It has no opening or closing salutations, no greetings, no thanksgiving sections, that normally characterize a letter. Exactly what genre it presents is uncertain, but it may simply be a written homily provided to a congregation by an early church leader (or group of leaders given the consistent use of 1^st person plural verb forms), that might include the apostle John and others. Its language and style approximate the Gospel of John and for that reason the document traditionally is associated with John the apostle. Similarly for this reason it tends to be dated towards the end of the first century CE. Whether it pre-dates or post-dates this Gospel continues to be debated.

Discerning discourse units in this document is a challenge. This syntactical analysis essentially follows the divisions suggested in NA28. Little or no consensus has emerged among scholars about its structure. The writer’s use of verb tense forms also creates considerable discussion among analysts.