Hansjrg Schmidt, «How to Read the First Epistle of John Non-Polemically», Vol. 85 (2004) 24-41
When reading 1 John most contemporary interpretors stress its polemical character and use the opponents as a key for the whole text. In contrast to them, this article proposes a non-polemical reading which treats the opponents only as a minor feature of 1 John and denies the possibility of mirror-reading the epistle. The article shows the merits, but also the inconsistencies of already existing non-polemical readings of 1 John. It describes the relationship between 1 John and John as an intertextual reading-process and views the opponents as literary contrasting figures. They form a part of an apocalyptic scenario and are related to the main ethical theme of 1 John. The pragmatic function of the excursus-like opponent texts(1 John 2,18-27; 4,1-6) is to strengthen and reassure the reader by demonstrating that he or she is immune to the opponents denial of the christological confession. On this basis, the ethical parenesis takes place, the urgency of which is stressed by the apocalyptic motifs. As a result, the reader tries to avoid an ethical transgression by which he or she would become like the christological opponents, who thus function as a counter-concept to the community.
How to Read the First Epistle of John Non-Polemically
While the title may sound strange, most exegetes would agree that the
First Epistle of John is a polemical text. Yet, can a polemical text be
read non-polemically? As we shall see, many exegetical difficulties are
linked with a polemical determination of 1 John. I would go so far as
to say that since the polemical character of 1 John has been seen as the
key to many exegetical issues of 1 John, the non-polemical approach
can provide new solutions to most of them. Further, I argue that, in the
case of 1 John, polemics or non-polemics is not a question of one’s
desire for peace, but a question of the text. In many points the non-
polemical approach is much closer to the text than a polemical reading.
In the context of the dominance of polemical readings “How to Read
1 John Non-Polemically” is a real question. What follows is not a
recipe for the most adequate approach to 1 John, albeit an approach to
the text that will challenge some agreements of Johannine scholarship.
I. Polemical and Non-Polemical Readings of 1 John
1. The Traditional Polemical Paradigm
The exegesis of 1 John is, in most cases, dominated by the ques-
tion of the opponents. There is, however, a lot of dissent in the on-
going historical debate about the opponents. But looking at the
hermeneutical basis of the current approaches, one can claim that,
despite all their discord, the majority of readings and commentaries
of 1 John agree on four points:
(1) A basic assumption for them is that in a more or less mirror-like
reading, it is possible to reconstruct who the opponents were and what
actually happened in the Johannine community (1). Therefore, the text
(1) A typical representative for this is R.E. Brown, who reads 1 John as “the
record of a theological life-and-death struggle within a community at the end of
the first century” (R.E. BROWN, The Epistles of John [AncB 30; Garden City, NY
1982] X). The question about the identity of the opponents is asked by BROWN,
Epistles, 55 and by J. BEUTLER, Die Johannesbriefe (RNT; Regensburg 2000) 22;
H.-J. KLAUCK, Der erste Johannesbrief (EKKNT 23/1; Zürich 1991) 35; C.G.
KRUSE, The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand
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