Hansjörg 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 opponent’s 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.
34 Hansjörg Schmid
The focus is thus shifted from the reconstruction of the opponents to
the literary strategies of the text in its identity-making.
Delimitation is central, but considered in a different perspective
than it is traditionally. In the context of the broader strategy of
delimitation the function of the opponents has to be discussed in a
wider perspective. The complexity of the policy of delimitation in the
Johannine system becomes apparent when we consider more such
personalized delimitations: the cosmos, “the Jews†and the opponents,
each of which has its particular function (44). Thus, the opponents as a
minor theme of 1 John represent one of several strategies of self-
definition and delimitation within the “Johannine systemâ€(45).
III. The Function of the Opponent Texts in 1 John
1. The Opponents’ Motif and Eschatology
Self-reference means, first of all, that everything is formulated in
the system’s language or worldview. The worldview of 1 John is
apocalyptic, and the fact that 1 John calls the opponents antichrists
(2,18; 4,3), false prophets (4,1) and seducers (2,27) proves that their
apocalyptic contextualization is central. The opponents do not stand
alone, but they are one apocalyptic motif among others, representing
one element of a broader eschatological scenario. Since I view them as
an element within a larger inventary, not the opponents, the
apocalyptic worldview is at the centre of the Johannine system. It is a
worldview in which distress and salvation are close to each other (46).
The motif of the opponents is linked with the following
apocalyptic motifs illustrating the eschatological scenario:
(1) The motif of the last hour: in 1 John this last hour is not
characterized by an eschatological catastrophe, but by a christological
opposition of confession and denial, of Christ and Antichrist, of truth
and lie. Whereas in John the hour is a central christological concept,
(44) SCHMID, Gegner, 267-271.
(45) These reflections on the basis of systems theory are congruous with the
rhetorical device of suvgkrisi" using contrasting figures and “the foil of another
life to sharpen the features of the honoreeâ€. Generally it can be stated “that
antithesis and personal opposition were integral parts of virtually all attempts of
persuasion†(S. MASON [ed.], Life of Josephus. Translation and Commentary
[Leiden 2001] XXXIV). In 1 John, the opponents are drawn as figures in contrast
to the believing community.
(46) J.J. COLLINS, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (London 1997) 57.
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