|<< 2 Pet 3| I John 1-5 Listen An introduction to I John While
not specifically identified, hints in this book tell us that the
author was the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee. There is no way
to fix the date of the writing of this letter. Opinions by
scholars vary from as early as 55 A.D. to as late as 90 A.D.
John is on a very specific mission in this letter - combating
false prophets. Understanding that mission is essential to
understanding the statements made by John in this epistle.
Actually, John uses the term "false prophets" only once in this
letter (4:1). However, make no mistake about it, they are front
and center with regard to John's comments throughout. FALSE
PROPHETS! FALSE PROPHETS! FALSE PROPHETS! FALSE PROPHETS! This
letter is about resisting false prophets, so let's look at the
characteristics of these false prophets by looking at the
statements John makes about them throughout this epistle: As you
can see, this campaign against these particular false prophets
extends through all five chapte