The relationship between the Gospel of John and other ancient writings and collections is a point of discussion among various disciplines. One such connection involves the parallels between this gospel and the epistles by the same name. Thematic coherence and verbal connections are easily discernable and accepted in biblical studies, and scholars focused on historical-critical issues have sought to understand the world behind the text in order to bring clarity to the relationship between these canonical writings. Individuals such as Charles E. Hill, Urban C. von Wahlde, Hugo Mendez, Paul Anderson, and R. Alan Culpepper have contributed to this conversation, which has deepened our understanding of these relationships.
While 1-3 John are attributed to the gospel writer and have often been treated together as a Johannine “collection,” another avenue for discovery is in considering the final form of the text and the dialogue between John’s gospel and the epistles of John as located within the collection of the Catholic Epistles (CE). As seen in the history of reception and manuscript evidence, by the end of the first century, both the gospel and Pauline corpora were already functioning as authoritative Scripture for the community of faith. The Catholic Epistle unit, though developing later, is too, an ancient association that has considerable intertextual connections to the Gospel of John through the letter of 1 John.
In light of this, the opportunity to determine the interpretive import of this influence in the Johannine epistles therein is readily apparent. Additionally, there is the opportunity to explore the legitimacy of considering the subsequent impact of the gospel influence on the collection overall. This paper proposes that through intertextual allusion, John’s Gospel impacts a canonical reading of the CE sub-collection so that readers of the CE collection recall the gospel narrative.
The CE largely assumes a gospel understanding. Thus, the Christological implications from the Gospel, which carry over into the exhortation of 1 John, suggest the possibility of 1 John presenting the “Gospel message” of the CE. The peculiarity of 1 John as an “epistle” is already open to discussion, further prompting questions about its role in the CE. This paper navigates compelling connections between the Gospel and 1 John to further elucidate the influence of the Gospel within the CE as a literary collection.