Derf
Well-known member
I’d like to talk about the target audience of the non-Pauline epistles, if anyone’s interested. It seems to be fairly high on the response list for MADs, so I hope it’s ok to post here. I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from the MAD point of view, at least not intentionally in this thread.
After reading through Revelation recently with my family, I thought it would be interesting to read through the books of the Bible in reverse order, so we read Jude, then 3rd, 2nd, and 1st John, and now we’re in 2nd Peter, moving toward 1st Peter.
Since MADists say the non-Pauline letters were written to those of Jewish or Israelite persuasion, they believe the main use of the texts is for them and not necessarily applicable to the body of Christ. (Please correct me if I’m not stating this right.)
What I noticed was that 3John references a previous letter, either 1st or 2nd John, that was rejected, along with its couriers, by a leader in the church John had written to, and that it also references several persons with Greek names, such as “Gaius”, and “Diotrephes”. (3 John 1:9 (KJV) I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.)
I propose that the letter 3rd John referenced was 2nd John, because it was to “The elect lady and her children”, suggesting that it was to a body of believers as a unit (elect lady), but also to the believers individually (children).
And because it was rejected, John wrote 3rd John to one of the members specifically, one that had aided his couriers, so that Diotrephes would not be able to prevent its delivery.
And because the names are Greek, it makes sense that the target audience of both were churches that were part of the body of Christ. And because of that, they weren’t interested, at least Diotrephes’ party wasn’t, in hearing what a Jewish authority had to say.
The indication is that the Greeks by this time (and other gentile believers) were getting mutually hostile against the Jews as the Jews had been (and still were in many cases) against the gentiles.
And perhaps that’s the primary reason for John writing both 1st and 2nd John, where he repeatedly admonishes the believers of either stripe to “love one another”.
After reading through Revelation recently with my family, I thought it would be interesting to read through the books of the Bible in reverse order, so we read Jude, then 3rd, 2nd, and 1st John, and now we’re in 2nd Peter, moving toward 1st Peter.
Since MADists say the non-Pauline letters were written to those of Jewish or Israelite persuasion, they believe the main use of the texts is for them and not necessarily applicable to the body of Christ. (Please correct me if I’m not stating this right.)
What I noticed was that 3John references a previous letter, either 1st or 2nd John, that was rejected, along with its couriers, by a leader in the church John had written to, and that it also references several persons with Greek names, such as “Gaius”, and “Diotrephes”. (3 John 1:9 (KJV) I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.)
I propose that the letter 3rd John referenced was 2nd John, because it was to “The elect lady and her children”, suggesting that it was to a body of believers as a unit (elect lady), but also to the believers individually (children).
And because it was rejected, John wrote 3rd John to one of the members specifically, one that had aided his couriers, so that Diotrephes would not be able to prevent its delivery.
And because the names are Greek, it makes sense that the target audience of both were churches that were part of the body of Christ. And because of that, they weren’t interested, at least Diotrephes’ party wasn’t, in hearing what a Jewish authority had to say.
The indication is that the Greeks by this time (and other gentile believers) were getting mutually hostile against the Jews as the Jews had been (and still were in many cases) against the gentiles.
And perhaps that’s the primary reason for John writing both 1st and 2nd John, where he repeatedly admonishes the believers of either stripe to “love one another”.
