DUAL CONCLUSIONS IN JOHN'S WRITINGS

As I have repeated many times, repetition of material is a prime hallmark of biblical writings, and this attribute is seen no more clearly than in the writings of the apostle John, most prominently in Jesus' teachings as related in John's Gospel and in I John, where every point is made at least three times. Interestingly, this penchant for repetition even extends to the way his various books conclude. Let us look briefly at each of his writings.

John's Gospel

Since John 20:30-31 clearly exhibits all the attributes of the conclusion of the book, most scholars (conservative and liberal) treat Chapter 21 as an epilogue appended by another person, perhaps a disciple of John. But that supposition does not take into account the close similarities between chapters 20 and 21 and other factors that should cause us to view the final chapter as part of the original composition rather than an afterthought.

    The parallel conclusions to chs. 20 and 21 are each preceded by Jesus’ recognition of a particular disciple who was a witness to the Resurrection (Thomas in 20:29 and the Beloved Disciple in 21:24).

    “It is appropriate that Mary Magdalene goes to the empty tomb in darkness (20:1) and that the disciples find fishing at night to be futile but enclose an astonishing catch when it is early morning (21:4).” (Culpepper)

    Scenes between Peter and the Beloved Disciple (20:2-10 and 21:20-23) act as an inclusio for these two combined chapters.

Thus, one can see an overall symmetrical structure for the combined chapters which ties the two firmly together into an ABBA composition.

The Structure of John 20-21

1. The two disciples (20:1-18)

    a. Mary Magdalene (20:1)

        b. Simon Peter and the other disciple (20:2-10)

    a'. Mary Magdalene (20:11-18)

    2. Appearance to the Apostles (20:19-29)

        a. Without Thomas (20:19-23) peace be with you (2x)

            b. Thomas’ reaction (20:24-25)

        a'. With Thomas (20:26-29) peace be with you

                    Conclusion (20:30-31)

    2'. Appearance to the Apostles (21:1-14)

        a. From shore to sea (21:1-3)

            b. At sea (21:4-8)

        a'. From sea to shore (21:9-14)

1'. The two disciples (21:15-23)

    a. Simon Peter (21:15-19)

        b. The other disciple (21:20-23)

                    Conclusion (21:24-25)

And most importantly, the dual conclusions above have great similarity to one another:

    “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that through that belief you may have life in his name.” (20:30-31)

    “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true. But there were many other things that Jesus did. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” (21:24-25)

Note the dual occurrence of “written” in each conclusion; disciples as witnesses in each case; and references to Jesus' unrecorded deeds.

Book of Revelation

Compared to his Gospel, John is here writing in an entirely different genre, that of the apocalyptic. But despite that fact, we see strong similarities between the two works in regard to their conclusions. Well before the actual end of the book, we come across these words of Christ:

“These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (22:6-7)

And these are closely paralleled with the penultimate words in Revelation 22:20:

    “The one who testifies to these things says 'Surely I am coming soon.'”

One can go even further in showing that these duplicate endings constitute a matched pair:

    1. These things are true because they have been given to God's servants (22:6a)

        2. What must soon take place (22:6b7a)

            3. Keep the words of the prophecy (22:7b)

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            3'. Warning to those who alter the words of the prophecy (22:18-19)

    1'. The writer has been entrusted to these things (22:20a)

        2'. I am coming soon. (22:20b)

In addition, one can almost look at Revelation 22:8-21 as a complete recap of 21:1-22:7. Both start out with a vision that John is given. They then proceed to switch back and forth several times between giving promises to the faithful and warnings to the disobedient before finally concluding with the similar words above.

I John

Since this book is counted among the epistles, we would expect it to share at least some of the general organization found in ancient Greek and Roman letters and as evidenced in all of Paul's letters. Besides the body of the letter, these elements (in the rough order in which they generally appear) include an opening greeting, prayer, thanksgiving, personal notices and greetings, benediction, and doxology. While not all of these elements are present in every letter, it is striking that not one of them is found in I John. Thus, it is a little uncertain from the start what kind of appropriate conclusion we should be expecting for this composition.

Verses 1:1-4 are almost unanimously regarded as the prologue to this work, due to the strong parallels to the beginning of John’s Gospel of which, in Brown’s view, it “resembles a primitive sketch.” If one assumes that every Prologue should have a matching Epilogue, then 5:13 (“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”) would be a logical candidate since they both represent purpose statements for the book in analogy with John 20:31, and they both contain the phrase “eternal life.” One variation of this proposal should also be considered: including all of 5:6-12 in the Epilogue. Two reasons for this expansion of the final section are (a) the fact that “eternal life” also appears in vv. 11 and (b) inclusion of these verses centering on "testimony” provides an apt parallel to the theme of the Introduction

If either of the above scenarios is considered, then that would leave I John 5:14-21 as a later addition which does not really fit into the overall scheme of the original book, perhaps appended by another writer. But there is even another possibility to consider, namely that all of vv. 6-21 or 13-21 are to be considered as the Epilogue.

My personal preference, and I have yet to see it proposed anywhere else, is to see a proper dual conclusion to the book all written by John. The first conclusion consists of I John 5:6-13, in which the key words “testify,” “testimony,” and “truth” are present in vv. 6-12. Thus, they perfectly parallel the emphasis we have seen in the conclusions at John 21:24-25; Revelation 22:6-7; and Revelation 22:20.

If so, then the second conclusion to the book is defined as I John 5:14-21, which bears marked similarities to the other conclusions in John's works:

    The repeated word “know” found in I John 5:13 is repeated in I John 5:15 (2x), 18, 19, and 20(2x).

    Both I John 5:12-13 and 5:20 contain references to “eternal life.”

    “Son of God” appears in 5:13 and 5:20a.

As to the similarity of I John 5:14-21 to the second conclusion in Revelation, both contain extended contrasts between believers and unbelievers.

    The double appearance in I John 5:20b to “true” is paralleled with the same key word appearing in John 21:24.

    “Son of God” occurs as a phrase in 5:12-13, 20a, 20b and John 20:31.

    The statement “that the Son of God has come” in I John 5:20a is matched with references to Christ's Second Coming in Revelation 22:6-7, 20b.

II-III John

Unlike I John, which does not have any of the characteristics of a true letter, these two letters do possess many of the expected elements. These two short epistles also present quite a different situation from those discussed in John's other writings in that the dual conclusions here are only seen if the two letters are considered as a whole, in which case each of the elements, not just the conclusions, are duplicated:

1. Opening Greeting (II Jn. 1-2)

    2. Blessing on Recipients (II Jn. 3)

        3. Commendation (II Jn. 4)

            4. Walk in the Truth and love one another (II Jn. 5-6)

                5. Do not welcome deceivers (II Jn. 7-11)

                    6. Personal Note (II Jn. 12)

                        7. Final Greeting (II Jn. 13)

1'. Opening Greeting (III Jn. 1)

    2'. Prayer for Recipients (III Jn. 2)

        3'. Commendation (III Jn. 3-4)

            4'. Practice love for one another (III Jn. 5-8)

                5'. Do not refuse to welcome brothers (III Jn. 9-12)

                    6'. Personal Note (III Jn. 13)

                        7'. Final Greetings (III Jn. 14)

The number of verbal parallels between these two brief letters are truly remarkable when comparing similarly numbered units. As just one example, consider the beginnings of the conclusions in 6 and 6'. Phrases in common include: “I have/had much to write to you..I would rather not..and ink...I hope to see you...and talk with you face to face.” This would seem to be either the sign of an uncommonly lazy author or an indication that the two letters were and are meant to be read together as a whole. If so, the reason is probably that proposed below.

The one similar subject treated in both epistles is that of hospitality to strangers (see units 5 and 5'). D. Guthrie says that “although in 2 John it is forbidden for the false teachers...in 3 John it is commended for the true.” Specifically, the Second Letter of John addresses a particular situation in which roving teachers going under the name of Christ are actually heretics. These are to be strictly shunned and not given any greeting or aid (II John 10). The opposite situation appears in the third epistle. In this case a self-important member of the church, Diotrephes, refuses to accept Christian brothers from elsewhere who visit their community and even excommunicates those in his congregation who do so. Attempted guidelines to distinguish the true from the false teachers or prophets were formulated in the early Christian document Didache so this situation was obviously not restricted to John’s original audience and is well worth considering today.

But is there any evidence that the two letters were meant to be considered as a matched pair other than the fact that the two generally circulated together in the ancient manuscripts? There is one strong indication suggesting that from a canonical viewpoint these two letters were meant to be read as companion pieces. This is seen in the respective opening and closing greetings to each letter – those sections showing the greatest inter-textual verbal similarities.

Among the blessings given to the recipients, “peace” is bestowed only at the opening to II John and the closing to III John. Conversely, “joy” appears as a blessing to the author in the final greeting to II John and the opening greeting to III John, with the word appearing nowhere else in these two letters. Thus, we end up with a unified symmetrical structure:

Peace to recipients (II John 3)

Joy to the author (II John 12)

                                        ---------------------------

                                    Joy to the author (III John 4)

Peace to recipients (III John 15)

By so highlighting the purposed effects on author and recipient for these two letters, this literary technique also forces the present reader to consider how the themes of these two epistles might complement one another.

In terms of similarities between the endings of these two letters and the conclusions in John's other compositions, about all that one can point to is that the actual subject of “writing” forms the main subject of II John 12a; III John 13; both conclusions in John's Gospel; and I John 5:13.

Conclusion

So the question remains, “If all these examples of duplication mentioned above are considered as part and parcel of the original plan of John and not afterthoughts from other authors, what is their significance?” I will go out on a limb and suggest that the key may be found in the first book of the Bible.

Genesis 41 contains the well-known account of the prisoner Joseph being called in to interpret a disturbing double dream that he had just had. First, he dreamed that he saw seven fat and seven thin cows, and the thin ones ate up the fat ones, but looked still the same as before. His second dream was quite similar (Joseph tells him that the two are identical in meaning), but in this case there were seven ears of good grain swallowed up by seven ears of blighted grain.

After interpreting both dreams for Pharaoh, Joseph makes the important statement in v. 32: “The doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.” Note the special correspondence between this episode and the two conclusions in Revelation. Both involve the same general situation in which God's chosen representatives are given special revelations from God through visions/dreams which they must relay to others who can take appropriate action in light of impending (“soon”) judgment.

And of broader importance, consider the Hebrew word kun, translated in RSV as “fixed.” Alternative meanings include resolved, established, stable, set up, certain, and ordained. Looking next at the various Hebrew words translated as “true” in English Bibles, the root meanings behind these words include stable, certain, being set up and established. Thus, one can see the strong verbal overlap between these two concepts.

When Joseph says that the doubling indicates that the event is certain or will certainly occur, that is the same as saying that it is, or will be, true since God has established it. Thus, Joseph's comment in Genesis relates directly to both conclusions in the Gospel of John, both conclusions of Revelation, the second conclusion of I John, and both II and III John since all of these contain the key word “true / truth” or its opposite “lie.” It is the overwhelming theme of all John's writings.