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The letters of John have traditionally been labeled 'general' epistles because no specific destination is mentioned, but an interpretation based on that assumption, that these letters were written to the early church at large, means that concepts such as love for fellow believers must be treated as generic, thus reducing them almost to platitudes. Reading the letters this way, one would not realize that the original author aimed his words at a very specific and deadly serious situation confronted by the group of local congregations to whom he ministered and for which he felt responsibility for oversight. The issues the author confronted shook to the roots the very concept of Christian fellowship itself. They also involved a doctrinal controversy that would ultimately raise the question of the very way in which the Spirit was expected to operate in the ongoing life of the church.
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