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5 - A Treatise on Sinlessness
from Part II - Interpretation
Hugo Méndez, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Book:

The Epistles of John

Published online:

17 December 2025

Print publication:

08 January 2026, pp 113-152
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Summary

The chapter rethinks the message and purpose 1 John. It casts the epistle as the vehicle of a radical perfectionist theology, in which those “born of God” “do not sin” – a view with parallels in ancient Jewish and Christian thought.

Origins, Authorship, Purpose
Hugo Méndez
Published online:

17 December 2025

Print publication:

08 January 2026
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For centuries, Christians believed that the biblical letters of 1, 2, and 3 John were penned by a disciple of Jesus. Today, scholars speculate that the three are artifacts of a lost 'Johannine Community.' In this groundbreaking study, however, Hugo Méndez challenges both paradigms, meticulously laying out the evidence that the Epistles are, instead, a series of falsely authored works. The texts position themselves as works by a single author. In reality, they were penned by three different writers in a chain of imitation, creative adaptation, and invention. Through incisive, close readings of the Epistles, Méndez clarifies their meaning and purpose, demystifying their most challenging sections. And by placing these works in dialogue with Greco-Roman pseudo-historical writing, he uncovers surprising links between Classical and early Christian literature. Bold, comprehensive, and deeply original, this book dismantles older scholarly views while proposing new and exciting approaches to these enigmatic texts.

19 - Christology and Holiness
from Part IIIb - Christology and Philosophical Theology
- By Mark C. Murphy
Edited by Timothy J. Pawl, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, Michael L. Peterson, Asbury Theological Seminary, Kentucky
Book:

The Cambridge Companion to Christology

Published online:

15 September 2025

Print publication:

02 October 2025, pp 323-339
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Summary

That Jesus Christ is sinless is utterly uncontroversial within orthodox Christianity. But the modality of that sinlessness (whether it is necessary that Christ was without sin) and the explanation of that sinlessness (why it is the case that Christ did not sin, and perhaps even could not have sinned) have been the objects of intense christological controversy. This chapter considers and evaluates multiple explanatory models for Christ’s sinlessness, which lead to different accounts of whether and why Christ is impeccable.