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Pauline, Messianic and Johannine
Why are the Johannine writings (the Gospel of John, 1-3 John and Revelation) so different in style, and on occasion content, from those of the other writers of the New Testament - Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul, Peter, Jude and James? Why have theologians and scriptorians been so mystified by these differences? Do they differ because John had a particular audience in mind? Or was there more? Why does Paul sound so 'evangelical'? Why do James and the writer of Hebrews sound so 'messianic'? Why do Evangelical Christians and Messianics/Hebrew-Roots believers seem so different? Why this split? And was there a third Johannine tradition, separate from that which has been handed down through the orthodox churches (Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox) and Messianics, that was reserved for the Remnant of the last days?
Different Foundations for Different Æons
Our answer to this question of a 'third tradition' is 'yes' and 'no'; 'no', inasmuch as the basic gospel message of salvation is the same whoever you read in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) and 'yes' because through John, the last of the apostles, Yah'shua (Jesus) revealed the shape, content and spirit of the Messianic Community that would be restored in the last of the last days in preparation for the Millennial Rule of Messiah. If Paul laid the foundation for the Messianic Community (Church) for the 2,000 years up until the very last of the 'last days' (which technically began with the mission of the mortal Messiah), John may be said to have been laying the groundwork for what would come much later...in our own day, the beginning of a new æon.
Our Mission
This entire ministry and its enormous website, not only resolved the differences between Evangelicals and Messianic (hance our moniker, 'Messianic Evangelical'), but just as - if not more - importantly, takes John's revelation and brings it to completion - a restoration of the original Grand Design of the Creator that will flourish in the Millennium, replacing the chaos that produced the tens of thousands of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Adventist, Messianic Jewish and other denominations, not to mention all the cults like Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc, that have led to so much confusion in Christendom.
A Painful 2,000 Year-Long Process
All that ends here at the Johannine Community, which finally will replace - and is replacing - the mishmash called 'Christendom'. The Johannine Community is, will be, and is becoming, the end-time Remnant, the precursor to the Millennial Community of Messiah and the culmination of an agonising, and sometimes exhilarating, 2,000 year-long process of slow change. It has been a long journey because man is resistant to change, always keen to try his own alternatives, and is slow therefore to learn.
Origins of the Johannine Community
The term 'Johannine Comnmunity' was coined by scholars and refers to the practices, rituals and theology of 'Johannine Christianity' as a community that essentially arose in Asia Minor, the location of the '7 congregations' or 'churches' of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. According to Harold W. Attridge, this community defined itself as a reaction to the militant Talmudic Judaism which sought to impose Pharisee traditions on the fledgling Messianic Community (Church). They cultivated an intense devotion to Yah'shua (Jesus) as the definitive revelation of Yahweh's salvific will. They understood themselves to be in intimate contact with the risen Christ and with one another, under the guidance of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). At the same time they were conscious of their relationship to other believers, who were already diverging in theology and practice from the apostolic revelation under the influence of pagan philosophers like Plato, with whom they hoped for an eventual union. They were very pious and explored new ways of expressing faith in Yah'shua (Jesus).
The Road to Apostacy
Over time, like the early Pauline (evangelical) and Jacobite (Messianic) groups, the Johannine believers began to have disagreements and splits, some moving in a proto-Evangelical direction and others more in a Messianic one. Historically, a radical reinterpretation and semi-paganisation of the Pauline School evolved into what we call 'orthodoxy' or 'historical Christianity' and by political means through the Roman Emperors (beginning with Constantine) they converted, marginalised. (and eventually destroyed) any who disagreed with them.
Evolution of the Johannine Communities
The history of Christendom is long, complex and at times tortuous, with the Johannine Community evolving over time to play a rôle different from the one that was originally intended for it. Some Johannine Christians achieved a respected rôle in the emerging orthodoxy and submitted to their episcopal authorities (bishoprics) whereas others did not and remained separate. One thing is certain: the early Johannine Community bequeathed a distinctive body of literature and estimation of Yah'shua (Jesus) that has survived the centuries, keeping the 'body politic' alive through all its tribulations and apostacies through such enlightened men as Thomas à Kempis (Catholic), The Wesley brothers (Methodist-Evangelical-Protestant) and many, many others. Wherever there has been a revival of piety and holiness, there something of the original Johannine spirit may be found. In the end, the beliefs, practices and spirit of Johannine Community were absorbed by Roman orthodoxy, surviving in the pious traditions of both the Western (Roman Catholic, with its Protestant split-offs) and Eastern (Greek Orthodox) Churches.
Johannine Community Apostacies
As the essays in this series will show, though, there was far more to the 'Johannine Community' than the promotion of Christ-centeredness and holiness in countering the destructive forces of anti-Torah lawlessness and the atrophying weight of institutionalisation that would produce the Roman Beast System. Other Johannine groups eventually apostacised into, or joined, various cultic Gnostic groups which leavened not only the orthodox Churches but Judaism too. The historical web is deep and complex and beyond the scope of this short introduction.
Ancient & Millennial Johannism
So when Messianic Evangelicals speak of the 'Johannine Community' we are really speaking of two things only:
- 1. The assemblies, congregations or churches established by the apostle John (and maintained by his immediate successors, the 'sub-apostolic fathers' like Clement and Polycarp) and their spiritual 'culture'; and
- 2. The precursor Remnant to the Millennial Zion that is separated and gathered from the compromised (and often radically apostate) mainstream churches and messianic synagogues (who typically teach ultra-graceism and ultra-Torahism, respectively)
Growing Up into Maturity
Not only has the 'Johannine tradition' been mutilated by the Catholic/Protestant and Eastern Orthodox/Coptic-Syriac branches of Christianity and refashioned by them to make them look 'orthodox' (witness the many versions of the writings of the early sub-apostolic fathers [1]) but inevitably there are differences between yesterday's and today's traditions occasioned by the long process of maturation. We have 'grown up' over 2,000 years which is a very long time indeed. Nothing is static. A lot of water has passed under the metaphorical bridge of history and lots of new light and truth have come from the heavens to supplement and perfect what even the first Johannine Christians did not know.
Maturation and Fresh Revelation
So this is not just a restoration of the first Johannine Community (assuming that were even actually possible) but in many ways a fresh revelation too in order to meet the needs both of our time and of the Millennial society that's coming. The story is ongoing, not paused in time. You can neither take a snap-shot of the first Johannine Community and say, 'that's how it was, and that's how it must again be' nor can you assume, like Mormons and others who claim to be 'restoring' the 'early church', that such is even desirable. We can no more return to our childhood than we can to the Garden of Eden. Both have gone - forever. Rather, we must turn to, embrace and build upon the adult version that's now being presented. The first and second centuries AD and their cultures aren't remotely like the 21st century nor will they be identical to the Millennial culture either, even if the similaries will be readily apparent. This we have to be realistic about. So we are not claiming to be 'the restoration of first century Christianity' or specifically of the 'Johannine Community' because that is neither possible nor desirable. This is something new but built on an ancient foundation that goes all the way back to Genesis and in the meridian of time to the Book of Revelation.
I Reconstructing the Johannine Community Sermons & Essays
This sub-site, originally created in 2017 and then overhaulted in 2024, is divided into several sections. The first, Reconstructing the Johannine Community (1999-2001), was begun as a series of primer essays as part of the training of the end-time Melchizedek Priesthood in the Chavurat Bekorot or Holy Order. In it, radically new concepts are presented to spiritually prepare the earliest NCAY members into moving into the fullness of the phronema or spirit of the community of the Millennial Zion - the way of life of the Holy City or New Jerusalem - for which the endtime Remnant is preparation. In April 2024, revelation was received to resume this series in order to fully integrate all that had been received and learned both before 1999 and in the subsequent quarter of a century, including the important truths taught in the Holy Echad Marriage website.
II. Johannine Essays
The second section, Johannine Essays, is the oldest of all NCAY compositions (1982-1983) - written five years before NCAY was organised - and are taken from the lecture notes of the founder when he was teaching theology as a private tutor in Oxford. Now updated since the organisation in 1986/7, these essays very much viewed the writings of the apostle John through the traditional lens of orthodox Protestant Christianity. For the New Covenant Messianic Evangelical work is a journey, a gathering together of old truth, the restoration of 'new' new or forgotten truth and their eventual integration into the millennial paradigm. Every work of Elohim (God) has a starting point, and in the case of NCAY, evangelical Protestantism, in particular, Anglicanism. These earliest essays provide a contrast showing the development of Messianic Evangelical thought over a 30 year period that both illustrates the importance of first, Evangelical, and second, Messianic foundational thinking as precursors to what would subsequently be revealed as uniquely 'Messianic-Evangelical'. For further orientation, see the website's Introduction and The Messianic Evangelicals.
III. Book of Revelation Exegesis & Commentary
The third section is the founder's Opus Magnum, the enormous 2½ year-long and critically important Book of Revelation course (2021-24), an in-depth commentary on the last book of the Bible arranged as a series of teaching-sermons in which a lifetime's ministry, understanding and revelation is gathered together and presented under the rubric of Johannine apocalyptic thinking.
Endnotes
[1] See the following 3-part Book of Revelation series, Between the Present & the Future, on the mutilated writings of Ignatius and other sub-apostolic fathers created by Catholicism to promote its claims to authority and doctrinal truth:
1. I: Bishops, Pastors, Koinonia & Unity;
2. II: Clement & Ignatius, the Judaising Heresy & Hyper-Grace; &
3. III: Syriac Ignatius, Polycarp & the Patriarch-Apostles
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