Sources: Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John; Revelation (disputed Johannine authorship); Ignatius of Antioch’s anti-docetic polemic (~107 AD).

The Johannine community is the group behind the Gospel of John and the Johannine letters — traditionally associated with the apostle John and located in Ephesus in the late 1st century. The Gospel’s theological distinctives: (1) The Logos prologue (John 1:1–18) — the highest Christology in the New Testament, identifying Jesus with the pre-existent divine Word (Logos), drawing on both Hellenistic philosophy (Stoic/Platonic logos) and Jewish Wisdom literature (Prov 8, Sirach 24); (2) The “I AM” sayings — seven self-declarations (I am the bread of life; the light of the world; the door; the good shepherd; the resurrection; the way, truth and life; the vine) that echo the divine name; (3) Realized eschatology — eternal life begins now through belief, not only at the future resurrection; (4) Farewell discourses (John 13–17) — the Paraclete (Holy Spirit) promised as continuing presence. J. Louis Martyn’s influential thesis (1968) reads John as written for a community being expelled from the synagogue — the references to being “put out of the synagogue” (9:22, 12:42, 16:2) reflect the community’s own experience with the Birkat HaMinim.