Indeed, their sin is so deadly that one should not even pray about it (1 John 5:16–17). After these somewhat unflattering remarks, how can I justify a long commentary on the Johannine Epistles? The key words in the opening sentence of the preceding paragraph were “stand by themselves.” The author of the Epistles (if for the moment we accept that there was only one author) never dreamed that his encouragement to his readers against adversaries would be read in isolation from his Community’s tradition