Who Has the Spirit?

While Jude and 1 John emerged from different situations, each letter makes a case against the beliefs and behaviors of groups causing disruption in their respective communities. Both arguments against their opponents involve appeals to authority, necessary because the opponents legitimize themselves and their authority by claiming God’s Spirit. In this article, the author argues that the message of both letters is better understood when read alongside first-century views of S/spirit possession and represent contemporaneous attempts to distinguish who legitimately possesses God’s Spirit. For Jude, this entails conformity to divinely established authoritative structures, defining and unifying the community and delimiting behaviors. For 1 John, this entails conformity to the community’s authoritative tradition, defining and unifying the community and distinguishing truth from error. Reading these letters in this way aids our understanding of how early communities handled division and how their pneumatologies relate to the need to adhere to a certain order.