John’s opponents

In the words of the CBQ reviewer of his book, Terry Griffith “opts for a minority position, though he does so with a growing number of authors (see now a work not yet known to G., Hansjorg Schmid, Gegner im 1. Johannesbrief: Zu Konstruktion und Selbstreferenz im johanneischen Sinnsystem [BWANT 159; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2002]), contending that the bone of contention is the messiahship of Jesus, and the opponents are former Jewish Christians who did not want to take the next step, namely, to confess Jesus as Son of God, and so they have returned to pure Judaism.” Griffith concludes that “idols” in 5:21 refers to “Judaism seen as a whole.”