The author of John’s letters – the Evangelist, or another?

Ever since C.H. Dodd suggested that he had found significant differences in the vocabulary used in the Johannine letters from that of the Gospel, Bible commentators have debated the possibility of different authorship. This paper aims to show that the Elder, the author of the letters, is undoubtedly different from the Evangelist by demonstrating that their personality types (as described by Jung) are widely different. The three letters were scrutinised for words or styles which betray the author’s personality type and 276 indications of personality type pointed strongly towards Sensing, Feeling, and Judging preferences, with the probability of Extraversion. The Elder’s strong tendency towards Sensing lies in diametric opposition to the Evangelist’s all‐prevailing Intuition. These two authors are shown to be as different as chalk and cheese; thus closing a long debate. A full type description (ESFJ) shows how his personality fits his role in the Johannine Community and explains both his apparent failure to ‘speak out’ at an early stage of disagreement and his final antagonistic reaction towards the secessionists.