Ten to twenty years after the production of Johns gospel sparked some controversy that led to conflict and ultimately created a division within the Johannine community. Scholars reconstruct these events into three stages, the pre-gospel stage, the gospel stage and finally the Letters stage. In the pre-gospel stage the Johannine community developed as a palestinian group that believed Jesus was both a rabbi and a messiah. The group was initially accepted within the synagogue/jewish community and started to missionize. However, the group ran into it’s first conflict dealing with the legitimacy of the idea of Jesus as the Messiah. In the gospel stage (90-100 CE), the failure to spread their mission led to the community developing a more prestigious and exalted view of Jesus, from being the messiah to the idea that Jesus was a divine being even before his birth. In this stage the community also attempted to really define themselves and establish their community. They labeled “insiders” and “outsiders” to develop boundaries between those who accepted and rejected them. The original opponents to the Johannine community consisted of “the Jews”, “the world,” The Pharisees and followers of John the Baptist. The purpose of this stage was to promote the idea that Jesus was both the Messiah and son of God. The final stage known as the letters stage is where the  division of the community happened. What caused the split was the over doctrine that centered on Jesus and wether he originated from flesh. John wrote the Letters in order to clarify the theological stance that the community had in regards to this debate. The letters formulate and solidify the belief that Jesus came from flesh. The letters speak truth to the identities and nature of both the Johannine community and its opponents, who were then identified as former members of the community that subscribed to the docetic theology. The purpose of this stage was to encourage members to not commit sin and follow in the footsteps of the enemy or be deceived by them and to stick with the group.