Around the time of the epistles that were written by “John” (possibly John, son of Zebedee), a rift began between some Christian believers that is referenced in 1 John 2:19 when it says, “But by going out they made it plain that none of them belong to us.” The controversy that the Johannine community faced and the believed reasoning behind the books of 1, 2 and 3 John had to do with a new differing opinion between Christians at the time: docetism. Docetism was a belief held by some individuals at the time that centered around the idea that Jesus couldn’t have possibly been fully human, as the Johannine community believed; but rather, since God was divine and could not be composed of flesh, and since Jesus set himself apart from humans and was on par with God, Jesus simply appeared to be a human. While this is mostly speculation as to the reasoning behind the split among the believers and the basis behind parts of the Johannine epistles, Ehrman points out that the opening verses of 1 John are rather confusing until they’re read with an understanding of the rise of the issue of docetism. The opening two verses of 1 John read: “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and revealed to us.” This opening is rather vague when read at first, but it makes sense in the context of docetism: the writer says that they are declaring that they have heard, seen, and (most importantly) touched with their own hands Jesus, whom the docetists are believing was never actually physically with them. The friction between these two groups, now, is illustrated by the writer of 1 John most vividly in the last few verses of the first chapter (verses 1 to 6): the Johannine community says they “walk in darkness”, that they “do not do what is true”, and the “word is not in [them]”. Ehrman does make it a point to observe that these accusations of the docetists should not exactly be taken as fact, reasoning that the ideas are expressed by the opposing Johannine community and may not be entirely true. However, the apparent conflict between the two groups of believers does seem to have risen from the emergence of docetism and its inherently blasphemous (in the Johannine community’s eyes) message, and the strong opinions are expressed in 1 John and are later the reasoning behind the 2 and 3 Johns.