Like its last verse (Jn 1.18), the Prologue of the Johannine Gospel has a double meaning: christological and soteriological. The christological one is mainly connected with John 1-20, the soteriological with John 21, and both are linked to 1 John. Indeed, while the Prologue interacts with the Gospel narrative and with the Epilogue (Jn 21), it works also as a ‘relecture' (re-reading) of 1 John. It recapitulates the promise by Jesus to lead the believers ‘where he is'—i.e. ‘in(to) the bosom of the Father' (Jn 1.18//Jn 12.26; 14.2-3, 6; 17.24)—as well as the assertion of the Letter regarding the children of God (Jn 1.12//1 Jn 3.1-2). In adding a Prologue and an Epilogue, the last redactor of Jn created a huge meta-historical arch evoking the whole Divine design, from the Alpha before the Creation (ἐν ἀρχῇ, Jn 1.1-2) to the Omega of the eschatological coming of the Risen One (ἕως ἔρχομαι, Jn 21.22, 23; cf. the παρουσία of 1 Jn 2.28). The Prologue is then the keystone and the reading key of the Johannine literatur
