It is also the case that church tradition says John was at Ephesus “remaining among them permanently until the time of Trajan” (Against Heresies, 3.3.4). Trajan reigned as Roman emperor A.D. 98–117. This fact would indicate John died toward the end of the first century, which sets a terminus for his writings. A date of somewhere between A.D. 85 and 100 is reasonable. To be more precise than this is not possible, though numerous scholars tend to push the date of writing for the three letters into