John 1

John 1:1-18

• Some say that the Prologue is a summary of the entire narrative. Others say that it is a hymn, like Philippians 2 or Colossians 2.
• 1:6—Many have been sent by God to bear the burden of His Word. The concern with John the Baptizer is whether there is any tension between his disciples and those of Jesus.
• The Synoptics portray John the Baptizer as a Roman candle, yet the Fourth Gospel says he is a little more important than that—he was sent to witness about the “light” (1:1-5).
• 1:9—Augustine says that God enlightens us through Creation.
  a. 1:11—There is an underlying theme of alienation and estrangement.
  b. 1:12-13—Recreation is not a human endeavor.

John 1:1-18--Logos

• Logos, in Greek philosophy, was the rational principle of order that eliminated chaos in the cosmos.
• 1:7—Hellenistic Jews, however, were prone to use logos in relation to wisdom, which comes into being when God speaks something into existence.
• However, in our text, the Creation narrative is lurking in the background.
• John is using a broad term that will play on several fields and will give his readers a place to start from instead of trying to figure out what the term would actually mean (Brown, p. 25-27; Dodd, p. 15ff).
• Everything exists because the Logos has given it life, which includes Chaos although Chaos cannot defeat Logos.
• Augustine says that God did not create anything that was not good or could not be used for His purposes.
• Hans Kung says, however, that God is not directly responsible for everything that happens because He gives us the freedom to choose. What He has given up is the choice to create puppets (1978).
• 1:14—The Logos becomes sarx and “tabernacles” among us.
  a. 1:15—In this possible redaction, John the Baptizer says that he is not the Light, only a witness to the Light.
  b. 1:16—We have been granted immeasurable grace.
  c. 1:17—Truth is intended to mean reality, not just accuracy.
  d. 1:18—Jesus not only makes God known, He also “exegetes” God. If we want to know who God is, we need to look at Jesus, who is the embodiment of God’s presence.
  e. 1 John 1:1-4—The “Apostolic we” refers to those who lived with Jesus while the “Ecclesiastical we” refers to those who live in the community that share the story.

Theology of the Prologue

1. The Logos encounters us as a reality of something we already know, yet it seems strange to us.
   a. It challenges and corrects our understanding of reality.
   b. It is not an illustration of what we already know; it is the revelation of that reality.
   c. To reject the Logos is to assert what something is and presumes to judge the source of life.
2. Inherent in one’s claim of being a disciple is that relationship is mandatory.
   a. Christ is the ground for all existence.
   b. How one is related to Christ is a choice, yet our relationship is inescapable.
   c. Jesus did not come to judge, but to offer an option that forces us to make a choice, which causes a crisis.
   d. We cannot leave Christ alone.
   e. Judgment occurs when we fail to choose the light.
3. Ultimate Reality and Truth are not found in philosophy or in a place or in the law or in a book or in an aesthetic lifestyle but in a particular person in history, what Soren Kierkegaard calls the “scandal of particularity.” It is in the person of Jesus that reality is defined (Keck, p. 50-52).

John 1:19-28

• F. F. Bruce says that there was “a widespread sense of expectancy” during this time (p. 46).
• There would have been some options for John the Baptizer in answering the question of his identity. There is a hope at this time for the Messiah to interrupt history and bring in the kingdom of God.
• 1:20—John the Baptizer explicitly states that he is not the Messiah. His role is that of an eschatological predecessor.
• 1:23; cf. Isaiah 40:3—John is like Isaiah in that he is “a voice crying in the wilderness” and that he is leading the people to God from exile.
  a. Zechariah 13:1—“On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”
  b. Ezekiel 36:25–“I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.”
• 1:25—To baptize Jews says that the coming of the kingdom is a bad thing.
• Baptism, at this time, was only done for proselytes. John is saying that he is radically reconfiguring Judaism.

Theory of the "Hidden Revealer" (Soren Kierkegaard)

• 1:31—John the Baptizer did not know Jesus; it was revealed to him (Kierkegaard, p. 22-24).
• John’s the Baptizer’s description of the Messiah:
  a. 1:26—He was not yet know.
  b. 1:29—He was the Lamb of God.
  c. 1:30—He came before John the Baptizer in history.
  d. 1:32—The Holy Spirit remained upon Jesus when He was baptized.
• But there is no recorded narrative of Jesus’ baptism. This has led some scholars to say that Jesus was a disciple of John.
• 1:29—John the Baptizer identified exactly who the Messiah is.

John 1:29-34

• The language used in the passage is almost identical to the language of the previous passage.
• 1:31—John says that the reason why he baptized was the reveal the Messiah. What would have happened if Jesus had never come to John the Baptizer for baptism?
• 1:33—How would his audience respond to the phrase “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit?”

John 1:35-42

• 1:37—Jesus’ first disciples come from John the Baptizer when he identifies Jesus as the Messiah.
• 1:38—The first words of Jesus (the Logos) are incredibly anthropological.
  a. Humanity is lost and is seeking something so that we can become complete.
  b. 1:39—Jesus literally asks, “What are you seeking?”
• 1:39—After asking Jesus where He is staying, Jesus offers an invitation and a promise with “Come and see.”
  a. This is the summary of John’s message. It will be book ended with the invitation to “come and eat” in chapter 21.
  b. After they saw where He was staying, they remained with Jesus.
• 1:42—Jesus bestows a new identity upon Peter (Cephas). Identity was a critical issue in the ancient world, thus being given a new one would be taken very seriously.

John 1:43-51

• 1:46—Those who have accepted Christ’s invitation now extend it to others. Those who remain in the presence of the Logos will be enlightened.
• 1:47—Israel was named for Joseph, in whom there was much deceit.
  a. One studies the Torah and prays under a fig tree.
  b. Jesus is saying that He was with Nathaniel under the fig tree.
  c. 1:51; cf. 12:31-34—This reflect back to Jacob’s dream and will occur when Jesus is lifted up on the Cross.
  d. 1:51—Jesus uses a plural “you” here.

The 7 Signs

• "Sign Reality" handout

1. 2:1-12—Changing water to wine at the wedding in Cana.
2. 4:47-54—Healing a nobleman’s son.
3. 5:1-16—Healing a paralytic by the pool of Bethesda.
4. 6:1-14—Feeding 5000
5. 6:15-21—Walking on water.
6. 9:1-17—Healing a blind man by the pool of Siloam.
7. 11:1-44—Raising Lazarus from the dead.

• Plato’s “Parable of the Cave” described reality for hundreds of years.
• A miracle can be cloaked in the world below, yet a sign points us to something else. All signs point to the scandal of the Cross, which is the culmination of all signs.
• Some of the signs are miracles, yet some are not. This leaves the door open for those who look past the miracles and see the signs in order to become disciples.

A Thought About Faith

• “I don’t believe there is a road to faith. I believe there are roads to faith.”—Bruce McLarty
• How would you respond to this statement? Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Resources

Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, I-XII, Anchor Bible 29 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966).

F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John: Introduction, Exposition and Notes (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994).

W. D. Davies, “The Johannine ‘Signs’ of Jesus,” in A Companion to John: Readings in Johannine Theology, ed. Michael J. Taylor (New York: Alba House, 1977).

C. H. Dodd, “The Prologue to the Fourth Gospel and Christian Worship,” in Studies in the Fourth Gospel, ed. F. L. Cross (London: Mowbray, 1957).

Leander Keck, A Future for the Historical Jesus: The Place of Jesus in Preaching and Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1981).

Soren Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus, Kierkegaard’s Writings, vol. 7, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985).

Hans Kung, Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today (New York: Doubleday, 1978).

Introduction to John

What Is a Gospel?

• The term “gospel” comes from the Greek word euangellion, which means “good news.”
• The original concept of this term was that of an announcement of a great victory or event that would benefit all of the people.
• When used in theological writing, the concept of this term was that of a prophecy of God’s deliverance.
• In early Christian theology, then, euangellion refers to the story of who Jesus was and what He did while here on Earth.
• No one account of Jesus’ life exhausts all the meanings of the events of His life or of His teachings.
• Is it possible that Jesus did and said more than what is recorded in the Gospels (cf. 2 Cor. 9:7)?
• Ancient biographies were not written in the same way as they are today (“This person did this great thing at this place, and there was much rejoicing.”).
• Ancient biographies were more akin to hero epics like Beowulf or Homer’s The Odyssey than Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln—stories of great people doing great things (that may have been a little embellished).
• Although Ralph Martin’s argument that the Gospels were not written in the literary style of ancient biographies was the main approach for many years, scholars like Richard Burridge are now showing that the Gospel writers were in fact sharing a story that they hoped would affect their audiences in some way (i.e., conversion to Christianity, acceptance of Christian morality, or settling doctrinal and ecclesiological disputes).
• The Gospels found in the New Testament are ancient apologetic biographies, meaning they were “written to prove a point.”
• The Gospels were not intended to be objective, factual reports of how Jesus spent His days. The intent was to address issues and problems facing the early Church by retelling the story of Jesus. Yet the accounts are “factual” because eyewitnesses could have disputed any errors.

Not a "Synoptic" Gospel!

• The term “synoptic” comes from a Greek word that means “similar.”
• Although they each emphasize different aspects of Jesus’ personality and ministry, Matthew, Mark, and Luke each tell a similar story about Jesus, using similar episodes, characters, and sayings: (handout from Robin Griffith-Jones' book provided).
• Whereas the Synoptic Gospels appear to have been written using multiple, interdependent streams of tradition and the testimony of several eyewitnesses, The Fourth Gospel (a.k.a., the Gospel of John) appears to come from a single stream of material, given by a single eyewitness, and is independent from the other Gospels.
• This has led scholars to refer to John as a “spiritual” or “maverick” Gospel.

Similarities Between Synoptics and John

1. Feeding a crowd.
2. Walking on water.
3. Peter's confession.
4. His anointing at Bethany.
5. Triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
6. Cleansing the Temple.
7. Passover and Last Supper.
8. His arrest in Gethsemane.
9. Peter's betrayal.
10. His resurrection.

Differences Between Synoptics and John

Unique Events to John
1. Wedding at Cana.
2. Raising Lazarus.
3. Jesus and disciples baptizing followers.
4. Washing the disciples’ feet.
5. Conversation with Nicodemus.

Events “Missing”
1. No explicit reference to Jesus’ baptism or temptation.
2. No Transfiguration.
3. No official institution of the Eucharist.
4. No cry from Cross.
5. No genealogy or birth narrative.

Chronological Differences
1. Jesus’ ministry appears to last longer as the Passover is mentioned 3 times (2:13, 6:4, 11:55).
2. Jesus is in Judea more than Galiliee.
3. Jesus cleanses the Temple early in ministry.
4. Jesus’ ministry overlaps John the Baptizer’s ministry.
5. Jesus’ death in John is on the day before the Passover.

• The Synoptic Gospels portray Jesus as one who preaches about forgiveness and God’s Kingdom, exorcises demons, performs miracles, and tells parables. However, this is not the portrayal of Jesus in John.
• John 20:22-23: Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit onto the Apostolic band.

Authorship

Early History

• The author is not named, although we assume it is the “Beloved Disciple” (John 21:20-24).
• By AD 170, the Gospel was being attributed to John, although it was in circulation long before.
• Irenaeus (ca. AD 180) said that John wrote it while in Ephesus.

Who Was the “Beloved Disciple?”

• We assume that the “Beloved Disciple” is John (13:23-26, 19:25-27, 21:7). He is also the “other disciple” in John 18:15-16 and 20:2-10.
• He sat next to Jesus during the Last Supper.
• A rumor began that he would never die.
• He was a witness to the Crucifixion.
• Some say that the “Beloved Disciple” was a symbolic presence in the background who represents the picture of the perfect disciple (cf. theory about “young man” in Mark; Dart, p. 31-32).

Objections to John’s Authorship

• There is no internal evidence to support John as the author.
• Two important eyewitness accounts—the Transfiguration and Jesus praying in Gethsemane—are missing from the narrative.
• John was from Galilee, but the primary focus of Jesus’ ministry is in Jerusalem.
• John was uneducated, but the composition and language is smoothly written (cf., Acts 4:13).
• The Synoptic Gospels imply that none of the Apostles were at the Cross.
• Would Jesus commit the care of His mother to one called to be an apostle?

• Floyd Filson and Joseph Sanders say that Lazarus was the “Beloved Disciple”:
  a. 11:5—This is an explicit declaration of Jesus’ love for Lazarus.
  b. Lazarus certainly believed in resurrection.
  c. He could have easily cared for Mary from his home in Bethany.

“No theory so far put forward is without difficulties. It is a matter of choosing that view which presents us with the fewest. Many recent scholars make telling criticisms of the view that John the Apostle was the author. But when we turn to their own views we find little to inspire. The suggested reconstructions are often difficult to follow, sometimes bordering on the bizarre. There is certainly none that is free from serious objection. It is a matter, then, of accepting that solution which best accounts for the facts and which has the fewest difficulties in its way. It is for this reason that I accept the view that John the Apostle was the author of this Gospel. I agree that this view does not account for all the evidence. But then neither does any other known to me. This one seems to account for the facts best.”--Leon Morris (p. 24)

Intent of the Gospel

1. John 20:30-31-"so that you may come to believe."
2. To convert non-believers, especially Hellenes.
3. To engage in polemics (the practice of theological controversy to refute errors of doctrine), especially against the Jewish religious leadership. When John uses the term "Jews," he is referring to the leaders and not the general crowd.
4. To exhort Jewish Christians who have not yet severed their synagogue connections (cf., John 9:22).
5. To combat internal errors.
6. To correct misunderstandings about John the Baptizer (cf., John 1:19-20).
7. John 1:39-"Come and see."
   a. Seeing means comprehending, but we cannot comprehend unless we come to Jesus. But what if we cannot?
   b. For those who come to Jesus, they will find the Truth.
   c. 21:12—“Come and eat”—The resurrected Christ directs the mission and forms the faith of the Church.

Redaction Questions

• 1:1-18—Logos and “grace” are only used here in the Gospel. Was the Prologue added later?
• 4:1-2—Only Jesus’ disciples are baptizing, although 3:22 says that Jesus was baptizing. So, which one is it?
• 14:31—“Rise, let us be on our way” begins the three-chapter Farewell Discourse that ends in 18:1. Was Jesus giving this as He walked through the darkened streets of Jerusalem?

Theology of Composition

• 2:17 and 22; cf. 12:16, 14:25-26—These texts remind us that it was only after Jesus’ resurrection that the disciples understood this.
• What we have is a community downstream from Jesus’ time that is grappling with the meaning of who Jesus is and what He wants from His disciples.
• It is not a chronology of what happened, but what happened during the chronology.
• 2:23-25—Was the Gospel written during a time when miracles were misunderstood, when Jesus was seen only as a “miracle-worker” or magician and not as the Messiah?
• 9:22, 12:42, 16:2—There is a real fear of being put out of the synagogue for following Jesus. In a time when the Church is being divided and persecuted, John reminds his community of who they are, where they came from, and what God has called them to be.

Resources

Richard A. Burridge, What Are the Gospels?: A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography, 2nd ed., Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids, MI/Dearborn, MI: Eerdmans/Dove Booksellers, 2004).

John Dart, “Mark’s Enigmatic Ending,” Christian Century 123 (April 18, 2006): 28-32.

Floyd V. Filson, “Who Was the Beloved Disciple?”, Journal of Biblical Literature 68 (1949): 83-88.

Robin Griffith-Jones, The Four Witnesses: The Rebel, the Rabbi, the Chronicler, and the Mystic (New York: HarperCollins, 2000).

Robert Kysar, John’s Story of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984).

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, rev. ed., New International Commentary on the New Testament 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995).

Joseph N. Sanders, “Who Was the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved?”, in Studies in the Fourth Gospel, ed. Frank L. Cross (London: Mowbray, 1957), 72-82.

Charles H. Talbert, “Biography, Ancient,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1:745- 749.

Charles H. Talbert, Reading John: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles, rev. ed., Reading the New Testament (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2005).

Welcome!

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1, NRSV).

And so begins the Fourth Gospel, what we commonly know as the Gospel of John. Yet, this statement is more than the opening line of an ancient biography. This was the confessional statement of Christians who lived in the eastern half of the Roman Empire for centuries, and it is still used today by the Orthodox Church to declare the divine sovereignty of Christ.

However, it is not a statement that is readily repeated by those in the West. We do not like to waste our time with high philosophy and spiritual quests. Yet, we must embark on a spiritual quest in order to understand the rich meaning of this simple statement.

And this is our purpose this semester--to delve into the "spiritual" Gospel and encounter a Jesus that is virtually unknown to us. In John's Gospel, we will encounter a Jesus who is mysterious and mystical, a Messiah who seems to be just a step out of sync with reality. Or, perhaps, He is a step ahead of everyone else. In either case, we will see a Jesus that is unfamiliar to us, one that we need to see and need to heed His invitation of "Come and see."

I have set up this website to provide you with access to the lecture material that I will be presenting. If you want to put off Carpal Tunnel Syndrome for a little while, you may wish to copy-and-paste this material to a Word document and then bring that to class for additional notes.

I hope that you are excited about our journey together. I pray that you will have a spiritual experience this semester as we examine the life of Jesus from this unusual retelling. I also ask that you pray for me as I present this material. If all works out well, we will all benefit from our time spent together this semester. Grace and peace.

Note: Much of the material from this course has been developed by reading the few commentaries that I have and compiling notes from courses in John that I have taken throughout the years. I would like to thank the following for their preparation in the courses I took:

• Dr. Shawn Daggett, Harding University (BNEW 317/Fall 1999)
• Dr. Michael Martin, Lubbock Christian University (BMIN 6307-2/Spring 2006)
• Dr. Ken Neller, Harding University (GRK 271/Fall 1998)
• Dr. Michael Weed, Austin Graduate School of Theology (NT 6303/Spring 2004)

I would also like to thank Dr. Perry Stepp of Kentucky Christian University for giving me the opportunity to teach this course and for the material that he also provided to me.

Introduction to Biblical Criticism

Studying Scripture
We read different types of literature (i.e., biography, poetry, fiction) in different ways. The context of the passage is the major interpretive tool. However, we typically do not read the Bible in this way. Traditionally, we have viewed the Bible as an answer-giving talisman.

Dangers in Reading Scripture
1. To Harmonize—Harmonizing passages is an attempt to homogenize Scripture into one congruent story.
2. To Atomize—Ripping apart passages into smaller pieces.
3. To Psychologize—John Claypool once wrote, “David was weak on the relational frontier.” Is this really the point of the interpretive process?

Accuracy in the Gospels was not as important as formulating a confessional statement for the Church. We ask why it was shaped the way it was in order to understand the setting in which is was written.

A Working Definition
The website Dictionary.com defines “criticism” as “the practice of analyzing, classifying, interpreting, or evaluating literary or other artistic works.” When we talk about “biblical criticism,” we are talking about how we analyze, classify, interpret, or evaluate the Biblical texts in light of its “history and origin.”

Here, then, is an expanded definition of Biblical Criticism (per Dr. Stepp):
•It is the study of the Bible and the world around and behind its texts,
•so as best to understand what God was saying through the Biblical writers in their day and time,
•so the message can properly effect us.

There are various forms in which one perform “biblical criticism.” For our class, we will use Literary Criticism, which is also called Narrative Criticism. A close “cousin” to Literary Criticism is Rhetorical Criticism, in which the purpose is to figure our how the texts says and does what it does.

Rhetorical Criticism
Although the study of rhetoric is the study of the spoken word, it is important to remember that the written word is just as influential. John Hayes and Carl Holladay say that the “Biblical writings are ‘purposeful’ literature” and that the “Bible seeks to persuade the reader about certain truths, positions, and courses of action” (p. 92).

The purpose of rhetoric is “to persuade the audience to accept an argument …or adopt some course of action” (Hayes and Holladay, p. 92). Greek rhetoric includes 5 essential elements:
1. Invention—Planning the argument
2. Arrangement—Organizing the material
3. Style—Crafting the argument
4. Memory—Practicing the material
5. Delivery—Presenting the speech

Aristotle says that there are three rhetorical “proofs” that a speaker can focus on:
1. Ethos—Focuses on the speaker, through his/her ethical dimension, personality, and trustworthiness.
2. Pathos—Focuses on the audience, through an appeal to the emotional side of the audience and how they would react.
3. Logos—Focuses on the message, through the development of the argument and how the material was presented.

Literary Criticism
Seymour Chatman defined Literary Criticism as, “a disciplined activity that attempts to describe, study, analyze, justify, interpret, and evaluate a work of art” (p. 17-19).

• Real Author: The actual flesh and blood author of the text, yet we can never know this author from the text.
• Implied Author: This author is never the same as the Real Author. This author is the sum of the Real Author’s artistic choices related in the narrative, the image the Real Author leaves of himself or herself.
• Narrator: Theoretically identical to the Implied Author.
• Real Reader: The actual flesh and blood reader of the text.
• Implied Reader: This is the reader the text is designed to address, the Reader who responds as the Implied Author intends him or her to.
• Narratee: The one addressed by the Narrator and is theoretically the same as the Implied Reader.
• Narrative: This is the text itself, the communication between the Implied Author and the Implied Reader, which has its own event sequence and timeframe. It is comprised of Explicit Commentary and Implicit Commentary:
• Explicit Commentary: Overt communication between the Narrator and the Narratee; the things plainly stated.
• Implicit Commentary: Tacit, unspoken communication between the Narrator and the Narratee; inferences taken from the Narrative (i.e., sharp, witty irony; recurring misunderstandings; profound, moving symbolism).
• Story: The subject of the Narrative which is made up of events, characters and settings, and it is the interaction of these which forms the plot (Culpepper, p. 6-8).

References

Seymour Chatman, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978).

R. Alan Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983).

John H. Hayes and Carl R. Holladay, Biblical Exegesis: A Beginner’s Handbook, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987).