Chapter V

Witness of John

Our task--- to collect the earlier evuidences of Christ event- it can also be found in John.

In the Johanine passage, it would indicate that behind the legend there was an actual incident, Jesus’ natural human emotions of Shrinking in the face of an imminent cruel death. Where John knew the synoptic gospels.

The difference between John and the synoptic gospels are more striking than the synoptic gospels.

John agrees with the synoptic – Jesus cleanse the temple by driving out those who were engaging in the profitable tradewith the pilgrims

John placing the last supper and the crucifixion day earlier in relation to the Passover feast than do the synoptic

Some points of difference:

1. Jesus teaching and preaching are centered in the kingdom of God. In John, Jesus own person has become the focus of the interest. In John Jesus appears neither as the rabbi arguing about the questions of the Law nor as a prophet proclaiming the breaking in of the kingdom of God. – He speaks only of his own person as the revealer whom God has sent.

2. Not only the teaching different in John --- but the form of teaching, in the synoptic- in a form of short sayings which are given a setting in some incident or argument or instruction – in the form of parable a highly distinctive literary form in which a brief narrative is used to elucidate a moral or spiritual truth.

3. In John, Jesus knows his special vocation and his unique relation to the father from the very first- recognized as the son of God or Christ

4. Jesus is Christ from the beginning; his story is in Johns, actually a reversed, in a theological sense. In the acts – we begin with Human earthly Jesus in the course of his history and particular resurrection is manifested as the Christ. Ascending theology – Christology from below. – grillmeier Anabatic Christology – Catabatic story of heavenly being who comes down to earth

5. Synoptist and paul – future oriented eschatology for John – abandoned this for view in which the events once expected in the future hae been brought into present.

6. John was the master of symbolismI am the true vinethe living breadOmits to say that Jesus as baptized by JohnUsually regards as Eucharistic teachingsSpiritual gospel John believed in physical symbols used in the sacraments are inappropriate and taht they ought to be spiritualized and internalized.

Spiritual Gospel – clement of AlexandriaAll Christian writings are spiritual writings

The synoptist begin their story with the story with the appearance of Jesus in his ministry

Two types of Christology1. Anabatic which tells a man rising from Lordship and Christhood 2. Catabatic tells of a heavenly being who comes from the spiritual realm

to dwell among human beings This is not seem compatible with the humanity of Christ.

Clement’s understanding of the Johanine Christ has come back in different form to trouble us in the 2oth century. – they belive in finding John there is Gnostic influence – strong Gnostic influence.

In Rudolf Bultmann The Gospel of John - there would be comparative or redemptive narrative circulating among the Gnostics and the story of Jesus.

Gnostics believed in dualistic universe, the scene of a conflict between light and darkness

Light stands for the forces of God, spirit, truth knowledge while darkness represented as demonic forces, matter, falsehood, ignorance etc.

The Johanine and the Gnostic comparison just made seems at first sight very persuasive. Assumption – there existed a pre-Christian or at least pre Johanine Gonsoticism on which the gospel writer drew.

For Bultmann – Gnostic or Gnosticising source even speculated that there was probably thisThere would developed Gnostic systems or some sort of Gnostic sources for the discourses in John.

This may be true of the developed Gnostic systems but there can be little doubt that many of the leading ideas of Gnosticism were already circulating when the fourth gospel was composed.

The scholars who minimized the connection between John’s gospel and early Gnosticism do not go so far as actually to deny it.

Bultmann’s thesis about the Gnostic affinities of John.

Attitude like bultmann similar to JohnAttitude of existentialism, because both expressed the alienation of an age together with its longing for spiritual satisfaction, and so these movements offered a language anf conceptuality through which the Christian message might make contact with the needs of the time.

But does not its relation to Gnosticism disqualify John as the credible witness to Jesus Christ and the Christ Event.Christ presented in the context of Gnostic ideas must be a docetic Christ a purely spiritual disembodied and otherworldly being free from contamination of anything physical or bodily in short human being.

Mark’s Christ is viewed as a divine.

In Kasemann accepts that there are some passages in John which seem to ascribe humanity and even humility to Jesus, but that these are only features of the outward appearance of his heavenly being who visits on earth

The prologue would that everything derives form the Father acting through the agency of the logos “ all things were made through him and without him was not anything that was made.

The Word – the translation is meaning LogosFundamental to everything is meaning is closely connected with what we call God and indeed the meaning and God are virtually identical.Life is drive toward meaning and life has emerged into self conscious humanity as the finite bearer and recipient of meaning and meaning shines out through the threat of absurdity, for absurdity has not overwhelmed it.

For the meaning has been incarnated in a human existent in whom was grace and truth – the glory of God = From him we can acknowledge in personal terms as the son of the Father, we have received abundance of grace through Moses came the commanded of the law, through Jesus Christ grace and truth. God is a mystery, but the Son who has shared the Father’s life has revealed him.

Study of John’s actual words

1. In the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was God.

Logos – intermediary between the transcendent God and the physical universe

John’s understanding of the logos – old testament and Jewish sources Greek ideas – influence Jewish traditions Barth claims that God speaks – characterized the very being of God. – He talks about God of the Bible who, unlike God in some other

traditions, does not remain closed in upon himself in contemplation or self sufficient bliss, but directs himself outward or communicates himself.

John – Jesus Christ is the God’s word Christ is supremely God’s wor then in him there is expressed far more John is in effect saying that the word as coming forth or proceeding

from the father, is distinct yet when he immediately adds’ The word was God, he seems to be virtually identifying God and word.

When we said the word was God- Jesus actually being called by God.

2. He was in the beginning with God. Logos is of the same substance as God, then he must share the

essential characteristics of God. Therefore in the beginning, the Logos too has been from the beginning.

Therefore, if God – beginning the logos – from the beginning. God has always the self communication posting another than himself

yet another who shares the same being as the father.3. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

The notion of the Logos as God’s agent, specifically as the agent in creation.

John is declaring that the creation is the work of God acting through the Logos whereas the Gnostics believed the material creation to beutterly alien to God, and to be the work of demons or false gods.

4. In him was life an the life was the light of men Light and life symbols Life – is far more than biological life – metaphysical life – eternal life Life – the fullness of life is the life of God himself. Life emerge into the light of reason and self consciousness and begin

to see the full dimension of life in John.5. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it

The dualistic contrast of light and darkness is this verse may be well Gnostic in origin

It can also imply that the potentiality for life were hidden in the darkness that God was hidden in the darkness until he spoke his word

Although the world is fallen and lies under sin so that john usually speaks of the world as hostile to God and to believers, it is still the creation of God through his word and God loves the word and has sent the son as the reveller who will bring salvation.

9. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. No one comes from the father except through me. This verse of John in the prologue peon the door to the teaching of

Justin10. He was in the world, and the world was made through him yet the world knew him not.

The universe manifests order and order in turn implies mind and form and could never arse out of sheer chance or chaos – it is through the divine wisdom

11. he came to his own home but his own received him not. He comes not as a stranger of an alien race (that would be

Gnosticism) but truly as one of the human race as a true man shall we say that man who ahs not forgotten his origin but stands in intimate relation with the father.

The alethinos anthroposm the real or archetypal man and this expression is perfectly adequate to embrace human race ( his own and his distinctness from fallen or sinful humanity

In view of the context, Christ own who rejected him were, in this particular verse, the human race as whole and not specifically the jews.

12. But not all who received him who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

Christ has not been rejected by all his own. Some have received him but these some are no longer matter, for they are all included in a new category, children of god.

The new relation of god was brought about by the coming of Christ.13. Who were born, mot by blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but by God.

Closer definition – as a children of God They receive it from God by an act of grace. They were born not of bloods the greek work is plural suggesting particular strains of race or ethnic group or family nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God.

14. and the word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth; we ahve beheld his glory, glory as of the only son from the father.

Enanthropesis – becoming human Jesus was the word that has been from the beginning has become

man.16. And from his fullness have we all received the grace upon grace

Grace – charis is not common with john and paul. Grace is equivalent to life – it is gift like character that is stressed by the word grace

17. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

Jesus is contrasted to the Jewish heroes like Moses faith always detriment to the father.

18. No one has ever seen God; the only son, who is in the bosom of the father, he has made him known.

Gnosticism in saying hat God is unseen and unknown. Acknowledges the God has sent a revealer to make known the

mystery of himself. The revealers is now designated as the son Word and son are metaphors Jesus is the true man who at every point draws the fullness of life

from the father and who in turn mediates this fullness of life to those who believe in him, The revelation is not some esoteric gnosis, a secret formula which Jesus will reveal in words but is just his own person.

THE CENTRAL THEMEOf John

Life – eternal life because it is a life grounded in God and thus not destructible, this concept of eternal life has in this gospel already anticipated the resurrection hope so that stories of the appearance of the risen Lord are of less importance here than in Matthew and luke.

The enduing of Jesus was transformed in JohnThe full meaning of eternal life is manifested in the death of Christ and the resurrection or the ascension is the second coming.,