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Posted in Exposition

(6) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, P. N. 2006, The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus: Modern Foundations Reconsidered, Continuum International

Ashton, J. 1991, Understanding the Fourth Gospel, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Barrett, C. K. 1978, The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction With Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky

Bauckham, R. 2007, The Gospel of John and Christian Theology, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids

Beck, D. R. 1997, The Discipleship Paradigm: Readers and Anonymous Characters in the Fourth Gospel, BRILL, Leiden

Bennema, C. 2002, The Power of Saving Wisdom: An Investigation of Spirit and Wisdom in Relation to the Soteriology of the Fourth Gospel, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen

Brown, R.E. 1966, The Gospel According to John I-XII in Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York

Bruce, F. F. 1983, The Gospel of John, Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids

Carson, D. A. 1991, The Gospel according to John, Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham

Endo, M. 2002, Creation and Christology: A Study on the Johannine Prologue in the Light of Early Jewish Creation Accounts, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen

Evans, C. A. 1993, Word and Glory: On the Exegetical and Theological Background of John’s Prologue, Continuum International, London

Evans, C. A. 1997, Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel: Investigations and Proposals, Continuum International, London

Gieschen, C. A. 1998, Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence, BRILL, Leiden

Hallett, G. 2005, Identity and Mystery in Themes of Christian Faith: Late-Wittgensteinian Perspectives, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., Farnham

Hamid-Khani, S. 2000, Revelation and Concealment of Christ: A Theological Inquiry into the Elusive Language of the Fourth Gospel, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen

Harris, E. 2004, Prologue and Gospel: The Theology of the Fourth Evangelist, Continuum International, London

Harstine, S, 2002, Moses as a Character in the Fourth Gospel: A Study of Ancient Reading Techniques, Continuum International, London

Hurtado, L. W. 2003, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids

Jasper, A. E. 1998, The Shining Garment of the Text: Gendered Readings of John’s Prologue, Continuum International, London

Keener, C.S. 2003, The Gospel of John, A Commentary, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Köstenberger, A. J. 2004, John in Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Baker Academic, Ada, Michigan

Kysar, R. 1993, John, the Maverick Gospel, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky

Kysar, R. 2006, Voyages with John: Charting the Fourth Gospel, Baylor University Press, Waco, Texas

Lindars B. 1972, The Gospel of John, Oliphants, London

Lincoln, A. T. 2005, The Gospel According to Saint John in Black’s New Testament Commentary series, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Longenecker, R. N. 2005, Contours of Christology in the New Testament, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids

McGrath, J. F. 2001, John’s Apologetic Christology: Legitimation and Development in Johannine Christology, Cambridge University Press

Miller, E. L. 1989, Salvation-history in the Prologue of John: the Significance of John 1:3-4, Brill Archive, Leiden

Ngewa, S. M. 2003, The Gospel of John, Evangel Publishing House, Nairobi

Neyrey, J. H. 2007, The Gospel of John, Cambridge University Press

Phillips, P. M. 2006, The Prologue of the Fourth Gospel: A Sequential Reading, Continuum International, London

Pink, A. W. 1968, Exposition of the Gospel of John, Zondervan, Grand Rapids

Ratzinger, J, Pope Benedict XVI, 2007, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, Doubleday, New York

Resseguie, J. L. 2001, The Strange Gospel: Narrative Design and Point of View in John, BRILL, Leiden

Ridderbos, H. N. 1997, The Gospel according to John: A Theological Commentary, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids

Sadananda, D. R. 2004, The Johannine Exegesis of God: An Exploration into the Johannine Understanding of God, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin

Schnackenburg, R. 1980, The Gospel According to St. John, Seabury Press, New York

Thompson, M. M. 2001, The God of the Gospel of John, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids

Trites, A. A. 2004, The New Testament Concept of Witness, Cambridge University Press

Voorwinde, S, 2005, Jesus’ Emotions in the Fourth Gospel: Human Or Divine?, Continuum International, London

Wallace, R. S. 2004, The Gospel of John: Pastoral and Theological Studies, Rutherford House, Edinburgh

Westermann, C. 1998, The Gospel of John in the Light of the Old Testament, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Willoughby, W. R. 1999, John: Believing on the Son, Christian Publications, Pennsylvania

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Barton, G. A. 1902, ‘On the Jewish-Christian Doctrine of the Pre-Existence of the Messiah’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 78-91

Borgen, P. 1972, ‘Logos was the True Light: Contributions to the Interpretation of the Prologue of John’ Novum Testamentum, Vol. 14, Fasc. 2, pp. 115-130

Bowen, C. R. 1924, ‘Notes on the Fourth Gospel’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 43, No. 1/2, pp. 22-27

Boyarin, D. 2001, ‘The Gospel of the Memra: Jewish Binitarianism and the Prologue to John’, The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 94, No. 3, pp. 243-284

Boyle, M. O. 1977, ‘Sermo: Reopening the Conversation on Translating JN 1,1’, Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 161-168

Bruce, A. B. 1896, ‘Four Types of Christian Thought. IV. The Fourth Gospel’, The Biblical World, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 168-179

Burrows, M. 1926, ‘The Johannine Prologue as Aramaic Verse’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 45, No. 1/2, pp. 57-69

Coloe, M. 1997, ‘The Structure of the Johannine Prologue and Genesis 1’, Australian Biblical Review, Vol. 45, pp 40-55

Cowan, C. 2006, ‘The Father and Son in the Fourth Gospel: Johannine Subordination revisited’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Vol. 49. No. 1, pp 115-135

Giblin, C.H. 1985, ‘Two Complementary Literary Structures in John 1:1-18’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 104, No. 1, pp. 87-103

Glasswell, M. E. 1985, ‘The Relationship between John and Mark’, Journal for the Study of the New Testament Vol. 23, F 1985, pp 99-115

Kraaling, C.H. 1930, ‘The Fourth Gospel and Contemporary Religious Thought’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 140-149

MacLeod, D. J. 2003, ‘The Reaction of the World to the Word: John 1:10-13’, Bibliotheca Sacra Vol. 160, No 640, pp 398-413

MacLeod, D. J. 2003, ‘The Witness of John the Baptist to the Word: John 1:6-9’, Bibliotheca Sacra Vol. 160, No. 639, pp 305-320

Matera, F. J. 2006, ‘Christ in the Theologies of Paul and John: a Study in the Diverse Unity of New Testament Theology’ Theological Studies Vol. 67, No. 2, pp 237-256

Meagher, J. 1969, ‘John 1:14 and the New Temple’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 88, No. 1, pp. 57-68

Middleton, R. D. 1938, ‘Logos and Shekinah in the Fourth Gospel’, The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 101-133

Miller, E. L. 1993, ‘The Johannine Origins of the Johannine Logos’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 112, No. 3, pp. 445-457

Pagels, E. 1999, ‘Exegesis of Genesis 1 in the Gospels of Thomas and John’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 118, No. 3, pp. 477-496

Price, J. L. 1967, ‘The Search for the Theology of the Fourth Evangelist’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 3-15

Pryor, J. W. 1985, ‘Of the Virgin Birth or the Birth of Christians? The Text of John 1:13 Once More’, Novum Testamentum, Vol. 27, Fasc. 4, pp. 296-318

Pryor, J. W. 1990, ‘Jesus and Israel in the Fourth Gospel: John 1:11’, Novum Testamentum, Vol. 32, Fasc. 3, pp. 201-218

Ridderbos, H. 1966, ‘The Structure and Scope of the Prologue to the Gospel of John’, Novum Testamentum, Vol. 8, Fasc. 2/4, pp. 180-201

Rishell C. W. 1901, ‘Baldensperger’s Theory of the Origin of the Fourth Gospel,’ Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 38-49

Schnelle, U. 2001, ‘Recent Views of John’s Gospel’, Word & World Vol.21 No. 4, pp 352359

Seitz, O.J.F. 1964, ‘Gospel Prologues: A Common Pattern?’, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp. 262-268

Staten, H. 1993, ‘How the Spirit (Almost) Became Flesh: Gospel of John’, Representations, No. 41, pp. 34-57

Strachan, R. H. 1914, ‘The Idea of Pre-Existence in the Fourth Gospel’, The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 81-105

Voorwinde, S. 2002, ‘John’s Prologue: beyond some Impasses of Twentieth-century scholarship’, Westminster Theological Journal, Vol. 64, No. 1, pp 15-44

Wordsworth, W.A. 1957,‘The Bodmer Papyrus and the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel’, Novum Testamentum, Vol. 2, Fasc. 1, pp. 1-7

(1) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(2) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(3) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(4) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(5) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

Posted in Exposition

(3) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

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‘the fact that the light has never been quenched is proved by the witness of the prophets, above all by the witness of John the Baptist, the last of the prophets and the herald of Christ. But his function as a witness has to be clearly distinguished from that to which witness is given – the light, which became flesh in Jesus Christ.’

The Fourth Gospel identifies the purpose of John the Baptist’s appearance and ministry as that of ‘witness’. In the Prologue the two mentions of John as witness are inserted at strategic points, reinforcing what has been said. Verse seven (‘to bear witness of the light’) harks back to what is said in verse five about the coming of the light and verse fifteen to what is said in verse fourteen about what Ridderbos (1997, p.42) calls ‘Jesus’ antecedent transcendent glory.’


Trites (2004, p.78ff.) argues convincingly that the Fourth Gospel ‘presents a sustained use of juridical metaphor’. She maintains that ‘in the Fourth Gospel God Incarnate has a lawsuit with the world’ (p.79). She indicates that in the first twelve chapters, which deal mainly with the conflict between Jesus and “the Jews”, John is stating a case, advancing his arguments, challenging his opponents and presenting his witnesses. She understands the idea of witness in John’s gospel in terms of Old Testament legal language and points out that other juridical words such as judge, judgement, cause, accuse and convince are also used in a context of debate or hostility.


Her assessment of John the Baptist as witness (p.91) is insightful:


‘John is the first and one of the most important witnesses to Jesus and his testimony is a threefold one, as the Prologue makes clear: (1) He is not the Light. (2) He is sent to bear witness to the Light. (3) The purpose of his witness-bearing is that all may believe in Christ (1:6-8). This pattern is followed in subsequent sections dealing with the Baptist. John is mentioned at the beginning of the Fourth Gospel , for he is the first to point his fellow men to Jesus, and in that sense all believers have been brought to Christ through him (1:7b). While there had been other men sent from God, John’s task was unique. He bore witness to the incarnate Word, to his superiority to himself, and to his prior existence.’


Others said to be witnesses in the Fourth Gospel include: Jesus Himself (3:11; 5:31; 8:13-14; 18:37), the Samaritan woman (4:39), God the Father (5:32,34,37; 8:18; I John 5:9), Scripture (John 5:39), the works of Christ (5:36), the crowd at the raising of Lazarus (John 12:17), the Spirit (15:26-27; I John 5:10,11), the disciples (John 15:27; 19:35; I John 1:2; 4:14), and the author himself (John 21:24).

Although John the Baptist was sent from God as a witness to the Light he is portrayed as insignificant in comparison with the Light itself. Jesus called him a ‘lamp’ (5:35) but he was certainly not the Light. The writer of the Gospel asserts John’s subordination to Jesus (1:20, 27, 29, 33, 36) and strongly denies that John the Baptist is the Messiah. According to Luke 3:15 some people thought that John the Baptist might be the Messiah’. In the Prologue John gives no information on John the Baptist but concentrates only on his function as a witness to the Light.



‘It is employed with two different nuances in this verse. In the first two instances the reference is to the created world, the world that constitutes humanity’s environment and that includes humanity itself. In the third instance – the world did not know him- the reference is to the world of humanity that by its response reveals its devastating plight of having become alienated from and hostile to the Word/Light that sustains it. It is this second negative connotation of ‘world’ that will become dominant in the Fourth Gospel.’

(1) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(2) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(4) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(5) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(6) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

Posted in Exposition

(2) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

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Ngewa (2003, p.10) says of the background to Logos:

‘If Semitic, then the main idea is that God communicated himself through Jesus Christ. If the background is Greek, the central idea is that Jesus holds things together. Neither of these ideas is excluded in what John says about Jesus in this passage. ‘

In the Prologue the author presents three views of the Logos:

1) In verse one he presents the Logos as being with God and within this expresses three important ideas.


– The eternal existence of the Logos (‘In the beginning was the word’).


– The eternal relationship of the Logos (‘with God’).


– The eternal status of the Logos (‘was God’).


The Logos exists before creation, enjoys a special, intimate relationship with God and in his very nature is God. The writer is thus claiming that Jesus who lived on earth was in fact the eternal Word, God himself. The idea is repeated in verse two, emphasizing the point.

2) In verse three he talks about the Logos and Creation and emphasises the divinity of the Word by stating that he was God’s agent in creation . This is put both positively (‘Through him all things were made’) and negatively (‘without him nothing was made that has been made.’). 

3) In verses ten to fourteen he speaks of the Logos in the world and deals with the rejection of the Logos (1:10-11), the new birth of those who accept him (1:12-13) and with the Incarnation (1:14). 

The word ‘logos’ (word) is employed thirty-nine times in John’s Gospel but it is only in the Prologue, where it occurs four times, that ‘logos’ is used as a Christological title. The term ‘Logos’ is never again applied to Jesus in John’s Gospel. Jesus later identifies himself as ‘Light’ (Jn 8:12; 9:5), as ‘Son’ (Jn 5:19-24), and as ‘Life’ (Jn 11:25) etc. but never says ‘I am the Word.”


This is because from chapter 1:14 on, he is no longer called ‘the logos’ but ‘Jesus’  Jesus and ‘the logos’ are one and the same; ‘the logos’ is the pre-existent Christ.

Christ’s pre-existence is not only mentioned in the Prologue but also on several occasions throughout the Gospel of John there are references to his life before Creation. He speaks of himself as having ‘come down from heaven’ (3:13; 3:31; 6:33; 6:38; 6:62). He says: ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ in 8:58 and, in the prayer of chapter seventeen, ‘And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began’ and ‘you loved me before the creation of the world.’ (17:5, 24). 


Kysar (1993, p.31) maintains that the affirmation that Jesus existed from the beginning is ‘one of the highest claims that the Christian has made for Christ’.  He observes:


‘The pre-existence of the Logos affirms not only that he existed before creation itself, but that he existed ‘before all things began’. His existence goes back into that mysterious time before time – into the realm of temporality that eludes human conceptuality. While we cannot fathom what it would mean to exist before all else, we can try to fathom what the author is trying to affirm by saying this. Christ is so important that he could not simply have come into being like any other person or object. Christ is made to transcend beings and things by the assertion of his pretemporal existence….Christ is no created being. He is before creation.’

(1) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(3) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(4) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(5) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(6) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

Posted in Exposition

(1) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

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INTRODUCTION


More than two thousand years ago a carpenter from Nazareth in Palestine emerged from obscurity. His influence was to divide his own nation, transform the lives of his disciples and impact the world. Who was Jesus? Where did he come from? What did he do and teach? How did people respond to his claims? What was his destiny? John, the author of the Fourth Gospel, seeks to address questions like these. He sums up his purpose in a statement in chapter 20:30-31:


‘Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’


The author thus encourages the reader to consider Jesus Christ, whom he presents as the worthy object of faith.

THE PROLOGUE TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

Unlike the Synoptic Gospels ( Matthew, Mark, Luke) which all introduce Jesus by locating his ministry in a historical setting, John’s prologue presents Jesus as the Word (Logos) in eternity. According to Lindars (1972, p.77);


‘The prologue is a work of immense assurance and literary power. It moves with measured steps from the Creation to the climactic moment of the Incarnation (verse 14), and then indicates the fulness of the revelation which results from it – like the dawn gradually illuminating the sky until the sun suddenly bursts above the skyline and sends its rays horizontally across the earth.’


Carson (1991, p.111) comments; ‘The Prologue is a foyer to the rest of the Fourth Gospel (as John’s Gospel is often called), simultaneously drawing the reader in and introducing the major themes’.

It is my intention to identify and comment briefly upon the major themes in the Prologue to the Fourth Gospel.

(2) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(3) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(4) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(5) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.

(6) THEMES IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL.