- Dec 27, 2015
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I've been wading through a small book "The Churches the Apostles Left Behind" by the Catholic scholar Raymond E. Brown.
Chapter 7 of his book is devoted to the Johannine Gospel, and the effect it had on the budding churches. It includes the words -
"Ecclesiology in the Fourth Gospel is dominated by the extraordinary Johannine christology. Because we tend to blend together gospel pictures of Jesus, it is hard for us to realise that among the four gospels only John posits explicitly a pre-existent career of God''s Son....
The Johannine Jesus had glory with his Father before the world began.
... He came down from heaven to this earth, became flesh, and revealed to people what he had seen and heard when he was with the Father. ..... The Jesus of the synoptic Gospels introduces and proclaims God's kingdom, rule, or reign in the world .... But in John, except for 3:3,4, "the kingdom / rule of God" is absent. Rather the figurative or allegorical imagery is applied to Jesus himself, eg. he is the bridegroom.. "I am", I am the vine", I am the sheepgate or the shepherd, I am the bread of life come down from heaven, I am the light of the world" ....
... If Jesus and the Father are one, the rule of God is most perfectly made a reality by Jesus. Instead of entering the kingdom of God as a place, one needs to inhere in Jesus to be part of the community..."
In short, John's Gospel emphasises Christ's divinity far more than the synoptics.
He also pointed out a possible Samaritan influence, claiming "... There were also Samaritan converts. As I explained in detail in (his book) Community, this mixture may have hastened innovative developments in Johannine christology and made Johannine Christians particuarly troublesome in the eyes of the Jews who did not believe in Jesus. (The typical Johannine terminology for the opponents of Jesus, namely, "The Jews," which would be inappropriate on the lips of Jesus during his lifetime, is explicable as the influence of a Samaritan component in the Johannine tradition)...
In any case, beginning in chap. 5, a dominant theme of the Johannine account of Jesus ministry is the hatred that "the Jews" have for Jesus .... there are long debates between between Jesus and "the Jews" that grow increasingly hostile. ... The Jews in anger say, "We are the disciples of Moses..."
John's Gospel is the only one that uses the term "the Jews" in such a hostile manner. Could there have been some Samaritan influence at work, as the Samaritans would not have had a problem denigrating "the Jews" whereas the Jewish disciples themselves would not have been so quick to denigrate their fellow countrymen with such a collective label?
Just a couple of interesting points about the Gospel of John highlighted by Raymond E. Brown.
Chapter 7 of his book is devoted to the Johannine Gospel, and the effect it had on the budding churches. It includes the words -
"Ecclesiology in the Fourth Gospel is dominated by the extraordinary Johannine christology. Because we tend to blend together gospel pictures of Jesus, it is hard for us to realise that among the four gospels only John posits explicitly a pre-existent career of God''s Son....
The Johannine Jesus had glory with his Father before the world began.
My comment - It even starts with "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and was God."
... He came down from heaven to this earth, became flesh, and revealed to people what he had seen and heard when he was with the Father. ..... The Jesus of the synoptic Gospels introduces and proclaims God's kingdom, rule, or reign in the world .... But in John, except for 3:3,4, "the kingdom / rule of God" is absent. Rather the figurative or allegorical imagery is applied to Jesus himself, eg. he is the bridegroom.. "I am", I am the vine", I am the sheepgate or the shepherd, I am the bread of life come down from heaven, I am the light of the world" ....
... If Jesus and the Father are one, the rule of God is most perfectly made a reality by Jesus. Instead of entering the kingdom of God as a place, one needs to inhere in Jesus to be part of the community..."
In short, John's Gospel emphasises Christ's divinity far more than the synoptics.
He also pointed out a possible Samaritan influence, claiming "... There were also Samaritan converts. As I explained in detail in (his book) Community, this mixture may have hastened innovative developments in Johannine christology and made Johannine Christians particuarly troublesome in the eyes of the Jews who did not believe in Jesus. (The typical Johannine terminology for the opponents of Jesus, namely, "The Jews," which would be inappropriate on the lips of Jesus during his lifetime, is explicable as the influence of a Samaritan component in the Johannine tradition)...
In any case, beginning in chap. 5, a dominant theme of the Johannine account of Jesus ministry is the hatred that "the Jews" have for Jesus .... there are long debates between between Jesus and "the Jews" that grow increasingly hostile. ... The Jews in anger say, "We are the disciples of Moses..."
John's Gospel is the only one that uses the term "the Jews" in such a hostile manner. Could there have been some Samaritan influence at work, as the Samaritans would not have had a problem denigrating "the Jews" whereas the Jewish disciples themselves would not have been so quick to denigrate their fellow countrymen with such a collective label?
Just a couple of interesting points about the Gospel of John highlighted by Raymond E. Brown.
