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A Neglected Feature of the Christology of the Fourth Gospel1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
Extract
Because the term θεóς is used so infrequently of Jesus in the New Testament, it is not surprising to find that there are relatively few discussions of it as a christological title. However, it may be of value to investigate the way in which the Fourth Gospel speaks of Jesus as ‘God’ since its usage differs somewhat from that of the rest of the New Testament. First, the extent to which the New Testament describes Jesus as God will be surveyed, and this will be contrasted in general terms with the approach of the Fourth Evangelist. Then the passages in the Fourth Gospel which may call Jesus ‘God’ will be examined in more detail, and an attempt will be made to establish the way in which this designation is used by the evangelist. Next it will be asked how the distinctive usage of the Fourth Gospel came to be adopted. Finally the view that the word θεóς expresses a functional christology will be considered.
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References
page 32 note 2 Bultmann, Rudolf, ‘The Christological Confession of the World Council of Churches’, in Essays Philosophical and Theological (E.T. by James C. G. Greig of Glauben und Verstehen, Gesammelt Aufsätze, 11, London, 1955), p. 276.Google Scholar
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page 35 note 3 E. Stauffer, Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, III, 106 n. 267, cites II Cor. v. 19 as a further example of θε⋯ς used in this way. This is possible, but it is far more probable that θεός is the subject of the verb.
page 35 note 4 E. C. Colwell, art. cit. p. 17.
page 35 note 5 Ibid. p. 18 n. 14.
page 35 note 6 Ibid. p. 21.
page 35 note 7 Ibid. p. 20.
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page 38 note 3 E.g. Hoskyns, E. C., The Fourth Gospel, edited by Davey, F. N. (London, 2 1947), pp. 153 f.Google ScholarBarrett, C. K., The Gospel according to St. John (London, 1956), p. 141, andGoogle ScholarLightfoot, R. H., St. John's Gospel: A Commentary, edited by Evans, C. F. (Oxford, 1956), p. 90.Google Scholar
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page 39 note 5 R. Bultmann, op. cit. p. 55 n. 4.
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page 40 note 4 So, e.g., Büchsel, F., Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, IV (Stuttgart, 1942), 748 n. 14.Google Scholar
page 40 note 5 Cadman, W. H., The Open Heaven, edited by Caird, G. B. (Oxford, 1969), p. 18. For the view that the reading ⋯ μονογεν⋯ς υἱ⋯ς is not found here, see F.J. A. Hort, op. cit. p. 32.Google Scholar
page 40 note 6 Cf. e.g. the variants at Heb. iv. 11, Rev. XV. 6, cited by Metzger, B. M., The Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 2 1968), p. 192.Google Scholar
page 40 note 7 So e.g. C. F. Burney, op. cit. p. 40.
page 40 note 8 So e.g. E. C. Hoskyns, op. cit. p. 154.
page 40 note 9 Winter, P., ‘μονογεν⋯ς παρ⋯ πατρ⋯ς’, Zeitschrift für Religions-und Geistesgeschichte, V (1953), 335–65;CrossRefGoogle ScholarMoody, Dale, ‘God's only son: the translation of John 316 in the Revised Standard Version’, J.B.L. LXXII (1953), 213–19. Cf alsoGoogle Scholarde Kruijf, Th. C., ‘The glory of the only son (John 114)’, in Studies in John presented to Professor Dr J. N. Sevenster (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, vol. XXIV, Leiden, 1970). PP. 111–23.Google Scholar
page 41 note 1 On this see e.g. B. Lindars, op. cit. p. 98.
page 41 note 2 Howard, W. F., Christianity according to St John (London, 1943), pp. 51 f.Google ScholarThe Interpreter's Bible (New York and Nashville), VIII, 1952, pp. 478 f.Google Scholar
page 41 note 3 F.J. A. Hort, op. cit. pp. 18–24.
page 41 note 4 Nilsson, M. P., ‘Orphic Literature’, in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Hammond, N. G. L. and Scullard, H. H. (Oxford, 2 1970), p. 759a.Google Scholar
page 41 note 5 Orphic Hymns, XXIX. 2; text in Abel, E., Orphica (Leipzig and Prague, 1885), p. 73.Google Scholar
page 41 note 6 The phrase ⋯ ὢν εἰς τ⋯ν κ⋯λπον το⋯ πατρ⋯ς may describe either (i) a relationship prior to the incarnation, or (ii) a relationship during Jesus' earthly ministry, or (iii) the situation after the ascension. The tense of ⋯ ξηγ⋯σατο establishes that the verse must refer to the activity of the incarnate logos, but if the third possibility be allowed the reference of μονογεν⋯ς θε⋯ς is wider than this. John xiii. 23 says of the beloved disciple την ⋯νακε⋯μενος…⋯ν τῷ κ⋯λπῳ ׀ησο⋯, and it is plausible to suppose that the parallel with i. 18 is intended to show that the one who best understands the mind of Christ has a relationship of intimacy with him not dissimilar from that which the incarnate logos has with the Father whom he reveals on earth. It is difficult to prove that the situation after the ascension is not in view, but it is far from clear that this is the most natural explanation of the phrase.
page 41 note 7 Pace F. Büchsel, art. cit. p. 748 n. 14, who regards such expedients as ‘Exegetenfündlein’, if this is the correct reading the two words must be in apposition (so e.g. Abbott, E. A., Johannine Grammar, London, 1906Google Scholar, §§ 1938, 1964; cf § 1931 for further examples of apposition in the Fourth Gospel). That ‘Joh ist bei der monumentalen Einfachheit seiner Ausdrucksweise dergleichen nicht zuzutrauen’ (Büchsel, ibid.) is a subjective opinion which may rely too heavily on modern criteria of what is readily intelligible. Cf. John xvii. 2, 11 f., 24 (on which see B. A. Mastin, op. cit. pp. 368, 372 f, 378) for constructions which appear harsh but are used deliberately.
page 42 note 1 See above, p. 32 f.
page 42 note 2 M. F. Wiles, op. cit. pp. 30 f.
page 43 note 1 Brown, R. E., The Gospel according to John (i–xii) (Garden City, New York, 1966), p. 124.Google Scholar
page 43 note 2 Ibid. pp. 19–23. For a fuller account of much recent discussion of this question, see Smith, Dwight M. Jr, The Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel (New Haven and London, 1965).Google Scholar
page 43 note 3 Sanders, J. T., The New Testament Christological Hymns (Cambridge, 1971), p. 21.Google Scholar
page 43 note 4 C. K. Barrett, The Prologue of St John's Gospel, reprinted in C. K. Barrett, New Testament Essays, pp. 27–48.
page 44 note 1 Brown, R. E., Durham University Journal LXV = new series XXXIV (1972–3), 227 f. It is not possible to enter the debate between Barrett and Brown here, but, while Barrett has argued convincingly that the prologue was written in rhythmical prose, he incautiously denies the existence of Semitic verse in the first century A.D.Google Scholar
page 44 note 2 B. Lindars, The Gospel of John, p. 81. Unlike Barrett, Lindars thinks that, though the references to the Baptist were composed by the person who wrote the rest of the Prologue, verse 6 originally formed the opening of the gospel and the other parts of the Prologue were written later (ibid. p. 82). However, this does not affect the argument of the present paper. Cf. also B. Lindars, Behind the Fourth Gospel, pp. 73 f.
page 44 note 3 Brown, R. E., The Gospel according to John (xiii–xxi) (Garden City, New York, 1970), p. 1047 (his italics).Google Scholar
page 44 note 4 Ibid. p. 1026.
page 44 note 5 Cf. the present writer in A Commentary on the Gospel according to St John by Sanders, J. N., edited and completed by Mastin, B. A. (London, 1968), pp. 431, 437.Google Scholar
page 44 note 6 Cf. B. A. Mastin, ‘The Imperial Cult and the Ascription of the Title Θε⋯ς to Jesus (John xx. 28)‘, Studia Evangelica, VI, 352–365, and p. 46 below.
page 45 note 1 R. E. Brown, Jests God and Man, p. 29.
page 45 note 2 B. Lindars, The Gospel of John, p. 615.
page 46 note 1 Longenecker, R. N., The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity (London, 1970), p. 139. He perhaps incautiously regards II Peter as a Jewish Christian writing.Google Scholar
page 46 note 2 Ibid. p. 141. Bowker, J. W., ‘The origin and purpose of St John's Gospel’, N.T.S. XI (1964–5), 406, translates John X. 33 ‘You, a mere man, claim to be a god’. But in context the statement can only be understood as an assertion that Jesus was claiming far more than this. Bowker's translation, though linguistically possible, is exegetically unsound, and therefore it does not invalidate Longenecker's hypothesis.Google Scholar
page 46 note 3 See p. 44 n. 6 above.
page 46 note 4 Cf. e.g. Keresztes, P., ‘The Jews, the Christians, and Emperor Domitian’, Vigiliae Christianae XXVII (1973), 24 ff.Google Scholar
page 46 note 5 R. E. Brown, Jesus God and Man, p. 30.
page 47 note 1 Ibid. p. 30 n. 52.
page 47 note 2 R. E. Brown says that i. 1 and XX. 28 ‘represent the Johannine affirmative answer to the charge made against Jesus in the Gospel that he was wrongly making himself God (X. 33, V. 18)’ (The Gospel according to John (i–xii), p. 5), but it is not clear that he thinks this significant in the present connection.
page 47 note 3 Ibid. p. 36.
page 47 note 4 Cf. e.g. Robinson, J. A. T., ‘The Destination and Purpose of St John's Gospel’, N.T.S. VI (1959–60), 117–31, reprinted inGoogle ScholarRobinson, J. A. T., Twelve New Testament Studies (London, 1962), pp. 107–25;Google ScholarBowker, J. W., ‘The origin and purpose of St John's Gospel’, N.T.S. XI (1964–5), 398–408. Cf. also C. H. Dodd's conclusion that ‘the basic tradition… on which the evangelist is working was shaped (it appears) in a Jewish-Christian environment still in touch with the synagogue, in Palestine, at a relatively early date, at any rate before the rebellion of A.D. 66. Most of the material we have investigated would fit into such an environment’ (Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel, Cambridge, 1963, p. 426). It is not necessary to discuss these problems at length in this paper. It is plausible to suppose that the topic under consideration here reflects a debate between church and synagogue, as Brown has suggested (see above, n. 1).Google Scholar
page 47 note 5 B. Lindars, op. cit. p. 219.
page 47 note 6 Ibid. p. 336.
page 47 note 7 R. E. Brown, op. cit. p. 367.
page 48 note 1 Oscar Cullmann, op. cit. p. 310.
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page 48 note 4 Ibid., (his italics).
page 49 note 1 Oscar Cullmann, op. cit. p. 265.
page 49 note 2 Ibid. p. 314.
page 49 note 3 R. E. Brown, Jesus God and Man, p. 37.
page 49 note 4 R. E. Brown, The Gospel according to John (xiii–xxi), p. 1047 (his italics).
page 49 note 5 See above, p. 43 f.
page 50 note 1 Boobyer, G. H., ‘Jesus as “Theos” in the New Testament’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library L (1967–8), 255 ff.Google Scholar
page 50 note 2 Ibid. p. 260 (his italics).
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page 50 note 5 G. H. Boobyer, art. cit. pp. 250 f
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