1. Please note that in general, when the authors discuss words in the original biblical languages, the series uses a general rather than a scholarly method of transliteration.
1. To this day, the postgraduate New Testament seminar at Cambridge University meets in the “Lightfoot Room,” under an imposing portrait of the scholar.
2. See G. R. Eden and F. C. MacDonald, ed., Lightfoot of Durham: Memories and Appreciations (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1932). The motto of the fellowship was ἀνδρίξεσθε κραταιοῦσθε (“be courageous, be strong”), taken from 1 Cor. 16:13.
3. J. B. Lightfoot, Biblical Essays (London: MacMillan, 1893), 44.
1. Ephesus today is a city of impressive ruins, located in western Turkey. Although its seaport today is completely silted up (the sea is now ten kilometers away), in antiquity it was a major thoroughfare connecting commerce traffic between Greece and Asia Minor.
2. Firm traditions from the early centuries of the church indicate that John was buried in Ephesus. According to the fourth-century historian Eusebius and the theologian Irenaeus, John had made his home in Ephesus. A generation after John, Ignatius of Antioch could write of the faithfulness and strength of the Ephesian church (Eph. 8–9).
3. Josephus, Ant. 14.225ff; 14.262–63.
4. These names are taken from Romans 16. Some scholars believe that the numerous names listed in this final chapter of Romans actually refer to Ephesian Christians, not Roman. According to this theory, another copy of this letter left for Ephesus as well as Rome.
5. Gnostic and Gnosticism (from the Gk. word ginosko, to know) refer to a complex religious movement which, in its Christian form, came into clear prominence by the second century A.D. Sects quickly formed, following prominent leaders whose teaching directly opposed that of the orthodox church.
6. E. Hennecke, The New Testament Apocrypha, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963, 1964); many of these texts are now available on the World Wide Web at http://www.noncanonical.org.
7. See M. Hengel, The Johannine Question (London: SCM, 1989), 1–23.
8. M. Wiles, The Spiritual Gospel: The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel in the Early Church (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1960); R. Schnackenburg, John, 1:193–210; J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (London: A. & C. Black, 1977), 52–79, 223–51; see the thorough though now-dated bibliography of E. Malatesta, St. John’s Gospel, 1920–1965 (Rome: Pontifical Institute, 1967), 157–171, “John in the History of Exegesis.” For an appreciation of John’s incarnational theology, see E. Harrison, “A Study of John 1:14,” in R. Guelich, ed., Unity and Diversity in New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 23–36; M. M. Thompson, The Humanity of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988).
9. See J. H. Charlesworth, The Beloved Disciple: Whose Witness Validates the Gospel of John? (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity, 1995). This is a thorough study of authorship (437 pages!) covering most of the options. Charlesworth argues at length for Thomas as author. See also S. M. Schneiders, “ ‘Because of the Woman’s Testimony . . .’ Reexamining the Issue of Authorship in the Fourth Gospel,” NTS 44 (1998): 513–35.
10. R. Brown, Commentary on John, 2 vols. [1966, 1970] l:xcvii; 2:905–6. Brown changed his mind in 1979 and abandoned the view that the Beloved Disciple was John son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve. See his The Community of the Beloved Disciple (New York: Paulist, 1979), 33–34.
11. See the Latin Pseudo-Clementine, Recognitions.
12. See his On the Incarnation of the Word of God.
13. E. Käsemann, The Testament of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968).
14. L. Morris, “The Jesus of St. John,” Unity and Diversity in New Testament Theology: Essays in Honor of George E. Ladd (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 37–53; also M. M. Thompson, The Humanity of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988).
15. G. E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 252.
16. See the studies of G. Johnston, The Spirit-Paraclete in the Gospel of John (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1970); G. Burge, The Anointed Community: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987) (see esp. bibliography, 225–54); J. Breck, Spirit of Truth: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition, 2 vols. (Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s, 1991, vol. 2 forthcoming); S. Smalley, “The Paraclete: Pneumatology in the Johannine Gospel and Apocalypse,” in R. A. Culpepper and C. Black, eds., Exploring the Gospel of John (in Honor of D. M. Smith) (Louisville: Westminister/J. Knox, 1996), 289–300; a popular treatment is found in F. G. Carver, When Jesus Said Good-Bye: John’s Witness to the Holy Spirit (Kansas City: Beacon Hill, 1996).
17. Surveys of this literature are stunning in that they show the tremendous energy applied to the Fourth Gospel. Note these important works: E. Malatesta, St. John’s Gospel 1920–1965 (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1967); G. VanBelle, Johannine Bibliography 1966–1985: A Cumulative Bibliography on the Fourth Gospel (Leuven: Leuven Univ. Press, 1988); R. Kysar, The Fourth Evangelist and His Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1975); J. Ashton, ed., The Interpretation of John (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986); and G. Sloyan, What Are They Saying About John? (New York: Paulist, 1991). For a current survey of European research, see K. Scholtissek, “Johannine Studies: A Survey of Recent Research with Special Regard to German Contributions,” Currents in Research: Biblical Studies 6 (1998): 227–59.
18. The term canonical refers to the received literary form accepted in the church.
19. See R. Fortna, The Gospel of Signs: A Reconstruction of the Narrative Source Underlying the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1970), 1–22. More recently, R. Fortna, The Fourth Gospel and Its Predecessors: From Narrative Source to Present Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988).
20. E. Schweizer, Ego Emi. Die religionsgeschichtliche Herkunft und theologische Bedeutung der johanneischen Bildreden, Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Quellenfragan des vierten Evangeliums (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck, 1938, 19652); E. Ruckstuhl, Die literarische Einheit des Johannesevangeliums: Der gegenwärtige Stand der einschlägigen Forschungen (Freiburg: St. Paul, 1951).
21. D. Moody Smith, The Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel: Bultmann’s Literary Theory (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1965); R. Fortna, The Gospel of Signs, and The Fourth Gospel and Its Predecessors.
22. For a study of the text of John, see V. Salmon, The Fourth Gospel: A History of the Text (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1976); commentaries on the Greek text of John (esp. that of C. K. Barrett, 19782) generally point out specific text problems.
23. From the Greek aporia (a difficult passing; cf. aporeo, “to be at a loss”), which described either an impassable maritime strait or, in debate, a difficulty in logic. See E. Schwartz, “Aporien im vierten Evangelium,” in Nachrichten von der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen (1907), 342–72; (1908), 115–88, 497–650.
24. R. Fortna, The Fourth Gospel and Its Predecessors; H. Teeple, The Literary Origin of the Gospel of John (Evanston: Religion and Ethics Institute, 1974).
25. Warburton Lewis, Disarrangements in the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1910).
26. Compare this with what we gain just by transposing chapters 5 and 6 (the new chapter sequence: John 3, 4, 6, 5, 7). (1) John 6:1 makes chronological sense because Jesus finishes a miracle in Galilee at the close of ch. 4. Jesus then moves from the west bank of the sea to the east bank. (2) Likewise, 7:1 currently follows chapter 6 only with difficulty: “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee; purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.” This concern for death should be preceded immediately by chapter 5, where in Judea the Jews elect to kill him. (3) What is the “one miracle” in 7:21 for which Jesus is persecuted? As 7:23 explains, this is the healing of the lame man in chapter 5. (4) There are numerous theological links between chs. 4 and 6 (water of life/bread of life; sign theology; doing the work of God, etc.), which ch. 5 interrupts. (5) Finally, this harmonizes John’s chronology with that of Mark, where events in Galilee are climaxed by the great feeding and then the scene shifts to Judea. The new arrangement gathers up the Galilee stories into a unit (chs. 4, 6) before Jesus works in Judea (chs. 5, 7–11).
27. G. M. Burge, “John 7:53–8:11: The Woman Caught in Adultery,” JETS 27 (1984): 141–48.
28. Here I follow the patristic tradition and suggest the community was in or near Ephesus. Note that the Johannine community is keenly interested in the Baptist community (witness the polemic in 1:6–9, 19–28; 3:22–36; and 10:40–42). Note also that in Acts 19:1–8 Paul encounters followers of John the Baptist who did not follow Jesus; this takes place in Ephesus.
29. Possibly at this time the story of the woman caught in adultery entered the narrative of John 7 and 8. Critical scholars suggest a severe editing at this time that adjusted the Gospel’s eschatology (5:19ff.) and sacramentalism (6:52–59). For some scholars, the writing of the letters and the prologue come from a period after John’s death. The “elder” of the letters is a trusted disciple of John who assumes leadership in the community. Nevertheless, many other scholars have disagreed with this reconstruction (e.g., Morris, Carson), urging convincingly that the Gospel’s composition did develop in stages, that the Evangelist was involved with the final edition of the Gospel, and that the Gospel did not undergo a theological “editing.”
30. This is best done by photocopying a small devotional text with fine print, cutting apart the columns of text, and then pasting them in sequence on a large sheet of paper. The whole Gospel can now be viewed on a couple of sheets.
31. An interesting first exercise is to highlight (with a colored pen) every reference to a Jewish festival in the Gospel. You will find references to Sabbath, Passover, Tabernacles, and Rededication/Hannukah. Now note what stories are adjacent to these references. Is there a connection? Now use two different colors to highlight texts whose setting is in Judah and other texts whose setting is in Galilee. Do these exercises show a pattern?
32. In each case, the significant element in the Jewish institution is identified for us and Jesus is seen replacing it with his own presence.
33. Compare this unit with John 1:19–51. Many scholars think that both sections originated from a similar setting.
34. As in the previous section, here the festival is mentioned and its primary symbols are described for us. Jesus is then shown replacing the symbol or demonstrating his own authority over the meaning of the festival. For example, at Tabernacles, when the temple was sponsoring water and light ceremonies, Jesus stands in the temple and announces that he is “living water” and “the light of the world.”
35. This unit has been studied at great length and is no doubt foreign to this setting in John. Manuscript traditions are divided on its authenticity. See my “John 7:53–8:11: The Woman Caught in Adultery” and the numerous references to studies listed there.
36. A careful comparison of this section and the passion story (chs. 19–20) shows remarkable parallels.
37. C. H. Dodd, Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1963), 21–151; F. F. Bruce, “The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,” Gospel Perspectives I: Studies of History and Tradition in the Four Gospels, R. T. France and D. Wenham, eds. (Sheffield: JSOT, 1980), 1:7–20; D. Carson, “Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel. After Dodd, What?” Gospel Perspectives II: Studies of History and Tradition in the Four Gospels, R. T. France and D. Wenham, eds. (Sheffield: JSOT, 1981), 2:83–145.
1. Other New Testament hymns are found in Eph. 5:19; Phil. 2:5–11; Col. 1:15–20; 3:15.
2. Rearrangement theories are often criticized since there is so little consensus. See the number of theories outlined in Brown, John, 1:22ff. Some have found chiasm (inverted parallelisms) here: see A. Culpepper, “The Pivot of John’s Prologue,” NTS 27 (1980–81): 1–31; J. Staley, “The Structure of John’s Prologue: Its Implications for the Gospel’s Narrative Structure,” CBQ 48 (1986): 241–63.
3. For a more complete list, see D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 111.
4. This is a commonplace reconstruction of the literary history of the Fourth Gospel found in most technical commentaries (see Brown, Barrett, Smalley, Schnackenburg, Morris).
5. In the following structure, I am using my own translation.
6. Some scholars are convinced that the best contextual setting for logos is Hellenistic. While it is true that Hellenism had deeply influenced Jewish thought by the first century, the commentary will make clear that John’s frame of reference is primarily indebted to traditional Jewish religious concepts.
7. These are the words of Arius, a fourth-century theologian who questioned the eternal existence of the Logos. Arian theology was deemed heretical in A.D. 325 at the Council of Nicea.
8. John 1:49; 8:39; 17:17; cf. Rom. 14:17; Rev. 1:20.
9. Barrett, John, 156.
10. John makes this completely clear: Everything (Gk. panta) came to be through him.
11. The Gk. katalambano is in the active voice in Greek here. In nine of its fifteen New Testament uses, it means to seize with hostile intent. In Mark 9:18 a demon “seizes” a man. In John 12:35 Jesus says to walk in the light lest the darkness “overtake” you. John also uses it in 8:3–4 (the woman is “caught” in adultery), and a variant of 6:17 reads that the darkness had not yet “overtaken” people. When the word appears in the middle voice, it generally means “comprehend” (see Acts 4:13; 10:34; 25:25; Eph. 3:18).
12. We might even speculate that the Gospel originally began at 1:6 with these short verses, then continued with 1:19. It was only later that the prologue was added (both before and after 1:6–9).
13. The word group appears in the Johannine literature 64 times (47 in this Gospel).
14. The NIV places the first option in the margin. The grammar can fit either exegesis.
15. The Gk. phrase “into the world” occurs 14 times in John and almost always refers to Jesus.
16. Carson, John, 123.
17. So J. Calvin, John 1–10 (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 15.
18. “Truth” appears 25 times in this Gospel and 20 times in the letters. The entire word group based on “truth” (true, truthful, etc.) appears 55 times in the Gospel.
19. See also 5:39, 46; 6:32; 8:32ff.
20. R. Edwards, “χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος (Jn 1:16): Grace and the Law in the Johannine Prologue,” JSNT 32 (1988): 3–15; see also Brown, John, comments on 1:16; Carson, John, 131–34.
21. John’s Greek word order makes is emphatic: “God no one has seen.”
22. Even though in Ex. 33:11 the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face,” this is metaphorical since in 33:17–23 Moses must be protected from seeing God’s face, which would surely destroy him (33:20).
23. “Only Son” is a common Johannine expression (see 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9).
24. The Greek verb “made him known” (exegeomai), from which we obtain the term exegesis, was often used in pagan religions for the revelation of divine secrets.
25. The close parallels among the four Gospels in their Passion stories reflect the uniform explanation given in the early church.
26. Here the accounts of Jesus’ baptism and his many miracles and exorcisms helped explain who he was.
27. Here the many messianic prophesies and links to Judaism were woven into the Gospel record.
28. Ontology comes from the Greek verb “to be” (in its participial form). It refers to essence or being.
29. See here D. Okholm and T. Phillips, eds., More Than One Way? Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995).
30. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.
31. The same case has been made by D. F. Wells, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).
1. I suggested above that it is likely in an early draft of the Gospel (before the addition of the prologue) these verses (1:6ff., 15) were attached to 1:19 and served as the introduction to the Gospel. Some commentators prefer to include them in the present section. See B. Witherington, John’s Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth Gospel (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1995), 60–75.
2. An important book that explores the judicial themes of John is A. E. Harvey, Jesus on Trial (London: SPCK, 1976).
3. Some scholars, particularly Jewish theologians, have concluded that John’s frequent use of “the Jews” contributed to Christian anti-Semitism over the centuries. John was Jewish and when this messianic Jew found himself in conflict with his fellow citizens, this intramural rhetoric was born.
4. Another possibility is that John did not know he was Elijah or at least did not accept the title. That is, in the Synoptics Jesus gives him a title he preferred to reject. “The Baptist humbly rejects the exalted title, but Jesus, on the contrary, bestows it on him” (C. F. D. Moule, The Phenomenon of the New Testament [London: SCM, 1967], 70, cited by L. Morris, John, 119n.18).
5. Many scholars have drawn a connection between John the Baptist and the community of Qumran. Not only were they both in the desert with a critical message of Judaism (based on Isa. 40), but each also employed water baptism as a regular means of cleansing.
6. G. Borchert, John, 1:137.
7. Others have argued that the Passover sacrifice did not remove sin. But this is disputed, and many hold that virtually all Jewish sacrifices had some salvific dimension.
8. G. Vermes, Scripture and Tradition in Judaism (Leiden: Brill, 1961), 193–227.
9. Variant witnesses are more numerous for “Son,” but “chosen” is represented by many strong manuscript families, including Sinaiticus. Some readings conflate the readings with “chosen Son.” See any textual apparatus for complete witnesses.
10. For some scholars, the reference to coming, seeing, and remaining refers directly to Jewish wisdom. In the Wisdom of Solomon, we are instructed to pursue a romance with Wisdom (Gk. sophia, a fem. noun), to discover her, to meet her, and to remain with her (cf. Prov. 8; Sir. 51). Witherington (John’s Wisdom) believes that here John is presenting Jesus as both a sage and the Wisdom sages sought.
11. Even though Jews counted their days from sundown to sundown, they still seem to have adopted the habit of marking the hour of the day from sunrise, following a Roman custom.
12. Morris, John, 140.
13. This event occurs in the Synoptics later on in Jesus’ ministry, when Peter confesses Jesus’ identity at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13–20).
14. The New Bible Dictionary (3d ed., 1996), 810, gives numerous excellent examples of naming in biblical culture and shows how names could signal an event, a status, even a transformation.
15. Bartholomew is not actually a personal name. It means “son [bar] of Tolmai,” as Simon bar Jonah is Simon, son of Jonah (bar is Aramaic for “son”).
16. Josephus, Ant. 20.5; Acts 5:36–37.
17. These are images commonly associated with fig trees in Judaism (see 1 Kings 4:25; Mic. 4:4; Zech. 3:10).
18. In the Introduction we discussed how followers of John the Baptist formed a sect that promoted him to a divine or at least messianic status.
19. See G. M. Burge, “The Greatest Story Never Read: Recovering Biblical Literacy in the Church,” Christianity Today 43 (Aug., 1999), 45–50. The earliest tests began with a colleague of mine, Dr. Dennis Okholm.
20. I am ordained in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
1. Many scholars argue for the divisions I am explaining here. Among them, see R. Brown, The Gospel of John, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1966–71).
2. Following the festival section in the Book of Signs, it only remains for John to provide a parabolic episode about life, death, and resurrection, namely, the story of Lazarus, which mirrors the fate of Jesus (ch. 11) and after which Jesus’ death is planned (11:45ff.). Finally, we see in chapter 12 Jesus’ preparation for death through the anointing of Mary, the plot to kill Lazarus and, by extension, Jesus (12:9ff.), Jesus’ final entry to Jerusalem (12:12ff.), and his final public plea (12:27ff.).
3. Note that there are some episodes in the narrative that serve other purposes as well. John adds a long section correcting the followers of John the Baptist (3:22ff.) and ends the section on Institutions with a closing frame in Cana with the official’s son (4:46–54).
4. This is about four miles northeast of Nazareth. Today there is a Palestinian Christian village called Kfar Kanna, where rival churches claim the spot of the miracle. Some scholars believe instead that the site is Khirbet Kana, an archaeological site about nine miles north of Nazareth in North Galilee.
5. Borchert, John, 1:153.
6. See J. D. M. Derrett, Law in the New Testament (London: Dartman, Longman, and Todd, 1970), 228–46 (reprint of “Water into Wine,” BZ 7 [1963]: 80–97).
7. Some have suggested that Mary is asking Jesus to work a miracle here. However, since this is Jesus’ first miracle, no such expectation is reasonable. She wants him merely to take some responsibility for finding a solution to the wedding’s problem.
8. Matt. 1:25 (Joseph “had no union with her [Mary] until she gave birth to a son”) suggests the birth of more children.
9. It is important to note that John does use “brother” (adelphos) for his disciples (see 20:17; 21:23).
10. Morris, John, 167–68; Carson, John, 176–78.
11. Some scholars believe 5:1 is also a Passover.
12. Passover occurs during the first full moon following the spring equinox, on the 14th day of the lunar month of Nisan. It is followed by the week-long Festival of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15–22).
13. The animal selling to which Jesus objects took place in the hieron (2:14). This is to be distinguished from the inner sanctuary or naos. The hieron included the outer courts surrounding the sanctuary, particularly the massive Court of the Gentiles.
14. Sadly, six years later (in A.D. 70) the Jerusalem temple was destroyed by the Roman army.
15. The “body” to which Jesus refers is his own body, not the church, even though Paul commonly uses the body as a metaphor for the church (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12).
16. Morris, John, 181.
17. The NIV uses the verb “entrust” for pisteuo in 2:24.
18. This explains the passions of modern Israel to occupy Jerusalem and the Temple Mount today. Among some zealous Jews, the dream of rebuilding the temple is still alive.
19. By the fourth century (A.D. 336) the Western church, led by Rome, began celebrating the nativity of Jesus on December 25. The West designated January 6 for the coming of the Magi.
20. For some interpreters, the number six is symbolic. Since in Judaism seven is the number of perfection, six (which falls short) is the number of imperfection.
21. Of course I am taking into account the very different forms of worship and veneration practiced among Eastern Christians. My point here is not the form of their worship, but its object or focus.
22. B. Witherington, John’s Wisdom, 82.
23. South Hamilton, Mass.: Gordon Conwell Seminary, 1994.
24. Anti-abortion efforts today represent some of the most important attempts by evangelicals to be politically active. But even here, the principle of civil disobedience is debated among evangelical leaders.
25. S. Hauerwas and W. Willimon, Resident Aliens (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989), 27.
26. Recall how the Jerusalem/Galilee comparison was at work in chapter 1.
1. Some have wondered if it is likely that a Jewish leader would approach Jesus after he had just “cleansed” the temple. However, the Pharisees had limited involvement in the temple, which was chiefly the domain of Sadducean interest and control.
2. This is the view promoted by J. L. Martyn, History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel (2d ed.; Nashville: Abingdon, 1979).
3. Some scholars have argued that 3:31–36 has been displaced and should appear between vv. 12 and 13. Although this makes the passage easy to understand, there is no manuscript for it and this would interrupt the present symmetry of the chapter.
4. If Nicodemus was, say, seventy years old in A.D. 70, that would make him 25–30 in the present scene. But this is an unusually young age for a Sanhedrin leader.
5. “Kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” represent the most frequent themes in Jesus’ Synoptic teachings, occurring over ninety times in separate contexts.
6. See references in Morris, John, 190; Carson, John, 189–93.
7. As cited in Barrett, John, 206.
8. The grammatical form of the question betrays its disbelief: “Certainly a person cannot reenter . . . can he?”
9. Ancients might refer to natural birth as “birth by blood.”
10. Carson, John, 192.
11. This is a unique preface in John. In the Synoptics Jesus prefaces his words with a single “truly” (amen). In John a double amen is used for added emphasis (see comment on 1:51).
12. The phrase “one and only” (monogenes) is a word used exclusively by John and not by Jesus (1:14, 18; 1 John 4:9). The phrases “believe in the name” (3:18) and “live by the truth” (3:21) likewise never occur in speeches of Jesus.
13. Carson, John, 205.
14. Some Christian environmentalists have mistakenly used 3:16 as a defense of Christian commitment to nature. God indeed calls us to be caring custodians of nature, but this is not the intent of John’s words here.
15. This is not to deny the historicity of the Gospel narrative. Rather, the process by which historical episodes were preserved, selected, and arranged in the Gospel was influenced by the life and needs of the early church. Stories about Jesus that were important were preserved. But the immediate question is, important to whom? The Gospels represent the cherished stories of Jesus preserved in the earliest church.
16. Some scholars (such as R. Brown) suggest that 3:22–36 is a displaced narrative that records one of Jesus’ earliest encounters with John, perhaps following the baptism. This would explain the awkwardness.
17. John 3:24 joins a number of other passages in John (11:2) that imply John assumes his reader knows the stories told in the Gospel of Mark. See R. Bauckham, “John for Readers of Mark,” in R. Bauckham, ed., The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences (Grand Rapids/Edinburgh: Eerdmans/T. & T. Clark, 1998), 147–71.
18. This is important because some critical scholars have criticized the historical nature of these verses based on John’s reference to the bride and the groom for Jesus and his followers.
19. The following themes appear in both sections: from above, comes from heaven, speaks from the earth, bearing witness to what is seen and heard, not receiving testimony, gift of the Spirit, receiving the Son, and having eternal life.
20. See, e.g., the twentieth anniversary edition: Grand Rapids: Revell/Baker, 1996.
21. Morris, John, 186.
22. Recall John’s symbolic use of geography (see above).
23. What distinguishes a kosher Burger King? No milk products (hence, no cheeseburgers, shakes, or ice cream made with milk)!
24. H. T. Kerr and J. M. Mulder, Conversions (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).
25. This is one reason, for instance, that I always work with Christian guides in Israel (messianic Jewish or Palestinian) because they may understand at a completely different level the Christian pilgrim’s desire to “worship in spirit and in truth” (cf. 4:24).
26. Helmut Thielicke, A Little Exercise for Young Theologians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962).
27. I suspect that many Christians today unwittingly adopted an “Arian” view of Christ’s person and work, which is the very reason the Council of Nicea was called.
28. Another approach to this line of thinking for orthodox Jews is to compare Jesus (the incarnate Word) with the sanctity of the Torah (the written Word). Each have been manifested on earth in physical form. Of course, the analogy breaks down (as the theologians of Chalcedon would remind us), but at least it is a starting point for dialogue.
1. M. Pazadan, “Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman: Contrasting Models of Discipleship,” BTB 17 (1987): 145–48.
2. However, Josephus reports that Galileans did travel through Samaria en route to Jerusalem for the annual feasts (Ant. 20.118). But Josephus does not give convincing evidence that the Samaritan route was commonplace for religiously conservative Jews.
3. The route through Jericho explains the many stories of Jesus that take place in the city, e.g., Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46) and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2). This is the return route used by Jesus as he comes to Jerusalem in his Passion.
4. While Mark and Matthew record no stories from Samaria, Luke shows Jesus’ interest in Samaria with various stories (Luke 9:52; 10:33; 17:11). This history also adds power to the parable of the good Samaritan (who becomes a hero) and, in Acts, to the decision of Philip and the apostles to extend ministry to the region (Acts 8).
5. J. Kopas, “Jesus and Women in John’s Gospel,” TT 41 (1984): 201–5.
6. The name experienced “corruption” through the centuries, much like ancient Neapolis (the new Roman city built at Shechem) today has become modern Arab Nablus. Biblical Shechem is not to be identified with modern Nablus, although it is nearby.
7. Today the remains of a 4th century cruciform church are visible beneath the ruins of a crusader sanctuary which placed the well in its crypt. In 1914 reconstruction of the crusader church was begun but never finished.
8. R. Bull, “An Archaeological Context for Understanding John 4,” BA 38 (1975): 54–59.
9. The Jewish custom was to count the hours from sunrise. Romans (like us) would count the hours from midnight and noon.
10. This explains why in Mark 14:13 Jesus can use a man carrying water as a signal for his disciples to locate the room of his final Passover.
11. The story of Hagar (Gen. 16:7) invites further comparison, where the angel of the Lord meets the destitute woman at a desert spring of water.
12. The parenthetical comment in 4:9b (“For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.”) is most likely a comment by John as narrator and should not be viewed as a part of the woman’s statement.
13. Today in the outlaying villages of the Arab Middle East, these values are still at work. I have mistakenly addressed women in remote Palestinian villages (not far from ancient Shechem), to my own and the woman’s embarrassment and the shock of the village men.
14. A cistern is an underground reservoir or cavity generally dug into the soft limestone and lined with plaster. Rainwater is directed into the cistern’s small opening and a lid keeps out light thereby keeping algae from growing. Villages throughout Palestine still use cistern systems today. Some were small for a household. Masada’s 12 cisterns on its western slope held 1.5 million cubic feet of water.
15. A good example of this is found at Qumran where numerous ritual baths are fed by the requisite amounts of “running water” caught from the mountain valley just west of the site.
16. Even at the desert community of Qumran, water was associated with the Spirit of God (1QS 4:21).
17. In the first century Jewish women could not divorce their husbands (this was strictly a man’s prerogative), but they could petition a court to urge their husbands to release them. Five divorces was highly irregular. Rabbis considered two, perhaps three divorces the limit for a woman (see Morris, John, 234n.41).
18. Some scholars have suggested that the five husbands represent the divinities of the Samaritans brought from foreign lands (2 Kings 17:24). However, while there were five nations, in fact there were seven deities brought to Samaria (17:30–31). J. D. M. Derrett once suggested that the five husbands represented the “five senses” known to Jews and Greeks (“The Samaritan Woman’s Pitcher,” Downside Review 102 (1984): 252–61). Most exegetes find such speculation farfetched.
19. An adjacent mountain to the north, Mount Ebal, was the site from which the curses of the law were read. The Hebrew Old Testament says that an altar should be built on Mount Ebal. The Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, however, significantly changed this reference in Deut. 27:4 to Mount Gerizim. Today a small, little-known group of Samaritans in Israel continue to revere the mountain and offer sacrifices there.
20. The NIV “you Jews” (which does not appear in the Gk.) is a paraphrase serving this emphasis.
21. R. Bull, “Archaeological Footnote to ‘Our Father Worshipped on this Mountain,’ John 4:20,” NTS 23 (1977): 460–62.
22. Carson, John, 225.
23. Contra, Morris, John, 239, and many others.
24. Morris, John, 243n.68.
25. Critical scholars for whom the historical horizon has minimal interest have seen evidence here of those, such as Philip (Acts 8), who went to Samaria to evangelize.
26. Note that the Greek verb meno (to stay, remain) is also a sign of discipleship (cf. 1:38–39).
27. Scholars interested in the sources behind the Fourth Gospel have used 4:54 as evidence for a “Signs Source” behind the Gospel. That is, John had access to a narrative of miracles or signs that he has woven into a “source” containing longer discourses. However, such a theory is not necessary. The remainder of Jesus’ signs are not numbered, and the reason for the numbering here is to refer us back to the first sign in Cana.
28. Carson, John, 235; Carson refers to an article of his in JBL 97 (1978): 424n.50.
29. Carson, John, 236–37.
30. The Gk. “begged him” is imperfect, suggesting continuous action.
31. The “seventh hour” poses some unnecessary difficulty for interpreters. By Jewish custom, the seventh hour would be about 1:00 P.M. But if this was the time of healing, why did the man postpone his return home till the next day (4:52b)? He could have returned home the same day. The idea that we should read “Roman time” here (7:00 P.M.) for the healing fails when we see that John never uses this form. But the man’s business in Cana or the demands to socialize in this culture as a gesture of thankfulness can explain his travel plans.
32. The verbal parallels may be accounted for by the process by which “form stories” of healing were remembered in the early Christian tradition. Separate stories may begin to share words when pious recorders and repeaters know both stories well.
33. Ridderbos, John, 152.
34. For an excellent survey of how this chapter has been exegeted, see C. Blomberg, “The Globalization of Biblical Interpretation: A Test Case—John 3–4,” BBR 5 (1995): 1–16.
35. Most likely used as a title of respect.
36. As we suggested in the notes, this may be an incidental self-description, using ego eimi. Nevertheless, in a list of Christological titles it may imply some link to the divine use given elsewhere in the Gospel.
37. Some critical scholars have seen in John 4 a description of the birth of Samaritan Christianity decades later (quite removed from the historic ministry of Jesus). See O. Cullmann, The Johannine Circle (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975).
38. B. Malina, Windows on the World of Jesus (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1993), 72–87.
39. R. Sloan, “The Absence of Jesus,” in R. Sloan and M. Parsons, eds., Perspectives on John: Method and Interpretation in the Fourth Gospel (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 1993), 208–12, cited in G. L. Borchert, John, 220.
40. Witherington, John, 124.
41. G. C. Morgan (1951), as cited by Morris, John, 247n.84.
42. J. Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. J. T. McNeill (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 1:277 [2.2.18].
43. The inability of the world to grasp the things of God is also discussed by Paul in 1 Cor. 1–3.
44. Those were heady days of youth when discernment seemed to be hard won. Today I look back with continuing appreciation for that Lutheran tradition that laid the bedrock of my theology, and I thank God for one bold, bearded disciple who would not be dissuaded by religious rhetoric.
45. My own interest in this subject led me to write Who Are God’s People in the Middle East? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).
46. E. Schweizer, as cited in H. Ridderbos, John, 175n.218.
47. Ridderbos, John, 177.
1. This follows R. Brown’s organization of the chapters. Some scholars (Carson, Sloyan) divide chs. 5–10 into subunits (chs. 5–7, 8–10), but this interrupts John’s treatment of Tabernacles. Others (Beasley-Murray, Morris) are not persuaded that there is a structural pattern here at all.
2. Other scholars include in this list ch. 11, in which Jesus moves toward Jerusalem to raise Lazarus during another Passover (11:55). But this Passover is not in the festival cycle. It belongs to the Passion story, in which Jesus is crucified.
3. It is uncertain, however, if such compliance was universal.
4. Borchert, John, 230.
5. The most accessible presentation of this theme is A. E. Harvey, Jesus on Trial: A Study in the Fourth Gospel (London: SPCK, 1976).
6. Luke does the same thing with a “rejection template” in his description of Jesus’ rejection at the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:16–30).
7. This is the NIV solution to a notorious Greek difficulty. Literally the text says that in Jerusalem “there is a pool called [Bethzatha] by the sheep ___.” “Sheep” is an adjective, and either it can modify “pool” or one can supply a word such as “gate” (NRSV, NIV, REB) or “market” (KJV). It may well be that John is pointing not to a gate, but to a “sheep pool,” taking the phrase together (as did every ancient translation and commentary).
8. This is from the Greek god of healing, Asclepius. After a healing, offerings were left behind that symbolized that part of the body healed (arm, leg, finger, etc.). A dramatic collection of healing tributes is available at the Corinth Asclepion museum.
9. The same is true today. In sections of Jerusalem if you drive your car through certain neighborhoods, you run the risk of being stoned. A major debate in recent years has been whether Jerusalem should permit films to be shown on Friday evenings, the beginning of Sabbath. A few months ago I took a picture on the Sabbath near the Temple Mount and was immediately confronted by a passerby who wanted to enforce the same law. “Pushing the shutter button is work,” he yelled as he grabbed my camera lens.
10. C. H. Dodd, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 321–28. God’s work in matters of life and death became the basis of arguing that life-saving efforts were acceptable on Sabbath. This basis was also relevant to the subject of war on the Sabbath, particularly if the alternative was pious death.
11. Borchert, John, 236.
12. Carson, John, 251.
13. This is the only place where John uses phileo for the Father’s love of the Son.
14. This image of “agency” explains the numerous times the Gospel refers to Jesus as the one “sent” by God. The “sent one” becomes virtually a Christological title in the Gospel.
15. “These five porches signified the law which bears the sick but does not heal them, discovers them but does not cure them” (Augustine, as cited by Hoskyns, John, 264).
16. J. Jeremias, The Rediscovery of Bethesda (Louisville, Ky.: Southern Baptist Theol. Seminary, 1966).
17. This occurred at the Society of Biblical Literature Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana (November 1996). Dr. Peterson now teaches at Eastern College in Pennsylvania.
18. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: MacMillan, 1952), 41.
19. Hoskyns, John, 274.
1. In ch. 5 I mentioned the difficulty of 6:1 in the sequence of events given in chs. 5–6 and showed why some scholars believe that chs. 5 and 6 should be reversed. If this is so, the events in Cana in ch. 4 are followed by these further events in Galilee.
2. In the Old Testament this is the Sea of Kinnereth (Num. 34:11; Josh 12:3). Kinnereth means “harp” in Hebrew, since the lake is approximately the shape of the ancient instrument.
3. Josephus, Ant. 18.36.
4. An Arabic form of the Greek Heptapegon, which means “seven springs.”
5. Brown, John, 1:233.
6. C. K. Barrett, John, 271, believes that John is using elements from both Mark 6 and 8 in his story.
7. The Gk. word paidarion can represent either a young boy (cf. Gen 37:30 LXX, where it describes Joseph at age seventeen) or a servant (cf. Ruth 2:5–6).
8. Some scholars wonder if this is John’s first reference to the twelve apostles: one basket for each to collect scraps (cf. 6:67, 70).
9. Ridderbos, John, 216. This theme appears in the temptation account of Jesus. In Mark 6 the feeding miracle is attached to Herod Antipas’s severe worry about the growing popularity of Jesus. With 5,000 men gathered in his region, he likely worried about political insurrection.
10. So Barrett, John, 281; cf. Mark 6:50.
11. In the Hebrew Old Testament God’s name (Yahweh) is based on the verb “to be.” The LXX translated this as ego eimi (“I am”) in Ex. 3.
12. The locations of these places can be imagined if one thinks of the Sea of Galilee like as a clock. The feeding miracle (according to tradition) occurred at “10:00 P.M.” on the clock (on the northwest shore, Gennesaret, Mark 6:53; cf. Matt. 14:34). Tiberius is located at “9:00 P.M.” while Capernaum is on the north shore (about “11:00 P.M.”). The crowd from Tiberius stops at the site of the miracle, then continues to Capernaum.
13. Numerous references to Jewish literature are found in Brown, John, 1:265; and Morris, John, 321n.88.
14. The spiritualizing of manna was a common theme in Judaism (see Wisd. Sol. 16:20, 26; Neh. 9:20). Philo turns the manna into a metaphor for wisdom.
15. John refers to these people as “the Jews,” and we are probably to understand that these are Jewish leaders in the synagogue. “The Jews” is a common rubric throughout the Gospel for this leadership, which eventually condemns and crucifies Jesus.
16. The Gk. word gongyzo is used throughout the desert story in the LXX (Ex. 17:3; Num. 11:1; 14:27, 29; etc.). In the Gk. text of John 6:41, grumbling is placed first in the sentence for emphasis.
17. For some scholars, flesh refers to the eucharistic language, “This is my body.” While this imagery may be secondary, it does not truly become a part of John’s literary imagery until 6:53ff.
18. Of John’s twelve uses of sarx, seven occur here in 6:51–63.
19. We need to emphasize this theme in the Gospel since many critical scholars have frequently argued that John does not view salvation as tied to Christ’s sacrificial death. John 6:51c gives evidence that is almost impossible to refute.
20. The Gk. word machomai, translated “argue” in NIV, refers in Acts 7:26 to fighting (cf. 2 Tim. 2:24; Jas. 4:2).
21. Brown, John, 1:284–85; Carson, John, 295–99.
22. Brown even suggests that the section may be a displaced teaching that originated in the setting of the Lord’s Supper but has been moved to chapter 6 for its thematic unity with Passover and heavenly bread.
23. Morris, John, 333.
24. Brown responds that since Jesus spoke in Aramaic and there is no word for “body” in Aramaic as we think of it, Jesus likely said “flesh.”
25. John likely means here the wider group of followers, not simply the Twelve.
26. The rigidity of seminaries (Dallas and many others) to the charismatic renewal of the 1970s is well known. Today the spiritual climate and openness in these places is completely different.
27. Venture Middle East is located at P.O. Box 15313, Seattle, Washington, 98115–0313. Phone: 1–800–421–2159. On the internet, they can be visited at http://logos.ghn.org/vme.
28. At the time of this writing (1999) the United Nations estimates that 6,500 children are dying monthly in Iraq because of starvation from the United Nations imposed embargo. Fully 27 percent of the children of southern Iraq are malnourished. Since the end of the Gulf War, the United Nations estimates that 500,000 children have died.
29. A major cathedral in Los Angeles is today building a monument and museum to “the Christian heroes of Capitalism.” Future archaeologists will some day uncover it and describe it as the perfect symbol of the American economic secularization of religion.
30. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993.
31. A sustained argument for this type of politicized Christian Zionism among evangelicals can be found in H. W. House, ed., Israel, the Land and the People: An Evangelical Affirmation of God’s Promises (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1998). An academic critique can be found in P. W. L. Walker, Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996).
32. J. Bernardin, The Gift of Peace (New York: Doubleday, 1998); cf. E. Kennedy, My Brother Joseph: The Spirit of a Cardinal and the Story of a Friendship (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997).
33. At this church in Riverside, California, the Lord’s Supper could be had in a private room following the worship service but was an entirely optional experience for the regular attender. Within months the congregation objected so strenuously that the pastor was compelled to return the sacrament to the regular worship service.
34. For an interesting defense of evangelical militancy, see M. Olasky, “21st-century Amish: Shall We Go Gently into the Cultural Night?” World (Nov. 22, 1997), 30.
35. A recent coalition called “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” receives regular criticism from evangelical ranks. See the remarks of Timothy George (dean, Beeson Divinity School), “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: A New Initiative,” Christianity Today (Dec. 8, 1997).
36. In 1997 I wrote an article for Christianity Today, appealing to the evangelical church that we reclaim the noncognitive simplicity and awe of worship (“Are Evangelicals Missing God at Church?” Christianity Today [Oct. 6, 1997], 20–27). Letters to the editor ran for two subsequent issues; letters to my office seemed to go on forever. To challenge the traditional evangelical structures of worship for some seemed outrageous.
1. The close link between chs. 5 and 7 has been used frequently to argue for a rearrangement of these chapters of John (see comments on ch. 5). Brown (John, 1:308) even compares the three requests made of Jesus in John 5 and 7 with the temptation stories in the Synoptics (king/kingdoms, 6:15; bread, 6:31; show power in Jerusalem, 7:3).
2. Even today Arabs in countries surrounding Israel see rainfall during the Jewish Tabernacles Feast as a hopeful sign of a good agricultural season.
3. The background of the festival can be gained from most thorough Bible dictionaries. In addition, see G. W. MacRae, “Meaning and Evolution of the Feast of Tabernacles,” CBQ 22 (1960): 251–76.
4. This motif of “grumbling” fits the desert wandering theme embedded in Tabernacles. For an opposite view, see Barrett, John, 314.
5. A. Culpepper, The Johannine School (SBLDS 26; Missoula: Scholars, 1975).
6. Elsewhere in the Gospel there are no exorcisms and limited interest in demon-possession beyond Judas Iscariot’s role (see 13:27; so Brown, John, 1:316; Barrett, John, 319).
7. Rabbi Jose said, “Great is circumcision since it overrides the stringent Sabbath” (m. Ned. 3:11).
8. Note the parallel once again between Jesus and Moses (cf. 1:17; 9:28–29; etc.). Jesus has come to replace and fulfill all that had been partially offered in Moses.
9. See 4 Ezra 7:28; 13:32; 2 Bar. 29:3. 4 Ezra 13:1ff. describes the Messiah as arising out of the sea. Morris, John, 365n.54, cites Rabbi Zera in the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a), “Three come unawares: Messiah, a found article, and a scorpion.” Most major commentaries give ample evidence of this Jewish mystical tradition.
10. As we will see in John’s Passion narrative (18:3, 12), the temple police serve with limited jurisdiction to enforce religious law at the whim of the Sanhedrin and priests.
11. Many scholars point out that the description of Jesus in this section owes a great deal to Old Testament and Jewish notions of divine Wisdom. Divine Wisdom had mysterious origins and could be found only by diligent searching (Prov. 1–8; Bar. 3:14–15). God’s people pray that Wisdom will descend from heaven so that pious, diligent searches for it will be satisfied (Wisd. Sol. 6:12; 9:10; Sir. 24:8). See Witherington, John, 164–78; Brown, John, 1:318.
12. The Gihon Spring originally flowed into the Kidron Valley on Jerusalem’s east side, but was rerouted by King Hezekiah in order to fill a pool on the southwest side of the lower city. By Jesus’ day, the original spring had been closed over and forgotten, and the Pool of Siloam (filled by the running Gihon Spring) was erroneously viewed as the Gihon.
13. For details of the feast, see A. Edersheim, The Temple (New York: James Pott, 1881), 238; J. Jeremias, “λίθος,” TDNT 4:277–78; Brown, John, 1:327; m. Sukkah.
14. Judaism quickly united the themes of paradisal streams in Jerusalem and the rock of Meribah. Schnackenburg, John, 2:156 cites P. Grelot, “Jean VII, 38: eau du rocher ou source du Temple,” RB 70 (1963): 43–51, who identifies this union in the rabbinic Tosephta tradition, Sukka 3:3–18.
15. Lightfoot, Westcott, Zahn, Bernard, Barrett, Lindars, Morris, Carson. For a full defense, see J. B. Cortez, “Yet Another Look at John 7:37–38,” CBQ 29 (1967): 75–86.
16. The NRSV makes a startling expansion of the Gk. text of 7:37–38: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s [Gk. his] heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ”
17. Abbott, Brown, Bultmann, Dodd, Dunn, Hoskyns, Jeremias, Painter. For a full defense of this view, see G. M. Burge, The Anointed Community: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 88–93.
18. This emphasis is reflected in the NLT, the NEB, and the RSV margin.
19. In early Christian catacomb art, the rock in the desert is the most frequently painted Old Testament scene (Brown, John, 1:322).
20. Evidence is given in Strack-Billerbeck 2:434. The Jerusalem Talmud (Sukka, 55a) says, “Why was the place called the place of drawing? Because there the Holy Spirit was drawn in virtue of the saying [Isa. 12:3]: with joy you shall draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
21. The weight of textual evidence does, however, supports the shorter reading (“a prophet . . .”).
22. Most ancient manuscripts do not include the story of the woman caught in adultery (7:53–8:11). In order to retain the coherence of Jesus’ Tabernacles discourse, 8:12 should follow 7:52.
23. We should keep in mind the suggestion of many scholars that the order of chs. 5 and 6 should be reversed (see comments on ch. 5). This would link chs. 5 and 7 directly.
24. It is important to affirm that by viewing John as offering a “window” into the Johannine church, this is not to deny the historical character of the Gospel. Scholars in recent years have frequently viewed the Gospels as mere foils for later church history. This view is incorrect. However, it is also true that story-telling also tells us something about the speaker and his/her world.
25. K. Barth, The Epistle to the Romans (Eng. trans.: Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1918, 1933).
26. If one follows Barth’s reading of human sin in Romans, the only possibility for humanity is God’s divine intervention from outside, not only to save, but also to renew through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8).
1. See the commentaries of Bultmann and Dodd.
2. See the commentaries of Witherington, Barrett, Bernard, Hoskyns, Morris, Marsh, and Hunter.
3. See the commentaries of Carson, Brown, Schnackenburg, MacGregor, Lindars, and Westcott.
4. G. M. Burge, “A Specific Problem in New Testament Text and Canon: The Woman Caught in Adultery,” JETS 27 (1984): 141–48 (see bibliography).
5. B. Ehrman, “Jesus and the Adultress” NTS 34 (1988): 24–44, shows from a recently discovered manuscript that it was likely known to Didymus the Blind, a fourth-century monk in Alexandria, Egypt. The only major Gk. manuscript antedating the eighth century with the story is Codex Bezae.
6. This is a third-century church order written originally in Gk. but now surviving only in Syriac.
7. J. D. M. Derrett, “The Story of the Woman Caught in Adultery,” NTS 10 (1963–64): 1–26; also in his Law in the New Testament (London: Darton, 1970), 156–88.
8. Z. Hodges has recently argued for the authenticity of the story in “The Woman Taken in Adultery,” BSac 136 (1979): 318–72; 137 (1980): 41–53.
9. See Schnackenburg, John, 2:170–71. Derrett (“The Story of the Woman”) shows how some Jews felt that stoning would violate the doctrine of the resurrection and so stood against it.
10. Luke has another story about an adulteress in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36–50). But this story was preserved because it had elements that could be readily adapted to teaching on penance (the flask, tears, kneeling). John’s story makes no such allowances.
11. This is typical of the non-Johannine character of the story. John does not refer to the Mount of Olives elsewhere in his Gospel. But it is a commonplace reference in the Synoptics. Luke refers to it four times, Matthew and Mark three times each.
12. Again, this is a non-Johannine phrase. Grammateus occurs frequently in the Synoptics (Matt. 22 times, Mark 21 times, Luke 14 times) but nowhere else in John.
13. Derrett’s article on the legal background of the story is essential reading for exegesis (see “The Story of the Woman”).
14. In this culture it would be highly unlikely for her to simply be a “single” woman as we think of it today. A culture of arranged marriages seals a woman’s marital plans long before adolescence.
15. Derrett, “The Story of the Woman,” 20. He also points to Ex. 23:7, “Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.”
16. The Gk. form used in 8:11 (hamartane) is a present imperative.
17. Borchert, John, 1:376.
18. Borchert, John, 1:376
19. From Karla’s letter to Governor George W. Bush and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, 1998. The texts of Karla’s letters and the full story can be found in the archives of Cable News Network, CNN (www.cnn.com).
20. Ibid.
21. As I write, the sex scandals of President Bill Clinton are everywhere in the media. Lurid details now fill the national news. And the ratings of the talk show hosts (e.g., Jay Leno and David Letterman), for whom this has provided an endless supply of humor, have increased measurably.
1. The first Greek word of 8:12 is “again,” implying a continuation from a previous section.
2. Cf. 6:35 and comments, where Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.”
3. To recreate this setting, readers would do well to review the layout of Herod’s temple. The Court of the Women was the first elevated court restricted to Jews only and was east of the Court of Israel (or Men).
4. There is some debate if the lamps were lit only at the beginning of the festival or every night. This will impact the significance of Jesus’ words in 8:12. If the lamps were dark (so Morris), then Jesus’ announcement would contrast with the darkness of the final evening.
5. In the NIV English text of the Old Testament, “light” is mentioned over 130 times.
6. There is an important exegetical debate in these verses. Some scholars argue that Jesus is changing the meaning of Gk. word krino (to judge) in 8:15–16. Jesus does not condemn (8:15b) but he nevertheless provokes judgment (8:16). This wordplay is found in the Gospel: Jesus does not condemn (3:17; 12:47; using krino ), but he does come to judge (9:39; 5:22; using krino and krima). Other scholars (myself included) believe that Jesus’ judgment in ch. 8 is being contrasted here with worldly judgment (cf. 7:24).
7. “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view [kata sarka]. Though we once regarded Christ in this way [kata sarka], we do so no longer.”
8. Paul makes these same challenges when he spiritualizes the true nature of circumcision in Rom. 2 and when he claims in Gal. 3:16, 29 that the true descendents of Abraham have little to do with blood line, but it is a matter of faith. Similarly, Rom. 9:7, “Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children.”
9. Josephus, Wars, 7.8.6, cited in Brown, John, 1:363.
10. b. Shabbath, 128a.
11. Gk. reads “the son,” not as in NIV, “a son.” Throughout this Gospel “the son” refers to Jesus. In the Johannine literature, Christians are described as “children” of God.
12. This verse suggests that perhaps Jesus was in his 40s since otherwise his opponents would have objected, “You are not yet forty years old!” Luke says that Jesus began his ministry when he was “about thirty years old” (Luke 3:23). The notion that Jesus enjoyed a three-year ministry is merely conjecture taken from the three annual Passover festivals recorded in John. It is plausible that his ministry lasted much longer. See M. J. Edwards, “Not Yet 50 Years Old: Jn 8:57,” NTS 40 (1994): 449–54.
13. T. Baarda., “Jn 8:57b: The Contribution of the Diatessaron of Tatian,” NovT 38 (1996): 336–43.
14. The LXX translates Ex. 3:14 as ego eimi ho on.
15. However, such critical language of “the Jews” was not unknown in the earliest period. Note how the Jewish rabbi Paul describes the bitter struggles in Judea in 1 Thess. 2:14–15, “For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.”
1. Brown, John, 1:376.
2. The words “this happened” do not appear in the Greek text and are an interpretation added in the NIV.
3. In antiquity there was enormous superstition surrounding the “spittle” of a renowned person. Both the Greek healing cult of Asclepius and Jewish popular belief gave spittle magical power. The rabbis were generally critical of such superstition (K. Rengstorf, “πηλός,” TDNT 6:118–19).
4. In Hebrew the word was shiloah, which the LXX usually translates siloam. Josephus calls it “Siloa.”
5. Today the pool can be seen south of “David’s City,” below the Arab village of Silwan. One can walk through Hezekiah’s Tunnel (where the spring begins) and exit at the Pool of Siloam.
6. Some scholars point out that in Judaism during this period, shiloah had messianic overtones. Isa. 8:6 says, “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah,” which the LXX translates as “Siloam.” A similar name appears in Gen. 49:10 (Shiloh). Both of these were interpreted by Jews and Christians as messianic. In our present passage Judaism is rejecting Jesus, just as in Isa. 8 they rejected “Shiloah.”
7. Compare the similar healing/washing story of Naaman and Elisha in 2 Kings 5:10–14. Naaman’s trip to the Jordan River is an act of obedience to show his respect for the prophet.
8. J. Lewis, ABD, 3:634–37, cited in D. Wenham, “A Historical View of John’s Gospel,” Themelios 23:2 (1998): 5. Lewis continues, “It should not be allowed to be considered a consensus established by mere repetition of assertion.”
9. See Hoskyns, “The Use of the Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Chapters of St. John’s Gospel in the Early Lectionaries,” John, 363–65.
10. Brown, John, 1:380, citing Braun, Jean, 158–59.
11. In Catholic liturgies many of these traditions remain (see Mass liturgies for the Fourth Sunday in Lent).
12. See his many books: The Power to Heal (1977); Healing (1974, 1984, 1988); Prayer That Heals (1984); Overcome by the Spirit (1990); and Deliverance from Evil Spirits (1995). Another helpful writer is Agnes Sanford.
13. This dilemma presents grave problems for messianic Jews who want to move to Israel. Many keep their faith secret until they are granted citizenship.
1. Scholars have often believed they could “improve” the Fourth Gospel by rearranging its chapters. Reuniting the related themes of chapters 9 and 10 is common.
2. A. Guilding, The Fourth Gospel and Jewish Worship: A Study of the Relation of St. John’s Gospel to the Ancient Jewish Lectionary System (Oxford: Clarendon, 1960), 129–32.
3. Josephus (Ant. 12:316–25) tells us that the feast was also called “the Festival of Lights.” According to 2 Macc. 1:9, because of its parallel use of light, the feast was also called “the Feast of Tabernacles in the month of Chislev” (approx. December).
4. Judas Maccabaeus had only one day’s supply of oil, which God made burn for eight. The Hanukkah menorah has eight candles (while the temple candelabra had seven).
5. There is one Hebrew word that likely stands behind both words: mashal. A mashal is a figure of speech, a proverb, or a cryptic saying that requires further explanation. It can either be a lengthy story or a one-sentence statement (Luke 4:23).
6. Brown, John, 1:392.
7. Carson, John, 386.
8. The Gk. word hyper is used thirteen times in John, of which eleven imply or refer to sacrificial death (6:51; 10:11, 15; 11:50, 51, 52; 13:37, 38; 15:13; 17:19; 18:14; the other two occurrences are 1:30; 11:4).
9. Interpreters must be warned that this passage is not describing a divine unity that results in a deification of the believer (such as might be found in ancient Hellenistic systems or modern New Age religions). C. K. Barrett, John, 376, comments that here in John’s thought, “This makes any kind of identification between God and the worshipper unthinkable; man is not deified but delivered.”
10. Morris, John, 455, reminds us of Acts 18:9–10, where the Lord speaks to Paul in a vision at Corinth, “Do not be afraid . . . because I have many people in this city.”
11. For many scholars, this description of the “flock of Jesus” speaks to the composition of John’s church and its struggle for unity (cf. 1 John). See further R. J. Karris, Jesus and the Marginalized in John’s Gospel (Zacchaeus Studies, New Testament; Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical, 1990).
12. Ridderbos, John, 365, suggests that “love” in 10:17 is synonymous with “know” elsewhere in the chapter: “It is not to be understood so much in the sense of an affective relationship between the Father and the Son as of the effective ‘being’ of the Father ‘with’ the Son.”
13. Elsewhere in the New Testament the resurrection of Jesus is described as an act of God (see Acts 2:24). John views the union of the Son and the Father as so comprehensive that the resurrection is an act of God (carried out by the Son). Elsewhere the New Testament describes the resurrection as Jesus’ work (Acts 17:3; 1 Thess. 4:14).
14. This is a good example of why some scholars prefer translating Ioudaios as “Judeans,” to reflect the geographical identity of the audience.
15. The English “then” (Gk. tote) is replaced by “and” (Gk. de) in numerous early manuscripts and signals the calendar problem of 10:1–21 I mentioned earlier, “Then came the feast. . . .” Scribes were likely trying to link the two halves of the chapter together with the reference to Hanukkah.
16. The dramatic size of these porches has been discovered in the excavations at the southwest corner of the temple. In A.D. 70, when the temple was destroyed by the Romans, the porches were thrown from the temple and evidence of their destruction is now in the ruins at the temple platform base.
17. In Acts 14:20 kykloo describes how the disciples surround Paul after he is stoned at Lystra. In Heb. 11:30 it describes how Jericho was surrounded by the Israelite army. These are its only uses in the New Testament.
18. John 10:29 contains a well-known set of variants. The chief problem is locating the subject of the sentence. The NIV follows the popular reading: “My Father, who (Gk. hos) has given them to me, is greater than all.” The NRSV, NIVmg, and others read: “What (Gk. ho) my Father has given me is greater than all else.” An excellent summary of variants can be found in Schnackenburg, John, 2:307–8.
19. Hoskyns, John, 389.
20. In the early theological debates of the church, this passage was deemed of utmost value in refuting those who undermined the authority of Jesus. See T. Pollard, “The Exegesis of John 10:30 in the Early Trinitarian Controversies,” NTS 3 (1957): 334–49.
21. For opinions on this verse in early Judaism, see Beasley-Murray, John, 175–77.
22. G. Yee, Jewish Feasts and the Gospel of John (Wilmington, Del.: M. Glazier, 1989), 83–92.
23. I have explained this struggle in the Johannine church fully in my commentary Letters of John (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 27–33.
24. G. Sloan, John: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta: John Knox, 1988).
25. Sheep need standing (not running water) for drinking. Shepherds will dam small brooks near springs in the desert in order to make watering pools.
26. I have seen Palestinian boys watching their sheep in the desert of Judea and demonstrating incredible, lethal skill with sling and stone.
27. The Observer (Aug. 23, 1998).
28. To interpret John’s pastoral setting directly, he is in effect saying in his letters, “If you want to discern the validity of a new would-be shepherd, test his profile against the profile of Jesus you have read in my Gospel.”
29. On the remarkable globalization of the church and its growth outside the West, see M. Hutchinson, “It’s a Small Church After All: Globalization Is Changing How Christians Do Ministry,” Christianity Today 42 (Nov. 16, 1998): 46–55.
30. See D. Carson, Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility (Atlanta: John Knox, 1981).
1. Lazarus “from Bethany” named here is as specific as “Philip from Bethsaida,” whom we met in 1:44, or “Judas Iscariot” (meaning “Judas, man from Kerioth,” 6:71).
2. See Beasley-Murray, John, 200.
3. The Bordeaux Pilgrim in A.D. 333 located it 1500 steps east of the Mount of Olives. Today a number of fourth-century Byzantine churches have been uncovered. Pilgrims today are often shown “the tomb of Lazarus,” but it has a doubtful claim to authenticity. Nevertheless walking from Bethany to Jerusalem (through Bethphage) over the Mount of Olives accurately retraces Jesus’ daily steps in this last season of his life.
4. Lazarus is an abbreviated Hebrew name taken from Eleazar, which means “God has helped.” It is a fitting description of those events about to occur in the story.
5. This may be a signal to us that John assumes we have read the Synoptic story. The anointing of Jesus by Mary is recorded in Mark 14:3–9 (though her name is not given there).
6. Some scholars suggest that Jesus was in Batanea in the far northeast (modern Golan Heights), which was eighty-five miles away. This explains why it took four days for Jesus to reach Bethany. But this suggestion seems to strain the evidence of 10:40–42 and 1:28 (see comments). John the Baptist’s death in the Synoptics occurs because he was working in a region controlled by Antipas (Perea) on the border of Nabatea. Residents of Jerusalem would likely not come to visit John (1:19) in Batanea. On the contrary, John’s ministry was centered on the Jordan River south of Galilee.
7. In this culture, deceased persons were generally buried immediately. Cf. Acts 5:1–10.
8. “Thomas” is a Hebrew name; its Greek equivalent is Didymos (which means the same thing, “twin”). We have no suggestion, however, who his twin might be. The apocryphal literature that venerated the image of Thomas calls him the twin of Jesus—or simply that he looked like Jesus (Acts of Thomas, 11, 31). But this is unlikely.
9. In a lengthy monograph, J. H. Charlesworth argues that the Beloved Disciple of the Fourth Gospel is actually Thomas, who later inspired a “school” and an entire body of apocryphal literature. See The Beloved Disciple: Whose Witness Validates the Gospel of John? (Vally Forge, Pa.: Trinity, 1995).
10. Similarly, the Mishnah says that in judicial cases deceased persons can only be identified up to three days (Yebamot 16:3).
11. The Jewish tractate Semahot (Heb. ‘joys’), appended to the Talmud, outlines the legal rules for burial and mourning.
12. Perhaps the best example of a first-century tomb complex to illustrate Lazarus’s burial (and Jesus’ too) is that of Queen Helena of Adiabene in northeast Jerusalem. It is called the Tomb of the Kings in guidebooks.
13. This was a view popularly defended by the Pharisees but denied by the Sadducees (cf. Mark 12:18–27; Acts 23:8; m. Sanhedrin 10:1).
14. The affirmation in 11:26, “whoever lives and believes in me will never die,” employs an emphatic negative in Gk. (ou me), reinforcing the notion: “Whoever lives and believes in me will absolutely never die.”
15. The entire English Bible translation tradition beginning with the KJV finds in the word some emotional distress for Jesus. Hence, the Good News Bible, “his heart was touched”; the Jerusalem Bible, “in great distress.”
16. So the commentators Westcott, Hoskyns, Barrett, Brown, Carson, Beasley-Murray. The NLT rightly uses, “Jesus was moved with indignation.”
17. Beasley-Murray, John, 193.
18. Jesus is “stirred” (tarasso), which most versions translate “troubled.” But this is a metaphorical use of the word. Its literal meaning occurs in 5:4, 7 when water is stirred. Throughout John 1–11 water is a theological symbol for the Spirit, and in chapter 11 we find one of the few chapters that fails to mention it. Its active use here may refer to the Spirit (as living water) within him (7:37–39; 19:34). See C. Story, “The Mental Attitude of Jesus at Bethany, John 11:33, 38,” NTS 37 (1991): 51–66; E. K. Lee, “The Raising of Lazarus,” ExpTim 61 (1950): 145–47. This idea was originally presented to me in a research paper of Deborah Leighton, “John’s Seventh Sign” (Wheaton College, Dec. 6, 1999).
19. This is now a different Gk. verb (dakruo) than that used to describe Mary’s wail in v. 33. It is not a funeral cry.
20. Often we discover that coins had been placed on the eyes of buried first-century Jews.
21. The precise Gk. phrase used here (episteusan eis auton) occurs seven times in this Gospel.
22. Recent archaeological work has uncovered the burial box (ossuary) of Caiaphas. It is on display in the Israel Museum located in West Jerusalem.
23. Pilate ruled from A.D. 26–36, overlapping Caiaphas for ten years. In A.D. 36, when Pilate was removed forcibly from office, Caiaphas immediately lost his hold on the high priesthood.
24. Today this is likely the modern Palestinian village of El-Tayibeh.
25. A similar irony occurs in Mark 3:1–6. After Jesus gives a man life (forgiving his sins and then healing him), his enemies plot how to destroy Jesus.
26. Hoskyns, John, 460.
27. Altogether John records seven signs of Jesus:
1. Wine at Cana.
2. Healing the nobleman’s son.
3. Healing the lame man.
4. Feeding the five thousand.
5. Walking on water.
6. Healing the blind man.
7. Raising Lazarus.
28. As R. Fredrikson, John (The Communicator’s Commentary; Waco: Word, 1985), 200, contends.
29. Beasley-Murray, John, 200–201, points out that while six of the signs employ the literary pattern of sign-revelation, this seventh sign reverses it (revelation-sign). This reversal is also the pattern of the Gospel generally. The prologue gives us an explanation of what will happen, followed by a narrative describing the “Word become flesh.” Similarly, the Farewell Discourse “interprets” Jesus’ departure, which is then followed by his glorification on the cross.
30. There is some debate as to the location of this church (as with virtually every holy site in Israel). The present Church of the Holy Sepulchre is likely the right location. Archaeological research has demonstrated beyond doubt that the “Garden Tomb” is not from the first-century era of Jesus, although it serves a vital ministry in the city.
31. The chief ceremony at the church is the Easter festival of Holy Fire that commemorates Jesus’ resurrection. See T. A. Idinopulos, “Holy Fire in Jerusalem,” Christian Century 99 (1982): 407–9.
32. Morris, John, 488.
1. Bethany, a village on the fringe of Jerusalem’s life, was located just east over the Mount of Olives (see comment on 11:1).
2. There is another anointing story in Luke 7:36–38; while there are few parallels, it has a completely different setting.
3. See Brown, John, 2:450.
4. Haenchen, John, 2:86.
5. Pliny, Natural History 12.24–26.
6. R. K. Harrison, “Nard,” ISBE 3:490–91; G. H. R. Horsley, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity (North Ryde, Australia: Macquarie Univ., 1981), 1:85 [Entry 41].
7. Such vases (broken and unbroken) have been found in Hellenistic-era Egyptian tombs, confirming the method of opening and pouring.
8. Carson, John, 428–29.
9. But Mary’s nard will not be used later. Nicodemus embalms Jesus with 100 pounds of spices (19:38–42) and Mary’s perfume does not appear again.
10. The Gk. construction places sharp emphasis on Jesus.
11. Old Testament law required Jews to come to Jerusalem for three pilgrimage festivals: Passover (the start of the barley harvest), Pentecost (the end of the wheat harvest), and Tabernacles (the harvest of tree and vine). Each celebrated religious events in Israel’s history (the Exodus, the giving of the law, and the desert wanderings).
12. Josephus records one Passover hosting over 2.5 million, but this is surely an exaggeration. In 1961 the entire population of Galilee was only 190,000 and in antiquity it was likely less. For a full catalogue of evidence, see J. Jeremias, “Excursus: The Number of Pilgrims at the Passover,” Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (London: SCM, 1969), 77–84.
13. Following Titus’s conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, his triumphal entry in Rome was celebrated by a “triumphal arch,” which can still be seen in Rome. On the arch are carved reliefs depicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of its citizens. For a complete study, see B. Kinman, Jesus’ Entry into Jerusalem (Leiden: Brill, 1995); idem, “Jesus ‘Triumphal Entry’ in the Light of Pilate’s,” NTS 40 (1994): 442–48.
14. See Brown, John, 1:462, for Hellenistic and Jewish parallels.
15. For Jewish evidence, see Kinman, Jesus’ Entry, 48–65.
16. John records the cleansing of the temple in 2:13–22. On the relation between John’s placement and the Synoptics’, see comments on John 2.
17. The verbs horao and blepo occur eighty-four times in the Gospel of John. To “come and see” is almost a formula for discipleship.
18. Beasley-Murray, John, 211.
19. The language of Jesus here (“the man who hates his life . . .”) reflects the Semitic taste for vivid contrasts (see Deut. 21:15; Matt. 5:30; 6:22–24; Mark 10:25; Luke 14:26). The dynamic meaning of this phrase in English might be “those who deny their life” or “those who despise their life in this world” (NLT).
20. Such heavenly words (Heb., bath qol, or “the daughter/echo of a voice”) appear both at Jesus’ baptism and at the Transfiguration.
21. Note how the voice from heaven is directed to the disciples rather than to Jesus in the Transfiguration (Mark 9:7); cf. Beasley-Murray, John, 213.
22. This is now the third reference to the “lifting up” of the Son of Man (see 3:14; 8:28; 12:32–34). These three passages may parallel the three predictions of the cross found in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 8:31; 9:9; 10:33).
23. The crowd may have had in mind Ps. 61:6–7. See G. Bampfylde, “More Light on Jn 12:34,” JSNT 17 (1983): 87–89. Or this may be a reference to Isa. 52:13, “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” See B. Chilton, “John 12:34 and Targum Isa 52:13,” NovT 22 (1980): 176–78.
24. The crowd refers to “the law” (meaning the entire Old Testament). But it is difficult to know what verses they have in mind. Some have pointed to Ps. 72:17; 89:35–37; Isa. 9:7; or Ezek. 37:25.
25. This is a Jewish phrase now attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls (cf. Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:5).
26. John’s theological vocabulary for “lifting up” and “glorify” both appear in the LXX of Isa. 52:13, “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised (doxazo) and lifted up (hypsoo), and highly exalted.” The citation in John 12:38 is taken directly from the LXX of Isa. 53:1.
27. The Gospels commonly cite quotation formulas (e.g., “it is written” or “this happened that Scripture might be fulfilled”) to show how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament. John only points to fulfillment (Gk. pleroo) beginning at 12:38–39 (see also 13:18; 15:25; 17:12; 18:9; 18:32; 19:24; 19:28; 19:36–37). For John, the hour of glorification (and the failure of Judaism) is the premier moment of Scripture fulfillment.
28. Some interpreters have tried to soften the causality of 12:40 by saying that it is not God (“he”) who blinds and hardens, but Satan. Most scholars reject this view vigorously.
29. St. Augustine wrote, “God thus blinds and hardens, simply by letting alone and withdrawing his aid: and God can do this by a judgment that is hidden, although not by one that is unrighteous” (Tractates on John 53.6; cited in Morris, John, 537n.115). See further D. A. Carson, Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility: Biblical Perspectives in Tension (London: Marshall, Morgan, Scott, 1981), 195–97.
30. C. Evans, “The Function of Isa 6:9–10 in Mk 4:10–12 and Jn 12:39–40,” NovT 24 (1982): 124–38.
31. Acts 6:7 describes “a large number of priests [who] became obedient to the faith.” See R. Brown, The Community of the Beloved Disciple (New York: Paulist, 1979), 71–81.
32. J. R. Michaels, “John 12:1–11,” Int 43 (1989): 287–91.
33. For an examination of this theme, see I. H. Marshall, Kept by the Power of God (London: Epworth, 1969), 176.
34. See the recent important article by R. Bauckham, “The Scrupulous Priest and the Good Samaritan: Jesus’ Parabolic Interpretation of the Law of Moses,” NTS 44 (1998): 475–89.
35. See two of his recent books, 20 Hot Potatoes Christians Are Afraid to Touch (Dallas: Word, 1993) and Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God (Dallas: Word, 1997).
36. To simply browse the “social issues” section of a large, conservative bookstore would in itself uncover a fascinating list of these.
37. Carson, Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility, 196.
38. Ibid.
1. For a complete examination of the structure of John, see the Introduction.
2. R. Brown, John, 2:541.
3. Ibid., 2:541–42.
4. For a comprehensive and understandable presentation of the complex issues, see I. H. Marshall, Last Supper and Lord’s Supper (Exeter: Paternoster, 1980). See also J. Jeremias, The Eucharistic Words of Jesus (London: SCM, 1966), 15–84.
5. This was the Jewish pattern. In the Roman world, days began following midnight, exactly as we count them today.
6. R. T. France, “Chronological Aspects of Gospel Harmony,” VE 16 (1986): 50–54; Brown, John, 2:555–57.
7. F. F. Bruce, New Testament History (1969), 191ff.
8. Marshall, Last Supper and Lord’s Supper, 74.
9. Jesus could not return to Bethany since the village was outside the formal boundary of Jerusalem. Bethphage was the village furthest east that remained in Jerusalem’s precincts. This rule was based on a rabbinic interpretation of Deut. 16:7.
10. See C. C. Torrey, “In the Fourth Gospel the Last Supper Was a Passover Meal,” JQR 42 (1952): 237–50.
11. For discussion, see C. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1987), 175–80; I. H. Marshall, Last Supper and Lord’s Supper, 69–71; D. A. Carson, John, 455–58; C. C. Torrey, “The Date of the Crucifixion According to the Fourth Gospel,” JBL 50 (1931): 227–41.
12. See C. C. Torrey, “The Date of the Crucifixion,” 240–41.
13. Jeremias, Eucharistic Words, 80.
14. R. Bauckham, “John for Readers of Mark,” in R. Bauckham, ed., The Gospel for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences (Grand Rapids/Edinburgh: Eerdmans/T. & T. Clark, 1998), 147–71; this is the general outlook of Barrett’s commentary.
15. Beasley-Murray, John, 226; Schnackenburg, John, 3:46.
16. There are important variants in the Gk. text specifying the timing of the meal. An aorist tense (“after the meal . . .” KJV) or a present tense (“during supper . . .” RSV, NRSV; “the evening meal was being served . . .” NIV) controls its meaning. Since the meal is still being served in 13:26, the sense of the verse cannot be that the meal is completed when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.
17. So Barrett, John, 439; the alternate translation: “when the devil prompted Judas to betray Jesus. . . .”
18. Gen. 18:4; 19:2; 24:32; 43:24; Judg. 19:21; 1 Sam. 25:41. For first-century Judaism, see the pseudepigraphal Testament of Abraham (ch. 3), where Abraham washes his guests feet. Also see Homer’s Odyssey, 19.343.
19. Carson, John, 462; Barrett, John, 440.
20. See J. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (London: Darton, Longman, Todd, 1985), 2:234. Joseph and Asenath was written between 100 B.C. and A.D. 100.
21. The NIV obscures the Gk. grammar with a paraphrase, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.”
22. Barrett, Brown, Bultmann, Carson, Dunn, Hoskyns and Davey, Lindars, Marsh, Tasker. For a full survey, see J. D. G. Dunn, “The Washing of the Disciples’ Feet in John 13:1–20,” ZNW 61.3 (1970): 247–52; A. Hultgren, “The Johannine Footwashing,” NTS 28 (1982): 539–46; J. C. Thomas, “Note on the Text of John 13:10,” NovT 29.1 (1987): 46–52. The phrase is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, ancient Latin manuscripts, and Origen.
23. John uses two verbs in 13:10. “A person who has had a bath [louo] needs only to wash [nipto] his feet.” The first generally refers to complete bathing, the second to partial washing (9:7). But John often uses pairs of verbs as if they were synonyms (to know, to send, to love, etc.); the same is likely here.
24. This difference between 13:2–11 and 13:12–20 has led some to think that this is a “second” interpretation of Jesus’ footwashing. For scholars who look for editorial additions to John, 13:12–20 (they argue) was added at a later date. As I will argue, such a view is unnecessary.
25. Brown, John, 2:549.
26. These symbols are true even today in the Middle East.
27. This is according to Jewish tradition; see Jeremias, Eucharistic Words, 22–26.
28. Carson, John, 473.
29. m. Pesach 9:11; see Jeremias, Eucharist Words, 54.
30. These and many other “testaments” can be found in J. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Apocrypha, 2 vols. (London: Darton, Longman, Todd, 1983).
31. In 4 Ezra we are told that Ezra dictated ninety-four books of wisdom in forty days before his death (4 Ezra 14:44)! Moses instructs Joshua to keep his “book” of promises for perpetuity (T. Moses 10:11).
32. Jesus uses the title “Son of Man” to refer to himself (see comments on 1:51; 3:13; 5:27; 6:27, 53, 62; 8:28; 9:35; 12:23, 34). This is the final reference to the Son of Man in the Gospel.
33. The phrase “if God is glorified in him” in 13:32a is missing from a number of important manuscripts. But this has likely happened by scribal error. It is easier to explain how the phrase was lost than why a scribe might have added it.
34. The phrase “new commandment” is characteristic of John. It occurs in 1 John fourteen times and in 2 John four times.
35. The Greek mikros occurs eleven times in John, nine of which are in the farewell discourse. This is Jesus’ clarification of his imminent death.
36. R. Burridge, “About People, by People, for People: Gospel Genre and Audiences,” R. Bauckham, ed., The Gospels for All Christians (Edinburgh/Grand Rapids: T. & T. Clark/Eerdmans, 1998), 113–45; also W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1989).
37. The verb apolouo is a combination of louo plus the preposition apo.
38. For a thorough survey of the history of the interpretation of footwashing in the church, see C. Thomas, Footwashing in John 13 and the Johannine Community (JSNTSup 61; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991), 11–19.
39. See Hoskyns and Davey, “The Liturgical Use of the Pedivalium or the Washing of the Feet,” John, 520–24.
40. F. Maloney, “A Sacramental Reading of Jn 13:1–38,” CBQ 53 (1991): 237–56.
41. Carson, John, 485.
42. “World” (Gk. kosmos) occurs seventy-eight times in this Gospel (1:9, 10, 29; 3:16, 17, 19; 4:42; 6:14, 33, 51; 7:4, 7; 8:12, 23, 26; 9:5, 32, 39; 10:36; 11:9, 27; 12:19, 25, 31, 46, 47; 13:1; 14:17, 19, 22, 27, 30, 31; 15:18, 19; 16:8, 11, 20, 21, 28, 33; 17:5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23, 24, 25; 18:20, 36, 37; 21:25).
43. Can such footwashing, when it becomes a feature of regular church life, become routine? That is, is it possible to wash someone’s feet and then forget what it is meant to convey concerning lowly service?
44. R. McQuilkin, “Living by Vows,” Christianity Today 35 (Oct. 8, 1990): 38–40; the full story is now in a book, A Promise Kept (Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale, 1998).
45. A. Boers, “What Henri Nouwen Found at Daybreak,” Christianity Today 38 (Oct. 3, 1994): 28–31.
46. H. Nouwen’s care of one mentally impaired man can be found in Adam: God’s Beloved (New York: Orbis, 1997).
47. W. Klassen, Judas: Betrayer or Friend of Jesus? (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1996). In order to accomplish this rewriting of Judas’s image, Klassen must critically dismantle much of the Gospels.
48. D. L. Bartlett, “John 13:21–30,” Int 43 (1989): 393–97 (citation on p. 394).
49. T. Giles, “Double-Your-Money Scam Burns Christian Groups,” Christianity Today 39 (June 19, 1995): 40–42; “New Era’s Bennet Pleads ‘No Contest’ to Fraud,” Christianity Today 41 (May 19, 1997): 62.
50. J. Sanford, Mystical Christianity: A Psychological Commentary on the Gospel of John (New York: Crossroad, 1995), 259.
51. J. Ortberg, “Do They Know Us By Our Love?” Christianity Today 41 (May 19, 1997): 25.
52. Tertullian, Apology, 39, cited in Hendricksen, John, 254.
1. F. F. Segovia, “The Structure, Tendenz and Sitz-im-Leben of John 13:31–14:31,” JBL 104 (1985): 471–93. For Segovia the chapter is shaped by John’s need to explain the failure of Jesus to return in his second coming. John’s solution, according to him, is that the coming of the Spirit replaces the coming of Jesus.
2. It is also possible that the translation could be indicative/imperative: “You believe in God; now also believe in me!” Compare Mark 11:22–24, where Jesus exhorts his followers to believe in God during the last critical days in Jerusalem.
3. Even though the tense of the verb here is present (Gk. palin erchomai), John often uses erchomai with a future force (see 1:15, 30; 4:21, 23; 14:18, 28; 16:2). The following verb, “will . . . take” (paralempsomai), is future.
4. A popular view argues that John begins the chapter with the promise of the Second Coming and then works to correct it, reinterpreting this “coming” with the coming of the Holy Spirit (14:23). See R. Gundry, “In My Father’s House Are Many Monai,” ZNW 58 (1967): 68–72.
5. Because of the difficult Greek construction, a variant adds a longer reading: “You know where I am going and you know the way.” This may come from the influence of 14:5, where Thomas asks a question about the “way.” The shorter reading (NIV) is best: “You know the way where I’m going.” The disciples should know where Jesus is going (heaven) but the way (Jesus is “the way,” 14:6) will still be shown.
6. Compare the multiple accounts of the disciples’ struggle with Jesus’ decision to go to the cross (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33).
7. Bruce, John, 298–99; cited in Smalley, John, 253.
8. The NIV follows a variant reading that makes the verse punitive. In 14:7 the first verb is perfect (“If you have come to know me . . .”) and the second may be perfect (“. . . you would know my Father also”) or future (NIV note: “. . . you will know my Father also”). Strong manuscript evidence supports the future tense of verse 7.
9. See also the similar Synoptic sayings: Matt. 7:7–8 (Luke 11:9–10); Matt. 18:19; 21:22.
10. Barrett, John, 451.
11. For summaries, see R. Brown, “The Paraclete in the Fourth Gospel,” NTS 12 (1966–67): 113–32; G. Burge, The Anointed Community, 3–31; Morris, “Additional Note F: The Paraclete,” John, 587–91.
12. The Gk. parakletos is related to the verb parakaleo and is similar in force to the participle, ho parakeklemenos.
13. Burge, Anointed Community, 14–15.
14. Unfortunately the NIV disguises the use of parakletos in 1 John 2:1 with a dynamic paraphrase, “But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” The italicized words represent the single Greek word parakletos.
15. John 14:17c, “for he lives with you and will be in you,” hides a number of variants related to the tense of the two verbs, coming from the fact that menei (to dwell, abide) can either be future or present (when printed without accent marks, as in ancient manuscripts). Variants show: μένει (present)/ἔσται (future); μενεῖ (future)/ἔσται (future); μένει (present)/ἐστιν (present). The third option denies the later role of the Spirit. The second option denies Jesus is a Paraclete. The first draws a theological line between the functions of Jesus and that of the Spirit.
16. In rabbinic Judaism, disciples who had lost their teacher were considered “orphans” (Brown, John, 2:640). The same was said for disciples of Greek teachers (e.g., Socrates).
17. Many critical scholars have argued that John has demythologized in 14:18 an original expectation of the Second Coming and converted it into an expectation for the Spirit. Thus (so it is argued) the verses are surrounded by two “Spirit sayings” (14:16, 26).
18. Besides Judas Iscariot, there were several other men named Judas in the New Testament. The two most important are: (1) Jude (the same name as Judas in Gk.), who was a brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3) and so was the brother of James. He likely penned the letter of Jude (see Jude 1). (2) Jude “of [son of?] James” mentioned in Luke’s list of apostles (6:16). Since Matthew and Mark do not list this name among the Twelve, he is traditionally identified with Thaddaeus. Most view John’s Judas in 14:22 as the apostle listed by Luke.
19. It is helpful to describe the work of the Spirit as “he.” While “Spirit” is a neuter noun in Gk., Paraclete is masculine, and in 14:26 (also 15:26; 16:8, 14) John uses a masculine pronoun (ekeinos) with a neuter antecedent (to pneuma to hagion) to underscore the personal character of the Spirit. Most telling, in 16:13 ekeinos is used again without the noun ho parakletos. English provides no inclusive singular pronoun that bears this personal nuance intended by John. “It” cannot bring out this meaning.
20. A few manuscript variants omit “holy,” while others read “Spirit of truth” (harmonizing the verse with 14:17). The present reading (NIV) is important since some scholars have refused to identify the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit (e.g., G. Johnston, The Spirit-Paraclete in the Gospel of John [Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1970]).
21. Barrett, John, 467. No doubt this “remembering” role of the Spirit was important for John in his production of the Gospel itself.
22. This shalom was prophesied as the achievement of the Messiah (see Isa. 9:6–7; 52:7; 57:19; Ezek. 37:26; Hag. 2:9; cf. Acts 10:36; Rom. 5:1; 14:7). As a result, it became a standard greeting among Christians (e.g., Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3).
23. See T. E. Pollard, Johannine Christology and the Early Church (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1970); C. K. Barrett, “ ‘The Father Is Greater than I’ (John 14:28): Subordinationist Christology in the New Testament,” Essays on John (London: SPCK, 1982), 19–36.
24. Brown cites the Jewish Midrash Rabbah 78:1 on Gen. 32:27, “The sender is greater than the one sent” (John, 2:655).
25. For an excellent summary of the options, see Carson, John, 477–79.
26. Haenchen, John, 2:164. The phrase is identical in both Mark and John.
27. Morris, John, 587.
28. Westcott, John, 2:238.
29. See the lengthy exposition by D. A. Carson, The Farewell Discourse and the Final Prayer of Jesus: An Exposition of John 14–17 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1970).
30. Carson, John, 487.
31. G. Fee, “Expository Article: John 14:18–17,” Int 43 (1989): 170–74.
32. Bultmann, John, 608–9; also cited in Smalley, John, 253.
33. At the Council of Nicea, Arians, fearing the compromise of monotheism, argued that Christ was one of God’s creatures (“There was a time when he was not”). Athanasius and the majority of the church rejected this, arguing that Jesus shared the same eternal “essence” (homoousios) as the Father. Today these same Arian claims are made by Jehovah’s Witnesses. See W. Harding, “An Examination of Passages Cited by the Jehovah’s Witnesses to Deny Jesus Is God,” in R. L. Harris, ed., Interpretation and History (Singapore: Christian Life, 1986), 273–80.
34. D. Wells, No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993).
35. Some have suggested that it may refer to Jesus’ coming to the believer at his death (Lightfoot, John, 275–76; Bultmann, John, 602) or that it is simply an ambiguous “coming” at any time (Barrett, John, 157).
36. J. N. Darby, Lectures on the Second Coming (London: Broom, 1869), 10; L. S. Chafer, The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Chicago: Moody, 1915, 1944), 87; J. W. Hodges, Christ’s Kingdom and Coming (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957), 195–96.
37. In addition to the major commentaries, note its absence in S. Travis, I Believe in the Second Coming of Jesus (London: Hodder, 1982), 99–100.
38. G. Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Future (London: Macmillan, 1954), 237.
39. See recently, C. Blomberg, “Eschatology and the Church: Some New Testament Perspectives,” Themelios 23.3 (1998): 3–26.
40. Travis, I Believe in the Second Coming, 100.
41. This change in the West resulted in the changing of the Nicene Creed so that in Catholic and Protestant churches it reads, “. . . and we believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son.” The phrase “and the Son” (in Latin, filioque) was the medieval addition.
42. Against Heresies, 2.1.1.
43. K. Barth, referring to Russian Orthodoxy, Church Dogmatics I:1 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975), 481; cited by T. Smail, The Giving Gift: The Holy Spirit in Person (London: Hodder, 1988), 125.
44. Of course, Orthodox theologians are sensitive to these criticisms and argue that their view of the Trinity does not demand this result. Moreover, the excesses that thrive in the West are the result of Protestant thought that has united Jesus and the Spirit!
45. This explanation was given first by Michael Ramsay, former Archbishop of Canterbury. See T. Smail, The Giving Gift, 138.
46. For a list see Burge, The Anointed Community, 140–42.
1. C. J. Laney, “Abiding Is Believing: The Analogy of the Vine in John 15:1–6,” BSac 146 (1989): 55–66.
2. Scholars are divided on how to divide the parable and its interpretation (vv. 7, 8, and 9 are all suggested). R. Bauckham believes that unlike the shepherd story in John 10, chapter 15 does not contain the parable at all, but only its interpretation. He thinks a fragment of the original parable may be found in the Acts of Thomas 146. “The Parable of the Vine: Rediscovering a Lost Parable of Jesus,” NTS 33.1 (1987): 84–101.
3. This would be possible since Passover was the only night when the gates of Jerusalem and the temple were kept open all night to serve the many pilgrims.
4. Josephus says that when the Romans sacked the temple in A.D. 70, the amount of gold taken from its precincts was so great that it depressed the value of gold in Syria by half (Wars, 6.316–18). See C. T. R. Hayward, The Jewish Temple: A Non-Biblical Sourcebook (New York: Routledge, 1996).
5. In most of the Johannine discourses, Jesus takes up a role reminiscent of God (e.g., the good shepherd).
6. F. J. Moloney, “The Structure and Message of John 15:1–16:3,” ABR 35 (1987): 35–49.
7. Carson, John, 522.
8. Today Arabs call the city of Hebron el-Khalil (Arabic, friend). Hebron is where Abraham, “the friend of God,” is buried.
9. For an analysis of the detailed parallels, see Brown, John, 2:692–95.
10. The possessive pronoun “their” is omitted in a number of significant manuscripts, but it is likely original. Scribes may have omitted it to make it conform to the Johannine form “the hour,” which generally occurs with only the definite article.
11. The “Eucharist” is an ancient and noble word for the Lord’s Supper, coming from the Greek word eucharisteo (to give thanks, cf. its use in Mark 8:6; Luke 22:19).
12. I recently had a conversation with a young Christian Science scholar doing theological research at Cambridge University (where I am presently writing). She commented that evangelical arguments for truth don’t really matter. She predicted a resurgence of Christian Science since it blends so well with postmodern religious instincts about experience. “Once you’ve been healed by divine principles, Christian doctrine doesn’t matter as much anymore.”
13. It is interesting that when the apostle Paul critiques the spirituality of the Corinthians (1 Cor. 12–14), he places a premium on love as the central outcome of the Spirit’s presence (1 Cor. 13).
14. Z. Hodges, The Gospel Under Siege (Dallas: Redencion Viva, 1981); see also C. R. Smith, “The Unfruitful Branches of John 15,” Grace Journal 9 (1968): 10.
15. J. MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988); cf. Laney, “Abiding Is Believing”; J.C. Dillow, “Abiding Is Remaining in Fellowship: Another Look at John 15:1–6,” BSac 147 (1990): 44–53.
16. The earliest Christian Eucharist liturgy we possess (in Did. 9) has this blessing, “We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you revealed to us through Jesus your servant” (9:2).
17. I have explored the problem of evangelicalism and its loss of the numinous in “Missing God at Church? Why So Many Are Rediscovering Worship in Other Traditions,” Christianity Today 41 (Oct. 6, 1997): 19–27.
18. See “A Tale of China’s Two Churches: Eyewitness Reports of Repression and Revival,” Christianity Today 42 (July 13, 1998): 30–39; P. Marshall, Their Blood Cries Out (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1997).
19. Koresh led the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, and died in 1994 when the FBI laid siege to his compound.
20. M. Wilson, Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 260; the seminal study on “the Land” is W. D. Davies, The Gospel and the Land: Early Jewish Territorial Doctrine (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1974); idem, The Territorial Dimension of Judaism (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992).
21. See G. M. Burge, “Territorial Religion and the Vineyard of John 15,” in J. Green and M. Turner, eds., Jesus of Nazareth: Lord and Christ: Essays on the Historical Jesus and New Testament Christology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 384–96. See also P. Walker, Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996).
22. Burge, “Territorial Religion,” 393.
23. This vine metaphor is one more example of the “replacement motif” we have observed throughout the Gospel of John.
24. N. Ateek, Justice and Only Justice (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1989); idem. with M. Ellis and R. Ruether, Faith and the Intifadah: Palestinian Christian Voices (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1992).
25. M. Raheeb, I Am a Palestinian Christian (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995).
26. E. Chacour, We Belong to the Land: The Story of a Palestinian Israeli Who Lives for Peace and Reconciliation (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990).
27. A. Rantisi, Blessed Are the Peacemakers: A Palestinian Christian in the Occupied West Bank (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990).
28. I have surveyed this topic on a popular level in Who Are God’s People in the Middle East? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993); see also W. Pippert, Land of Promise, Land of Strife: Israel at 40 (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1988). From a nonevangelical view see R. Reuther, The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989).
1. On the word parakletos (Paraclete; NIV “Counselor”) see comments on 14:16.
2. A. E. Harvey, Jesus on Trial: A Study of the Fourth Gospel (London: SPCK, 1976), 118; similarly, Barrett, John, 487.
3. Older commentators once thought that we needed to search for angelic models to explain the personal features of the Paraclete’s work. Today such efforts are passé. The personal features of the Paraclete come from the personality of Jesus himself.
4. See D. A. Carson, “The Function of the Paraclete in John 16:7–11,” JBL 98 (1979): 547–66, who surveys the problems. Also see G. M. Burge, The Anointed Community, 208–10.
5. Brown, John, 2:711.
6. Beasley-Murray, John, 281.
7. Carson argues both in “The Function of the Paraclete” and in John, 535–38, that the clauses must be causal and that each must possess the same symmetrical reference to the world (“its sin, its righteousness, its judgment”). But such symmetry is unnecessary. Morris, John, 619, suggests that John’s meaning may include various nuances and no idea should be excluded.
8. Barrett, John, 487.
9. See Burge, The Anointed Community, 214–16.
10. So Brown, John, 2:708.
11. So Carson, Farewell Discourse, 149–50; John, 540–42. Carson skews the interpretation of these verses by arguing that even 16:12 refers to the Spirit’s work within the apostolic eyewitness testimony. But 16:12 does not show this. If anything, the evidence of 1 John suggests that a prophetic gift like that described here was active in John’s church and in fact was causing problems.
12. Bernard, John, 2:511.
13. Gk. amen, amen (see comments on 1:51).
14. This transformation cannot refer to the Parousia since the era in which Christians await the Second Coming should be described as joyous. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
15. Beasley-Murray, John, 285.
16. H. B. Swete, The Last Discourse and Prayer of Our Lord: A Study in John 14–17 (London: Macmillan, 1914), 141, cited in Hoskyns, John, 579.
17. Barrett, John, 496.
18. Cited in Hoskyns, John, 581.
19. The Greek text has two words, arti pisteuete (“now you-believe”). In phrases like this only inflection of voice will indicate if it is a question; sometimes the context will give clues (BDF sec. 440). In this case, the criticism of 16:32 is our best clue.
20. According to many scholars today, Jesus probably did not simply cite Ps. 22:1. He likely recited the entire psalm, which ends on a note of faith and confidence.
21. D. G. Miller, “Tribulation; but . . .” Int 18 (1964): 165.
22. Hendriksen, John, 328.
23. Interpreters who refuse to apply this promise of the Spirit to the postapostolic church must then justify how they can apply other spiritual promises to the church. Who owns the promise, “I will come again and take you to myself” (14:3) when it was addressed to the Twelve? These promises, just like the command to “love one another,” belong both to the circle of apostles and to the later church.
24. Calvin, John, 375–76. What sounds amusing today was no doubt deadly serious in Calvin’s day as the Reformers debated the institutions and the power of the dominant Catholic church in Europe. “Did the Spirit have to come down from heaven for the apostles to learn by what ceremony to consecrate cups and altars, baptize church bells, bless holy water, and celebrate Mass? . . . It is perfectly clear that the Roman Catholics are mocking God when they claim that those things came from heaven.” Happily this sort of rhetoric has no place in the church today.
25. This general application of the Spirit’s work is explored in the exposition of L. Newbigin, The Light Has Come (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 211–14.
26. K. Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, 6th ed. (1918, 19286; ET: Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1932), 42.
27. L. Newbigin, The Light Has Come, 216.
28. See Matt. 10:5–6, “These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go, rather, to the lost sheep of Israel.’ ”
29. J. Calvin, John, 375. Calvin points to 2 Tim. 3:17 and shows how the Spirit not only inspires the text of Scripture but equips us to use it. Also similarly see Carson, The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus, 150–51; Brown, John, 2:716.
30. So Carson, John, 542.
31. See Brown, The Community of the Beloved Disciple, 138–44.
32. See T. Smail, The Giving Gift: The Holy Spirit in Person, 75; notice how in Rev. 1:10 John himself, who is “in the Spirit,” experiences Jesus speaking following his ascension.
33. In this section I am indebted to the outstanding sermon of Donald Miller, the former president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, entitled, “Tribulation; but . . .” (165–70).
34. Ibid., 166.
35. Ibid., 168.
36. Ibid., 169
1. One can find devotional literature focused exclusively on this prayer, particularly from earlier days, such as H. C. G. Moule’s The High Priestly Prayer (London: Religious Tract Society, 1908). Moule writes (9), “Let him who would presume to comment upon it [this prayer] prepare himself first, as it were, kneeling to worship at its threshold.”
2. See M. M. B. Turner, “Prayer in the Gospels and Acts,” in D. A. Carson, ed., Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in the Bible and the World (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 58–83.
3. W. Milligan and W. F. Moulton, Commentary on St. John (Edinburgh, 1898), cited in L. Morris, John, 634.
4. Brown, John, 2:750.
5. M. L. Appold, The Oneness Motif in the Fourth Gospel (Tübingen: Mohr, 1976), 194–211. For another analysis of the symmetry of the prayer, see E. Malatesta, “The Literary Structure of John 17,” Bib 52.2 (1971): 190–214 (includes folding charts).
6. S. Smalley surveys the problem of the historicity of the prayer in John: Evangelist and Interpreter (Exeter: Paternoster, 1978), 188–90.
7. In this case, comparisons are made between John 17 and the earliest complete Eucharist service we possess recorded in the Didache. See O. Cullmann, Early Christian Worship (Naperville: Allenson, 1953), 110.
8. On Passover the gates of the city were left open all night to accommodate the many pilgrims in Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant. 18.2.2).
9. This debate will concern us in our interpretation of 17:17–19.
10. This point is important because of critics who suggest that the prayer is foreign to the Farewell Discourse. Bultmann (John, 486–522), for instance, moves the prayer so that it follows chapter 13 and sees no historicity in its words or linkage with the discourse.
11. This might be contrasted with a common traditional posture of prayer in the West: hands folded, seated, eyes closed, head bowed, and silence. Jewish worship and prayer was audible and animated by comparison. Today in the West worship is increasingly expressive.
12. Note a grammatical symmetry here: Jesus is glorified so that the Father may be glorified; the Son has authority so that he may give eternal life. Both phrases indicate Gk. hina clauses linked by kathos (“just as”).
13. Many commentators have suggested that 17:3 is a parenthesis in the prayer, perhaps penned by John (much like a modern footnote today). But its formal links with the surrounding verses do not require us to set it apart.
14. E. Käsemann, The Testament of Jesus According to John 17 (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968). Exhaustive parallels from Hellenistic religious can be found in C. H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1953), 151–69.
15. This is another instance where interpreters who see a gnostic salvation in John conclude that Jesus’ work is done since knowledge of God has been given; no sacrifice on the cross is needed. But this is to interpret the chapter outside of the larger conversations in the Gospel.
16. The NIV paraphrases, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.”
17. See 8:24, 58. As we outlined earlier, the “I am” sayings in John represent Jesus’ unique use of God’s divine name given in Ex. 3 and later translated into Greek in the LXX.
18. The NIV translates the Greek as future, “I will remain in the world no longer,” perhaps to support the chronology of Jesus’ departure. The NLT captures it nicely: “Now I am departing the world.”
19. John lists a few of these in 1 John 2:16: “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
20. The Gk. verb hagiazo is rare in John (10:36; 17:17, 19) and its adjective refers to the Holy Spirit (1:33; 14:26; 20:22), the Father (17:11), or God (6:69).
21. Cf. atonement passages elsewhere in the New Testament: Mark 14:24; Luke 22:19; Rom. 8:32; 1 Cor. 11:24.
22. Hoskyns, John, 599.
23. Newbigin, The Light Has Come, 223.
24. R. Gruenler, “John 17:20–26,” Int 43 (1989): 178–83.
25. C. D. Morrison, “Mission and Ethic: An Interpretation of John 17,” Int 19 (1965): 259–73; J. E. Staton, “A Vision of Unity—Christian Unity in the Fourth Gospel,” EvQ 69 (1997): 291–305.
26. M. Hutchinson, “It’s a Small Church After All: Globalization Is Changing How Christians Do Ministry,” Christianity Today 31 (Nov. 16, 1987): 46–49. Figures originate from D. Barrett’s World Christian Encyclopedia.
27. Or as one critic put it, “Jesus loves me this I know, for my experience tells me so.” Many observers comment that one of the remarkable features of worship in some corners of the charismatic/Pentecostal world is the lack of solid teaching. I have attended such services which have dispensed with the sermon altogether.
28. The November 16, 1998, issue of Christianity Today provides a global report of the state of the church penned by local church leaders from every continent.
29. Ibid., 54–55.
30. To cite one example: In one dynamic church where I worshiped for six months outside the United States, the Lord’s Supper was offered in house groups, yet the pastoral leadership did not teach the leaders how to lead such a service nor explain its theological meaning. Nor was the question ever asked who should lead such a service.
1. “Passion” is the term generally used by scholars to describe the account of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and death. Passion comes from the Latin verb patior, pati, passum sum, “to suffer.” Passion thus refers to Jesus’ suffering.
2. C. H. Dodd, Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1963), 21–151; see the critical review by D. A. Carson “Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel: After Dodd, What?” in R. T. France and D. Wenham, eds., Gospel Perspectives II (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981), 83–146; about 95 percent of John’s stories are unique to John. Of the material that parallels the Synoptics, the bulk is found in the temple cleansing (ch. 2), the feeding miracle (ch. 6), and the trial sequence (chs. 18–20).
3. F. F. Bruce, “The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,” R. T. France and D. Wenham, eds., Gospel Perspectives I (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1980), 7–20; J. A. T. Robinson, The Priority of John (London: SCM, 1985), 212–95; the magisterial presentation of the Passion story is available in R. E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1994).
4. Most recently see J. Ashton, Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Oxford: Clarendon, 1991), 485–514, and the literature cited there.
5. R. Bauckham, “John for Readers of Mark,” The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 157–58.
6. M. Kähler, The So-Called Historical Jesus and the Historic Biblical Christ (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1892, 1964); cited in J. Ashton, Understanding the Fourth Gospel, 495.
7. E. Käsemann, The Testament of Jesus: The Gospel of John in Light of Chapter 17 (London: SCM, 1968).
8. Ashton, Understanding the Fourth Gospel, 490.
9. Most commentators recognize some literary structure in these verses. See Bultmann, John, 501, 648; Brown, John, 2:857–59; idem, “The Passion According to John: Chapters 18–19,” Worship 49 (1975): 126–34; idem., The Death of the Messiah, 757–59; B. D. Ehrman, “Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate: John 18:28–19:6,” BTB 13 (1983): 124–31; G. H. Giblin, “John’s Narration of the Hearing Before Pilate (John 18:28–19:16a),” Bib 67 (1986): 221–39.
10. Within the next three hundred years the shift is complete. In the Gospel of Peter, Herod (not Pilate) makes the pronouncement of death. In the Syriac manuscript of Matthew, the story is rewritten so that the Jews alone mistreat and crucify Jesus. Tertullian even considered Pilate a Christian at heart and legends told of his conversion. In the Ethiopian and Egyptian Coptic traditions, Pilate and his wife Procla become saints, whose feast is celebrated on June 25. See further, Brown, John, 2:794–95.
11. Carson, John, 575.
12. Brown, John, 2:798.
13. See D. Rensberger, “The Politics of John: The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,” JBL 103 (1984): 395–411.
14. The Greek spelling is Kedron, but this reflects the LXX spelling. Kidron comes from the Hebrew and is the traditional name.
15. In the LXX (Num. 34:5) it refers simply to a river. In LXX 4 Kings 3:16 it is a valley.
16. Today this garden is remembered at The Church of All Nations with its ancient olive grove. Nearby, ancient olive presses have been discovered just north of these trees. The classical lexicon of Liddel and Scott shows how the term is used for orchards and any cultivated land.
17. John does not suggest that Judas took command of this group (as some critics charge). He merely led them to the well-known garden, and then his services were dispensed.
18. Some have suggested that these are not Roman soldiers, but John is using a Roman title for Jewish troops. But this is unlikely. In 18:12 the two groups are carefully distinguished, and there the Roman troops are described with their “commander” or tribune.
19. F. F. Bruce, “The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,” 9.
20. The title is commonly used in the Synoptics, Matt. 2:23; 26:71; Luke 18:37; and six times in Acts.
21. The Gk. phrase is ego eimi, used in Ex. 3:14. See comments on 4:26; 8:58.
22. Matthew adds a warning—“for all who draw the sword will die by the sword”—and explains that if violence were an option, Jesus has massive heavenly resources at his disposal.
23. The company may have entered the temple courts and crossed a bridge on its western wall (which ran the risk of meeting crowds); more likely, they traveled south across or around the current “City of David,” climbing west into the newer, “upper” sections of the western city.
24. Some manuscripts attempt to harmonize John with the Synoptics by attributing verses 19–23 to Caiaphas. Some move 18:24 to an earlier position or eliminate the word “then” (Gk. oun) from 18:24. The KJV follows this latter solution at 18:24: “Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.” This makes the previous five verses belong to Caiaphas. But these corrections to John are unnecessary. F. J. Matera suggests that John has embedded the essence of the Synoptic Caiaphas trial in the body of the Gospel (see “Jesus Before Annas: John 18:13–14, 19–24,” ETL 66.1 [1990]: 38–55).
25. A. Mahoney, “A New Look at an Old Problem (John 18:12–14; 19–24),” CBQ 27 (1965): 137–44.
26. Brown, John, 1:xcvii; 2:905–6.
27. This attention to detail is one more example of John’s commitment to historical specificity based no doubt on eyewitness memory (see 19:35). Peter stands not simply before a fire, but a charcoal fire (as the Gk. word here implies; cf. also John 21:9).
28. Beasley-Murray, John, 324–25.
29. The traditional site of Jesus’ interrogation and Peter’s denial is today at the church “St. Peter Gallicantu” (St. Peter of the Cock-Crow). While this site has long been venerated (there is evidence of a sixth-century monastic church and a seventh-century document identifying the site), it is likely that Caiaphas lived in the Upper City further north where aristocratic homes have been recently discovered. The Armenians exhibit another “house of Caiaphas,” adjacent to the Dormition Abbey.
30. Barrett, John, 529.
31. For an excellent defense of the historicity of Peter’s denials, see Beasley-Murray, John, 325–26.
32. The synoptics include a number of additional details. Luke mentions that when the cock crowed Jesus was in the courtyard and he looked directly at Peter. Mark notes that this was the second time the cock crowed. There is some debate whether Jerusalem prohibited the raising of fowl. See Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, 47–48.
33. Brown, John, 2:842.
34. A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Law in the New Testament (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1963), 36; F. F. Bruce, “The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,” 12.
35. Josephus, Wars, 6:124; note that the charge against Paul in Acts 24:6 says that he has tried to desecrate the temple, thus putting his life in jeopardy. By rescuing him, the Romans took him out of the temple’s jurisdiction.
36. During this time, Pilate would have been termed a “prefect” (Lat. praefectus). His title and full name were discovered at Caesarea in Israel on the Mediterranean coast in 1961.
37. There is good evidence that Jewish fear about Gentiles and impurity was based on the widespread rumor that abortions and premature babies were buried in Roman homes or flushed through their sewers. This would render Jews unclean by “corpse impurity” (cf. m. Oholoth 18:7: “The dwelling places of Gentiles are unclean”).
38. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread had merged chronologically in New Testament times. Nisan 15 (the evening of eating the Passover lamb) was also the first day of Unleavened Bread, which lasted from Nisan 15–21. Against this view, see Morris, John, 688–89.
39. See Morris, John, 680.
40. Dodd, Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel, 99 (cited by Beasley-Murray, John, 331).
41. The Mishnah may refer to this tradition in Pesachim 8:6.
42. The name Barabbas is not a personal name, but a surname identifying his father, such as in Simon Bar-jonah (Simon, son of Jonah). Bar-Abbas means, son of Abba (father). In Matt. 27:17 variant readings give his full name: Jesus Barabbas. Many regard the name “Jesus” as original and think it was removed by copyists who wanted no confusion with Jesus Christ.
43. Mark adds that Barabbas had been caught killing someone “in the uprising” (Mark 15:7), and Luke that he had participated in an “insurrection in the city,” presumably the city of Jerusalem (Luke 23:19).
44. A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1963), 27; R. E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 1:851–53.
45. F. F. Bruce, “The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,” 15.
46. See H. St. J. Hart, “The Crown of Thorns in John 19:2–5,” JTS 3 (1953): 66–75. Hart includes photographs of palms and coins as well as examples of radiant crowns made of palm placed on a bust in the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge.
47. Interpreters must be clear, however, that the details of the mockery and abuse in the Synoptics stem from a scene not during the trial (as in John) but following the trial as a preparation for crucifixion.
48. In Jerusalem the Ecce Homo Convent (the Convent of the Sisters of Zion) is located in the remains of the Antonia Fortress, the traditional location of these events. The Ecce Homo Arch attached to it (which crosses the Via Dolorosa) belongs to the later period of Hadrian.
49. W. Horbury, Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ (London: SCM, 1998), 109–27, 145.
50. In Luke 23:6–7, Pilate does ask a question about Jesus’ regional origin, and when he learns it is Galilee, he sends Jesus to Herod Antipas, who was in Jerusalem for the feast.
51. Barrett, John, 542, who cites Dodd, Historical Tradition, 114: “The whole episode therefore is entirely in character, and to all appearance, it owes nothing to theological motives. . . . This is surely a very remarkable feature in a work so dominated by theological interests.”
52. The argument of Bammel has never been overturned: E. Bammel, “φίλος τοῦ Καίσαρι (John 19:12),” TLZ 77 (1952): 205–20; Brown, John, 2:879, provides additional references.
53. A good example of what happens when one loses the title Amicus comes from the earlier governor of Egypt, C. Cornelius Gallus. Augustus withdrew his friendship from him, accusing him of ingratitude and treason. He could no longer enter the imperial provinces and was showered with denunciations and legislative resolutions in the Roman Senate. In 26 B.C. he committed suicide (Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 2.66). See E. Stauffer, Jesus and His Story (London: SCM, 1960), 109.
54. There is an interesting tangent that may connect with 19:12. Pilate’s patron was apparently a man named Aelius Sejanus, of whom Tacitus writes, “The closer a man’s intimacy with Sejanus, the stronger his claim to the emperor’s friendship” (Annals, 6.8). When Sejanus was overthrown in A.D. 31, many of his friends were executed. If this is the same era (as it may be), Caiaphas knows the power of this threat to Pilate, who fears his own vulnerability.
55. This “stone pavement” is today claimed to be uncovered in the Convent of the Sisters of Zion on Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa and is a valued traditional site to pilgrims. This pavement at the convent is within the ruins of the Antonia Fortress. Josephus describes an outdoor judgment seat for the governor Florus in Wars 2.301.
56. This reading is introduced in the much later Gospel of Peter.
57. “The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,” 17.
58. For an excellent and persuasive defense of this view, see Carson, John, 603–4; Morris, John, 708, while not persuaded by Carson’s view on the Passover, nevertheless sees 19:14 as referring to “Friday of Passover week.”
59. John literally says that Pilate hands him over “to them.” This cannot be the Jewish leaders since they did not have the power of capital punishment. Pilate is giving Jesus over to the fate his captors demanded.
60. J. Blinzler, Der Prozess Jesu (Regensburg: Verlag Pustet, 19694), 321–22, trans. and cited by Beasley-Murray, John, 335–36. For a complete study of crucifixion in antiquity, see M. Hengel, Crucifixion (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977).
61. I explained this literary technique in the introduction to John 5. This view is explored by F. J. Matera “Jesus Before Annas: John 18:13–14, 19–24,” ETL 66.1 (1990): 38–55.
62. Today there is yet another parable. Jesus’ tomb is the pilgrim site of millions of pilgrims worldwide. Caiaphas’s tomb and “bone box” were uncovered by a bulldozer recently in Jerusalem, and his burial box (ossuary) can be found today in a corner of the Israel Museum in West Jerusalem.
63. See the notes of Haenchen, John, 2:182–83. See also T. W. Gillespie, “The Trial of Politics and Religion: A Sermon on John 18:28–19:16,” Ex Auditu 2 (1986): 69–73.
64. C. E. Evans, “The Passion of John,” Explorations in Theology 2 (London: SCM, 1977): 61.
65. W. Barclay, cited by Morris, John, 672n.60.
1. This same term, patibulum, is used in Latin for the bar that closes a door or a ship’s yardarm. Plutarch writes, “Every criminal who goes to execution must carry his own cross on his back,” Divine Vengence, 554 A & B (Loeb, Plutarch, Moralia, 7).
2. Today the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem is a route that begins at the remains of the Antonia Fortress (The Sisters of Zion Convent, The Monastery of Flagellation) in the Muslim Quarter west of St. Stephen’s Gate and continues west to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter. The route is approximate since Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 and subsequently rebuilt many times.
3. The Latin equivalent is calvaria, which explains the origin of the Christian name, Calvary (popularized by Wycliff’s translation). Excellent archaeological and historical evidence suggest that today’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the best location of Jesus crucifixion (see comments on 19:38–42).
4. For a current survey of crucifixion, see R. E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2:945–52.
5. We have records of crucifixions in numerous postures: some upside down, others crucified on a single post with hands nailed above the head. Crosses could also be shaped like an “X” but since Jesus carried a crossbeam, this form (and the single post form) could not apply to him.
6. Beasley-Murray, John, 346.
7. This raises the question of whether Jesus was crucified naked. We cannot be certain. This was certainly the Roman habit, but there is also Jewish evidence that Rome made concessions to the Jewish disdain for nudity. Hence Jesus may have worn a loincloth. However, among the earliest church fathers and in early art, Jesus is sometimes depicted as unclothed.
8. The Gk. himatia (in the plural, as here) may refer to “clothes” generally (Barrett, John, 550).
9. How high was Jesus raised in the air? It is likely that the cross was no higher than six or seven feet, high enough to elevate the victim’s feet. This is why victims on a cross were sometimes attacked by wild animals outside the city walls. Jesus can talk with ease to his mother and friends.
10. R. E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2:1013–26. See chart, 2:1016.
11. Porsch, Pneuma und Wort, 328; Burge, The Anointed Community, 134. In the LXX of Isa. 53:12 the verb is used for death but in a completely different form.
12. Büchsel, “παραδίδωμι,” TDNT 2:169–72; BAGD, 614–15.
13. Burge, Anointed Community, 135; cf. Hoskyns, John, 633; T. Smail, Reflected Glory: The Spirit in Christ and Christians (London: Hodder, 1975), 106–7; E. A. Russell, “The Holy Spirit in the Fourth Gospel,” IBS 2 (1980): 90; Some interpreters (Carson, John, 621) believe that 20:22 prohibits any such symbolism as this at 19:30, but this unduly limits John’s desire to create theological symbols at critical theological turning points.
14. Brown, John, 2:930; Lindars, John, 581.
15. Josephus tells us the same. He criticizes the impiety of the Idumeans thus: “They proceeded to that degree of impiety, as to cast away their dead bodies without burial, although the Jews used to take so much care of the burial of men, that they took down those that were condemned and crucified, and buried them before the going down of the sun” (Wars, 4.5.2 [317]).
16. N. Haas, “Antropological Observations on the Skeletal Remains from Giv’at ha-Mivtar,” IEJ 20 (1970): 38–59 (includes numerous sketches and photographs).
17. This view originally came from J. C. Stroud, M.D., The Physical Cause of the Death of Christ (London: Hamilton & Adams, 1847, rev. 1871).
18. P. Barbet, A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as Described by a Surgeon, (New York: Doubleday, 1953); also W. D. Edwards, W. J. Gabel, F. E. Hosmer, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” Journal of the American Medical Association 255 (1986): 1455–63.
19. A. E. Sava, “The Wound in Christ’s Side,” CBQ 19 (1957): 343–46; for a survey of theories see J. Wilkinson, “The Incident of the Blood and Water in John 19:34,” SJT 28 (1975): 149–72.
20. J. Massyngberde Ford, “Mingled Blood from the Side of Christ (John XIX.34),” NTS 15 (1969): 337–38.
21. See Burge, Anointed Community, 92; Schnackenburg, John, 2:156.
22. Midrash Rabbah Exodus 3:13 [Ex. 4:9], “He smote the rock and it brought forth blood, as it is said, ‘Behold, He smote the rock, that waters gushed out’ [Ps. 78:20].” “For this reason did he smite the rock twice, because at first he brought forth blood and finally water.” Some scholars, however, date this late into the medieval period. For full references to rabbinic sources, see Burge, The Anointed Community, 87–99; also L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 7 vols. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publish Society, 1925, 1953), 2:322; 5:421n.132.
23. S. Porter, “Joseph of Arimathea,” ABD 3:971–72.
24. The Gospel of Peter 2:3 notes that Joseph was a friend of Pilate.
25. This is a good place to note John’s peculiar use of the phrase “the Jews.” John says that Joseph “feared the Jews” (NIV). Joseph himself was a Jew, so how can he fear “the Jews?” John means that Joseph feared “the Jewish leaders.”
26. While many visitors to Jerusalem are often confused by “two sites” for the burial place of Jesus, knowledgeable visitors understand that the Protestant “Garden Tomb” is a sixth-century B.C. burial site. For an excellent survey of the evidence, see J. MacRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), 206–17. See also G. Barkay, “The Garden Tomb: Was Jesus Buried Here?” BAR 12.2 (1986): 40–53, 56–57; and D. Bahat, “Does the Holy Sepulchre Church Mark the Burial of Jesus?” BAR 12.3 (1986): 26–45; both available in Archaeology and the Bible: The Best of B.A.R. Archaeology in the World of Herod, Jesus and Paul (Washington D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1990), 226–70. For an excellent argument for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, see J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem as Jesus Knew It: Archaeology as Evidence (London: Thames & Hudson, 1978), 123–59.
27. In the Roman pound the Gk. word used here (litra) was about 12 ounces. John says that Nicodemus brought “one hundred litras,” making this about seventy-five modern pounds (see NIV note).
28. Brown, John 2:960.
29. Jesus’ burial in a rolling-stone tomb has been recently challenged by A. Kloner, “Did a Rolling Stone Close Jesus’ Tomb?” BAR 25.5 (1999): 22–29. According to Kloner, of nine hundred second-temple burial tombs found in Judea, only four had rolling stones.
30. An alternate type of tomb, an arcosolium, built private shelves with a decorative arch to lay the body rather than kokhim.
31. An excellent example of this type of tomb complex is available at the so-called Tomb of the Kings in East Jerusalem. This is actually the first-century tomb of Queen Helena of Adiabene (in N. Mesopotamia), and it displays all of these architectural features. On Helena, see Josephus, Ant. 20:2–4 [17–96].
32. C. H. Dodd, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 424, and many commentaries.
33. Josephus, Ant. 17:8.3 [196–99].
34. About 580,000 e-mail messages were sent from around the world to the princess’s family.
35. For details about Diana and her funeral, go to the official British web site: http://www.royal.gov.uk/start.htm
36. For the history of interpretation, see Brown, John, 2:917; see also G. Vermes, “Redemption and Genesis 22: The Binding of Isaac and the Sacrifice of Jesus,” in G. Vermes, Scripture and Tradition in Judaism (Leiden: Brill, 1961), 192–227.
37. This story was first introduced to me by Rev. Stephen Campbell, Cambridge Community Church, Cambridge, on Nov. 1, 1998. Many web pages on the Internet repeat the details of this story.
38. I provide exhaustive theological support for this view in The Anointed Community: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 49–110.
1. Mark’s longer ending refers to an appearance to Mary Magdalene (16:9) as well as to a variety of other appearances. Mark 16:9–20, however, no doubt did not belong to the original edition of this Gospel.
2. Compare Mark 16:12–13: “Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them, while they were walking into the country. These returned and reported it the rest, but they did not believe them either.”
3. Mary should not be confused with the woman in Luke 7:36–50, who is described as a “sinner.”
4. I note this because of the common Christian apologetic showing the weight of the tomb door and the impossibility of opening it. On the contrary, tomb doors made opening them difficult but never impossible.
5. Morris, John, 734.
6. While the story only refers to this man as “the other disciple,” it would not be inappropriate to refer to him either as the Beloved Disciple or even John (presupposing the arguments listed in the Introduction).
7. In Luke 19:20 the third servant uses a “napkin” to put his money away safely (cf. Acts 19:12).
8. Matt. 28:9 describes how the women see Jesus on Easter day in the garden and “clasp [ekratesan] his feet.” In John Jesus uses the verb haptomai, which is almost synonymous.
9. The most bizarre solution is to suggest that since Jesus’ grave clothes were left in the grave, such embracing would be inappropriate.
10. This reading sees gar as anticipatory rather than causal; see J. McGehee, “A Less Theological Reading of John 20:17,” JBL 105 (1986): 299–302.
11. In all of these verses, the use of “rejoice” (Gk. chairo) provides a direct link between chs. 16 and 20. These links are an important part of the argument for viewing the gift of the Spirit in 20:22 as a fulfillment of the Spirit-Paraclete promises. See further below.
12. The definite article “the” is not in the Greek text. Similarly, although most English versions translate, “breathed on them,” these last two words do not appear. However they may be naturally inferred from the force of the verb. Certainly Jesus does not simply “exhale” or “sigh.”
13. Some critical readers will turn immediately to this text to see how I deal with this troublesome passage. I have written an exhaustive treatment of the subject in The Anointed Community: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition, 114–49; another thorough treatment critical of my own can be found in M. Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1996), 90–102.
14. In both cases, the Gk. vb. emphysao is used.
15. Carson’s commentary is no doubt the most exhaustive argument for the symbolic interpretation. A thorough critique and review of his views, however, can be found in T.R. Hatina, “John 20:22 in Its Eschatological Context: Promise or Fulfillment?” Bib 74.2 (1993): 196–219; see also R. W. Lyon, “John 20:22 Once More,” Asbury Theological Journal 43.1 (1988): 73–85; J. van Rossum, “The ‘Johannine Pentecost’: John 20:22 in Modern Exegesis and in Orthodox Theology,” Saint Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 35 (1991): 149–67; J. Swetnam, “Bestowal of the Spirit in the Fourth Gospel,” Bib 74.4 (1993): 556–76.
16. Some point out that 20:22 omits the definite article: “Receive Holy Spirit” is not quite the same as “receive the Holy Spirit.” But such an argument is strained. The article is likewise absent in 1:32 at Jesus’ baptismal anointing. Luke also omits the article on occasion but refers nevertheless to the full giving of the Spirit (Acts 2:4; 8:7, 15).
17. John 7:39; 14:17; Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 2:12; 2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 3:2, 14. This phrase is particularly common in the book of Acts: 1:8; 2:38; 8:15, 17, 19; 10:47; 19:2.
18. Brown, John, 2:1039–45.
19. The Gk. refers to “eight days later,” which reflects Jewish custom for counting forward that includes the present day. Both appearances of Jesus thus take place on a Sunday. In the Epistle of Barnabas 15:9 Sunday is likewise described as the eighth day.
20. Note the parallel with Luke 24:38–39: “He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’ ”
21. The Apostolic Father Ignatius was confident that the disciples touched Jesus. Writing to the Smyrnaeans in about A.D. 110 he said, “For I know and believe that he was in the flesh even after the resurrection; and when he came to Peter and those with him, he said to them: “Take hold of me; handle me and see that I am not a disembodied demon.” And immediately they touched him and believed, being closely united with his flesh and blood. . . . After his resurrection he ate and drank with them like one who is composed of flesh although spiritually he was united with the Father” (Smyr. 3:1–3).
22. Beasley-Murray, John, 385.
23. Brown, John, 2:1047, notes that the words “Lord and God” were used in Latin for the reigning emperor, Domitian (A.D. 81–96), “Dominus et Deus noster.”
24. For many scholars, the Gospel originally ended at 20:31, and chapter 21 was added at a later time as an appendix. Perhaps chapter 21 was included following John’s death (21:22–23) by his closest followers, who identify themselves in 21:24.
25. The translation committee of the United Bible Society’s Greek text decided to place the sigma in brackets because of their uncertainty of the readings. See B. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London: UBS, 1971), 256.
26. See R. Bauckham, “John for Readers of Mark,” in R. Bauckham, ed., The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 147–71, who suggests that internally John presupposes his readers have read Mark.
27. I will suggest that chapter 21 is truly an appendix to the Gospel. This does not mean that it is insignificant, but that it is an “afterword,” a closing scene that completes the story following the climactic ch. 20.
28. The full transcript of the debate can be found in P. Copan, ed., Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? A Debate Between William Lane Craig and John Dominic Crossan (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998). The debate is recorded in about forty-three pages and is followed in the book by a series of articles lining up on both sides of the issues. Buckley’s opening citation of Ladd is on p. 24.
29. Crossan has become famous for the wide publicity given to his views. In fact, he personally believes that Jesus was buried in a shallow criminal’s grave and his body eaten by wild dogs. Of course there is utterly no evidence for this. See his Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (San Francisco: Harper, 1994), and The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus (San Francisco: Harper, 1999).
30. See W. L. Craig, The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus (New York: Edwin Mellen, 1989), and Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus (New York: Edwin Mellen, 1989).
31. With Crossan, Borg is one of the founding members of the well-known “Jesus Seminar.” See his popular book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time (San Francisco: Harper, 1995).
32. M. J. Borg and N. T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (San Francisco: Harper, 1998). Wright has written numerous books. On the present subject, see Who Was Jesus? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992) and the more technical Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996). See his recent The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999). Wright is Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey, London.
33. See D. Fuller, Easter Faith and History (London: Tyndale, 1965), or more recently, C. Brown, ed., History, Criticism and Faith (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1977); idem, “Historical Jesus, Quests of,” in J. Green, S. McKnight, I. H. Marshall, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992), 326–41.
34. G. Lessing, cited in Fuller, Easter Faith and History, 34. For Lessing, the gap between history and theology became a “broad ugly ditch” he could not get over. He went on to write that “revelation gives nothing to the human race which human reason could not arrive at on its own.”
35. M. Borg, The Meaning of Jesus, 131.
36. I am here thinking of the famous lecture of E. Käsemann, “The Problem of the Historical Jesus,” given in 1953. See his Essays on New Testament Themes (Naperville, Ill.: Allenson, 1964), 15–47.
37. See C. Stephen Evans, The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith: Incarnational Narrative as History (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1996).
38. See C. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1987).
39. J. Updike, “Seven Stanzas at Easter,” from Telephone Poles and Other Poems (New York: A. Knopf, 1963).
40. Giotto di Bondoni (1267–1337) was a well-known and highly influential medieval Italian artist. This picture, Noli me tangere (“Do Not Hold Me”), is found at the Capella Scrovegni, Padua, and can be seen on the World Wide Web at http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/g/giotto/padova/3christ/index.html. Find scene 37. See the interpretation of the fresco by Teresa Okure, “The Significance Today of Jesus’ Commission to Mary Magdalene,” IRM 81 (1992): 177–88.
41. See J. D. Derrett, “Miriam and the Resurrection (John 20:16),” Downside Review 111 (1993): 174–86. In the Western liturgy, the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene (22 July) makes the connection to the Song of Songs explicit.
42. This fresco is now at the National Gallary, Damascus, but can be viewed at Duke University on the World Wide Web at http://www.duke.edu/~nwb/synagoge/durplan.html#kraelp51. See E. J. Bickerman, “Symbolism in the Dura Synagogue: A Review Article,” TR 58 (1965): 127–51.
43. G. O’Collins and D. Kendall, “Mary Magdalene as Major Witness to Jesus’ Resurrection,” TS 48 (1987): 631–46. This reluctance to see a woman as primary witness appears even in Paul’s list of witnesses in 1 Cor. 15:5–8, where Mary’s name (or the name of any woman) is absent!
44. Brown, John, 2:990; Barrett, John, 560.
45. N. Wyatt, “ ‘Supposing Him to be the Gardener,’ (John 20,15): A Study of the Paradise Motif in John,” ZNW 81 (1990): 21–38.
46. Z. Long and D. McMurry, Receiving the Power: Preparing the Way for the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996).
47. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 186.
48. D. Guthrie, New Testament Theology (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1981), 581.
49. In Bultmann’s penetrating study of John’s theology, he rightly sees faith as the central experience of the believer, but he denies that Jesus Christ is the object of faith. Rather, faith is an existential decision, an eschatological life, lived against the world and its values (Theology of the New Testament [London: SCM, 1955], 2:75–94).
1. A current survey of the major interpretative issues can be found in F. Neirynck, “John 21,” NTS 36 (1990): 321–36; T. Wiarda, “John 21:1–23: Narrative Unity and Its Implication,” JSNT 46 (1992): 53–71; and W. S. Vorster, “The Growth and Making of John 21,” in F. Neirynck, ed., The Four Gospels (Louvain: Leuven Univ. Press, 1992), 2207–21. See also G. Osborne, “John 21: Test Case for History and Redaction in the Resurrection Narratives,” in R. T. France and D. Wenham, ed., Gospel Perspectives II: Studies of History and Tradition in the Four Gospels (Sheffield: JSOT Press: 1981), 293–328.
2. There is one fifth-or sixth-century Syriac manuscript that omits this chapter, but this is likely due to the loss of a folio leaf.
3. Morris, John, 758.
4. Typically Brown (John, 2:1077–82) objects that if chapter 21 was an original part of the Gospel, the author should have moved the closing verses (20:30–31) to the end of chapter 21. Barrett (577) writes, “. . . it is extremely unlikely that an author, wishing to add fresh material to his own book, would add it in so clumsy a manner. The supplementary material would have been added by him before 20:30, and the impressive conclusion left undisturbed.”
5. See the list of Greek terms in Barrett, John, 576.
6. For extensive lists of these see Brown, John, 2:1077–80; also V. C. Pfitzner, “They Knew It Was the Lord: The Place and Function of John 21:1–14 in the Gospel of John,” Lutheran Theological Journal 20 (1986): 68–69.
7. See the Introduction for arguments concerning authorship of the Gospel.
8. I have outlined the relationship of John’s Gospel to the problems addressed in John’s letters in The Letters of John (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 20–27.
9. P. F. Ellis, “The Authenticity of John 21,” SVTQ 36 (1992): 17–25; and J. Breck, “John 21, Appendix, Epilogue or Conclusion?” SVTQ 36 (1992): 27–49.
10. In the Synoptics Peter is also identified with Capernaum (Mark 1:29–31), which suggests he later moved there.
11. For fishing practices in the Sea of Galilee, see G. Burge, “Fishers of Men: The Maritime Life of Galilee’s North Shore,” Christian History 59 (1998): 36–37; M. Nun, The Sea of Galilee and Its Fishermen in the New Testament (Kibbutz Ein Gev, Israel: np, 1989).
12. It is interesting to compare the story of the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5:1–11. In Luke’s story, the men have finished with their compound nets and are on shore, removing caught fish and washing and repairing the nets. Jesus instructs them to return to the sea and let down their great encircling nets (5:6); there they surround a tremendous school of fish. In John’s story, Peter is told to cast his net (singular; i.e., his cast net).
13. The Ginosar boat is well known and can be viewed on the internet at http://mahal.zrc.ac.il/ancient-boat/anc-boat.htm or can be visited about two miles north of Tiberius on Hwy 90 (inside Kibbutz Nof Ginosar).
14. John uses two different nouns for the boats in 21:6 and 21:8, the latter being a smaller boat.
15. See Brown, John, 2:1072; Barrett, John, 580–81 for a discussion of the language.
16. See M. Nun, “The Ports of Galilee. Modern Drought Reveals Harbors from Jesus’ Time,” BAR 25 (July/August 1999): 18–31.
17. See his Nat. Hist. 9.16 [43].
18. O. T. Owen, “One Hundred and Fifty Three Fishes,” ExpTim 100 (1988): 52–54. This article inspired numerous responses in the pages of ExpTim.
19. J. A. Emerton, JTS 9 (1958): 86–89; also 11 (1960): 335–36.
20. Mathematicians would illustrate this by building equilateral triangles. Starting at the corner, dots can be arranged (first one, then two, then three, etc.) until all three sides are equal. In this case, seventeen dots on one side provides a total of 153 dots.
21. Hoskyns, John, 556; Hoskyns refers to A. L. Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics (Oxford: Clarendon, 1921), 76 (reprint; New York: Dover, 1981). Another theory argues that there were 154 fish—153 plus one on the fire! And this new number represents the Greek word “day” (hemera), since Jesus is the light who makes such a catch possible. K. Candwell, “The Fish on the Fire: John 21:9,” ExpTim 102 (1990): 12–14.
22. “Peter” occurs thirty-four times, of which fifteen include the name “Simon.”
24. N. Turner, A Grammar of New Testament Greek: Vol. 4: Style (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1976), 76–77.
25. Morris, John, 770; also Barrett, John, 584; Carson, John, 676–77; and many more. For a thorough study of countless examples of Johannine variation, see L. Morris, “Variation—A Feature of the Johannine Style,” in his Studies in the Fourth Gospel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 293–319.
26. Barrett, John, 585; Bultmann, John, 713.
27. Barrett, John, 585, points to how Isa. 65:2 (LXX, “hands spread out”) was used in Ep. Barnabas 12:4, Justin (First Apol. 35), Irenaeus (Apost. Preaching, 79), and Cyprian (Test. 2.20) as a foreshadowing of crucifixion.
28. See the Introduction and the explanation of authorship. For a suggestive defense of the Beloved Disciple as John, son of Zebedee, see Brown, John, 2:1119–20.
29. The second call to follow uses the Greek emphatic pronoun sy.
30. Eusebius, Church History, 6.14.7.
31. Morris provides an exhaustive survey of the entire Gospel, noting every evidence that John was an eyewitness to what he records. See “Was the Author of the Fourth Gospel an ‘Eyewitness’?” in L. Morris, Studies in the Fourth Gospel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 139–214.
32. Scholars point to a change of style in 21:25; “I suppose . . .” sets this final verse apart from 21:24.
33. Cited in Hoskyns, John, 561.
34. A comprehensive, annotated edition of Egeria’s travels is found in J. Wilkinson, Egeria’s Travels to the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Ariel Publishing, 1981).
35. Today this site, just west of Capernaum, takes the Arabic title Tabgha, which originated from the Greek word Heptapagon. There are “seven fresh water springs” at this site.
36. From the Chapel of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes (traditional Tabgha) walk out to the main road and turn right, walking five minutes (east). The gated entrance will be on your right.
37. There is a great deal of literature on the healing of memories. Two excellent sources are D. and M. Linn, Healing Life’s Hurts; Healing Memories Through Five Stages of Forgiveness (New York: Paulist, 1988), and Francis MacNutt, Healing (Anniversary Edition; Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria, 1999).
38. This was the view of the nineteenth-century Tübingen theologian Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860).
39. B. Milne, The Message of John (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1993), 319.
40. An interesting exploration of different personalities and how this relates to spiritual formation can be found in C. P. Michael and M. C. Norrisey, Prayer and Temperament: Different Prayer Forms for Different Personality Types (Charlottesville, Va.: Open Door, 1991). The authors use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to create paradigms and frequently interpret New Testament characters through them.
41. Milne, The Message of John, 318.