The Gospel of John

To D. Moody Smith, my doctoral mentor at Duke University

Table of content

Volume I

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Genre and Historical Considerations Proposals concerning Gospel Genre 1. Folk Literature or Memoirs? 2. Novels and Drama Biographies 1. Greco-Roman Biography and History 2. How History Was Written 3. Evaluating the Accuracy of Particular Works 4. Jewish Biographical Conventions The Gospels as Historical Biography Noncanonical Gospel Traditions Source Criticism of the Fourth Gospel John, Historical Tradition, and the Synoptics John and Historical Tradition John's Distinctive Style and Adaptation of the Gospel Form Conclusion 2. The Discourses of the Fourth Gospel Oral Traditions, Notes, and Memory 1. Oral Cultures 2. Note-Taking 3. Disciples, Learning, and Memorization 4. Memorization of Speeches 5. Sayings Traditions Controversy Forms John's Discourses and Ancient Speech-writing 1. Speeches as Interpretive Events 2. One Jewish Historians Speeches 3. More Accurate Speeches 4. Stylistic Freedom Special Factors in Johannine Discourse Conclusion 3. Authorship Who Wrote the Fourth Gospel? John the Apostle 1. Internal Evidence 1A. The Identity of the Beloved Disciple 1B. Westcotts Process of Elimination 2. Church Tradition 2A. The Gnostic and Orthodox Consensus 2B. Second-Century Orthodoxy and the Fourth Gospel 2C. Papias and John the Elder 3. Other External Evidence 4. Other Objections Levels of Redaction? 1. Browns Theory of the Community's Development 2. The Johannine Circle of Early Christianity 3. The Johannine School 4. Distinguishing the Beloved Disciple and the Author 5. Major Redaction in the Fourth Gospel? Conclusion regarding Authorship The Paraclete and Internal Claims to Inspiration 1. The Paraclete and Johns Composition 2. Prophetic Composition of Discourses? 3. Nature of the Inspiration 4. Conclusion regarding Inspiration The Author and Other Johannine Literature 1. Gospel versus Epistles 2. Gospel versus Revelation 2A. Vocabulary Differences? 2B. Theological Differences? 2C. Conclusion on John and Revelation 4. Social Contexts Date Provenance and Location of Audience Was John's Community Sectarian? Eastern Mediterranean Backgrounds in General Gentile Backgrounds in General 1. General Greek Background 2. A Gentile Component in the Johannine Community 3. Indian Buddhism? 4. Mystery Backgrounds? Gnosticism and the Fourth Gospel 1. Gnostic Traits in John? 2. Nag Hammadi the Hermetica, Mandaism 3. Jewish Gnosticism? 4. Pre-Christian Gnosticism in General Samaritan Background for the Gospel 5. A Jewish Context The Jewishness of the Gospel Diaspora Jewish Background 1. What Kind of Diaspora Judaism? 2. Relations with the Provincial Administration A Palestinian Jewish Context? 1. Methodology 2. The Diversity of Early Judaism 3. Excursus: The Value of Rabbinic Texts for Johannine Study 3A. New Testament Scholarship and Rabbinic Literature 3B. Neusner's Minimalism 3C. External Support for Some Traditions 3D. Difficulties in Tradition Criticism 3E. Conclusions Conflict with the Synagogue 1. Scholarly Discussion about the Conflict 2. Theological Issues 2A. Ecclesiology 2B. Bibliology 2C. Christology 2D. Pneumatology 3. Unwelcome in the Synagogues 4. Johns Purpose in This Setting «The Jews» and Johannine Irony 1. Negative Uses of «the Jews» 2. Previous Discussions of John's «Jews» 3. Related Uses of Irony in the Fourth Gospel 4. The Jewishness of the Disciples 5. “The Jews» and the Johannine Sitz: Pharisaic Power 6. Conclusion Galilee versus Judea 1. How 'Orthodox» Were the Galileans? 2. Were More Galileans Revolutionaries? 3. Socioeconomic Differences Due to Urbanization 4. Location of the Elite 5. Theological Motivations Conclusion 6. Revelatory Motifs: Knowledge, Vision, Signs Knowledge of God 1. Special Hellenistic Concepts of Knowledge 1A. Hellenistic Knowledge in General 1B. Hellenism and Self-Knowledge 1C. Hellenistic Knowledge of the Divine 1D. John and Gnostic Knowledge 2. Knowledge in Various Jewish Sources 2A. Knowledge of God in Philo 2B. Knowledge in Palestinian Judaism 3. Johannine Knowledge of God 3A. Distribution of Terms 3B. Johns Emphasis on Knowledge Revelatory Vision 1. Vision of God in Hellenistic Sources 2. Vision of God in More Hellenized Judaism 3. Vision of God in Less Hellenized Judaism 4. Vision of God in the Fourth Gospel Signs in Antiquity, the Jesus Tradition, and the Fourth Gospel 1. The Johannine Signs Source 2. Ancient Miracles and Miracle Accounts 2A. Pagan Parallels to Miracle Accounts 2B. Miracle Workers in Pagan Tradition 2C. Jewish Parallels to Gospel Miracles 3. Historically Evaluating the Jesus Traditions Miracles 3A. Differences between Early Christian and Other Ancient Miracle Stories 3B. Historical Authenticity of Accounts 4. Miracles and Jesus' Identity 4A. The Divine Man Hypothesis 4B. A Charismatic Wonder-Worker 5. Function of Signs 5A. Signs as Authentication 5B. Purpose of Signs in the Fourth Gospel 5C. Signs-Faith 5D. Signs-Faith as a Biblical Allusion Conclusion 7. Christology and Other Theology The Thrust of John's Christology John's Christological Distinctiveness Christ 1. Messianic Expectation in Judaism 2. Divergences in Messianic Expectation 3. Jesus and the Messiah Son of God 1. Greco-Roman Sons of God 2. Jewish Uses of «Son of God» 3. Early Christian and Johannine Sonship Lord Jesus' Deity in Early Christian Tradition 1. Greek Divinization or Jewish Monotheism? 2. Wisdom Christology 3. John's Christology and Christian Tradition 3A. Jesus as Deity in the Synoptic Traditions? 3B. Diverse but Complementary Christologies The Motif of Agency 1. The Agent in Ancient Society 2. The Jewish Agent as New Testament Background? 3. Meaning of Agency and Apostleship 4. Johannine Usage of Agency Nontraditional Christological Images Conclusion regarding Christology Some Other Johannine Themes 1. Realized Eschatology 2. Love 3. Faith 4. Life 5. The World Conclusion 1:1–18. The prologue Preliminary Introduction An Original Part of the Gospel A Redacted Hymn? Purpose of the Prologue The Gnostic Logos The Logos of Hellenistic Philosophy Philós Logos Palestinian Sources besides Wisdom and Torah 1. Antecedents 2. The Memra Wisdom, Word, Torah 1. Personification of the Word 2. Wisdom 3. Wisdom's Identification with Torah 4. The Role of Torah in Judaism 5. The Renewal of Torah in Judaism 6. The Personification of Torah in Judaism John's Logos as Torah Conclusion The Final Word. 1:1–18 The Preexistent Word (1:1–2) 1. In the Beginning (1:1a, 2) 2. The Word's Preexistence (1:1–2) 2A. Wisdom or Torah as God's First Creation 2B. The Préexistence of Johns Logos 2C. The Word Was with God (1:1b) 3. The Word's Deity (1:1c) The Word and Creation (1:3) 1. Proposed Greek Parallels 2. Jewish Views of Creation The Word as Life and Light (1:4–5) 1. Uses of Light Imagery 2. Jesus as the Life 3. Light Prevails over Darkness John Only a Witness (1:6–8) 1. Polemic against a Baptist Sect 2. John as a Witness The World Rejects the Light (1:9–11) 1. The True Light Enlightens Everyone (1:9) 2. The World Knew Him Not (1:10) 3. His Own Received Him Not (1) Those Who Received Him (1:12–13) 1. Believers as God's Children (1:12) 2. Not According to the Flesh (1:13) The New Sinai (1:14–18) 1. The Revelation (1:14) 1A. The Word's Incarnation (1:14) 1B. The Word Tabernacled among Us (1:14) 1C. We Beheld His Glory (1:14) 1D. The μονογενής Son (1:14,18) 1E. Full of Grace and Truth (1:14) 2. The Baptist's Testimony (1:15) 3. Greater than Moses' Revelation (1:16–18) 3A. Receiving the Fulness of Grace and Truth (1:16) 3B. Christ More Gracious Than Law (1:17) 3C. Beholding God's Face in Christ (1:18) 1:19–6:71. Witness in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee The Witness of the First Disciples. 1:19–51 1. Those Who Were Sent (1:19, 24) 2. John's Denials (1:20–23) 2A. Not Elijah (1:21a) 2B. Not the Prophet (1:21b) 2C. A Voice Crying (1:23) 3. The Purpose of John's Baptism (1:25–26, 31) 3A. The Function of Baptism in This Gospel 3B. Proposed Parallels with Other Ancient Baptisms 3C. Baptism as a Sign of Conversion 3D. John and Proselyte Baptism 4. John's Confession of the Greater One (1:27) 5. A Historical Note (1:28) The Spirits Witness about Jesus (1:29–34) 1. The Sin-Bearing Lamb (1:29, 36) 1A. Proposed Backgrounds 1B. Historical Tradition or Johannine Theology? 2. Ranked Before the Baptist (1:30) 3. Jesus and the Abiding Spirit (1:32–33) 4. The Spirit-Baptizer (1:33) 5. God's Son or Chosen One (1:34) New Disciples (1:35–42) 1. Historical Plausibility 2. Following Jesus Home (1:37–39) 2A. Low-Key Hospitality 2B. Testing Would-Be Disciples 3. Andrew and Simon (1:40–42) Philip and Nathanael (1:43–51) 1. Jesus Seeks Philip (1:43–44) 2. Philip Seeks Nathanael (1:45–46) 3. Nathanael Meets Jesus (1:47–51) 3A. Nathanael as a True Jacob or Israelite (1:47–48) 3B. Jesus as Israel's King (1:49) 3C. Jesus as Jacob's Ladder (1:50–51) True Purification. 2:1–25 Relationship versus Ritual Purification (2:1–11) 1. Preliminary Questions 2. The Setting of the Sign (2:l-3a) 2A. Cana (2:1) 2B. The Third Day (2:1) 2C. Wedding Customs (2:2–3) 3. The Faith of Jesus Mother (2:3b-5) 3A. Jesus' Mother (2:3, 5) 3B. Jesus' Answer (2:4) 4. Mercy before Ritual (2:6) 5. Those Who Recognize the Miracle (2:7–10) 6. Manifesting His Glory (2:11) The Old and New Temples (2:12–22) 1. Transition (2:12) 2. Purifying the Temple (2:13–15) 2A. Historical Probability 2B. The Merchants 2C. History and Special Johannine Features 3. Why Jesus Challenged the Temple (2:16) 3A. Economic Exploitation? 3B. Defending the Worship of Gentiles? 3C. Judgment on the Temple 4. Foreshadowing His Death and Resurrection (2:17–22) Untrustworthy Believers (2:23–25) The Son from Above. 3:1–36 Nicodemus and the Heavenly Witness (3:1–21) 1. Nicodemus Comes to Jesus (3:1–2) 1A. Nicodemus (3:1) 1B. Nicodemus Comes by Night (3:2) 2. Birth from Above (3:3) 2A. Birth from Above and Understanding 2B. Hellenistic Rebirth 2C. Jewish Contexts for Rebirth 3. What This Birth Means (3:4–8) 3A. Nicodemus Misunderstands (3:4) 3B. Born of Water (3:5) 3C. Born of the Spirit (3:5) 3D. Born of Flesh or of Spirit? (3:6) 3E. Explaining the Spirit's Ways (3:7–8) 4. The Heavenly Witness (3:9–13) 4A. Nicodemus's Ignorance (3:9–10) 4B. The Earthly Cannot Grasp the Heavenly (3:12) 4C. Jesus' Heavenly Testimony (3:11, 13) 5. Trusting God's Uplifted Agent (3:14–21) 5A. Lifting Moses' Serpent (3:14) 5B. God Gave His Son (3:15–16) 5C. Saved from Condemnation (3:17–18) 5D. Responding to the Light (3:19–21) The Greater and the Lesser (3:22–36) 1. Setting for the Discourse (3:22–26) 1A. Jesus' Ministry and John's Ministry (3:22–23, 26) 1B. John's Location (3:23) 1C. John Was Not Yet in Prison (3:24) 1D. John versus Traditional Jewish Purifications (3:25–26) 2. Jesus Is Greater Than John (3:27–30) 3. Jesus Is God's Supreme Representative (3:31–36) The Response of the Unorthodox. 4:1–54 True Worshipers in Samaria (4:1–42) 1. Theological Themes in the Narrative 2. Historical Questions 3. The Setting (4:1–6) 3A. The Baptism of Jesus' Disciples (4:1–2) 3B. Samaria (4:4) 3C. Holy Geography (4:3–5) 3D. Jacob's Well (4:6) 4. Crossing Social Boundaries (4:6–9) 4A. The Moral Barrier (4:7–8) 4B. The Gender Barrier (4:7–9) 4C. Jews Have No Dealings with Samaritans (4:9) 5. The Gift of Living Water (4:10–14) 5B. Jesus' Gift of Water (4:10–11,13–14) 6. The Moral Question (4:15–18) 7. True Worship (4:19–24) 7A. You Are a Prophet (4:19) 7B. Salvation Is from the Jews (4:22) 7C. Worship in This Mountain (4:20) 7D. Jerusalem as the Place to Worship (4:20) 7E. Worship in Spirit (4:21, 23–24) 7F. Worship in Truth (4:23–24) 7G. God Is a Spirit (4:24) 7H. The Father Seeks Such Worshipers (4:23) 8. Jesus' Revelation, the Woman's Witness (4:25–30) 8A. The Taheb Is Coming (4:25–26) 8Β. The Disciples Return (4:27) 8C. The Woman Announces Jesus (4:28–30) 9. Fulfilling His Mission (4:31–38) 10. The Faith of the Samaritans (4:39–42) Received in Galilee (4:43–54) 1. Prophet without Honor (4:43–45) 2. A Galilean Aristocrat Learns Faith (4:46–54) God's work on the sabbath. 5:1–47 Jesus Heals on the Sabbath (5:1–16) 1. Jesus, Not Bethesda, Heals (5:l-9a) 1A. The Occasion (5:1,9) 1B. Bethesda (5:2) 1C. The Johannine Context 1D. The Miracle (5:5–9a) 2. Different Views of the Sabbath (5:9b-16) 2A. Sabbath Practices (5:9–12) 2B. Second Chance (5:13–15) 2C. Persecuting Jesus for Sabbath Violation (5:16) The Father Authorized the Son (5:17–47) 1. Doing the Fathers Will (5:17–30) 1A. Annulling the Sabbath and Claiming Equality with God? (5:17–18) 1B. The Son Does What the Father Teaches Him (5:19–20) 1C. Honor the Son Who Gives Life and Judges (5:21–23) 1D. Jesus as Life-Giver in the Present and the Future (5:24–30) 2. Witnesses for Jesus (5:31–47) 2B. The Father's Witness (5:36–44) 2C. The Witness of Moses (5:45–47) Giver of the New Manna. 6:1–71 Jesus Feeds a Multitude (6:1–15) 1. The Setting (6:1–4) 2. The Human Solutions (6:5–9) 3. The Miracle (6:10–13) 4. The Prophet-King (6:14–15) Theophany on the Waters (6:16–21) 1. Theological Context for the Account 2. The Miracles (6:19, 21) The Manna Discourse (6:22–58) 1. The Setting (6:22–25) 2. The True Work (6:26–31 ) 3. The Bread of Life (6:32–51) 4. Eating Jesus' Flesh (6:52–58) 4A. Sacramentalism? 4B. The Text Response and Meaning (6:59–71) 1. Too Hard to Accept? (6:59–65) 1A. Setting (6:59) 1B. Misunderstanding and Explanation (6:60–65) 2. Stumbling or Persevering (6:66–71 ) 7:1–10:42. Tabernacles and Hanukkah The Temple Discourse. 7:1–8:59 Jesus Goes to the Feast (7:1–13) 1. Jesus and His Brothers (7:1–9) 2. Jesus' Secret Presence at the Festival (7:10–13) Jesus Contends with Jerusalemites (7:14–36) 1. The Source of Jesus' Teaching (7:14–18) 2. True Keepers of the Law (7:19–24) 3. Jesus' True Identity (7:25–31) 4. Jesus' Unknown Destination (7:32–36) Responses to Jesus' Revelation (7:37–52) 1. Source of Rivers of Life (7:37–39) 1A. The Water-Drawing Ceremony 1B. The Meaning of the Water 1C. To What Scripture Does Jesus Refer (7:38)? 1D. From Whom Does the Water Flow? 2. The Multitude Divided (7:40–44) 3. The Elite Despise Jesus (7:45–52) Condemning a Sinner's Accusers (7:53–8:11) Children of the Devil versus God's Son (8:12–59) 1. The True Witness (8:12–20) 2. From Above and From Below (8:21–30) 3. True Freedom (8:31–36) 4. Children of Abraham or the Devil (8:37–51) 5. Greater Than Ahraham (8:52–59) 5A. Assuming Abrahams Superiority (8:52–53) 5B. Witnesses to Jesus' Superiority (8:54–56) 5C. Eternal Existence before Abraham (8:57–59) Conflict Over the Healing of a Blind Man. 9:1–10:21 Blindness and Sin (9:1–34) 1. Jesus Heals One Blind from Birth (9:1–7) 1A. The Timing (9:1) 1B. The Cause of Blindness (9:2–5) 1C. Spittle (9:6) 1D. Siloam (9:7) 2. Initial Responses to the Sign (9:8–23) 2A. Responses of Neighbors (9:8–12) 2B. Debates among the Pharisees (9:13–17) 2C. Interrogating the Blind Mans Parents (9:18–23) 3. Debating Jesus' Identity (9:24–34) 3A. Is Jesus a Sinner? (9:24–25) 3B. Disciples of Moses? (9:26–28) 3C. Jesus Is from God (9:29–34) True Shepherd, Sheep, and Thieves (9:35–10:18) 1. Jesus Reveals Himself to the Healed Man (9:35–38) 2. Jesus Convicts the Pharisees (9:39–41) 3. The Shepherd and the Thieves (10:1–10) 3A. The Shepherd/Door Parables 3B. The General Background of the Sheep and Shepherd Image (10:1–10) 3C. Biblical Source for the Sheep and Shepherd Image (10:1–10) 3D. Thieves and Robbers (10:1, 5, 8, 10) 3E. The Relationship of Shepherd and Sheep (10:3–6) 3F. The Fold and the Door (10:2–3, 7,9) 3G. The Shepherd and Thieves Contrasted (10:10) 4. The True Shepherd's Sacrifice (10:11–18) 4A. The Hireling (10:12–13) 4B. The Shepherd's Relationship with the Sheep (10:14–15) 4C. Other Sheep and Jesus' Sacrifice (10:16–18) Divided Response to Jesus (10:19–21) Conflict at Hanukkah. 10:22–42 The Setting (10:22–23) 1. Hanukkah (10:22, 36) 2. Winter on Solomon s Porch (10:23) Unable to Believe God's Agent (10:24–30) God's Agent and Human Gods (10:31–38) Responses to Jesus (10:39–42)

Volume II

11:1–12:50. Introducing the passion Dying to live. 11:1–12:11 Raising Lazarus (11:1–44) 1. John's Account 2. The Request (11:1–6) 3. Going to Judea (11:7–16) 4. Martha Meets the Life (11:17–27) 5. Mourning with Mary and Others (11:28–37) 6. The Miracle (11:38–44) Responses to the Raising (11:45–12:11) 1. Faith and Betrayal among Witnesses (11:45–46) 2. The Elite Plot Jesus' Death (11:47–53) 2A. Historical Plausibility 2B. Caiaphas, High Priest «That Year» (11:49) 2C. The Leaders' Reasoning (11:47–50) 2D. Unintended Truth (11:51–53) 3. Danger during Passover Season (11:54–57) 4. Mary's Lavish Devotion (12:1–8) 4A. The Tradition 4B. The Setting (12:1–2) 4C. The Anointing (12:3) 4D. Judas's Protest (12:4–6) 4E. Jesus' Response (12:7–8) 5. The Danger to Lazarus (12:9–11) Jerusalem and its King. 12:12–50 The Arrival of Zion's King (12:12–19) 1. Authenticity of the Core Tradition 2. The Event and Its Significance (12:12–13) 3. Scripture Fulfilled (12:14–16) 4. Immediate Responses to Jesus' Entry (12:17–19) Gentiles and the Cross (12:20–36) 1. The Coming of Gentiles? (12:20–22) 2. The Cross and Divine Glory (12:23–34) 2A. Jesus' Hour of Glory (12:23–24) 2B. The Price of Following Jesus (12:25–26) 2C. Glorifying God by Suffering (12:27–30) 2D. Judgment on the World's Ruler (12:31) 2E. Jesus' Exaltation by the Cross (12:32–34) 3. Inviting Faith in the Light (12:35–36) Israel's Unbelief (12:37–43) 1. Isaiah's Revelation (12:37–41) 2. Preferring Their Own Glory (12:42–43) Jesus as God's Standard of Judgment (12:44–50) 13:1–17:26. Farewell discourse Introductory issues. 13:1–17:26 Unity of the Discourse A Testament of Jesus? The ultimate model for love and service. 13:1–38 The Setting (13:1–3) Authenticity and Significance of the Foot Washing 1. The Question of Historical Authenticity 2. The Message of the Foot Washing 3. The Practice of Foot Washing 4. The Model of Humility The Foot Washing and Its First Interpretation (13:4–20) 1. The Act of Washing (13:4–5) 2. The Necessity of the Washing (13:6–11) 3. The Interpretation of the Washing (13:12–20) Interpreting the Washing in Light of the Cross (13:21–38) 1. The Betrayal Announced (13:21–30) 2. The Passion Again Announced (13:31–33) 3. Following Jesus' Model (13:34–35) 4. Devotion to the Death? (13:36–38) Jesus' return and presence. 14:1–31 Going to the Father (14:1–6) 1. Trusting the Father and Jesus (14:1) 2. Dwelling in the Father's House (14:2–3) 2A. The Father's House (14:2) 2B. Dwelling and Deity 2C. A Dwelling Place (14:2) 2D. A Place Prepared (14:2) 2E. Future or Realized Eschatology? (14:2–3) 3. Jesus as the Way (14:4–6) 3A. Background of «the Way» 3Β. The Claim's Exclusivism 3C. Truth and Life (14:6) Revealing the Father (14:7–14) 1. Seeing the Father in Jesus (14:7–9) 2. Doing the Father's Worh (14:10–11) 3. Disciples Doing the Same Works (14:12–14) 3A. The Meaning of «Works» (14:12) 3B. Prayer in Jesus' Name (14:13–14) Jesus' Coming and Presence by the Spirit (14:15–26) 1. Preliminary Questions 1A. Structure 1B. Theology 1C. The Paraclete Passages in Context 2. Background of the Paraclete Image 2A. Senses Related to Παρακαλέω 2B. Forensic Interpretation of the Paraclete 2C. Angelic Advocates and Accusers 2D. An Advocate in John 14–16? 2E. Divine Wisdom 3. The Personality of the Spirit in the Fourth Gospel (14:16–17, 26) 3A. Wisdom and the Personal Character of the Paraclete 3B. The Spirit's Personality and Jesus 3C. The Spirit as Jesus' Successor 3D. Spirit of Truth (14:17; 15:26; 16:13) 4. Coming and Staying (John 14:15–20) 4A. The Paraclete Brings Jesus' Presence (14:16–17) 4B. Jesus Comes to Them (14:18) 4C. Resurrection Life at Jesus' Coming (14:19–20) 5. Revelation to the Obedient (14:21–25) 6. Teaching Jesus Tradition (14:26) 6A. The Spirit as Teacher and Recaller (14:26) 6B. Implications for the Fourth Gospel Encouragement for the Disciples (14:27–31) 1. Peace in Jesus' Departure (14:27–29) 2. The Coming Prince of the World (14:30) 3. Going to the Cross (14:31) Relation to Jesus and the world. 15:1–16:4 The Vine and Its Fruitful Branches (15:1–7) 1. The Vine Image (15:1) 1A. Various Proposed Backgrounds to the Image 1B. Israel as a Vine 2. The Vinedresser's Pruning (15:1–3) 2A. A Vinedresser's Attention 2B. «Cleansing» (15:2–3) 3. Fruit Bearing (15:2, 4–5, 7–8) 4. Perseverance or Apostasy (15:6) 4A. The Johannine Meaning of «Abiding» 4B. Burning Unfruitful Branches The Love Commandment (15:8–17) 1. God Loves Those Who Keep His Commandments (15:8–11) 2. The Love of Friends (15:12–17) 2A. Dying for Friends (15:13) 2B. Kinds of Friendship in Antiquity 2C. Ancient Ideals of Friendship 2D. Friends of God 2E. Friends, Not Servants (15:15) 2F. Concluding Observations on Friendship 2G. Chosen and Appointed (15:16) The World's Hatred (15:18–16:4) 1. Introductory Matters 1A. Part of the Context 1B. The Worldview of the Passage 1C. The Opposition 2. Hating Father, Son, and Followers (15:18–25) 3. Witnesses against the World (15:26–27) 3A. The Spirit Testifies against the World 3B. The Forensic Context 3C. Prophetic Witness 4. Coming Persecution (16:1–4) 4A. Expulsion from Synagogues 4B. Martyrs 4C. Johannine Irony Revelation of Jesus. 16:5–33 His Departure for Their Good (16:5–7) The World's Prosecutor (16:8–11) 1. Prosecuting the World 2. Background in the Biblical Prophets 3. The Charges Revealing Jesus to the Disciples (16:13–15) 1. Function in Context 2. Guiding Believers in Truth (16:13) 3. The Paraclete Speaks for Jesus (16:13) 4. Announcing the Coming Matters (16:13) 5. Sharing What Belongs to Jesus (16:14–15) Meeting Jesus Again (16:16–22) 1. A Little While (16:16–19) 2. Messianic Travail (16:20–22) Clearer Understanding (16:23–33) 1. Asking in Jesus' Name (16:23–28) 2. Limited Faith (16:29–33) Jesus' prayer for disciples. 17:1–26 Introductory Issues Reciprocal Glory of Father and Son (17:1–5) Prayer for the Disciples (17:6–24) 1. What Belongs to Jesus and the Father (17:6–10) 2. Guarding His Own in the World (17:11–19) 2A. Separation from the World (17:11, 14–19) 2B. The Apostate (17:12) 2C. Their Joy May Be Full (17:13) 2D. God Preserves Believers from the Evil One (17:14–17) 3. Prayer for Unity of Later Disciples (17:20–24) Conclusion: Making God Known (17:25–26) 18:1–20:31. The passion and resurrection The passion. 18:1–19:42 Historical Tradition in the Passion Narrative 1. The Genre of the Passion Narratives 2. The Historical Foundation for the Passion Narratives 3. The High Priests and Jerusalem's Elite Betrayal and Arrest (18:1–11) 1. The Setting and Betrayer (18:1–2) 2. The Troops (18:3) 2A. Roman Participation in the Tradition? 2B. Roman Participation and John's Theology? 2C. Judas's Responsibility 3. Jesus' Self-Revelation (18:4–9) 4. Peter's Resistance (18:10–11) Priestly Interrogation and Peter's Denial (18:12–27) 1. Who Was Responsible for Jesus' Condemnation? 2. Historicity of the Trial Narrative 2A. Violation of Legal Procedures? 2B. Other Evidence 3. Annas and Caiaphas (18:12–14) 4. Peter's First Denial (18:15–18) 5. Jesus and the High Priest (18:19–24) 5A. Interrogation and Response (18:19–21) 5B. Abuse of the Prisoner (18:22–24) 6. Peter's Final Denials (18:25–27) Pilatés Inquiry (18:28–38a) 1. The Setting (18:28) 1A. They Came «Early» 1B. The Praetorium and Uncleanness 1C. John's Passover Chronology 2. Pilate and the Chief Priests (18:29–32) 2A. Pilatés Historical Involvement 2B. Provincial Politics and Law (18:29–31a) 2C. Capital Jurisdiction (18:31b-32) 3. The Kingdom of Truth (18:33–38a) 3A. Questioning Jesus (18:33–34) 3B. Jesus as King of the Jews (18:33–35) 3C. The Nature of Jesus' Kingship (18:36–37a) 3D. The Kingdom and Truth (18:37b-38a) Pilate and the People (18:38b-19:16) 1. Preferring a Terrorist (18:38b-40) 1A. Pilatés Attempt to Free Jesus (18:38b-39) 1B. The Paschal Amnesty Custom (18:39) 1C. Barabbas, a «Robber» (18:40) 2. Abusing the Prisoner (19:1–3) 2A.The Scourging (19:1) 2B. The Mocking (19:2–3) 3. Rejecting God's Son (19:4–7) 3A. «Behold the Man» (19:4–5) 3B. The Law and God's Son (19:6–7) 4. True Authority (19:8–11) 4A. Pilatés Question and Demand (19:8–10) 4B. Divinely Delegated Authority (19:11) 5. Handing Over the Jewish King (19:12–16) 5A. Pilatés Political Dilemma (19:12) 5B. The Judgment Seat (19:13) 5C. The Timing (19:14a) 5D. «Behold Your King» (19:14b-15) 5E. Handing Jesus Over (19:16) Jesus' Crucifixion (19:17–37) 1. The Crucifixion (19:17–18) 1A. Carrying His Own Cross (19:17a) 1B. Golgotha (19:17b) 1C. Crucifixion (19:18) 2. The Titulus (19:19–22) 3. Dividing Jesus' Property (19:23–24) 4. The Women at the Cross (19:25–27) 4A. Women Bystanders (19:25) 4B. Jesus' Mother (19:26a) 4C. Entrusting His Mother to His Disciple (19:26b-27) 5. Jesus' Thirst and Death (19:28–30) 5A. Jesus Drinks Sour Wine (19:28–29) 5B. It Is Finished (19:30a) 5C. Handing Over His Spirit (19:30b) 6. Breaking Bones (19:31–37) 6A. The Soldiers Break Bones (19:31–33) 6B. Water from Jesus' Side (19:34) 6C. The Witness of the Disciple and Scripture (19:35–37) Jesus' Burial (19:38–42) 1. Historical Likelihood of the Burial 2. Joseph and Nicodemus (19:38–39) 2A. Joseph and History 2B. Joseph as a Model 2C. Nicodemus 3. Burial Preparations (19:39–40, 42) 4. The Tomb (19:41) 4A. A New Tomb in a Garden 4B. The Site of the Tomb Jesus' resurrection. 20:1–29 Historical Questions 1. The Traditions 2. Pagan Origins for the Christian Resurrection Doctrine? 2A. Mystery Cults as Background? 2B. Dying-and-Rising Deities? 2C. Jewish Doctrine of the Resurrection 3. Conclusion: Historicity of the Resurrection Tradition? Mary at the Tomb (20:1–18) 1. The Empty Tomb (20:1–10) 1A. Mary's Discovery (20:1–2) 1B. The Missing Body (20:1–7) 1C. The Wrappings (20:5–7) 1D. The Beloved Disciple, Peter, and Scripture (20:2–10) 2. Appearance to Mary (20:11–18) 2A. Resurrection Appearances (20:15–29) 2B. The Angelic Testimony (20:11–13) 2C. Recognizing Jesus (20:14–16) 2D. Mary's Testimony (20:17–18) 2E. The Ascension (20:17) 2F. Women's Witness (20:18) Appearances to the Disciples (20:19–29) 1. Appearance to the Ten (20:19–23) 1A. A Johannine Pentecost? 1B. The Setting (20:19) 1C. Jesus' Appearance (20:19d-21a) 1D. The Commissioning (20:21) 1E. Empowerment for the Mission (20:22) 1F. Authority for Forgiveness (20:23) 2. Appearance to Thomas (20:24–29) 2A. Thomas's Skepticism (20:24–25) 2B. Jesus' Wounds (20:26–27) 2C. The Climactic Christological Confession (20:28–29) Conclusion. 20:30–31 Many Other Signs Purpose of the Conclusion 21:1–25. Epilogue The function of John 21 A Later Addition? Historical Questions 1. Both Galilean and Judean Revelations? 2. Pre- or Postresurrection Tradition? The fish sign. 21:1–14 The Setting: Failing at Fishing (21:1–3) Jesus Provides Fish (21:4–6) Recognizing and Approaching Jesus (21:7–8) Jesus Feeds His Sheep (21:9–14) 1. The Banquet 2. The Abundance of Fish (21:11) The call. 21:15–23 Feed My Sheep (21:15–17) 1. Peter's Role 2. The Demand of Love 3. Tending the Flock The Price of Tending Sheep (21:18–19) The Beloved Disciplés Future (21:20–23) The close of the Gospel. 21:24–25 Bibliography ancient sources Modern sources  

 

Preface

MY DOCTORAL MENTOR, D. Moody Smith, once noted that older scholars who began full-scale John commentaries (like Hoskyns and Haenchen) usually died before completing them. We joked that I should either not start a John commentary or should do it while I remained relatively young! I have sought to follow the latter path, at the same time seeking to honor both the wisdom of the past and to incorporate whatever fresh insights my own studies, especially in the milieu of early Christianity, have provided. If in my youthful zeal (albeit more youthful when I started than when I finished) I have sometimes attended more than necessary to details of setting, it is because I believed this attention a necessary foundation for any more thematic, integrative approach I might undertake in later years.

Approach. In this commentary I have focused on the area where I believe I can make the greatest contribution to Johannine studies, in examining the Gospel in light of its social-historical context. Because the Fourth Gospel is a text, attention to literary and other issues are both essential and inescapable, but my own contributions of the longest range value to other researchers will be my supply of specific social data, which in many cases has not yet been brought to bear on the Gospel, though even here I frequently build on the general work that has gone before.

Ancient readers were not opposed to explaining cultural data to help their audiences understand customs (e.g., Mk 7:3–4) and recognized that some earlier works were less comprehensible because the culture had changed so thoroughly,¹ that people of different eras and locations must be evaluated by the customs of their own cultures,² or that the writers own words would be understood only within a circle sharing that writers special information.³ Ancient informed readers understood, as do their modern counterparts, that the more familiar a reader was with the circumstances of a document or speech, the better the reader could comprehend it (e.g., Quintilian 10.1.22). Our culture is so distant from that in which John wrote that even deliberate mysteries of the Gospel, such as Jesus' esoteric speech, become more mysterious than necessary for moderns (who tend to be unfamiliar with ancient sages whose brilliance was sometimes measured by how difficult their riddles were). We will also ask historical questions regarding the passages that may yield some data for addressing these matters, especially to specify where John belongs in the broader generic category in which we place it.

In emphasizing this approach, however, we cannot simply ignore matters of the narrative manner in which John wrote, though one should anticipate some differences between ancient Mediterranean and modern narratives. Some scholars question the value of narrative criticism because «it systematically ignores» the likely prehistory of the Fourth Gospel;⁴ but analysis of the finished Gospel as a whole appears to me far more productive and less speculative–particularly on this Gospel–than source and redaction criticism. (Approaching Gospels as cohesive wholes also fits their nature as biographies, as Richard Burridge has noted.)⁵ Thus while we will mention some source-critical controversies, our focus will be on the completed Gospe1.

Contemporary literary and historical approaches, with their respective intrinsic and extrinsic concerns, have moved beyond their earlier frequent impasse toward more of a relationship of mutual benefit.⁶ Both historical and literary approaches have essential contributions to make; the implied reader assumed in the Gospel was a first-century reader with specific cultural assumptions.⁷ That is, even if one starts from a purely narrative critical approach, the text implies a social as well as a narrative world.⁸ Of course, a variety of readings from social locations other than the earliest ones are possible;⁹ but we focus this commentary on an ancient Mediterranean context, reconstructing insofar as possible John s message to his ideal audience in the sort of environment he most likely could have presupposed.

Limitations of This Commentary. The focus of this commentary is the Fourth Gospel in its cultural context as most broadly defined, that is, the eastern Mediterranean cultural, social, political, religious, and ancient literary contexts in which the Gospel would have originally been read. Some reviewers of my earlier commentary on Matthew, while acknowledging its thorough investigation of the light ancient sources bring to bear on Matthew, predictably ignored that explicit focus and concentrated their reviews along traditional lines of liberal or conservative scholarly ideology, or occasionally complaints that they disapproved of a focus on social history. Nevertheless, I emphasize that this approach remains my explicit focus, without the intention of denigrating other scholars' respective interests.

It is not possible, however, to address fully how the Fourth Gospel would have been heard in its original contexts without also giving some attention to its intrinsic themes, style, and literary development. The completed Fourth Gospel functioned for its first audience and most subsequent audiences as a literary whole, and a piecemeal approach to it violates the text no less than a culturally and linguistically naïve approach would. Although the focus of this commentary does not permit the full exploration of the Gospel from the standpoint of various modern literary techniques, it should be noted that the nature of this commentary should be viewed as complementary to, rather than in opposition to, most of the literary approaches currently in vogue.

Although we occasionally draw on social-sciences commentators, our approach is primarily social-historica1. We necessarily extrapolate on the basis of models where hard data is deficient, but anchor as much of our study as possible to extant ancient Mediterranean data. In emphasizing social history, however, we do not seek to denigrate the important contributions of the other approaches, especially in the many cases where hard data is lacking.¹⁰

Examining the Fourth Gospel's genre necessarily invites some examination of the degree to which the Gospel is historically reliable for Jesus research. Most scholars (including myself) agree that John adapts his material more freely than any of the Synoptics. At the same time, John's relative lack of overlap with the Synoptics makes the degree of his adaptation difficult to examine, beyond the basic questions of the ancient biographical genre (which included a broad range of literature) into which this Gospel, like the Synoptics, fits. Given its genre, ancient readers and hearers would be interested in knowing the degree of correspondence between the Gospel's portrayal of Jesus and the historical Jesus (although the intended audience would certainly recognize a correspondence between John's Jesus and their risen Lord). That is, where on the continuum of ancient biographies does this Gospel fit? Thus we must address issues of the historical traditions contained in the Fourth Gospel at relevant points, primarily where these traditions overlap with the Synoptics. This exercise can at most establish an approximation of the Gospel's use of reliable traditions, however; we lack adequate extant data either to verify or falsify most of the events claimed on purely historical grounds.

In contrast to the Synoptics, which lend themselves more readily to historical-critical examination, John weaves his sources together so thoroughly that they usually remain shrouded behind his completed document; as suggested above, Johannine source theories lack the objectivity and consequently the higher degree of academic consensus that tend to surround discussions of the Synoptic sources. While elements of this commentary will focus on the context of Jesus, a more critical question will be the context of the author and his readers, who may have lived far away from Judea and as many as six and a half decades after Jesus' ministry. Thus, despite our frequent interest in historical traditions in the Gospel, our greater interest is what the Gospel as a whole «meant» to readers in the late first century, rather than what the traditions behind the Gospel meant.

Because the focus of the commentary is the original contexts of the Fourth Gospel, it will also focus less on most documentation of secondary modern Johannine scholarship. The volume of bibliographic material on the Fourth Gospel has grown so enormous that it can barely be mastered by any single scholar whose focus is not the sorting and evaluation of such materials,¹¹ though some scholars, such as Bruce Metzger, Rudolf Schnackenburg,¹² and my doctoral mentor, D. Moody Smith, have made significant contributions to that end. New Testament Abstracts is an invaluable tool in compiling and summarizing secondary resources, and has proved essential in providing much of this commentary's secondary documentation that may be useful to the reader (especially helpful in trying to summarize works since this commentary's original submission and for languages I do not read or read quickly). A full compilation of secondary research, however, would demand the additional collaboration of a team of scholars. While such an undertaking would be a worthy one, it is not the focus of the present volume.

To admit that the commentary will not focus on secondary scholarship, however, is not to claim independence from prior scholarship. The notes will indicate dependence on previous major lines of Johannine studies, and interact especially with questions currently relevant in the field of Johns historical context. This will be particularly true of classical Johannine studies influential in this century, especially from the stream of British and American scholarship of which this commentary is necessarily a part.

Scrupulously avoided, however, has been dependence on earlier compilations of references such as Strack-Billerbeck. This is partly because the scholarship encoded in that volume and those of its predecessors is generally coming to be regarded as out of date and flawed in some serious respects; extensive use of it would thus be inappropriate for a commentary hoping to gain fresh insight into the Fourth Gospel from ancient sources. Works such as TDNT have also been minimized for the most part, mainly to focus on fresh insights not available as widely as these works (which most exegetes own). Minimal use has likewise been made of traditional lexicons and the TLG computer lexicon, although for an entirely different reason: the Thesaurus linguae graecae computer project is so complete and valuable that the sorting of Johannine language according to its data would represent another project of its own, analogous in proportions to this one. These resources are widely available, and the interested reader does not need a commentary to pursue them. My notes acknowledge where any of these sources have been used, and normally where primary sources have been borrowed from other secondary literature, though I have collected more sources from simply working through ancient materia1. (The notable exception has been my use of secondary collections for many inscriptions and papyri, due to the sheer magnitude of data available in those extant bodies of texts.)

The commentary does not focus on text-critical questions, engaging them only where still debated matters prove relevant for our interpretation quest. Other works investigate these matters more thoroughly, and most scholars and students know the sources to consult.¹³

It might seem strange for a scholarly commentary to note that it is also not a meditative tool, but after finishing this commentary, I believe such a caveat is appropriate in the case of this Gospel (as opposed to my previous work on Matthew and current work on Acts). A Gospel that speaks of «eating» and «drinking» Jesus the way some other ancient works described consuming divine Wisdom may yield some of its treasures more to the sort of mystic contemplation of the divine developed in Eastern Orthodox monasticism than to modern historical critics.¹⁴ As deconstructionist Stephen Moore complains, from a very different perspective, biblical scholars tend to merely «dissect» works rather than feed on them.¹⁵ In the case of the Fourth Gospel, a purely extrinsic approach may well evade part of how John may have invited his first, most sympathetic, ideal audience to hear him.

Nevertheless, commentaries by virtue of their own genre serve limited purposes, and the insights from John's context this commentary seeks to provide may help illumine the text in ways useful for those who wish to listen to the text more deeply in other ways.

One final limitation is that this commentary does not focus on the history of interpretation. That focus is a valid and important historical pursuit, but represents an inquiry often quite different from asking what Johns first audience may have heard.¹⁶ For example, for Irenaeus, the Fourth Gospel provided a worthy tool against gnosticism; he apparently sought to rescue it from the gnostics who had found it a useful tool supporting gnosticism. This differs, however, from the likeliest reconstruction of John's original purpose. Later Christians often used John in an anti-Semitic way far removed, if we have understood this Gospel correctly, from how John intended it or how his first audience undoubtedly understood it. Christendom owes many apologies to the Jewish community for misrepresenting and persecuting Jewish people over the centuries. Though we do not have space to repeat those apologies regularly throughout the commentary, the matter merits attention here and elsewhere. Nevertheless, I believe that it is the Christian community's use of the Fourth Gospel rather than the Gospel or its author themselves which requires such apology, as I will argue on pages 194–228 in chapter 5 of the introduction.

Nature of the Sources. Unless otherwise indicated, my primary ancient references are derived from the works cited (either in their original languages or in translation). These references were first examined in their context and considered with regard to the date of the documents or sources in which they occur, as well as the probable reliability of their accurate traditioning before reaching their present form. In most cases I culled my primary references while reading through the ancient documents in which they appear.

The problem with this approach, of course, is that a commentary is not well suited to a detailed comment on every source it cites on any given point, and between certainly useful and certainly useless sources exists a continuum of probable degrees of utility. I have therefore cited even more peripheral sources where they might be usefu1. For instance, the saying of a fourth-century rabbi may tell us little about the first century, but if the saying reflects by way of specific example a broader cultural way of thinking that obtained or is likely to have obtained in Mediterranean antiquity, this source has been judged worthy of mention.

Readers inclined to make the greatest use of our sources will also be those with the greatest facility in such sources, or have access to easy guides providing dates for those sources. Still, it is important to provide several introductory cautions at this point. One is that some sources are late, and may well reflect Christian influence. Some sources, like the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in Greek, contain at least Christian interpolations and may have been heavily redacted by Christian traditionaries or editors; at the very minimum, however, they bear accurate witness to earliest Jewish Christianity in a Hellenistic milieu, which is relevant to the Fourth Gospe1. In many of the later «Pseudepigrapha» (an admittedly amorphous category), the date and Christian influences are uncertain, and it is sometimes difficult to tell (e.g., Joseph and Asenath) whether there is substantial Christian influence, or whether the document simply reflects a milieu that deeply affected early Christian manners of expression.

A similar problem obtains in rabbinic literature. Certain bodies of literature probably represent earlier discussions than others, for example, Aboth de Rabbi Nathan, and especially the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Tannaitic Midrashim (Mekilta, Sipra, Sipre on Numbers, and Sipre on Deuteronomy). Other collections, like the Genesis Kabbah, are later but Palestinian and more representative than still later collections like the Babylonian Talmud or Pesiqta Rabbati; baraitot in later documents tend to reflect earlier tradition than the documents in which they occur, but are less reliable in general than plainly earlier documents. (Throughout this commentary we employ «Palestinian» in its standard modern academic sense for Roman Judea, Galilee, and Samaria.)¹⁷ In general, rabbinic scholars concerned to date traditions will regard an attribution as more reliable if it is closer to the date of the compilation in which it occurs.

Naturally many traditions excluded from the Mishnah due to its Tendenz or halakic character surface in later sources, preserved orally or in written collections no longer extant, yet such traditions are also sometimes confirmed as early by archaeological or nonrabbinic literary evidence. The degree of reliability is still debated in scholarly Jewish circles, and will no doubt continue to be debated for years hence. Our introduction to the life-setting of the Fourth Gospel includes a substantial discussion of our use of rabbinic texts, a necessary prolegomenon to our dependence on them (where other information is lacking) in the current academic climate. But in short, we have proceeded on the assumption that some evidence is better than no evidence; yet we also trust that the reader will take seriously our indications of the difference between «some evidence» and «strong evidence.»

The rabbinic texts pose another problem, however. The rabbinic perspective in some respects reflects the perspective of common Judaism in antiquity, but in other respects reflects the perspective of a particular community within early Judaism, which only gradually achieved dominance and never achieved the hegemony over ancient Judaism that its proponents claimed. (Archaeological evidence testifies to many nonrabbinic customs even in early Byzantine Palestine.) Because the Fourth Gospel was written very late in the first century and in contact with Palestine or Palestinian tradition, it stands far more chance, along with the First Gospel, of interacting with specifically rabbinic-type ideas, than most first-century Christian writings do. But rabbinic Judaism was neither monolithic nor stable in its teachings, and the rabbinic texts, like most other Jewish texts cited in this work, must normally be read as samples of the general milieu in which the Fourth Gospel was written, rather than exact statements of universal views of the time.

Different primary sources that provide windows into the ancient world each offer their own problems. All the Dead Sea Scrolls clearly predate even the earliest dating of John, but, like the rabbis, cannot speak for all of Palestinian Judaism. Josephus represents the right period and addresses a Greek-speaking audience, but has his own apologetic Tendenz and aristocratic idiosyncrasies. Philo provides a definite sample of Alexandrian Jewish aristocratic piety, but he seems to be moving in much higher currents of Hellenistic philosophic thought than John approaches. First Enoch, Jubilees, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach all have their own idiosyncrasies, though all are extremely valuable and adequately early sources and, taken together, represent a broad enough sampling of early Jewish piety to enable us to place the Fourth Gospel in a probable early Jewish context.¹⁸

Other sources for Johns theology and witness could also be considered, but because they are self-evident and available to everyone who would use this commentary, they are not emphasized as extensively in this work. It is obvious that John meditated deeply on the OT, apparently both in its Hebrew and its Greek forms (see below). It is also self-evident that John was affected by earlier Christian traditions, which are attested in the Synoptics, in Paul, and elsewhere. (Johns view of Christ as divine Wisdom, for example, is hardly a late christological development, as some have naively argued: it is present in the apparently pre-Pauline tradition in 1Cor 1and 8:6.) To a great extent, the contours of early Diaspora Jewish Christianity shaped the texture of the Fourth Gospel more eloquently than other Jewish sources could have, but since these contours can be reconstructed for the most part from study of the NT documents themselves and hence are already widely available to modern students of the Fourth Gospel, they are not the heaviest focus of this present work.

I have attempted to structure this commentary as a compromise between Johns own structure and the demands of modern outlines. John has major sections that usually break into smaller units, but the intermediate levels of structure expected in modern outlines sometimes exist and sometimes do not. Thus, for example, one can break John 21 into paragraphs like most of the Gospel, but because John 21 must be treated separately from other major sections, in our outline its paragraphs are treated as if they are divisions within larger sections (like, for example, lengthy chapters such as John 4 or 6). This is not true to John's own structure, in which they remain simply paragraphs; it is mandated by the necessity of consistency with modern outlines and a commentary's headings matching such outlines. The commentary's outline, then, follows a somewhat unhappy (but pragmatically workable) compromise between the Gospel's structure and modern outlines.

I offer the following introduction to and commentary on the Fourth Gospel in the hope that, like some of its more illustrious predecessors, this work may advance in some small way the state of Johannine studies.

Acknowledgments. I owe special thanks to Eastern Seminary in Philadelphia for providing for me as Carl Morgan Visiting Professor of Biblical Studies during the 1996–1997 academic year, when the largest bulk of the writing on this commentary was completed. I completed and submitted this commentary in 1997, but when unexpected problems in the editorial process delayed publication, my editor kindly allowed me to add material subsequently. Unfortunately, I was by now under deadline for other projects, so the additions do not reflect fully the publications in Johannine studies during the intervening years (especially foreign-language works). I am grateful to all those at Hendrickson Publishers who worked on this project. I also thank Eerdmans Publishing for allowing me to reuse some material from my 1999 Matthew commentary, especially in the passion narrative.

I am grateful for the opportunity to teach John's Gospel at Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, N.C.) and the Center for Urban Theological Studies (Philadelphia, Pa.), for the interaction of my students at both institutions, and for the opportunity to interact on John with Greek exegesis students at Eastern Seminary in the springs of 2000–2002.1 am especially grateful to my mentors in Johannine studies at the successive stages of my theological education: Benny Aker, Ramsey Michaels, and Moody Smith. Moody's support and guidance were essential to the completion of my doctoral work at Duke University in 1991.

Abbreviations

¹1 list double enumerations where the OTP translation (listed first) and the standard Greek text differ.

² Cited first by OTP reference, then by the enumeration in Schermann's Greek text.

Introduction

We must investigate some basic introductory questions concerning the Fourth Gospel before we examine the text in detai1. Some issues, such as genre and the document's life-setting, will substantially affect the way we read the Fourth Gospel's narrative (e.g., whether as a transcript of events, pure symbolism, or something in between). Other issues, such as authorship, may contribute to a discussion of the Johannine tradition's reliability but are otherwise less relevant to the interpretation of the Fourth Gospel; we will examine them after investigating genre and formal considerations, but they are less clear and less essential to this commentary's primary objective.