The Gospel of John chs. 1-4

The Gospel, Structure

1:1-18 Prologue

1:19-12:50 The “Book” of Signs

Part one: Openning days of revelation, 1:19-51

Part two: From Cana to Cana, 2:1-4:54

Part three: Jesus and the Principle Feasts, 5:1-10:42

Part four: Toward the hour of death/glory, 11:1-12:36

Conclusion: 12:37-50

13:1-20:29 The “Book” of Glory

Part one: The last supper, 13:1-17:26

Part two: The Passion, 18:1-19:42

Part three: Resurrection, 20:1-29

Conclusion: 20:30-31

21:1-51 Epilogue

Cf. R Brown, John, 29(A)

The Gospel, Genre

A Greco-Roman Biography, cf. Bond; Burridge; Keener

A scripturally inflected biography

The Prologue: Echoes of Genesis, 1:1-18

Structure

Mary Coloe (“Prologue” 44-46, 52) sees the structure as bipartite and reflecting the six days of creation in Gen 1:1-2:4a) minus, significantly, the Day of Divine Rest

1:1-2 Intro

A 3-5 seen A’ 14 we have seen

B 6-8 heard B’ 15 we have heard

C 9-13 experienced C’ 16-17 we have experienced

1:18 Conclusion

Themes

logos/word John 1:1-2, a text clearly inspired by Gen 1:1ff. as well as Wisdom traditions such as Prov 8 and Sir 24. Aramaic Targums explicitly describe God creating with memra/the word, e.g.,. in trans. Gen 1:1 and referring back here in Exod 12:42 (cf. Coloe, “Prologue,” 53). The prologue begins and ends with a powerful statement of the deity of the Word (cf. v. 18), as does the Gospel itself (John 20:28)

Creation: The interplay between light and darkness, an important duality in the Gospel, also evokes Gen 1: 1-3, and it indicates a creation in alienation. While creation is, thus, alluded to, it is done so summarily (“all things came into being,” v. 3 etc.); described in more detail is creation anew through “new birth” vv. John 1:12-13; cf. the counterpart vv. John 1:16-17; it is toward the creation of a new people of God, sonship, that the Gospel is headed, a people in which God takes up a dwelling. This new creative work of God is not completed unit the cross, and so there is no Sabbath equivalent in the prologue; instead Jesus and the Father are still working (John 5:17) until it is “finished”/teleo (John 19:30; cf. Gen 2:1 LXX )! See (Coloe, “Prologue,” 54)

skenoo/lived among us/pitched a tent John 1:14. The noun skene is used the in LXX for the tabernacle; cf. especially Exod 40, which has its own links to Gen 1:1-2:4. The prologue thus moves from creation (John 1:3; Gen 1) to the tabernacle revelation of God’s glory (John 1:14, 18; Exod 40), except that now it is the embodiment of the Word (its “enfleshment”!), which reveals the Father’s glory

The introduction of the law and Moses, v. 17, confirms the echo of the tabernacle narrative and makes explicit what was there implicit, namely, the surpassing fulfillment (note “fullness,” v. 16) which is achieved through the Word, now “Son”. The relationship between Jesus and the Scriptures and institutions of the law, especially, the temple (of which the tabernacle was the precursor) is a key concern of the Gospel.

Issues

1:1 there is no necessity to translate “the word was a God”; the Greek lacks an article for grammatical, not theological reasons

1:3-4 there is ambiguity re: the implied punctuation here, which affects translation (see NRSV note)

1:5 “overcome it” the verb may also be translated “understand”; perhaps both senses are implied

1:6-8 & 15 for many, the witness of John seems awkwardly and secondarily inserted; Martin and Wright, John, 35, regard him “here as a representative of . . . the whole prophetic tradition”

1:18 “God the only Son” see divergent textual witness here

Successive Days of Revelation, a Wedding, 1:19-2:12

Structure

Are six (Moloney; Coloe, “Pentecost”) or seven days implied? See John 1:29; 35; 43; 2:1; (a variant in John 1:41 “early” instead of “first” affects the counting)

Themes

Titles, Notice motif of seeing and testifying

First day, John 1:19-28: Messiah, Elijah (Malachi 4:5), the prophet (cf. Deut 18:15-22)

Second day, John 1:29-34: the Lamb of God (Passover Exod 12:1-13; Sacrifices Lev 1:1-13; Suffering Servant Isa 53:7); Son of God (or “elect of” var.) — possibly for John a strictly Messianic, i.e., Davidic, title; cf. 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7; also John 1:49!

Third day, John 1:35-42: Lamb of God (see above); Rabbi; Messiah; (Simon is named Cephas)

Fourth day, John 1:43-51: Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth (cf. John 18:5, 7; 19:19; Isa 11:1 netzer/branch; Zech 6:10-13; 3:8-10) Son of God; King of Israel; Son of Man (Dan 7:13-14; 1 En ; angels ascending and descending: Gen 28:10-17)

The third(/sixth) day: Accoding to Coloe, at least three features of the narrative of John 2:1-12 recall that of the giving of law at Sinai, Exod 19-24 celebrated in the first century during the Festival of Pentecost or First Fruits (bikkurim—figs)—cf. Coloe, “Pentecost,” which in turn invites a rereading of the Nathan episode just prior)

“Woman” (cf. John 19:25-30) and “hour”; prominent in the Gospel, especially of the hour of his death, e.g., John 13:1

Who’s the bridegroom? vv. 9-10

Revelation, glory, first of signs, v. 11

A household forms around Jesus, v. 12; “remained” Gr. meno, key in the Gospel, used several times already John 1:32, 33, 38, 39.

My Father’s House, His Body, 2:13-25

Themes

Misunderstanding

Memory (cf. Ps 69:9)

“My Father’s House” (cf. John 14:2)

Of Earthly and Heavenly Things, 3:1-21

Themes

Night: Misunderstanding and wordplay

anothen/from above/again, v. 3

pnuema/wind/spirit, v. 8

hypsoo/lifted up/exalted, v. 14

Earthly and heavenly, v. 12

Lifting up and the Serpent, v. 14, Num 21:9 (the Hebrew “pole” can mean “sign”, “flag”; the LXX uses the very word, semeion, employed by John for all the “signs” Jesus performs (see 3:2!).

The Baptist’s Final Testimony, the Bridegroom, 3:22-36

Themes

Purification/baptism

Nuptial imagery

Are there connections between this text and the wedding at Cana?

A summary epitomizes the first three chapters, vv. 31-36

The Samaritan Woman, 4:1-42

Narrative Setting, technique

v. 1, Why Jesus moves from Judea to Galilee (cf. 3:26)

v. 3, Why this route: Jesus “had (dei) to go through Samaria” everywhere(?) in John indicates divine necessity (cp. G. Luke)

vv. 5-6, Jesus tires; it is noon

v. 8 The disciples are off scene until v. 27; upon their arrival, the woman departs, v. 28 and Jesus exhorts them concerning the “harvest”; v. 39 a harvest comes in

Background

the narrative is transparent about the religio-ethnic tensions between Jews and Samaritans, as well as the gender roles that are simultaneously being transgressed. (cf m. Nid. 4.1)

Sychar is located a mere mile from mount Gerizim where a Samaritan temple stood

Setting in Scripture

Three encounters at a well occur in the Pentateuch (Gen 24; 29; Exod 2) and they lead to marriages; a question about appropriate time appears in one of them (Gen 29:7) and is probably at play in John 4:6, 16-18

Living water: a prominent Scriptural metaphor, Jer 2:13; 7:13; Sir 15:3; 24:21, 30-31), is here described as a spring (v. 14) contrast to water from a well. In John 7:37-39 its spiritual significance is interpreted

Jacob’s well; Jacob, aka, Israel, is the father of the 12 tribes; the kingdom of Israel, from the Judean and Scriptural perspective, had gone astray into idolatry (often depicted as marital infidelity) and its population’s ethnic integrity, again from the perspective of the Judeans, was detrimentally compromised by its Assyrian conquerors (the two criticisms are probably evoked together in the mention of the woman’s 5 husbands John 4:16-19 (cf. 2 Kings 17:24-34)

Following on the heels of the bridegroom metaphor in John 3:29, both the narrative’s setting and its Scriptural resonances suggest that included in the people (that is “his bride”) in whom Jesus prepares to “dwell” spiritually (cf. 4:40) is a restored Israel or that this people is restored Israel. We also learn of the way that Jesus’ invitation is open to all: no markers of status which separate human beings can separate a person from God.

Back in Cana, A Royal Official’s Son, 4:43-54

“The second sign” in Galilee, also in Cana

Bibliography

Bond, Helen K. The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark’s Gospel. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2020.

Brown, Raymond E. The Gospel According to John. 2d ed. Vol. 29-29A. Anchor Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966-

Burridge, Richard A. What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography. Monograph Series (Society for New Testament Studies) 70. Cambridge: University Press, 1992.

Coloe, Mary L. “The Johannine Pentecost: John 1:19-2:12.” Australian Biblical Review 55 (2007): 41–56.

Coloe, Mary L. “The Structure of the Johannine Prologue and Genesis 1.” Australian Biblical Review 45 (1997): 40–55.

Keener, Craig S. Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019.

Moloney, Francis J. The Gospel of John. Sacra Pagina. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 1998.