PROPHECY AND PRAYER - Johannine Theology - Part XV

PROPHECY

Prophecy in the Christian scriptures of the New Testament serves a different purpose than prophecy served in the Hebrew scriptures.  Prophecy in the Hebrew scriptures was more about pointing out the ignored obvious (the injustice exercised by the ruling class and corrupt religion) to warn of impending doom, whereas prophesy in the New Testament is more about taking the obvious signs of impending doom (wars, rumors of wars, natural calamities, and persecution) and forecasting God's ultimate victory in Christ.

In the Hebrew scripture, no matter how dire the prophecy, there is always a conciliatory note attached reassuring the Chosen People that God always loves and cares for them; that ultimately the world will be a better place because of God's glory in and God's love of creation..  Prophecy in the New Testament is apocalyptic and messianic-based. As such, New Testament triumphalism is attached to it. God is glorified through the ultimate victory of Christ as King.

MESSIANIC PROPHECY

It is important to note that apart from the apocryphal book of  Second Esdras, there is no direct reference to the Messiah in the ancient Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament.  In fact, in the New Testament the older the gospel,  the less the Messiah is referenced.  For example, in Mark, the oldest of the gospels,  the Messiah is mentioned six times, in Luke twelve times, in Matthew seventeen times and in John sixteen times.

In Mark there is only the claim of Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, other than that it is inferred.  Both writers of Luke and Matthew claim that they are writing about the Messiah, with Jesus strongly inferring that he is but never directly saying it in these texts.  By the time John is composed, Jesus claims to be the Messiah.

It is interesting that, with the exception of Romans 9:5, there is no specific mention of the Messiah in any of the Epistles, which lends support to the notion that as time passed and Jesus did not reappear within the lifetime of his disciples and the earliest apostles there re-emerged an apocalyptic fervor about the second coming of the Messiah who will come to judge both the living and the dead.

DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES

In the Hebrew scriptures prophecy is about justice and the future establishment of peace through the restoration or redemption of Israel, whereas the role of prophecy in the New Testament it is about judgment and the reign of the righteousness with Christ as King.

Speaking of prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures, there is a marked difference between how Judaism and Christianity views them.  In Judaism most of the prophecies of the Hebrew scriptures are yet to be fully realized. Christians see most as fully realized in the person of Jesus the Christ of God.  In both cases, the role of prophecy is ultimately about reassurance; that no matter how bad things are or how bad they will become for those chosen of God, God is faithful to them.

John 16

John 16 opens with Jesus prophesying that he is returning to his Father and that things are going to get bad for his disciples; that they will be thrown out of the synagogue and will be killed.

The interesting thing about New Testament prophecy is that most of it serves as a precursor to the return of Christ in glory; that much of what these prophecies say have taken place or were currently taking place by or at the time they were written.  The audience of John's day likely shook their heads in agreement that what Jesus said was true because they were experiencing such events at the time.

For Christians of today, prophecies of this type hold a pseudo-historical interest as something occurring in the past verifying the prescient knowledge of God in the person of Jesus.  In addition to that, most of today's Christians see apocalyptic prophecies as yet to be fulfilled, since Christ hasn't returned and the signs of his return are so generalized as to be applicable to every and any period of time.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

That the Holy Spirit receives a great deal of attention during Jesus's table discourse is worthy of one's attention. It demonstrates an evolving theology that begins to define the triune nature of God, which  became identified as the Trinity by the late second century.

More than any of the other gospels, John defines the role of the Holy Spirit. The term, particularly used in John, to describe the Holy Spirit is paraclete, which is an anglicised term derived from the same-sounding Greek word frequently defined as comforter, advocate, or helper.

In this chapter, the Holy Spirit is described as presenting incontrovertible evidence against the world regarding its understanding of sin, righteousness, and judgement in the light of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. It is an odd statement that can leave one glossing over it as scriptural hyperbole:

The world doesn't understand the true nature of sin because it doesn't believe.

It is void of the righteousness because the epitome of righteousness, Jesus, is returning to the Father.,

The world(ly) lack judgement because the identified ruler of the current evil world, Satan, already is judged.

Jesus makes the case that if he doesn't return to the Father the Holy Spirit will not come.  

In all of the gospels , however, the Holy Spirit is present at the baptism scene involving John the Baptist.   John the Baptist sees the Spirit of God descending on Jesus like a dove.  In essence, the Holy Spirit is constantly present while Jesus is present.  It is what makes Jesus divine.  What Jesus is saying is that the divination of those who believe him cannot occur until he returns from whence he came, the Father.

What John is implying is that Jesus is victorious; in that, through his atoning sacrifice and resurrection, he paves the way for the chosen believers to enter into divine union that he and the Father have through aegis of the Holy Spirit.  This, of course, is not fully realized until, like Jesus, we pass from this life to new life in the resurrection, yet to come.

SYMBOLS

As always I am interested in the use of symbols in the New Testament.  In reference there are two symbols used to signify the presence of the Holy Spirit, a descending dove and tongues of fire. A descending dove is mentioned as resting on Jesus at the Jordan river during the time of John the Baptist.  While fire is not mentioned in connection to the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John, it is in both Matthew and Luke and was likely understood by the Johannine community as representing the Holy Spirit during the Pentecost event.

I would suggest that the writers of each of these gospels understand the significance of the dove and it's association with Noahide covenant, as recorded in Genesis 8.   The dove is sent out by Noah and returns with a sign of new life of an emerging new and cleansed earth upon which God will estabish his Chosen People.

The dove descending on Jesus represents the  new covenant being made through Jesus.  The Spirit of God heralds this new covenantal relationship by resting on the beginning of a new creation, Jesus. It is, after all, the Spirit of God that moved above or stirred the waters of chaos before speaking creation into being in the first chapter of Genesis.  In the New Testament, the Spirit takes shape, first as a dove to signal a new realm of creation and then as tongues of fire which calls to mind the Pillar of Fire that led the children of Israel by night after the Passover.  In like manner, after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus - the new Passover -  the Holy Spirit takes the form of fire to lead and guide the Church, the newly formed body of Christ, through the darkness that is this world.

THE HOLY SPIRIT ADVANTAGE

In John,  Jesus claims it is to his disciples' advantage that he leaves so that the Holy Spirit can come. In fact, Jesus tells his disciples  there simply was not enough time to tell them everything, and that is why the Holy Spirit is being sent to instruct them; to tell them what Jesus wants them to know. As Jesus will glorify the Father, the Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus.

In John, Jesus raises the role of the Holy Spirit to new heights and has Jesus explaining to John's audience the significance of Christianity's Pentecost experience - so much so, that this section of John is often read as the Gospel during Pentecost to this day in most liturgical churches.  It is interesting that John has Jesus opening the door to new information; things that Jesus did not or could not tell his disciples at the time.   As you recall, in John 14 Jesus also told the disciples that greater things could be accomplished by them or those who follow them than what Jesus did.

It is not clear what is meant by those statements.  Were greater acts produce?  If so, what were they? Could they still occur?   What other information did the Holy Spirit impart to Jesus's disciples or to those who followed them?  Is there more to come?

There is no small amount of ambiguity about such statements or claims.  Prophetically speaking, they are rather weak and suggest possibility rather than certainty.   From a practical point of view, they offer the writers John a degree of literary license by which to defend their claims about Jesus's teachings.  More importantly, however, they offer room for expansion in the domains of  religious accomplishment and intuition. To date I have found no reference to these verses as directly applying to any deeds greater than Jesus's or new teachings produced  of Jesus since they were written. 

Some might conclude that the letters of John and the Book of Revelation is being referenced by such statements, but I remain skeptical of such conclusions for the same reason that I remain highly skeptical that the Gospel of John is the work of one author.  While it certainly fits the Johannine motif of "just believe," the Book of Revelation is talking about itself. Nevertheless, its placement as the final book in the New Testament canon has certainly wrapped things up nicely, and in some cases with leather bindings.

A FINAL CLUE

At the end of chapter sixteen, Jesus tells his disciples that he had been using figures of speech when talking to them and that he would no longer do that.  This is a curious line in John and I would suggest it is code to the reader and listener to review what has been written to seek out the hidden meanings of John's text.

PRAYER

There is a very interesting and revealing Latin phrase that captures the Johannine theological perspective on prayer.  The phrase is Lex orandi, Lex credendi, which is attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine, a disciple of Augustine of Hippo who lived in the 5th century.  The meaning of this phrase is literally, the law of prayer [is] the law of belief or, another way of translating it is, we believe in the manner in which we prayer.  Throughout this table discourse, Jesus instructs his disciples to ask the Father to give them what they need in his name and the Father will grant it.  Jesus mentions this repeatedly in chapters 14, 15, and 16.  In chapter 14, Jesus says he will do whatever is asked in his name, and in chapters 15 and 16, the Father will grant whatever is asked in Jesus's name. 

IN JESUS'S NAME

The intercessory nature of payer is strongly embedded in Christianity as is the mediating nature of prayer; which implies that God is inaccessible without presenting the correct credentials; invoking the name of Jesus as a true believer.  What the reader is exposed to in these three chapters is indoctrination - repetitious instruction that becomes so ingrained in one's psyche that one cannot but do it.  It is like the those chain letters that say if you don't pass it on to ten people, bad luck will happen or you will forfeit the good luck you could have had if you passed it on.   So pervasive is the idea that prayer in the Christian church has to end in Jesus's name that in almost every liturgical church, where prayers are largely written out, they end with words like, "through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you (the Father) and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen."  Evangelical churches are even more prone to throw Jesus name behind anything that smacks of prayer-like nature.

Nowhere in the Synoptic Gospels is this teaching stated by Jesus.  The Lord's Prayer, which Jesus taught his disciples is absent in John, but is noteworthy in that Jesus never mentions himself in that prayer and clearly claims that God is the Father of all - Not so in John.  Access to God in prayer is assured to those who invoke Jesus's name as a true believer.  By doing this, John was utilizing Prosper of Aquitaine's maxim, Lex orandi, Lex credeni, prior to Prosper stating it.  

THE TALISMAN EFFECT

What is interesting is that John, according to most scholars, is addressing a largely Jewish audience. In Judaism, there is no need for a mediator.  God can be addressed directly and this is true for what Jesus teaches about prayer as mentioned in his teaching of the Lord's Prayer.  Here John may be borrowing a page from Paul's letter to the Romans, where Paul mentions that the Holy Spirit and Jesus intercedes for the Church, not because we ask them to do so, but because that is what they do.


In John, the name of Jesus is treated like a verbal talisman to insure a response. 

The power of a talisman is that it offers comfort to those who believe in its power and where it becomes an object of one's focus.  Jesus is that for the Johannine community. For all of its prayers, Judaism appeared from the Johannine perspective to have failed.  There is no Jerusalem and no temple.  Since Jesus is the very Word of God made flesh, those who are chosen to believe and maintain their belief in Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God are assured that God will answer their prayers, which brings us to Jesus's High Priestly Prayer.

JOHN 17 



LEX ORANDI, LEX CREDENDI 

The Gospel of John does not have a Garden of Gethsemane scene where Jesus is portrayed as praying that "this cup (of suffering) will be taken from him and sweating like great drops of blood. Rather John takes that moment of Jesus's private prayer and utilizes it as part of Jesus's table discourse - as a teachable moment. The prayer is divided into three sections:   prayer about himself, prayer for his disciples, and prayer for those who believe in him. It's a great example of lex orandi, lex credendi. It sums up nicely what John had Jesus saying in the last three chapters. 

GLORY IN SACRIFICE

Unlike the questioning prayer of submission  Jesus offered in the Garden of Gethsemane,  in John Jesus prays from a position of glorifying the Father and being glorified.  He exudes a sense of triumph in his soon to be fulfilled purpose.  It is a sacrificial prayer of Jesus offering up himself according to the Father's will.  There is no questioning that will in this prayer.

Theologically, John has moved beyond the human aspect of suffering that Jesus is portrayed experiencing in the other Gospels. Verse three is a dead give away about the didactic intent of this prayer.  In the Jesus portion of this prayer,he prays in verse three, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou sent." (KJV).  As in John 3, we have Jesus talking about himself in the third person.  One would think it obvious that there is no need to explain this to God.  What this verse demonstrates is the intent of this prayer to provide a teaching/preaching moment.

SANCTITY AND SANCTUARY

While John 17 seemingly is a prayer for the eleven disciples that remained faithful to Jesus, the intent is also to reassure the current disciples, the believers that are hearing this prayer.  It assures them that they are made holy and that they are being protected since they too have received the words of Jesus as recorded in John.  It affirms the reality that they are to remain in an evil world, but not be part of it.  That as he is leaving, he can no longer offer the direct sanctity and sanctuary of his presence, but asks God to bestow it on them, presumably through the aegis of the Holy Spirit.

What this section of the High Priestly prayer offers us is insight into the understanding of  prayer at the time John was written and the effect it has had on prayer to this present day.  In Jesus's prayer for his disciples, he defines their mission of being both the keepers and disseminators of his word.  As such he prays that they are sanctified, made holy, to bear this word of Truth.  This prayer is also about sanctuary; in that prayer itself, if properly addressed,  is a place of sanctuary - a place to go for protection against the ravages of the world.  This section of the prayer, reminds the reader that those who follow Jesus are protected by the mediation Jesus is performing and thus ensured of eternal life 

UNITIVE COMMUNION

John has Jesus ending this prayer with a view towards the future.  That, in itself, is a revealing feature of this prayer.  It tells us that by this time, the early church had given up on the idea that Jesus's return in glory was forthcoming any time soon.  Their theology clearly was being adjusted for the long haul.  The explanation that John has Jesus offering is that there are those, yet unborn in any number of ways, who are part of God's new creation.  John has Jesus revisit the unitive theme offered in John 15, that all those chosen to believe are one in God through Christ. 

The theological insights offered in the High Priestly Prayer have had a profound effect on Christian theology throughout the history of the church.  Jesus ends this prayer with a reminder that those chosen by God to believe are one in Christ and one with God through Christ.  This is the ultimate role of communion in Johannine theology.  This perhaps explains why John does not bother with repeating the words of institution that is found in the Synoptic Gospels and the writings of Paul. 

For this community, the purpose of Holy Communion is not about forgiveness of sins, but rather union with God.  One does not hear much about sins being forgiven in John, especially in the table discourse of Jesus.  What one hears is an extended discourse on the unitive experience of  Holy Communion, that is outwardly expressed in the love shown by believers towards one another - that attracting scent that leads those chosen by God into this unitive experience.


Until next time, stay faithful.

I AM THE TRUE VINE - Johannine Theology - Part XIV

John 14 ended with Jesus telling his disciples to get up and get going because he didn't have much more to say to them and, in fact, says in John 14:30, "Hereafter I will not talk much with you... ."  


But according to John 15, they didn't get up and go.  Jesus keeps right on talking. 

I have already suggested that John 14 dovetails nicely with John 18; that the likelihood exists that John 14 was originally intended by its author to be the last teaching Jesus gave to his disciples before being betrayed by Judas Iscariot.

So what happened?


There are a couple of possibilities.  The most likely is that John 15, 16, 17 are a set of teachings that were written by a different author or authors at a different time and written to expand upon what was already said in John 13 and 14.

  

John 14 ends on a relatively positive note which is quickly remedied at the beginning of John 15 where there is no attempt to explain why Jesus continues speaking after indicating he was done talking in Chapter 14.  In my opinion,  this inserted information makes sense as a form of teaching for those being initiated into this community; as it serves both as a warning and an indication of what to expect as a disciple of Christ.


INTO THE INNER SANCTUM

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he takest away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

John 15:1-3 (KJV)

With these words we enter the inner sanctum of Johannine theology.  In terms of an initiate, this is moment you've been waiting for - union with Christ - union with God.  It gets no better than this on this side of life.   What makes one consider this chapter was intended for initiates is the the plethora of "ifs," "ands," and "buts"  that follow.  Verse 8 actually talks in terms of becoming Jesus's disciple, not being one.


If this were a play and I were to direct it, the setting for John 13 and 14 would naturally be around a table where Jesus's disciples would be seated.  At the end of chapter 14 when Jesus tells his disciple to get up and go, I would have the table scene fade to black with Jesus walking to front center stage addressing the audience, saying the above verses while a single spotlight focuses on Jesus alone.


While being portrayed as Jesus talking to his disciple, John 15 (as is true of the entire Gospel of John) is addressing the current reader or listener.


It serves as an invite to the chosen to delve further into a deepening relationship with Jesus and the Father, a challenge to bear fruit - to bear the the task of loving one's fellow disciple as Jesus loved his disciples, and to warn against taking such an invitation and challenge lightly.


Yes, chosen.


One doesn't get into the Johannine community because you made a choice.  The only way in is because one is chosen, as we are reminded in verse 16, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit."


Once chosen, you better listen up and follow its code of conduct, which is to love your fellow community members just like Jesus loved his disciples.  Once your chosen you have been made clean, you are considered recreated by the very Word that brought all creation into being.


And Yes!  You can screw this up!


This may sound strange to the modern Christian, but by the time Christianity became accepted as a legitimate religion in Roman Empire, there were those; such as the emperor Constantine who was reported to have waited until he was on his death before being baptized so as not to sully his soul before meeting his maker.


According to John, nothing appears to be a done deal on this side of life unless you're one of the "not chosen."  And God alone knows (has determined) who is or isn't chosen.


Remember John 3:18 - the unbelievers are "condemned already."  They are devoid of any choice beyond this side of life according to John, and the choice left to the chosen few is to choose not to believe.  If one were to follow such theologic to a reasoned logical conclusion, it would mean that God knows who of the chosen is "chosen" to fail like Judas Iscariot.


And here's what you can expect if you are one of the chosen:


You are not going to be well liked by those who weren't chosen.


In fact you're going to be hated and persecuted by them just as Jesus was hated and persecuted by them.


But not to worry - Jesus will have the Father send you the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.


BEARING FRUIT


So what's all this talk about bearing fruit about?


If the believers consist of those chosen to believe, then what fruit or product are Jesus's followers supposed to bear?


Bearing fruit has always been about bringing others to Jesus. Yet, John consistently reminds the reader that the believer believes because believing is matter of God or Jesus choosing who will believe.


If you believe it is only because you were chosen to believe.  If you don't, logically speaking, it's not your fault.  It's because you were not chosen.  It's as simple as that.


Or is it?


How does one know who is chosen?  How is this Christian community supposed to grow?


What is the Johannine mission?


Mission in the Synoptic Gospels is about preaching and sowing the seed freely, if not carelessly  and letting it grow to bring forth fruit as it will (as demonstrated by the Parable of the Sower in Matthew. 13).  The Gospel of Matthew ends with the Great Commission.  The Gospel of Mark clearly indicates that Jesus appointed twelve apostles to spread the word, and Luke is clear in Acts that the Word is to be spread to the ends of the earth.


THE PLAN


This is not to say that John lacks a mission plan.  John has one and is defining it in Chapter 15.  It is a cautious plan that is not dependent on reckless broadcasting of the gospel message to garner followers from among the masses as the Gospel of Matthew indicates in Chapter 22:14, "For many are called, but few are chosen,"  but rather it is careful plan designed to attract the chosen, but as yet uninitiated, by having the initiated lead exemplary lives to draw uninitiated chosen to Christ; like a bees to honey.


THE ATTRACTING FORCE OF LOVE


It is in the esoteric nature of the Johannine approach to mission to be subtle, if not cryptic.


The times dictated a need to be careful.  Preaching in the synagogues was perilous if not impossible for a number of reasons. The Pauline approach of speaking in the public square was likewise risky business.  John's cautionary approach hints at and offers us a glimpse into changing world - one that was increasingly more hostile and suspicious - an environment that required careful and cautious planning.


Martyrdom was not the goal of the Christian or Johannine community, even though it would be the price exacted on some.  The question for the Johannine community was how to carry out their mission to bear fruit in such a hostile environment and survive.


John offers a two-pronged solution.  Jesus says that advocate, the Holy Spirit, will be sent by the Father to testify and that the chosen, his disciple, will also testify since they have been with him from the beginning. 


I believe Jesus saying that they were with him from the beginning conveys a double entendre, meaning that twelve were there from the start of Jesus's ministry and a more cryptic meaning that all the chosen have been part of him from the beginning of creation.


What does testify mean in this context?


The Holy Spirit speaks to the heart of the those who listen with the ears of the heart, to quote St. Benedict, who came on the scene some four hundred years later.

For the chosen there was another mode of testifying.


There is a saying that actions speak louder than words and this becomes the approach adopted by the Johannine community.  Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples and to those listening to this gospel, that world will know who his disciples are by the love they demonstrate to each other.  What will bring this new realm, this new creation into being and knit it together is the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the force of love.


THE VINE, BRANCHES, AND COMMUNION

"I am the Vine; ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him; the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."  John 15:5 KJV


This is the  last formal I AM statement made by Jesus in John. It is an interesting metaphor for John to close with.


This is the one metaphor which includes Jesus's followers.


At the beginning of Chapter 15, Jesus describes himself as the true vine.  The implication is there are other types of vines and branches that are not true or trustworthy.  One never gets too far from the differentiating paradigm of religion in John.


When one hears of the vine and the branches, pruning and cutting what comes to mind is viticulture and wine-making.  I'm fairly sure this is what the author of this chapter had in mind as it is consistent with Eucharistic - the Communion -  subtext that runs throughout the Gospel of John. 


Stepping back a bit and taking a look at this gospel from a broader perspective the two essential elements of Holy Communion, bread and wine, are linked to the concepts of Word and Spirit.  The Bread of Heaven or Bread of Life is associated with the solid stuff of Jesus's preaching and teaching.  The Vine is associated with the fluid elements; the working of the Holy Spirit, the love of Christ flows through the vine to the branches.


Once again, we see the patina of a mystery cult that involves hidden knowledge that is yet to come to the initiated.  The uninitiated await a metamorphosis from mundane to divine, from the physical to spiritual just as liturgical churches treat the bread and wine sanctified and sacrificed during communion in terms of alchemy; of bread and wine transformed literally into flesh and blood, the mundane transformed into the divine.


Although some might be offended by referencing the doctrines of transubstantiation and consubstantiation as religious alchemy; that's what they're portrayed as it being.  To carry this correlation further, I would say that where bread and wine are understood to be the true body and blood of Christ serves as an elixir vitae - that washes away one's sins and ensures eternal life


John brings another dimension to this Eucharistic mystery that is rarely talked about.  In John, the Bread of Life and the Vine sustain and bind the believing community together.  This aspect of the rite of Holy Communion has lost potency over the centuries, but it is clearly established in John.


Vines and their branches possess a fractal quality -  like producing like -  in an ever-expanding pattern, similar to a family tree. In this sense, John is describing an ever-expanding Holy Family.


John reminds us, however, that being a part of this system is dependent on knowing the source of one's divination, which is Jesus - "for without me ye can do nothing."  


Being chosen requires one to sublimate one's ego, which most mystery religions require as necessary for transformation.. One must give up what one thinks one is to put on a new self, to become the true self in and of Christ.


Whereas Jesus incarnates, becomes divinity enfleshed, the reverse  happens to the initiated believer, who becomes flesh enspirited, made divine in Christ - no longer living for oneself but living as part of much larger, more extensive organism; the Vine which is Christ.

* * * * * * * * * *

It is likely the Johannine community of believers lived on the fringe of the destruction that occurred in Palestine in 70 AD.  They, like their fellow Jews, migrated to other areas, such as, Asia Minor where they were viewed by suspicion by the Jewish communities in those areas and where they encountered a flourishing Greek culture that strongly influenced their theological perspective. 


The Johannine approach to presenting the gospel of Christ is uniquely different from the Synoptic Gospels to the extent that one wonders how the Gospel of John found its way into the New Testament canon.  The answer, I believe, lies in the likelihood that this community's perspective had great appeal to the emerging Church in the Greco-Roman world.


John 15 is one of the most remarkable pieces of literature in the New Testament by virtue of its creative approach to knitting together a community that ensured its survival.  One can speculate with a degree of certainty that their approach increasingly became the approach taken by the larger Christian community as this gospel became a mainstay of Christian literature and is why we are studying it today.



Until next time, stay faithful.

I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE - Johannine Theology, Part XIII

In John 14 we enter the longest conversational monologue of Jesus in the New Testament.  I describe it as a conversational monologue simply because there is very little back and forth dialogue between individuals.  It is conversational only to the extent that certain individuals periodically ask Jesus questions to move Jesus's monologue along.   There is no debate or argumentation as we saw in John 13, between Peter and Jesus.  That is not the point of this literature.  This is not about Jesus reasoning with his disciples.  It's about them believing what Jesus is telling them.

As always I need to be clear about where I'm coming from.  In my opinion, John is, in actuality, a unique theological work deliberately designed to put forth one of the early church's doctrinal statements on the nature of Christ. 

It is my personal belief that Jesus actually said none of the things he's quoted as saying in John.  I do not believe the writers of John were trying to be deceitful or devious in using this approach. In fact, I'm personally impressed by the innovative way they presented their theological message.

The fact is that what these next four chapters has Jesus saying about himself and his disciples has greatly shaped Christianity as we know it today and is why I consider them to be the central thesis of Johannine theology.  From John 1 through John 12 the writers of John rewrite the ancient Hebrew narrative of creation and redemption as being a precursor to the true story of creation and salvation which is rooted in Christ. Story after story in these early chapters emphasize the difference between the Judaic community and the Christian community in the attempt to establish Christianity as its own religion.

Now the narrative turns to what it means to be Christian, to find oneself in an intimate relationship, not with just a religious community, but with God.

John 13 ends with Jesus telling Peter that he would deny him. John 14 begins by reshaping the conversation that Peter didn't understand what Jesus meant when he said he was going away to telling  the disciples not to worry about this - that all they need to do is believe in God and believe in what Jesus is going tell them about himself and them in John 14. 

BELIEVING IS KNOWING

Some of my regular readers may wonder why I translate the Greek verb form of πίστις as believe in the Gospel of John when I was so insistent that it be translated as faith, an act of faith, or faithfulness, elsewhere and; in particular, when used by the apostle Paul.  The simple answer is context. 

As I have mentioned in past post on John, intellectual assent to the Truth portrayed in John is essential to Johannine theology.  It is knowing what is true as opposed to trusting God without knowing, as we see faith used in the writings of Paul, "For now we know in part..." (1Corinthians 13:9) or "We walk by faith not by sight." (2 Corinthian 5:7) and so on.  In John we are dealing with believing a Truth that is enfleshed in Jesus as the Christ.  There is no gray area or room for doubt. 

So when it comes to translating the verb form of πίστις as intellectual assent in John, it is because there is no single English word that comes close enough to its contextual use other than belief which has its own etymology rooted in Germanic languages.

For a further look into the etymology of belief click here.   

In fact, I would argue that faith as belief is rooted in Johannine theology which has evolved theologically throughout the centuries until the two words have became synonymous.   Belief in John is equated with the intellectual property of knowing as in John 14:7, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also:  and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."  (KJV). 

The author of John 14 rephrases what Jesus says in John 13:36 which is, "Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards"  to what is written in John 14:4, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."   Instead of Peter's bold statement about defending Jesus to the death, we have Thomas asking the question, John wants asked in the next verse, "Lord, we know not wither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" 

Thus John has set the stage for the central thesis of this gospel which comes in verse 6 with John having Jesus say, 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

For those of us who are Christian, we need to stop and think about this statement and consider the impact it has had on our collective psyche for the past two thousand years.

I emphasized the last part of John's claim about Jesus to give us pause.  I grew up with this statement and recognize it as one of the earliest bible verses drilled into my childhood memories about Jesus:

Only Jesus is the way to heaven.  Only Jesus...  Only Jesus!

No one can know God or can come to God except  through Jesus. 

And if you have been following my posts on John or simply have read the Gospel of John on your own, this is exactly what John means.  There is no fudging on this.  It is central to Johannine theology and it is central to orthodox Christian theology.

Why I don't believe this was said by Jesus is because it stands in stark contrast to almost everything else Jesus is reported to have said in the synoptic gospels and in Paul's undisputed writings. 

This Jesus is not the Jesus who marveled at the faith of the Syrophoenecian woman in Mark 7or the Roman centurion in Matthew 8 neither of whom were Jewish and, more importantly, knew nothing about Jesus and approached him simply out of  πίστις - trusting faith in an unknown rather than being in possession of an intellectual ability to believe in the Jesus as the Truth.  For them, Jesus was a man of God at best; not the Son of God or the only-begotten Son of God, much less God enfleshed.

The other fact about this statement is that every brand of "orthodox" Christian takes this statement literally; including, Christian universalists, progressive Christians, mainstream Christians, evangelical Christians and fundamentalist Christians. 

How they interpret it may vary, but they all take it literally. 

For Christian universalists and progressives, the interpretation is that God loves everyone, and as Christians, we firmly believe  in a God who will ultimately save his entire creation because of the love of God in Christ Jesus is for everyone, regardless of one's religious affiliation or non-affiliation.

So Yes! Everyone is saved because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and all are claimed to be God's own because of what Jesus did, which is to say they have mitigated John's message with a tinge of Pauline theology.  

The problem this poses, however, is that it denigrates other religions as being saved in spite of themselves; suggesting that they are in some way flawed or are using different language to express the same understanding of God.

For many mainstream, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christians, it means just what it implies; that no one is saved unless they believe in Jesus as only way, the only truth and the only life as the only-begotten Son of God who died to save us from our sins. 

The fact is, those in mainstream, evangelical and fundamentalist churches who believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation and the true knowledge of God are in good stead with Johannine theology and with what the Gospel of John is actually saying. 

Dispensationalism is alive and well in orthodoxy because the Gospel of  John was given the final word in the gospels on who Jesus is.  From a dispensationalist point of view the argument against my referencing the stories of the Syrophoenecian woman and the Roman centurion is that depiction of Jesus was who Jesus was before the resurrection and John is telling us about Jesus after the resurrection, as he is now, the revealed only-begotten Son of God. I cannot argue with that position from a literalist point of view except to point out that it is unlikely that Jesus said any of the things he is recorded as having said in this gospel.  

On an evololving theological scale, this I AM statement, more than perhaps any other in the Gospel of John, is the catalyst that set Christianity on a new footing from which doctrinal orthodoxy evolved as the fittest and most resilient form of Christianity that has lasted to the present.

At the time this was written, I believe it was meant to shore up the beliefs of a Jewish Christian that identified with Jesus's disciple, John who may have founded this Christian community.  As I have contended throughout this commentary, the Gospel of John is presented in a format of an initiation rite for those coming into the early church. 

As such both John 13 and 14 serve to illustrate wrong and right approaches to what is being taught about Jesus.  The reasoning intellect of Judas will lead to betrayal and the thoughtless zeal of Peter will lead to denial while the sincere enquiry of Thomas will put one on the path to knowledge; to know the truth and to know fullness of life in Jesus as the risen Christ

What is also noteworthy is that up until this point it has always been God who chooses the followers of Jesus;  that no one can understand Jesus unless selected by God to believe.  Here we see an important shift.  John is having Jesus say no one can know God unless they believe in Jesus, which brings us to Philip's question

BELIEVING IS SEEING

Philip asks Jesus to show the disciples the Father so that they will be satisfied. Satisfaction, in this context, is related to their sense of being comforted and not troubled by Jesus's departure.  It's an odd request, but it affords this writer of John the opportunity to address a peculiar problem that the Christian communities of the late first century faced.

Jesus's departure created a crisis of faith for his disciples. Similarly, as the church began to age, when the expected return of Jesus is not happening as soon as most thought, and those who may have known Jesus personally or who knew Jesus's disciples and their associates are dying, it was becoming harder to walk by faith and not by sight.  None of Jesus's disciples make it including John.  I can hear some of you saying, but doesn't John end with Jesus telling the disciple John that he would not die ? All I can say, is "Wait for it."  I will get to that.

The early church was entering a new era that was completely void of anyone who personally knew Jesus or his disciples.  So what John has Thomas and Philip asking Jesus is relevant to the Christian community at the time John is being written.

As such we see a theological transition in John from πίστις as faith that knows in part and needs no sight to πίστις, as belief which knows and sees in full.   We see this in Jesus's response to Philip, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father."  John 14:9b (KJV)  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me... ."  John 14:11a (KJV).  

Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that he will always remain active in the life of the church; that they too will do great or greater works; that anything asked of God in his name will be granted. Whereas faith acts in trust without seeing or knowing, belief is itself knowing and seeing that conjures the power of God's to act on one's behalf.  Jesus consistently claims, throughout John, that he is not acting of his own will, but that everything he does is done in accord to Father's will so that the Father will be glorified.  Jesus knows this because he and the Father are one and John is telling the community that they too have access to this unitive power if they believe and adhere to what Jesus is telling them. 

John's appeal to Christian community being addressed is that they are being offered certainty in an uncertain time and it sticks.    We hear it echoed today in Christians who claim "to know and accept" Jesus as their "personal Lord and Savior."

 
BELIEVING BECOMES BE-LOVING

If you checked out the etymology of belief, you will notice that it's various meanings in other languages dovetails nicely to the notion of loving something deeply.  Believing is almost synonymous with be-loving and it may be why translators consistently translate πίστις as believing in John.  In John 14, the dialogue shifts from believing to loving.  In John believing, in its own right, is a mental action that I have been calling assent.  In John 13, Jesus gives his disciples "a new commandment" that they love each other as Jesus loved them. 

The reality is that Jesus didn't show a whole lot of active love in John or even talked about it until now.  It is in these final chapters that we see Jesus talking about a deep spiritual love that makes John considered by many, the Gospel of Love. 

As the focus in John changes from the differentiation between Christianity and Judaism to divine unification of those who love Jesus, believing increasingly becomes associated with be-loving. I use the term be-loving as opposed to loving to emphasize it as a mental activity, much like believing. 

Jesus doesn't explain what loving one another consists of and the use of the Greek verb form of the word love, αγάπε, eliminates a sense of familial love or the brotherly love of friendship, much less the erotic or  obsessive forms of love.  It is a love on a higher plane. 

In the Christian world, αγάπε is God's love and it is the verb form of this love that is used throughout John. The question that is never fully answered in the New Testament is how we mortals do that.  

John hints at it as being something esoteric.   The love of God is unitive. Jesus explains that those who love him and keep his commandments will find that they are one with him, and if one with him, they are one with God and the fullness of Jesus will be revealed to them.

Judas or Jude asks why Jesus just doesn't reveal himself to the world. True to Johannine, this is an excellent question, but Jesus glosses over it and at the end of this chapter indicates that the "Prince of this world" (another term for Satan) has a job to do - indicating that Jesus can't intervene.  It seems to be a weak argument, but we have no other choice but to take John's word for it.  In other words, this is how John addresses tough questions there isn't a good answer for - just believe.


THE CONDITIONS OF LOVE

Unconditional love is frequently touted as God's love, αγάπε.  John has Jesus giving a twist to the common under standing of αγάπε.  Jesus says in verse 15 that if  his disciples love him, they will keep his commandments.

Up till now Jesus has only specified one commandment in John - that they love one another as he loved them.  So what is meant by commandments?

It could refer to things said about loving one's neighbours and enemies as oneself that Jesus talked about in the Synoptic Gospels, but it's not clear.  What is clear is that love is conditional in John.

[Compare Johannine understanding of love to the Pauline understanding of love in 1Corinthians 13 which has become the standard definition of unconditional love in Christianity.]

In John 14 love is a test that, if passed, would result in Jesus asking his Father to send the Holy Spirit to be with them, reside in them, and who would teach them everything they need to know and remind them of what Jesus has taught.  John defines the role of the Holy Spirit as an advocate, as one who stands by someone do defend and, in this case, to offer comfort.

GET UP AND GO

John 14 has an odd ending.  John has Jesus saying in the last verse (to paraphrase the Greek), "Let's get up and go."  The problem is they don't, at least as far as the Gospel of John is concerned.  There are three more chapters of Jesus's table teachings. 

Once again, this oddity points to the composite nature of John being composed of several different accounts.  What strikes me as even more odd is that, as editorialized as John is at times, the editors leave some of these little details slip by. 

Is there a purpose to them?  Perhaps, but I am hard pressed to fine one in this case.

If one flips to chapter 18, one can see how this ending easily connects to verse one of chapter 18.  It is possible and perhaps likely that chapters which follow John 14 were inserted at a later time, and perhaps hastily so that this odd ending to chapter 14 remained.  What this oddity also suggests is the sacrosanctity the Gospel of John was and is held in; that it couldn't be changed after a certain point.

Until next time, stay faithful.