Gospel of John & Heresies Flashcards
John’s audience
Jewish-Christians who were kicked out of their synagogue
John Date:
95 AD
-lots of heresies at time
Portrait of Jesus
Jesus is the Logos (the Word of God)
John’s “Genealogy”
The Prologue traces Jesus back to God
-no birth story, has prologue
Why was John’s audience kicked out of their temple?
They believed in Jesus
What kind of tone does John have?
- anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish)
- says Jews are the ones that want to kill Jesus
First part of Prologue
Everything in the world came from the Word
- Jesus has always been with us
- Trinity always existed
Second Part of Prologue
John the Baptist was created by God, but he was not the messiah. The true messiah was Jesus Christ.
Third Part of Prologue
Everyone who believed in God received God, and became his children (Baptism)
Last Part of Prologue
God became man, and this man, Jesus Christ, revealed God’s grace and truth to the people, making him known
The Hypostatic Union
Jesus is 100% human, 100% divine
Trinity
3 Persons in one God; 3 expressions of that God
Heresy
False teaching against church
Orthodoxy
Teaching that is true about church
The Council of Nicea
(Came first)
-declared that Jesus is truly God and is “of the same substance” (defended against Arianism)
Docetism
(Anti-Christ)
Jesus had a “phantom body”; appeared as human, actually ghost/illusion, not physical
“Dokeo”=”to seem”
Gnosticism
Jesus was a mystical being who came to give “secret knowledge” of salvation to a chosen few. The World is not Good. There is no Messiah. (no Resurrection)
- Teachings of Jesus saved us
- God of Old Testament different from God of New Testament, therefore He created earth to be evil also
Arianism
Jesus was half God; not equal to God (Superman)
- more than just a human
- named after 4th century bishop
- 50 AD, early
Council of Chacedon
75 years after Council of Nicaea
-affirmed that the relationship of the human and divine natures in Jesus were undivided and inseparable
Jesus is 100% man and 100% divine (against Nestorianism)
Adoptionism
Jesus was a good man whom God adopted as his Son at some point in his life
Moralism
Jesus was an ethical teacher, nothing more
Monophysitism (Apolloinarianism)
God’s Word (Logos) took the place of the human soul of Jesus
-He had a human body, but no mind or will
Nestorianism
In Jesus there are two Persons, one divine and one human
-believed 2nd person of Trinity came into being when Jesus was born
What were the two main types of heresies about Jesus in the early church?
Denying his divinity and his humanity
“Mother of God” to refer to Mary
- because it was declared at he Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431
- affirmed Mary as the Theotokos, of Mother of God
- shows her important role in salvation
Why do Catholics say the Nicene Creed at certain liturgical?
- it clarifies the church truth and denies heresies
- shows our unity as a community of faith
“Credo”
Latin term
Literally means, “I believe”
Nicene Creed came…
First!
4th century
Apostles’ Creed came….
Second!
5th Century
Athanasian Creed came…
Third!
consubstantial
“of the same substance”
What percent of John’s Gospel is his own?
94%
- only 6% overlap between his and other Gospels
- did not want to tell the same story of Jesus
- needed to demonstrate that Jesus is the word of God
Are there parables in John?
No
-Jesus stays and talks, no parables, instead long discourses (sermons)
What are discourses?
Sermons
- prove saving power of the word
- contains lots of symbolism, poetry, dualism (contrast; good/bad)
No miracles, John uses word….
“Signs”
=signs of his divinity, same way God performed signs in the OT
John’s Gospel divided into 2 books. What are they called?
- Books of Signs (section of gospel where Jesus is revealing his dignity; 7 signs)
- Book of Glory (not passion, it’s glory; when Jesus speaks he uses “I am”=”YHWH”; teaching his reader Jesus is God)
What was Jesus’ #1 purpose?
- Jesus came in order to die (synoptic gospels would disagree)
- John disagreed that crucifixion was an embarrassment
- Cross was necessary so we could be saved
Examples of differences in John’s Gospel?
- John shows Jesus saying “for this purpose, I have come” (no agony)
- Jesus walks up to the guards and asks them who they are looking for, then admitting “I am He” (knows cross is why he is there)
- lectures some more during Pilate’s trial, treated as equal
- no sense of abandonment (“it is finished”; knows God’s plan)
- shows crucifixion is the best thing to happen to humanity; without it would be no resurrection, no life
