Lesson 5: The Gospel according to John and Gnostics thing Flashcards
what does Jesus confess and do in gospel of john that makes this gospel unique?
he says that he is:
- “the bread of life”
- “the light of the world”
- “the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep”
- “the way, the truth, and the life
This is the Gospel that identifies Jesus as the Word of God “through whom all things were made.”
the astonishing claim that “before Abraham was, I am,” where he confesses that “I and the Father are one,”
Jesus performs many of his most memorable acts: turning the water into wine, raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, and washing his disciples’ feet
the socio-historical method
seeks to understand how a literary text reflects the social world and historical circumstances of the author who produced it
one of the prerequisites for applying this method is a detailed knowledge of the text itself
what type of text is the Gospel of John
Greco Roman Biography
the Johannine Prologue of the Gospel of John
provides a kind of mystical reflection on the “Word” of God
–> a being from eternity past who was with God and yet was God, who created the universe, who provided life and light to all humans, and who entered into the world that he had made, only to be rejected by his own people
the Farewell Discourse
longest discourse of the Gospel of John
Jesus states that he is soon to leave the disciples to return to the Father
he will send the Disciples another comforter, the Holy Spirit
how are Jews depicted in the Gospel of John?
Are Jesus and his followers Jews in the gospel or nah?
portrayed as the enemies of Jesus who are consequently opposed to God and aligned with the Devil and the forces of evil
–> important to note that not all Jews are lumped together and branded as the enemies of God
–> the ennemies are “the Jews” of the local synagogue who have opposed his Christian community
Jesus and his followers are portrayed as Jews who subscribe to the authority of Moses and participate in the Jewish cult and the Jewish festival
how is Jesus identified in the prologue of John?
what is odd about this?
the prologue identifies Jesus as the Word of God who has become human
he is never explicitly called this anywhere else in the Gospel
main themes in John?
Jesus speaks of possessing the glory of the Father “before the world was made”
Jesus says “I and the Father are one”
Jesus claims to be “the resurrection and the life”
Jesus says that he is “the light of the world”
Jesus is “sent” from God
Jesus is rejected by “the Jews”
Jesus is the Word of God, the creator of the universe, the equal of God, or the one sent from heaven and soon to return
what is unique about the John?
if we use the comparative method, we see that most of the main themes used are not in the synoptic gospels
none of the main stories from the synoptics are found in John
–> ex: Bethleem, Jesus wanting to stay discreet, Jesus not being sure about dying, etc
the majority of John’s stories are unique to John; they are found nowhere else
Whereas Jesus scarcely ever talks about himself in the Synoptics, that is virtually all he talks about in John
explain the differences between the stories that John and the rest synoptics share
Jesus does not do as many miracles in John as he does in the Synoptics, but the ones he does are, for the most part, far more spectacular
–> unlike in the Synoptics, Jesus does nothing to hide his abilities
unlike the Synoptics, why does the Fourth Gospel use Jesus’ miracles?
to convince people of who he is
“Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe”
done publicly in order to convince people of Jesus’ identity so that they may come to believe in him
note that in the synoptics, Jesus refuses to do miracles to prove his identity
in the Fourth Gospel, why do we say “signs” instead of “miracles” when Jesus does some godly actions?
miracles = demonstration of power
“signs” = for they are signs of who Jesus is
do scholars think John used the Synoptics as source?
why?
nah
too many differences
they do not have extensive verbatim agreements, even in the stories that they happen to share
John probably didn’t know about them
The few similarities between John and the Synoptics derive from where?
from related oral traditions in circulation in their respective communities
the evidence that we have that John used other sources
passages appear to come from different writers (writing style changes)
There are several passages in this Gospel that appear redundant, where similar accounts are repeated in slightly different words
–> probably deriving from different sources
Inconsistencies in John’s narrative (literary seams)
the central theme of the John prologue?
Jesus is the Word made flesh
Character of the Sources in John
The Signs Source
Discourse Sources
Passion Source
Other Sources
The Signs Source
a source that described the signs of Jesus
written to persuade people that he was the messiah, the Son of God
how many signs in the gospel of john?
what important about that number?
how is this a scam?
there are seven signs in the Gospel
seven is the perfect number, the number of God; is it an accident that there were seven signs?
a scam because the source may have described the signs that Jesus did in sequence and enumerated each one
–> John kept the first two enumerations but for some unknown reason eliminated the others
–> Jesus does other signs between the first two signs
Discourse Sources
there must have been more than one of the speech sources
–> the best explanation for the literary problems in the Farewell Discourse
