Читать книгу THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS, THE CHRIST AND THE SON OF GOD, ACCORDING TO JOHN - Manfred Diefenbach - Страница 9

The background of the prologue is the principal question: Who is Jesus? The “chief actor” of the “hymn” is the original “word” (in Greek “lógos” in vv. 1a, b, c, 14a) like in Wisdom 9:1–2 which is described with the attributes of a hero or of God.

- Strophe 1: The (Divine) Logos-Hymn (vv. 1–5)

vv. 1–2: In allusion to Genesis 1:1a, the Fourth Evangelist introduces the so-called “Prologue” as a “hymn” with the same words “in the beginning” in verses 1a, 2 (cf. Proverbs 8:22–24 [LXX]; Jesus Sirach 24:9 [LXX]) – note the inclusion¹⁵! The keywords “lógos” (= word in vv. 1a, b, c, 14a) and “theós” (= God) are used as a “concatenation” (in Latin “concatenatio”¹⁶) as follows:

“In the beginning was the WORD,

and the WORD was with GOD

and GOD was the WORD.

This was in the beginning with GOD” (cf. John 17:5; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 1:2; 1 John 1:1; 2:13; Revelation 3:14).

As in Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29, the monotheistic¹⁷ God (cf. John 5:18) had spoken this “Word” as His own decision during His creation of the world (cf. Revelation 19:13).

- Jesus is the Creating Word (vv. 3–5)

v. 3: In this way, “all” things – Heaven (for example, the sun, the moon, the star) and earth (for example, the plants, the animals, men) – were “made”¹⁸/created “through” God, the Creator of all (cf. Genesis 1:1–2:4a and Wisdom 1:14; 9:1; 11:24; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 3:9; 4:10; Colossians 1:16–17, 20; Hebrews 1:2–3; 2:10; Revelation 4:11). Note the play on the verb (infinitive “gínomaɩ”) in Aorist “egéneto” (= made) in verse 3a, b, c:

“All” things were “(made) through Him ( )” – note the parallelism with verse 10b,

“and without Him /was/ made nothing

that /was/ made”. All things in creation are sacred since they originated in God’s Word.

v. 4: So, the heavenly God(’s Word) has spent the “life” (in Greek “zo锹⁹ in v. 4a, b and in 6:63; 8:12; 11:25; 14:6; 20:31) which was the “light” (in Greek “phõs” in vv. 4b, 5a, 7b, 8a, b, 9a and in 3:19–21; 5:26; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9–10; 12:35–36, 46 – cf. Genesis 1:3–5; Psalm 119:105) “of men” respectively human beings on earth. This “light” as His life-giving power enlightens the people/every (wo)man like a plant “through Him” (cf. Colossians 1:16).

v. 5: A contrast²⁰ – “light” versus “darkness” (in Greek “skotía” in v. 5a, b and in 6:17; 8:12; 12:35, 46 – cf. Isaiah 9:1) – concludes the first strophe of the hymn with the help of an antithetic parallelism:

“… The light (shines)” – note the present tense! – “in the darkness ( )” of the world,

“and the darkness” of Satan has “not grasped²¹/overcome” the divine light (cf. John 3:19).

- Strophe 2: The Roles of John the Baptist and Jesus (vv. 6–13)

“God sent” John the Baptist, “his messenger”, “to prepare his people for Christ’s coming” (cf. vv. 6–8), “but the role of” the pre-existent, incarnate, transcendent-immanent²² Jesus, “his only Son”, “is to make God known”²³ (cf. v. 18).

+ John the Baptist – the Role as a Witness for the Light respectively Jesus (vv. 6–8)

v. 6: “John”²⁴ the Baptist (cf. Mark 1:4–5; Matthew 3:1; Luke 3:2) is like an “angel”/messenger (cf., for example, Luke 1:19, 26) respectively the “forerunner”/“precursor” (v. 23 and Isaiah 40:3–5 [LXX]; Malachi 3:1; Mark 1:2–3; Matthew 3:3; Luke 3:4–6) who has been “sent” (in Greek “apostéllo” in v. 6b and in 3:28 and “pémpo” in v. 33b) by God or like an apostle who has been “sent” by Jesus (cf., for example, Luke 9:2; 10:1, 3 or especially John 20:21) in contrast to the “sending” of the delegation by the Sanhedrim in Jerusalem (cf. 1:19b, 24): John the Baptist was a “man” of “God” – a “man … from” and for “God” like Jesus (cf. 3:17; 5:36, 38; 10:36; 11:42; 17:3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21).

v. 7: John’s task was to “testify” (in Greek “marturéo” in vv. 7b, 8b, 15a, 32a, 34a and in 3:26; 5:33) “the light” (vv. 4b, 5a, 7b, 8a, b, 9a and in 3:19–21; 5:35; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9–10; 12:35–36, 46) – Jesus – in the “darkness” (cf. v. 5a, b and in 3:19–21; 8:12; 11:9–10; 12:35, 46) of the “world” (in Greek “kósmos” in vv. 9c, 10a, b, c, 29c and in 3:19; 9:5; 12:46). The purpose/aim of his “testimony”²⁵ as a witness was/is that everyone (in Greek “pántes” [= all] in v. 7c and “pánta” [= all] in v. 9b) – then and nowadays – “believes” (in Greek “pɩsteúo” in vv. 7c, 12d, 50d and in 20:31; Acts 19:4) in Jesus Christ, the “light” (cf., for example, John 8:12), as a universal²⁶ invitation – for Christians, Jews(, Muslims, …)

v. 8: He is defined with the help of a correction²⁷ (“not … but”) in the sense of an understatement like in verses 20–21, 27 as being “not … the light but to testify” as His witness “about the light” (cf. 5:35) – Christ Jesus.

+ “To be or not to be” in the “pre-existent”, incarnate Jesus, “the True Light” (vv. 9–13)

v. 9: The incarnate Jesus is described in the metaphoric words as “the (true²⁸) light ( )” (cf. 1 John 2:8 and Isaiah 49:6) for the people as their ray/flicker of hope who illuminates the “darkness” (cf. v. 5a, b) “in the world”. He is like the “shining”²⁹ (cf. Matthew 4:16) of the life-giving sun “into the world” (cf. John 3:19; 6:14; 10:36; 11:27; 12:46–47; 16:28; 17:18; 18:37 or 8:12; 9:5; 11:9; Matthew 5:14) respectively

v. 10: “in the world” (vv. 9c, 10a, b, c, 29c) – note here the concatenation (in Latin “concatenatio”³⁰) in verses 9c–10a as in verses 1–2. In the same words in verse 3a – “expressis verbis”: “… (made) through Him ( )” – are used in verse 10b. So, the author emphasizes that Jesus (of Nazareth), the divine “only Son” (vv. 14d, 18b) of God, was involved in the creation of the world by God, the Creator of all things in Heaven and on earth. However, the so-called “world” did “not know” (in Greek “gɩnósko”³¹) respectively ignored/ignores Jesus (cf., for example, John 14:17; 16:3 or 1 Corinthians 2:8; 1 John 3:1).

v. 11: In verses 11–12 two groups are described in view of an “either-or-decision”³²: On the one side the group which did not accept Jesus as the “only Son” of God (cf. v. 11) and on the other side the group of the believers in Him (cf. vv. 12–13). Either someone trusts in Jesus (cf. vv. 12–13, 16–18 and 20:30–31) or s/he turns against Him by not believing in Him (as the refusal of Him – cf. vv. 10c–11b).

The antithetic parallelism with the noun “tà ídɩa” in verse 11a and the term “ídɩos” in verse 11b – note the same root of word – underlines the “controversy”/“conflict” between Jesus and the “Chosen People” (cf. Matthew 21:38) from the beginning:

“(He came) in/to His/ own ( ),

and /His/ own /people did/ [ ] not receive³³/accept [Him]” like a stranger (cf., for example, John 3:11, 32; 5:43).

v. 12: However, everyone who “received”/receives “Him” and “believed”/believes “in (His) name ( )” (20:31 and 3:18; 5:43; 10:25; 12:13; 14:13–14, 26; 15:16, 21; 16:23–24, 26) will be called “children of God” (cf. John 11:52; Romans 8:16, 21; 9:8; Philippians 2:15; 1 John 3:1–2, 10; 5:2, 13 and Matthew 5:45; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:5)

v. 13: because everyone is God’s creature (v. 13d: “ek theoũ egennéthesan” – “from God /were/ born” – cf. John 3:3, 5–6; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23). Note the contrast between the heavenly God and the human beings on earth with the help of a correction³⁴ (ouk … oudé … oudé … allá): “neither of” blue-“blooded” human beings “nor of /the/ will /of the/ flesh nor of /the/ will /of/ man” (= human reflections/ideas/plans, desires …), “but of God …”

- Strophe 3: The Incarnated Jesus in the World (vv. 14–18)

“A divine being (God’s Word [1:1,14], who is also the light [1:5,9] and God’s only Son [1:14,18] comes into the world and becomes flesh.”³⁵ “The Word” (vv. 1a, b, c, 14a) “was made flesh and lived among us”, so the “Angelus” prayer. The phrase “became flesh” is an expression of Jesus’ incarnation – the meaning of the Latin word is to “be(come) in flesh” – as the divine God’s Son on earth. Christ is the eschatological, authentic Revealer of “truth”³⁶ (in Greek “alétheɩa” in vv. 14e, 17b) and Saviour sent from God who was/is born through Mary as a human being like us – the Christmas story of Jesus of Nazareth is the history of the incarnate “Son of God” who was/is one of us in “flesh”³⁷ (vv. 13a, 14a) and blood. He “dwelt among us” (v. 14b) in the midst of human beings and in solidarity with us in allusion to the Jewish nomads who lived in tents (cf., for example, Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:11–12; Numbers 35:34; Ezekiel 37:27). He was a human being under human beings³⁸. In Jesus, God is present in the world and He links the divine world with the earthly world³⁹. The so-called doctrine of the “Hypostatic Union” at the Council of Chalcedon in 451⁴⁰ refers in allusion to John 1:1, 14 that the one person Jesus Christ had/has two distinct natures: Jesus of Nazareth was a human being, a man (100 per cent – cf. Romans 1:3; 8:3; 9:5; Philippians 2:7; Colossians 1:22; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 7) and He is the Christ, the divine “Son of God” (100 per cent – cf. Romans 1:4; 8:3; 9:5; Philippians 2:6; 1 John 4:2).

For someone who did/does not believe in Jesus of Nazareth, He was only a human being (“sárx” = flesh) on earth⁴¹, but for His disciples (cf. v. 14c), John the Baptist (cf. v. 15) and for His believers in Him (cf. 16)⁴² – then and nowadays –He was/is the “the only” Son (cf. Genesis 22:2) “from the FATHER” (vv. 14d, 18b). So, the Fourth Evangelist suggests that he as Jesus’ disciples together with the others “have seen” (in Greek “theáomaɩ”⁴³ – cf., for example, John 20:18; Acts 9:27; 1 Corinthians 9:1) “(His) glory ( )”⁴⁴ (cf. Exodus 33:18; 2 Peter 1:17) and were His witnesses (cf., for example, 2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1; 4:14).

+ The Witness of John the Baptist for Jesus (v. 15)

John the Baptist (cf. vv. 6–8) is also a witness of Jesus – note the verb “marturéo” (= to testify) in verses 7b, 8b, 15a, 32a, 34a. The pre-existence of Jesus⁴⁵ in contrast to him is described with the help of an antithetic parallelism:

Jesus “comes” temporally “after” him (vv. 15d, 27a, 30b and Mark 1:7; Matthew 3:11),

but He ranks “before” him,

because “[He was] /the/ first ... [ ]” divine One.

+ The Relationship to Jesus by His Believers (vv. 16–18)

v. 16: We agree with Michael Theobald to define the phrase “we all” (in Greek “pántes” in vv. 7c, 16b) with the “graceful” believers (cf. Ephesians 3:19) in Jesus as the Christ and “the only” Son of God – then and nowadays as readers/hearers in the sense of the “receivers” (vv. 12a, 16a₂) of the Good News according to the Fourth Gospel⁴⁶.

v. 17: We also agree with Theobald that the parallelism of verse 17a – “through Moses” – and verse 17b – “through Jesus Christ” (cf. John 17:3; 20:31⁴⁷) is not to be understood as an “antithesis”⁴⁸ (“aut – aut” – either-or) of “Law”⁴⁹/“Torah” (vv. 17a, 45c) – the first part of the Hebrew Bible, the so-called “TaNaK”: the Torah, the prophets (nebiim), the writings (ketubim) – versus “grace and truth”⁵⁰ (cf. Exodus 34:6; Psalm 25:10; 40:11; 85:11 [LXX]; Romans 5:21), but rather it is to be read in the positive sense of “et – et” (cf. Matthew 5:17–18; 7:12) that means both – “Law”/“Torah” & “grace and truth” – complement one another.

v. 18: The Johannine Prologue concludes with the theological statement that the pre-existent “Jesus Christ” (v. 17b) and the incarnate “Son of God” (cf. 14a, d) had only “(seen)” (in Greek “horáo”) “God ( ), the only God” (cf. Exodus 33:20 and John 3:32; 5:37; 6:46; 12:45; 14:9; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 John 4:12). This One is like an “exegete”⁵¹ (v. 18c) who could explain, interpret God and report about Him because of His (mutual) relationship with His divine “FATHER”. The believers in “Jesus Christ” (v. 17b) and “children of God” (v. 12c) are the receivers of His “explanation”, “interpretation” of the monotheistic God respectively His “report” about Him.