How do the Gospel and Epistles of John depict the death of argument of this study is that there is a diversity of theological perspectives on Jesus’ death in the Johannine Corpus and that at least some of that diversity can be elucidated with reference to the changing Sitze im Leben of the Johannine community. This book thus attempts Jace Johannine theology with Johannine history, building on the earlier labors of Raymond E. Brown and J. Louis Martyn in particular. Part One assesses recent trends in Johannine scholarship and gives a fresh account of the history of Johannine Christianity and of its literary legacy. Part Two then investigates Jesus' death in the Gospel and Epistles of John, attempting to understand and to explain the ity of Johannine theological perspectives with reference to hi developments and ogical realities. Focal points of discussion and analysis are Johannine passages which relate Jesus’ death to the fulfillment of Scripture (e.g., John 12:37-39, 19:24, 36-37), to his departure or going exaltation and glorification (e.g. 3:14, e 32-3: and to the language of flesh, bl water (John 6:51-56; 13:1-20; 19:345 1 John 1:7; John 7). MLC. de Boer, a native of Amsterdam, was educated in the United States (Brown University, Union Theological Seminary in ‘New York) and now lives in England where he teaches New ‘Testament in the University of Manchester. UNIVERSIDAD DE NAVARRA i 191124462 ISBN 90-190-0191-X ISSN 0926.6007 PAL EXEGESIS & THEOLOGY ——— 7.C. de Boer phannine rspectives the DeathTable of contents For Paula and Emma i PART ONE Chapter One: Currents in Johannine Scholarship I. The Incarnation and the Death of the Revealer. IL, John's Gospel and Johannine Christianity . Chapter Two: The Jotnnine Corpus and Community 1. Communal History and Composition History TL, Johannine Communal History... IL. The Composition History... PART TWO (Chapter Three: ‘The Death of the Messiah I. The Miracle Working Prophet-Messiah . .. IL. The Messiah's Fulfillment of Seripture ‘CIP-Gegevens Koninklijke Bibiotbeek, Den Haag (©1995, Kok Pharos Publishing House, Chapter Four: The Death of the Son of God 1, The Son of God Seat into the World. Tl, The Son of God's Departure...6 Chapter Sixt ‘The Death of God's Son, Jesus Christ Appendixes Abbreviations. , Bibliography | | | | } | | | Foreword “Now and then there are readings that make the hairs on the neck, the non-existent pel, sand om end n every word burns and shines hard and clear and infinite and exact, immediately, by the sense hat it was always there, that we the readers, knew it was always there, and have glways known it was as it was, though we have now for the irst time recognised, become fully cognisant of, our knowledge”. —~A.S, Byatt, Possession (New York: Random House, 1990), p. 512. A. This study had its genesis, I suppose, twenty-five years 2go, inthe spring of 1971, when ‘Martyn was professor of New Testament, I sill read this book. Ever since, Theen unable to read than a tworlevel drama and or to understand its astonishing. ing other than a response to issues and events contemporary with its composition. ‘There are, Iam sure, other ways to read the Gospel (many such readings are about tods8 JOHANNINE PERSE origin of the Gospel’s theological and chri ‘While I was a doctoral student at Union in the Jato 1970s, Martyn published his second edition of History and Theology (1979), as well as a collection of his Johannine of John in Christian History (1979), which included his provocative article, "Glimpses into the History of Johannine Christ At the same time, Brown published his well-known book, Th 179), which incorporated research from several articles. This major effort was significantly influenced by the labors of his colleague, and provided a masterful account of the history and sociology’ of Johannine Christianity as attested by both the Gospel and the Epistles of John, Brown's major Anchor Bible commentary on the Johannine lowed in 1982. {In that same year I was offered a teaching post at Princeton Theological Seminary in ‘New Jersey. Because I was a student of Martyn and Brown, I was asked to take on the essays, Th teaching of the Gospel and Epistles of John, which 1 was happy to do even though my doctoral dissertation had been devoted to Paul. The years of teaching at Princeton Seminary (until 1990) convinced me that the approach pioneered by Martyn and Brown has some plications for understanding the death of Jesus in the Johannine Gospel and ications, as I see them at this study isan attempt to lay out some of those i time. ‘The scholarly labors of my two esteemed teachers and valued friends, Ray Brown and. ‘Lou Martyn, are thus foundational for this study, though I have not always been able to follow their interpretations of John. Whenever the evidence provided by the Johannine documents seemed to warrant it, Ihave ventured to disagree with them. Lou Martyn and Ray Brown would have it no other way. 'B. The initial drafts ofthe Introduction and of Chapters One and ‘Two were completed while ‘4 Member-in-residence atthe Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, from ‘May to August 1991. The Center provided generous financial support for which I remain grateful. I am grateful also to Marinus de Jonge, Lou Martyn, and D. Moody Smith for reading and commenting upon this material at that time. My good friend Rien de Jonge was Also kind enougi to read Chapters One to Five inthe spring of 1995 and to offer many wise comments when 1 was able to vist Leiden in May. 1 have learned! much fron his work on John over the years, and he fas often proved me to think thi FOREWORD 9 am extremely grateful to him and his wife, Vera, for their warm generosity, encouragement, and hospitality, (Chapter Two incorporates an article, "Historical Criticism, Narrative Criticism, and the Fourth Gospel", published in Journal for the Study of the Now Testament in 1992. An earlier version was read at the International Conference on New Directions in Biblical Studies, King’s College, London, in April of that year. ‘A version of Chapter Four, Section If, was presented at the University of Amsterdam in May 1995. 1 am grateful to Jan Willem van Henten for the invitation and hospitality ‘Another version of this material was shared with the Johannine Seminar of Studiorum Novi ‘Testamenti Societas Menken and Alan Chapter Six incorporates and develops work begun in two aticles, “Jesus the Baptizer: 1 John $:5-8 and the Gospel of John", published in the Journal of Biblical Literature (1988), and "The Death of Jesus Christ and His Coming in the Flesh (1. John published in Novum Testamentum (1991). Earlier versions of the frst article were read at the Princeton New Testament Colloquium (1985), Society of Biblical Literature (Jerusalem, 1986), and the University of Leiden (1986). An abbreviated Dutch version was published in 1989, Tam particularly grateful to Ray Brown, Rien de Jonge, Henk Jan de Jonge, Bart Ehrman, Lou Martyn, and Paul Meyer for their comments. An earlier draft of the second article was read at the annval mecting of the 1989). Bart Ehrman and Joel Marcus its meeting in Prague in August 1995. Again, Tam grateful to Maarten 1 international meeting of the Califor Society of Biblical Literature (Anaheim, {gave me their critical comments on this material at the time. hope that all those who have commented on my attempts to understand the Johannine Gospel and Epistles will forgive me ifT have not always been able to follow their advice or etations of the material or their critical suggestions, even after considerable reflection. of course responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation in this book. T must also express my deep appreciation to my colleague and fiend, Christopher ‘Duckett, without whose support this project support and encouragement of my other colleagues at the University's Centre for Biblical Studies, Adrian Custis and George Brooke. Kristin De ‘Troyer and the editorial board of this series were kind enough to accept this book for publication, 1 am geateful and honored, id not have been completed. 1 also value the10 JOHANNINE PERSPECTIVES ON THE DEATH OF JESUS Finally, T must thank my wife Paula and our daughter Emma. During the past few ‘years, they have had to put up with a husband and a father whose mind seemed often to be elsewhere, because often enough it was. Their presence in my life means more to me than ‘words can say oF my “absentmindedness* would indicate. C. T use the following conventions in this book. In quotations, ‘emphasis is original unless noted otherwise. Double quotation mar ‘actual quotations, whether from primary or secondary sources. Single quotation marks are normally used with words or phrases having a technical or specialized meaning (e.g. ‘high’ christology), including definitions (of, e.g., Greek or Hebrew words), and also to ‘mark quotations within quotations. Articles and books are cited by author and date of publication (e.g., Martyn 1979; ‘Brown 1970); full bibliographical information is to be found at the end of the book, in the Bibliography where works are listed alphabetically by author and date of publications as well. ‘The major Sections (I, IL, ete.) of Chapters each conclude with a Bibliographical Note in ‘which I acknowledge my indebledness to other scholars and take the opportunity to address ‘various critical problems pertaining to this investigation in often technical detail. The major Sections of Chapters also contain one footnote each, at the beginning, presenting a brief outline of the contents, ‘To the probable dismay of my English friends and colleagues, T have chosen to use ‘American spelling and idiom, though I imagine that after nearly five years of living and ‘working in England I have not always managed to be entirely consistent in this. ‘Martin de Boer ‘Manchester, August 1995 Introduction “The continuous implicit communication within the Fourth Gospel is a major source of both its power and its mystery. What seems clear and simple on the surface is ‘ever so simple forthe percepive reader because ofthe opacity and complexity ofthe gospel’ sub-suifoce signals the discovery of sub-surface signals which had Dreviously escaped the reader's notice that allows the gospel tobe read again and ‘egal wih pleasure and prof --R.A.Culpepper983,p.151 [A Its one of the curious features of Johannine scholarship that the death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel has rarely been the object of concentrated study. Indeed, two major bibliographies of Johannine studies (B. Malestesta 1967; G. Van Belle 1988), covering publications from 1920 to 1985, list but a single full-length study devoted specifically to this theme, the fine work of J.T. Forestll, published in 1974.! A flurry of articles, mainly in German, inthe 1970s and 1980s led to the monographs of G.C. Nicholson (1983) and H. Kohler (1987), as well as to the bref but valuable treatments in the works R.T. Fortna (1988) and M.M, Thompson (1988). Most of these studies are reactions to the provocations ‘of E, Kisemann (1968) who claimed thatthe death of Jesus isnot important tothe Gospel’s Understanding of his person and work and thatthe passion narrative of John (chapters 18-19) is a mere “postscript, included only because it was part ofthe tradition. “These studies have shown that Kisemann’s thesis isnot tenable, at Jest not without G. Bosnkamm 1968; W.A. Meeks 1969; J.L, Martyn 1970;2 JOHANNINE PERSPECTIVES ON THE DEATH OF JESUS purpose of the present study is to make a contribution to explaining and to understanding this complexity in ways that previous studies have no. T take a5 my focus for analysis and discussion four distinguishable sets of terms frequently used by the Gospel in passages that seemingly concer, either at or below the surface of the text, the death of Jesus 1. Fulfillment of scripture (dqpod, reheoby. 2. Departing, or going away (Odie and similar verbs). 3. Bxaltation, glory, and glorification (bywbiva, BéEa BoE aoa). 4, Flesh, blood, water (0 ‘The later three terms also oceur in the Gospel’s near relatives, the Johannine Epistles, and ‘we shall thus include the latter within the purview of this study. Indeed, this study is partly ‘motivated by the conviction that the Johannine Epistles, 1 John in particular, provide important elves for solving the sometimes puzzling and obscure things the Gospel has to say about the death of Jesus. ‘These terms, and the contexts in which they are used, provide specifically Johannine points of entry for this study of the death of Jesus in the Gospel and Epistles of John and also, as it happens, points of contact with other notable Johannine themes that have been ‘objects of considerable study in their own right: incamation (flesh), eucharist (flesh and fe-existence and resurrection (glory), and ascension (glorification), ‘There have of course been a number of bref studies of some ofthese terms, oF of the death of Jesus, but many of them are quite limited and do not (as we shall see in Chapter (One distinguish adequately iat all, between the four sels of terms indicated (especially the Second and thd which are often simply lamped together). For this reason, no study has yet explored or explained their conceptual and literary interelationships, import for John's understanding of the death of Jesus, or—most er historical function, ie. their original, intended rhetorical purpose or effect for Jotn’s ist readers (one that has some pertinence forall subsequent readers). ‘The Johannine vocabulary pertaining to the death of Jesus is by no mean dyad), Particularly noteworthy too vTRODUCTION B or "dying (for)" (axobirjoxew [éxép)). The present study, however, will fous on the four seis of terms isolated above, discussing others when they impinge (as they do) on the analysis ofthe four sos of terms under scrutiny. BB. The first set of terms concerns the fulfillment of scripture in connection with the details ‘of Jesus’ death. The verb is always Fhxpode, “to fulfill” (12:38; 13:18; 19:24, 36, 37; ef. 1:12), except for 19:28 where another verb, rehewir, "to fulfil” or "bring 10 i used. The instances are confined to the second half of the Gospel. We shal discuss these passages, among others, in Chapter Three. Some examples: 12:37-39 "Though he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in ‘him, that he word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, "Lord, ‘who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?* For this reason they could not because again Isaiah said, ‘He has blinded eyes and hardened their he 19:24 "They then said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but et us cast lots for it 10 see whose it will be’, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, "They divided my garments anang themselves and for my clothing they cast lots”. 19:36-37 "For these things happened that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘A bone of him shall not be broken’. And again another scripture says, "They shail look on him whom they have pierced”. ‘The second set of terms, involving the idea of departing or going away, is largely 13:1, 3, 33, 36; 14:2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 28; 16:5, 7, 10, 17, 28; but see also 7: 22), Jesus departs or goes away from this world to the Father (xpig rbv zarépa) or to God (xpd¢ rb» Océr). The Gospel uses a number ‘of verbs in this connection, the most common being dé 5, 28; 16:5, 17). Others are rope confined to the Last (or Farewell) Discour (from the world to the Fath We shall discuss this theme of Jesus’ departure in some detail in Chapter Four. Hxampless 733 “Hesus ‘with you just title while and L-go.ayyay 10 the One14 JOHANNINE PERSPECTIVES ON THE DEATH OF JESUS INTRODUCTION 1s who sent me”. unlike the terms ofthe frst three sets. Yet they clearly have some relation to one another in i ha the ater had gen cigs it is hans ad tht be See eee ere ete eres ee I John 1:7 "The blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin", 10 "Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the Jesus said 10 them, ‘One who has bathed has no need to wash, except ‘but is completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you". Prepare a place for you, 1 am coming again and shall tate you to myself. so that 5:6 "This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not where Iam you may also be. And where Lam going away, you know the way". water only but in the water and in the blood". 16:28 “I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again I am leaving ‘the world and going t0 the Father". 6:53 "Jesus said to them, "Truly, ‘Son of Man and drink his blood, ‘The terms relating to departure ae kept apart from those relating to exaltation~glory—~ the Son of Man in We shall discuss {erms of departure or going away, though such verbs other connections. The language of exaltation-glory~ ‘ther, glorify your name". “The croved answered him, ’...How can you say that he Son of Man must be fied up (exatted)?”*. 13:31 “When he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the of Man has been loved and God has been glared elsewhere closely allied to the Goris your Son, that the Son ide yourself with the glory fering the four sets of terms separately to see16 JOHANNINE PERSPECTIVES ON THE DEATH OF JESUS relation to one another. We may think of the four sets as four partially overlapping semantic fields or circles. In this work, we shall concentrate, at least intially, on the sections of the ciles that do not overlap with other circles, atthe risk of oversimplification to be sure, but with the hope of clarification as wel. C. The primary aim of the present study, then, is to understand and to explain the meaning and the funtion of the four sets of terms above within their original literary, religious, cultural-tinguistic, socio-historica, and theological contexts. The crucial question this study seeks to answer is: Hoow do the Gospel and Epistles of John depict and understand Jesus" death an, just 4s important, why do they do so in the way that they do? In answering this question, we may also hope to come to a better understanding of Johannine theology as a whole, ofits place within early Christian history, and of the way it may, and should, inform theological discussion today. “Let me hasten to emphasize that the four sets of terms to which we shall devote our aatention Gn cultural-tinguistic, socio-histrieal and theological contexts) do not flly display the complex and rich Johannine understanding of Jesus’ death, ‘his study, which is not full commentary, seeks 10 make a contsbution, but does not pretend to be the definitive word nor to have plumbed the full and labyrinthine depths of Johannine symbolism and theology. These depths in thet totality shall always, one may hope hidden from view. Undoubiedly, a claim to have comprehended ly be & considerable conceit, but would also amount to a domestication and trivilization of the Gospel, which afterall purports to be about the Creator God's sovereign act of salvation forthe world, Chapter One shall provide a brief overview of currents in receat Johannine scholarship, partculasy in connection with our theme, while Chapter Two shall provide what “regard as a necessary account of the documents and of the community that produced them. ‘This account is integral to the historical and theological agenda of the chapters that follow (in Part Two), which is to understand and 10 explain, both his what the Johannine PART ONE,