grace,” Gal. 5:4). In brief, John’s primary audience among Christians was that group
of Christian Jews who were straddling the fence between the Christian community
and the Jewish synagogue (cf. the Book of Hebrews).
John’s secondary audience was that group of Jewish Christians who belonged
to Christian communities but who were wavering in their faith because of persecu-tion
and the threat of death (16:1-4). For these he records the words of Jesus: “These
things I have spoken to you, that you may be kept from stumbling” (16:1).
Therefore, in conclusion, the Gospel as an edificatory piece, we may be
reasonably sure that John wrote his Gospel for weak Christians both in his
community and in the synagogue. His Gospel encourages Christian Jews who were
straddling the fence between Jesus and the synagogue (1) because they feared
excommunication from the synagogue (cf. 9:22; 12:37-43; 16:2); (2) or because they
found Jesus’ teaching about the Eucharist a hard saying and could not accept it (cf.
6:59ff.) (3) or because they could not accept the high Christology of John and his
community (cf. 5:1-47; 7:–8:59, especially 8:31; 10:22-29; and perhaps 2:23-25;
11:46); (4) or, possibly but not certainly, because they had been disciples of John the
Baptist and could not easily accept Jesus as greater than the Baptist (cf. 1:19-34;
3:22–4:3). For all of these, the Gospel as a whole, with its massive emphasis on.Page 8 Introduction
witness to Jesus and response of faith in Jesus, provided a powerful appeal for a
definitive decision concerning the Messiah (”the Christ”). To all of these equally, the
words of Jesus would certainly apply: “These things I have spoken to you, that you
may be kept from stumbling” (16:1).
Literary Techniques
Few things are more helpful for readers of John’s Gospel than an appreciation
of his literary techniques. These are for the most part the techniques of a dramatist.
They include the technique of using stories to set up scenes; the use of discourses,
dialogues, and monologues to expound Jesus’ teaching; the use of misunderstanding
and double-meaning words to emphasize important elements of Jesus’ teaching; and
the use of such other techniques as the rule of two, explanatory comments, irony,
foreshadowing, inclusion, and the chiastic arrangement of parts, sequences, and
sections of the Gospel. All of these call for a brief explanation.
1. Stories
John uses stories to set up scenes, discourses, and dialogues. The following are
good examples. In John 1:19-51, the story of Jesus’ coming to John the Baptist at
the Jordan sets the scene for the parade of witnesses who testify successively to Jesus
as the Lamb of God, Messiah, King of Israel, Son of God, and Son of Man.
In 2:13-25, the story of the cleansing of the temple sets the scene for Jesus’
dialogue with the Jews concerning His words “Destroy this temple [He means His
body], and in three days I will raise it up.” In 3:1-21, the story of Nicodemus’ coming
to Jesus at night sets the scene for Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus about being “born
again” (3:5), just as in 4:4ff., Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman sets the scene
for His dialogue with her about the water that will become “a well of water springing
up to eternal life” (4:14).
John uses the same technique in chapter 5, where the cure of the paralytic (5:1-
18) sets the scene for the long monologue of 5:19-47; in chapter 6, where Jesus’
discussion with the Jews about signs (6:22-31) sets the theme for Jesus’ homily on
“the true bread from heaven” (6:32-58); in chapters 7–8, where Jesus’ secret trip to
Jerusalem sets the scene for a series of debates with the Jews; in chapter 9, where
the cure of the man born blink sets the scene for the discourse on the good and the.Introduction Page 9
bad shepherds (10:1-21); in 10:22-39, where Jesus’ appearance at the feast of the
Dedication leads to His final dispute with the Jews; and lastly in chapters 13–17,
where the washing of the feet (13:1-32) sets the scene for Jesus’ Last Supper
discourse. In all these examples, the stories are secondary to the dialogues,
monologues, and discourses for which they prepare the way. They are clearly the
work of a superb dramatist.
2. Discourses, Dialogues, and Monologues
As C. H. Dodd has pointed out, the typical Johannine discourse (e.g., in 3:1-21;
4:4-38; 5:1-47; 6:22-58; 9:39–10:21; 10:22-39; 13:33–16:33) follows a distinctive
pattern: (a) it begins with a solemn declaration by Jesus, often in lapidary terms (e.g.,
3:3; 4:10; 5:17; 6:32; 7:16; 9:39; 10:25; 13:13); (b) it is frequently followed by an
objection or question based upon a misunderstanding of Jesus’ words (e.g.3:4; 4:11;
5:18; 6:41-42; 7:20; 9:40; 10:6; 10:31; 13:36); (c) there then follows Jesus’ discourse
clarifying the misunderstanding or the objection. The discourse is sometimes
interrupted by further questions and objections (e.g., 4:4-38; 6:33-58; 15:33–16:33)
and at other times consists entirely of a long monologue (e.g., 3:11-21; 5:19-47; 10:7-
18).
6. Irony
John records certain persons, most frequently opponents of Jesus that make
statements about Jesus that they think are correct and that John’s readers know are
correct, but in a different and sometimes far deeper sense. The following are good
examples. In 4:12, the Samaritan woman asks Jesus, “You are not greater than our
father Jacob, are you, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and
his cattle?” She thinks not; the reader knows that Jesus is inestimably greater than.Introduction Page 11
Jacob–for He is the one that gave it to Jacob (cf. 8:58).
The Jews ask, “Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the
offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” (7:42).
Their question implies that they deny Jesus’ Davidic descent and birth in Bethlehem.
The reader knows the opposite is true.
Caiaphas declares, “nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that
one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish”
(11:50). Caiaphas means that the execution of Jesus as a revolutionary will save the
Jews from the wrath of Rome. The reader knows that Caiaphas (the high priest),
without being conscious of it, has prophesied the death of Jesus for the spiritual
redemption not only of the Jews but of the whole world!
When Pilate asks, “What is truth?” (18:38), his question implies that one cannot
find the truth. John’s readers know that the truth Pilate despairs of finding stands
before him in the person of Jesus, “the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6).
Finally, when the soldiers mock Jesus as king (19:2-3), John’s readers grasp the
double irony: He whom the soldiers ironically declare to be king is, ironically, truly
a king!
7. Foreshadowing
This is a narrator’s technique whereby knowledge of the future is given in
advance in order to arouse anticipation and suspense, and at the same time prepare
the audience to look for an interconnection of the parts of the story with the whole.
There are several excellent examples of foreshadowing in John’s Gospel. In the
Prologue, John says, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not
receive Him” (1:11). Hearing these words, the reader is led to anticipate both the
rejection of Jesus by the Jews and His eventual death on the cross.
When Jesus looks at Peter and says to him, “‘You are Simon the son of John; you
shall be called Cephas’ (which translated means Peter)” (1:42), the reader, who
already knows the significance of Simon’s nickname, Peter (cf. Matt. 16:17-19), is
led to anticipate what actually only happens at the end of the Gospel, namely, Jesus’
designation of Peter to be vicar-shepherd in charge of His flock (21:15-19)..Page 12 Introduction
A classic example of foreshadowing occurs in 11:4. Jesus responds to Martha
and Mary’s message about Lazarus’ illness by declaring, “This sickness is not unto
death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” Lazarus’
illness is not unto death because Jesus will raise him. And because Jesus raises him,
the Jewish leaders will plot and bring about Jesus’ own death. Thus, Lazarus’ illness
is “for the glory of God,” because it leads to Jesus’ death-glorification on the cross.
Simpler foreshadowings are found in 11:50; 12:33; 13:36; 16:32; 21:18.
8. Inclusion
Known among classical scholars as “ring composition,” inclusion is a narrator’s
technique in which was is said at the beginning of a piece is repeated at the end. The
repetition forces the reader’s attention back to the beginning and thus serves as a
frame for the piece as a whole. John frames his whole Gospel by repeating in chapter
21 words and names used in 1:19-51 (note the return in chapter 21 of the names
Simon son of John, Nathanael, the two unnamed disciples, the words “follow me,”
and the commissioning of Peter as vicar-shepherd of the sheep, a commissioning
already implicit in the change of Simon’s name to Peter in 1:42).
In addition to framing the Gospel as a whole, John frames each individual
sequence of his Gospel. Two examples will suffice: 2:1-12 (note how verses 11-12
repeat names and places in verses 1-2); 20:1-18 (note how the sequence begins and
ends with the full name of Mary Magdalene). Recognition of inclusions is important
for the interpreter. More than anything else, inclusions clearly indicate beginnings
and endings and thus help the exegete to divide the Gospel into distinct parts,
sequences, and sections. In modern terms, inclusions divide the written Gospel into
parts, chapters, and paragraphs. The importance of this becomes obvious when the
reader realizes that ancient manuscripts like John’s Gospel were regularly written
almost entirely without indications of, or divisions into parts, chapters, and sections.
Recognition of John’s inclusions becomes all the more important when one
realizes that the present division of the Gospel into twenty-one chapters, as found
in all modern Bible translations, goes back to the twelfth century and was done with
complete disregard for John’s use of inclusions to divide his Gospel into individual
parts, sequences, and sections. As we shall see in this study, when we deal with the
structure of the Gospel, John uses inclusions regularly, skillfully, and abundantly in
the composition of his Gospel.
Structure of John’s Gospel
The search for the structure of John’s Gospel has been long and dishearteningly
unsuccessful. Forty years ago, Bultmann proposed that the Gospel as it stands is not
the Gospel as it came from the hand of the author, but the poor attempt of editors to
put back in order an originally well-arranged manuscript that was either damaged or
disarranged as early as the autograph stage.
In 1963, D. M. Smith, Jr., made a study of Bultmann’s thesis regarding the order
of John and came to the conclusion that in almost every instance Bultmann’s
reconstruction raised as many problems as it provided solutions. Smith himself came
to the conclusion that it was “quite possible, indeed probable, that the Fourth Gospel
has been left to us in an unfinished stage.”
Brown begins his section on the unity and composition of the Gospel with the
question: “Is the fourth gospel as it now stands the work of one man?” His answer,
like that of all modern commentators with the exception of Lagrange and Hoskyns,
is an emphatic denial. Despite the fact that there is absolutely no textual witness to
any other order than the one we find now in the Gospel, almost all commentators take
for granted that there were at least two hands (or “schools”) at work in the
composition of the Gospel and that the Gospel as it stands now is in a state of great
disorder.
The great commentators since Bultmann (Dodd, Barrett, Brown, Schnacken-burg,
Lindars, and Marsh) all call attention to the difficulties with Bultmann’s
reconstruction but do little more toward reconstructing the so-called original Gospel
beyond suggesting a series of inept redactors or editors who have distorted the
original order of the Gospel by introducing new material at several points and by
adding to what is considered the original ending of the Gospel (20:30-31) a new
concluding chapter (21).
To explain the alleged disorder, they propose variant versions of the following
hypotheses: (a) hypotheses of accidental displacements; (b) hypotheses of multiple
sources ineptly melded together; (c) hypotheses of successive editions of an earlier
Gospel supplemented and re-edited later by incompetent editors. Despite these and
other hypotheses, what H. M. Teeple said in 1962 remains true: “No one yet has
demonstrated convincingly that the gospel has been disarranged.”.Page 22 Introduction
What follows is a proposed hypothesis that the Gospel of John has suffered
neither displacements nor disarrangements but stands now as it came from the
hand of the author. This proposition is based on the contention amply demonstrated
that the Gospel was composed according to the laws of chiastic parallelism rather
than according to 20th century Western literary devices.
The Gospel appears to be in a state of disarrangement only if one presupposes
that the author composed it according to the ordinary principles of narrative
composition. If one presupposes, on the contrary, that the Gospel was composed
according to the principles of chiastic parallelism, every part, sequence, section, and
element is precisely where it belongs.
It is my belief that the Gospel as it now stands is the work of one individual; that
it has suffered no displacements; that it has a clear and easily demonstrable chiastic
structure from beginning to end; and that it exists now in our New Testament (with
the exception of the adulteress account) exactly as it came from the author. I agree
wholeheartedly with Strauss who concluded many years ago when he declared that
the Gospel “was like the seamless robe of which it spoke (John 19:23-24), which one
may cast lots for, but cannot divide.”
The heart of my argument resides in this fundamental presupposition–a presup-position
diametrically opposed to the fundamental presupposition of all previous
authors: John wrote his Gospel according to the laws of chiastic parallelism and not
according to the laws of narrative. If the Gospel had been written according to the
principles of narrative, one would rightly expect a logical and chronological
succession of events without violent changes of geography, situation, time, and
content. If this narrative presupposition is true, scholars would be correct in
deducing that John’s Gospel has suffered displacements, rearrangements, supple-mentary
interpolations, and even several redactions.
The following would be the most obvious of these displacements and rearrange-ments:
(1) the cleansing of the Temple (2:13-25), which is out of place and should
be transposed to some point closer to the Passion account; (2) 3:27-36, which is
misplaced and should be rearranged to follow either 1:19-34 or perhaps 3:19; (3)
chapters 5–7, which are not in correct order and should be rearranged so that chapter
5 and chapter 7 go together, with chapter 6 preceding them; (4) parts of 10:22-39 (the
shepherd and sheep parts), which are misplaced and should go somewhere in 10:1-
21; (5) 12:44-50, which floats and can find no good resting place anywhere in the.Introduction Page 23
Gospel; (6) chapters 15–17, which should be treated as supplementary material
added to the Last Supper discourse by one or more editors; and (7) chapter 21, which
gives the appearance of being a supplement added to the Gospel as an epilogue by
the final editor.
The above-mentioned displacements and rearrangements have been hypoth-esized
on the premise, rarely if ever questioned, that the Gospel was written
according to the laws of narrative. If this premise were true, logic would demand that
some hypothesis of displacements, rearrangements, and editions must be found,
even though it reduces the Gospel as it stands to a hodgepodge of material put
together by remarkably incompetent authors and editors. Reflecting on this
situation, C. H. Dodd thirty years ago remarked, “Unfortunately, when once the
gospel has been taken to pieces, its reassemblage is liable to be affected by individual