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The Church and Israel in the Gospel of John: A Response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

John Painter
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Type
Short Studies
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , October 1978 , pp. 103 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

1 People of God in St John's Gospel, N.T.S. xvi, 11429Google Scholar; The Relationship of the Church to Israel in the Gospel of St John, N.T.S. xxi, 396405.Google Scholar

2 N.T.S. xxi, 396.

3 N.T.S. xxi, 401.

4 N.T.S. xxi, 404.

5 N.T.S. xxi, 405 and especially note 4, p. 403.

6 N.T.S. xvi, 122 f. and 128.

7 N.T.S. xxi, 403, note 4.

1 N.T.S. xvi, 127.

2 Ibid.

3 N.T.S. xvi, 118.

4 N.T.S. xvi, 11618.

1 Barr, James, The Semantics of Biblical Language (O.U.P. 1961), pp. 234 f.Google Scholar

2 N.T.S. xvi, 120.

3 N.T.S. xvi, 119.

4 N.T.S. xvi, 120.

5 See John xi. 4852.

6 Romans xvi. 4; Gal. ii. 12 (cf. 14); Eph. iii. 1.

7 N.T.S. xvi, 119.

8 Rev. x. 11, xi. 9, xvii. 15, xviii. 3, 23.

9 Luke vii. 5, xxiii. 2; John xi. 48, 50, 51, 52, xviii. 35; Acts x. 22, xxiv, 2, 10, 17.

10 Acts vii. 7.

11 Acts viii. 9.

12 Acts ii. 5, . 35; Rev. v. 9, vii. 9, xiii. 7, xiv. 6.

13 Matt. xxiv. 7; Mark xiii. 8; Luke xxi. 10.

14 Matt. xxi. 43.

15 The possibility that I Peter ii. 9 is intended as a description of Jewish Christians must be left open.

16 Matt. iv. 23, xxvii. 25, 64; Mark xi. 32; Luke i. 21, iii. 18, 21 and frequently in LukeActs.

17 Luke ii. 10, 31.

1 John xi. 48, 50, 51, 52, xviii. 35.

2 John xi. 50, xviii. 14. In viii. 2, which is an interpolation, we have a restricted use in the sense of ὄ as frequently in Luke.

3 John xviii. 35.

4 N.T.S. xvi, 122.

5 Ibid.

6 N.T.S. xvi, 125.

7 N.T.S. xvi, 121. But only part of the statement is repeated in xviii. 14 and significantly it is said that Caiaphas counselled not that he prophesied. Hence it is doubtful that prophetic significance lies in the word itself.

1 N.T.S. xvi, 122.

2 N.T.S. xxi, 403, note 4. From the time of the exile the theme of the re-gathering of Jews scattered amongst the nations is to be found in Jewish literature, Isaiah xliii. 5; Ezekiel xi. 17 etc.

3 TDNT iii, 359.

1 TDNT iii, 360. The coins minted during the revolts of A.D. 6670 and 1325 were inscribed with the name לארשי but the Hasmonaean coins were inscribed םירוהיה. The use of לארשי proclaims the religio-political programme, the throwing off of the yoke of the Gentiles and the dawning of the messianic age (TDNT iii, 361).

2 Contrary to (amongst others) Bultmann, , The Gospel of John (Blackwell, 1971), p. 104Google Scholar, note 4, who says that is used in the sense of ἀ (a true Israelite). But the examples given (Ruth iii. 12; Ign. Rom. 4. 2; Plato leg. 64. 2D) demonstrate the adverbial not the adjectival use. In John and the rest of the NT is always used adverbially, frequently to qualify the verb to be. Only in John i. 47 is the verb omitted and there the verb to be is presupposed. The punctuation of the Nestle-Aland text, which places a comma after Israelite, is to be rejected in favour of the punctuation of the text of the United Bible Societies which omits the comma. Hence there is no break after Israelite. If there is to be a comma it should be placed after . Thus the text reads: either Ἴ ἐ Ἰ ἐ ὒ ἕ or Ἴ ἐὶ Ἰ ἐ ὐ ἕ.

1 Luke i. 5 refers to Herod as king of Judaea, understood broadly as the Jewish land including Samaria and Galilee. Elsewhere Herod is referred to simply by name or as Herod the king.

2 Jesus no more denied that he was king of the Jews than he denied that he was king of Israel. He did not straightforwardly accept either ascription but used the statements as the basis for his re-interpretation of the nature of his kingship.

3 The background of Nathanael's confession (i.457) suggests a strong messianic expectation. Nathanael was concerned about the coming of the one of whom Moses wrote but found Jesus' connection with Nazareth (rather than Bethlehem ?) a stumbling block.

4 The words you will see the heaven opened draw attention to the heavenly realm, as in Acts vii. 56 where Stephen is said to have seen the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the rght hand of God. Attention is also directed to the heavenly realm in Rev. iv. i. In the tradition, angels are associated with the coming Son of Man (Matt. xxiv. 30 f.; Luke xxii. 69 and II Thess. i. 7). But John has placed the emphasis on the exaltation (enthronement) of the Son of Man to heaven by way of the cross. There he is the centre of angelic worship (compare Hebrews i. 6).

1 Raymond Brown, The Gospel according to John, i, 88 ff., regards John i. 51 as a detached saying because he considers i. 50 to have been fulfilled in the miracle of Cana (ii. 111). He considers i. 51 to be repetitive in its promise of seeing. He may be right in suggesting that the saying is not in its original setting. He admits that the task of the exegete is to make sense of the saying in the present context. But his approach fails to bring out the fundamentally Johannine meaning of the saying in the present context, suggesting that it was placed there by the evangelist himself and not a later redactor. This is surprising because at the end of his note on i. 4550 he indicates that though i. 50 is fulfilled in ii. 11, the disciples will see Jesus glory to the full only when they have seen the final great thing, the supreme work of the death, resurrection and ascension, and it is only then that they will fully believe. This is precisely the point of my interpretation of i. 51. Jesus is exalted to heaven by way of the cross. For this theme see my John: Witness and Theologian (SPCK, 1975), part ii, section iv, The Glorification of the Son of Man.

2 See John: Witness and Theologian, part ii, section vi, Revelation and the Spirit. When Jesus was glorified the Spirit was given to believers (vii. 37 ff.). The Spirit brought a new remembrance of the old events because they were now understood in the context of salvation history (the OT).

1 Perhaps we should allow that these are later additions.

1 Thus John was writing for Jewish Christians who faced the threat of excommunication.