THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS, THE CHRIST AND THE SON OF GOD, ACCORDING TO JOHN. Manfred Diefenbach
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Jesus and the Jewish Feasts (5:1–10:42)
2.4 Jesus’ Journey to the last Passover in Jerusalem (11:1–12:50)
3. Second Part of John’s Gospel: “Book of Glory” (13:1–20:31 + “Appendix” in 21:1–25)
3.1 Jesus’ Self-Revelation for His Disciples (13:1–17:26)
3.2 The Passion and Death of Jesus (18:1–19:42)
3.3 The Day of Christ’s Resurrection (20:1–20:29)
3.4 Epilogue (vv. 30–31)
3.5 “Appendix” (21:1–25)
Chapter 1
The so-called “Prologue” – or “preamble” respectively “proem”9 – as the “preface”10 to the Fourth Gospel is similar to a kind of musical overture and emphasized with the words (vv. 1a, 2: “in the beginning”) in allusion to Genesis 1:1a (LXX = Septuagint) as a “hymn”11/poem of the incarnate “Word” (in Greek “lógos” in vv. 1a, b, c, 14a) of God in “Jesus” (cf. vv. 14, 17). It has three parts (cf. vv. 1–5, 6–13, 14–1812). The first two strophes are connected with the keyword “light” (in Greek “phõs”) in verses 5a, 8a, b, 9a, b. In each of them, the first theme is the “Word” (cf. vv. 1–5, 14) and then the theme is the witness of John the Baptist (cf. vv. 6–8, 15) and then the decision/beliefs of the human beings for Jesus Christ as “God’s Word” (His acceptance) or against Him (His refusal). “Not” John the Baptist (cf. v. 813 [“the light”], v. 20 [“the Christ/Messiah”], v. 21 [“Elijah”] and v. 25 [“the prophet”]), but Jesus is the “true light” (v. 9).
The passage of 1:19–51 is structured with the help of the phrase “the next day” in verses 29, 35, 43. Verses 6–8 are a part of the prologue (cf. vv. 1–18). The keyword “witness” in verses 7a, b, 8b emphasizes in verse 19 the mission declaration of John the Baptist in the form of his juristic investigation by the Jewish Temple “police” from Jerusalem as a dialogue (cf. vv. 19–28). Between verses 6–8 and 19 the Fourth Evangelist meditates about (incarnate) Jesus as the light of the world (cf. vv. 9–18). He uses some verbs of the conversation in the context of the investigation between the Temple “police” of Jerusalem and John the Baptist with regard to John’s identity (cf. vv. 19–23) and his authority (cf. vv. 24–27): The verbs to “ask” in verses 19d, 21a, 25a and to “say” in verse 22a, d are used for the delegation from Jerusalem; however the Evangelist uses the two special terms of the jurisdiction to “confess” in verse 20a, c, to “deny” in verse 20b and the verbs to “answer” in verses 21g, 26a, to “say” in verses 21d, 26a as well as to “reply” in verse 23a in the view of John the Baptist. He answers four of five questions (cf. vv. 19d, 21a–b, d, 22; 25) in the negative (cf. vv. 20b, 21c, e, 26c, 27b). A comment by the Evangelist concludes the juristic hearing and it localizes John the Baptist’s ministry at the river Jordan near Bethany (cf. v. 28).
John 1:19–51 contains a list of witnesses to Jesus by John the Baptist to two of his disciples (cf. vv. 19–28, 29–34) and by Andrew to Simon (cf. vv. 40–42), one of his own disciples, who follows Jesus (cf. vv. 35–42) of “Nazareth” (v. 45), “the Lamb of God”14 (vv. 29, 36) as well as by Philip to Nathanael (cf. vv. 43–51) with the help of the phrase “the next day” in verses 29, 35, 43. After the call of His first two disciples (cf. vv. 35a–39c), a comment by the Evangelist (cf. vv. 39d–40) emphasizes the call of Simon Peter (cf. vv. 41–42) which differs from the synoptic versions of the call of His first disciples (cf. Mark 1:16–20; Matthew 4:18–22 in contrast to Luke 5:1–11).
Microstructure of John 1
1. Prologue/Beginning (vv. 1–18)
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 “zoé”19 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.