Gospel of john

First folio of Daddy 66 (P{displaystyle {mathfrak {P}}}}⁶⁶), codex dated from the year 200, in which we observe the over-registration of the name of the Gospel of John. It's a papyrus. Category I according to the ranking of Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland.

The Gospel of John, also called Gospel according to Saint John or Gospel according to John is the fourth of the canonical gospels constituting the New Testament. It is characterized by marked stylistic and thematic differences, as well as by divergences in its chronological and topographical scheme with respect to the other three, called synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).

The Gospel of John not only contains many passages without equivalent in the other canonical gospels, but even the passages with a certain similarity are presented in a totally different way in terms of content, language, expressions and turns with which he preaches Jesus of Nazareth and the places of his ministry. The apostolic tradition attributes the authorship of this gospel to John the apostle and evangelist although, given the lack of unity in its final wording, the style and the supposed date of writing (around the year 90 AD), among other points, both the authorship itself and its scope (editor, responsible community) are questioned. There is a possibility that the Gospel of John was the fruit of the community founded around one of the disciples of Jesus, presented in the Gospel with the title of "disciple whom Jesus loved", surely that of Ephesus.

Among the characteristics of the Gospel of John, it is widely accepted that it is a writing for meditation in which speeches stand out as a form of reflection on the figure of Jesus of Nazareth, who is presented from the prologue as the Logos, the eternal Word of God. It is a highly symbolic and liturgical gospel, which frames Jesu s' public ministry in the succession of Jewish festivities (among them, the Jewish Passover, the Feast of Dedication or Lights and the Feast of Tabernacles or Tents). Many scholars have seen in the Gospel of John a markedly mystical character.

The controversies surrounding the Gospel of John are the result of its uniqueness. It is not an ordinary work: its author is disputed, the environment that may have influenced his thinking and his modes of expression, his literary structure, his sources and even the nature of the book. However, it was always received without reluctance by the Church. The bibliography on the Gospel of John increased greatly in the last century, and today it is extremely abundant. Together with the numerous analyzes that were made of it, its depth became even more evident, which goes beyond the strictly religious framework (Christological, soteriological and ecclesiological) and which, through time, reached the most diverse fields of culture and of the arts.

Papyrology of the gospel

Picture of the papyrus 75 (P{displaystyle {mathfrak {P}}}}⁷⁵), which shows the end of the Gospel of Luke and the beginning of the Gospel of John. Datad from 175-225.

There are numerous papyri that contain fragments of the Gospel of John. Some of them present a writing dating from dates very close to the estimated time of writing the gospel. The following are particularly noteworthy, classified according to Aland and Aland's classification, as Category I papyri:

• Daddy 52 or Daddy Rylands Library P{displaystyle {mathfrak {P}}}}⁵²also known as the fragment of Saint John. This is the manuscript in a fragmented state of the Gospel of John the oldest known so far. It is preserved in the John Rylands library, Manchester (United Kingdom). Its dating from around the year 135 is one of the decisive factors in determining the terminus ad quem (later fact that the gospel may have been made).
• Daddy 66, also called P{displaystyle {mathfrak {P}}}}⁶⁶. It is an almost complete codice of the Gospel of John, which is part of the collection known as the Bodmer Daddys. This is a unique case, for the level of integrity and preservation of a material dating from the end of the centuryII or early centuryIII.
• Daddy 75, known as P{displaystyle {mathfrak {P}}}}⁷⁵or Daddy Bodmer XIV-XVdated 175-225. It encompasses vast sections of the Gospels of Luke and John. It is the oldest manuscript found that keeps two Gospels together and was interpreted as evidence that primitive Christian communities already managed these materials as a unity.

Dating

Daddy P52 or Library Rylands P{displaystyle {mathfrak {P}}}}⁵² (Papyrus Ryl. Gr. 457, i J. Rylands Library), also called "the fragrance of Saint John". With the exception of the disputed papyrus 7Q5, the papyrus P52 is the piece of manuscript written in the oldest known papyrus of the New Testament so far. It is preserved in the John Rylands library, Manchester, UK. In the image, on the left, Straight ahead (anverse); to the right, verse (reverse).

The majority dating places this gospel in the 90s AD. C.

Later dating is limited by papyrus P52 (circa 125-150), and by the mention and citation of the Gnostic Basilides as well as by mentions of the Gospel of John by Justin Martyr, Ptolemy, Heracleon, and Tatian before the year 180 along with those of Irenaeus of Lyon and the Muratorian Fragment around the year 180, as well as Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian around 200.

The earliest dating (P. Gardner-Smith; A. T. Olmstead; E. R. Goodenough; H. E. Edwards; B. P. W. Starther Hunt; K. A. Eckhardt; R. M. Grant; G. A. Turner; J. Mantey; W. Gericke; E. K. Lee; L. Morris; S. Temple; J. A. T. Robinson) are based on the following arguments:

• It describes the city of Jerusalem that existed before being completely rooted in the 70s, with details that have been corroborated by archaeological studies (W. F. Albright; R. D. Potter; Joachim Jeremias). The descriptions of Jerusalem are always made in present time, never in the past.
• The environment described in the gospel corresponds to that which was before the rebellion of 66. (Charles Harold Dodd)
• He does not present any prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. In Jn 2,19 there is a commentary of Jesus charged with symbolism regarding the destruction of the temple and his resurrection on the third day.
• Although some authors claim that the Christology of this gospel was more elaborate and advanced than that of the synoptics, others argue that it presents a primitive Christology. The greatest difficulty of this theory is the affirmation of the preexistence of the Word in Jn 1.1. However, the idea of the preexistence of God's creative word was already present in Jewish sapiencial literature (Pr 8,22-31; Ek 24,1-22; Sab 9,1) and in the Targum. On the other hand, the identification of Jesus with the Wisdom of God is also present in the synoptics.
• It does not present references to the Gentiles, contrary to what happens in the synoptics.
• Jn 21 seems to indicate that Peter had died at the time of composition. A large number of authors consider this final chapter to be added. The chapter seems to come to the pass of speculation as to whether, after the death of the main representatives of Christianity (Santiago "the brother of the Lord" in the 62nd and Simon Peter in the 64th), John would survive until the second coming of Christ. It is thus placed, this chapter, from the year 65 on, without being able to define the date further.

Place of composition and original language

Statue representing Ireneo de Lyon. By the end of the centuryII, this Father of the Church pointed to Ephesus as a place of composition of the Gospel of John, which is shared today by most specialists. Carl Rohl Smith Sculpture, 1883-84, Marble Church (Copenhague, Denmark).

Irenaeus of Lyon (ca. 130 - ca. 202) pointed to Ephesus as the place of composition of the Gospel of John, already in the time of Emperor Trajan (98 to 117). The time of the beginning of Trajan's rule would coincide with the dating of many specialists, as mentioned above.

«[... At last John, the disciple of the Lord "who had stood on his chest" (Jn 21:20; 13:23), wrote the Gospel when he resided in Ephesus. ]»

Ireneo de Lyon

“[...] all the priests of Asia who, living around John, heard of him, since he lived with them until the time of Trajan. Some of them saw not only John, but also other Apostles, whom they have heard the same. »

Ireneo de Lyon

"Finally the Church of Ephesus, founded by Paul, and in which John remained until the time of Trajan, is also a witness to the true Apostolic Tradition. »

Ireneo de Lyon

Most writers accept the fact of the place of composition proposed by Ireneo. Instead, B. P. W. Stather-Hunt and G. W. Broomfield favored Alexandria (considering the spread that the Gospel of John had in Egypt). W. Bauer and Burney argued for Antioch or another location in Syria. Somewhere to the east of Lake Tiberias within the kingdom of Herod Agrippa II has also been proposed. But these arguments have received little acceptance. In the consideration of Raymond Edward Brown, Ephesus continues to hold the primacy among the other candidacies for identification as the place where the Gospel of John was composed, due to the almost unanimity of the ancient voices that deal with the subject and due to the parallelism between the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse, a work that clearly belongs to the area of influence of Ephesus.

Today, it is generally accepted that the original language of the Gospel of John is Koine, a variety of Greek. Some authors hypothesized a missing original text in Aramaic. This hypothesis was extensively reviewed, but was not accepted among specialists.

Structure

The gospel presents a notable interruption at the end of chapter 12 admitted by all commentators, so the work is divided into two main parts, to which is added an addition or general epilogue.

• Part one: chapters 1 to 12. This part is usually called Book of SignsFor it contains signs or signs made by Jesus to believe in him: the conversion of water into wine at the weddings of Cana (chapter 2), the healing of the son of a real official (chapter 4), the healing of a sick man in the pool of Bethesda and Jesus walking on the sea (chapter 5), the multiplication of the breads and fish (chapter 6), the healing of the blind resurrection. It was hypothesized that this first part of the Gospel of John could derive from an earlier source, to which the Gospel of the Signs.

This first part has a fairly developed prologue, and an epilogue.

• Part two: chapters 13 to 20. It's usually called. Book of Passion.

The second part has a very brief prologue, and an epilogue.

• Epilogue of the workChapter 21. It consists of a proper body, and of its epilogue.

In the first part it is insistently reiterated that the hour has not yet come. In chapter 12 it is announced that that hour has arrived, and in the second part it describes what happens in that hour, already from its prologue: it is about the hour of Jesus to pass from this world to the Father, the hour of his glorification.

Thus, in the Gospel of John two times are distinguished: the first part, when the hour has not yet come, Jesus reveals himself through signs or symbolic gestures. In the second part, the hour having arrived , the revelation occurs in the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, the time of his glorification.

Opening Prologue

A characteristic of the Gospel of John is its great choral overture, the introduction (1:1-5) that has been and is the basis of the Christian Creed. Only the Gospel of John begins his work with a hymn to be sung by the community before the reading of the gospel. The origin of this hymn is unknown and it is disputed whether the same author of the gospel wrote it or if he took it from another source. The hypothesis is usually held that the author of the gospel, once his work was finished, wrote the prologue as a hymn that contains the central ideas of the gospel, the keys to understanding it.

In the prologue to the Gospel of John, the Logos (Λóγος), the «Word» of God, is presented in his itinerary from before creation to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. In the development of the Gospel of John it is presented that the Word was in God, that it is one with the Father, and that it pre-existed the creation of the world; that it was sent to the world by the Father, to carry out his mission: transmit grace and truth to the world, and that once his mission is over he returns to the Father. John 1:1 says:

εν αρηχ θν ο λογος και ο λογος λον προς τον θεον και θεος λος λογος λος λογος λογος λον λος λος λον λος λος λον λον λος λον λον λον λον λογος λον λον λος λον λον λογος λον λον λος λογον λος λον λος λον λογον λος λον λογον λος λον λος λον λος λον λον λον λ

In the beginning it was Logos and Logos was with God and Logos was God.

Translated into Latin in the Vulgate: In Principle erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum

In the beginning was the Word [the reasoned word] and the Word was with God the Word was God.

Composition

It is perceived that some passages of the Gospel of John seem disordered or, at least, not very elaborate in its final edition. There are texts that do not correspond to the context, there are striking cuts and there is a lack of unity in various stories and speeches. This can be illustrated with several examples.

The commission of Christ to Peter (1515), by Rafael Sanzio. It is part of the so-called Rafael Cartons, designed for the Sistine Chapel and which are now part of the Royal Collection of the United Kingdom. This work is inspired by the scene of chapter 21 of the Gospel of John, in which Jesus risen repeats to Simon Peter who loves his sheep (John 21:15-17).

1. Chapter 20 concludes with that it would be the real epilogue of the Gospel that would complete the entire work. However, chapter 21 continues with the narratives of the risen Jesus, as if the epilogue had not been. And at the end of chapter 21, a new conclusion of the gospel is given.
2. In John 7, 23, in the midst of a discussion with the Jews that happened in the framework of the Jewish feast of the Stores, Jesus says that they wish to kill him for having made a healing on Saturday, invoking the incident of the healing of the sick in the pool of Bethesda, which ends in John 5, 18 and that it would have happened several months, or perhaps more than a year before in the framework of another feast.
3. The scene of the healing of the blind of birth, ends with the beginning of the discourse of the good shepherd. But the speech is interrupted with a comment, which would be the continuation of the episode of the blind birth. Thus, the good pastor's speech seems to be an interpolation.
4. From chapter 13, the Gospel develops the process of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection. At the end of the last supper, Jesus gives an order: "Get up, let's get out of here." But in the following verse, he continues as if that interruption had not existed: "I am the true vine and my Father is the vineyard." The words with which the narration is resumed appear only in John 18, 1: "Thus Jesus said these things, he went out with his disciples on the other side of the torrent of Cedron..." It is clear that chapters 15, 16 and 17 were interpolated and disrupt the unity of the story.

The lack of unity of the story is also curious, which is discovered in several passages:

• Jesus baptised, but in reality He did not baptize, but His disciples.
• "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not worth"; but "though I testify about myself, my testimony is true."
• Simon Peter said, "Lord, where are you going?" But “one of you asks me where are you going?”
• "I have made known to you all that I heard from my Father." But, “I still have many things to tell you.”

Various attempts at explanation have been put forward. The currently most widespread theory is that of multiple editions, that is, that the Gospel of John is the result of a text that grew over time, with additions and notes from the same author or from other members of the community (Raymond E. Brown proposed the existence of a Johannine community that would have participated in the edition and perhaps in the final writing of the gospel).

The notable points of this gospel are (1) the relationship between the Son and the Father, (2) between the Redeemer and the believers, (3) the announcement of the Holy Spirit as Comforter, and (4) the emphasis on love as an element of Christian character.

The gospel was written for people familiar with Jewish culture and at the same time in contact with Greek thought; Furthermore, they are warned against Gnosticism.

The language of the Gospel of John

The language of a work is usually a descriptor of the author's personality and his relationship with the group in which he lives. Comparing the number of times that certain words appear in the Synoptic Gospels, in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Gospel of John (Table 1), the terminology that dominates the Fourth Gospel is observed, and the importance that he attaches to considering God as "Father" and to living the true "life", which for the author of the Gospel consists of "remaining" in "love", "light" and "truth", since living in this way, one "knows" God, "believes" in him, and "bears witness" to him.

The text that has come down to us is characterized by great sobriety in the forms. In general, despite the fact that the headings of the texts are enhanced with relatively complex sentences of great elegance, the bulk of the text is poor both in vocabulary and in grammatical structures, resulting in some cases manifestly obscure. As Castro Sánchez points out, the gospel “has been composed in an extremely simple style, with elementary syntax and a reduced vocabulary. We only found about a thousand different words. The language is direct. He frequently uses the historical present. Phrases are often joined with the particle kai (“and”). Despite this poverty, a work that we could call artistic has been achieved, because it has endowed certain vulgar words with an unsuspected dignity and depth.

Gospel Characters

The mother of Jesus

Cana weddings (1887), of the Russian realistic painter Vladimir Makovski. Oil on canvas located at the Museum of Modern Art in Vítebsk. Cana's wedding is a unique passage from the Gospel of John that does not keep parallel with any other in the synoptic gospels, and one of the two moments of the gospel in which the mother of Jesus is present.

In the Gospel of John, the public life of Jesus is framed with two scenes in which his mother appears. It deals with the wedding at Cana, and the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The Gospel of John keeps certain particularities in this regard:

1. Mary appears only in these two scenes: she is not mentioned in the rest of the gospel.
2. On both occasions, Jesus refers to her as “woman”.
3. Mary is not mentioned by name, but on both occasions she is given the title of "mother of Jesus" (specifically, "His mother»).

In the Gospel of John, Mary is seen not only as a real personality but also with a symbolic value:

1. It appears in the two great moments of the gospel: (a) at the weddings of Cana, beginning of the ministry of Jesus, when The time has not yet comeand (b) in the crucifixion and death of Jesus, when It was time. from this world to the Father, the hour of his glorification.
2. In both moments, Jesus calls her "Woman", a word that reminds the first woman of the Book of Genesis, Eve, mother of all living. The evangelist means that, from the glorification of Jesus, there is a new woman who is the mother of all who live.
3. Mary is first considered with the title of "mother of Jesus" (His mother). However, at the scene of the crucifixion, Jesus confided to the disciple whom he loved: “Be there your mother.” With this, the Gospel of John presents Mary as the mother of the disciples who love Jesus.

The Beloved Disciple of Jesus

The Gospel of John presents the figure of the disciple whom Jesus loved in five passages. Most scholars agree that it is a real character, a witness on whose reliable testimony the veracity of the gospel itself rests: «He who saw it testifies, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he tells the truth, so that you also may believe »(John 19, 35). Christian tradition has identified him with John the Apostle, although the Gospel of John never mentions him by name. There are discrepancies among exegetes about the identification of this figure, without currently being able to ensure a solution that satisfies everyone.

As in the case of the mother of Jesus, the Gospel of John gives the character of the beloved disciple a symbolic value in addition to his historical identity.

1. The beloved disciple appears lying on the chest of Jesus, during the Last Supper, which means he enjoys his familiarity and trusts. Then he asks who is the disciple who will deliver him, and receives the answer of Jesus.
2. During the crucifixion of Jesus, the beloved disciple appears at the foot of the cross, next to the mother of Jesus. Jesus crucified entrusted it, and from that hour the disciple welcomed it into his house.
3. On the day of Jesus' resurrection, the beloved disciple runs with Simon Peter to the empty tomb where Jesus had been buried. He comes first to the tomb, but waits for Peter to enter and, as he enters, sees and believes.
4. The beloved disciple presents himself again next to Simon Peter during the rise of Jesus risen to his disciples on the shores of the Sea of Tiberias, and is the first to recognize Jesus.
5. Finally, the Gospel of John presents the beloved disciple as that of whom he had run the voice that he would not die. The Gospel explains: "But Jesus had not said to Peter, "He will not die," but, "If I want him to stay until I come."

Considering the symbolic dimension of the Gospel of John, the disciple loved by the Lord is identified with the ideal disciple of Jesus. The beloved disciple is one who:

1. He has familiarity with Jesus Christ and receives his trusts: he sits with Jesus, and receives the answer of Jesus;
2. remains by the cross of the crucified and receives Mary as her own mother;
3. He has regular, simple and plain contact with Peter, remains with him and respects him;
4. knows to recognize the risen Jesus present; and
5. remains faithful, i.e., to persevere until Jesus returns.

The Jews

In some passages of the Gospel of John, the adversaries of Jesus of Nazareth are referred to as "the Jews", while in certain verses Jesus and his disciples are referred to as if they were not Jews.

At the dawn of that day, the first of the week, when the doors of the place where the disciples were found were shut, Jesus appeared among them and said to them, "Peace with you. »

Gospel of John 20, 19

In some cases, the enemies of Jesus are presented as "Jews" even though they were Galileans, that is, inhabitants of Galilee who murmured about him, or argued with each other about him. The Gospel of John points out that nobody spoke openly about Jesus "for fear of the Jews". Jesus is called "Jew" only by foreigners: by the Samaritan woman, and by Pontius Pilate. As several religious groups are not mentioned (Sadducees, Zealots, Herodians, etc.), "Jews" would be a term used by the evangelist to designate all those groups in general and the religious authorities of Jerusalem of that time in particular.

The healing of the blind born (1567), oil on the temple of El Greco. The work is preserved in Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden. The passage on the healing of the blind of birth (John 9:1-41) presents in the Gospel of John a singular magnitude and is the framework for a broad controversy unleashed by the enemies of Jesus, presented by the evangelist under the title of "the Jews".

This even appears in dialogues involving other characters, such as the parents of the man blind from birth who, although supposedly Jewish, acted out of their "fear of Jews":

His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he sees now, we do not know; nor who has opened his eyes, that we do not know. Ask him; he is old; he can speak of himself." His parents said this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to exclude Jesus from the synagogue as Christ.

Gospel of John 9, 20-22

From all of the above, it appears that the Gospel of John generally uses the term "Jew" to designate mostly those who did not accept Jesus. However, it can also be observed that the term "Jew" does not always appear with pejorative meaning, because the evangelist retained the text in which this name appears together with the highest praise placed on the lips of Jesus of Nazareth in his dialogue with the Samaritan woman:

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation comes from the Jews.

Gospel of John 4, 22

In addition, the term "Israelite" is used in the Gospel of John as an honorary title, and several characters who are portrayed as Jews appear in a positive light, such as Nicodemus, "notable among the Jews", who defended Jesus before the Pharisees, and together with Joseph of Arimathea took care of burying him after his death. Jews who believed in Jesus are even mentioned in several passages.

The evangelist seems to suggest that the practice of excommunication and exclusion from the synagogue existed as early as Jesus' time, as the Dead Sea Scrolls also suggest. But it is possible that the Gospel of John describes conflicts within the Christian community of the evangelist with the members of the Jewish community and that projects them towards the past. Indeed, the Gospel of John was probably written after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in the year 70, at which time the followers of Jesus of Jewish origin were officially expelled from the synagogues. Thus, the Gospel of John would be advancing to the times of Jesus the particular situation suffered by the Johannine community.

The Apostles

The foot wash (♪. 1591-1592), oil on cloth of Palma el Joven that is preserved in San Giovanni in Bragora. The passage in which Jesus washes the feet of his disciples during the last supper (John 13:2-15) is found only in the Gospel of John and shows Simon Peter as a necessary participant. The participation of the apostles in general and of Simon Peter in particular is greater in the Gospel of John than in the synoptic Gospels.

The Gospel of John is the canonical gospel in which the apostles are most frequently quoted. According to Chapman, the Gospel of John mentions names of apostles 74 times, against 50 in the Gospel of Mark, 43 in the Gospel of Luke, and 40 in the Gospel of Matthew. Among them, the following citations stand out: 40 times to Simon Peter (as Simon, Peter, Simon Peter, or Cephas), Andrés 5 times, Philip 12, 1 Judas –not the Iscariot– (probably Judas Thaddeus), 7 Thomas, and 11 Judas Iscariot.

Strikingly, the Gospel of John makes no mention of John the Apostle even once, nor of his brother James the Greater. Even the expression that groups them both, "sons of Zebedee", appears only once, in the appendix that the vast majority of scholars classify as a later addition to the writing of the corpus of the gospel. This absolute silence regarding John the Apostle and his brother James is all the more suggestive since John the Apostle appears 17 times in the Synoptic Gospels, while James the Greater is mentioned 15 times and the expression "sons of Zebedee" -without expressly name them – 3 times.

Various reasons have been proposed for this silence that do not satisfy scholars unanimously. Script writer Luis H. Rivas points out: "no satisfactory explanation has been found for this silence." John Chapman proposed that the author of the gospel would have veiled his own name. J. de Maldonado suggested that the Christian community of Asia, during the final writing of the Gospel of John, he was able to conceal the name of John the Apostle under the title of "disciple whom Jesus loved", whose person and merits they would have known personally. The silence of the Gospel of John on the figure of John the Apostle seems as deliberate as the silence about the identity of the "beloved disciple." This point is also recognized by Joseph N. Sanders, although this author does not agree with the identification of John the Apostle with the figure of the "beloved disciple".

John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist (♪1600-1605), by El Greco. Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia. On the right you can notice a lamb, in reference to the proclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold, the Lamb of God" (John 1:35-36), proper to the Gospel of John.

In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist receives the only title of "witness", that is, the one who has come to bear witness.

In the Synoptic Gospels:

1. John the Baptist appears baptizing Jesus.
2. He praises it with laudtory expressions on Jesus' own lips: that John is "more than a prophet" and that he is not born of a woman "no man greater than John the Baptist".
3. In addition, his martyrdom is pointed out at the end of his life.

In contrast, in the Gospel of John:

1. The account of Jesus' baptism is not mentioned at the hands of John the Baptist.
2. The praises that follow the other gospels are omitted.
3. His martyrdom is not mentioned.

In addition, the Gospel of John notes two differences between Jesus and John the Baptist:

1. Jesus is presented as “the light”, and John the Baptist as “the witness of the light”.
2. Jesus is presented as “the Word” (the Word or Logos), while John the Baptist is only “the voice”. And although John came first, Jesus is before John.

All of this suggests an apparent interest on the part of the evangelist to avoid giving too much prominence to the figure of John the Baptist.

The book of the Acts of the Apostles indicates that in Ephesus, Paul of Tarsus met people who only knew about the baptism of John the Baptist and not about the baptism of Jesus, as was the case of Apollo. The coincidence that these followers of the Baptist were in the same place where the Gospel of John is supposed to have been written is suggestive. In addition, the Gospel of John indicates that the first disciples of Jesus arose from the ranks of the followers of John the Baptist. This leads one to suppose that, beyond the greatness that the gospels confer on John the Baptist, the evangelist wants to situate him on a lower plane than that of Jesus of Nazareth, such as the words that he puts on the lips of John the Baptist:

"It is necessary for him (Jesus) to grow and for me to diminish. »

Gospel of John 3:30

Nicodemus

Christ teaches Nicodemus (Christus onderwijst Nicodemus), by Crijn Hendricksz Volmarijn. Both the characters and their attitudes, and the play of light-offering of the work, manifest their inspiration in the Gospel of John (John 3:1-21).

Chapter 3 of the Gospel of John appears dominated by the encounter of Jesus of Nazareth with Nicodemus, a character who will reappear later in other passages.

The Gospel of John presents Nicodemus as a Pharisee, designated as "arjōn among the Jews", which means principal, notable. It is a title that could also refer to a member of the Sanhedrin. It is said that Nicodemus was "teacher of Israel", so the evangelist sums up in him the learned Jews who knew the Law. The evangelist insists on mentioning that Nicodemus went to Jesus "at night". This is a symbolic meaning: Nicodemus's dialogue with Jesus took place "in the dark", like that of someone who still does not grasp the true meaning of the person of Jesus. However, the evangelist points out that "in the night" Nicodemus went to Jesus. He thus differentiates him from characters like Judas Iscariot who, during the last supper, moved away from Jesus "into the night".

The Samaritan Woman

Christ and the Samaritan woman, work by Stefano Erardi exhibited at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, Malta. This oil on canvas is inspired by the account of chapter 4 of the Gospel of John.

Just as Nicodemus represents Jewish scholars who know the Law, the Samaritan woman represents all pagans in John's Gospel. In the same way that the prophets accused the people of Israel of adultery when they abandoned the one God to go after false gods, the Gospel of John presents the following dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman:

The woman answered, "I have no husband."
Jesus continued: “You are right to say that you have no husband, for you have had five, and the one you now have is not your husband; in that you have said the truth.”

Gospel of John 4, 17-18

You can understand these phrases in a literal or allegorical sense. In the first case, it is worth asking if it is about successive marriages, or adulteries of the woman. For the morality of the Jews, even if they were successive marriages, it was illegal to have five unions because no more than three were allowed. But it is also given an allegorical interpretation, in relation to the five towns where the ancient Samaritans came from and the divinities they had worshiped in Antiquity. Although the Old Testament lists 7 gods, Flavio Josephus points out that "there were five towns and each one brought his own god with him". Thus, the Gospel of John would reproach the Samaritan people, represented by the woman, for having adhered to false divinities in the past.

Biblical quotes