John 1.1-5 PDF

Preview

Summary

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1) 1 Jan 3, 2011 John 1.1-5, The Word (Part 1) The Prologue to John is one of the most intriguing and enigmatic passages in scripture. It also introduces a number of important concepts for John, so I’ll examine it in some detail. The Prologue has a quasi-poetic structure; some ...

Description

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

1

Jan 3, 2011

John 1.1-5, The Word (Part 1)

The Prologue to John is one of the most intriguing and enigmatic passages in scripture. It also introduces a number of important concepts for John, so I’ll examine it in some detail. The Prologue has a quasi-poetic structure; some scholars think it is an early Christian hymn quoted or written by John. It can be divided into four sections, each with its own interlocking theme: 1.1-5, Word and Creation 1.6-8, The testimony of John [the Baptist] 1.9-13, Word and World 1.14-18, Word and Believers In todays column I’ll examine the first section, saving the next three for next week.

Word and Creation When modern readers approach the Prologue we almost always do so with the foreknowledge that John is talking about Jesus Christ. However, the earliest first century readers would not necessarily have known this. Read John 1.1-18 aloud while setting aside your presuppositions about the text. Imagine that you are a Jew, and don’t know this is a Christian text, nor that it is part of the New Testament--as it obviously wasn’t yet when John first wrote it. What would you make of the Prologue? At first it would sound like a mystical midrash (Jewish method of study/interpretation/ exegesis) of Genesis 1. All of the major motifs of John 1.1-5--creation, life, light and darkness-can also be found in Genesis 1, but in John the creator is mysteriously described as “the Word.” Then you would see this strange interruption about a prophet named John testifying of the Light (1.6-8)--but who is this John? Finally, in 1.14, the Word becomes flesh! That, for the average Jew, would be strange enough. But 1.17 provides a further shock: there is a grace and truth superior to the Law of Moses? And this grace and truth comes from Jesus the Messiah? So you conclude this is one of those Messianic apocalyptic texts. Would you keep reading? Has John

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

2

Jan 3, 2011

piqued your interest enough to move you beyond your natural skepticism about this so-called messiah Jesus? What is the “Word”? When John writes, “in the beginning was the Word,” he is not being very helpful to modern readers. But then, he didn’t plan to be. The English term “Word” in John 1 translates the Greek term logos (lo/goß). Anciently logos had a broad range of meaning such as “word, utterance, declaration, discourse, or reason.”1 John, however, uses the term in a very technical sense as a title for the Messiah in a preexistent divine state. Why would John have called Jesus the “Word,” since it is not an obvious title for God or the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible,2 or even in other early Christian writings? (Only John calls Jesus the Word.) What would first century Jewish readers have thought when they encountered this “Word” as a divine being in John 1.1? The idea of the divine Logos found in John 1 seems to be related not to the Hebrew Bible, but to Jewish theological interpretations and speculations that developed during the second and first centuries BC, which can be found in some non-biblical Jewish writings of that period.3 Many of the ideas found in these texts would have been familiar to John and his ancient audience, but are generally unknown to modern readers. Various scholars have proposed a number of possible antecedents to John’s Word theology,4 including: 1- the idea of the “Wisdom of God” as God’s co-creator;5 2- Hellenistic logos philosophy as reflected in the writings of 1

ABD 4:347-355; BDAG 599-601; TDOT 4:69-192 (note: abbreviations can be found at: http://journalofbiblicalstudies.org/Abbreviations.htm). In the Septuagint logos often translates the Hebrew dābār (rDb;∂d), in the ubiquitous phrase “word of YHWH/LORD” which often introduces prophetic oracles. Logos is cognate with our English term logic, and is the basis of the names of many words for modern academic disciplines such as geology or archaeology. 2

Modern scholars tend to use the term Hebrew Bible for the Old Testament, since for Jewish scholars the Hebrew Bible is the only testament/covenant. I’ll follow this practice here. 3

See ABD 4:347-355 for a general introduction. G. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah, 2nd ed. (2005), and C. Evans, Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies, (2005), survey these “intertestamental” documents. 4 5

C. Evans, Word and Glory, (1993), reviews these and other theories.

J. Ashton, “The Transformation of Wisdom: A Study of the Prologue of John’s Gospel,” New Testament Studies, 32 (1986):161-186; B Witherington, John’s Wisdom, (1995), especially 47-59.

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

3

Jan 3, 2011

Philo of Alexandria;6 and 3- the idea of the memra/word in the Aramaic translations (Targums) of the Hebrew Bible. 7 Of course, it is possible that all these concepts were intermingled in John’s understanding of the Word. Let me briefly introduce these ideas. Wisdom. Certain passages in the Hebrew Bible were understood by some early Christians as describing the Christ’s participation in creation, and may have been so understood by John. For example, Psalm 33.6 tells us: “By the word (dābār) of YHWH the heavens were made.”8 Likewise, many early Christians saw descriptions of the participation of God’s primordial Wisdom (Hebrew: ḥākmāh; Greek: sophia) in creation9 as referring to the preexistent Jesus. These interpretations derive especially from Proverbs 8.22-31, where a personified Wisdom describes its co-participation with God in creation.10 Should this be interpreted as an allegorical poetic personification, or does it refer to an actual divine entity, a co-creator with God as described by John? Intertestamental Wisdom literature expands on this theme. Descriptions of creation by divine Wisdom in Sirach 24 exhibits many parallels to the Logos creation ideas in John.11 Elsewhere the book of Wisdom declares: “O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy, who made 6

D. Winston, Logos and Mystical Theology in Philo of Alexandria, (1985); C. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 263-85. 7

The Targums are Aramaic “translations” of the Bible made in the first two centuries before and after Jesus. Just like the translation of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek Septuagint, the Targums were translated because most Jews in this period no longer spoke Hebrew as their daily language, speaking Greek or Aramaic instead (see ABD 6:-320-331). On John and the Aramaic Targums, see: J. Ronning, Jewish Targums and John's Logos Theology, (2010); D. Boyarin, Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity, (2004), 112-127; R. Hayward, Divine Name and Presence: the Memra, (1981). 8

See also Jer 10.12, 55.15; Ps 104.24, 107.19-20; Prov 3.19, which express similar ideas.

9

TDOT 4:364-85.

10

Both the Hebrew word ḥākmāh and the Greek sophia are grammatically female; some ancient and modern readers have understood that ḥākmāh/sophia was intended to represent a female deity. Whatever the merits of this interpretation, grammatical feminine does not necessarily equate to a female being. Early Christians described the masculine Christ as Wisdom/sophia (1 Cor 1.24), despite sophia being grammatically feminine. 11

Evans, Word and Glory, (1993) 83-94, gives other examples.

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

4

Jan 3, 2011

all things by your word, and by your wisdom formed mankind” (Wisdom 9.1, 9, cf. 7.22, 18.15). Here word and wisdom could be interpreted as being different names for a single participant in the creation process. Early Christians saw these descriptions of Wisdom the Creator as references to Christ as the Wisdom of God (1 Cor 1.24, 30).12 In their original ancient context these texts probably simply meant that God created by speaking a word, precisely as described in Genesis. However, eventually God’s spoken Word becomes understood by some Jews as a personified divine or angelic being,13 as reflected in these descriptions of God creating through his personified Word or Wisdom. On the other hand, John actually never uses the term wisdom/ sophia in his Gospel. Is this intentional? Or does he intend to equate the Word with Wisdom even though he never uses the term Wisdom? Memra/Word/Logos. Most of John’s readers would not have been familiar with Philo’s speculative Word/Logos philosophy--concepts that were generally restricted to highly Hellenized Jews who had studied Greek philosophy. John’s text is broadly compatible with Philo’s Word/ Logos speculations. While John may have been influenced by such ideas when writing the text, most of his readers would not have read the text in light of Philo’s philosophical speculations. On the other hand, the ordinary reader of John in the first century would have been familiar with the Aramaic Targum paraphrases of the Bible, since these Targum translations were frequently read in synagogues because of the large numbers of non-Hebrew speaking Jews.14 It is likely that most Jews in Palestine were familiar with the Aramaic Bible, not the Hebrew Bible. In Aramaic, a standard term for word is memra. The Aramaic Targums, however, often use memra as a technical term referring to a personification of divine power and presence. The Targums consistently add the phrase “Memra/word of God” to passages in Genesis 1 describing God’s creative acts.15 For example, while the Hebrew Bible reads “And God said, let there be 12

In 1 Cor 1.24 Christ is called the “wisdom of God” (theou sophian, qeouv sofi÷an); cf., Wisdom 7.26. 13

This is often called a hypostasis by scholars, meaning the personification of an abstract idea as an independent real entity. 14 15

M. McNamara, Targum and Testament Revisited, 2nd ed. (2010).

J. Ronning, The Jewish Targums and John’s Logos Theology, (2010), 1-45; Evans, Word and Glory, (1993) 120-122.

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

5

Jan 3, 2011

light” (Gen 1.3), the Aramaic Targum reads “And the Memra/word of God said, let there be light.” Variants on this pattern continue throughout Genesis 1. Other allusions to creation in the Targums follow a similar practice. Genesis 14.19 in Hebrew reads “Blessed be Abraham by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth,” while in Aramaic it reads: “Blessed be Abraham by God Most High, who by his Memra/Word created heaven and earth.” The Isaiah Targums likewise often add the phrase “by my Memra/word” when describing God creating the world (Isa 28.13, 44.24, 45.12).16 Thus, in the Aramaic Bible--the translation of the Bible with which most Judeans at the time of Jesus would be familiar--the Memra/Word is consistently described as being with God in the beginning, and creating all things. This is precisely how the Logos concept is described in John 1, where John replaces the Aramaic term memra with its Greek equivalent, logos. Thus, for Aramaic speaking Jews of the first century, John’s Word theology would not have seemed like a radical new idea at all, but a standard way they had already heard creation by the Memra/Word described. What would have been a very radical new idea for most Jews, however, was that John equated this Memra/Logos/Word with Jesus the Messiah, who became flesh (Jn 1.14). Finally, it is important to note that the idea that Jesus was a preexistent creator-deity is not a theological innovation by John, but is found in the earliest strata of Christian thought. The letters of Paul--the earliest surviving Christian literature, dating to the early-mid 50s AD--contain this same concept (Phil 2.5-11; Col 1.15-20; 1 Cor 8.6).17 However, this idea of the preexistent creator Messiah, who had glory with the Father before the world existed, is most fully described John 1.1-18. A Divine Council? Unlike Matthew and Luke, whose Gospels begin with nativity stories, there is no story in John about the birth of Jesus; his divine mission began long before he was born, and that preexistent divinity is what is really important. John’s Gospel starts before the creation of the world with what seems to be the divine council. This divine council is a biblical concept that is probably not familiar to most modern Christians or Jews, but which was an important idea that underlies a number of passages in both the Hebrew Bible and New 16

Ronning, Jewish Targums, 22; many more examples are given on pp. 21-24.

17

See also the later letter to the Hebrews 1.1-4.

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

6

Jan 3, 2011

Testament.18 Basically, the divine council is a group of celestial beings who form a priestly court around the throne of God in his temple in heaven. In the Hebrew Bible the members of this divine council are variously called the “host/army of heaven” (1 Kgs 22.19, etc.), “gods” (Ps 82), “sons of God” (Dt 32.8-9; Job 1-2), “seraphim” (“fiery ones”) (Isa 6), or the “holy ones” (Dt 33.2-3; Ps 89.5-8; Zech 14.5).19 When YHWH is called “God of gods” (ĕlōhê hā-ĕlōhîm; Dt 10.17, Josh 22.22; Ps 84.7) it probably refers to him as the leader (God) of this divine council (of gods, Ps 82.1).20 During Second Temple times21 the celestial members of this divine council became conflated in Jewish thought with an expanding concept of angels, as reflected in the way the Septuagint Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (made in the second century BC), sometimes uses the Greek term angelos/angel to translate the Hebrew ĕlōhîm/gods (Ps 8.6, 97.7, 138.1).22

18

The classic account is T. Mullen, The Assembly of the Gods, (1980); Michael Heiser has a web site on the topic: http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/, with an introductory article with additional bibliography: http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/HeiserIVPDC.pdf. 19

For for summaries and bibliographies on each of these words, see K. Toorn, et. al. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed. (1999), 204-8, 428-30, 742-44, 794-800. I am here assuming that these terms are different names or descriptions for the same group of celestial beings. Anciently they were sometimes viewed as different classes of celestial beings. Either way, all of these celestial beings would have been part of the divine council. 20

For variations of the concept of the “God of gods” see 86.8, 95.3, 96.4, 97.9, 135.5, 136.2; Dan 2.47, 11.36. YHWH is a transliteration of the Hebrew hwhy, the divine name of the God (Ex 6.3), which is generally translated into English as LORD (written with small capitals), and has often been pronounced in the West as Jehovah (YeHoWaH). For clarity I will use the transliteration YHWH for this term. 21

The Second Temple period is a term used by modern scholars for the roughly six centuries from 516 BC to AD 70--that is from the completion of the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity until its destruction by the Romans in AD 70. From the Christian perspective it covers the last century of the Hebrew Bible, the Intertestamental age, and the period of the early parts of the New Testament. 22

In these texts the Hebrew ĕlōhîm (gods) is translated as angeloi (angels) in Greek for theological reasons; see also, M. Barker, The Great Angel, (1992).

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

7

Jan 3, 2011

Similar conflation of the categories of gods and angels can be seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls.23 Thus, by the time of the New Testament, the ancient divine council had come to be described as the concourses of angels who surround the throne of God in his celestial temple, as reflected most clearly in the book of Revelation. No explicit creation of these divine beings/angels is mentioned in the creation narrative in Genesis 1, though it is perhaps alluded to in Gen 2.1. Likewise, the creation of the “host of heaven” or divine council is only briefly mentioned elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible (Neh 9.6; Ps 33.6). Belief in the presence of these divine beings at the time of creation is implied in Job 38.4-7, when the “sons of God” shouted for joy. In the Hebrew of Job 38.7 it is the bĕnê ĕlōhîm (sons of God) who shout, while in the Septuagint it is the angeloi/angels, again conflating the archaic “sons of God” with angels. Likewise, when God says, “let us make man in our own image” (Gen 1.26, cf Gen 3.22--the only use of a plural verb for actions of God in the creation narratives), many scholars see it as an allusion to these “sons of God”--that is, God and his divine council create Man in their image. Thus, when John 1.1 describes the “Word” being with God, many of his ancient readers would have conceptualized the Word among the angelic host of the divine council at creation. Likewise, when the “multitude of the heavenly host” sing at the birth of Jesus the creator (Lk 2.13), it should be understood as the same divine council who sang at when the Word created the world (Job 38.4-7). Light. The title of Jesus as the “Light of the world/kosmos” is one of the fundamental motifs in John (3.19, 8.12).24 I plan to discuss the motif in more detail in conjunction with John 3.19-21. At this point, however, it is important to note the relation of the Light to creation. In Genesis 1.3-5 the primordial light is created before the creation of the sun, moon and stars (Gen 1.15-18). In John, it is very likely that he is understanding this primordial cosmic light as the

23

On the angelology of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and their conflation of angels and gods, see C. Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, (1985), 23-38; Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, (2000) 1:24-27; For broader background, see C. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence, (1998); L. Stuckenbruck, Angel Veneration and Christology, (1995). 24

See also Jn 1.4, 7, 9, 9.5, 11.9. 12.46; C. Koester, Symbolism in the Forth Gospel, (2003) 141-174.

Hamblin, John 1.1-18 (1)

8

Jan 3, 2011

dazzling glory of the Word-Messiah at creation (1.4-5, 7-9), especially in the passage where “the light [of the Word] shines in the darkness” (1.5), just as the primordial light does in Genesis 1.2-5. As we shall see later, Jesus is the manifestation of the Glory of God--which is described as a dazzling light accompanying the a manifestation of God. However, Jesus is not only the light that enlightens the primordial pre-creation darkness, but, more importantly for John, Jesus is the spiritual light--“the true light that enlightens all men” (Jn 1.9)....