Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel : Human or divine? 0567030261, 2005048537, 9780567030269

Table of contents :
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter 1
BACKGROUND ISSUES 3
1. The Johannine Christological Debate 5
2. Methodological Considerations 14
3. Criteria of Identification 21
4. Conclusion 28
Chapter 2
JOHN'S RELIGIOUS SETTING 30
1. The Old Testament 31
2. The Dead Sea Scrolls 42
3. The Apocrypha 43
4. The New Testament 44
5. Evaluation 65
Chapter 3
JESUS' EMOTIONS WITHIN THE STRUCTURE OF
JOHNS GOSPEL 67
1. Where John Begins 67
2. The Emotions of the Johannine Jesus 72
3. The Location of Jesus' Emotions 73
4. Pentateuch Themes in John 83
5. A Covenantal Perspective 96
6. Conclusion 114
Chapter 4
ZEAL FOR THE TEMPLE 116
1. The Context 116
2. The Old Testament Quotation 125
3. Implications 136
4. Conclusion 138
Chapter 5
'OUR FRIEND LAZARUS' 139
1. The Account of the Raising of Lazarus 141
2. Love 150
3. Joy 162
4. Anger 168
5. Troubled 177
6. Tears 182
7. Evaluation 184
Chapter 6
THE TURNING POINT 187
1. The Hour of Trouble (John 12.27) 188
2. The Hour of Love (John 13.1) 195
3. Troubled Again (John 13.21) 211
4. Love Again (John 13.34) 222
5. Conclusion 224
Chapter 7
LOVE AND JOY 226
1. A Covenantal Perspective 227
2. The Love of Jesus 232
3. Jesus' Joy (15.11; 17.13) 253
4. The Beloved Disciple (13.23; 19.26; 20.2; 21.7, 20) 257
5. Summary 264
CONCLUSION 266
Appendix 1 271
Appendix 2 278
Appendix 3 280
Appendix 4 282
Appendix 5 284
Appendix 6 286
Appendix 7 287
Appendix 8 291
Appendix 9 294
Appendix 10 299
Bibliography 304
Index of References 323
Index of Authors 341

Citation preview

library of new testament studies

JESUS’ EMOTIONS IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL Human or Divine?

STEPHEN VOORWINDE

LIBRARY OF NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES

284 Formerly the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series

Editor Mark Goodacre

Editorial Board John M.G. Barclay, Craig Blomberg, Kathleen E. Corley, R. Alan Culpepper, James D.G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Stephen Fowl, Robert Fowler, Simon J. Gathercole, John S. Kloppenborg, Michael Labahn, Robert Wall, Robert L Webb, Catrin H. Williams

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel Human or Divine?

Stephen Voorwinde

t&t dark

Copyright © Stephen Voorwinde, 2005 A Continuum imprint Published by T&T Clark International The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX

80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038

www.tandtclark.com First published 2005 Reprinted 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Voorwinde, Stephen, 1947Jesus' emotions in the Fourth Gospel : human or divine? / Stephen Voorwinde. p. cm. - (Library of New Testament Studies) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-567-03026-1 1. Bible N.T. John—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Jesus Christ—Humanity. 3. Jesus Christ—Psychology. 4. Emotions—-Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title. II. Series. BS2615.52 V66 2005 226.5'06-dc22

2005048537 EISBN 9780567030269 Typeset by Tradespools, Chippenham, Wiltshire

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION

ix xi

1

Chapter 1 BACKGROUND ISSUES

1. The Johannine Christological Debate 2. Methodological Considerations 3. Criteria of Identification 4. Conclusion

3

5 14 21 28

Chapter 2 JOHN'S RELIGIOUS SETTING

30

1. The Old Testament 2. The Dead Sea Scrolls 3. The Apocrypha 4. The New Testament 5. Evaluation

31 42 43 44 65

Chapter 3 JESUS' EMOTIONS WITHIN THE STRUCTURE OF JOHNS GOSPEL

1. Where John Begins 2. The Emotions of the Johannine Jesus 3. The Location of Jesus' Emotions 4. Pentateuch Themes in John 5. A Covenantal Perspective 6. Conclusion

67

67 72 73 83 96 114

vi

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel

Chapter 4 ZEAL FOR THE TEMPLE

1. The Context 2. The Old Testament Quotation 3. Implications 4. Conclusion

116

116 125 136 138

Chapter 5 ' O U R F R I E N D LAZARUS'

1. The Account of the Raising of Lazarus 2. Love 3. Joy 4. Anger 5. Troubled 6. Tears 7. Evaluation

139

141 150 162 168 177 182 184

Chapter 6 T H E T U R N I N G POINT

1. The Hour of Trouble (John 12.27) 2. The Hour of Love (John 13.1) 3. Troubled Again (John 13.21) 4. Love Again (John 13.34) 5. Conclusion

187

188 195 211 222 224

Chapter 7 LOVE AND JOY

1. A Covenantal Perspective 2. The Love of Jesus 3. Jesus' Joy (15.11; 17.13) 4. The Beloved Disciple (13.23; 19.26; 20.2; 21.7, 20) 5. Summary

CONCLUSION

Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix

1 2 3 4 5

226

227 232 253 257 264

266

271 278 280 282 284

Contents Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix

6 7 8 9 10

Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors

vii 286 287 291 294 299 304 323 341

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is the revised edition of a doctoral thesis submitted to the Australian College of Theology in 2003. I am particularly grateful to the dean of the College, Dr Mark Harding, for his warm encouragement to have the work published. There are also many others to whom I am deeply indebted. My colleagues at the Reformed Theological College assumed additional responsibilities so as to enable me to complete my research. Without their unswerving support and that of the board this work would never have been completed. The former principal, the Rev. Dr Keith Warren, also deserves my special gratitude for his untiring encouragement and inspiration, especially in the initial stages. My first supervisor, Dr Rikki Watts, formerly of the Bible College of Victoria, and currently an associate professor at Regent College in Vancouver, contributed much by way of his enthusiasm for the project and his many scholarly insights. As his departure for Canada eventually made ongoing supervision impractical, my warm thanks are extended to Dr Johan Ferreira of the Bible College of Queensland who was willing to assume supervision in the final stages of my research. His wise and careful advice, coupled with his expertise in Johannine studies, enabled me to finally bring the thesis to completion. A special word also needs to be said for my students at the Reformed Theological College. Their probing and enquiring minds, together with their willingness to ask the hard questions, forced me to investigate areas that might otherwise have been left unexplored. One of their number, Robert van Wichen, deserves specific mention for his generous help when it came to converting the Greek and Hebrew fonts for publication. My gratitude also extends to my long-suffering family for their unwavering confidence and loyal support over the years. The many conversations with my wife Nancy provided me with perceptions and insights that led to more careful research. For a topic of this nature a woman's perspective has proved to be invaluable. It is therefore to her that I affectionately dedicate this book. Above all I am grateful to our gracious God not only for the gift of health and stamina to see this project through, but especially for the

x

Acknowledgments

inexpressible gift of his one and only Son. May even this lisping and stammering attempt to express the sublimity of his person be to his praise and glory. Soli Deo gloria! Stephen Voorwinde Reformed Theological College Geelong, Australia Summer 2005

ABBREVIATIONS The abbreviations used in this book follow the conventions found in The SBL Handbook of Style for Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999):

ABR ACR AV BAG

BAGD

BBR BDAG

BDB BDF

BJRL BST BT BTB CBQ Colloq DCH DSS

Australian Biblical Review Australasian Catholic Record Authorized Version Bauer, W., W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago, 1957 Bauer, W., W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 2d ed. Chicago, 1979 Bulletin for Biblical Research Bauer, W., F. W. Danker, W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3d ed. Chicago, 1999 Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford, 1907 Blass, F., A. Debrunner, and R. W. Funk. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago, 1961 Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester The Bible Speaks Today The Bible Translator Biblical Theology Bulletin Catholic Biblical Quarterly Colloquium Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. Edited by D. J. A. Clines. Sheffield, 1993Dead Sea Scrolls

Xll

EDNT ET ETL ESV EvQ ExpTim GNB HBT HRCS

HTR Int JB JBL JOTT JSNT JSNTSup JTS KJV LB LN

LXX MLB MM MT NA NASB NEB NICNT NICOT NID NTT NIDOTTE

NIV NovT NRSV

Abbreviations Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by H. Balz, G. Schneider. ET. Grand Rapids, 1990-1993 English Translation Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses English Standard Version Evangelical Quarterly Expository Times Good News Bible Horizons in Biblical Theology Hatch, E. and H. A. Redpath. Concordance to the Septuagint and Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament. 2 vols. Oxford, 1897 Harvard Theological Review Interpretation Jerusalem Bible Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Translation and Textlinguistics Journal for the Study of the New Testament Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series Journal of Theological Studies King James Version Living Bible Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. Edited by J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida. 2d ed. New York, 1989 Septuagint Modern Language Bible Moulton, J. H., and G. Milligan. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament. London, 1930 Masoretic Text Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland New American Standard Bible New English Bible New International Commentary on the New Testament New International Commentary on the Old Testament New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Edited by C. Brown. 4 vols. Grand Rapids, 1975-1985 New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. Edited by W. A. VanGemeren. 5 vols. Grand Rapids, 1997 New International Version Novum Testamentum New Revised Standard Version

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel NTS OCD Phillips RB RefR RRef RSV RTR RV SANT SBLDS SJT T. 12 Patr. T. Ab. TDNT

TEV Them TLG TynBul T. Zeb. UBS VR Vulg. WBC WH WTJ ZNW

xin

New Testament Studies Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by M. Cary, et al. Oxford, 1949 The New Testament in Modern English, J. B. Phillips. Revue biblique Reformed Revue La revue reformee Revised Standard Version Reformed Theological Review Revised Version Studien zum Alten und Neuen Testaments Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series Scottish Journal of Theology Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs Testament of Abraham Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by G. Kittel and G. Friedrich. Translated by G. W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids, 1964-1976 Today's English Version (= Good News Bible) Themelios Thesaurus Linguae Graecae Tyndale Bulletin Testament of Zebulun The Greek New Testament, United Bible Societies Vox reformata Vulgate Word Biblical Commentary Westcott-Hort Westminster Theological Journal Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der dlteren Kirche

INTRODUCTION

This study seeks to address an old issue from a fresh perspective. Ever since the emergence of the Bultmann-Kasemann debate in the 1960's, Christology has played a dominant role in Johannine studies. The emotions of the Johannine Jesus on the other hand have received very little sustained scholarly attention. This observation applies equally to the data found in the Synoptics as to that in the Fourth Gospel. An exploration of the emotions of the Johannine Jesus therefore has the potential of casting new light on the ongoing debate surrounding Christology. Because of the well-defined scope of our topic, this investigation will focus on John, but not without frequent crossreferencing to the emotions of Jesus in the Synoptics. The Synoptic material will therefore be surveyed first, so as to provide a backdrop to which the emotions of the Johannine Jesus can either be compared or against which they can be contrasted. In chapter 1 the investigation is set within the context of the current christological debate in Johannine studies. The central question is defined in terms of the humanity and/or divinity of Jesus, but this does not exclude the possibility that a soteriological factor may also be at work in determining the emotions of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Such a dimension has the potential of informing and shaping Johannine Christology. Having stated the thesis that is being examined, this chapter will then lay out the methodology that will be adopted. The key issues here are the hermeneutical approach to be taken in the interpretation of John's Gospel as well as the criteria to be used in the identification of the emotions of Jesus. Chapter 2 places the emotions of the Johannine Jesus in a broader context. Because of quotations, allusions, and parallels, the religious setting of the Fourth Gospel can be discovered most convincingly within early Judaism and early Christianity. The most relevant literature for illuminating the emotions of John's Jesus are therefore the Hebrew Old Testament, the Septuagint, the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Synoptic Gospels, and the remainder of the New

2

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel

Testament. Within this literature the emotions attributed to God and to Jesus will be explored from a covenantal perspective. An examination of this background material will provide a useful context for the more detailed investigation into the emotions of Jesus in John's Gospel. In chapter 3 the emotions of the Johannine Jesus are identified and placed within the structure of John's Gospel. Numerous links are drawn between the Gospel and the Pentateuch and a preliminary investigation is made into patterns that may be emerging. As in the Pentateuch Yahweh features as the Lord of the covenant, Jesus likewise fulfils such a role in some of the major sections of John's Gospel. This is, however, not the only function fulfilled by Jesus. In his Passion he also becomes the covenant sacrifice. The interplay between these two contrasting covenantal roles provides the dynamic within which the emotions of the Johannine Jesus are to be understood. This rubric forms the background for the more detailed study of the emotions in the chapters that follow. Chapters 4-7 provide an exegetical and contextual study of all the references to the emotions of the Johannine Jesus. In the main the discussion follows the order in which the emotions occur in the narrative. In John 1-10 the only emotion attributed to Jesus is zeal (2.17) and this emotion is the subject of chapter 4. The emotions of Jesus cluster most noticeably in the events leading up to the raising of Lazarus in John 11 and these occurrences will be discussed in chapter 5. The next chapter will deal with the turning point in the narrative (John 12-13). This section yields some poignant emotions, in that Jesus is both troubled at the prospect of his approaching death and impelled by a love for his own. In the final chapter this investigation will consider the emotions found in the remainder of the Gospel, namely love and joy. Both of these emotions will have been discovered earlier, but the possibility of new dimensions will be explored. In the conclusion this study will return to the central proposition that it has set out to examine, namely that the emotions of the Johannine Jesus throw significant light on his humanity/divinity, and that from a covenantal and soteriological perspective.

Chapter 1 BACKGROUND ISSUES

Of the fifty-nine specific references to the emotions of Jesus in the canonical Gospels no less than twenty-eight are found in the Gospel of John (see Appendix 5). Curiously, in both Synoptic and Johannine studies this small but significant body of data - for reasons that are difficult to determine - has been all but overlooked.1 Another remarkable feature surfaces when a comparison is made between the Synoptic materials and the evidence presented by the Fourth Gospel. The overlap between the emotions of the Synoptic Jesus and those of the Johannine Jesus are almost negligible.2 Although a couple of verbs are used across the two traditions to indicate emotions of Jesus, they are found in widely differing contexts (see Appendix 5). Hence John's portrayal of Jesus' emotions may confidently be regarded as unique among the Gospel accounts. This surprising discovery of a small plot of virgin territory within the well-worked field of Johannine scholarship has the potential of throwing fresh light on some old but troublesome questions. To research the emotions of the Johannine Jesus invariably involves the researcher in the still current and controversial issues surrounding the Christology of John's Gospel. Thus from the emotions of Jesus, which until now have appeared only on the periphery of Johannine studies, one will necessarily be drawn into the central issues defined by scholarship. As Robert Kysar has pointed out: There is little doubt that for the fourth evangelist the person and work of Christ is the heart of the gospel from which all other concepts are 1. What was probably the twentieth century's most comprehensive study of the emotions of Jesus was the essay by the Reformed theologian Benjamin B. Warfield, 'On the Emotional Life of Our Lord', in The Person and Work of Christ (Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1950; article originally published by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912), 93-145. Since Warfield, little scholarly attention seems to have been given to the emotions of Jesus. 2. See below, p. 72.

4

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel sustained. But beyond this consensus over the centrality of christology the convergence of critical opinions ends ... The question is, how shall one understand the johannine view of Christ; what is the key to its interpretation? If the heart of the evangelist's theology resides in his view of Christ, the penetration of the mystery of his christology promises to open the whole of his theology to understanding.3

More recent scholarship, however, has challenged even this elementary level of consensus. Marianne Thompson has questioned the usefulness of viewing Christology as the heart of the Fourth Gospel: the oft-repeated and widely shared characterization of the Gospel as 'Christocentric' has contributed to the neglect of God in the delineation of Johannine theology. Instead, I have proposed that the Gospel would better be termed 'theocentric', in that it directs our attention to God, and that this designation is particularly apt in light of the fact that Johannine Christology itself regularly, comprehensively, and insistently seeks to relate Jesus to God.4

This observation certainly injects a salutary note of caution into the general debate. Johannine scholarship cannot afford to consider the Christology of the Fourth Gospel and its theology in isolation from one another. 'Rather', as Thompson further explains, 'the image is that of concentric circles, in which the Christological circle lies within and shares its center with the larger theological circle'.5 This provides a useful perspective not only for viewing Johannine Christology in general, but also the emotions of Jesus in particular. While in the Synoptic Gospels there is no overlap between the emotions of Jesus and those of God (Appendices 7-9), the situation in John is rather different (Appendix 10). As many as eighteen of the twenty-eight references to the emotions of Jesus (namely the noun and verbs indicating his love) are also used to depict the emotions of God in this Gospel (Appendices 4 & 5).6 A careful examination of the emotions of the Johannine Jesus therefore has the potential of making a small but genuine contribution to our understanding of the Christology of the Fourth Gospel. Before such a contribution can be made, at least the main contours of the current debate will need to be drawn. 3. Robert Kysar, The Fourth Evangelist and His Gospel: An Examination of Contemporary Scholarship (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1975), 178. 4. Marianne M. Thompson, The God of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 227. 5. Thompson, God of John, 239. 6. In John the occurrences are as follows: aya-nocix) [re: Jesus - 12A-; re: God - IOJC]; dycbn [re: Jesus - 2JC; re: God - 2x]; (Ju^io) [re: Jesus - 3x; re: God -2x\.

1. Background Issues

5

1. The Johannine Christological Debate The key issue in the current debate is whether John addresses the issue of ontology. While this was central to the Christological controversies of the ancient church and to the confessional declarations of the great church councils, such as Nicea and Chalcedon, was it of concern to the author(s) of the Fourth Gospel? In answering this question T. E. Pollard makes a careful distinction between the writer of the Gospel and its early readers: It is questionable whether St John gave any thought to the ontological nature of the sonship [of Jesus], although certainly for readers with minds nourished on Hellenistic philosophy his statements concerning Christ's sonship would raise questions of ontology. For minds nourished on Hebraic thought the moral nature of Jesus' sonship would be of first importance. For Hebrew minds a true son is one who reproduces the thought and action of his father.7

While, as Pollard warns, 'we must not transform St John into a fourthcentury Father',8 others find it more difficult to avoid the ontological question in the Fourth Gospel. Even C. K. Barrett, to whom Pollard appeals, states quite bluntly: 'For John, Jesus' sonship does indeed involve a metaphysical relationship with the Father. The charge that Jesus, by claiming to be the Son of God and to work continuously with him, makes himself equal to God, is never rebutted. John does not mean to rebut it.'9 Yet this is only one side of the coin. On the one hand 'Jesus of Nazareth inhabited eternity with the Father',10 but on the other hand, 'these notions are always qualified by the thought of a fundamentally moral relationship, in which the Son is obedient to the Father'. Hence the meaning of Jesus' sonship in John is two-sided: 'both moral likeness and essential identity are included'.11 Because of this dual emphasis in the Fourth Gospel, the contributors to the Johannine Christological debate have (often in spite of themselves) 7. T. E. Pollard, Johannine Christology and the Early Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), 17. 8. Pollard, Johannine Christology, 17. 9. C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text (London: SPCK, 1955), 60. 10. Cf. James F. McGrath, John's Apologetic Christology: Legitimation and Development in Johannine Christology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 54-55, notes that the 'high' Christology of John's prologue actually has a great deal in common with such passages as Col 1.15-20 and Heb 1.3, but then adds: 'The distinctiveness of the Johannine portrait is that this language is placed at the very start of the Gospel, indicating that the preexistent state of the Logos is the lens through which the rest of the Gospel and the entire life of Jesus are to be viewed'. 11. Barrett, John, 60.

6

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel

tended to fall into three major groupings, along broadly ontological lines. In many ways the current debate was spawned by the disagreement between Rudolf Bultmann (who saw the fourth Evangelist promoting an essentially human Jesus) and his former student Ernst Kasemann (for whom the Johannine Jesus was none other than the Docetic Christ). A mediating position was put forward by Rudolf Schnackenburg in his threevolume commentary on John. The views of these three scholars will be summarized as the leading representatives of the main schools of thought. Other scholars will also be cited to provide variations and modifications within these major viewpoints.12

a. Jesus as Merely Human This was the view of Rudolf Bultmann who flatly declared: 'How does God's Son come into the world? As a human being. The theme of the whole Gospel of John is the statement: 'The word became flesh" (1.14).'13 He elaborates on the point with emphasis: The Revealer appears not as man-in-general, i.e. not simply as a bearer of human nature, but as a definite human being in history: Jesus of Nazareth. His humanity is genuine humanity: 'the word became flesh.' Hence, John has no theory about the pre-existent one's miraculous

12. Kysar, Fourth Evangelist, 179, has viewed the issues involved in the quest for understanding Johannine Christology along the lines of three sets of relationships: (a) history and faith, (b) flesh and glory, and (c) person and function. Our summary of the debate views it in terms of the second of these contrasts. From this perspective Kysar saw the debate as having spun off in three directions: 'On the one side, some have emphasized the dominance of the glory of Christ in the fourth gospel and understood that his humanity is but a disguise of varying effectiveness. On the other extreme, some have insisted that the evangelist fully accepted the flesh of Christ and that his divine glory was made subservient in the incarnation to his earthly existence. Between these two extremes are those interpreters who have found the evangelist to make sense only if one understands him to be saying that the flesh and glory are indivisibly one in the person of Jesus' (186). Due care needs to be taken, however, in the use of the term 'glory'. In the Fourth Gospel the glory of Christ pertains neither to his divinity nor to his humanity, but to his mission. 13. Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament (trans. Kendrick Grobel; vol. 2; London: SCM, 1955), 40. This is not the only Christology which Bultmann discovers in the Fourth Gospel. For example, there are traces of the Gnostic Redeemer-myth in the Offenbarungsreden as well as of the 'divine man' with his mighty acts of power. Bultmann's methodology has been explained by Paul N. Anderson, The Christology of the Fourth Gospel: Its Unity and Disunity in the Light of John 6 (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1996), 32: 'Bultmann's approach to the christological unity and disunity of John is to isolate the existentialist christology of the evangelist as central, and to assign diverging christological motifs to other literary sources. This preserves a certain degree of non-contradiction of thought for the evangelist, while explaining the presence of disparate christological material in John as originating elsewhere.'

1. Background Issues

7

manner of entry into the world nor about the manner of his union with the man Jesus.14 In his commentary Bultmann is equally unequivocal. In his exegesis of the declaration 6 Xoyoc, oapE, eyeveTO in John 1.14, he explains that '2ap£ in John refers to the sphere of the human and the worldly as opposed to the divine . . . Whereas OKOTO; refers to the worldly sphere in its enmity towards God, aap£ stresses its transitoriness, helplessness and vanity (3.6; 6.63).'15 From this observation Bultmann concludes: It is in this sphere that the Logos appears, i.e. the Revealer is nothing but a man. And the men who meet him take him for a man, as is seen most clearly in the l&ou 6 ayGpumx; (19.5) ... It is therefore perfectly appropriate for the title Logos to play no further part in the rest of the Gospel. The Logos is now present as the Incarnate, and indeed it is only as the Incarnate that he is present at all.16 Bultmann is also careful to point out that Jesus' genuine humanity is in no way compromised by the pervasive theme of 'glory' in this Gospel; It is in his sheer humanity that he is the Revealer. True, his own also see his So£oc (v.l4b); indeed if it were not to be seen, there would be no grounds for speaking of revelation. But this is the paradox that runs through the whole gospel: the 5o£a is not to be seen alongside the odtp£, nor through the oap£ as through a window; it is to be seen in the octp£ and nowhere else.17 For Bultmann this is not only the theme of John's Gospel. It is also the great offence of this Gospel. The Revealer is a man.18 Bultmann insists on the humanity of the Revealer even though the central story of Johannine Christology derives its pattern from the Gnostic 14. Bultmann, Theology, 41. 15. Rudolf Bultmann, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (eds. R. W. N. Hoare and J. K. Riches; trans. G. R. Beasley-Murray; Oxford: Blackwell, 1971), 62; trans, of Das Evangelium des Johannes (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1964). 16. Bultmann, John, 62-63. 17. Bultmann, John, 63. 18. It should be noted at this point that for Bultmann this man was not the historical Jesus. As Alister E. McGrath explains in The Making of Modern German Christology, 17501990 (2d. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 170: 'The existentially significant Christ is not "Christ according to the flesh", but the "preached Christ", the Christ who is present in the kerygma ... Although that kerygma is based upon the history of Jesus of Nazareth, it now transcends it. Bultmann thus has no time for critical questions concerning the nature of the historical Jesus, and his relation to the Christ of faith, insisting that it is, in principle, both impossible and illegitimate to go behind the Christ of the kerygma to its historical foundations. All that it is necessary to state about Jesus is that the fact [sic] he has come, and that he is present in the kerygma.'

8

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel

Redeemer-myth. In a crucial sense the author takes distance from this myth, while at the same time using it for his own purposes. As William Loader explains: Accordingly, unlike gnosticism, Johannine religion is not primarily about a Revealer who gives information, brings words, coming down as an emissary of the heavenly world and then returning. It is rather about one who presents himself and in presenting himself presents the Father. He is the divine Word. The story or myth serves the evangelist as a vehicle for expressing the significance of the breaking through of God's word in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was not a pre-existent heavenly being. He was not sent from above in that sense... Bultmann is not thereby denying incarnation in the author's scheme. But incarnation is not, for the author, the entry into human flesh, according to Bultmann's analysis. Rather it means that the event of the revelation of the Father by the Son takes place in the fully human person Jesus of Nazareth. In 1.14 the author sets himself clearly apart from gnostic redeemer myths, just as he does not espouse a notion of revelation like theirs.19

Bultmann's interpretation seems to have given rise to the view that Jesus is God's agent in the Fourth Gospel.20 Peder Borgen, for example, has compared the sending of the Johannine Jesus to the Jewish institution of agency where 'an agent is like the one who sent him'.21 Borgen observes 'striking similarities between the halakhic principles of agency and ideas in the Fourth Gospel'.22 Some of these similarities would seem to suggest that the agent is a human being, such as his obedience and subordination to his sender and his appointing of other agents as an extension of his own mission. Ontologically, however, this concept has the potential of moving well beyond what Bultmann was prepared to allow the author of the Gospel to say about the Johannine Jesus. For Borgen further argues: The study so far has not explained the fact that Jesus according to John is not just a human and earthly agent but a divine and heavenly agent who has come down among men. Bultmann's hypothesis of gnostic mythology would offer an explanation of this point, since the gnostic agents were divine figures who were sent down to earth.23 19. William Loader, The Christology of the Fourth Gospel: Structure and Issues (2d rev. ed.; New York: Peter Lang, 1992), 3. 20. Thus Peder Borgen, 'God's Agent in the Fourth Gospel', in The Interpretation of John (ed. John Ashton; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 67-78 (67): 'R. Bultmann . . . rightly places the commissioning and sending of the Son in the very center of the message of the Gospel'. 21. Borgen, 'God's Agent', 68. 22. Borgen, 'God's Agent', 72. 23. Borgen, 'God's Agent', 72.

1. Background Issues

9

While initially appearing to favour the Bultmannian view of the Johannine Jesus as merely a human figure, the idea of agency raises the ontological question with some degree of acuteness. Loader has recognised that a new and important way forward in Johannine Christology iies in a reexamination of the notion of sending in the light of judicial emissary patterns in Judaism and stereotype emissary protocol in the ancient world, which were frequently applied to heavenly as well as earthly figures'.24 Although this approach holds promise, Loader also sees the strong ontological implications that the concept of agency carries with it: Is Jesus, analogous to Wisdom, or to apocalyptic eschatological figures, a bearer of God's name and therefore 'God' or a 'second God'? Is he such only because of his representative function? But that would leave open the ontological question. Clearly the author presupposes an ontology which enables him to speak of Jesus' pre-existence and being with the Father in the beginning. How is this perceived in such a way that it is not made the basis of the revelation scheme along the following lines: i am God: see me'; but rather is integrated within a story of sending and revealing and representing another?25 For the next school of thought Loader's question has an obvious - and provocative - answer.

b. Jesus as Only Divine

The polar opposite to Bultmann's understanding of the Johannine Jesus was proposed by one of Bultmann's own pupils, Ernst Kasemann. In the Fourth Gospel he detects a 'naive docetism'26 which consistently presents Jesus as 'God walking on the face of the earth'.27 According to Kasemann, 'John's peculiarity is that he knows only one single dogma, the christological dogma of the unity of Jesus with the Father'.28 Furthermore, 24. Loader, Christology, 12. 25. Loader, Christology, 12. Thompson, God of John, 238, argues for a functional and relational Christology in John which 'focuses on the agency of Jesus as mediating the presence or carrying out the will of God'. Such a Christology, however, at the same time carries strong ontological overtones: '[T]he determinative elements of the Christology of the Fourth Gospel are those that present Jesus as the one who carries out the functions of God and embodies the activity of God because he is identified with God in the way that a Son is identified with a Father, and that glory, Wisdom, and Word, as the manifestation and expression of God, are identified with God' (232). Hence the 'Gospel of John . . . testifies most vigorously to the unity of Father and Son' (233). 26. Ernst Kasemann, The Testament of Jesus: A Study of the Gospel of John in the Light of Chapter 17 (trans. Gerhard Krodel, London: SCM, 1968), 26, 77; trans, of Jesu letzter Wille nach Johannes 17 (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1966). 27. Kasemann, Testament, 73. 28. Kasemann, Testament, 25.

10

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel

'Jesus is the only revealer of God and therefore belongs totally on the side of God even while he is on earth'.29 The key verse for both Bultmann and Kasemann is clearly John 1.14, but while for the former the emphasis lies on oap£, for the latter the statement's centre of gravity is found in the word 6o£a.30 It is clear that Kasemann resolves the paradox between the two terms entirely in this direction: It is obvious that a real paradox between the lowliness and the glory of the earthly Jesus can only be affirmed if we seriously speak about Jesus' afflicted humanity exposed to the world, to suffering and to death. The disguise, the hiding, of a divine being in lowliness may appear paradoxical, but it is not really paradoxical at all. Such concealment, in the last analysis, is to make communication possible between what is unequal and therefore separate, between heaven and earth, God and man.31 Such an approach to the Gospel clearly makes the incarnation more apparent than real.32 It is a perspective for which Kasemann argues 29. Kasemann, Testament, 11. 30. Anderson, Christology, 24, makes an incisive comment on these two scholars' exegesis of this verse: T h e implications of the Bultmann/Kasemann debate over John 1.14 for the christological unity/disunity issue is that both scholars are attempting to alleviate one of the key tensions in John's christology (the high/low tension), but by employing different means. Bultmann removes the tension by arguing that only one of the poles (the fleshly emphasis) is internal to the thinking of the evangelist. The other pole has its origin in another literary source. On the other hand, Kasemann eliminates the tension by denying the existence of the "fleshly" pole altogether... [I]n both cases a great deal of explaining must be done in order to "eliminate" the other pole.' 31. Kasemann, Testament, 12. This interpretation has come in for severe criticism by Kasemann's colleague, Giinther Bornkamm, 'Towards the Interpretation of John's Gospel: A Discussion of The Testament of Jesus by Ernst Kasemann,' in The Interpretation of John (ed. John Ashton; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 91: 'Even from the point of view of history the thesis that the Christology of John is naively docetic seems to me to be false. The opening of the First Letter of John, alluding to and improvising upon the Prologue of the Gospel, contains an unmistakeable onslaught upon docetism, and this is how the Church came to correctly interpret John 1.14'. Cf. Pollard, Johannine Christology, 5: '[I]n both Gospel and Letter, St John opposes docetism which was already being suggested as a christology in the church or churches for which he wrote. Aware of the dangers of docetism, he strives to hold in balance the divinity and humanity of Jesus.' 32. John Ashton, Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Oxford: Clarendon, 1991), 74, in response to Kasemann, argues that depriving the historical Jesus of all humanity defeats the very purpose of writing a Gospel: 'Perhaps the evangelist was insufficiently on his guard against the possibility that his high christology, culminating in the affirmation of the divinity of Christ, might be taken in a docetic sense. But the suggestion that he himself would have denied the full humanity of Jesus is absurd: if it be true that he neglects to protect his Gospel adequately against such a misinterpretation, this must be because he was not aware of the extent of the danger.'

1. Background Issues

11

vigorously. He seriously questions the genuine humanity of one who walks on water, cannot be captured by his enemies, goes through closed doors and who, although weary and thirsty at the well of Samaria, has no need of a drink. Even Jesus' death fits this consistently docetic pattern. The Johannine Jesus goes to death triumphantly and of his own accord. No longer is the cross the symbol of humiliation. '[Jesus'] death is rather the manifestation of divine self-giving love and his victorious return from the alien realm below to the Father who had sent him.'33 Although Kasemann has more time for history than Bultmann,34 he still detects an enormous distance between the historical Jesus and the Johannine Christ: 'John changes the Galilean teacher into the God who goes about on earth'.35 Apart from their shared scepticism as to its historicity, Bultmann's and Kasemann's views of the Fourth Gospel's presentation of Jesus could hardly be more disparate. Marianne Thompson has aptly described the contrast between teacher and student on this point: 'if Bultmann sums up the Gospel's theme as "the Revealer is nothing but a man", then on Kasemann's terms, "the Revealer is God and nothing else'".36 c. Jesus as Both Human and Divine

On the basis of John's statement of purpose (20.31) Rudolf Schnackenburg has argued for 'the basic Christological interest' of this Gospel.37 Yet within the context of this statement Christology is inseparable from soteriology, and it is precisely within this relationship that Jesus' identity as 'the Christ, the Son of God' is to be understood. As Schnackenburg explains: [F]aith in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God has its salvific power through the person of Christ. As regards Jesus Christ, this means that his Messianic and divine dignity was brought out only to disclose his function as Saviour. The Johannine Christology is essentially ordained to soteriology. Everything that the Johannine Jesus says and does, all 33. Kasemann, Testament, 10. 34. With his paper, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', which he presented to a group of former Bultmann students in October 1953, Kasemann launched the so-called 'New Quest'. While Bultmann had contented himself with the sheer facticity of the historical Jesus, Kasemann believed that a broader historical stratum was recoverable. He sought this particularly in 'the continuity between the preaching of Jesus and the preaching about Jesus' (McGrath, German Christology, 184). 35. Kasemann, Testament, 27. 36. Thompson, Humanity, 36. 37. Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St John (vol. 1; eds. J. Massyngbaerde Ford and Kevin Smyth; trans. Kevin Smyth; Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Burns & Oates, 1990), 154; trans, of Das Johannesevangelium (Freiburg: Herder, 1965).

12

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel that he reveals and all that he accomplishes as 'signs', takes place in view of man's attaining salvation, in view of his gaining divine life. And since this salvation is inextricably linked with himself, since he reveals himself in word and in deed, all his work is interpreted 'Christologically' by the evangelist. Thus the concluding statement really provides us with the key to understanding the presentation according to the mind of the evangelist.38

This soteriological emphasis in Johannine Christology is, however, not without ontological overtones. The title 'the Son of God' in this context 'implies the full Christian profession of faith, proclaiming the Messiahship of Jesus in a sense which surpasses all Jewish expectations, the unique dignity of the incarnate Logos as the "only-begotten of the Father" (1.14), the mystery of Jesus as "the Son" absolutely, a mystery grasped by faith'.39 Pivotal for Schnackenburg's understanding is once again the exegesis of 1.14. His soteriological approach informs his exposition and enables him to take distance from the positions of both Bultmann and Kasemann. The Logos does not merely appear in afleshlydisguise, nor does he sacrifice his divinity through the incarnation. Schnackenburg's nuanced exposition is worth quoting in some detail at this point: The kykvtxo announces a change in the mode of being of the Logos: hitherto he was in glory with his Father (cf. 17.5, 24), now he takes on the lowliness of earthly, human existence; formerly he was 'with God' (1.1b), now he pitches his tent among men, and in human form, in the full reality of the oap£, to attain once more the glory of his heavenly mode of being after his return to the Father (17.5). This is a historycentred view of salvation, which also finds expression in terms of the descent and ascent of the Son of Man (3.13, 31; 6.62). He who descends and ascends is the one heavenly Son of Man who even on earth remains in constant union with heaven (1.51) ... In this perspective the two 'natures' of Christ, the divine and the human, do not stand out; it is rather a sequence of events in the history of salvation which is depicted . . . But the doctrine of the two natures is comprised therein, in germ,

38. Schnackenburg, John, 1:155. 39. Schnackenburg, John, 1:154. In his comments on John 1.1 Schnackenburg gives further precision to this perspective: 'The Logos is God as truly as he with whom he exists in the closest union of being and life. Hence Geoq is not a genus, but signifies the nature proper to God and the Logos in common. It is only the fullness of divine being which the Son receives from the Father's love which guarantees his absolute power as revealer and redeemer (cf. 3.35)... The predicate 9eooia, Gujioo^aL, Gu^oc;, i-woea), olKTipiiog, OLKiLpjitov, otKiipG), ), TrpoooxGiCw, fyQovoq, and

24

Jesus' Emotions in the Fourth Gospel

emotions. This is hardly an accurate reflection of the New Testament perspective where anger and jealousy are frequently attributed to God (see Appendix 4). For this reason alone, Domain 25 would have been a more suitable choice for these concepts.80 Not only so, but previous discussions of the emotions of Jesus have been quite content to include not only his compassion but also his anger.81 In contemporary psychology, moreover, all of these concepts are usually recognised as emotions (see pp. 25-28). This major difference accounted for, the remaining divergences are very few. Under Jesus' emotions in the Gospels we have included the cry of dereliction (Matt 27.46; Mark 15.34). Louw and Nida do not ignore this statement, but their methodology compels them to break it down into its various lexical components, rather than treat it as a syntactic whole. Taken as a unit this cry is a powerful expression of emotion, and previous discussion has regarded it as such.82 Another difference is the allocation of the verb €|ippi|iao[iai which Louw and Nida assign not only to Domain 25 but also to Domain 33 ('Communication'). John 11.33 is given as an example of the first,83 and Matt 9.30 as an example of the second. No reference is made to either John 11.38 or Mark 1.43. One can only assume

80. Other factors could also be considered. The word avoux, for example, is often translated 'absurdity' or 'lack of understanding,' but another meaning is also possible: 'fig. in connection with the emotional realm in Luke 6.11: the scribes and Pharisees allow themselves to be overcome by senseless anger at Jesus' healing on the Sabbath' (EDNT 1:105). ED NT likewise notes 'the primarily emotional connotations of the word 9u|i6