A Private Commentary on the Bible: John 13-21

By James D. Quiggle

This commentary on John 13–21 is designed for every Believer who sits in Sunday schools or Bible studies and for their Bible teachers. Any Believer can study John’s Gospel through this commentary and answer for themselves the two basic questions: what does it mean, and what does it mean to me?

The author believes John’s Gospel is the accurate, authentic, and credible product of God the Holy Spirit and the Apostle John. John wrote a historically reliable account of that part of the public ministry of Jesus the Christ which was not revealed by the Synoptic Gospels. His message throughout is that Jesus is God the Son, the Son of God, the Christ, and most importantly, the Savior.

The commentary is thoroughly exegetical and explanatory. It is based on the author’s translation and covers necessary grammatical and theological details without being tedious or exhaustive. It takes a common-sense approach to difficult issues in the Gospel, seeing them in the light of Jesus’ historical and cultural setting. Other commentaries are compared and selectively used where profitable to the reader.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James D. Quiggle
• Release date: Apr 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310554049

James D. Quiggle

James D. Quiggle was born in 1952 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He grew up in Kansas and the Texas Panhandle. In the early 1970s he joined the United States Air Force. At his first permanent assignment in Indian Springs, Nevada in a small Baptist church, the pastor introduced him to Jesus and soon after he was saved. Over the next ten years those he met in churches from the East Coast to the West Coast, mature Christian men, poured themselves into mentoring him. In the 1970s he was gifted with the Scofield Bible Course from Moody Bible Institute. As he completed his studies his spiritual gift of teaching became even more apparent. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Bible College during the 1980s while still in the Air Force. Between 2006–2008, after his career in the Air Force and with his children grown up, he decided to continue his education. He enrolled in Bethany Divinity College and Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theological Studies.As an extension of his spiritual gift of teaching, he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to begin writing books. James Quiggle is now a Christian author with over fifty commentaries on Bible books and doctrines. He is an editor for the Evangelical Dispensational Quarterly Journal published by Scofield Biblical Institute and Theological Seminary.He continues to write and has a vibrant teaching ministry through social media.

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A Private Commentary on the Bible

John 13–21

James D. Quiggle

Copyright James D. Quiggle 2015

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A Private Commentary on the Bible: John 13–21

Copyright © 2015 James D. Quiggle. All rights reserved.

Published by James D. Quiggle, 2015.

ISBN-13: 978-1310554049

Translation by James D. Quiggle.

Translations that may be quoted:

American Standard Version (ASV). Public Domain.

Authorized (King James) Version (KJV). Public Domain.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, by Holman Bible Publishers. Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

New American Standard Bible7 (NASB), Copyright 8 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

New King James Version® (NKJV). Copyright © 1982, 1983 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV), Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The Jerusalem Bible, Reader’s Edition, Copyright 8 1966, 1967, and 1968, by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd., and Doubleday & Company, Inc.

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

John Thirteen

John Fourteen

John Fifteen

John Sixteen

John Seventeen

John Eighteen

John Nineteen

John Twenty

John Twenty-One

Appendix, Reconciling John 18:28

Sources

Preface

The Private Commentary on the Old and New Testaments is my interpretation of the Bible, neither more nor less. I am responsible for the use made of all quoted and cited material.

The scope of the Private Commentary series is to bring the reader to a practical understanding of the scriptures. I explain and discuss each verse, idea, theme, and biblical truth as discovered in turn during the course of the exposition. My target audience is the Bible college/seminary student, Bible study/small group leader, Sunday School teacher, and local church Pastor. My point of view is a conservative theology. Other opinions concerning the Scripture are presented and discussed as I believe will profit the target audience. Bible students who desire to understand and apply the scriptures are invited to study the book with me and come to their own conclusions.

This material is copyrighted to prevent misuse or abuse. Those persons using this material in their teaching/preaching ministry may copy and distribute individual pages (e.g., an excursus, a table/list, or an appendix) for distribution to one’s students or auditors. The entire book may not be copied and/or distributed, nor large portions of the book, such as a chapter or extended comments on Scripture passages. The cost of this work has been kept as low as possible so every interested teacher, preacher, and student may afford a personal copy.

Greek word transliterations and definitions are from The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament (WSDNT), by Spiros Zodhiates. AMG Publishers, 1993. Transliterations are the vocabulary form, not the grammatical form used in a specific text. (Certain diacritical marks do not translate into eBook and have been changed.)

Hebrew word transliterations and definitions are from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), by R. Laird Harris et al. Moody Press, 1980. Transliterations are the vocabulary form, not the grammatical form used in a specific text. (Certain diacritical marks do not translate into eBook and have been changed.)

Abbreviations

AD Anno Domini (In the year of the Lord [since Christ was born])

BC Bello Christo (Before Christ [was born])

ca. about (an approximate date) (Latin: circa)

CE Current Era (year since Christ was born).

cf. compare (Latin: confer)

e.g. for example (Latin: exempli gratia)

etc. and so forth, and so on (Latin: et cetera)

HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible

Ibid in the same place (referring to the source cited in the previous entry) (Latin: ibidem)

i.e. that is (Latin: id est)

KJV King James Version

NASB95 New American Standard Bible 1995 edition.

NEB New English Bible

NIV New International Version

NKJV New King James Version

LXX Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament completed ca. 130 BC)

n. note (referring to a footnote or endnote in the work cited)

m. Mishnah (followed by tractate name, e.g., m. Baba Metzia)

Song Song of Solomon

s. v. under the word (Latin: sub verbo)

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

v. verse

vv. verses

WSDNT Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament

Introduction

The introduction from the first volume, John 1–12, is repeated for the benefit of the reader who may not have purchased volume one.

INTERPRETATION

The historicity of every doctrine, narrative, and discourse of the Gospel according to John has been challenged in some way or another, as have matters of authorship, provenance, purpose, theology, structure, and relationship to the Synoptics. The modern theologian discounts apostolic authorship and historical accuracy, preferring a document written by a proposed (but never discovered) Johannine Community that twisted history to create a New Testament theology; or an imaginary John who may have used eyewitness testimony as one element to create a Johannine gospel; or an unknown Jerusalem disciple who wrote while resident in Ephesus. I accept without reservation the inspiration of Scripture: its authenticity, accuracy, and credibility. I accept without hesitation the apostolic authorship and historicity of the account.

The method of interpretation will be to discover authorial intent toward the original readers, according to the historical-cultural background of the apostolic author, using the lexical, syntactical, theological, and literary conventions of the milieu in which the gospel was written. This method, over others, provides the valid ways and means whereby the intended message of the text may be discovered.

GENRE

The Gospels are in a genre known by the Greeks as bíoi, or biography (information in this section was developed from Bauckham [Testimony, 16–21, 93–112; Eyewitnesses, 276–277]). The ancient Greco-Roman biographies were not the same as modern biographies. In substance they ranged from fictional accounts of persons about who little was known, but were held to deserve a biography, to historically accurate narratives reflecting the ideals and methods of ancient historiography. The Gospels, especially John’s gospel, reflect the best characteristics of ancient historiography: an accurate topography and chronology; judicious selectivity in the materials presented; explanatory narrative asides; eyewitness testimony; discourses and dialogues. The Greco-Roman biographies focused more on individuals than the political or military events that were usually the subject of historiography, and the best bíoi used historiographic methods to recount the real past of a real person. The most significant difference between modern histories and biographies and ancient histories and bíoi is the narrative form—story-telling—the ancients used to hold the reader’s attention while instructing him (or her).

The best histories and bíoi were developed from living eyewitness testimony. In the view of the ancients, history could really only be written within the period in which the author could, if not himself an eyewitness, at least interview still living eyewitnesses. Similarly, it was biographies that also fulfilled this condition that tended to approximate historiography and would be expected to have the kind of accuracy that properly researched historiography would have [Bauckham, Testimony, 19–20]. It was only when a long period of time separated the biographer from his subject that the biography could not be truly historical, and fictive elements crept in. The author of John’s gospel claims to be an eyewitness to the events, 21:20, 24.

AUTHORSHIP

The ancient view that John the son of Zebedee was the author of the gospel bearing his name has been disputed by modern critics, but never decisively refuted. Opponents of Johannine authorship assert the superiority of alternative hypothesis as virtually self-evident without adducing supporting evidence [Kostenberger, 7, n. 16]. Kostenberger quotes Keener: traditional conservative scholars have made a better case for Johannine authorship of the gospel . . . than other scholars have made against it. The gospel itself supports Johannine authorship:

The author is an apostle: 1:14; cf. 2:11; 19:35.

The author is one of the twelve, being the disciple Jesus loved: 13:23; 19:26–27; 20:2–9; 21:24–25.

The disciple Jesus loved is consistently associated with Peter; this association identifies the disciple Jesus loved as John the apostle: 12:23–24; 18:15–16; 20:2B9; 21; Luke 22:8; Acts 1:13; 3–4; 8:14–25; Galatians 2:9.

The earliest testimony of the New Testament church was that John the apostle was the author of the fourth gospel. Irenaeus (ca. AD 125–200) personally knew Polycarp (ca. AD 69–156), who was a disciple of John the apostle. Polycarp related John’s verbal testimony to Irenaeus. Based on Polycarp’s testimony, Irenaeus wrote, John the disciple of the Lord, who leaned back on his breast, published his gospel while he was resident at Ephesus in Asia [Carson, 26].

The Anti-Marcionite prologue to the gospel of John (Marcion, ca. AD 140, was a heretic who insisted the only inspired writings were Paul’s epistles and parts of the gospel of Luke) is reported to have stated that the gospel was published while John was alive and was written down at John’s dictation by Papias, a contemporary of Polycarp. The Greek word used may also mean they wrote down, which would indicate Papias himself did not write what John dictated, but that Papias was reporting that John’s contemporaries wrote what John dictated. Papias wrote five books titled Expositions of Oracles of the Lord. The oracles of the Lord were said by Papias to have been the verbal testimony of Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John, and Matthew. Irenaeus called Papias a living contemporary of the apostle John [Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.33.4. Eusebius, 3.39].

Recently, Bauckham [Testimony] has made a case that the disciple of the Lord, the beloved disciple, who wrote the gospel, 21:20, 24, was not John the son of Zebedee, but John the Elder of Ephesus, a Jerusalem disciple of Jesus, not one of the Twelve. His argument, drawn internally from the gospel and externally from historical writings, hinges mainly on the fact that the author of the fourth gospel is never identified as an apostle, but as the the disciple of the Lord, the disciple whom Jesus loved, or the disciple who leaned on Jesus breast. What Bauckham fails to consider is that John the apostle may have been known as the disciple of the Lord etc., because this is how he named himself in his gospel. Bauckham’s arguments concerning authorship are not completely convincing. Of importance is that his argument supports the eyewitness character of the gospel.

There is good evidence that the titles to the Gospels (e.g., According to John) may have been attached to them (as a title page) from the beginning. The Gospel of John was alluded to at an early date in other writings that indicate its apostolic authorship. The earliest extant New Testament manuscript fragment is from John’s gospel, Papyrus 82 dating from AD 130, containing verses from John 18. Polycarp, writing ca. AD 125, quoted from 1 John, which (as seems likely) was written after the gospel. The first explicit quotation from the gospel may have come from the gnostic Basilides, ca. AD 130, quoting John 1:9 while commenting on Genesis 1:3 [Hyppolytus, Refutation of Heresies, 7.22.4]. A probable quotation is found in a gnostic document dated AD 140 (The Gospel of Truth). The Christian Justin Martyr (AD 100–165) quoted John 3:3 [First Apology, 61.4–5]. There is the possibility Justin used oral tradition. However, his student Tatian (AD 110–180), and others in second century, such as Apollinaris and Athenagoras, unambiguously quoted from the fourth gospel. Tatian created the first gospel harmony, using the fourth gospel as the framework into which the other three were fitted [Carson, 28]. Other second century witnesses are Clement of Alexandria (AD 150–216) and Tertullian (AD 160–220). Clement, after stating that the Gospels containing the genealogies came first, and that Mark wrote his gospel from Peter’s testimony, had this to say about the fourth gospel. But John, last of all, perceiving that what had reference to the body in the gospel of our Savior, was sufficiently detailed, and bring encouraged by his familiar friends, and urged by the spirit, he wrote a spiritual gospel [Eusebius, 6.14]. About AD 181 Theophilus of Antioch quoted from the fourth gospel and assigned John the apostle as the author. The earliest historical evidence is clear: the fourth gospel was written at an early date, and John the apostle wrote the fourth gospel.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The fourth gospel displays an accurate knowledge of first century Palestinian culture. John wrote about rituals and ceremonies as required in pre-AD 70 Israel, e.g., 2:6; 7:37; 8:12; 18:28; 19:31–42. He mentioned the Jewish feasts of Tabernacles, Dedication, and Passover. He was acquainted with several Jewish doctrines, such as the inferiority of women, 4:27, Sabbath laws, 5:10; 7:21–23; 9:14, and ideas of hereditary sin, 9:2 [Guthrie, 250]. He had a knowledge of Jewish history, e.g., how long it took to build the temple (up to Jesus’ time), and the politics of the times, knowing that both Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, but Caiaphas was the high priest in the year Jesus was crucified. The gospel demonstrates John was well acquainted with Palestinian geography, details of which have been supported by archaeological discoveries. (For example, the five porches at the pool of Bethesda with descriptions ascribing healing properties to the waters; the area at Pilate’s judgment hall was called Gabbatha.) He correctly identified cities and their locations. These and other details support an eyewitness testimony.

DATE AND PROVENANCE

The fourth gospel has been dated variously from pre-AD 70 to the last quarter of the second century. However, dates in the second century are now pretty well ruled out of court by the discovery of Papyrus Egerton 2 [Carson, 82]. This Papyrus was discovered in 1934 and consists of five fragments containing Greek text that is similar to but not from the four canonical Gospels. In relation to the fourth gospel, one fragment is similar to John 5:39–47 and 10:31–39. The Papyrus itself (the physical document) has been dated to the late second century. It is believed the texts on the document are from collections of sayings of Jesus. Because of this view the text is believed to have originated AD 50–100 when the oral traditions of the sayings of Jesus began to be put in written form. Because of these facts, the gospel of John must have been after the sayings on this papyrus were put in written form (which otherwise would have copied the Gospels), which places it well before the second century. Other scholars believe Egerton is dependent on John’s gospel, which again places the fourth gospel prior to the date of the papyrus.

The mention of Peter’s manner of death, John 21:19, which death occurred about AD 64–65, might be assumed to place the composition of the gospel after that date. Carson [85–86] states four arguments why he believes in a late date for John’s gospel (presented here in an abbreviated form).

There is no historical pressure for an early date, but the second century dates by which it began to be cited by the church fathers is slight pressure for a late date of composition.

John’s theological language suggests the language of second century writers, such as Ignatius, indicating the New Testament theology had become well accepted and required a less precise enunciation.

The fact the destruction of the Temple (AD 70) is not mentioned argues significant time had passed between that event and the composition of the fourth gospel, leaving John free not to make an explicit reference.

First John seems to confront a developing Gnosticism that the gospel is not concerned to address, arguing that the gospel was written before the epistle. A decade between the gospel and the epistle seems reasonable.

Based on this last point, Carson assumes a date of AD 80–85 for the fourth gospel. A date in the mid to late 90s is not impossible.

Point four in Carson’s arguments mentions Gnosticism. Gnosticism was the religious belief that salvation came from knowledge. There were about a hundred gnostic variations on this theme. Jesus was viewed (in very general terms applicable to most gnostic beliefs) as an emanation from God (a sort of created demi-god), usually the lowest of all the emanations. There were many levels of knowledge from the mundane to the esoteric. The basic ideas from which Gnosticism developed were part of Greek philosophy. With the advent of Christianity these ideas began to reflect a distorted form of biblical doctrine. However, there is little evidence of full-blown Gnosticism before John wrote his gospel or his epistles [Carson, 114].

PURPOSE

Although some scholars see the gospel as a second century response to Gnosticism or Docetism, the fact is John’s gospel is not immediately concerned with these issues. What John wrote can be applied to these heretical beliefs, but obviously he was not making an argument against them. John explicitly and unambiguously stated why he wrote this gospel: these are written so you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name John 20:31. John’s overarching purpose is the demonstration that the Christ, the Son of God, is Jesus [Kostenberger, 9]. One may interpret this as indicating a strictly evangelistic purpose, that is, as written for unbelievers [Carson, 90]. Or, it may be understood that John was writing a gospel to believers to give them an historical basis for their faith (they were second generation believers) and for their use in evangelism.

At the late first century date the fourth gospel was written, John was presumably the last living apostle, meaning the oral apostolic witness was about to permanently leave the earth. In a literate culture oral history becomes written history. The apostles wrote their Gospels to provide an historical basis for the faith of those who had not and would not see and hear Jesus, but would believe on Jesus based on the written apostolic testimony, John 17:20.

Some have proposed John intended to supplement, or correct, the Synoptic Gospels. However, there is no indication John used the Synoptics in his composition, although he must have read one or more of them. Instead, John seems to assume his readers knew the testimony of the Synoptics, because there are so few clear parallels or events common to John’s Gospel and the Synoptics. If we believe John the apostle was the beloved disciple, then he was an eyewitness to the events in the fourth gospel; if we believe John knew the message contained in the Synoptics, then it seems obvious that he chose other incidents from the life of Christ to fulfill his purpose—and he says just that, John 20:30. While the Synoptics focus on the Galilean ministry, John’s gospel focuses on the Judean ministry. The Jesus who spoke simply to the country folk of Galilee could also speak to the better educated and religiously trained Judeans. John had a lot of time in which to compose his gospel; its literary and theological qualities are the result of careful thought and writing.

THEMES IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL

The various themes in the gospel are announced in the prologue and worked out in the body of the gospel. Unlike the more concrete teaching in the Synoptics, John tends to present abstract themes, such as light, life, love, truth, and abiding [Guthrie, 239]. Carson [111] provides an informative table relating the introduction of a theme in the prologue to its outworking in the body of the Gospel (theme; prologue; gospel):

Pre-existence of Logos/Son; 1:1–2; 17:5

In him was life ; 1:4; 5:26

Life is light; 1:4; 8:12

Light rejected by darkness; 1:5; 3:19

Yet not quenched by it; 1:5; 12:35

Light coming into the world; 1:9; 3:19 and 12:46

Not received by his own; 1:11; 4:44

Born to God/not of flesh; 1:13; 3:6 and 8:41–42

Seeing his glory; 1:14; 12:41

The one and only Son; 1:14, 18; 3:16

Truth in Jesus Christ; 1:17; 14:6

No-one has seen God, except the one who comes from God’s side; 1:18; 6:46

Between 1:19–12:50 John presents seven signs demonstrating Jesus is the Messiah.

Water into wine at Cana, 2:1–12

Cleansing the temple, 2:13–22

Healing official’s son, 4:43–54

Healing a lame man, 5:1–47

Feeding the multitude, 6:1–14

Healing a blind man, 9:1–12

Raising Lazarus, 11:1–44

John gives seven I am statements made by Jesus.

I am the bread of life, 6:35

I am the light of the world, 8:12

I am the door of the sheep, 10:7

I am the good shepherd, 10:11

I am the resurrection and the life, 11:25

I am the way, the truth, and the life, 14:6

I am the true vine, 15:1

John calls out seven witnesses in support of Jesus’ messianic claims:

The Baptist, 1:6–7

Jesus’ works, 5:36

The Father, 5:37

Scripture, 5:39

Moses, 5:46

The Holy Spirit, 15:26

The disciples, 15:27

Many commentators divide the book in two main sections, the Book of Signs@ (1:19–12:50), and the Book of Glory (13:1–20:31). However, like many man-made schemes, this one cannot be rigidly applied but is only a guide. Incidents of signs and glory" are mixed throughout the gospel. John makes it clear in 20:30–31 that he considers the entire gospel as a book of signs [Carson, 103].

A more realistic division recognizes that Jesus’ public ministry is set off by an inclusio formed by the testimony and last mention of John Baptist, 1:19, 10:42, respectively. The private ministry follows from 11:1–16:33 as Jesus focused on his disciples to prepare them for their evangelistic mission to follow his death, resurrection, and ascension. Chapters 17–20 are the story of Jesus’ trials, death, burial and resurrection. Chapter 21 is John’s epilogue—not of Jesus’ ascension—but showing the disciples following Jesus.

Another organizing principle is that John presented Jesus under two complimentary ascriptions, the Christ, and the Son of God: these things are written that you might believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God 20:31. As the Christ, Jesus is the Messiah or anointed king, an ascription which could have its fullest relevance only to the Jewish people, since the concept was not familiar to the Gentile world [Guthrie, 272]. The Son of God was a concept familiar to the Gentiles, but its fullest meaning was in association with the term Messiah, as the one divinely anointed by God to save his people Israel. John intended his gospel for Christian use as a missionary document to unbelieving Jews as well as Gentiles. Viewed from another perspective, in the Old Testament Israel was the Lord’s vine or vineyard to bear the fruit of salvation by their witness of YHWH to the pagan world. John teaches that Jesus is Israel’s replacement; he is God’s vine (or vineyard) bringing salvation to unbelieving Jew and Gentile alike [Kostenberger, 15].

Carson [105–108] developed an analysis of the gospel, of which only the main points are given here:

The Prologue, 1:1–18

Jesus’ Self-disclosure in Word and Deed, 1:19–10:42

Transition: Life and Death,

King and Suffering Servant, 11:1–12:50

Jesus’ Self-disclosure

in His Cross and Exaltation, 13:1–20:31

Epilogue, 21:1–25

Burge [41] provided this outline of John (only the main points are given here):

The Book of Signs

The Prologue (1:1–18)

Jesus and the Baptist (1:19–51)

Jesus and the Jewish Institutions (2:1–4:54)

Jesus and Jewish Festivals (5:1–10:42)

Foreshadowing Jesus’ Death and Resurrection (11:1–12:50)

The Book of Glory

The Passover Meal (13:1–30)

The Farewell Discourse (13:31–17:26)

The Suffering and Death of Jesus (18:1–19:42)

The Resurrection (20:1–29)

Epilogue (21:1–25)

My working outline will be:

John’s Prologue, 1:1–18

Jesus’ Public Ministry, 1:19–10:42

Jesus’ Private Ministry, 11:1–16:33

Jesus’ Trials, Death, Burial, Resurrection, 17:1–20:29

John’s Epilogue, 20:30–21:25

Most commentators identify one of John’s important themes as misunderstanding. For example, Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus’ statement You must be born-again. The Samaritan woman misunderstands living water. The man at the pool of Bethesda misunderstands Jesus’ question, Do you want to be made well. Jesus uses these misunderstandings to lead people to spiritual perception, understanding, and faith. However, most commentators fail to see that the theme of misunderstanding is closely connected with another theme: the divine source of spiritual understanding. This theme is stated at 3:27, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. In other words, spiritual perception comes from God. The spiritual perception that leads to faith comes from grace. Grace must be given for a person to understand spiritual things and receive God’s gift of grace-faith-salvation, so that he or she may act by faith.

ALLUSIONS TO OTHER NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS

John probably had knowledge of the other gospels, perhaps all three. This is seen, negatively, in that he has not included in his gospel those things (with few exceptions) already presented in the Synoptics. Positively, there may be some indirect allusions to the Synoptics and other New Testament writings. For example, Mark’s gospel also begins at the beginning, but for Mark it is the beginning of earthly gospel history. It is possible John may be making an allusion to Mark’s work, saying in effect, ‘Mark has told you about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; I want to show you that the starting point of the gospel can be traced further back that, before the beginning of the entire universe’ [Carson, 114]. If, as tradition asserts, John was resident in Ephesus when he wrote his gospel, then he may have also had in mind Paul’s declaration that God chose the believer in Christ in eternity past (Ephesians 1:4). Perhaps Colossians 1:16 is reflected in John 1:3? While such allusions cannot be definitely proven, they provide some interesting possibilities to show how the writings of the New Testament are interconnected by the Holy Spirit.

JOHN’S STYLE

John was a theologian of the first rank. He chose his words carefully in order to communicate the deep things of Scripture to those not so instructed. The main issues of the gospel message—sin, the Savior, salvation—are presented in a way that the unbeliever can clearly see his need to believe and be saved. The terms are simple, so that the youngest believer can become instructed in the first principles of Christianity. Yet, the words John uses, and the way he puts them together, also communicate secondary and deeper meanings. Believers who desire to fully understand the issues underlying sin, the Savior, and salvation will find that this gospel will challenge them, teach them, and mature them. For example, the unbeliever reading John 3:16 can conclude that God sent Jesus to save him, without understanding the theology supporting the meaning. The young believer uninstructed in Scripture can read these words and conclude that he is able to evangelize the lost with the message found in this one verse. The believer seeking fuller knowledge will find in this verse the theology of election, sin, salvation, the Savior, grace, love, eternal life, the incarnation, and the nature of the world. The more one understands the doctrines of the Bible, the more one appreciates John’s ability to communicate those doctrines in both simplicity and complexity. One first reads John’s gospel like a child at the sea shore, seeing the waves, peering into the tidal pools, enjoying the scenery. On further reading one wades into the ocean John has written and discovers a depth and complexity that challenges one to learn all he can. John takes simple threads and weaves a clear picture of Christ the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior. Look but a little closer, and you will find those simple threads were woven into complex patterns that reveal the deepest depths of doctrine and theology.

Another characteristic of John’s style was his use of first person plural pronouns and verbs as a substitute for I [Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 370–383]. This use was and is common to all literature, and can be broken down to three forms.

The associative: the author includes his readers with himself: we means I and you.

The dissociative: the author distinguishes between a group to which he belongs and his readers: we means I and my associates.

We as a substitute for I. This use gives added force to the self-reference. It is a plural of majesty or authority.

John’s use of we ranges across all these forms, and ancient literature freely alternates between I and we without rhyme or reason. In John’s gospel, however, the we of authoritative testimony is frequently used to communicate eyewitness testimony. For example, 1:14–16; 3:10–13. An example in John’s writings outside the gospel is 1 John 1:1–5 (vv. 6–10 are the associative we); 4:14. John uses the first person plural, we know, when solemnly claiming the authority of testimony.

THE CALENDAR

The Jewish religious calendar—from Moses to today—is based on the lunar cycle, which is the number of days from one new moon to the next. On the Jewish calendar a new month begins with the new moon. A new moon is when the moon is between the earth and the sun and therefore no sunlight shines on the side facing the earth (and thus the moon is not visible). In modern times the date of the new moon can be accurately calculated. In Jesus’ time the practical reality was that the first day of a new month was when the first sliver of the waxing crescent moon could be discerned by two witnesses. This was, usually, and weather permitting, one or two days after the new moon. The temple kept an account of days since the last new moon, and if the current sighting was 29–30 days (or so, depending on cloudy weather) after the previous sighting, then the beginning of a new month was declared.

Because a lunar cycle (new moon to new moon) is about 29-1/2 days, giving a lunar year of 354.3672 days, versus a solar year of 365.2654 days, a lunar calendar drifts against the seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter); in an agrarian society (such as ancient Israel) it drifts against the harvest cycles established by the seasons. The feasts of Passover-Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles were meant to correspond with the grain planting and harvest cycles. The Jews understood the sidereal year (the solar year) and used it. However, because their religious activities (sacrifices, feast days) were regulated by the lunar cycle, they continued to use a lunar-based calendar. The result was that over the years the feast days set by the lunar calendar drifted against the seasons. In order to keep the two cycles (lunar and solar) aligned, an extra day or days, a week, and sometimes a thirteenth month, had to be added from year to year, decade to decade, and century to century. The beginning of any month on the Jewish calendar drifts from year to year in relation to the modern calendar. Because the solar-based calendar has a fixed beginning and ending (January 1; December 31), and a fixed number of days (365, 366), and months with irregular numbers of days (28, 30, 31), the beginning of any one month on the lunar calendar will not be the same day as a month on the solar calendar. For example, the first Jewish month, Nisan, begins about mid-March and ends about mid-April (when adjusted for seasonal drift).

As a practical illustration of the problem, the date of Easter varies year to year on the modern calendar because it is related to the Jewish Passover. Easter is the day the church celebrates Christ’s resurrection, which in AD 33 occurred on the Sunday following the Thursday Passover. Passover begins on the evening of the fourteenth day of Nisan. The church was concerned to celebrate Easter on the proper day, but because of developing anti-Semitic feelings also desired to separate Christian Easter from the Jewish Passover. However, they had to maintain the lunar connection with the Passover. In an effort to satisfy both needs, in AD 325 the Council of Nicaea created a rule for the churches that Easter would occur the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, but never on the Jewish Passover. Since the spring equinox always occurs on March 20 or 21, the church had established a more or less consistent date for celebrating Easter. However, calendar days still drifted against the true solar year and seasons, because the Julian calendar then in use was not completely accurate, leading to a discrepancy of ten days (between the Julian calendar and the solar year) by 1582. In that year the world began the switch to the Gregorian calendar, which is more accurate, running fast against the true solar year by only 25.96 seconds a year. The reasons why are far too complicated to explain here. Suffice it to say the earth’s daily rotation around its axis and its yearly orbit around the sun varies slightly. Today, time is determined by the oscillations of cesium atoms. The calendar year is measured in relation to certain fixed stars: 365.2654 days. Since the earth’s orbit fluctuates, and its rotation is slowing, the length of a day drifts against the cesium clock, and leap seconds are added to the clock from time to time.

About 1583 tables were developed that calculated the occurrences of the full moon in relation to Passover. The result was called the Paschal Full Moon. The Paschal Full Moon does not correspond to actual lunar observations, but is calculated as the fourteenth day of the lunar month; the Paschal Full Moon may vary from the actual full moon by as much as two days. The tables established one consistent day on which every Christian around the world would celebrate Easter. Easter is now celebrated world-wide on the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon in the month the Jewish Passover occurs. The Paschal Full Moon can occur anytime between March 21–April 18, inclusive, which means Easter can occur on any Sunday between March 22–April 25, inclusive. Since Easter (and Passover) are set by the lunar calendar, the date drifts against the solar year and seasons.

To avoid confusion concerning days, months, and years, I have for the most part expressed the Jewish feasts, days, and years for Jesus’ ministry in terms of the modern calendar. Reasonably accurate modern dates for ancient days can be determined through historical and astronomical means. For example, Jesus’ first public Passover was day six (Friday), Nisan 14, 785 AUC on an ancient calendar. This date is a combination of Jewish and Roman calendars. The Jews numbered the days of the week, except for day 7, which was known as Shabbat (Sabbath). The name Nisan was adopted during the Babylonian Captivity (before then the months were numbered; Nisan was month one). The acronym AUC