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8 - John's Gospel

from PART II - THE BIBLICAL SOURCES OF TRINITARIAN THOUGHT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2015

Keith Ward
Affiliation:
Heythrop College, University of London
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Summary

It is in the fourth Gospel that we clearly see evidence of a marked development of thinking about the person of Jesus. The relation of the Prologue (John 1, 1–18) to the rest of the Gospel is much debated, and my own view is that the Prologue, even or perhaps especially if written later, can justly be taken as the key to interpreting the rest of the Gospel. The Prologue is now, anyway, part of the canonical text and can be taken as a genuine early reflection on the cosmic status of Jesus which became an important part of Christian tradition. It lives in a wholly different conceptual space from the other Gospels. It does not begin from the life of Jesus. It begins with God: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (1, 1). The phrase ‘In the beginning’ immediately echoes the first words of the Hebrew Bible: ‘In the beginning God created …’ That ‘beginning’ is the beginning of this universe, the beginning of this created cosmos. As such, it does not refer to the being of God in itself, beyond any actual created universe. It refers to the fact that this cosmos began and was brought into being by God. So, we might think, John is not referring to God beyond, and considered apart from, creation. John is referring to the origin of this cosmos and saying that at the origin of this cosmos the Word already was.

Because in the phrase ‘The Word was God’ the word theos is used without a definite article, many scholars hold that it should be translated ‘The Word was divine’, leaving the exact form of identity with God indeterminate. There are echoes of the Wisdom tradition here, especially perhaps in the Wisdom of Solomon chapter 7 and Proverbs chapter 8. The former says, ‘She [wisdom] is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty … for she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness’ (Solomon 7, 25–26).

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Christ and the Cosmos
A Reformulation of Trinitarian Doctrine
, pp. 52 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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  • John's Gospel
  • Keith Ward, Heythrop College, University of London
  • Book: Christ and the Cosmos
  • Online publication: 05 September 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316282731.009
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  • John's Gospel
  • Keith Ward, Heythrop College, University of London
  • Book: Christ and the Cosmos
  • Online publication: 05 September 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316282731.009
Available formats
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  • John's Gospel
  • Keith Ward, Heythrop College, University of London
  • Book: Christ and the Cosmos
  • Online publication: 05 September 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316282731.009
Available formats
×