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I try to stay as closely connected to the world of Biblical Scholarship and Academics as possible. I believe it is immensely important to understand what scholars are writing about, discovering and exploring as it pertains to this amazingly complex, yet beautiful compilation of books we call the Bible. Because of my love for these things, I eagerly await an event that happens at the end of each month. In fact I feel like a child on Christmas morning around this time of the month. You probably can't handle the suspense of what it is!

Well, each month a new "Biblical Studies Carnvial" is released! Yes, I know the suspense wasn't worth that reveal. Sorry to disappoint you. However for us nerds this is a special time! Basically, the Biblical Studies Carnival is when all of the interesting, important and extraordinary things that have happened in the field of Biblical Scholarship are compiled into one blog post with links to the cooresponding books, articles and more. Are you interested in New Testament? There's a section for that! Are you interested in textual criticism? There's a section for that! Archeaology? You bet! Are you struggling to fall asleep at night? Well scroll down to the Greek Grammar section and you'll sleep like a baby! 

So, why am I telling you this and what does this have to do with the Gospel of John? Don't worry we'll get there. 

I came across an excellent article on the Biblical Studies Carnival from N.T Wright and Michael F. Bird, two popular Christians and Biblical Scholars, who wrote on the Gospel of John and I found it impactful for two reasons: First, context is king when trying to understand the Bible. Second, when you read John contextually and perceptively, the story can come to life like you may rarely experience. This is the core of what I want you to see today. That you can actually revamp how you read your Bible and experience it! We're simply using John's Gospel as an excellent example of this. 

I'd like to respond to Wright and Bird's writing and give you an encouragment through it as well. I recommend giving the article a read through before reading the rest of my post, but if you're busy (i.e lazy), don't worry you'll follow along just fine!

For those of you that read through the article I applaud you! But, I'm going to do some recap. First thing is first, folks. When you're reading the Bible it is vital to understand that hermeneutics are essential to your understanding of it! What are hermeneutics, you ask? Simply, the strategy in which one impliments to interpret the Biblical text. I have taught at HAC many times on the three "worlds" of the text which we must be aware of in order to gain a solid understanding of the Bible. The Literary world, the Historical world and the Theological world. All of these examine different aspects of a given verse and put it into context for you so that you understand the author's intent and the meaning therein.

I appreciate that within this article before we even begin talking about John's Gospel we're already receiving a reminder from these guys on why and how one can begin to approach the text. Put simply, here are a few rules you should follow:

  • Any given text does not necessarily describe to you the entirety of the personality and make-up of who the author is, but much of their writings give us a glimpse into their minds! For example, Matthew does not tell us much about himself in his gospel, but certainly does not hide his theological perspective in his writings!
  •  Secondly, Biblical authors intended to say certain things in their writings, but we must also be aware of "echoes, evocations, structures" within their writing. For example, Mark wants you to know Jesus is King - but his echoes and evocations are not necessarily a very "Jewish" King, but a Roman one - because that is Mark's perspective!
  • Finally, we must understand the text cannot be moulded to the "reader's whim" but must be understood as something that carries a tangible meaning and perspective, but also insprires meaning and perspective in the reader. 

If that is the case, then we should acknowledge that the author must be resurrected but not deified; that texts genuinely carry meaning like a hard-working mule, yet a text also inspires meaning like an iconic muse; and, while readers have rights, this does not license anarchy.

Amen! If I didn't have such great skin, I would get that block quote tattoo'd on me.

So, if I can sum up much of what was just said to you, it would simply be this: it is the job of the reader to understand the perspective of the author, their time in history among other things to truly begin to grasp the Bible's writings.  I dare say if we miss this vital point or brush it off we are robbing ourselves of vibrancy that lives just beneath the surface of our Bibles at best; and at worst we are outright misunderstanding and poorly interpreting what the biblical authors are speaking to us. This is serious buiness! I am so glad we have giants like Wright and Bird to help drive this point home!

So, finally, we've arrived at the Gospel of John - and now that we've done some legwork to understand why hermeneutics are important - we can see this beautiful Gospel for what it is! I want to challenge you readers to read a few chapters of the Gospel of John today or sometime soon and see if you can spot these things within the writing that Wright and Bird list for us. I think this will be a great exercise to show you the importance of understanding hermeneutics! Here they are:

1. John's echoes and evocations are depicting a new Genesis to us! As Wright and Bird point out, the beginning of John's Gospel start with an echo of Genesis 1. "In the beginning...." Sounds familiar, right? Well this entire Gospel is made to be like Genesis Part 2. The world is steeped in chaos, like the watery chaos of Genesis. The eternal Word (Logos) is coming into this world to bring order and hope to the chaos, as God is decpicted as doing in Genesis 1 and 2. Humanity rejects the order set by God/Jesus in both John and Genesis and a work of reconciliation is set in motion. 

2. John is drawing your eyes not only back to Genesis, but to Exodus too! Wright and Bird remind us in their article that after the Israelites left Egypt they had the Tabernacle which the Spirit of the Living God resided in. Remember, in John 1:14, Jesus is painted as the new Tabernacle. As readers when we come across this type of language you should be asking yourself then, "What was the Tabernacle? Why was it important? What did it do?" Answering those types of questions will give you a much deeper understanding of how John is depicting Jesus to us in his Gospel! 

3. John's Gospel prepares the way for Pentecost. Within the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the comforter, the advocate, the Spirit of God who is coming after Jesus leaves! We as readers must understand John's perspective is not simply Jesus, the divine one, who came to set order to chaos; but Jesus the fulfillment of God's plan for Israel. John speaks of Christ's promises of the Holy Spirit not only because Jesus spoke it at that point in history but because as Wright and Bird describe, "John, it seems, sees himself as part of a Jewish movement that has experienced the fulfilment of Israel’s hopes in Israel’s Messiah, and as someone who has received the gift of YHWH’s own spirit from this Messiah."

Here is Wright and Bird's (and any sane Pastor's) point. John's perspective throughout his Gospel is not just a biography. If that is your understanding of any of the four Gospels you've missed a great deal of meaning! Rather, John's Gospel compiles ones understanding of redemption, Israel's history with YHWH, Pentecost and an understanding of the Torah into the biographical wirtings of his Gospel to paint a full and colourful picture of Jesus. 

Have you ever looked at a picture in black and white only for the next frame to show you the picture in its entirety, full of colour? It is soothing to the brain to experience that. You can likewise experience that with the Scriptures. So, go ahead! Give the Gospel of John a second, third or maybe one-hundredth read. Only this time, do it some contextualizing for yourself first! Seek to understand John's perspective! It'll change the way you view the Bible.

 

Pastor Alex