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Application of criteria for identifying scriptural reuse demonstrates that John 8:12 is a specific allusion to Isa 9:1. Affirming the often overlooked proposal that the allusion answers the objection to Jesus in 7:52, this paper suggests the allusion serves a multi-layered narrative function. It demonstrates that Jesus’ opponents are ignorant of the portion of Isaiah to which he alludes, undermines them for their failure to know the Scriptures that testify on his behalf by a lexical link from ἐραύνησον in 7:52 to ἐραυνᾶτε in 5:39, and affirms the messianic identity of Jesus in accordance with the purpose of the book.
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5
See, e.g., Craig R. Koester, Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel: Meaning, Mystery, Community (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995) 128-129, 136 with references; only 136 concerns 8:12 specifically.
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6
Note, e.g., Thomas L. Brodie, The Gospel according to John: A Literary and Theological Commentary (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) 323, who combines use of light imagery in the OT and Qumran literature as background for John 8:12, and the many references in Beasley-Murray, John, 127-128.
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14
Thyen, “Ich bin das Licht der Welt: Das Ich- und Ich-Bin-Sagen Jesu im Johannesevangelium,” in Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum (Jahrgang 35:1992; Münster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1993) 38, although see his comparison of Jesus’ words to Isa 42:16 on 25.
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16
Stephen Motyer, Your Father the Devil? A New Approach to John and ‘the Jews’ (Paternoster Biblical and Theological Studies; Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1997) 155-156; Köstenberger, John, 253n4.
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17
Craig Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (2 vols.; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2003) 1:739.
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21
Andrew T. Lincoln, Truth on Trial: The Lawsuit Motif in the Fourth Gospel (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2000) 44-45; Grant Macaskill, Union with Christ in the New Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) 257-261.
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22
Barbara Aland et al., eds., Novum Testamentum Graece (28th rev. ed.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012) 857-861.
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24
Richard Bauckham, “Jewish Messianism according to the Gospel of John,” in The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple, 236.
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28
Brodie, The Gospel according to John: A Literary and Theological Commentary, 323-324.
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33
D.A. Carson, The Gospel according to John (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1991) 337-339.
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34
C.H. Dodd, Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963), references to 8:12 on 54, 130, 185, 317, 375, 377.
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35
R.H. Lightfoot, St. John’s Gospel: A Commentary (ed. C.F. Evans; 1956; repr., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957) 189-190.
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37
Michaels, The Gospel of John, 476-479. Michaels does not mention any parallels outside of John.
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38
Morris, The Gospel according to John, 436-439. This is despite his statement that “it must always be borne in mind that light is a common theme in both Old and New Testaments, so that it is not necessary for us to find the source of Jesus’ great saying in any non-biblical place” (437).
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42
Herman C. Waetjen, The Gospel of the Beloved Disciple: A Work in Two Editions (New York: T & T Clark, 2005) 234-237.
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43
Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John (New introduction by Adam Fox; London: James Clarke & Co., 1958) 128.
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44
Witherington, John’s Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth Gospel, 174-175.
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49
Bernard, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. John, 291-293.
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60
Sanders and Mastin, A Commentary on the Gospel according to St John, 218-219.
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63
Siegert, Das Evangelium des Johannes in seiner ursprünglichen Gestalt, 385-386.
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66
Witherington, John’s Wisdom, 174-175. Also Benjamin E. Reynolds, The Apocalyptic Son of Man in the Gospel of John (wunt 2/249; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008) 163-164, although understanding 8:12 and what follows as a continuation of discussion of the origin and identity of Jesus in Chapter 7, does not suggest any more specific link.
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67
E.g., Bruce, The Gospel of John, 25; Moloney, The Gospel of John, 251; and Sanders and Mastin, A Commentary on the Gospel according to St John, 218. G.H.C. MacGregor, The Gospel of John (mntc; London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1928) 192-193 sees so little connection between 8:12 and what follows to the end of chapter 7 that he places it after 7:24. Contrast Barrett, The Gospel according to St John, 335: “The discourse is continued from 7.52. There is no indication of a change of place, and 8.20 shows that Jesus is still in the Temple (as at 7.28); but in these central discourses John seems indifferent to details of sequence and movement.” Although Hartwig Thyen, Das Johannesevangelium (hnt 6; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005) 419-421 places a significant break before 8:12, he also notes the logical connection I am proposing on 423.
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69
Bultmann, Das Evangelium des Johannes, 236-238, 260-262; Siegert, Das Evangelium des Johannes in seiner ursprünglichen Gestalt, 384-385.
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71
Barrett, The Gospel according to St John, 332; Bernard, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. John, 290; Brodie, The Gospel according to John, 322; Bultmann, Das Evangelium des Johannes, 235, 235n5, implicitly Sanders and Mastin, A Commentary on the Gospel according to St John, 218. As mentioned above, Thyen notes both very briefly in Das Johannesevangelium, 422-423. Bauer notes the use of the word in 5:39 but dismisses a link from 7:52 back to it since the Scriptures mentioned a prophet from Galilee in 2 Kgs 14:25 and since 2 Kgs 10:23 lxx (4 Kgs 10:23) contains a similar phrase without reference to Scripture; Walter Bauer, Johannes, vol. 2 of Die Evangelien (hnt 2; Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1912) 84. Others not noting any connection between 7:52 and 5:39 include Beasley-Murray, John, 121, although he explains the searching as specifically a searching of “the Scriptures”; Brown, The Gospel according to John (i-xii), 330; Bruce, The Gospel of John, 185-186; Busse, Das Johannesevangelium, 163-164; Köstenberger, John, 244; Lightfoot, St. John’s Gospel, 185-186; Morris, The Gospel according to John, 434; Siegert, Das Evangelium des Johannes in seiner ursprünglichen Gestalt, 350; Waetjen, The Gospel of the Beloved Disciple, 233; Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John, 125; Witherington, John’s Wisdom, 174. MacGregor, The Gospel of John, 210 may recognize the use of the word in the two passages without explicitly noting it since he inserts “the Scriptures” in parentheses after “Search” in his comments. Similarly Carson, John, 332 and Schnelle, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 166 say that Nicodemus is told to search the Scriptures without referencing 5:39.
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Search for other papers by Kai Akagi in
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Application of criteria for identifying scriptural reuse demonstrates that John 8:12 is a specific allusion to Isa 9:1. Affirming the often overlooked proposal that the allusion answers the objection to Jesus in 7:52, this paper suggests the allusion serves a multi-layered narrative function. It demonstrates that Jesus’ opponents are ignorant of the portion of Isaiah to which he alludes, undermines them for their failure to know the Scriptures that testify on his behalf by a lexical link from ἐραύνησον in 7:52 to ἐραυνᾶτε in 5:39, and affirms the messianic identity of Jesus in accordance with the purpose of the book.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 744 | 82 | 4 |
| Full Text Views | 266 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 170 | 14 | 0 |