Read Online The Jewish Annotated New Testament by Amy-Jill Levine - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
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that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” This translation implies that the purpose is to bring readers to faith in Jesus as the Messiah (Christ) and Son of God. However, the verb translated “that you may come to believe” reflects one manuscript tradition; other manuscripts contain a different form of the verb that is better translated “that you may continue to believe.” This second form suggests that the Gospel was intended to strengthen the faith of those already within the community. The latter interpretation suits the overall tone and content of the Gospel, which does not emphasize openness to nonbelievers, but focuses on a set of specific views of Jesus (Christology), the end times (eschatology), and salvation (soteriology).
The view that the Gospel was written for a specific community is closely related to the historical context of the Gospel. The predominantly negative role played by “the Jews” in the narrative suggests that the text was written in a context of overt conflict between Jews and the members of the Johannine community. Even if the expulsion theory is tenuous, the Gospel’s hostility toward the Jews is certainly real. It is possible that the Gospel reflects a stage in the process by which Johannine believers came to see themselves as separate from and, to some extent, over and against Jews and Judaism. Views on the size and ethnic character of the intended audience vary widely: they range from seeing the audience as comprised of all followers of Jesus to the view that the first audience was a small and select community of Israelites who were the direct descendants of those who had remained in Judea after the destruction of the First Temple (see “John’s Prologue as Midrash” p. 546 ). If the first view is correct, the conflict portrayed within the Gospel may well reflect a widespread separation between Jews and Christ-confessors (the term “Christian” may not yet have been in effect for those who believed in Jesus as the Messiah). If the second view is correct, the Gospel reflects an inner-Jewish controversy but not a widespread or even local parting of the ways.
There are significant clues within the Gospel itself, however, to suggest that the intended audience included not only those of Jewish origin but those of Samaritan and Gentile origin as well. John 4 describes Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman, as a result of which many other Samaritans came to believe in Jesus. John 12 describes the strong interest of some “Greeks,” perhaps Jews from the Diaspora but more likely Gentiles, in Jesus, after which Jesus declares that his death will draw all people to himself. If the intended audience, and therefore the Johannine community, included Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans, then it could be plausibly argued that they needed to create their own identity that overcame the social, historical and theological boundaries existing between their groups of origin. An important part of doing this work would have been to create an identity quite distinct from those other groups, especially from Jews and Judaism, from which this new group has appropriated much of its symbolism, scripture, and theology. The Gospel stresses Jesus’ superiority to Moses (1.18; 3.14–15). John 2.13–22 implies that Jesus replaces the Jerusalem Temple as the place where God dwells, a claim that is made explicitly in 4.21 and illustrated in 6.1–4, in which Jews flock to Jesus in the Galilee region instead of to Jerusalem for the Passover pilgrimage festival.
JEWS AND JUDAISM
John’s knowledge of first-century Judaism
The Gospel of John reflects deep and broad knowledge of Jerusalem, Jewish practice, and methods of biblical interpretation. Some references to early first-century Jerusalem topography and landmarks, such as the pool at Beth-zatha near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem (5.2) are supported archaeologically,
The view that the Gospel was written for a specific community is closely related to the historical context of the Gospel. The predominantly negative role played by “the Jews” in the narrative suggests that the text was written in a context of overt conflict between Jews and the members of the Johannine community. Even if the expulsion theory is tenuous, the Gospel’s hostility toward the Jews is certainly real. It is possible that the Gospel reflects a stage in the process by which Johannine believers came to see themselves as separate from and, to some extent, over and against Jews and Judaism. Views on the size and ethnic character of the intended audience vary widely: they range from seeing the audience as comprised of all followers of Jesus to the view that the first audience was a small and select community of Israelites who were the direct descendants of those who had remained in Judea after the destruction of the First Temple (see “John’s Prologue as Midrash” p. 546 ). If the first view is correct, the conflict portrayed within the Gospel may well reflect a widespread separation between Jews and Christ-confessors (the term “Christian” may not yet have been in effect for those who believed in Jesus as the Messiah). If the second view is correct, the Gospel reflects an inner-Jewish controversy but not a widespread or even local parting of the ways.
There are significant clues within the Gospel itself, however, to suggest that the intended audience included not only those of Jewish origin but those of Samaritan and Gentile origin as well. John 4 describes Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman, as a result of which many other Samaritans came to believe in Jesus. John 12 describes the strong interest of some “Greeks,” perhaps Jews from the Diaspora but more likely Gentiles, in Jesus, after which Jesus declares that his death will draw all people to himself. If the intended audience, and therefore the Johannine community, included Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans, then it could be plausibly argued that they needed to create their own identity that overcame the social, historical and theological boundaries existing between their groups of origin. An important part of doing this work would have been to create an identity quite distinct from those other groups, especially from Jews and Judaism, from which this new group has appropriated much of its symbolism, scripture, and theology. The Gospel stresses Jesus’ superiority to Moses (1.18; 3.14–15). John 2.13–22 implies that Jesus replaces the Jerusalem Temple as the place where God dwells, a claim that is made explicitly in 4.21 and illustrated in 6.1–4, in which Jews flock to Jesus in the Galilee region instead of to Jerusalem for the Passover pilgrimage festival.
JEWS AND JUDAISM
John’s knowledge of first-century Judaism
The Gospel of John reflects deep and broad knowledge of Jerusalem, Jewish practice, and methods of biblical interpretation. Some references to early first-century Jerusalem topography and landmarks, such as the pool at Beth-zatha near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem (5.2) are supported archaeologically,
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