John: Background to the "I am the ..." Statements
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'I am the [predicate nominative]', spoken by Jesus in seven instances (plus two borderline cases at 8.18 and 8.23). Data largely drawn from R. E. Brown, Anchor Bible commentary, plus Strack-Billerbeck, Bultmann and TDNT.
| 6.35, 51: | "I am the bread of life [living bread]." | ||||||||
| Bread = Torah/Wisdom (& Water = Torak/Wisdom - cf. Jn 7.38; 4.10-14; 19.34 - i.e. Spirit/ | |||||||||
| Wisdom as given by Jesus) | |||||||||
| Setting: Passover season (6.4) | |||||||||
| 1) | Gen R (= Genesis Rabbah) 70 | ||||||||
| Proselyte Aquila to R. Eliezer (ca. 50 CE) re Deut 10.18 (God giving food to the stranger). R. Eliezer replies re Gen 28.20: 'God will give me [= Jacob] bread to eat', and says Bread = Torah/Wisdom. | |||||||||
| 2) | Num
R (= Numbers Rabbah) 8 (repeated in bTal [= Babylonian Talmuid]),
Chagiga 14a) Isa 3.1: 'stay of bread', in connection with Prov 9.5: 'Come, eat ye of my bread', which is the cry of Wisdom, Prov 9.1. |
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| 3) | Pesiqta 80b (Midrashim): R. Berekja (ca. 340 CE) draws on Prov 25.21: 'If thine enemy be hungry ... thirsty, give him bread to eat ... water to drink. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.' [cited in Rom 12.20], and then says Bread = Torah, Water = Torah. | ||||||||
| // | Gen R 54: re Prov 9.6 for Bread of Torah; Isa 55.1 for Water of Torah. | ||||||||
| 4) | bTal
Sukka 52a // Exod R 25 // Pesiqta 178a re Prov 8.10 with Isa 55.2 leading to Prov 9.5 - i.e. Bread = Torah (cf. also Lev R 30). |
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| 8.12 (9.5): | "I am the light of the world" | ||||||||
| Light = Torah/Wisdom | |||||||||
| Setting: Tabernacles (7.2, 14, 37), Probably by way of contrast with the festal lights | |||||||||
| burning brightly in the court of the women at the Temple; Jesus in temple precincts (hieron), 7.14, 28; 8.20; leaves them in 8.59. | |||||||||
| 1) | Zech 14.7 (in Tabernacles story): "And there shall be continuous day ... for there shall be light even in the evening. | ||||||||
| 2) | Exod 13.21: The flaming pillar that guided the Israelites through the darkness of the night [Tabernacles as historicized commemorated the Wilderness wanderings and God's providential care in the Wilderness.] | ||||||||
| 3) | Wisd 18.3-4 identifies this pillar with "the imperishable light of the Law". | ||||||||
| 4) | Prov
8.22: Wisdom says that she was made at the beginning of God's ways. Gen 1.3: the first creation was light. Wisd 7.26: Wisdom is a reflection of everlasting light. [Pre-Christian identification of Wisdom with Torah is found in Sir 15.1and Baruch 4.1; at Qumran the Essenes are the sons of light; their hearts illumined with the wisdom of life (1QS ii 3), and they can look on "the ligh5t of life" (i.e. the Qumran interpretation of the Law - 1 QS iii 20-21).] |
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| (8.18: | "I am one who gives testimony on my behalf.") | ||||||||
| (8.23: | "I am of what is above.") | ||||||||
| 10.7, 9: | "I am the [sheep]gate." (thura, 'door') | ||||||||
| [Sheep]gate = Messiah? | |||||||||
| Setting: 'bridge' section between Tabernacles and Dedication (10.26-27, dated at Dedication | |||||||||
| and mentioning sheep theme. Dedication (25th Kislev) is known as ' Tabernacles in winter', and has much of the same ceremonial and themes as Tabernacles. | |||||||||
| 1) | Ps 118 (LXX 117).21-28 (last psalm of Hallel, Pss 113-118, used at pilgrimage feasts, including Tabernacles and Dedication) was interpreted as applying to the Davidic Messiah. | ||||||||
| a) | Pesiqta 119a (quoting R. Schemuel b. Nachman (ca. 260 CE), citing R. Jonathan (ca. 220 CE) applies each verse of Ps 118.21-28 to David . | ||||||||
| b) | Similarly, Targ Ps 118.22-29. (Targum on the psalms) | ||||||||
| c) | Ps 118 cited in NT as applied to Jesus: | ||||||||
| 118.22
(the stone rejected): Lk 20.17; 1 Pet 2.4, 7: 118.22-23: Mt 21.42; Mk 12.10-11; 118.25-26 (Hosanna to the Son of David0; Mt 21.9; Mk 11.9; Jn 12.14; 118.26 (blessed ias the3 Coming One): Mt 23.39; Lk 13.35; 19.38. |
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| 2) | Thus Ps 118.20: "Here is the gate (LXX: pulé; Heb. shcr) that leads to the Lord's presence, here only just souls find entry", may be alluded to messiaqnically. | ||||||||
| 2) | There are substantial, but later, gnostic materials for a door-motif, largely dealing with the heavenly gate through which the soul passes after death. | ||||||||
| 10.11, 14 | "I am the good/beautiful/model/ideal (kalos) shepherd." | ||||||||
| Model shepherd = ideal (Davidic?) shepherd[-king?] and guide; God as Israel's shepherd. | |||||||||
| Setting: as above, i.e. with Dedication/[Tabernacles?] in mind. | |||||||||
| 1) | A. Guilding, The Fourth Gospel and Jewish Worship (Clarendon Press, 1960), pp. 29-132, argues that all the regular synagogue readings on the Sabbath nearest Dedication were concerned with theme of sheep and shepherds. Gen 46.28-47.31; Ezek 37.16 ff (H to Gen 44.18). | ||||||||
| 2) | Ezek
34 was the prophetic reading at Dedication time (H to Lev 26), and is
single most important OT passage behind Jn 10. Ezek 34.1-10: Israel as God's sheep; 34.11-16: God as Israel's shepherd; 34,.17-22: God as the judging shepherd, separating out rams and he-goats, etc.; 34.23-24: God to set his servant David as shepherd over them. |
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| 11.25 | "I am the resurrection and the life." | ||||||||
| Resurrection and life = God-typology? or the real possibility of a new and true humanity? (see below on 14.6) | |||||||||
| 1) | On Ruddick's showing, Jn 11.1-18 matches Gen 49.1 (N1) * Gen 12.1 (T1); Jn 11.19-46 matches Gen 49.27-50.end (N1) & Gen 18.1 (T1). In Gibbs' hypothetical second time John is read through, Jn 11.1-18 matches Gen 29.31 (N1) * Gen 49.27 (T1); Jn 11.19-46 matches Gen 29.31 (N1). Guilding., op. cit., pp. 150-151, detects the following as lectionary background: | ||||||||
| death
of Joseph (Gen 49.28-50.26) & of Jacob, with mourning. death of Joshua (= Greek 'Jesus') & Eleazar (of which 'Lazarus' is an abbreviation) (Josh 24.29, 30, 33) with Jesus' withdrawal to 'Ephraim' (Jn 11.54), where Joshua & Eleazar were buried. [Joshua 24 as H to Deut 29.9, which on Ruddick/Gibbs showing is N3 reading for Jn 11.53-57] |
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| 2) | Guilding, op. cit., p. 150, suggests Jn 11.25 may allude to Deut 30.20: "Choose life ... to love the Lord thy God, for he is thy life and the length of thy days." | ||||||||
| 3) | Note parallels between Jesus' burial and Lazarus': | ||||||||
| 11..39
// 21.1 (taking away stone); 11.34 // 20.2 (where he has been laid); 11.44 // 20.7 (napkin on head); 11.33 // 20.11 (Mary weeping). |
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| 14.6 | "I am the way, the truth and the life." | ||||||||
| Way/Truth/Life = The embodiment of Wisdom, i.e. the true humanity | |||||||||
| 1) | See on 11.25. | ||||||||
| 2) | See Wisdom, Power and Well-being for the argument that Jesus is here presented as the source of true humanity: | ||||||||
| 'the Way' // Power | |||||||||
| 'the Truth' // Wisdom | |||||||||
| 'the Life' // Well-being | |||||||||
| 3) | In OT passages (Ps 99.30; Tob 1.3; Wisd 5.6) "the way of truth" is a way of life in conformity with the Law. | ||||||||
| 4) | Ps 86.11 puts "way" and "truth" in parallelism: | ||||||||
| "Teach
me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in truth." |
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| Cf. Prov 15.24; Jer 21.8; Ps16.11; 1QS 4.15-16 (contrast between way that leads to life and way that leads to death. | |||||||||
| 5) | The figure of Wisdom itself/herself is presented in Wisd 7.22b-8.8 as encompassing: | ||||||||
| wisdom: power: well-being: |
7.22b-23 7.24-25 7.26 |
7.27-28 7.29 |
7.30-8.1 8.2-3 |
8.4a 8.4b 8.5 |
8.7-8 8.5c-6 |
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| (details in Wisdom, Power and Well-being) | |||||||||
| 6) | On the basis of (2) and (5) above, Gibbs is convinced that Jn 14.6 is a further Wisdom-based predicate wherein Wisdom is intimately related to the God-intended humanity | ||||||||
| 15.1, 5 | "I am the [real] vine." | ||||||||
| I. Vine = Israel (Thus Jesus as the righteous remnant of one) | |||||||||
| 1) | Vine as metaphor for Israel: cf. Jer 6.9; Ezek 15.1-6; 12.5-10; 19.10-14; Hos 10.1; Ps 80.8-17; 2 Esd 17.5-10 (and this usage is frequent in rabbinic sources). The interchangeable image of the vineyard is applied to Israel in Isa 5.1-7; 27.2-6; Jer 2.21; 5.10; Ezwek 17.5-10. | ||||||||
| 2) | Sometimes the symbol is one of fruitfulness (Isa 27.2-6), but more often the vineyard is unproductive or desolate and disappointing to Yahweh (Jer 5.10; 12.10-11). | ||||||||
| II. Vine = Wisdom (and hence life-giving) | |||||||||
| 1) | Sir 24.17-21 (which appears to lie behind Jn 6.35): Personified Wisdom says, "I bud forth delights like the vine; my blossoms become fruit fair and rich. Come to me, all you who desire me, and be filled with my fruits. ... He who eats of me will hunger still; he who drinks of me will thirst for more." | ||||||||
| 2) | Annie Jaubert, "L'image de la Vigne (Jean 15)", in Oikonomia (Cullmann Festschrift; Hamburg: Reich, 1967), p. 95, argues that in post-biblical Judaism there had been a certain assimilation of the vine to the tree of life. Brown comments that this may well have been taken up in sapiential thought as a means of symbolizing the life-giving power of wisdom, the Law, or the word of God. | ||||||||
| SUMMARY: | From R. E. Brown, Anchor Bible, pp. 534-535 (typographically changed): | ||||||||
| The predicate is not an essential definition or description of Jesus in himself; | |||||||||
| it is more a description of what he is in relation to man. | |||||||||
| In his mission Jesus is the source of eternal life for men ("vine", "life", "resurrection"); | |||||||||
| he is the means through whom men find life ("way", "gate"); | |||||||||
| he leads men to life ("shepherd"); | |||||||||
| he reveals to men the truth ("truth") which nourishes their life ("bread"). | |||||||||
| Thus, these predicates are not static titles of autodoxology but a revelation of the divine | |||||||||
| commitment involved in the Father's sending of the Son. Jesus is these things to men because he and the Father are one (10.30) and he possesses the life-giving power of the Father (5.21). Jesus' statement, "I am the truth, the light, ..." must be related to similar statements about the Father's relation to men: "God is Spirit" (4.14); "God is light" (1 Jn 1.5); "God is love" (1 Jn 4.8, 16). | |||||||||