The Gospel of
John: Ethics Crowded Out By Christology?
The Spirit and the Worshipping Congregation
1. Jesus Prays for Unity (John 17)
- alienation from the world (Hays, 139) OR compelling
witness to the world (Hays, 144)?
- "I do not ask you to take them out of the world"
(17:15)
- "I also have sent them into the world" (17:18)
- "that they may all be one. . . that the world may
believe that you sent me" (17:21)
- "that the world may know that you sent me. .
." (17:23)
- "by this all will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another" (14:35)
- Christians must live together in the world, and endure its
hatred, in such a way that the world witnesses a compelling enactment
of the glorious and loving unity of the Father and the Son.
- What does this unity look like?
- a unity of truth (17:17, 19)
- a unity of love (17:26; 13:33-34; 15:12-13, 17)
- Can this kind of testimony about God be confined to a local
gathering of believers, or to relations within churches of a
denomination? Must this kind of testimony encompass all believers?
2. Jesus Comes down from Heaven
- the preexistent Logos (1:1-18)
- "angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man"
(1:51)
- vertical dualism (3:31; 6:51-58; 8:23)
- "before Abraham was, I am" (8:58)
- departing from this world; returning to the Father (13:1)
3. The I am Sayings in John
|
I AM sayings |
Reference |
Function/Significance of the Metaphor |
|
the bread of life |
6:35, 41, 48, 51 |
|
|
the light of the world |
8:12 |
|
|
the door |
10:7, 9 |
|
|
the good shepherd |
10:11, 14 |
|
|
the resurrection and the life |
11:25 |
|
|
the way, the truth, and the life |
14:6 |
|
|
the true vine |
15:1, 5 |
|
4. The Follower of Jesus: In
but not Of the World (17:11, 14)
|
Degree of Participation in the world |
|
Degree of Conformity to the world |
Not in and Not Of |
In But Not Of |
|
Not In But Of |
In and Of |