The Gospel of John: More Light from Philo, Paul and Archaeology: The Scriptures, Tradition, Exposition, Settings, Meaning

353 Pages·2014·1.69 MB·English

by  Peder Borgen

The Gospel of John: More Light from Philo,
Paul and Archaeology
Supplements
to
Novum Testamentum
Executive Editors
M.M. Mitchell
Chicago
D.P. Moessner
Fort Worth
Editorial Board
H.W. Attridge, New Haven – C. Breytenbach, Berlin
J.K. Elliott, Leeds – C.R. Holladay, Atlanta
D. Marguerat, Lausanne – M.J.J. Menken, Tilburg
J.C. Thom, Stellenbosch – P. Trebilco, Dunedin
VOLUME 154
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nts
The Gospel of John:
More Light from Philo,
Paul and Archaeology
The Scriptures, Tradition, Exposition, Settings, Meaning
By
Peder Borgen
LEiDEN • BOSTON
2014
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Borgen, Peder.
 The gospel of John : more light from Philo, Paul and archaeology : the scriptures, tradition,
exposition, settings, meaning / by Peder Borgen.
  pages cm
 includes bibliographical references and indexes.
 iSBN 978-90-04-24790-1 (hardback : alk. paper) — iSBN 978-90-04-25885-3 (e-book : alk. paper) 
1. Bible. John—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—History—Early church, ca. 30-600. 2. Paul, the
Apostle, Saint. 3. Philo, of Alexandria. i. Title.
BS2615.52.B67 2014
226.5’06—dc23
2013040721
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters
covering Latin, iPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the
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iSSN 0167-9732
iSBN 978-90-04-24790-1 (hardback)
iSBN 978-90-04-25885-3 (e-book)
Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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and iDC Publishers.
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
in Memory of my Teachers at the University of Oslo,
Sigmund Mowinckel, Nils Alstrup Dahl, Einar Molland.
CONTENTS
introduction  ..................................................................................................... ix
Acknowledgements  ........................................................................................ xvii
Abbreviations of Journals and Series  ........................................................ xix
PART A
SURVEy OF RESEARCH AND DEBATE
1. The Scriptures and the Words and Works of Jesus  ........................ 3
With a Response by M. Labahn
2. Debates on Expository Method and Form  ........................................ 29
PART B
JOHN, PHiLO, PAUL AND THE HELLENiSTiC WORLD
3. The Gospel of John and Philo of Alexandria  .................................... 43
4. Gospel Traditions in Paul and John: Methods and
Structures. John and the Synoptics  ..................................................... 67
5. The Gospel of John and Hellenism  ..................................................... 79
PART C
FROM JOHN AND THE SyNOPTiCS TO JOHN WiTHiN
EARLy GOSPEL TRADiTiONS
6. John and the Synoptics in the Passion Narrative  ........................... 103
7. John and the Synoptics  ........................................................................... 121
8. The independence of the Gospel of John: Some
Observations  ............................................................................................... 147
viii contents
PART D
GOD’S AGENT iN JOHANNiNE ExPOSiTiON
9. God’s Agent in the Fourth Gospel  ...................................................... 167
10. The Sabbath Controversy in John 5:1–18 and the Analogous
Controversy Reflected in Philo’s Writings  ....................................... 179
11. Observations on God’s Agent and Agency in John’s Gospel
Chapters 5–10: Agency and the Quest for the Historical
Jesus  ............................................................................................................. 193
12. ‘John the Witness’ and the Prologue: John 1:1–34(37)  .................. 219
PART E
CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE
13. Can Philo’s In Flaccum and Legatio ad Gaium Be of Help?  ........ 241
14. The Appearance to Thomas: Not a Blasphemous Claim, but the
Truth  ............................................................................................................ 261
15. Summary: John, Archaeology, Philo, Paul, Other Jewish
Sources. John’s independence of the Synoptics. Where My
Journey of Research Has Led Me  ........................................................ 275
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 295
index of Modern Authors  ............................................................................. 309
index of Ancient Sources  ............................................................................. 312
iNTRODUCTiON
The Scriptures, Tradition, Exposition
The sub-heading gives indications of some of the perspectives followed in
the research which lies behind the present book: “The Scriptures, Tradition,
Exposition, Settings, Meaning.” in this introduction these perspectives
will briefly be characterized. Then the chapters and the book as a whole will
be surveyed in order to show how the different parts function together.
The first points are, accordingly, The Scriptures, tradition, expository
methods and use.
in Judaism of New Testament times The Scriptures had authority and
they had a written literary form. They existed together with oral traditions
and with practices which were woven into the fabric of society, includ-
ing the Temple and its functions and, moreover, into religious, judicial
and personal aspects of life and the people’s understanding of the nation
and the world. As The Scriptures they were authoritative writings which
were subject to interpretations in written, oral and behavioral forms. The
written expositions might have the form of paraphrasing elaborations in
which words and phrases from a text were interpreted. Such interpreta-
tive activity is clearly seen in the exposition of the Old Testament quota-
tion about the manna, the bread from heaven, in John 6:31–59.
in 1959 i published a brief study on this paragraph in John, the note
“The Unity of the Discourse in John 6,” in Zeitschrift für die neutestament-
liche Wissenschaft, 50 (1959) 277–78. The editor of the Journal, professor
W. Eltester, responded positively to my observations. in my book Bread
from Heaven, published by Brill Publishers in 1965, it was shown that
the quotation rendered in verse 31, “Bread from Heaven he gave them
to eat,” received a subsequent elaboration in which words from the text
were repeated and interpreted. The commentaries of Philo of Alexandria,
written some times before the year 50 C.E., were extensive examples of
such interpretative elaborations of parts of the Pentateuch and of related
traditions.
One might ask whether the traditions of the words and works of Jesus,
as rendered in John, had gained such a degree of authority that they
also were in the process of being treated in the same or similar way. The