Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/504

 JOHN

4.38

JOHN

Epislolam Joann. ad Partlws in P. L., XXXV, 1977; Cassio- DoRUs, Complexiones in Episiolas Apostolicas in P. L., LXX, 1368. The Standard Catholic commentaries of Justiniani, Fromond, BispiNG. A Lapide, Maunoury, Drach, Crampon, CoRNELY, Introdudio in Veteris Testament: Libras Sacros (Paris, 1886); Fouard, St. John and the Close of the Apostolic Age (London, 1905). The non-Catholic commentaries of West- coTT, Olshausen, Meyer, De Wette.

Walter Drum.

John, Gospel of Saint. — This subject will be con- sidered under the following heads: (I) Contents and Scheme of the Gospel; (11) Distinctive Peculiarities; (III) Authorship; (IV) Circumstances of the Composi- tion; (V) Critical Questions Concerning the Text; (VI) Historical Genuineness; (VII) Object and Importance.

I. CONTENT.S AND SCHEME OF THE GosPEL. — Accord- ing to the traditional order, the Gospel of St. John oc- cupies the last place among the four canonical Gospels. Although in many of the ancient copies this Gospel was, on account of the Apostolic dignity of the author, inserted immediately after or even before the Gospel of St. Matthew, the" position it occupies to-day was from the beginning the most usual and the most ap- proved.

As regards its contents, the Gospel of St. John is a narrative of the life of Jesus from His baptism to His Resurrection and His manifestation of Himself in the midst of His disciples. The chronicle falls naturally into four sections: — (1) the prologue (i, 1-18), contain- ing what is in a sense a brief epitome of the whole Gos- pel in the doctrine of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word; (2) the first part (i, 19-xii, 50), which recounts the public life of Jesus from His baptism to the eve of His Passion; (3) the second part (xiii-xxi, 2.3), which relates the history of the Passion and Resurrection of the Saviour; (4) a short epilogue (xxi, 23-25), referring to the great mass of the Saviour's words and works which are not recorded in the Gospel.

\Vhen we come to consider the arrangement of matter by the Evangelist, we find that it follows the historical order of events, as is evident from the above analysis. But the author displays in addi- tion a special concern to determine exactly the time of the occurrence and the connexion of the various events fitted into this chronological framework. This is apparent at the very beginning of his narrative, when, as though in a diary, he chronicles the circum- stances attendant on the beginning of the Saviour's public ministry, with four successive definite indica- tions of the time (i, 29, .35, 43; ii, 1). He lays special emphasis on the first miracles: "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Canaof Galilee" (ii, 11), and "This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee" (iv, 54). Finally, he refers repeatedly throughout to the great religious and national festivals of the Jews for the pur- pose of indicating the exact historical sequence of the facts related (ii, 13; v, 1; vi, 4; vii, 2; x, 22; xii, 1, xiii, 1).

AH the early and the majority of modern exegetes are quite justified, therefore, in taking this strictly chronological arrangement of the events as the basis of their commentaries. The divergent views of a few modern scholars are without objective sup- port either in the text of the Gospel or in the history of its exegesis.

II. Distinctive Peculiarities. — The Fourth Gospel is written in Greek, and even a superficial study of it is sufficient to reveal many peculiarities, which give the narrative a distinctive character. Especially characteristic is the vocabulary and diction. His vo- cabulary is, it is true, less rich in peculiar expressions tlian that of Paul or of Luke: ho uses in all about ninety words not found in any other hagiographer. More numerous are the expressions which are used more fre- quently by John than by the other sacred writers. Moreover, in comparison with the other ))Ooks of the New Testament, the narrative of St. John contains a

very considerable portion of those words and expres- sions which might be called the common vocabulary of the Four Evangelists.

What is even more distinctive than the vocab- ulary is the grammatical use of particles, pronouns, prepositions, verbs, etc., m the Gospel of St. John. It is also distinguished by many peculiarities of style — asyndeta, reduplications, repetitions, etc. On the whole, the Evangelist reveals a close intimacy with the Hellenistic speech of the first century of our era, which receives at his hands in certain expressions a Hebrew turn. His literary style is deservedly lauded for its noble, natural, and not inartistic simplicity. He com- bines in harmonious fashion the rustic speech of the Synoptics with the urban phraseology of St. Paul (Deissmann, "Licht vom Osten", 2nd ed., Tubingen, 1909, p. 181).

What first attracts our attention in the subject- matter of the Gospel is the confinement of the narrative to the chronicling of events which took place in Judea and Jerusalem. Of the Saviour's labours in Galilee John relates but a few events, without dwelling on de- tails, and of these events only two — the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (vi, 1-16), and the sea-voyage (vi, 17-21) — are already related in the Synoptic Gospels.

A second limitation of material is seen in the se- lection of his subject-matter, for compared with the other Evangelists, John chronicles but few miracles and devotes his attention less to the works than to the discourses of Jesus. In most cases the events form, as it were, but a frame for the words, conversation, and teaching of the Saviour and His disputations with His adversaries. In fact it is the controversies with the Sanhedrists at Jerusalem which seem especially to claim the attention of the Evangelist. On such oc- casions John's interest, both in the narration of the circumstances and in the recording of the discourses and conversation of the Saviour, is a highly theological one. With justice, therefore, was John conceded, even in the earliest ages of Christianity, the honorary title of the "theologian" of the Evangelists. There are, in particular, certain great truths, to which he constantly reverts in his Gospel and which rnay be regarded as his governing ideas; special mention should be made of such expressions as the Light of the World, the Truth, the Life, the Resurrection, etc. Not infrequently these or other phrases are found in pithy, gnomic form at the beginning of a colloquy or dis- course of the Saviour, and frequently recur, as a leit- motif, at intervals during the discourse (e. g. vi, 35, 48, 51, 58; x, 7, 9; xv, 1, 5; xvii, 1, 5; etc.).

In a far higher degree than in the Synoptics, the whole narrative of the Fourth Gospel centres round the Person of the Redeemer. From his very opening sentences John turns his gaze to the inmost recesses of eternity, to the Divine Word in the bosom of the Fa- ther. He never tires of |)(irtraying the dignity and glory of the Eternal \\'ord Who vouchsafed to take up His abode among men, that, while receiving the revelation of His Divine Majesty, we might also partici- pate in the fullness of His grace and truth. As evi- dence of the Divinity of the Saviour the author chron- icles some of the great wonders by which Christ revealed His glory; but he is far more intent on leading us to a deeper understanding of Christ's Divinity and majesty by a consideration of His words, discourses, and teaching, and to impress upon our minds the far more glorious marvels of His Divine Love.

III. Authorship. — If we except the heretics men- tioned by Irenseus (Adv. hser.. Ill, xi, 9) and Epipha- nius (Hir., Ii, 3), the authenticity of the Fourth Gos- pel was scarcely ever seriously questioned until the end of the eighteenth century. Evanson (1792) and Rretschncidcr (1S20) were the first to run counter to tradition in the question of the author.ship, jmd, since David J>'riedrich Strauss (1834-40) adopted Bret-