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John and the Synoptic Gospels: A Test Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Barnabas Lindars
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Extract

The question whether John used one or more of the Synoptic Gospels continues to be hotly debated. It is obvious that John is indebted to other sources for much of his information. But where his material overlaps the Synoptic Gospels, it is more difficult to decide whether he is using independent traditions or not. In one case, however, it can be shown that he had a saying of Jesus which he received in a Greek form transmitted independently of the forms in Mark and Q. All go back to a common Aramaic original. The saying in question is Jn. 3. 3, 5.

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New Testament Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , April 1981 , pp. 287 - 294
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

Notes

[1] Proponents of Matthean priority can reach this conclusion a priori, but will have to go through equally difficult contortions to explain why Mark has transferred the saying from the one context to the other.

[2] It is not clear whether Mark means ‘receives the kingdom as one receives a child’ or ‘receives the kingdom as a child receives it’. The latter is supported by the parallels in Matthew and John. Many scholars argue that this verse is a Markan insertion into the source, e.g. Bultmann, A. Meyer, Turner, C. H., Nineham, R. Bultmann, Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition (Göttingen: Vandenhoek und Ruprecht 3 1967), p. 32;Google ScholarMeyer, A., ‘Die Entstehung des Markusevangeliums’, Festgabefür A. Jülicher (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1927), p. 45;Google ScholarTurner, C. H., in A New Commentary on the Holy Scripture, ed. Gore, C.et al. (London: S.P.C.K., 1928), ad loc;Google ScholarNineham, D. E., The Gospel of St. Mark, The Pelican Gospel Commentaries (London: A. and C. Black, rev.1963), ad loc.Google Scholar

[3] Jeremias, J., New Testament Theology I (London: SCM Press, 1971), p. 155.Google Scholar

[4[ It is doubtful, however, if ατρέøω can have this meaning. The only parallel in the New Testament is Jn. 12. 40, where it occurs in a non-LXX version of Isaiah 6. 10, and in fact represents the same Semitic idiom: wāšāb werāā' lô' = ‘and it be healed once more’ (Gray, G. B., Isaiah I-XXVII, I.C.C. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1912), p. 110).Google Scholar This is obscured in Jn. 12. 40, because the last phrase has been conformed to the LXX ( καì ίάσοματ αύτούς). See my New Testament Apologetic (London: SCM Press, 1961), p. 161, for the suggestion that John's underlying text may have been closer to Mk. 4. 12, καί άφεθκ αύτοīς (=MT).Google Scholar

[5] Cf., C. H. Dodd, Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge University Press, 1963), p. 359. On account of the Semitism, Dodd mistakenly took λδεīν to be the original form of John's text, and used this as an argument for independence from the form in Mt. 18. 3, leaving the presence of ελσελθεīν in Jn. 3. 5 entirely unexplained.Google Scholar

[6] Cf. Jeremias (note 3 above).

[7] Almost all commentators assume that the saying is concerned with the excellence of child-like qualities, but this is a false impression, derived from Matthew's insertion of it into the Markan context. In Mk. 9. 33–37 Jesus uses the child to emphasize the reversal of values in the kingdom, in which the smallest becomes the greatest. In Mt. 18. 1–5 the point is changed, so that the pericope becomes a typical Matthaean exhortation to humility. This is achieved by the insertion of our saying in verse 3; but as this is not self-explanatory, Matthew has also inserted verse 4, in which the quality of humility is actually expressed. Without verse 4 and the surrounding context, the saying gives no indication of reference to moral qualities. In Mk. 10. 13–16 it is customary to see the child-like property as one of status, i.e. having no rights or grounds to claim a place in the kingdom, which must therefore be received as pure gift (cf., R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament I (London: SCM Press 8, 1976), p. 14). Mark here seems to me to preserve the meaning of the saying better, in spite of the inferior form of his text.Google Scholar

[8] This is recognised for Jn. 3. 3, 7; 19. 11 by Jeremias, , op. cit., p. 10,Google Scholar where he lists such features in the sayings of Jesus, but surely applies to James too, cf., 1. 17, where it is parallel to ‘from the Father of lights’.Google Scholar

[9] Jn. 3. 5, 6, 8; 8.41; I Jn. 2. 29; 3. 9; 4. 7; 5. 1,4,18.

[10] Schnackenburg, R., Das Johannesevangelium, Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament (Freiburg-im-Br., 1965), I, ad loc.Google Scholar

[11] But áνωθφεν is inserted in a few texts (H 28 aur e I sa bo), not always in the same place. This is clearly a harmonising addition.

[12] Cf., S. Pancaro, The Law in the Fourth Gospel, Supplements to Novum Testamentum 42 (Leiden: Brill, 1975),Google Scholar in which much of the relevant material is amassed. The essential place of the Law in the development of christology has been convincingly shown by Davies, W. D., Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (London: SPCK 2, 1955), pp. 147–76.Google Scholar