Teaching. John’s
theology is a theology of life. He bears testimony not only to Jesus, but also
to the possibility of life through him (John
1.4). The repeated symbol of light makes
the same point. The life that he mediates to every believer, on the basis of
his revelation to the world and his glorification for the world, is the divine
life that ultimately belongs to the Father himself (John
5.26).
Moreover, John’s gospel speaks of life through Jesus in all
its fullness. The seven signs make clear that Jesus is concerned about the
physical dimension of human existence as well as its spiritual possibilities.
And since the Word became flesh ( John
1.14), as the signs again illustrate, all
matter (not only water, bread, and wine) can point to and convey the abundant
life of the life-giver (John
10.10). Such is John’s particular "sacramentalism."
This eternal life is available to the faithful now. John’s
theology of salvation includes a future tense; so, for example, Jesus promises
his disciples that he will eventually "come again" for them ( John
14.3). But his emphasis is on the blessings
of eternity that can be shared by the Christian in the present, when the
judgment as well as the life of God are disclosed (John
3.16–18).
This understanding of salvation is determined by John’s
concept of sin. For writers of the other Gospels sin is essentially personal
and communal wrongdoing: it is disobedience to God’s law. Its consequence,
as throughout the Hebrew Bible, is a breakdown of the covenant between creator
and creature. Such a covenant relationship can only be restored by the
sacrifice on the cross, echoed in the subsequent self-offering of obedience in
the lives of the disciples ( Mark
10.45; Matthew
7.21; Luke
9.23).
For the fourth evangelist sin is not, as in the other Gospels
and in Paul, primarily ethical. It stems from a cosmic state of alienation
from God, from a spiritual blindness, or darkness, or deadness ( John
3.19; John
12.35). This situation can be remedied only
by restored sight (John
9.39) and a conscious return to the light
through identification with, and incorporation into, the life of the Son who
unites the dimensions of heaven and earth (John
12.46; John
15.4). So in John’s gospel the passion
and crucifixion of Jesus are not seen as a sacrificial explanation for the
forgiveness of sin but as glorification: the exultant transformation scene in
a spiritual drama of revelation. In Johannine terminology, references to Jesus
as the "Lamb of God" (John
1.29; John
1.36; see Revelation
13.8) are correspondingly cosmic in
character. In John’s view, the cross is a timeless manifestation, mediated
through a historical event: "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will
draw all people to myself" (John
12.32).
Those who are thus "drawn" to the glorified Christ
are indwelt by the Spirit–Paraclete ( John
14.16–17) and receive new life from the
vine; and this not only sustains believers individually but also unites them
with every other "branch" in the Christian community (John
15.1–5). At this point, ethical
sinfulness can be eradicated by effecting the "new commandment" of
love (John 13.34–35).
The time of eternal life in Christ has yet to come; but through him, and
decisively, it has arrived already.
Stephen S. Smalley
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