LIFE IS A CHOICE - CHOICES IN JOHN'S PROLOGUE
Creator vs. Creatures / Creation
Life vs. Lifeless
Light vs. Darkness
True (Supreme, Alethinos) Light vs. Lights
God (Son) vs. Men / World
Know (ginosko) vs. Know not
Receive vs. Recieve not
Believing His Name vs. Believing His Name not
Children of God vs.
Born of bloods vs. Born of God
Born of fleshly desires vs. Born of God
Born of men's desire vs. Born of God
Above vs. Below
Glory vs.
Grace vs.
Truth vs.
Before (Pre-existence) vs. After (Orders)
Laws (Moses) vs. Grace & Truth (Jesus Christ)
Visible (Revealed) vs. Invisible
Seeing vs. Seeing not
Light and Darkness:
Flesh and Spirit
The Two Worlds- above and below
Flesh and Spirit
Truth and Falsehood:
Life and Death
Love and Hate
Eschatological Dualism
Eschatological Dualism:In John, John emphasizes the last things that have already begun to break into the present. This kind of expression is found in some places: “but the hour is coming and is now here” (4:23; 5:25) and “the hour has come” (12:23). These expressions display the realized character of Johannine dualism. A new order has come (realized eschatology): the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus (1:17). Those who cling to the law orient themselves around a past revelation (Jn.1:17), but those who come and believe in him whom God has sent (Jn.8:42) receive the light of the present revelation which has come but also still to come (Jn.15:26; 4:16ff).[42] The contrast between the water from Jacob’s well from which one would thirst again (4:12) and the water which Jesus gives (Jn.4:14) displays the present quality of John’s eschatology. One of the undeniable aspects of Johannine dualism, according to Charlesworth, is that while the soteriological task of Jesus of Nazareth has been completed, God’s revelation has not ended. The future holds the last judgment and final revelation. Even so the eschatology of the Fourth Evangelist is realized. Charlesworth comments that Johannine dualism is essentially soteriological in the sense that the dualism is conceived as Christ opposed by the world, light opposed by darkness, truth opposed by falsehood, love opposed by hate and life opposed by death.[43] The centrality of Jesus in salvation history is further emphasized by the "hour" of which we hear so much in John (Jn.2:4; 8:20; 12:23). It is the hour of Jesus' passion, death, resurrection, and ascension as the culminating hour in the long history of God's dealings with humanity. The same emphasis is found in the repeated use of "now." The hour is coming and now is... (Jn.4:23; 5:25). "Now" the mission of Jesus will come to its climax, which will mean victory over the devil and the world (Jn.12:31), his own glorification in death (Jn.17:5), and his return to the Father (Jn.16:5; 17:13). The climax of redemptive history is also an anticipation of the eschatological consummation.[44] Conclusion: In John and in the teaching of Jesus he records that the darkness is universal until the shining of the light. There is no division of people into classes according to the dominance of the two spirits. In John’s Gospel, the prince of this world is already a defeated foe, although all unbelievers are still under his influence. The fundamental difference between the dualism of the Qumran and the dualism of John is the centrality of Christ in the John’s dualism, which is naturally absent in Qumran dualism. It is not odd to believe that the Evangelist was influenced by the dualistic ideas prior to him. In the mean time, a careful comparison between the other dualism and Johannine dualism there are severe difference between them. Johannine dualism never ends with endless contrast. Rather, the meeting point, Jesus Christ is always set after his dualism. It seems that he skillfully employed and modified his contemporary dualism in order to be relevant to his audience. To conclude, although John’s various dualistic thoughts may comprise of two wholly contrasting and different concepts. However, when put together it conveys a significant meaning with deep influence upon the readers.Bibliography:Achtemeier, E. R. “Darkness.” In Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Edited by L. Ryken, J.C. Wilhoit and T. Longman III. Illinois: Inter-Varsity, 1998. 189-198. Anderson, P. N. “John and Qumran: discovery and Interpretation over Sixty years.” In College of Christian Studies (2008): 15-50.Barrett, C. K. The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text. 2nd Edition. London: SPCK, 1993. Bianchi, U. “Dualism.” In The Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: Harper, 1987. 506-512. Brown, R. E. The Gospel According to John, vol.1. New York: Doubleday, 1970. Bultmann, R. The Gospel According to St. John, vol.1. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1948._______. Theology of the New Testament, vol. 2. Translated by K. Grobel. London: SCM, 1958. Charlesworth, J. H. “A Critical Comparison of the Dualism in 1QS III, 13-IV, 26 and the Dualism Contained in the Fourth Gospel.” In New Testament Studies 15/04 (1969): 397-412._______. “The Fourth Evangelist and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Assessing Trends over Nearly Sixty Years.” In John, Qumran, and The Dead Sea Scrolls: Sixty Years of Discovery and Debate. Edited by M. L. Coloe and T. Thatcher. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011. 98-118. Crump, D.M. “Truth.” In Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Edited by J. G. Green, S.McKnight, I. H.Marshall. Illinois: Inter-Varsity, 1998. 852-859.Culpepper, R.A. Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design. Philadelphia:
[1] U. Bianchi, “Dualism,” in The Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: Harper, 1987), 504. [2] James H. Charlesworth, “A Critical Comparison of the Dualism in 1QS III, 13-IV, 26 and the Dualism Contained in the Fourth Gospel,” in NTS 15/04 (1969): 402. The aspect of Dualism is found in the scrolls of the Rule of the Community in 1QS, 4QS, and 5QS, 1QS Col III: 18–19, IV: 21, 23.[3] Leonhard Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament, vol. 2 (trans. John E. Alsup; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 291.[4] Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, vol.1 (New York: Doubleday, 1970), lxii.[5] Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology (Secundarabad: OM Books, 2003), 198.[6] Guthrie, New Testament Theology, 197.[7] Brown, The Gospel According to John, lxii.[8] John Painter, The Quest for the Messiah: The History, Literature and Theology of the Johannine Community (Edinburg: T&T Clark, 1993), 36.[9] Zoroastrianism is a Persian religion founded in the sixth century B.C.E. by the prophet Zoroaster. Zoroaster taught that the end of the world will come when the forces of light triumph, and that the saved souls will rejoice in their victory.[10] Bianchi, “Dualism,” 507.[11] C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text, 2nd ed. (London: SPCK, 1993), 34.[12] Paul N. Anderson, “John and Qumran: discovery and Interpretation over Sixty years,” in CCS (2008): 33. [13] Anderson, “John and Qumran,” 34.[14] James H. Charlesworth, “The Fourth Evangelist and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Assessing Trends over Nearly Sixty Years,” in John, Qumran, and The Dead Sea Scrolls: Sixty Years of Discovery and Debate (eds. Mary L. Coloe and Tom Thatcher; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 107.[15] George Eldon Ladd, The Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1993), 132. [16] Charles, “A Critical Comparison of the Dualism,” 402.[17] Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, 108.[18] Rudolph Bultmann, The Gospel According to St. John, vol.1 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1948), 134.[19] Matthew Vellanickal, Studies in the Gospel of John (Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 1997), 17.[20] Painter, The Quest for the Messiah, 45.[21] Philip E. Wheelwright, Metaphor and Reality (London: Indiana University Press, 1962), 116.[22] R. Alan Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 190-91.[23] E. R. Achtemeier, “Darkness,” in DBI (eds. Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit and Tremper Longman III; Illinois: Inter-Varsity, 1998), 193.[24] G.F. Shirbroun, “Light,” in DJG (eds. Joel G. Green, Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshall; Illinois: Inter-Varsity, 1998), 473. [25] Ladd, The Theology of the New Testament, 142. [26] Ladd, The Theology of the New Testament, 143.[27] Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 15-17.[28] C.H. Dodd, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 304.[29] Herman Ridderbos, The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (trans. John Friend; Cambridge: Eerdmans, 1997), 130.[30] Ridderbos, The Gospel of John, 130-31.[31] Vellanickal, Studies in the Gospel of John , 92.[32] Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, vol. 2 (trans. Kendrick Grobel; London: SCM, 1958), 18-20.[33] Dodd, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 170.[34] D.M. Crump, “Truth” in DJG (eds. Joel G. Green, Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshall; Illinois: Inter-Varsity, 1998), 859. [35] Dodd, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 177. [36] Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, 107-08.[37] Jey K. Kanagaraj, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Secunderabad, OM Books, 2005), 177. [38] Painter, The Quest for the Messiah, 47.[39] Dodd, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 148. [40] Painter, The Quest for the Messiah, 47.[41] Teresa Okure, “The Johannine Approach to Mission,” in Pacifica 3/3 (1990): 347.[42] Harry A. Hahne, “Gospel of John: Dualism and Eschatology,” in RQ 7/4 (2012): 3. 1-12. [43] Charles, “A Critical Comparison of the Dualism,” 406. [44] Philip R. Davies, “Dualism And Eschatology In The Qumran War Scroll,” in VêtTest, vol. XXVIII (2007): 26. 28-36. at February 06, 2018https://www.monergism.com/
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