Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Contents
- List of Tables
- AUTHOR'S NOTE
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I THE NARRATIVE
- A THE PASSION NARRATIVE
- B THE MINISTRY
- C JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE FIRST DISCIPLES
- 1 Introductory
- 2 The Testimony of John
- 3 John at Aenon-by-Salim
- 4 The Baptist in the Fourth Gospel and in the Synoptics
- 5 The First Disciples
- PART II THE SAYINGS
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
- Index Locorum
- Index Nominum
3 - John at Aenon-by-Salim
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 December 2010
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Contents
- List of Tables
- AUTHOR'S NOTE
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I THE NARRATIVE
- A THE PASSION NARRATIVE
- B THE MINISTRY
- C JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE FIRST DISCIPLES
- 1 Introductory
- 2 The Testimony of John
- 3 John at Aenon-by-Salim
- 4 The Baptist in the Fourth Gospel and in the Synoptics
- 5 The First Disciples
- PART II THE SAYINGS
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
- Index Locorum
- Index Nominum
Summary
The whole passage, iii. 22–36 (as I have argued elsewhere), is best regarded as an explanatory appendix to the dialogue with Nicodemus and the discourse which grows out of it. Verses 31–6 are in large measure a recapitulation of ideas found in iii. 1–21, with some additional points. Verses 22–30 seem to stand apart, and indeed to interrupt the line of thought, so much so that many critics have proposed some rearrangement. But I have tried to show that the confronting of John with Jesus, of John's baptism with baptism by Christ (that is, in the evangelist's intention, the Church's sacrament of baptism), provides an essential link in the argument. The observation, however, remains valid that verses 22–30 form a unit, by itself, contrasting in form, manner and language with what precedes and follows. Prima facie, there is here as strong a case as anywhere in the gospel for considering the view that the evangelist is composing out of pre-existing materials.
When, however, we scrutinize verses 22–30, it appears that this short passage is itself not altogether homogeneous. There seem to be traces of the evangelist's editorial work within it as well as in the linking of it with its context. An analysis, verse by verse, may be useful.
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- Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel , pp. 279 - 287Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1963
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