Interpreting the Gospel and Letters of John by Brown Sherri;Moloney Francis J.;

Author:Brown, Sherri;Moloney, Francis J.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Part One: The Opening Days of the Revelation of Jesus, 1:19–51

The prologue of the Gospel of John presents Jesus Christ as the incarnate Word who fulfills the Torah of the Sinai covenant and gives a new covenant, the gift of truth, to those who would be children of God (1:1–18). The bridge from the prologue to the action of the body of the Gospel is manifested in the human witness, sent from God, named John. He becomes the embodiment of the prologue as he continues to give valuable information about the person of Jesus as well as about the story to come, now in the form of dialogues with other human characters. The prologue tells the reader the who and the what of the events at hand, but it leaves open the how. The story itself is necessary to understand how it all happens. John the Baptist, introduced so strongly in the prologue as the human witness sent from God, opens the narrative as the first character in the story with dialogical force. In other words, he is the first human character to speak, and in his first dialogue he takes control and begins to teach the how of the good news.

We have discussed the importance of literary context for the interpretation of a passage or larger narrative unit. In the case of 1:19–51, we are finding ourselves at the beginning of the body of the gospel narrative. Therefore, we can expect to be introduced to key characters and get a glimpse into both the relationships and the conflicts that will play important roles across the development of the plot. Although this narrative unit is brief, it serves a major purpose in setting the tone for the exegesis of the larger story.

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