Signs Gospel
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Introduction
Almost all critical scholars place the writing of the final edition of Fourth Gospel at some time in the late first or early second century. The text states only that the Fourth Gospel was written by an anonymous follower of Jesus referred to as the Beloved Disciple. Like the other gospels, Fourth Gospel was certainly based on previous texts that are now lost. The contemporary scholar of the Johannine community Raymond E. Brown identifies three layers of text in the Fourth Gospel
Eusebius
Eusebius tells us that except for the Gospel of the Hebrews written by Matthew (see Authentic Matthew), the only other Gospel to be written by a disciple of Jesus was The Fourth Gospel. Its purpose was to fill in the gaps and omissions in the other Gospels.
According to some Church Fathers, Beloved Disciple had copies of the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of Mark, etc., and decided (was inspired?) that these early works were incomplete. As he was an eyewitness to many of the important events, he, too, wrote a very short, primitive account of the life of Jesus.
After his death, his followers reworked this short account (The Signs Gospel). Much of the “midrash” of this School was incorporated into what became Fourth Gospel. Eusebius included this version of the Gospel of John in the Homologoumena.(see Rudolf Bultmann)
Biblical scholars have hotly debated this fourth Gospel. Higher criticism has shown at least two distinct writing styles. The original Signs Gospel written by ‘the disciple who Jesus loved’ is simple, direct and with much historical detail. A clear example of the Signs Gospel would be John 20:1 ff.
Signs Gospel
John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the gravestone had been rolled away. She ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, saying, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not known where they have laid him."
Immediately Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and arrived at the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not enter. Then Simon Peter came, and went into the tomb. The linen wrappings were lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple entered and saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the Scripture that Jesus must be raised from the dead. Then the disciples returned home.
Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent over to look into the grave. She saw two angels in white, where the body of Jesus had been laid, one at the head and the other at the feet.
They asked her, "Woman, why do you weep?"
She replied, "They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have put him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but she did not recognize Him.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”
Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will take Him away."
Jesus said to her, "Mary!"
She turned around and exclaimed, "Rabbi!"
Jesus instructed her, "Do not hold onto me, because I have not yet returned to the Father. But go to My brothers and explain that I am going to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God."
Mary Magdalene went and proclaimed to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and she told them that he had spoken these things to her.
Midrash
The Beloved Disciple's followers wrote the 'theological interpretation' of the events of Jesus' life after his death. The ‘midrash’ tries to broaden our understanding of the events that have occurred, and explain away difficulties and challenges confronted by the Early Church. Scholars are unanimous that John 21:22 ff was not written by ‘the disciple who Jesus loved’ but by his followers after the disciple’s death.
John 21:22-25
Jesus said, "If it is my will that he remain alive until I come again, what is that to you? Follow me!"
So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If it is my will that he remain alive until I come again, what is that to you?"
This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them down. We know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did and if all was written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that could be written.
Although there is substantial agreement that this Gospel is the work of more than one author, there is heated debate as to what was originally in the Signs Gospel written by the disciple, and what was midrash added by the disciple’s followers after his death. Furthermore, this Gospel has been impossible to accurately date. It is agreed that its final composition would be later rather than earlier.
There is one final note to even further complicate the situation: the Early Church Fathers believed that the ‘Pericope adulterae’ (7:53-8:11) was never part of the original text of the fourth Gospel. Rather, they believed it was an interpolation of a story originally found in Authentic Matthew. Modern Lower Criticism confirms this fact.
References
- Robin M. Jensen, The Two Faces of Jesus, Bible Review Oct 2002, p42
- Raymond E. Brown, The Community of the Beloved Disciple Paulist Press, 1979
External links
Online translations of the Gospel of John:
- John at Bible Gateway of Gospel Communications (various versions)
- The Egerton Gospel: text. Compare it with Gospel of John
Related articles:
- A textual commentary on the Gospel of John Detailed textcritical discussion of the 300 most important variants of the Greek text (PDF, 376 pages)
- "Signs Gospel". a hypothetical written source for miracles in the Gospel of John: discussion
- Papyrus fragment of John at the John Rylands Library; illustrated.
- John Rylands papyrus: text, translation, illustration and a bibliography of the discussion