102-463: The Gospel of John ( Ancient Greek : Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην , romanized : Euangélion katà Iōánnēn ) is the fourth of the New Testament 's four canonical Gospels . It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus , with seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus ) and seven " I am " discourses (concerned with issues of
204-537: A pitch accent . In Modern Greek, all vowels and consonants are short. Many vowels and diphthongs once pronounced distinctly are pronounced as /i/ ( iotacism ). Some of the stops and glides in diphthongs have become fricatives , and the pitch accent has changed to a stress accent . Many of the changes took place in the Koine Greek period. The writing system of Modern Greek, however, does not reflect all pronunciation changes. The examples below represent Attic Greek in
306-625: A "striking similarity" between the defined attributes of what the Paraclete is, and is to do, and what the outcome of Christian prophecy has spoken to, explaining the Paraclete as the post- Passover gift of the Holy Spirit . "The Paraclete represents the Spirit as manifested in a particular way, as a pneumatic Christian speech charisma. Every verb describing the ministry of the Paraclete is directly related to his speech function." The early church identified
408-472: A lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period. They have the same general outline but differ in some of the detail. The only attested dialect from this period is Mycenaean Greek , but its relationship to the historical dialects and
510-419: A lesser degree. Pamphylian Greek , spoken in a small area on the southwestern coast of Anatolia and little preserved in inscriptions, may be either a fifth major dialect group, or it is Mycenaean Greek overlaid by Doric, with a non-Greek native influence. Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in
612-507: A messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, "This is obvious magic." A few Muslim commentators, such as David Benjamin Keldani (1928), have argued the theory that the original Koine Greek used was periklytos , meaning 'famed, illustrious, or praiseworthy', rendered in Arabic as Aḥmad ( another name of Muhammad ), and that this
714-602: A number of Trinitarian formulas . John's "high Christology" depicts Jesus as divine and preexistent, defends him against Jewish claims that he was "making himself equal to God", and talks openly about his divine role and echoing Yahweh 's " I Am that I Am " with seven " I Am " declarations of his own. At the same time there is a stress like that in Luke on the physical continuity of Jesus's resurrected body, as Jesus tells Thomas : "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." In
816-543: A prefix /e-/, called the augment . This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist). The two kinds of augment in Greek are syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment
918-609: A savior but a revealer of knowledge. The gospel teaches that salvation can be achieved only through revealed wisdom, specifically belief in (literally belief into ) Jesus. John's picture of a supernatural savior who promised to return to take those who believed in him to a heavenly dwelling could be fitted into Gnostic views. It has been suggested that similarities between the Gospel of John and Gnosticism may spring from common roots in Jewish Apocalyptic literature . The Gospel of John
1020-671: A separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek , and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek , and Koine may be classified as Ancient Greek in a wider sense. There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine. Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language , divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic , Aeolic , Arcadocypriot , and Doric , many of them with several subdivisions. Some dialects are found in standardized literary forms in literature , while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms. Homeric Greek
1122-609: A standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance . This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period ( c. 300 BC ), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek , which is regarded as
SECTION 10
#17328517922751224-510: A vowel or /n s r/ ; final stops were lost, as in γάλα "milk", compared with γάλακτος "of milk" (genitive). Ancient Greek of the classical period also differed in both the inventory and distribution of original PIE phonemes due to numerous sound changes, notably the following: The pronunciation of Ancient Greek was very different from that of Modern Greek . Ancient Greek had long and short vowels ; many diphthongs ; double and single consonants; voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops ; and
1326-523: A whole (made up of the gospel, the three Johannine epistles, and Revelation), points to a community holding itself distinct from the Jewish culture from which it arose while cultivating an intense devotion to Jesus as the definitive revelation of a God with whom they were in close contact through the Paraclete . The majority of scholars see four sections in the Gospel of John: a prologue (1:1–18); an account of
1428-668: Is Παράκλητον and 'spirit' is Πνεῦμα ( pneuma ), meaning 'breath'. Pneuma appears over 250 times in the Christian New Testament, and is the word used to refer to the Holy Spirit, i.e., the Spirit of God. As a result of the immediate explanation in John 14:17, the Paraclete in John 14:16 is considered to be the Holy Spirit. M. E. Boring , writing in the Cambridge University journal New Testament Studies , describes
1530-556: Is a literary form of Archaic Greek (derived primarily from Ionic and Aeolic) used in the epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects. The origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of
1632-418: Is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r , however, add er ). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel: Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e → ei . The irregularity can be explained diachronically by the loss of s between vowels, or that of the letter w , which affected
1734-644: Is called 'East Greek'. Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian Greek had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, as exemplified in the poems of the Boeotian poet Pindar who wrote in Doric with a small Aeolic admixture. Thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to
1836-448: Is considered by some linguists to have been closely related to Greek . Among Indo-European branches with living descendants, Greek is often argued to have the closest genetic ties with Armenian (see also Graeco-Armenian ) and Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ). Ancient Greek differs from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and other Indo-European languages in certain ways. In phonotactics , ancient Greek words could end only in
1938-516: Is in fact a calque for the Latin term advocatus meaning a person of high social standing who speaks on behalf of a defendant in a court of law before a judge. When Greeks came into contact with the Roman Empire [...] the word παράκλητος was developed as a precise equivalent to the Latin legal term advocatus . Thus, its significance must be found not only in its very few extant appearances, but also in
2040-755: Is irrelevant, for he comes from beyond this world, from God the Father . While John makes no direct mention of Jesus's baptism, he does quote John the Baptist 's description of the descent of the Holy Spirit as a dove , as happens at Jesus's baptism in the Synoptics. Major synoptic speeches of Jesus are absent, including the Sermon on the Mount and the Olivet Discourse , and the exorcisms of demons are not mentioned. John does not list
2142-496: Is significantly different from the synoptic gospels in the selection of its material, its theological emphasis, its chronology, and literary style, with some of its discrepancies amounting to contradictions. The following are some examples of their differences in just one area, that of the material they include in their narratives: In the Synoptics, the ministry of Jesus takes a single year, but in John it takes three, as evidenced by references to three Passovers. Events are not all in
SECTION 20
#17328517922752244-413: Is the 2014 film The Gospel of John , directed by David Batty and narrated by David Harewood and Brian Cox , with Selva Rasalingam as Jesus. The 2003 film The Gospel of John was directed by Philip Saville and narrated by Christopher Plummer , with Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus. Parts of the gospel have been set to music. One such setting is Steve Warner 's power anthem "Come and See", written for
2346-432: Is to assume that Gnosticism had developed to a level that required the author to respond to it. Bultmann, for example, argued that the opening theme of the Gospel of John, the preexisting Logos, along with John's duality of light versus darkness, were originally Gnostic themes that John adopted. Other scholars (e.g., Raymond E. Brown ) have argued that the preexisting Logos theme arises from the more ancient Jewish writings in
2448-598: Is very open in discussing it, even calling himself "I AM", the title God gives himself in Exodus at his self-revelation to Moses . In the Synoptics, the chief theme is the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven (the latter specifically in Matthew), while John's theme is Jesus as the source of eternal life, and the Kingdom is only mentioned twice. In contrast to the synoptic expectation of
2550-577: The Eucharist . In fact, there is no institution of the Eucharist in John's account of the Last Supper (it is replaced by Jesus washing the feet of his disciples), and no New Testament text that unambiguously links baptism with rebirth. Compared to the synoptic gospels, John is markedly individualistic, in the sense that it places emphasis more on the individual's relation to Jesus than on the corporate nature of
2652-549: The Good Shepherd and the True Vine , in which each element corresponds to a specific person, group, or thing. Other scholars consider stories like the childbearing woman or the dying grain to be parables. According to the Synoptics, Jesus's arrest was a reaction to the cleansing of the temple; according to John, it was triggered by the raising of Lazarus. The Pharisees , portrayed as more uniformly legalistic and opposed to Jesus in
2754-745: The Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian , such as the Pella curse tablet , as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note. Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet , Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect , which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly . Some have also suggested an Aeolic Greek classification. The Lesbian dialect
2856-534: The Johannine texts of the New Testament . In Christian theology , the word commonly refers to the Holy Spirit and is translated as 'advocate', 'counsellor', or 'helper'. The English term Paraclete comes from the Koine Greek word παράκλητος ( paráklētos ). A combination of para ('beside/alongside') and kalein ('to call'), the word first appears in the Bible in John 14:16. René Kieffer further explains
2958-634: The Trinity developed only slowly through the merger of Hebrew monotheism and the idea of the messiah, Greek ideas of the relationship between God, the world, and the mediating Saviour, and the Egyptian concept of the three-part divinity. But while the developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the New Testament , the New Testament possesses a triadic understanding of God and contains
3060-581: The Twelve Disciples and names at least one disciple, Nathanael , whose name is not found in the Synoptics. Thomas is given a personality beyond a mere name, described as " Doubting Thomas ". Jesus is identified with the Word (" Logos "), and the Word is identified with theos ("god" in Greek); the Synoptics make no such identification. In Mark, Jesus urges his disciples to keep his divinity secret, but in John he
3162-589: The church–synagogue debate at the time of composition) culminating in Thomas 's proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God". The gospel's concluding verses set out its purpose, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." John reached its final form around AD 90–110, although it contains signs of origins dating back to AD 70 and possibly even earlier. Like
Gospel of John - Misplaced Pages Continue
3264-406: The double entendre at work in John's theology of the cross, for Jesus is both physically elevated from the earth at the crucifixion but also, at the same time, exalted and glorified. Scholars disagree on whether and how frequently John refers to sacraments , but current scholarly opinion is that there are very few such possible references, and that if they exist they are limited to baptism and
3366-484: The garden occurring after the accompanying deliberation of Jewish authorities. Recent scholarship has argued for a more favourable reappraisal of the historical value of the Gospel of John and its importance for the reconstruction of the historical Jesus, based on recent archaeological and literary studies. The gospel has been depicted in live narrations and dramatized in productions, skits , plays , and Passion Plays , as well as in film. The most recent such portrayal
3468-501: The present , future , and imperfect are imperfective in aspect; the aorist , present perfect , pluperfect and future perfect are perfective in aspect. Most tenses display all four moods and three voices, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. Also, there is no imperfect subjunctive, optative or imperative. The infinitives and participles correspond to the finite combinations of tense, aspect, and voice. The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least)
3570-399: The "another Paraclete" of John 14:16 is in many ways another Jesus, the presence of Jesus after Jesus ascends to his Father. The Gospel of Matthew twice uses the passive form of the corresponding verb παρακαλῶ , in 2:18 and 5:4 . In both instances, the context is of mourning, and the meaning of the verb is 'to be comforted'. Here is the context of the passage in John 14:15-27 with
3672-438: The "disciple who is testifying", as collected, preserved, and reshaped by a community of followers (the "we" of the passage), and that a single follower (the "I") rearranged this material and perhaps added the final chapter and other passages to produce the final gospel. Most scholars estimate the final form of the text to be around AD 90–110. Given its complex history there may have been more than one place of composition, and while
3774-634: The 20th anniversary of the Alliance for Catholic Education and including lyrical fragments taken from the Book of Signs . Additionally, some composers have made settings of the Passion as portrayed in the gospel, most notably Johann Sebastian Bach 's St John Passion , although some of its verses are from Matthew . Online translations of the Gospel of John: Ancient Greek language Ancient Greek ( Ἑλληνῐκή , Hellēnikḗ ; [hellɛːnikɛ́ː] ) includes
3876-1031: The 5th century BC. Ancient pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with certainty, but Greek from the period is well documented, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represent. /oː/ raised to [uː] , probably by the 4th century BC. Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages , is highly inflected. It is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. In ancient Greek, nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases ( nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , and vocative ), three genders ( masculine , feminine , and neuter ), and three numbers (singular, dual , and plural ). Verbs have four moods ( indicative , imperative , subjunctive , and optative ) and three voices (active, middle, and passive ), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated through seven combinations of tenses and aspect (generally simply called "tenses"):
3978-469: The Apostle , but most scholars have abandoned this hypothesis or hold it only tenuously; there are multiple reasons for this conclusion, including, for example, the fact that the gospel is written in good Greek and displays sophisticated theology, and is therefore unlikely to have been the work of a simple fisherman. Rather, these verses imply that the core of the gospel relies on the testimony (perhaps written) of
4080-490: The Archaic period of ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ' ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from
4182-450: The Baptist's ministry overlaps with that of Jesus ; his baptism of Jesus is not explicitly mentioned, but his witness to Jesus is unambiguous. The evangelist almost certainly knew the story of John's baptism of Jesus, and makes a vital theological use of it. He subordinates John to Jesus, perhaps in response to members of John's sect who regarded the Jesus movement as an offshoot of theirs. In
Gospel of John - Misplaced Pages Continue
4284-464: The Church. This is largely accomplished through the consistently singular grammatical structure of various aphoristic sayings of Jesus. Emphasis on believers coming into a new group upon their conversion is conspicuously absent from John, and there is a theme of "personal coinherence", that is, the intimate personal relationship between the believer and Jesus in which the believer "abides" in Jesus and Jesus in
4386-542: The Classical period of ancient Greek. (The second line is the IPA , the third is transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modern version of the Erasmian scheme .) Ὅτι [hóti Hóti μὲν men mèn ὑμεῖς, hyːmêːs hūmeîs, Paraclete Paraclete ( / ˈ p æ r ə k l iː t / ; Greek : παράκλητος , romanized : paráklētos ) is a Christian biblical term occurring five times in
4488-439: The Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. In John 14:16-17, 'paraclete'
4590-536: The Gospel of John clearly regards Jesus as divine, it just as clearly subordinates him to the one God. According to James Dunn , this Christology does not describe a subordinationist relation but rather the authority and validity of the Son's "revelation" of the Father, the continuity between the Father and the Son. Dunn sees this as intended to serve the Logos Christology, while others (e.g., Andrew Loke ) see it as connected to John's incarnation theme. The idea of
4692-458: The Gospel of John, Jesus and his disciples go to Judea early in Jesus's ministry before John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed by Herod Antipas . He leads a ministry of baptism larger than John's own. The Jesus Seminar rated this account as black, containing no historically accurate information. According to the biblical historians at the Jesus Seminar, John likely had a larger presence in
4794-593: The Holy Spirit continues to be referred to as the Paraclete in a prayer known as the Divine Praises , recited during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament . John 14:16 quotes Jesus as saying "another Paraclete" will come to help his disciples , implying, according to Lawrence Lutkemeyer, that Jesus is the first and primary Paraclete. In 1 John 2:1 Jesus himself is called "paraclete". Raymond Brown (1970), supported by George Johnston (2005), also says that
4896-439: The Holy Spirit, under the name of Paraclete, (Consoler), to console them in the distress and sorrow they felt at the departure of their Lord and Master. I reiterate, that it was for this cause alone that Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, since He sought to console His disciples for His departure, and recall to them all that he had said, all that He had done before their eyes, all that they were called to propagate throughout
4998-605: The Holy of Holies. The portrayal of Jesus's death in John is unique among the gospels. It does not appear to rely on the kinds of atonement theology indicative of vicarious sacrifice but rather presents Jesus's death as his glorification and return to the Father. Likewise, the Synoptic Gospels' three "passion predictions" are replaced by three instances of Jesus explaining how he will be exalted or "lifted up". The verb for "lifted up" ( Ancient Greek : ὑψωθῆναι , hypsōthēnai ) reflects
5100-472: The Jewish community) on account of its belief in Jesus as the promised messiah. This interpretation, which saw the community as essentially sectarian and outside the mainstream of early Christianity, has been increasingly challenged in the first decades of the 21st century, and there is currently considerable debate over the gospel's social, religious and historical context. Nevertheless, the Johannine literature as
5202-424: The Jewish scriptures. Recent arguments by Richard Bauckham and others that John preserves eyewitness testimony have not won general acceptance. For much of the 20th century, scholars interpreted the Gospel of John within the paradigm of a hypothetical " Johannine community ", meaning that it was held to have sprung from a late-1st-century Christian community excommunicated from the Jewish synagogue (probably meaning
SECTION 50
#17328517922755304-488: The Johannine discourses are less likely to be historical than the synoptic parables, and were likely written for theological purposes. Nevertheless, they generally agree that John is not without historical value. Some potential points of value include early provenance for some Johannine material, topographical references for Jerusalem and Judea , Jesus's crucifixion occurring prior to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and his arrest in
5406-550: The Kingdom (using the term parousia , meaning "coming"), John presents a more individualistic, realized eschatology . In the Synoptics, quotations of Jesus are usually in the form of short, pithy sayings; in John, longer quotations are often given. The vocabulary is also different, and filled with theological import: in John, Jesus does not work "miracles", but "signs" that unveil his divine identity. Most scholars consider John not to contain any parables . Rather, it contains metaphorical stories or allegories , such as those of
5508-528: The LXX has the correct word parakletores ). It is probably wrong to explain the Johannine parakletos on the basis of only one religious background. The word is filled with a complex meaning: the Spirit replaces Jesus, is an advocate and a witness, but also consoles the disciples. Lochlan Shelfer suggests that the Greek term paraclete is a translation of the preceding Latin term advocatus : " παράκλητος [does not have] any independent meaning of its own, it
5610-532: The Logos of the prologue (the Word that is with God from the beginning of creation), for example, was derived from both the Jewish concept of Lady Wisdom and from the Greek philosophers, John 6 alludes not only to the exodus but also to Greco-Roman mystery cults, and John 4 alludes to Samaritan messianic beliefs. John lacks scenes from the Synoptics such as Jesus's baptism, the calling of the Twelve, exorcisms, parables, and
5712-399: The Paraclete as the Holy Spirit. In first-century Jewish and Christian understanding, the presence of the Holy Spirit is to claim the rebirth of prophecy. During his period as a hermit in the mid-12th century, Peter Abelard dedicated his chapel to the Paraclete because "I had come there as a fugitive and, in the depths of my despair, was granted some comfort by the grace of God." Today,
5814-504: The Transfiguration. Conversely, it includes scenes not found in the Synoptics, including Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana, the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, and multiple visits to Jerusalem. In the fourth gospel, Jesus's mother Mary is mentioned in three passages but not named. John does assert that Jesus was known as the "son of Joseph " in 6:42 . For John, Jesus's town of origin
5916-550: The aorist. Following Homer 's practice, the augment is sometimes not made in poetry , especially epic poetry. The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below. Almost all forms of the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. (A few irregular forms of perfect do not reduplicate, whereas a handful of irregular aorists reduplicate.) The three types of reduplication are: Irregular duplication can be understood diachronically. For example, lambanō (root lab ) has
6018-419: The augment when it was word-initial. In verbs with a preposition as a prefix, the augment is placed not at the start of the word, but between the preposition and the original verb. For example, προσ(-)βάλλω (I attack) goes to προσ έ βαλoν in the aorist. However compound verbs consisting of a prefix that is not a preposition retain the augment at the start of the word: αὐτο(-)μολῶ goes to ηὐ τομόλησα in
6120-427: The author drew these from an independent source called the " signs gospel ", the speeches of Jesus from a second "discourse" source, and the prologue from an early hymn. The gospel makes extensive use of the Jewish scriptures: John quotes from them directly, references important figures from them, and uses narratives from them as the basis for several of the discourses. The author was also familiar with non-Jewish sources:
6222-572: The author was familiar with Jewish customs and traditions, their frequent clarification of these implies that they wrote for a mixed Jewish/Gentile or Jewish context outside Palestine . The author may have drawn on a "signs source" (a collection of miracles) for chapters 1–12, a "passion source" for the story of Jesus's arrest and crucifixion, and a "sayings source" for the discourses, but these hypotheses are much debated. The author seems to have known some version of Mark and Luke, as John shares with them some vocabulary and clusters of incidents arranged in
SECTION 60
#17328517922756324-417: The believer. John's individualistic tendencies could give rise to a realized eschatology achieved on the level of the individual believer, but this realized eschatology is not to replace "orthodox", futurist eschatological expectations, but to be "only [their] correlative". John's account of John the Baptist is different from that of the synoptic gospels. In this gospel, John is not called "the Baptist." John
6426-438: The center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation. One standard formulation for the dialects is: West vs. non-West Greek is the strongest-marked and earliest division, with non-West in subsets of Ionic-Attic (or Attic-Ionic) and Aeolic vs. Arcadocypriot, or Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot vs. Ionic-Attic. Often non-West
6528-484: The connection of Ahmad to the Paraclete in the Gospel of John may have been a later tradition that is not found in the work of Ibn Ishaq and that the earliest extant attempts by Muslims to connect these two figures that inspire later discussion on the subject goes back to Ibn Hisham and Ibn Qutaybah . A later interpolation of this passage to the Quran has been rejected in modern Islamic studies. This has been supported by
6630-400: The development of the meaning of this term: The word parakletos is a verbal adjective, often used of one called to help in a lawcourt. In the Jewish tradition the word was transcribed with Hebrew letters and used for angels, prophets, and the just as advocates before God's court. The word also acquired the meaning of 'one who consoles' (cf. Job 16:2, Theodotion's and Aquila's translations;
6732-611: The dialect of Sparta ), and Northern Peloponnesus Doric (including Corinthian ). All the groups were represented by colonies beyond Greece proper as well, and these colonies generally developed local characteristics, often under the influence of settlers or neighbors speaking different Greek dialects. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Attic Greek , but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of
6834-482: The dubious passage might refer to what happened at Pentecost , and other incidents recorded in the earlier chapters of the Acts. With the absence of any claim on this passage either by Ibn Ishaq or Ibn Hisham , may we go further and suggest that the two Arabic words rendered by Dr. Bell, ‘bearing the name Ahmad,’ are an interpolation to be dated after the death of Muhammad. ” (emphasis in original) Sean Anthony agrees that
6936-648: The eighth chapter of the Book of Proverbs , and was fully developed as a theme in Hellenistic Judaism by Philo Judaeus . The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran verified the Jewish nature of these concepts. April DeConick suggested reading John 8:56 in support of a Gnostic theology, but recent scholarship has cast doubt on her reading. Gnostics read John but interpreted it differently from non-Gnostics. Gnosticism taught that salvation came from gnosis , secret knowledge, and Gnostics saw Jesus as not
7038-466: The example of a court of justice. παρά-κλητος , ον, A. called to one's aid, in a court of justice : as Subst., legal assistant, advocate, D.19.1, Lycurg. Fr.102, etc. 2. summoned, " δοῦλοι " D.C.46.20, cf. BGU601.12 (ii A.D.). II. intercessor, Ph.2.520 : hence in NT, Παράκλητος , of the Holy Spirit, Ev.Jo.14.16, cf. 1 Ep.Jo.2.1. Philo speaks several times of "paraclete" advocates primarily in
7140-767: The fact that the earliest as well as the later manuscripts of the Quran contain the same passage and wording in chapter 61. In Łewond 's version of the correspondence between the Byzantine emperor Leo III ( r. 717–741 ) and the Umayyad caliph Umar II ( r. 717–720 ), a letter is attributed to Leo: We recognize Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the authors of the Gospel , and yet I know that this truth, recognized by us Christians wounds you, so that you seek to find accomplices for your lie. In brief, you admit that we say that it
7242-463: The first century but which give evidence of preserving early material), the concept of the divine Word was used in a manner similar to Philo, namely, for God's interaction with the world (starting from creation) and especially with his people. Israel, for example, was saved from Egypt by action of "the Word of the L ORD ", and both Philo and the Targums envision the Word as manifested between the cherubim and
7344-663: The forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek ( c. 1400–1200 BC ), Dark Ages ( c. 1200–800 BC ), the Archaic or Epic period ( c. 800–500 BC ), and the Classical period ( c. 500–300 BC ). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers . It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been
7446-556: The historical Dorians . The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, who regarded themselves as descendants of the population displaced by or contending with the Dorians. The Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people – Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians (including Athenians), each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, and Cypriot, far from
7548-472: The historical circumstances of the times imply that the overall groups already existed in some form. Scholars assume that major Ancient Greek period dialect groups developed not later than 1120 BC, at the time of the Dorian invasions —and that their first appearances as precise alphabetic writing began in the 8th century BC. The invasion would not be "Dorian" unless the invaders had some cultural relationship to
7650-482: The individual to God. The Gospel of John and the three Johannine epistles exhibit strong resemblances in theology and style; the Book of Revelation has also been traditionally linked with these, but differs from the gospel and letters in style and even theology. The letters were written later than the gospel, and while the gospel reflects the break between the Johannine Christians and the Jewish synagogue, in
7752-414: The letters the Johannine community itself is disintegrating ("They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out..." - 1 John 2:19). This secession was over Christology , the "knowledge of Christ", or more accurately the understanding of Christ's nature, for the ones who "went out" hesitated to identify Jesus with Christ, minimising
7854-525: The material world. According to Stephen Harris , the gospel adapted Philo's description of the Logos, applying it to Jesus, the incarnation of the Logos. Another possibility is that the title logos is based on the concept of the divine Word found in the Targums (Aramaic translation/interpretations recited in the synagogue after the reading of the Hebrew Scriptures). In the Targums (which all postdate
7956-438: The ministry, often called the " Book of Signs " (1:19–12:50); the account of Jesus's final night with his disciples and the passion and resurrection, sometimes called the Book of Glory or Book of Exaltation (13:1–20:31); and a conclusion (20:30–31); to these is added an epilogue that most scholars believe was not part of the original text (Chapter 21). Disagreement does exist; some scholars, including Bauckham, argue that John 21
8058-499: The older dialects, although the Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language , which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek . By about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosed into Medieval Greek . Phrygian is an extinct Indo-European language of West and Central Anatolia , which
8160-487: The perfect stem eilēpha (not * lelēpha ) because it was originally slambanō , with perfect seslēpha , becoming eilēpha through compensatory lengthening. Reduplication is also visible in the present tense stems of certain verbs. These stems add a syllable consisting of the root's initial consonant followed by i . A nasal stop appears after the reduplication in some verbs. The earliest extant examples of ancient Greek writing ( c. 1450 BC ) are in
8262-480: The picture as far as Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham are concerned. The deception is not theirs. The opportunity to introduce Ahmad was not accepted—though it is highly improbable that they were aware of it being a possible rendering of Periklutos. It would have clinched the argument to have followed the Johannine references with a Quranic quotation.” "Once more, if we omit the phrase, ‘bearing the name Ahmad,’ and regard Muhammad as still drawing lessons from previous history,
8364-501: The prologue, the gospel identifies Jesus as the Logos or Word. In Ancient Greek philosophy , the term logos meant the principle of cosmic reason. In this sense, it was similar to the Hebrew concept of Wisdom , God's companion and intimate helper in creation. The Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo merged these two themes when he described the Logos as God's creator of and mediator with
8466-418: The public mind than Jesus. In the first half of the 20th century, many scholars, especially Rudolph Bultmann , argued that the Gospel of John has elements in common with Gnosticism . Christian Gnosticism did not fully develop until the mid-2nd century, and so 2nd-century Proto-Orthodox Christians concentrated much effort in examining and refuting it. To say the Gospel of John contained elements of Gnosticism
8568-455: The same author. The Gospel of John, like all the gospels, is anonymous. John 21:22 references a disciple whom Jesus loved and John 21:24–25 says: "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true". Early Christian tradition, first found in Irenaeus ( c. 130 – c. 202 AD), identified this disciple with John
8670-592: The same order, but key terms from those gospels are absent or nearly so, implying that if the author did know them they felt free to write independently. The Hebrew scriptures were an important source, with 14 direct quotations (versus 27 in Mark, 54 in Matthew, 24 in Luke), and their influence is vastly increased when allusions and echoes are included, but the majority of John's direct quotations do not agree exactly with any known version of
8772-622: The same order: the date of the crucifixion is different, as is the time of Jesus' anointing in Bethany and the cleansing of the Temple , which occurs in the beginning of Jesus' ministry rather than near its end. Many incidents from John, such as the wedding in Cana, the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well, and the raising of Lazarus , are not paralleled in the synoptics, and most scholars believe
8874-519: The sense of human intercessors. The word later went from Hellenistic Jewish writing into rabbinic literature . Other words are used to translate the Hebrew word מְנַחֵם mənaḥḥēm 'comforter' and מליץ יושר mliṣ yosher . In the Christian New Testament, paraclete appears only in the Johannine texts, and it is used only on five occasions: Gospel of John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, and First Epistle of John chapter 2, verse 1. And I will ask
8976-441: The significance of the earthly ministry and denying the salvific importance of Jesus's death on the cross. The epistles argue against this view, stressing the eternal existence of the Son of God, the salvific nature of his life and death, and the other elements of the gospel's "high" Christology. Jesus's teachings in the Synoptics greatly differ from those in John. Since the 19th century, scholars have almost unanimously accepted that
9078-533: The specific use of the Latin legal term." The term is not common in non-Jewish texts. The best-known use is by Demosthenes : Citizens of Athens, I do not doubt that you are all pretty well aware that this trial has been the center of keen partisanship and active canvassing, for you saw the people who were accosting and annoying you just now at the casting of lots. But I have to make a request which ought to be granted without asking, that you will all give less weight to private entreaty or personal influence than to
9180-402: The spirit of justice and to the oath which you severally swore when you entered that box. You will reflect that justice and the oath concern yourselves and the commonwealth, whereas the importunity and party spirit of advocates serve the end of those private ambitions which you are convened by the laws to thwart, not to encourage for the advantage of evil-doers. A Greek–English Lexicon cites
9282-517: The syllabic script Linear B . Beginning in the 8th century BC, however, the Greek alphabet became standard, albeit with some variation among dialects. Early texts are written in boustrophedon style, but left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks , interword spacing , modern punctuation , and sometimes mixed case , but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer 's Iliad exemplifies
9384-515: The synoptic gospels, are portrayed as sharply divided; they frequently debate. Some, such as Nicodemus , even go so far as to be at least partially sympathetic to Jesus. This is believed to be a more accurate historical depiction of the Pharisees, who made debate one of the tenets of their belief system. In place of the communal emphasis of the Pauline literature, John stresses the personal relationship of
9486-414: The three other gospels, it is anonymous, although it identifies an unnamed " disciple whom Jesus loved " as the source of its traditions. It most likely arose within a " Johannine community ", and – as it is closely related in style and content to the three Johannine epistles – most scholars treat the four books, along with the Book of Revelation , as a single corpus of Johannine literature , albeit not by
9588-437: The translation of Paraclete as Advocate shown in bold: 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long,
9690-583: The world by their witness. Paraclete thus signifies "consoler", while Muhammad means "to give thanks", or "to give grace", a meaning which has a connection with the word Paraclete. By the 8th-century, the identification of the Paraclete with Muhammad was already a known concept. Evidence shows that the Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi ( r. 775–785 ) debated the concept with the influential Christian patriarch Timothy I (d. 823). The Persian theologian Ali al-Tabari (d. 870) believed that only Muhammad could have been
9792-463: The world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Many Muslim writers have argued that "another Paraclete" (John 14:16)—the first being Jesus —refers to Muhammad . This claim is based on Quran 61:6. "And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, "O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of God to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of
9894-459: The world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” 22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to
9996-625: The world?” 23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate , the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as
10098-475: Was Aeolic. For example, fragments of the works of the poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos are in Aeolian. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island. Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric (including Cretan Doric ), Southern Peloponnesus Doric (including Laconian ,
10200-550: Was part of the original work. The structure is highly schematic: there are seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus ), and seven "I am" sayings and discourses, culminating in Thomas's proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God" (the same title, dominus et deus , claimed by the Emperor Domitian , an indication of the date of composition). Scholars agree that while
10302-523: Was substituted by Christians with parakletos . There are currently no known Greek manuscripts with this reading (all extant Greek manuscripts read παράκλητος parakletos ), although the earliest manuscript evidence available is from the 3rd century. Regarding what the original Greek term was, according to A. Guthrie and E. F. F. Bishop: "Early translators knew nothing about the surmised reading of periklutos for parakletos , and its possible rendering as Ahmad …. Periklutos does not come into
10404-678: Was written by God, and brought down from the heavens, as you pretend for your Furqan , although we know that it was ` Umar , Abu Turab and Salman the Persian , who composed that, even though the rumor has got round among you that God sent it down from heavens…. [God] has chosen the way of sending [the human race] Prophets, and it is for this reason that the Lord, having finished all those things that He had decided on beforehand, and having fore-announced His incarnation by way of His prophets, yet knowing that men still had need of assistance from God, promised to send
#274725