At the heart of John’s trinitarian Christology is the claim that Jesus is “God.” The following is an attempt to summarize what John intends by this claim and how he communicates it. 1. Both the prologue and the Gospel in its entirety are structured around statements regarding the deity of the second person of the […]
Why does John call Jesus “the Word” (Jn 1:1)?
Students of John’s Gospel have long pondered the question: Why does John call Jesus “the Word” in his prologue? Given the prologue’s resonance with discussions of Wisdom in the Old Testament (e.g., Job 28; Proverbs 8) and within ancient Judaism (e.g., Wisdom 7, which bears multiple similarities to John 1:1-18), the obvious title for the […]
The logic of revelation in the “Book of Signs” (John 1-12)
“The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me” (John 10:25). John 1-12, the so-called “Book of Signs,” provides the Fourth Evangelist’s testimony regarding Jesus’ public ministry. According to John, the marvelous words and deeds that Jesus speaks and performs during his public ministry reveal the truth about his person. John […]
The greatest prooftext for the doctrine of eternal generation?
The doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son is a central feature of orthodox Christian teaching. In this doctrine, the church confesses not simply that the second person of the Trinity is the one true and living God but how he is the one true and living God: as the Son eternally begotten by […]
The (nuptial) end of biblical interpretation
The end of Christ’s saving and sanctifying work is nuptial. For this reason, the end of biblical interpretation should be nuptial as well. It is one thing to affirm that biblical interpretation and preaching should be Christ-centered. This affirmation follows from Jesus’ own teaching about the relationship between Scripture and himself (e.g., John 5:39; Luke […]
To what end retrieval? Five theses
Peter Leithart’s article today at First Things prompted (provoked?) me to jot down some thoughts regarding the ends of retrieval. Here are five theses. To what end retrieval? 1. Retrieval rests on a twofold judgment: (1) that all is not well in contemporary theology and biblical studies and (2) that the help we need might […]
