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Mundane to the autoptic gospel is John’s use of repetition (arguably a poetic device). From the beginning, his provocative anaphoric use of use of “word” serves to conjoin the notions of the provocative term ‘logos’ (Greed for ‘word’) and the repetition serves to “underline the thought he would communicate.” John’s penchant for Hebrew parallelism is a prominent hallmark of style in the first ten lines of his gospel narrative. This parallelism whether meant to capture the attention of Hellenized Jews, or simply be provocative in nature to any audience also serve to set John’s narrative apart from its synoptic cousins which share more provincial openings. Beasley-Murray (1987) posits the “poetic quality of the prologue is observable, even in translation.” And, in fact, C.F. Burney (1922) maintains John’s poetic style is indicative of an “Aramaic original.”
Adding to the provocative nature of John’s opening, Ernst Haenchen (1984) adds John’s parallel structure to Genesis 1 is no coincidence and “tells of something that was in existence already in time primeval” which is in fact the “Logos”—whatever this ‘Logos’ is—as it defies definition in most any modern language. This “elevated” state of “Logos” reaches such “heights that it almost becomes offensive.”
Additionally, Raymond Brown (1966) offers that that hymn like structure of John’s opening can be divided into three strophes where the first strophe is verses 1-2; the second strophe is verses 3-9; the third strophe is verses 10-12; and the fourth strophe consists of verses 14-18. While the poetic nature (hymn-like quality) maintains its obvious parallel to Genesis 1, it “does not necessarily give us the original meaning intended by the author of Genesis.”
What is clear, as Merril C. Tenney (1976) instructs, is that while both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist and are both mentioned, the “latter is treated only in relation to the former, and is of subordinate importance.” Further while confirming the poetic nature of John’s literary structure, Tenney also asserts that “the term ‘Logos’ implies the intelligence behind the idea, the idea itself, and the transmissible expression of it.” Further, he advances the notion that John’s theological agenda “commences a presentation of the person of Jesus Christ which is quite different from that of the other Gospels.”
Bibliography
Beasley-Murray, George R. John. Word Biblical Commentary. Word Book Publishers, Waco,
1987.
Burney, Rev. C. F. Burney. The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel. Oxford University Press,
1922.
Brown, Raymond. The Gospel of John. The Anchor Bible. Double Day and Company, New
York, 1966.
Haenchen, Ernst. John Hermeneia. Fortress Press, Philadelphia 1984.
Tenney, Merril C. John, The Gospel of Belief. William. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
Grand Rapids, 1976.
Scroggie, Graham. A Guide to the Gospels. Kregel Publishing, Grand Rapids, 1995.
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