Long Island Abundant Life Church長島豐盛生命教會
  • Home
    • About Us 關於教會 >
      • Mission Statement - 使命宣言
      • Statement of Faith - 信仰立場
      • Biblical Marriage - 合乎聖經的婚姻
      • Church Leadership - 教會同工
      • Doc, membership - 文件, 會員
      • Contact Us - 聯絡我們
      • Directions - 路線圖
      • Ministry opening - English Pastor
  • Chinese Ministry 華語事工
    • 崇拜
    • 講道集 >
      • 主日信息
      • 特會 / 講座
    • 主日學
    • 門訓小組 >
      • 門訓小組介紹
    • 團契
    • 讀經
  • English Ministry 英文事工
  • Youth 少年事工
    • Worship
    • Sunday School
    • Youth Fellowship
    • Events
    • Our Vision
    • Connect with Us
    • Parent Resources
    • Youth Prayer Requests
  • Children's Ministry 兒童事工
    • Children's Worship - 兒童崇拜 >
      • Children's Songs - 歌曲
      • Junior Worship, Archive - 學習內容
      • Junior Worship, Current - 學習內容
      • Preschool Worship, Archive - 幼兒崇拜
    • Sunday School - 主日學 >
      • Preschool - 低年級
      • Middlers, Current - 高年級
      • Elementary, Archive - 高年級
    • VBS-特别暑期聖經班 >
      • EVENTS- 特別活動
    • Nursery - 幼兒照顧
    • Resources - 資源
  • Missions/Evangelism 宣教/佈道
    • *Global Missions 全球宣教
    • *Missions Ministry 宣教事工
  • Chinese School 中文學校
  • Church Activities / News / Calendar 教會活動 / 消息 / 行事曆
    • 教牧心聲Pastoral & Coworkers' Sharing
    • 教會事工Church Ministry
    • Special/urgent 特別/緊急
    • Calendar 教會行事曆
    • Bulletin 週報
    • Archive 檔案 >
      • Pray for Hindus 2018 為印度人禱告
      • Seek God 2019 尋求神
      • Misc. 其他
  • Chinese Student Ministry 学生事工
    • Campus Ministry 校园事工
    • CSF 衣
    • CSF 食
    • CSF 住
    • CSF 行
  • Links 资源鏈接
  Long Island Abundant Life Church長島豐盛生命教會

John 2

5/16/2012

 
Click here to read today's passage on Bible Gateway.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple?
Today we have an interesting dilemma to deal with.  The cleansing of the temple is not itself necessarily difficult (though we did have a lively discussion in the comments about the meaning of it!), but what makes it difficult is John's placement of it.  The account occurs in all of the Synoptic Gospels, but in all of them occurs very near the end of Jesus' ministry.  Here it is in John, right at the very beginning!  What is going on here?

"There are a number of differences both of vocabulary and theme between John and the Synoptics: John alone mentions oxen, sheep, the whip of chord, and the command to depart. The Synoptics provide a Scripture citation (Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11). The most important difference has to do with time. The Synoptics place the temple cleansing at the end of the ministry of Jesus while John introduces it at the beginning. For the Synoptics, this event acts as a catalyst to galvanize the temple’s opposition to Jesus. John has the episode launching his public ministry in Judea; what becomes the chief aggravating reason for Jesus’ capture is the raising of Lazarus (11:1–57; 12:9–11)." [1]

There are two main theories about what's going on with the John account:

1) John records a second, earlier cleansing of the temple that is not the same as the one recorded in the Synoptics:
"Why, Morris [a commentator] asks, should we assume that there was only one cleansing? Pointing out numerous differences between the two cleansings, he suggests that the best reconstruction would have Jesus cleansing the temple twice. When Jesus’ repeats the act at the end of his ministry, the authorities are ready for him. The problem here is that there are also several parallels between the Synoptics and John (e.g., Passover, moneychangers, Jesus’ authority). In addition, one element in the Johannine version is presupposed in the Synoptic trial: In 2:19 Jesus refers to the destruction of the temple, but nowhere does this subject appear in the Synoptics. Note Mark 14:58: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man’ ”; a basis for this comment occurs only in John." [2]

2) "For a complete account of what actually happened, we do well to read both versions together. I suggest that John has recorded his own version of one cleansing and while it is an historical record, he has moved it chronologically for theological reasons. There is no doubt that all four evangelists felt free to place sayings and stories from Jesus’ life in settings that suited their literary purposes. Using uncompromised historical material, John is creating a theological portrait of Jesus’ display of signs in the context of Judaism. Jesus is the fulfillment and replacement of Judaism’s festivals and institutions. And the temple is high on his list as a place that soon (through his death) will no longer serve the purposes of God." [3] (emphasis mine)


I would personally side here with the second view.  I think that John and the other Gospel writers are telling us about the same event, but I also think that John does not feel bound in any way to present his events chronologically.  John is trying to paint us a very particular picture of who Jesus was and what He did, and it suits him very well to put this event at the beginning.  It can be a bit jarring for us because we expect a "Gospel" to be almost like a biography or historical account.  John is definitely both of those things, but not in the modern form that we are familiar with.  It's clear that John writes with a radically different style and purpose than the other Gospel writers, and this is a great example of that.

Questions?  Comments?

[1] Gary M. Burge, NIV Application Commentary: John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 94.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Burge, 94-95.

Andrei
5/16/2012 03:49:28 pm

I was thinking about some of the bolded part: 'he has moved it chronologically for theological reasons. There is no doubt that all four evangelists felt free to place sayings and stories from Jesus’ life in settings that suited their literary purposes.'

I was just thinking that it seems like a lot of liberty to take w/ presenting events though it was convincing that each person has a different recollection and purpose... does this issue come up with any other books in the Bible?

Greg
5/17/2012 03:00:51 am

I would just say again that it depends on what expectations you have about what the goal of the Gospels are. There were some minor differences in chronology in the other Gospels, but nothing quite so drastic as this. The only writer that really specifies his writing is Luke, saying that he wants to set down "an orderly accounts of the things that happened". The others don't say anything like that, though they try to roughly lay out what happened. I wouldn't go so far as to say that John is a random collection of stories and sayings of Jesus, but I think the best way to think of it is somewhere between "biography" and "random collection of stories". It only seems like a lot of liberty to take if you're starting with the assumption that John's goal is to lay it out chronologically - I don't think that was his goal at all, so it makes sense to put the happenings in the place in the narrative that would best explain them or have the best effect on the reader.

As far as other books, there are some places in Genesis and other books where the chronology is shifted around a little, but you only really notice if you're read closely and thinking about it. The greater "problem" in reading the OT I think is that it's arranged by genre instead of chronology, which can make it difficult to follow the story of the OT from start to finish. NT books are much of an issue, since after we get through Acts it's primarily letters.

Again I would repeat that this all has to do with expectations. At the end of his book, John tells us that there are MANY other things that Jesus did, but that He writes these things in order that we might believe. He clearly states that he has edited things for a specific purpose, and I think that editing not only includes whether or not to include certain stories, but also the chronology of them. I don't think this is anything to be concerned about unless you are expecting a modern chronological biography, which John is certainly not.


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.