The God of the Gospel of John reviewed

The God of the Gospel of John by Marianne Meye Thompson is a book which seeks to fill a void in New Testament scholarship. The void is God. According to the introduction, Thompson wrote this work in response to a then twenty-five year old essay by Nils A. Dahl of the Yale Divinity School called “The Neglected Factor in New Testament Theology”. Dahl reportedly asserted, along with others after him, that scholars had been primarily focused on Christology and had all but ignored theology. Thompson asserts that the new Testament is actually a book about God, expressing himself through Christ. She does this by exploring and analyzing the fourth gospel, successfully unpacking and applying some very interesting facts about the way the Greek world of the early church interacted with the divine, and how that interaction played into the development of early Christian theology. This critique will succinctly summarize the entire book, discuss the support Thompson uses to demonstrate her points about Johannine theology, and will also give a general opinion about the quality of this work.

Thompson begins in chapter 1 to discuss exactly how Greek and Jewish listeners and readers of the first century would have heard the word God. First off, the word translated to God throughout John is “theos”, which was a very general term for an entity which possessed some measure of divine qualities. Or as Thompson notes, “…the epithet ‘God’ can sometimes be ambiguous inasmuch as it could be applied not only to multiple deities but also in some cases – especially in pagan settings – to certain human beings, of whom, consequently, certain traits can be assumed.” Thompson then goes on to show how the early Christian writers to great pains to wrangle the word “theos” into a more Christianized definition, one that insinuates many of the attributes God possesses in the Jewish scriptures. However, they also apply to it a more Johannine interpretation. Beginning in chapter 2, Thompson notes, “The most common designation of God in John is ‘Father’. John uses ‘Father’ about 120 times, more often than all the other Gospels combined. By comparison, ‘God’ (θεός) appears in john 108 times.” So, not only is the generic term “god” employed, but also the more intimate “father”, this is an important point to notice in Thompson’s assertions. Johannine theology is attempting to show a more known and relatable creator through his son Jesus Christ, and as the children of God. Thompson then spends chapter three exploring how the Johannine believer can come to knowledge of the Father. Thompson’s answer to this, in short, is that the believer comes to knowledge of the father through a relationship with Jesus Christ, the son. Chapter four is focused upon the spirit of God and its nature. Contrary to the commonly held belief that “…one ought to construe the Spirit in Christological terms….”, Thompson argues that, “…the primary conception of the Spirit that runs throughout the Gospel is that of the Father’s life-giving power that has been granted to and is conferred through the Son.” Rather than the Spirit of God being sent as a substitute in Christ’s absence, it is instead a function of the believer’s relationship to the Father through the Son. The final chapter is on the worship of God in John’s gospel. She cites several instances throughout the Gospel where it appears that Jesus is to be worshipped as God. Her assertion is that this worship was actually to the Father through Jesus as his Son. In this sense, Jesus acts as a mediator for worship of the Father. The tidy five chapter arrangement of her points made this book a very accessible read.

As was stated above, Thompson’s main goal for writing this work was to answer the claim made by Dahl’s essay that New Testament theological studies were lacking the “theo” in its “logy”. Dahl asserted that scholars were too preoccupied with Christology and had ignored God in their work. Thompson’s point is that the New Testament is actually a book about God and that by studying Jesus, one is studying God, as one is studying the Father through the Son. She makes this point most compellingly while also making her second most important point, that God is known through the Son as the Father in the Johannine gospel. She notes that, “God is identified most characteristically in relationship to Jesus, rather than in relationship to any of the patriarchs, heroes of the faith, or the people of Israel. In that relationship, the term ‘Father’ figures most prominently… The consistent repetition of the designation of god as ‘the Father who sent me’ not only underscores the identity of Jesus in terms of his relationship to Jesus.” This dynamic is carried throughout her book as she supports the “son as mediator” dynamic in her discussion of the knowledge of God. The knowledge of the source of life was a very important topic not only for Johannine Christians but also for most thinking people of the ancient Middle East. 

This knowledge is found to be a sensory experience in the fourth gospel, a knowledge gained through seeing and hearing sign and commands. Thompson shows that this knowledge of God, again, is mediated through Christ. She states, “Hearing Jesus, understanding Jesus, yields knowledge of God… While Jesus is never said to ‘obey’ God, he does what he has heard; he expresses perfectly the will of god and hence may be said to truly ‘know the Father’.” The Spirit of God is also mediated through the Son in Thompson’s view, as she discusses in chapter four. Thompson makes the point that the Spirit is not meant to be a separate and substitutionary entity for the Son, but rather that, ”…the power to bestow the Spirit is a divine prerogative that the Father has given to the Son… For if the spirit is intrinsic to the very identity and being of God, then to speak of the Son as having the prerogative to bestow the spirit from within characterizes the son in a way typical of ‘unique divine identity’ of God.” Boiled down, Thompson’s main point is that God is characterized as the Father who is known and experienced through the Son, and she supports this assertion very well in answer to Dahl’s claim.

The strongest aspect of this book was Thompson’s chapter about the meaning of the word “theos” to the ancient mind. It is always beneficial to learn more about how the Bible’s original audience interpreted what they read and heard. The term’s general definition in ancient Hellenistic society hearkened back to the Hebrew word “elohim” and it’s often general definition. Additionally, the discussion of the unity of the Father with the Son, and the Son’s role as spiritual mediator for the Father to humanity was very valuable for gaining a deeper understanding of Jesus’ role in history and human destiny. It made alive Thompson’s introductory claim that to study Christ was to study God in the New Testament. It was also very impressive that she had boldness in discussing God as the Father distinctly, she being a female writing during an age when gender equality is considered an important issue in Biblical studies and translation. Perhaps it is not a criticism for a scholarly writer to say that Thompson’s work at times seemed dense and long winded, but that is really the only down side of this very enlightening text.

Much like D. Moody Smith’s work on which the last critique was written, I found this work to be very valuable in deepening my appreciation and understanding of the text I consider to be Holy and true. Thompson enlightened many areas of New Testament scholarship which I had never really touched on. The understanding of how the ancient mind perceived the concept of “theos” for example showed me that God as an idea was very different during the first century. This inspired me to think differently about the way the our understanding of God has morphed and grown over the last two thousand years, and which forces and events have caused that change to occur. Additionally, it reminded me of how the ancient Jewish peoples heard and employed the concept of “elohim” in their texts, reminding me also that there are many similarities in the way that humans have understood God throughout the millennia. As this book was at times a bit dense in both vocabulary and prose, I would recommend it to an individual who has already spent some time in the study of theology and biblical history. She does not really revolutionize any areas; she simply repackages old understandings in a new light in a way that would take a mind already skilled in thinking theologically to understand. It seems that Thompson’s work was assigned by the professor because he expects his students to possess the kind of mind that can engage the content presented.

Sam Bolton - August 5th, 2012

Sources: 

• Thompson, Marianne Meye. The God of the Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 2001.