50 Cornelis Bennema the contours of John’s understanding of liberation by Jesus’ “sword”, but we hope to develop this idea further in the future. Most scholars would date the Fourth Gospel in the period 80-95 C.E., i.e., in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem and the failed attempt of revolutionary Judaism to liberate itself from the Romans. John’s intended audience could partly (but not exclusively) have consisted of non-Christian Jews, many of whom were probably disillusioned, and for this traumatic post-70 C.E. Jew, the Fourth Gospel provides an alternative perspective of comfort and hope (49). Jesus redefines the main pillars or symbols of Judaism: he is the new temple (2,19-21), supersedes Torah (1,17; 5,39-47), redefines entry into the eschatological age (3,3-6), reinterprets the use of the sabbath (7,21-23), etc. Moreover, as we shall see, Jesus also redefines and subverts various messianic expectations of Palestinian apocalypticism. 1. Oppression John’s dualistic worldview visualizes a conflict between the realm “from below”, which is characterized by the devil, flesh, darkness, death, sin, lies, and the realm “from above”, to which belongs God, Jesus, Spirit, light, life, freedom, truth. This realm “from below” is called “the world” (8,23), and is essentially a hostile, evil environment (1,10-11; 3,19; 7,7; 15,18-19; 16,33) (50). The devil is “the ruler of this world” (12,31; 14,30; 16,11), and is portrayed as a murderer, liar and “the evil one” (8,44; 17,15; cf. 1 John 3,8). Sin in the Fourth Gospel is primarily the sin of unbelief, of rejection of Jesus (8,24; 16,9), which results in death (8,21.24). Those who commit sin are in fact enslaved to sin (8,34) and belong to the devil (8,44; cf. Judas [6,70; 13,2.27]; 1 John 3,8). Within John’s dualism, one belongs either to God/Jesus or to the devil, and hence people in general are “from the world” — they belong to the world and to its ruler the devil (cf. 1,18; 3,6; 8,23.47)(51). The main oppression, then, is a spiritual oppression that everyone experiences and that comes from the devil. (49) Cf. MOTYER, “Jesus”, 87-88; ID., Your Father the Devil? A New Approach to John and “the Jews” [Carlisle 1997] 73, 103-104, 113-114. (50) Cf. S.B. MARROW, “Kovsmo" in John”, CBQ 64 (2002) 96-100. (51) Cf. S. PEDERSEN, “Anti-Judaism in John’s Gospel: John 8”, New Readings in John. Literary and Theological Perspectives (eds. J. NISSEN – S. PEDERSEN) (JSNTSS 182; Sheffield 1999) 187-190; MIRANDA, Being, 100-102. Contra B.J. MALINA – R.L. ROHRBAUGH, Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John (Minneapolis 1998) 246.