Martijn Steegen, «M. Steegen: To Worship the Johannine 'Son of Man'. John 9,38 as Refocusing on the Father», Vol. 91 (2010) 534-554
Important early textual witnesses show John 9,38-39a to be absent. Because of the use of uncharacteristic vocabulary, the use of rare verb forms such as e¶fh and pistey¥w, and the unique confession of faith and worship of Jesus as “Son of Man” during his earthly life, John 9,38 has been said to stand outside Johannine theology. I argue that, although John 9,38-39a confronts the Gospel’s reader with uncharacteristic vocabulary, this does not necessarily imply that these words were added by a later hand under liturgical influence. Instead of standing outside Johannine theology, the confession of faith and the worship by the man healed from his blindness function as the first fulfilment of the proleptic prediction of the words in 4,23 kaiù gaùr oO pathùr toioy¥toyv zhtei˜ toyùv proskynoy˜ntav ayßto¥n. Then, I confront the absence of 9,38-39a with yet another text-critical problem in the larger pericope 9,35-41 — the replacement of the title yiOoùv toy˜ aßnurw¥ poy in 9,35 by yiOoùv toy˜ ueoy — and argue that these two text-critical problems cannot be separated from one another. Finally, I explore how the designation “Son of Man” functions within the framework of pistey¥w and proskyne¥w. The worship of the Johannine Jesus can hardly be seen as a goal in itself. Instead, it is an acknowledgement that the Father is made known in the person of Jesus (cf. 9,3), and hence is typically Johannine.
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TO WORSHIP JOHANNINE “ SON MAN â€
THE OF
LXX relate to the worship of God or to that of false gods 1. The
movement of the body, the prostration, is always central in its
meaning. The verb also plays a role in dealings between human
beings, especially before a king or superior.
The verb proskynew has preserved its concrete meaning of
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prostration in the New Testament, since the physical movement of
bowing still plays an important role in the interpretation. But, as
Greeven has emphasized, the object of prostration is always
something — truly or supposedly — divine 2. Matthew seems to
have a preference for the verb, for he uses proskynew thirteen
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times. In no less than five instances, Matthew has expanded the
Marcan original in order to describe the gesture of those who
approach Jesus explicitly as prostration 3. Mark uses it only twice
and Luke just three times 4. Therefore, Greeven states that in the
Gospel of Matthew “die Verwendung des Wortes proskyneın ˜
eher darauf hindeutet, dass die Niederfallenden ungewollt und
unbewusst durch ihr Verhalten bereits bekunden, mit wem sie es zu
tun haben†(cf. Matt 2,2.11; 4,9; 14,33; 28,9.17) 5.
Nine of the eleven occurrences in John are found in just four
verses of the dialog with the Samaritan woman (cf. John 4,20-24).
H. GREEVEN, “proskynew – proskynhthv â€, TWNT 4 (1942) 761-762.
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1
In the LXX the verb proskynew is virtually the only rendering of the Hebrew
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word hwjTvh and the Hebrew verb dgs, both with the meaning of “to bow.†Of
all the 171 occurrences of the word hwjtvh in the Hebrew Bible, the LXX
translates the word 164 times with the verb proskyneın. Greeven argues that
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the verb proskynew suggested itself as a rendering of the Hebrew hwjTvh
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because the word, originally denoting only a movement of the body, had
become a cultic term. Only once is the word hwjtvh rendered as kataφilew ¥
(1 Kgs 2,19) and only once as poiew (1 Kgs 11,33). In five instances it is not
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reproduced. Nevertheless four of these five occurrences are translated by a
combination of ASU with the verb proskynew (Josh 5,14 ; Isa 36,7; 60,14; Jer
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7,2). The verb proskynew is also used once each for qvn “ to kiss†(1 Kgs
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19,18) and for db[ “ to serve,†“to worship†(Ps 97,7), [Wz (Dan 6,27) “to
tremble, †and in three instances it is equivalent to [rk (“ to bowâ€) with hwjtvh.
H. GREEVEN, “proskynew – proskynhthv â€, 762-764.
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2
The leper in Matt 8,2 (cf. Mark 1,40); Jairus in Matt 9,18 (cf. Mark 5,22);
3
Jesus’ companions in the boat in Matt 14,33 (cf. Mark 6,51); the woman of
Canaan in Matt 15,25 (cf. Mark 7,25); the mother of James and John in Matt
20,20 (cf. Mark 10,35).
Matt 2,2.8.11; 4,9.10; 8,2; 9,18; 14,33; 15,25; 18,26; 20,20; 28,9; 28,17.
4
Mark 5,6; 15,19. Luke 4,7.8; 24,52.
H. GREEVEN, “proskynew – proskynhthv â€, 764.
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