Philipp F. Bartholomä, «John 5,31-47 and the Teaching of Jesus in the Synoptics. A Comparative Approach.»
Within Johannine scholarship, the assumed differences between Jesus’ teaching in John and in the Synoptics have frequently led to a negative judgment about Johannine authenticity. This article proposes a comparative approach that distinguishes between different levels of similarity in wording and content and applies it to John 5,31-47. What we find in this discourse section corresponds conceptually to a significant degree with the picture offered in the Synoptics, though couched in a very different idiom. Thus, the comparative evidence does not preclude us from accepting this particular part of Johannine speech material as an authentic representation of the actual content of Jesus’words.
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John 5,31-47 and the Teaching of Jesus in the Synoptics.
A Comparative Approach
The Fourth Gospel is notably different from its synoptic coun-
terparts. Years ago, Stephen Neill and Tom Wright remarked that
John has been charged with “excessive individualism and intro-
spective exclusivism†1. Accordingly, the Fourth Gospel has re-
ceived little attention as a valuable contribution among scholars
undertaking a quest for the historical Jesus 2.
I. Johannine-Synoptic Relations and Jesus’ Discourses
in the Fourth Gospel
When it comes, more specifically, to the historical reliability of
the Johannine speech material, the relationship between the Johan-
nine and Synoptic Gospels is particularly significant. Indeed, a strong
correlation is often found between how a particular scholar evaluates
the perceived relationship of the Johannine discourses and the teach-
ing of Jesus in the Synoptics and his or her opinion with regard to
the authenticity of the words of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Especially
those scholars with a certain skepticism towards Johannine authen-
1
S. NEILL – T. WRIGHT, The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861-
1986 (Oxford 21988) 436.
2
Cf., e.g., E.P. SANDERS, The Historical Figure of Jesus (London 1993)
71, saying that scholars “have almost unanimously, I think entirely correctly,
concluded that the teaching of the historical Jesus is to be sought in the synoptic
gospels and that John represents an advanced development (...)â€. Also J.D.G.
DUNN, Jesus Remembered (Christianity in the Making 1; Grand Rapids, MI
2003) 165: “Few scholars would regard John as a source for information re-
garding Jesus’ life and ministry in any degree comparable to the Synopticsâ€.
Yet, cf. now the more positive views on Johannine historicity visible in two
publications of the SBL John, Jesus, and History study group: John, Jesus,
and History, Volume 1. Critical Appraisals of Critical Views (eds. P.N. ANDER-
SON – F. JUST – T. THATCHER) (SBL Symposium Series 44; Leiden 2007) and
John, Jesus, and History, Volume 2. Aspects of Historicity in the Fourth Gospel
(eds. P.N. ANDERSON – F. JUST – T. THATCHER) (Early Christianity and Its Lit-
erature 2; Leiden 2009).
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