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
Cf. also the narrative comment
in [Luke 3,15-18 par.].
[Luke 19,10 par.]
[5,34] For the Son of Man came to seek
out and to save [sw/sai] the lost.
[1/2]
Not that I accept such human
testimony [cf. 5,41], but I say
these things so that you may be
saved [swqh/te].
[Matt 11,7-11 par.]
[5,35] [As they went away, Jesus began to
He was a burning and shining speak to the crowds about John:]
[0/2]
lamp, and you were willing to What did you go out into the
rejoice for a while in his light. wilderness to look at? A reed
shaken by the wind? What then did
you go out to see? Someone
dressed in soft robes? Look, those
who wear soft robes are in royal
palaces. What then did you go out
to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you,
and more than a prophet. This is the
one about whom it is written, ‘See,
I am sending my messenger ahead
of you, who will prepare your way
before you. Truly I tell you, among
those born of women no one has
arisen greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he.
[Mark 11,30.32 par.]
Did the baptism of John come
from heaven, or was it of human
origin? Answer me.
[0/1]
[(…) they were afraid of the
crowd, for all regarded John as
truly a prophet.]
Addressing his hearers’ need for corroborative testimony, in
John 5,33a and 33b Jesus now introduces John the Baptist as a first
witness. Even though Matthew, Mark, and Luke repeatedly refer-
ence the narrative of the Baptist’s ministry, the Synoptic Jesus does
not explicitly mention the sending of any messengers to John
(5,33a; cf. 1,19-34; [0/0-level of closeness]). However, that John
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