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
[Matt 23,5-7]
[5,44]
They do all their deeds to be
How can you believe when
you accept glory from one seen by others; for they make
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another and do not seek the their phylacteries broad and
glory that comes from the their fringes long. They love to
one who alone is God? have the place of honor at ban-
quets and the best seats in the
synagogues, and to be greeted
with respect in the market-
places, and to have people call
them rabbi.
[Matt 6,1-2.5.16]
Beware of practicing your piety
before others in order to be
seen by them; for then you have
no reward from your Father in
heaven. “So whenever you give
alms, do not sound a trumpet
before you, as the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the
streets, so that they may be
praised by others. Truly I tell
you, they have received their
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reward. (…) And whenever you
pray, do not be like the hyp-
ocrites; for they love to stand
and pray in the synagogues and
at the street corners, so that
they may be seen by others.
Truly I tell you, they have re-
ceived their reward. (…) And
whenever you fast, do not look
dismal, like the hypocrites, for
they disfigure their faces so as
to show others that they are
fasting. Truly I tell you, they
have received their reward.
The second witness mentioned in John 5,31-47 is the witness of
the Father. According to John 5,36ab, this testimony is indeed
“greater than John’s†and is represented by the works that the Fa-
ther has authorized Jesus to do. Jesus presents these works as ev-
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