GOD AS UNILATERAL GIVER
The Gift of Creation
8The precise structure and origin of the prologue are irrelevant to the discussion that follows. For a discussion of these issues, see Mary Coloe, "The Structure of the Johannine Prologue and Genesis 1." These two themes, the relationship of the Word to God and His relationship to creation, influence the Johannine conception of the gift and should be considered in turn.
The Word and God
John established the nature of the Word and His relationship to God that he goes on to discuss the creation event in verse 3 and the Word's relationship to creation. What God says is His Word, so that the words of the Word are the words of God. Word for the following verses.23 John then repeats his assertions that the Word existed in relationship with God in the beginning.
The Word and Creation
The exact theology of the relationship between the Word and God before the incarnation is not explained here. Creation does not ask for creation and does not agree to God's creative work according to the Word. As the Word of God, He created creation and maintains creation in its present state.
The Gifts of Light and Life
A proper exegesis of the Prologue in conjunction with other passages on light symbolism in John establishes the one-sided nature of the gift of light. So it seems that faith itself becomes an aporia that reflects the aporia of the gift. When the man was in the pool, the whole advantage was his own.
Finally, the one-sided nature of the gift was ensured by the mere sending of the man. The gift was in danger of becoming a curse at almost every point in the narrative. Jesus is the light of the world, so accepting the light is ultimately accepting him.
John also illustrated how the gift is given and received through the story of the man born blind. After moving on to a discussion of the gift of light through the Word in verses 4-11, John returns to the theme of life again in John 1:12-13. The gift of life is first described as "the authority to become children of God" in verse 12.
Köstenberger, John, 321, writes: "The significance of the raising of Lazarus in John's story as a whole cannot be exaggerated."
The Gift of Grace
GOD AS EXHAUSTIVE GIVER
GOD AS CIRCULAR GIVER
The first gift the Father gives the Son in this passage is "the gift of all." Jesus' explanation that the Father has given him all judgment because he is the Son of Man has given rise to considerable discussion. For the Father loves [filei√] the Son."13 The Father's way of relating to the Son is grounded in his love for the Son, and the Son's imitation of the Father is grounded in the Father's.
Often commentators will emphasize the subordination of the Son to the Father as the principle that Jesus establishes in this verse. 17, note the parallel passage in John 3:35, which uses ἀγαpάω to speak of the Father's love for the Son. 15Morris, John, 279, writes: "The whole emphasis of this present passage is on the unity of the Father and the Son.
The inherent dignity of the Son and his intimate relationship with the Father make the dishonor of him a very serious matter.”. Jesus is able to give life as only God can because God has given him this gift.19 In the context of the Father's love that leads to the gift of. But in the case of the Father's gift to the Son, the evangelist avoids this aporia by placing the gift within the horizon of love.
The gift cannot be understood as a gift unless the divine love of the Father for the Son surrounds and permeates it.
Jesus indicates that the gift is not impossible, at least not when the Father gives to the Son. Jesus openly states that a gift was given in this text; therefore, this text allows us to examine the nature of the gift in the context of the Father giving to the Son. Moreover, what happens to the gift, not only the gift of faith, but the gift that the Father gives to his Son.
Beasley-Murray, John, 92, correctly understands the nature of the gift of the Father to the Son in conjunction with human response, and writes: "But there are those who the Father. These conditions of the gift, which are also the gift's downfall, are rejected by Jesus when he describes his relationship with the Father. However, in John 6:37-40 Jesus indicates that the giving between the Father and the Son is not anonymous.
Moreover, the purpose of the Son's coming is to do the Father's will concerning the gift (v. 38), which is to keep the gift safe and raise up the people God has given. The Father's will is that the Son does or does not do certain things with the gift. He receives the Father's gift and gives honor to the Father by being obedient to the Father's desires.
Significantly, the gift of Jesus is given directly to the people the Father has given Him.
The Father is the Giver par excellence when He enters into a giving relationship with the Son. The Father and the Son are different persons, so that the Father can give to the Son and the Son can receive from the Father. What most commentators fail to emphasize, however, is the nature of the functional unity as it pertains to the gift and ability of the Father and the Son to bestow in a uniquely divine way.
How, then, can the Father be meaningfully described as giving the sheep to the Son when He holds the sheep in His own hands? No one is able to drag believers away from the Father and the Son with any power, because they are guarded by divine power. Since the Father dwells in the Son, and since the Son and the Father are one in their work to protect the sheep (verse 30), the hand of the Father and the hand of the Son are one.
The Son never acts isolated from the Father or apart from the Father, because the Father always abides in the Son. As Köstenberger, John, 432 explains, "The Fourth Evangelist consistently portrays Jesus' words as the Father's words and his works as the Father's works." The key to understanding the divine gift from the Father to the Son in this context lies not in understanding something about the gift, but about the Giver.
The unity and distinction between the Father and the Son opens new horizons for the gift.
The Son gives glory to the Father by giving life to the people whom the Father gave to Him. What makes this gift unique is that the gift to the Father is intentional and indirect. The Father and the Son give glory to each other as the Son gives the gifts of the Father to His disciples.
When these gifts are extended by the giving of the Son to the people the Father. Moreover, the Son gives to bring believers into the love of the Father (and, by extension, the Son) and the unity they share. These realities within the Father and the Son's relationship exclude giving based on the need of the giver.
The last component that emerges in this chapter is the love that exists between the Father and the Son. In this way God gives and receives within the persons of the Father and the Son. Therefore, God can be described as a circle giver within the relationship of the Father and the Son.
However, when giving between the Father and the Son comes into the picture, a different picture emerges.
The word of Jesus came from the Father, and to hear the word of Jesus by faith is to believe that the Father who sent him is the one who gave him the words he speaks. All of Jesus' listeners begin with death, otherwise they would not have to pass from death to life. Jesus emphasizes their dead state in verse 25 by calling them oi˚ necroi".113 Jesus does not mean that these dead are physically dead; they are spiritually dead.114 They can physically hear the words of Jesus and communicate with him, as evidenced by their interactions in this text.
Spiritually, however, because they are dead, they can neither hear him nor believe his word themselves.115 Just like a corpse at a funeral that cannot hear the words of the eulogist, humanity in its natural state cannot hear the voice of Jesus.116 Something must happen. outside the dead person to enable the dead. 114 That this verse refers to the spiritually dead who are reborn, and not to the physically dead who rose on the last day, is evident from the addition of the phrase kai« nuvn e˙stin to e¶rcetai w‚ra, which is not in v. Some of the dead hear the voice of the Son of God.117 When they hear his voice, they live.
Then Ezekiel calls for the spirit to come, fill them and make them alive, which happens according to the divine order.120 Jesus, using this common imagery with His listeners, shows that He is the true Son of Man (John 5:27). who speaks the word of God over the dead. 121 When they hear His word, they are resurrected. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me". All mankind begins life as "dead", as even those who believe pass through death. Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48 , New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing) describes the situation in Ezek 37, writing: “The account leaves no clue as to whose bones these may be, but the picture is that of death with all its horror, intensity and finality.”
Their response of faith is created within them by God, or, in the language of the gift, given to them while they are still dead and unable to respond in themselves.
The response that Jesus requires is the response that is generated in the dead by the words of Jesus when the dead hear it. They are like dry, scattered bones that can only be brought to life by the power of God. They hear him because they are his sheep, those whom the Father has given him.
CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES
