Especially in the Fourth Gospel there has been an attempt to obtain additional evidence of a historical. In the third chapter, the results of a careful study of the Septuagint are presented and interpreted.
THE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD
CHAPTER I
BRIEF STATEMENT ON THE REVELATION OF GOD
So his name is holy and reverent; He, being what he is known to be, is revendus. Inasmuch as God has revealed Himself to man in several ways, He has several names.
A STUDY OF THE PARTICULAR NAMES OF GOD
- Yahweh
Cohen suggests that we can tentatively reconstruct the history of the names of God in religion. But this is important because it suggests that Yahweh was definitely associated with the verb "to be" in the historical period, although the origin of the word is lost.
12 The distinctive feature of the Old Testament teaching
While it is not the purpose of this thesis to discuss the problem or authorship of the Pentateuch, the names for God have been used for the purpose or different lines of the story. In some Old Testament poetry and as part of personal names, the related forms Yah and Yahu appear.
14 came from one of these shorter form~but now the drift is
Even if this view turns out to be wrong, there is ample evidence in the Bible that. Therefore, if God were to be associated in the minds of men with the verb "to be"j if God ceased to be pro-.
CHAPTER II
- THE USE OF "I AM" IN THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA
- THE USE OF "I AM" IN THE ANCIENT WRITINGS OF IRAN In the ancient writings of Iran is found a similar
- THE USE OF "I AM" IN SUF'ISM
- THE USE OF src:a £ t JII\ ,
- THE USE OF "I AM" IN THE AZTEC WRITINGS
The ~ e~1 is also found in the Mithraic liturgy as it appears from the following inscription:25. It was also found in the inscriptions, because it was used in magical formulas of the ancients.
CHAPTER III
The use of one form or another in earlier Hebrew books is often indiscriminate:. and the longer form is regularly used with. THE NUMBER OF TIMES IS THE USE OF ERA IN THE LXX AND THE IDENTITY OF THE SPEAKER.
There were no examples of ~w ~/~/ in Numbers, and only three examples in Deuteronomy; Deuteronomy 32:39 was perhaps.
Ezekiel 29:21 Ezekiel 30 :8
NUMBER OF TIMES £ rQ £IAI IS USED IN THE LXX AND THE IDENTITY OF THE SPEAKER. In the next chapter it will be pointed out several times how the fourth evangelist uses these expressions from Deutero-Isaiah to claim the deity of Christ. The use of· ~iw t!!/.,ul as a means of identifying oneself or of describing oneself was quite common.
All other examples were in the first part of the book and can be seen in TABLE II, p.50f. ~/tAJ t:/~ as used in men's speech has no definite pattern - the uses are too varied to be classified.
IN THE DECLARATIONS OF GOD Illustration 6
WHEN OTHER WORDS INTERVENE
Only seven examples were found in all, five in the speech of God and two in the speech of men. They would not have been noticed except for the fact that it is highlighted in some of the other books. Others refrained from using i t in human speech, as e.g. found in the book of Job, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Ezekiel.
As one reads Deutero-Isaiah and Hezekiah, one is impressed with the lofty speeches and great claims of God. These become more profound in the study of the Septuagint as these claims are often added to or closed with it. On the other hand, there were those who apparently saw no sanctity in the phrase and used it carelessly.
IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL
CHAPTER IV
TWO PROBLEMS IN CONNECTION WITH THE e1'~ elM' SAYINGS
- The Problem of Authenticity
The author of the Fourth Gospel must be given the same privilege of interpreting Jesus as was granted to the synoptic writers. 76 words of Jesus, whether we are dealing with actual words or not. The evangelist gave us the meaning of the teachings, because he is completely sympathetic to the thoughts of Jesus.
The problem of the source of ~Jw G/~'s sayings would not differ from the problem of the source of the other sayings of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. If we assume that prophetic risk is a strong element in the personality of the Fourth Evangelist, would he attribute it? One way he testified of himself was by using the title "Son of Man," speaking of himself in the third person.
A study of the "Son of Man" in the Synoptic Gospels reveals that it was largely used in connection with eschatological teachings.
In short, based on the previous discussion, we can say that the evangelist did not equate either one or the other. With his deep insight into the spiritual meaning of Christianity, John saw the danger in the increasing observance of the outward ritual of the supper. Stevens' words are a fitting conclusion to the sacramental discussion of the "bread of life."
Our life on Earth will be part of it. the life of Christ and will complete the works He has done in the world, subordinating His human will to the divine will. So this is another theophany. The Yahweh of the Old Testament, who spoke through the prophets and warned Israel of her coming captivity and destruction, speaks again. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913) Vol.
His primitive Christian view thought of life as the greatest blessing of the future.
As he removed the penalty of sin, he made it possible for believers to go to the Father. Many had sought and found God in the generations before Christ, but the way was rough, crooked, and narrow. Scott thinks that the Evangelist was influenced by Platonic philosophy, and if so, the "truth" of anything is the spiritual reality of which it is a symbol.
Thus, when the evangelist spoke of truth, he was not referring to the facts of the physical world, which are a matter of observation. He did not even refer to intellectual illumination, which sees the permanent in the temporary and the reality behind the mere phenomenon. The higher kind of 'truth' found by the evangelist in the teaching of' Jesus was often termed by him IIordsll or "proverbs". An examination of the following passage reveals some of the Evangelist's ideas about'.
It is the "truth" of the Psalms, but adapted to new circumstances and becomes almost a technical word in the new religion.
124 from the bondage of sin and death. The first century Chris-
34; The problem of Christianity, as it presents itself to the evangelist, is to account for the reappearance in the believer of the life that was manifested in Christ." 73. The Evangelist could not explain the transformation wrought in the early members of the group apart from the impact and life of the person Jesus. The Evangelist sometimes thought that Christ lives in the believer, as a fountain of living water (4:14); in the allegory of the vine, he thought of the believer. to be in Christ.
It may be that Mark is more mystical than I supposed, and Mark 13:6 may be fair. the verse to prove it. The writer was not interested in the sequence of events as he was in the result of Jesus' teaching. Someone who was less could never have achieved what Jesus did in the lives of the believers.
Jesus therefore implicitly claims to speak in the name of the eternal Wisdom of God, to speak as the Logos.
146 which the officers may have felt in the presence of Jesus,
His use of €;w ~ I ~M'" was somewhat similar to his use of "hour". Other verses in the Gospel take on more meaning if this thought is kept in mind: He quoted Jesus as saying that his mission was to knew the name of God. Therefore, this saying was used in the garden to convince Philip and the other disciples that Jesus was God in the flesh. There have been several attempts to "tone down" this saying in the garden, as already indicated .
The Evangelist wanted the readers to know that Jesus was God, and even the Roman soldiers recognized this fact. With the participle in The Similitudes and without the predicate, the same result was noted: The evangelist used the divine expression in connection with the life of Jesus to represent him as the Yahweh of the New Covenant. He had not only studied Jesus, but also studied the change that had been wrought in the lives of the believers.
It is now necessary to look at some other examples in the New Testament which represent this same truth.
CHAPTER V
2 It was an emphatic way of self-identification and is found quite often in Septua-. But instead of Mark putting the idea in the third person, he used the phrase that had been connected. with the self-manifestation of God. 4) Statement during the trial. It appears that ~ ~/ as used in the Synoptic Gospels has only a slight carryover from its use in the Septuagint.
The use of Eillll &1#1 in the Apocalypse is quite prominent and similar to its use in the Fourth Gospel. The ~ e~/ sayings are thus found in other places in the New Testament to represent Jesus as Yahweh manifested. The phrase found so frequently in the Septuagint in the claims of Yahweh became a ready vehicle for accomplishing the design of the Evangelist: to represent Jesus as God.
It must be admitted from the study of E~ GI.I;I.I in the Fourth Gospel that Jesus was deity, he knew he was deity, he revealed his deity, and the Evangelist understood his claim.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- BOOKS
- PERIODICAL ARTICLES
- COMMENTARIES
- LEXICONS
- SACRED LITERATURE
- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANDAEISM AND JUDAISM
- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANDAEISM AND BABYLONIAN RELIGIONS
- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANDAEISM AND PERSIAN RELIGION
Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated ~ Recently Discovered Texts from the Greco-Roman World. Johannine Theology: A Study of the Doctrinal Content of the Gospel and Epistles of the Apostle John. The Mission and Message of Jesus: An Exposition of the Gospels in the Light of Modern Research.
In a careful study of the writings, it is noted that the so-called Judaistic influence is found in the late treatises. This is easily understood if we accept the fact that the holy book of. In a study of Babylonian religion it is found. basis for some of the Mandaean teachings.
The Mandaean names of the planets are derived from late Babylonian rather than ancient forms.
