Every year, new commentaries, articles, and monographs are published on John’s Gospel, despite the overwhelming amount of secondary literature already in existence. How can biblical scholars hope to uncover new interpretive insights when the ground is already so well-trodden?
The paratext of the New Testament Greek manuscript tradition contains a treasure trove of reading aids that have been largely unexplored and forgotten by modern biblical scholars. Textual critics have known about these for centuries, but rarely have ancient manuscripts been given a seat at the table, a voice to speak among modern biblical scholars.
There are four main types of reading aids in Greek manuscripts of John that should be given a voice in the modern academy:
(1) At the most basic level of unit delimitation, the earliest extant manuscripts contain some punctuation and paragraph divisions that provide basic structure to guide the reader. Some of these divisions differ significantly from modern translations/editions and provide an alternative understanding of John’s Gospel.
(2) At a more advanced level of unit delimitation, Codex Vaticanus contains the earliest known numbered chapter system (4th century CE). This system divided John into 80 numbered chapters/sections. Many of these divisions parallel modern paragraph divisions, but some of these divisions are unique and even strange or awkward – at least at first glance.
(3) Similar but still distinct from the Vaticanus chapter divisions, another chapter system divided John into 18 chapters and provided summarizing/interpretive titles. This system began in Codex Alexandrinus (5th century) and eventually predominated the Greek manuscript tradition, so that it is still extant in hundreds of manuscripts.
(4) An advanced interpretive aid is found in Codices Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus (4th/5th century CE): Eusebius of Caesarea created a cross-referencing system as an early effort at a synopsis of the four Gospels. This “Eusebian Apparatus” allowed to the reader to see what is unique to each gospel and what is shared with other gospels. Eusebius divided John into 232 sections and provided cross-references to the other three gospels, or signaled that the content was unique only to John. Most of Eusebius’s parallels are the same as the cross-references found in modern Bibles and modern synopses, but some of his parallels are unique and even strange – at least at first glance. Eusebius often saw thematic/topical parallels, especially between the Synoptic Gospels and John. Eusebius did not focus just on strictly historical parallels, as modern biblical scholars tend to do.
These reading/interpretive aids offer ancient and unique insights into John’s Gospel. My paper will introduce each of these ancient reading aids, briefly discuss method for properly using these reading aids, and rediscover their interpretive insights into the structure and interpretation of John.