What is the nature of the Johannine characterization of Pontius Pilate at the trial of Jesus? Did John portray Pilate as a strong and competent leader, a weak and compromising leader, or some combination of the two? These questions have been the subject of much scholarly debate. The goal of this paper is to explore … Read more
In the wake of John Barclay’s momentous Paul and the Gift, many have begun to explore how grace is defined and deployed in other scriptural texts by making use of his taxonomy of the six perfections of gift—where “perfection” speaks of a particular quality of grace being drawn out to an “end-of-the-line extreme” (Barclay, 4). … Read more
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 … Read more
My paper argues that the Gospel of John (GJohn) frames Jesus’ public ministry (~chs. 1-12) by the use of δόξα such that it provides a hermeneutical lens to understand the Johannine presentation of Jesus’ ministry. J. T. Nielsen in an NTS article (“Narrative Structures of Glory and Glorification in the Fourth Gospel”) pointed out how … Read more
Jesus makes clear in Revelation that works will affect everyone’s eternal experience, whether bound for the new earth or the lake of fire. Works is one of the dominant themes in Revelation and is developed by Jesus through His proclamations as well as commentary on the attitudes of saints and earth dwellers. It is introduced … Read more
The phrase “and he stood on the sand of the sea” (12:18) often falls out of scholarly focus as a mere transitional link between chapters 12 and 13. Commonly, it is taken literally as a seashore where the dragon stands to call for his allies (13:1, 11). Nevertheless, the language of Rev 12 is highly … Read more
The relationship between the Gospel of John and other ancient writings and collections is a point of discussion among various disciplines. One such connection involves the parallels between this gospel and the epistles by the same name. Thematic coherence and verbal connections are easily discernable and accepted in biblical studies, and scholars focused on historical-critical … Read more
The structure of 1 John has defied analysis because modern scholars begin their outline from 1:6 rather than 1:1, excluding 1:1-5 as well as 5:15-21 as irrelevant to their task, which skews and distorts their attempt to discover the outline and argument of the epistle. This paper proposes a viable solution based upon an overarching … Read more
Richard Bauckham (1998) has argued for the category of ‘divine identity’ as a way of recognizing Jesus’s early identification with Yhwh. In connection with the designations of God as Creator and Ruler, early Jewish temple and purity practices in relation to God as the holy divine sovereign further imply a particular way of recognizing his … Read more
Introduction to the Problem: Any attempt toward presenting a thorough history of interpretation of the impartation of the Spirit in John 20:22 will quickly face the difficulty of categorizing the various views within a satisfactory taxonomy (my own attempt at this may be found in Rosen, The Meaning and Redemptive-Historical Significance of John 20:22 [Peter … Read more