Johannine Community in the New Testament - Essay Example

Johannine Community INTRODUCTION In the New Testament, there were four Gospels that include Gospel of Mathew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John. In the initial three gospels, different events that took place in the life of Jesus were described. Additionally, the gospels revealed the teachings that were preached by Jesus wherein He was presented as a messenger of God. In this respect, the first three Gospels in the New Testament were identified as Synoptic Gospels. The fourth and the last Gospel in the New Testament was based on John’s authorship. The Gospel of John revealed different stories about the miracles of Jesus. Moreover, the Gospel also revealed that Jesus is the replica of God. In this respect, the Johannine community comprised Christians worshipping Jesus as the Messiah and following the preachments made by John through the Gospel and the Epistles (Brown 13-24). The Gospel of John lacked information about Ecclesiology, which created an issue amid Christians representing Johannine community, as Johannine theology failed in describing the concept of God. Another crucial issue faced by the Johannine community was to determine whether the opposing statements identified in the Gospel of John were made to the society as a whole or to any particular religion. Respectively, the scholars and the people faced the issue of interpreting the information about Johannine Ecclesiology. In this context, the study of the book ‘The Community of Beloved Disciples’ written by Robert E. Brown conducted a study about the emergence and the reconstruction of Johannine community, so that the a proper understanding is acquired about the New Testament and the messages depicted in it are delivered successfully to the Christians (Brown 13-24). THESIS STATEMENT The Johannine community is developed with different theology presented by Saint John as compared to other disciplines. In this regard, the Christians were seemed to face difficulties in following the Johannine Ecclesiology. In order to possess an in-depth understanding about the emergence as well as the modernization of Christian community, the four phases of Johannine community revealed by Robert E. Brown have been elaborately studied in the following. SUMMARIZATION OF THE FOUR PHASES OF THE JOHANNINE COMMUNITY The different spheres of the Johannine community were assessed from the Gospel and the Epistles of John in order to acquire better understanding about the life and the events of Jesus. An analysis of the four phases of the community had aided in reconstructing the beliefs as well as the theology of the Christians. The four phases have been analyzed based on which the Christians in the present era are able to acquire information in relation to the New Testament concerning the impotence of life and events of Jesus towards the development of the community and the world. Additionally, the following four phases of the community depicted about Johannine Ecclesiology (Brown 13-24). Phase One: Before the Gospel. This phase depicted the origin of the Pauline community in the pre gospel era. The pre gospel era was the period from the mid 50s to the late 80s. During this phase, the Johannine community was developed by a group of people in Palestine and the followers of the Beloved Discipline namely John the Baptist. The Johannine origin symbolized a different perspective of Jesus as compared to the gospels presented by other followers of Jesus. In the Gospel, Saint John revealed different miracles made by Jesus in theological dialogues. In this regard, Saint John stated, “The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Brown 28), which implied that Jesus is a Messiah for the people. Initially, the community comprised Jews having faith in Jesus. The Jews hold the perception that Jesus was offered with the titles of ‘Son of God’, prophet, servant and Messiah as depicted in the Old Testament that were just titles but His divinity was never reflected through these titles. Thus, during this phase, the people of the community were seemed to possess low Christology or belief in Jesus owing to the fact that He was just embraced as a symbol of fulfilling the prophecy of God and considered as a Davidic Messiah (Brown 59-91). The members belonging to Johannine community enlarged after the involvement of another communal member i.e. Samaritans. Additionally, Samaritans possessed strong believe towards Christology, as they linked Jesus with Moses of Deuteronomy and Logos-hymn in relation to pre-existent Christology. The Samaritans believed that Jesus was divine and considered Him as the one who had seen God. The involvement of Samaritans had certainly developed the Johannine Christology, which created theological tensions amid the communities of local Jewish. The Jewish had a feeling that their monotheism thoughts were abandoned by Johannine community with the development of a new religion of a God named Jesus. In this regard, the increased tensions amid Jewish communities ultimately resulted to ditheism’s accusation. Johannine Christians were expelled from the synagogues of local Jewish who entered the community as the ‘anti-Temple Jews’. The Gospel of John addressed opposing viewpoints about Jewish as “Children of the devil” (Brown 42). During the era of the origin of the Johannine community, a third group who joined the community were the Gentiles. The conflict between the Jews and the Johannine community led to the conversion of Gentile audiences into Christians for joining Johannine Community. The inclusion of the three different groups in the community having faith as well as beliefs on Jesus led a better family life. In this respect, the fourth gospel of John assisted the community members to lead their life as expected by Jesus. The believe of the community members about the concept that Jesus is inevitably associated with God had tightened as well as enhanced Johannine Christology (Brown 25-55). Thus, the first phase of the Johannine community symbolized that the believers of Jesus are the one who identified to be the most beloved disciples and possess better eternal life as depicted in the New Testament. Phase Two: When the Gospel Was Written. The phase ranged from the period of 80s to 90s and during this period, the Gospel was written By Saint John. In the beginning of the Gospel of John, there was a statement that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life … that the world might be saved through him” (Brown 60). Saint John with this statement implied that beliefs of Jesus ought to be followed on a universal context. The Johannine community had adopted a Diaspora setting, as the concept of dualism was considered as an important factor accountable for the outlook of universalism. The message of the gospel was intended to spread amid the Jews and the Greeks, so that the plan of Jesus in relation to salvation was accomplished. Accordingly, Saint John segregated human race into believers as well as non-believers and people preferring light along with darkness. In this regard, the community members were identified as believers, while on the other hand, people not representing the community were recognized to remain under the shadow of darkness (Brown 59-91). The Gospel of John emphasized opposition viewpoints about community relationship and likewise in the gospel, the human race was detected as non-believers and believers. In this phase, six groups were identified out of which three groups represented non-believers and the other three as believers. The non-believers group included the World, the Jews and the adherents of John the Baptist. The World group signified the people rejecting the light mainly the Gentiles unbelieving in Jesus as the Messiah. The term ‘the World’ was mainly pointed to the Jews, who had not considered Jesus as divine. The Jews referred to the Jewish who had no faith in Jesus in the synagogues. Additionally, it represented the Jews, who expelled other Jews for believing Jesus. ‘The adherents of John the Baptist’ represented the group of people, who believed John as the Messiah and rejected in accepting that Jesus is not the Messiah (Brown 59-91). The other three groups that represent as the believers of Jesus include ‘Crypto-Christians’, ‘Jewish Christian Churches of Inadequate Faith’ and ‘Apostolic Christians.’ The Crypto-Christians were the Jews in the synagogues believing Christianity. The Crypto-Christians were the ones who failed to confess believe for Jesus owing to the fear of expulsion from the synagogue. The ‘Jewish Christian Churches of Inadequate Faith’ represented the group of Jews who have been expelled from the synagogue. The group of Jews was the believers of Jesus, however, they did not unaccepted His divinity. There lay another group i.e. Apostolic Christians who are identified to be the believers of Jesus. Apostolic Christians are the Christians represented by the Twelve apostles of Jesus. In this regard, Apostolic Christians represented a mixed community comprising the Gentiles as well as the Jews belonging to the churches developed by the Twelve apostles. Apostolic Christians had a strong believe towards Christology with regard to Jesus’s pre-existence considering Jesus as the son of God. The group of Apostolic Christians is identified to possess minimum understanding about the Paraclete in order to unite the aforesaid two communities (Brown 59-91). Respectively, in this phase and in accordance with the Gospel of John, it has been apparently noted that the Johannine community differentiated human race into believers and non-believers of Christianity. Moreover, the community developing as a mixed one had certainly resulted in the foundation of the ‘Great church’ as well as the amalgamation of Johannine Christians with it. Phase Three: When the Epistles Were Written. The third phase commenced 10 years later since the writing of Gospel of John. In this phase, the Christians of the Johannine community were identified to face internal conflicts that had been clearly notified through the Epistles, which were written. The First Epistle signified the importance of faith towards Jesus and on the other hand, depicted that darkness should be avoided. In this context, the Second Epistle and the Third Epistle were written with the objective of mitigating the issues in relation to internal turmoil persisting within the Johannine community. The unfaithful people towards the theology of the community were identified as anti-Christ. In this era, the Johannine Community was described based on three important aspects that include the Johannine School, division of Epistle’s author as well as the secessionists and the geographic location (Brown 93-144). The Johannine community was dispersed in different locations through the development of home churches, apostolic churches and synagogues. The Johannine School constructed a church with the intention of preserving the works as well as the memory of the beloved disciple i.e. Saint John. The author of Epistle i.e. the Presbyter (or the Elder) and the secessionists were distinguished on different grounds that include ethics, Christology, pneumatology and eschatology. Based on Christology, the secessionists were identified to deny the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and disbelieved Eucharist’s value. Based on ethics, the secessionists appealed that God is sinless, but they did not emphasized following Jesus’s commandments. Additionally, the secessionists did not practice brotherly love. Subsequently, the secessionists were determined to be the followers of darkness and not light. In the term of eschatology, the secessionists embraced the eschatology of the Evangelist. The author of the Epistle recognized eschatology as ethical faithfulness. Based on pneumatology, the secessionists were considered to misrepresent Jesus the Holy Spirit in the teaching of Gospel offered by the Paraclete. On the other hand, the author implied that Jesus is the Holy Spirit sent by God to bring righteousness as well as judgment (Brown 93-144). Phase Four: After the Epistles. The fourth phase commenced after the Epistles were written. In this phase, the Johannine community was identified to move in different directions. During this phase, the members of the community having faith towards the divinity of Jesus were engrossed into the Great Church Catholic. The secessionists of the Johannine community were recognized to be Docetism, which moved towards Gnosticism and the community developed was Paraclete. Subsequently, the members of the community having faith in the pre-existence Christology moved towards the Great Church Catholic with possessing better knowledge about the role to be played by the Paraclete. The two communities i.e. Paraclete and Great Church Catholic were noted to possess common Christology that helped them in combating darkness. The Epistles played an effective role in providing positive as well as supportive viewpoints in relation to the facts that were presented in the Gospel of John. Correspondingly, the Fourth Gospel was accepted as Orthodoxy by the Great Church Catholic for the development of church and human relationship in different locations (Brown 145-164). During this era, the roles played by women were also revealed as mentioned in the Gospel and the three Epistles. The Gospel and the Epistles implied that the women played the role apostles by making their community accept and believing Jesus. The women also played a significant role as deacon in the resurrection of Jesus (Brown 145-164). Thus, it can be comprehended that the Fourth Gospel of John had been of immense importance for the development of the Johannine community. The members of the Johannine community were recognized to adhere to the teachings presented through the Gospel and the three Epistles in a strict manner about Jesus and His divinity. The community initially comprised few believers of Jesus and eventually expanded through the preachment about the pre-existence of Jesus representing that He is the Son of God, assisted in building the whole community successfully. The community members were identified to possess high Christology, which was the main factor responsible for the growth as well as the development of Great Church Catholic. The developmental phases of the Johannine community signified that Jesus considered the whole world as His family. Additionally, the Fourth Gospel and the three Epistles signified the sacred of the Scripture i.e. New Testament. The phases of the Johannine community provided adequate understanding about the worldwide spread of Christianity and the source of Christian morality as well as theology. CONCLUSION It can be asserted from the foregoing discussion that the development phase of the Johannine community provided important information about Christology and Johannine ecclesiology. The growth as well as the progression of the Johannine community was based on the facts that were presented in the Gospel of John. The phases depicted that the community was initially developed with few believers of Jesus comprising the Jews and the Gentiles. It has been further identified that the community consisted different human race that include believers as well as non-believers and in this regard, six groups were recognized in the Gospel. The community members comprised believers of Jesus from different locations, which aided in building churches in diverse places. The community had played an imperative role towards the development of better human relationship amid different communities. In this respect, the different phases of the reconstruction of the Johannine community have aided in improving Christology amid its members. The community faced different strife from the non-believers, however, the faith as well as believes of the members towards Jesus eventually led towards the foundation of Great Church Catholic. Thus, the Johannine community is identified to play a decisive role specifically for Christians in the New Testament, as the phases of the community depicted the importance of morality as well as Christology, developing human relationship at large. Work Cited Brown, Raymond Edward. The Community of the Beloved Disciple. New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1979. Print. Read More