From: KJohn36574@aol.com
Date: Wed Dec 22 1999 - 17:47:12 EST
To: Solomon Landers
We do want to keep in mind that John's Logos is not very Greek. His idea of
the Logos is not a God who is detached, but one who is very involved with us
and where we are, otherwise he would not have taken on humanity and dwelt
with us.
It is much more than the Greek logos, just as John's concept of the spirit of
God is much more than Stoic in nature.
Barclay stated:
"John spoke to a world which thought of the gods in terms of passionless
apatheia and serene detachment. He pointed at Jesus Christ and said: 'Here is
the mind of God; here is the expression of the thought of God; here is the
logos.' And men were confronted with a God who cared so passionately and who
loved so sacrificially that His expression was Jesus christ and His emblem a
cross"
(Ext, LXX, 1958-1959, p. 82)
"Wisdom" "The Law" "The Word [Memra]" are all related to John's concept of
"The Logos".
You might also want to read,
M. McNamara, "The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch
(Rome, 1966) and G.J. Cowling, "New Light on the New Testament? The
Significance of the Palestinian Targum" TSF Bulletin, No. 51 (Summer 1968),
pp.6 ff.
John Goldingday, Principal of St. John's College, Nottingham, states,
"The gospel...is related to scriptural narrative models and both gospels and
epistles include many scriptural quotations and sections of explicit midrash
(e.g. Mt. 4:1-11; 2 Cor. 3:7-18; Heb. 7:1-10) or Covert Midrash. (e.g. John,
1:1-18 in relation to Gen. 1:1-5 and Lk. 7: 51ff in relation to Dt.
1-26)...But the NT lacks consequtive commentary work, and its characteristic
aim is situational rather than expository; it is concerned to interpret
themes arising out of its own questions rather than by directly out of
Scripture (see e.g. Rom. 9-11, or Hebrews and Revelation generally). In a
sense, therefore, the NT is a midrash on Christ, rather than on the
scriptures. The real interest of NT interpretation lies much less in
Halakah...and much more in Haggidah."
("Approaches to Old Testament Interpretation" Downers Grove, Ill.:
Inter-varsity Press, 1990, p. 152.)
Ken Johnson
Elk Grove, CA
KJohn36574@aol.com
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