THE PROPHETIC AND PROLEPTIC NATURE OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
This following will be taken from a book written by friends of mine called One God, One Lord. I am using it to help us understand how John wrote his gospel. The 4 Gospels depict Christ as a man, a servant, a king and in John as the son of God.
“The Gospel of John in many respects paints a portrait of Jesus has already glorified even before his resurrection. In John the glory to Jesus as Messiah is pictured as a present reality not a future one as in the other three Gospels. The projecting of his post-resurrection glory back onto the past is accomplished through the figures speech prolepsis, which is an anticipating; especially describing of an event is taking place before it could have done so, the treating of a future of event as if it had already happened.
It is not surprising that this bold proleptic picture of Christ could be misunderstood and taken literally, thus breaking down the literal, historical and crucial importance of the resurrection. The resurrection becomes devalued by the assertion of Jesus’ apparent innate glory as a pre-existent divine being.
Figures of speech are legitimate literary devices employed to give vigor and emphasis to verbal communication. In addition to prolepsis John employs a related figure of speech called heterosis, which is the exchange of one verb tense for another, in this case, the present for the future tense.
The Gospel of John, therefore, is a profoundly profoundly literary portrait of the Messiah that is emphasizing his post-resurrection glorification at the right hand of God. It goes beyond being prophetic (i.e., foretelling of his future glory) and becomes proleptic by portraying him already glorious. The use of these figures of speech heterosis and prolepsis is not incidental and occasional–is the very warp and woof of the tapestry of John’s Gospel.
Misunderstanding figurative language accounts for many misconceptions because Our Western minds assume that we understand what seems to be the plain meaning of language. The perspective from which the Gospel of John is written is actually “Back From The Future.” There has been a major disturbance of biblical “time-space continuum,” and it is caused by proleptic nature of the Gospel of John.
More evidence that John’s view is proleptic is the fact that John has no record of Jesus’ temptation by the Devil or his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The risen Lord is beyond such temptation and to struggle in the flesh with an assignment from God is unthinkable. The essence of what Jesus is doing in the Gospel of John is looking down upon his earthly life and reinterpreting it in light of his exalted position at the right hand of God.
This prophetic and proleptic nature of the Gospel of John is made even clearer from the many other verses that attribute to Christ functions and qualities that properly belong to God, which will actually be delegated to him after his resurrection. The Jesus in John is already at the right hand of God, invested with all authority.”
Is Your Faith Blind? Give it some Sight (Insight)!
I believe most Christians would say, when asked, if they believed the Bible literally, “Yes., of course I do.” The fact is, it is not completely literal. There are over 212 different kinds of Figures of Speech. Here are some definitions of a figure of speech:
a word or phrase used in a nonliteral sense to add rhetorical force to a spoken or written passage.
a form of expression (as a simile or metaphor) used to convey meaning or heighten effect often by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning or connotation familiar to the reader or listener
An expression that uses language in a nonliteral way, such as a metaphor or synecdoche, or in a structured or unusual way, such as anaphora or chiasmus, or that employs sounds, such as alliteration or assonance, to achieve a rhetorical effect.
an expression in which words are used in a nonliteral sense, as in metaphor, or in an unusual construction, as in antithesis, or for their sounds, as in onomatopoeia, to suggest vivid images or to heighten effect.
E.W. Bullinger says in his Companion Bible, “Ignorance of Figures of speech has led to the grossest errors, which have been caused either from taking literally what is figurative, or from taking figuratively what is literal.”
In the Gospels, Jesus spoke in many Parables. Parables or Parabola, is one such figure, an extended simile. Look for the message beyond the nonliteral story being told. In Matthew 13:1-52 Jesus tells a lot of parables which cannot be taken literally, like that of The Sower, Tares Among Wheat, The Mustard Seed, The Leaven, Hidden Treasure, A Costly Pearl and The Kingdom of Heaven.
There are 31 usages of the word “parable” and 16 of parable(s) in the Gospels. Luke chapters 12-21 are full of parables. In addition, there are many other figures of speech within the Parables. In look 12:32, Jesus refers to Herod as a fox. This is one of my favorite figures, hypocatastasis, an implied resemblance or representation. This same figure is used in Genesis 3 where Satan is referred to as a serpent; It no more means a snake than it does in Ge. 49:17 where Dan is called the same.
My favorite Parable for the sake of this teaching is The Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19. Taking verses 19-31 literal is one of the grossest errors Bullinger referred to. Lazarus was not carried away by angels to Abraham’s bosom when he died. The rich man was not in Hades being tormented, after he died. He did not see Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom far away. Yet, I have personally been told by many brothers and sisters in Christ that this is proof that Christians go to Heaven immediately after they die and sinners go to Hell. Nothing could be further from the truth!
The point of this parable is given in the final verses:
Luke 16:29-31
“But Abraham said, (he didn’t really say anything, he’s dead)’They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.(like me, Jesus)‘”
NASU
ARE YOU LISTENING?
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