Saturday, November 5, 2022

Johan Ferreira on John 17:2

  

The particle ινα with the subjunctive δοξαση introduces the final clause. The Father must glorify the Son, in order that the Son may glorify the Father. Therefore, the ultimate purpose of Jesus’ sending is the glorification of the Father.

 

The nature of the glorification of the Father is further explained in v. 2. The Son’s glorification consists in that he has the authority or power (εξουσια) to bestow life everlasting (ζωην αιωνιον). The aorist εδωκας is a historical aorist indicating that the action was a simple event of the past. The prayer does not specify when the father gave the Son this authority, neither is there any event in the Gospel that signifies such a transaction. Therefore, this event could be traced back to the time of the pre-existence of the Logos with God. At the incarnation the Johannine Jesus already possessed this glory and authority (Jn 1.14). In other words, the Son did not receive his glory at the incarnation but already possessed it before his early appearance (cf. Jn 17.5). The Son received from the Father the εξουσια to bestow life eternal, since all εξουσια is the prerogative which includes the ability to do something (cf. Jn. 1.12; 5.27; 10.18). Here it is the ability to grant life everlasting. And this prerogative to give life is over all flesh (πασης σαρκος), that is, the Son is able to bestow life on all human beings. In other words, this expression has to be understood positively. This is in contrast to R. E. Brown who suggest that judgment is in view here (1966: II, 740). Instead, J. Becker has seen the positive aspect of the text when he says, ‘Also here Christology comes to the fore only in terms of its meaning for soteriology’ (1991: II, 619).

 

This thought of the Son’s authority is further explained with the final (epexegetic) clause introduced by ινα. The Son’s authority consists in his prerogative to give life to all the Father has given him. The transition between πασης σαρκος to παν ο δεδωκας αυτω is important. Though the Son has the power to grant life to everyone, it is only granted to a select few, that is, to those whom the Father has given to the Son (ο δεδωκας αυτω). It is the Son therefore that has the power to call a special community, distinguished by the possession of life, into existence. The full force of the perfect indicative δεδωκας should be insisted upon here. It is a perfect of existing state and it identifies those belonging to Jesus as the ones given to him by the father and who continue to belong to him. The neuter παν with the following relative pronoun ο should be translated as ‘the whole which’ and underscore the collective nature of believers. Therefore, believers are viewed in terms of a collective or a community, rather than individually. Similarly, Barrett comments:

 

The αυτοις which follows shows that παν, although neuter singular, refer to the disciples. Their unity is thus represented in the strongest possible way (not παντες, ‘all’, but ‘the whole’) (1955: 419).

 

Therefore, the Son glorifies the Father by giving his community life, and not just individual believers. (Johan Ferreira, Johannine Ecclesiology [Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 160; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998], 88-89, italics in original)