Chapter 1
Previous Studies On The Death Of Jesus
Introduction
Many individuals were crucified under Roman rule in first century CE Palestine, but no single death has influenced the history of the world more than that of Jesus Christ. This influence stems from Christian interpretation of Jesusâ death on the cross, which made the horrible death acceptable. By interpreting it as an atoning sacrifice, the event took on salvific significance, and became the foundation of Christian faith.
An interweaving of Johnâs story with that of the synoptic Gospels formed the basis for this interpretation of the death of Jesus, but critical scholarship uncovered the difference between Johnâs narrative and that of the Synoptic Gospels. Craig Koesterâs observation that the âSynoptics tell of Jesusâ suffering, John tells of Jesusâ triumphâ demands investigation into what are the effects of Johnâs presentation of the story as a triumph, stripped of any suffering.
Rudolf Bultmann ignited the probe into the significance of the death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel with his provocative position that the Gospel of John is void of atonement terminology and therefore has neither atonement nor salvific significance. Ernst Käsemann staunchly followed Bultmann, differing from him on certain aspects but reaching the same conclusions. Subsequent studies reacted to both Bultmann and Käsemann. While Pro-Bultmann scholars made minor modifications to the arguments in favor of the non-atonement character of John, opponents resisted Bultmannâs conclusion and reclaimed the death of Jesus as atoning sacrifice. Later scholars focused on diverse motifs such as glorification and exaltation, sacrifices, ascent and lifting up, revelation, sign, cosmic war, and death of a ânobleâ shepherd.
In the late twenty-first century, interpretations of the soteriological significance of the death of Jesus in John shifted to inquiry into the centrality of politics. Because no single explanation has been unilaterally accepted, this chapter will critically review scholarship that addresses the salvific significance of the death of Jesus in order to identify weaknesses in interpretation that are strengthened by interpretations focusing on politics.
Death of Jesus as Completion of Mission and Return to the Father
Rudolf Bultmann, along with Ernst Käsemann, pioneered interpretations of the death of Jesus as the completion of his mission and a return to his Father. Bultmannâs polemic affirmation that the Gospel of John is of no soteriological significance sprang from his conviction that the Fourth Gospel lacks atonement terminology and cannot be interpreted as an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of others. According to Bultmann, Jesusâ coming into the world is central to understanding the person and works of Jesus. Jesusâ arrival and departure âconstitute a unity,â wherein âthe center of gravityâ is the incarnation. Bultmann argues that any attempt to make Jesusâ death central uses Paulâs theology to interpret Johnâs. Jesusâ death should be understood as part of his total revelatory work with no significance in and of itself because the release from sin is mediated not through Jesusâ sacrificial death but through his word (8:31â35; 15:13). Any allusions to atonement in the Fourth Gospel such as in 1:29, 35, are âlater accretions or remnants of earlier traditions.â Bultmann thus boldly concludes that the understanding of the death of Jesus as an atoning sacrifice âhas no place in John.â Jesusâ death is therefore âno offence, no scandal, and no catastrophe needing a resurrection to reverse or illuminate it.â
Instead, Bultmann understands Jesusâ crucifixionâwhich John recounts under the force of traditionâas his âelevationâ (á˝ĎĎθáżÎ˝ÎąÎš) and âglorificationâ (δοΞιĎθáżÎ˝ÎąÎš) whereby Jesus completes his mission of obedience to God and returns to the glory he had when pre-existent. For this reason, Jesus is never portrayed as a worldly phenomenon, someone to be captured and domesticated in worldly categories. He is not depicted as the âpassive victimâ but as the âactive conqueror.â
Like Bultmann, Käsemann argued that Jesusâ death must be understood in the context of his total mission of âcoming and going,â as Jesusâ death as the completion of his heavenly mission and his âgoing awayâ back to his Father. This âgoing awayâ (á˝ĎόγξΚν: 7:33; 8:14, 21â22; 13:3, 33, 36; 14:4â5, 28; 16:5, 10, 17) represents the end of the earthly sojourn that Jesusâ incarnation began. The return represents no real change in the person of the revealer, anymore than his incarnation does. He may change his location, but he always and everywhere exhibits and possesses the divine glory. For this reason Jesusâ death discloses nothing of his person and work not already manifested in the incarnation itself. If his death is âthe manifestation of divine self-giving love,â then so is his incarnation.
Käsemann departs from Bultmann by arguing that the center of the Fourth Gospel is not the incarnation, but the âunity of the Father with the Son.â The key term for the articulation of this unity is the word âglory,â found in the Prologue of Johnâs Gospel (1:14) and at the beginning of chapter 17. Read with âgloryâ in mind, Johnâs Gospel does not proclaim the humanity of Jesus but his divinity, as the divine glory is exhibited in Jesus. The Gospel elicits faith through the unity of the Son with the Father. The sojourn of Jesus reveals the earthly manifestation of divine glory. The goal of the incarnation is the visible presence of God on earth, and is not proof of a ârealistic incarnation.â
Käsemann argues that the Johannine Jesus has few human features. The physical countenance is simply a deception. Jesusâ divine glory is not paradoxically hidden in his fleshly, earthly body as Bultmann claimed. Instead, Jesus is God striding across the earth. He is Godâs envoy on earth and only in unity with God is his mission on earth accomplished. This means that Jesus is in complete unity with God even in his death. Because the theme of glory determines the entir...