The Father and Son in the Fourth Gospel

Abstract

"Thematic tension is a concept by no means foreign to the Fourth Gospel. The apparent presence of contending themes such as divine sovereignty and human responsibility, the divinity and humanity of Jesus, and future and realized eschatology has been a frequent topic of discussion in Johannine scholarship.1 It would not necessarily be surprising, then, to find similar tension in the Gospel’s presentation of the relationship between God and Jesus, or, using the predominant Johannine terminology, between the “Father” and the “Son.”2 Numerous modern commentators understand John to ascribe deity to Jesus, though not as a challenge to Jewish monotheism. Rather, they interpret the Evangelist as portraying the Father and Son, who are distinct, as having the same divine “nature,” “essence,” or “being.” Commenting on John 1:1, Barrett writes, “qeovÍ . . . is predicative and describes the nature of the Word"