Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 177:707 (Jul 2020)
Article: The Theological Significance Of Sevens In John
Author: Bruce R. Reichenbach

BSac 177:707 (July-September 2020) p. 286

The Theological Significance Of Sevens In John

Bruce R. Reichenbach

Bruce R. Reichenbach is Professor Emeritus at Augsburg University, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Abstract

Through his subtle use of structured sevens, the author of the Gospel of John, no stranger to linguistic intricacy, indirectly points to the completeness of his case for Jesus’s identity as the Messiah, the Son of God, and for establishing Jesus’s function and mission to bring life to believers. These instances contribute to John’s overarching argument and theology and connect with the book of Genesis, and in important places John contrasts structures of seven with the presence of six, indicative of incompleteness.

The Gospel of John is a book of completeness. Although the author states this in overt ways, as in “It is finished” (τετέλεσται, 19:30), and “finish his work” (τελειώσω, 4:34; 5:36; 17:4), he also is a master of subtilty, providing multiple clues within the text as to Jesus’s true identity as wholly God’s Son, who fully accomplishes the divine work the Father sent him to do. I intend to explore one of those subtle clues that bears on the author’s theological purpose.

The number seven has important symbolic significance in many cultures,1 including the ancient Judaic culture, where seven symbolized wholeness or completeness.2

The use of numbers in ancient religious texts was often numerological rather than numerical; that is, their symbolic value was the basis and purpose for their use, not their secular value as counters. . . .

BSac 177:707 (July-September 2020) p. 287

Seven has the numerological meaning of wholeness, plenitude, and completeness. This symbolism is derived, in part, from the combination of the three major zones of the cosmos as seen vertically (heaven, earth, underworld) and the four quarters and directions of the cosmos as seen horizontally. Both the numbers three and four in themselves often function as symbols of totality, but a greater totality results from the combination of vertical and horizontal. Thus the number seven (adding three and four) and the number twelve (multiplying them) are recurrent biblical symbols of fulness and perfection.3

References to �...