Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 50:2 (NA 1999)
Article: The Church In The Gospel Of John
Author: Dongsoo Kim

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TynBul 50:2 (1999) p. 314

The Church In The Gospel Of John1

Dongsoo Kim

The view of the Church in the Gospel of John has been a volatile issue in Johannine studies for the last several decades, with the discussions focused on the following issues. The first issue, arising from John’s failure to use traditional ecclesiastical terms found in other New Testament writings or to mention church order or sacraments, is whether there is a concrete ecclesiology in John. At the beginning of the 1970s, many scholars reached the conclusion that a theology of the Church does exist in John. Thus, a second issue concerns distinctively Johannine expressions of ecclesiology. A third main issue of Johannine ecclesiology is its Sitz im Leben of Johannine ecclesiology. This focuses on the social history of the Johannine community in which the Johannine idea of Christian community originated. Related to this issue, it has been claimed by a majority of scholars that the distinctive Johannine ecclesiology originated from a concrete, living community which was sectarian in nature, removed from most of the other Christian communities in the late first century.

First, what has been lacking in the previous works is an extensive and systematic study of the concept of the Church in the Gospel of John, although there have been plenty of scholarly works devoted to one or more themes or aspects of Johannine ecclesiology. Second, there have been few comprehensive works which show that Johannine ecclesiology is a major area of concern for the Fourth Evangelist and that it is closely related to the other subjects of Johannine theology. Third, the issue of Sitz im Leben of Johannine ecclesiology still remains an open question.

This thesis attempts to make an extensive study of the concept of the Church in the Gospel of John regarding the following questions: Can we speak of the Church in the Gospel of John? If we can, what is its distinctiveness? Is the Johannine ecclesiology, if anything, of a sectarian type?

TynBul 50:2 (1999) p. 315

The Fourth Evangelist does not use the word ἐκκλησία. Further, he does not include ‘the kingdom of God’ as a subject of Jesus’ teaching, which is an important theme for the Church in the Synoptic Gospels (but cf. Jn. 3:3, 5; 18:36). Moreover, scholars even disagree about whether or not John has in mind such important ecclesiastical themes as sacrament or church order. Thus, we must be cautious when we speak of a Johannine ecclesiology. Is it, then, impossible or fruitless to speak of a Johannine eccl...

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