Dimensión 2: Conocimiento de los principales hechos de la Etapa

Similar features of the Synoptic and Pauline traditions regarding the human predicament appears in the Johannine tradition. In this literature humanity “finds itself in a situation characterized by darkness, sin, death, and utter denial of the truth that is God.”382 _{The “most surprising aspect of this predicament,” according to Matera, which is} one of John’s unique contributions to New Testament anthropology, “is that the world is not aware of it. Consequently, even though the light has come into the world, the world

prefers the darkness to the light because its deeds are evil (3:19).”383 _Humanity’s “blindness” is likewise exposed due to their sin and they are “desperately” in need of salvation.384 _{Matera therefore finds the story of Jesus and the man born blind in John 9} indicative of the “world’s predicament” with the Pharisees in this chapter representative of the human condition, since they claim that they “see” but are in fact “blind” and guilty of sin (9:41).385 _{Insofar as the world prefers darkness to light it is “under the power of} ‘the ruler of this world’ (12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and since “its works are evil” they hate God who is alone is good (7:7). The world, then, works in concert with evil that rules the universe (12:31) and, accordingly, rejoices over the demise of the good (16:20). Matera in his analysis of John’s anthropology offers the following summary,

The world, which is the object of God’s love, finds itself in a predicament of which it is not even aware until the light comes into the world to expose the darkness in which it dwells. Because its deeds are evil and it prefers to dwell in the darkness, the world does not realize that it is under the control of “the ruler of this world.” Left to itself, the world is blind to the truth of its

predicament…humanity prefers to live apart from God’s revelation lest it be compelled to see itself for what it truly is. It fears God’s revelation because in revealing the Father, the Son reveals humanity to itself. It proclaims that apart from God humanity cannot enjoy the light that is life.386

Familiar themes of the other traditions emerge in this Gospel’s narrative, then, such as the prevalence of human sin, humanity’s volitional rebellion against God, their inability to

383 _{Matera, New Testament Theology, 295-296.} 384 _{Ibid., 435.}

385 _{Unlike the RSV, most translations such as the KJV, New American Bible (NAB), New}

American Standard (NAS), New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), translate the term “hamartia” in John 9:41 as “sin” rather than “guilt.”

386 _{Matera, New Testament Theology, 296. Despite this seemingly pessimistic view of the world,}

Karl Schelkle in his New Testament theology notes that in John’s Gospel, the world is nevertheless God’s creation which he loves (3:16; 15:9). Yet it has been “perverted by sin into a world of disaster and

death…[Further,] the wickedness of the world was manifest in its rejection of God’s revelation (John 3:19). This rejection of Christ and of the Son of God is the essential sin [1:5, 10]. ‘If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would have no sin.’ (John 15:22). [Further] the Spirit will convince the world of sin (John 16:8-9). If the gifts of Christ to the world are truth, and life, sin produces the opposite of each: lies (John 8:55), darkness (John 3:19), and death (John 8:21, 24).” Karl Hermann Schelkle, Theology of the

New Testament, vol II. Salvation History—Revelation. trans. William A. Jurgens (Collegeville, MN: The

extricate themselves from this condition and the impending judgment that will occur because of their sinful behavior.387 _{Further that the problem of the human predicament is} explicated first in the Johannine tradition before the solution, that is the cross, is

explicated.

The frequency with which the term “sin” appears in the Johannine tradition is second only to Romans. This reveals the importance of this concept for understanding his argument which is to demonstrate that the world is in darkness and in need of light.388 The “world” is a euphemism for the prevalence of humanity’s sinful condition. The world is characterized as hating God and its “works” are construed as “evil” (7:7). The world is located “below” which is characterized by evil and in darkness and contrasted with good and light which comes from “above” (8:23). Since God is good, and likewise the children of God, the world “hates” them because they convict humanity of sin and their natural adversity to the “truth.” If God’s children were “of the world” they would become enmeshed in its evil works which is bent of propagating the “lie” which is of the devil. Similar to Ephesians and Colossians, then, the world is both characterized and controlled by the “ruler of the world” which is “the devil” (12:31; 16:11) who was “a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.” Further, when the devil “lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (8:44). Sin, in John, is ubiquitous, since Jesus assumes that all people

387 _{Marshall (New Testament Theology, 519) further notes that because of sin humanity, according}

to John, “[stands] self-condemned (Jn 3:17-19; 8:15; 12:47-48), under judgment of God. [Further that their] judgment is in the future (Jn 5:24, 29; 12:48), but it can also be regarded as having taken place already (Jn 3:18; 16:11); it places the world under God’s wrath (Jn 3:36), and the sentence pronounced is death (Jn 8:24).”

388 _{Schnelle, The Theology of the New Testament, 723. Schnelle states that the term sin in the}

Gospel of John and in 1 John occurs seventeen times each and this is particularly significant considering the brevity of the latter work. Sin, or hamartia, therefore is used far more frequently in John’s Gospel than in the Synoptic Tradition in which it appears six times in Mark, seven in Matthew, twelve times in Luke and once in Acts (in its singular form).

are sinners according to John 8:7, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Distinct to John is that sin is not construed as a moral category such as in Matthew but is primarily defined as “unbelief” in Jesus whom God has sent to save the world from the power of sin and the devil.389

This concept is affirmed in the shorter epistles such as 1 John where unbelief “in the name of his Son Jesus Christ” (3:23) is viewed as a violation of God’s commandment and therefore perceived as sin. Moreover, anyone “who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne to his Son” (5:10). In 1 John, the metaphorical dualism used in the Gospel of John such as “light and darkness” remains but its terminology changes to “good and evil.” Also, those who sin are considered children of the devil who “has sinned from the beginning” (3:8) and these progenies “reveal their alliance with the devil by sinning.”390 _{The duality of truth and} error also appears in 1 John. Those who are “deceived” mistakenly believe that they “have no sin” therefore they are “a liar, and the truth is not in him (2:4) and are governed by “the spirit of error” (4:6). Karl Schelkle in his New Testament theology states that in the epistle of 1 John,

Sin is injustice, as the denial of the divine justice (1 John 5:17); and lawlessness, as being in opposition to the divine will which imposes an order of conduct (1 John 3:4). In the last analysis, sin is hostility to God—indeed, complete opposition to God; it is the work of the devil (John 6:70; 1 John 3:8).391

389 _{On the synonymic relationship between sin and unbelief Schnelle writes, “The Johannine}

understanding of sin exhibits a clear theological profile: sin is neither a legal nor a moral category. Instead, the predominant use of the word in the singular points to the fact that John understands sin in a general, comprehensive sense: sin is unbelief, lack of faith…all those who do not believe in the Revealer Jesus Christ find themselves in the realm of sin, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. The Johannine concept of faith permits a further inference: just as faith grants life, eternal life, so lack of faith, i.e., sin, separates from life. The true antonym of ‘sin’ in the Gospel of John is ‘life’ – eternal life.”Schnelle, The Theology of the

New Testament, 725. (Schnelle’s emphasis)

390 _{Thielman, Theology of the New Testament, 547.} 391 _{Schelkle, Theology of the New Testament, 56.}

John acknowledges the insidiousness of sin because it continues to affect the lives of the redeemed. Although they are “saved” they must remain diligent since they can be assailed by the negative influence of the sin-filled world.392 _{They will, therefore, “not be} finally saved until the parousia and the general resurrection of the dead. Thus believers live with a tension in their lives; they live between what has already happened and what has not yet occurred.”393