John 14:31 a "Difficulty" in Essay

He does not, however, say where the text came from.

Another main way of seeing the problem is to claim that the writer has used different sources to create his gospel. These sources preceded him in the Christian tradition, and may have included both the synoptic gospels and other non-canonical or lost texts. In putting different sources together, he has been forced to make decisions. When he relied on tradition and not his own account, he is not able to make a coherent well-flowing narrative. It comes out disjointed.

Schnackenburg proposes perhaps the most satisfactory solution. His view is that John 15-16, and John 17 separately, were later insertions to the text done by an editor. He accepts that there is some continuity of content in the discourses following 14:31, which makes chapters 15-17 appropriate. But he accepts also that the transition is overly abrupt, and that the more original text likely went straight to 18:1. He sees this insertion as evidence that the editor wanted to admonish the community he was addressing by adding more of the evangelist's material. He writes that "the discourse is the work of an editor, in which certain material left by the evangelist himself is employed."

This view presumes that the text of John as we have it is a later version in a different community than its original one. It retells the earlier discourse with similar themes (prayer, promise, the paraclete) but with a new setting and a new emphasis. Schnackenburg's solution recognizes the problem fully, does not try to reconfigure the text like Bultmann does, and provides a solid explanation for why John 15-17 would interrupt 14:31 and 18:1.

Bibliography

Bultmann, Rudolf. The Gospel of John: A Commentary. Trans G.R. Beasley-Murray, R.W.N. Hoare, & J.K. Riches. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971.

Haenchen, Ernst. John 2: A Commentary on the Gospel of John Chapters 7-21. Hermeneia. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.

Schnackenburg, Rudolf. The Gospel According to St. John. Vol. 3: Commentary on Chapters 13-21. New York: Crossroad, 1990.

Rudolf Bultmann, the Gospel of John: A Commentary, trans G.R. Beasley-Murray, R.W.N. Hoare, & J.K. Riches (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971), 625-631.

Ernst Haenchen, John 2: A Commentary on the Gospel of John….....