TheBackground
Marie-Émile Boismard says the literary structure of the Prologue "forms a sort of parabola:"1
(a) The Word 1-2 ● ● 18 The Son in (a')
with God. the Father
(b) His role of 3 ● ● 17 Role of re- (b')
creation creation
(c) Gift to men 4-5 ● ● 16 Gift to men (c')
(d) Witness of J-B 6-8 ● ● 15 Witness of J-B (d')
(e) The coming of the 9-11 ● ● 14 The Incarnation (e')
Word into the World
●
(12-13)
(f) By the Incarnate Word we become children of God
Others have called Boismard's structure a chiasm, but his term was "construction by envelopment"2 because it mirrored the actual events:
...it becomes possible to grasp the internal movement which animates the whole Prologue: the thought leaves God, as so to return to God, after touching the earth. The Word was in God, with God; then he comes towards us men...He seems to detach himself from God who sends him forth, progressively, as if he intends to accustom men, little by little to his presence. Once he has come upon earth he communicates to us that divine life which makes us children of God; that is the centre of the Prologue, the bond of the New Alliance that the Word has come to tighten between God and men, Then the Word, called henceforward the only-begotten Son, reascends to the bosom of the Father, drawing us in his wake to lead us to God...3
Therefore, at a minimum, the ending should fulfill three things:
- be a fitting conclusion to the structure
- be in harmony with the beginning (it's corresponding pair)
- illuminate the central point.
To Expound and To Lead Out
The Prologue ends with ἐξηγέομαι, translated as "expounded" by the DLNT:
No one has ever seen God; the only-born God, the One being in the bosom of the Father — that One expounded Him. (John 1:18 DLNT)
θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο [DLNT]
About ἐξηγήσατο here Robert G. Hall states:
The conclusion to John's Prologue is frankly puzzling:θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢνὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο, literally, 'the only God, who is in the bosom of the Father, that one has explained' (1.18) Explained what? The common translation offers an initial, satisfying solution: 'The only God who is in the bosom of the Father, that one has made him known.' The Father becomes the object of the verb; Jesus does not simply explain him, he makes him known.
Therefore the usual translation requires a complex series of metaphorical plays. And it is successful: 'make him known' works in the Fourth Gospel. The goal of the Gospel is the readers' eternal life (20.31), and eternal life is to know (γινώσκεἰν) God (17.3) and Jesus does make him known (14.7, 9). 1ἐξηγήσατο
Now ὁ ὢν inThis verb has two primary meanings: 1. to lead out, be leader, go before; 2. to draw out in narrative, unfold in teaching. Translators universally understand the Septuagintuse along the lines of the second and so it is rendered as "expounded" or similar. Thus, in John's Gospel the nameFather is "expounded" by which God reveals Himself to Moses:Jesus. This is true in a number of ways. "Father" is used almost as often in John as Matthew, Mark, and Luke combined and John has many teachings not found elsewhere.
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14 ESV)
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אֶֽהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶה וַיֹּאמֶר כֹּה תֹאמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶֽהְיֶה שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃
And God said to Moyses, “I am The One Who Is.” And he said, “Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, ‘The One Who Is has sent me to you.’”
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν καὶ εἶπεν οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς (Exodus 3:14 LXX)
For the reader versed in the Greek Old Testament, thereThe other meaning also applies when ὁ ὢν is an alternate understandingread as the name of God:
θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο
The verb ἐξηγέομαι, translated 'make known' above, simply means 'to lead out' and commonly takes εἰς, 'into', followed by the destination. Recognizing ὁ ὢν as the divine name, 'THE ONE WHO IS' allows a natural translation of the verb: 'NoNo one has ever seen God; the only God, THE ONE WHO IS, has himself led out into the bosom of the Father' (John 1:18)Father. Led whom? Responsive readers, of course (17.24) 24
Hall concludesThis reading has two advantages over the first. It is uses the name to connect with the central point which is becoming children of God by believing in His name:
A reader trained among12 But all who did receive Him, He gave them — the apocalypses will understand this difficult saying as a callones believing in His name — the right to inquirybecome children of God, will seek one meaning and then another13 who were born not of bloods, andnor of the will know the Word made flesh (John 1:14) as the one in the Father's bosom who makes known the Fatherof the flesh, nor of andthe as the one who leads us out into the Father's bosom. Such a reader will delight in both meanings and leave them in dialogue with each other in the hopeof a husband, but of seeing moreGod. 3
There are two equally plausible translationsAlso, it is what Jesus said of Himself:
No one has ever seen God;Then Jesus again spoke theto only-born Godthem, saying, “I am the light Oneof being in the bosomworld. The ofone following Me will never walk in the Father — thatdarkness, but will have the light Oneof expounded Him[c] life” (DLNTJohn 8:12)
c. John 8:12 That is, proceeding from; or, leading to.
If one follows Jesus, the (true) light of the world, they will have the light of life; Jesus will lead the children of God, to the bosom of the Father because they believe in His name. Or to put this in terms of verse 18:
No one has ever seen God; the onlyGod. Only-begotten God [some manuscripts have Son], THE ONE WHO IS, has himself led out intoin the bosom of the Father (Hall), He is leader [into the light of life].
BothThe lack of the article parallels the nominative use of God in the opening:
(1) θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (18) μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν
God was the Word Only-begotten the ONE WHO IS
The Word was and the Only-Begotten God is.
Conclusion
Both readings can be justified. Jesus did expound and He was/is the leader: He did lead out. Yet only believers are possible, butled into the second recallsbosom of the conditionFather.
His return to become childrenthe Father which in turn resulted in the Holy Spirit being given to believers, serves as continuing evidence, an on going expounding (and leading), which may or may not produce followers of GodChrist (and so be led to the Father). Thus we might modify Boismard's structure to show the either/or affect of the Incarnation on creation:
(a) The Word 1-2 ● ● 18 The Son in (a')
with God. the Father
(b) His role of 3 ● ● 17 Role of re- (b')
creation creation
(c) Gift to men 4-5 ● ● 16 Gift to men (c')
(d) Witness of J-B 6-8 ● ● 15 Witness of J-B (d')
(e) The coming of the 9-10 ● ● 14 The Incarnation (e')
Word into the World
●
(f) His own which reject 11 | 12-13 By the incarnate (f')
Him remain born of | Word we become
bloods or will of the | children of God
flesh or will of man |
The Word was, and so is past. Yet by its very nature (God) becoming flesh created on-going light which still leads people to life, or not. So it may be better to include verse 11 with the central point which is divided into two parts:
(f) He came to His own things, and His own ones did not accept Him.
(f') But all who did receive Him, He gave them — the ones believing in His name — the right to become children of God, who were born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a a husband, but of God. (John 1:12-13 DLNT)
So The Word became flesh to expound the Father to His own andThis allows for those who believe in His Name, THE ONE WHO IS leadsthe central them intoto reflect the bosomcoexistent reality of the FatherIncarnation. That is, they become children of God; justJust as ὁ ὢν ledbelieving in the name has a mixed multitude (Exodus 12:38) out of Egyptconsequence, He leads all who believe into the bosom of the Fatherso does rejecting Him.
Notes:
1. M. E. Boismard, O.P. *St. John's Prologue*, translated by Carisbrooke Dominicans, Newman Press, 1957, p. 80
2. Ibid., p. 79.
3. Ibid.
4. Robert G Hall, *"The Reader as Apocalyptist in the Gospel of John"*. John's Gospel and Intimations of Apocalyptic, edited by Catrin H Williams and Christopher Rowland, Bloomsbury, 2013, p. 268
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
