[B-Greek] Two statements in John's Gospel

Mark Wilson emory2oo2 at hotmail.com
Tue Aug 19 12:45:34 EDT 2003


Mitch:

You wrote:

>DIA TOUTO OUK hH HDUNANTO PISTEUEIN, hOTI PALIN EIPEN
>HSAIAS, TETUFLWKEN AUTWN TOUS AFQALMOUS KAI EPWRWSEN
>AUTWN THN KARDIAN, hINA MH IDWSIN TOIS AFQALMOIS KAI
>NOHSWSIN THi KARDIAi KAI STRAFWSIN, KAI IASOMAI AUTOUS
>
>Is this passage inconsistant with John's earlier words
>that EIS TA IDIA HLQEN, KAI hOI IDIOI AUTON OU
>PARELABON? On the surface, these seem inconsistant to
>me. One says they did not receive him, one says they
>couldn't. (Offlist responses might be better :O)
-----

For any two verses/passages to be inconsistent, you have to look at one's 
underlying hermeneutical
assumptions. You mention "surface" level structure/words here. The surface 
level words
and structure are a condensed set of verbal symbols to communicate, to the 
extent that
such symbols allow, the writer's deep level propositions.

The following may be a rather simplistic way of solving what appears like an 
inconsistency here,
but notice this footnote in the NET Bible for Isa. 6:10:

Which reads:
6:10 Make the minds of these people calloused;
make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!
Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
their minds might understand and they might repent and be healed.”14

14sn Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to 
prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, 
which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. 
As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The 
Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the 
response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as 
well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, 
though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: “You 
continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t 
perceive.” Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, 
because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are 
bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a 
particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”) Verse 10b is 
also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s 
hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding 
chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. 
Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 
10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: 
“Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand 
with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want 
that, would they?” Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that 
the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as 
Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, 
at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have 
come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the 
door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be 
an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our 
paraphrase: “Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they 
certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!”) 
Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As 
in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as 
anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase: “Your preaching 
will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and 
blind their eyes.” From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to 
harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. 
Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit 
indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send 
Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for 
Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the Lord’s covenantal demands and 
impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront 
their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively 
to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not 
arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather 
his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant 
sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn 
expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point 
where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 
6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 b.c. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a 
situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially vv. 4-9). At that time 
the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an 
ultimatum (1:19-20), one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting 
in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39 and cf. Jer 26:18-19 with Mic 
3:12).This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israel’s moral 
responsibility and the Lord’s sovereign work among his people, is consistent 
with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isa 
3:9 declares that the people of Judah “have brought disaster upon 
themselves,” but Isa 29:9-10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some 
degree in desensitizing the people. Zech 7:11-12 looks back to the 
pre-exilic era (cf. v. 7) and observes that the earlier generations 
stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same 
period, states that the Lord “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”


If one borrows these hermeneutical/interpretive assumptions, then the 
inconsistency not only
disappears, but the way it is presented demonstrates a most effective 
literary style (a literary
style not at all uncommon in our day).

My thoughts

Mark Wilson

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