You’re sitting at home enjoying a nice show when your doorbell rings: it’s a Jehovah’s witness who wants to share with you about how Jesus is a god. How do you respond? Do you tell him you’re busy and shut the door? Do you engage in a debate with him? Do you pull out your Greek New Testament to discuss the grammatical complexities of John 1:2?
There are many reasons we as Christians and academics should know Greek grammar solid, and this is only one of them. Of course each Christological passages in the Bible require careful exegesis and close attention to the language used, otherwise how would we know whether our theology of Christ is actually grounded in what the biblical authors wrote?
Murray Harris has devoted the majority of his writing to paying extremely close attention to what the NT texts say. His Jesus as God is a detailed study of all the passages that state or infer that Jesus is God. He has written the 2 Corinthians volume in the New International Greek Testament Commentary, and he launched the Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series with his Colossians and Philemon volume. He has also recently published Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament, a fantastic volume that treats every proper and improper preposition in the NT with a helpful introduction. In short, Murray Harris is “the exegete.”
So imagine our delight when he published the John volume in the Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series! This 400 page guide to the Greek of John’s Gospel is a magnificent tribute to Harris’ devotion to the language of the Bible. A guide to John’s Gospel is especially significant because of the high Christology throughout.
In order to demonstrate the value of Harris’ new volume, let’s look at three passages in John’s Gospel that are directly relevant for three important issues for Christians and scholars.
1. Was the Word “a god?”
Harris considers the various translation possibilities for καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. (John 1:1). (Remember, the problem is that θεὸς is anarthrous, and it could be grammatically permissible to translate it as “the word was a god,” as Jehovah’s Witnesses do.) Harris gives eight possible reasons for θεὸς being anarthrous, and then provides five possible translations for the phrase with arguments for and against each translation. To do this sort of analysis yourself, you would need to read about 8-15 commentaries, but Harris has pulled them all together for you in one place. He settles on “the Word was God,” with “God” referring to a “generic title that signifies One who inherently shares the nature or essence of God” (20).
2. Did God ordain that the Jews would not believe in Jesus?
There is a debated use of ἵνα in John 12:38. The Jews did not believe in Jesus ἵνα Isa 53:1 might be fulfilled. Many commentators have tried to soften ἵνα to an ecbatic function, “so that,” meaning the Jews did not believe with the result that Isa 53:1 was fulfilled (Isa 53:1 tells of the Jews rejecting Isaiah’s message of the suffering servant, who would die on behalf of Israel to bring them out of exile.) But the ecbatic function of ἵνα is only possibly evident in the Koine period (see further my article on John 12:37-43).
Harris notes both the telic and ecbatic sense of ἵνα and suggests that within God’s divine knowledge, even a result would be God’s purpose. Unfortunately, on v. 41, he takes “αὐτοῦ” as a reference to Jesus’ pre-incarnate glory, which–I think–misses the way John uses Isaiah. But this is a Greek guide, not a hermeneutical guide, so I cannot fault Harris for that.
3. Why was John’s Gospel Written?
John 20:31 says ταῦτα δὲ γέγραπται ἵνα πιστεύ[σ]ητε ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ἵνα πιστεύοντες ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ. There are two issues here. First, is Ἰησοῦς the subject or ὁ χριστὸς? Those who are familiar with the discussion will know that Carson has argued consistently throughout his commentary that “Jesus,” though anarthrous,” is the subject of this predicate nominative construction.
Harris discusses first the text-critical issue of whether the original reading is the present subjunctive πιστεύητε or the aorist subjunctive πιστεύσητε. While some argue that the aorist would necessarily have an ingressive meaning (“begin to believe”), Harris shows from other aorist uses of πιστεύω that this view is false (336). Carson has argued consistently that the subject of the phrase Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ χριστὸς is ὁ χριστὸς. Anyone may ask who Jesus is, but only Jews and God-fearing Gentiles would ask who “the Messiah” is. If this is true, then John’s Gospel is written to evangelize diaspora Jews and Gentiles who want to know the identity of the Messiah.
But Harris asserts the subject of the clause is Ἰησοῦς, even though it is anarthrous. He cites Wallace, but makes no additional argument. So he discusses well the options available for dealing with the Greek of John 20:31, but fails to make an appropriate argument to support his position.
Your guide to three Greek exegetical problems in John's Gospel, thanks to Murray Harris Share on XFor Whom and for What is this Volume Valuable?
There are strengths and weaknesses to this volume. In the first example, we saw the strength of grammatical analysis. Harris’ summary of the multitude of grammatical suggestions for John 1:1 is commendable, and his solution is plausible and strong. In the second example, he discusses the possibilities well, but the volume is limited because he cannot explore the hermeneutical issues involved in the use of the OT. In the third example, perhaps because of space issues, he simply asserts his position rather than argues it and cites Wallace.
So understand this volume for what it is: a guide to the Greek text of John’s Gospel. It is not a commentary; it is a prelude to a commentary. Although there are limitations, no volume can do it all! I would recommend this work to anyone who deals with the Greek text of John–student, pastor, and scholar. You should have this book on your shelf, and you should read through this book along with the Greek text of John. Such an exercise would be beneficial to your devotional life and your academic study of Scripture.
Find it at WTS Books, on Amazon, and really cheap on Kindle.
