The Spirit Paraclete In The Fourth Gospel

This book attempts to make a contribution to the New Testament doctrine of the Spirit, with special reference to the paraclete problem. Dr Johnston begins with the use of the word 'spirit' in the Gospel of John and treats it as primarily 'impersonal'. It denotes divine power or energy. God acts by his spirit, both to create and to redeem. The Fourth Evangelist shows Jesus as the incarnate Word, a man uniquely inspired, whose absence after death is compensated for by an outburst of spiritual powers in his Church. The paraclete is representative of God or of Christ, and the Johannine teaching is that no angelmediator, no holy 'spirit' like the Archangel Michael, can take Christ's place. But truly inspired leaders - acting as teachers, exegetes, martyrs - and the inspired Church itself as a communion of love do embody the spirit-paraclete and do continue to represent Jesus. Special attention is paid to recent research on this subject, mainly in the area of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dr Johnston argues that in insisting that the true spirit-paraclete must always exalt and interpret Jesus of Nazareth as the final revelation of God in man, John was in fact combating heretical views.

Ladd's magisterial work on New Testament theology has well served scores of seminary students since 1974. Now this comprehensive, standard evangelical text has been carefully revised by Hagner to include an update of Ladd's survey of the history of the field of New Testament theology, an augmented bibliography, and an entirely new subject index.

Cornelis Bennema explains the role of the Spirit in salvation according to John's Gospel against the background of intertestamental Jewish wisdom literature. He comes to the conclusion that the salvific function of the Spirit is that of a cognitive agent who, through the mediation of life-giving wisdom, creates and sustains a saving relationship between the believer and the Father and Son.

In the context of his conversation with the Samaritan woman the Johannine Jesus says "the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth" (4:23). In this monograph Benny Thettayil undertakes a detailed exegetical study of the fourth evangelist's understanding of 'worship in Spirit and truth'. Part One is devoted to a detailed exegetical analysis of John 4:19-26 focusing on the relationship between Jews and Samaritans, the meaning of pneuma and aletheia as well as the question whether Jesus reveals himself as the Messiah to the Samaritan woman. In Part Two Thettayil offers an extensive study of the replacement theme in the Fourth Gospel. He studies this issue in connection with the Johannine community and with the presentation of Jesus as the fulfilment of the temple. In his final chapter Thettayil enters into the difficult field of "Johannine Replacement Theology", taking up the challenge of confronting the theological implications of the way the fourth evangelist presents judaism.

The Spirit in First Century Judaism lays a cornerstone in the foundation of pneumatological studies by scouring ancient writings like Plato and Plutarch, Daniel and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as those of Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.