Deeper Meaning in the Gospel of John Part 1: Jesus' Ministry

John Uses More than Words to Tell His Gospel Story

The message of John’s Gospel is beloved by Christians. John’s stories come alive through dialogue, questions, and tension. Many of our favorite stories in John aren’t recorded in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. From Jesus’ conversations with Nicodemus in ch.3 and the Samaritan woman at the well in ch.4, to the woman caught in adultery in chs.7–8, John’s stories present a captivating message about Jesus.

But the profoundness of John’s message extends deeper than the stories he presents. He has woven his profound message into the very structure of his Gospel. The actual stories of John’s Gospel are the contents of his message. The way those stories are organized and connect with one another is the structure. John wants his readers to become so familiar with his Gospel that they see how his message pours out of both the contents and the structure. Seeing this allows us to get more depth of understanding from John’s message.

How Ancient Writers Communicated Deeper Meaning to their Readers

Contents and structure functioned for ancient writers in a similar way that body language functions for speakers. Savvy listeners pair what the speaker says with the speaker’s body language in order to understand subtlety and nuance. In a similar way, savvy readers pair the contents and structure of a biblical book in order to detect nuance and depth of meaning. This alignment of contents and structure is important for understanding and interpreting ancient texts. Multiple aspects of biblical scholarship are dedicated to studying this relationship.

One thing scholars look at when studying the Bible is the form of the message – how is the material organized? Is it compiled as a narrative? Is it didactic teaching/instruction, etc.? This is called Form Criticism.

A subcategory of Form Criticism is rhetorical criticism. This is where we look at the biblical writer’s artistry with words—how detailed and subtle is the writer at telling you more than the sum total of his words?

An example of rhetorical criticism from Modern English literature is Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter.¹ The form of Shakespeare’s words (iambic pentameter) tells us more about the brilliance of his message. For Shakespeare, the delivery of the words were as important as the words themselves..

Returning the Bible, John uses one rhetorical device twice in a way that makes the stories of his Gospel pop from 2D to 3D.

That rhetorical device is called an inclusio.

What is an Inclusio, and How was it used?

The biblical writers incorporated inclusios when they wanted to communicate that a section of text is actually meant to be seen as a single unit. The purpose behind this is so that the reader recognizes this section of text has layered meaning. The individual statements or stories within the unit carry meaning; but the reader is also supposed to view that text as a singular unit, where the individual statements of the text should be understood in light of the unit as a whole.

To do this, they would begin and conclude the unit of text with the same (or nearly identical) phrase. In a world before section headings, paragraph breaks, footnotes, or introductions, or emojis ancient writers used rhetorical devices, such as inclusios, to communicate part of their message through the structure of its content. These built-in rhetorical devices guided the reader towards the writer’s deeper meaning.

An easy biblical example of an inclusio is Psalm 8. The beginning and concluding lines are in bold:

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

As you can see, the entire Psalm is an inclusio! Each verse has its own value, but all the verses take on another layer of meaning when you see that vv.1b–8 explain why vv.1a, 9 are true.

Just as David used an inclusio in Psalm 8, so too does John use them in his Gospel—but on an even bigger scale.

John uses two inclusios to communicate layered meaning for his reader. The first brackets Jesus’ public ministry. The second brackets public proclamations about Jesus by others. We’ll discuss the first inclusio in this post. Part 2 will discuss the second inclusio.

Inclusio #1 – Jesus’ Public Ministry

Beginning of Jesus’ Public Ministry

Jesus begins and concludes His public ministry in John’s Gospel with the same question: “What/whom do you seek?”

In John 1, two of John the Baptist’s disciples begin following Jesus after John declared him to be the lamb of God (more on John’s comments in Part 2).

In John 1:38, Jesus turns, sees them following Him, and asks them “what are you seeking?” The two disciples respond by asking Jesus where He is staying. Jesus then invites them to “come and see.” These are Jesus’ first words in the Gospel of John, and they mark the beginning of His public ministry.

Key takeaway – the disciples’ question “where are you staying” in response to Jesus indicates they sought to be in the presence of Jesus.

Concluding Jesus’ Public Ministry

Fast forward to John 18, and Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the final hour of His public ministry. He is about to be betrayed, arrested, tried, and condemned to crucifixion.

While in the Garden, a cohort approaches to arrest Him. Jesus walks up to them and asks “whom do you seek?” This question is eerily similar to the one He asked John’s disciples back in John 1:38. We can see some similarities in English.

Both questions include the phrase “are you.”
Question 1 says “seeking” whereas Question 2 says “seek” (but that is a translation decision based on English grammar).

In Greek, these two questions actually become more similar.

John 1:38	John 18:4
τί ζητεῖτε; (ti zēteite) “what are you seeking?”	τίνα ζητεῖτε; (tina zēteite) “whom are you seeking?”

The verb choice and form is the same in both verses—it is a 2nd person, plural, present, active, Indicative verb from ζητέω (for anyone who has some proficiency in Greek).

The difference is the first word τί/τίνα.

These are simply different forms of the same word. The form in John 1:38 is in the neuter gender. The form in John 18:4 is in the masculine gender. The word itself is τίς, which means “who, what, which one?” It is the same word in both verses. Which means Jesus begins and concludes his public ministry with the same question—”what (or whom) are you seeking?”

Key takeaway – whereas the disciples sought to be with Jesus in John 1:38, the cohort in John 18:4 sought Jesus in order to arrest Him. (Hint: observe that contrast with John 3:18–21 in the back of your mind!)

How This Inclusio Guides the Reader’s Understanding of John’s Gospel Message

Okay, so how is the inclusio of Jesus’ public ministry supposed to guide us to deeper meaning of John’s gospel message? How do we train ourselves to see John’s good news about Jesus through the lens of this inclusio? This inclusio should shape our understanding of John’s gospel message in two ways: compressed familiarity, and questions to the reader.

Compressed Familiarity

This inclusio is a rhetorical device that transports the reader into the scene of betrayal in the Garden.

Remember: “rhetoric” here refers to a writer’s artistry with words in order to communicate more than the sum total of his words. It is the body language of writing–it provides the context through which we should understand the words.

Remember: the rhetorical purpose of an inclusio is to bracket a portion of text into a single unit. In the case of David’s poetry in Psalm 8, the rhetorical effect is for the reader to conclude that God’s work of creation and decisions in the creative process = His majesty within creation. Likewise, the rhetorical effect for John’s narrative about Jesus’ public ministry is for the reader to view His ministry as a single event.

Viewing all the events of Jesus’ public ministry as a single event is what I call Compressed Familiarity. In order to do this, the reader has to be familiar enough with John’s Gospel to recall all the events of Jesus’ public ministry from memory. From here, they can smush all the individual events together into a single event/idea.

Compressing the events of Jesus’ public ministry together likewise compresses the messages of those individual events into one meaning of His ministry.

Thus, compressed familiarity allows us to interpret the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:4 in particular) through the combined message of Jesus’ ministry to that point:

Jesus’ miracles and healings
Jesus’ discourses and teachings
Jesus’ “I am” statements
Jesus’ private ministry to his disciples when they aren’t in public (the Upper Room discourse [Jn. 13–17])

Thus, John’s rhetorical intent is for the reader to bring everything they know about Jesus from this Gospel with them into the scene at Gethsemane. This inclusio is a rhetorical cue for the familiar reader to replay Jesus’ entire public ministry in his mind’s eye as he reads the betrayal narrative. John’s Gospel narrative has been building to this point, and the inclusio allows the reader to feel the full force of that rising action. The result is that the reader feels the emotions, tension, and darkness that were felt on the ground in Gethsemane that night. This is John’s artistic way of transporting his reader into the hour of Jesus betrayal in the Garden–something that we otherwise couldn’t experience.

This invites the reader to follow up with continued devotion to Christ after their reading session is complete through reflection and meditation.

Questions to the Reader

The inclusio also allows John to say more to the reader than the story on the page. Once the inclusio is recognized, and the reader steps into compressed familiarity, John can use the two questions Jesus asks at the bookends of his ministry as questions to the reader.

To the reader who just picked up his Gospel and began reading, John asks “what are you seeking?”

To the reader who just finished reading the Gospel’s testimony about Jesus’ public ministry, he asks “whom are you seeking?” (and why?) Do you want to be with Jesus, or do you want to arrest Him?

This ties into John’s purpose for his Gospel as stated in John 20:30–31. He wants the unbelieving reader to become a believer, and he wants the believing reader to strengthen their belief.

Conclusion

Thus, we have an inclusio.

An inclusio that spans 18 chapters! This is brilliant writing.

This inclusio makes the message of John’s Gospel pour out of both the contents and the structure. It brings the reader deeper into the story and invites them to reflect on whether they would seek Jesus as the two disciples or the cohort who sought to arrest Him.

John’s Gospel comes alive the more we read, study, and meditate through its stories, dialogues, questions, and tensions. That is why the message of John’s Gospel is beloved by Christians.

Part 2 will discuss another inclusio involving John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus and Pilate’s proclamation of Jesus.