Ur-John, a step by step reconstruction

[Joseph D. L.]

This will be a chapter by chapter reconstruction and breakdown of John. First and foremost, I have zero expertise or credentials, This is purely my own reconstruction. If I am mistaken, or in error, then please tell me. Anyway, here it goes. Ur-John ch. 1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

The opening remains largely the same, save for the inference that the Logos became flesh. The reiteration of the Genesis 1 creation account, "In the beginning", "And God/Elohim said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but Among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

John, the Baptist, is an anachronism, proven by the text itself when the priest asks, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?". Indeed, the redundancy of "Christ", "Elijah", and "Prophet" in so close proximity of the first is an indication that this was interpolated. John's role is as a witness to the Light, not as a baptizer or prophet. It is Jesus Christ, the Logos, who will baptize. "Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie," is not referring to Jesus, but someone else who will come later.

The next day They saw Jesus. coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained within me. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Word of God.” The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

The conversation is carried on from the conversation with the priests in the passage prior to this one. No time has lapsed. John's constant "boring witness" statements are later additions made to emphasize the witness role to later readers. The Logos is among them but does not speak. The inclusion of disciples' names is a later insertion.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

The same issue is present in this passage. The use of geography [which is everything!] and location is a later inclusion to give the text an agenda that it originally does not have. The only location with real importance is Jerusalem. The same goes for the gathering and naming of disciples. The last line is spoken by John himself.

So here is the end result.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said. Among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

They saw Jesus. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained within me. And I have seen that this is the Word of God. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

It seems pretty straight forward to me but then again, I don't actually know what I'm doing. lol

I'm mostly going off of Xoraoster's interpretation of Ur-John also, where the majority of the text is still there, underneath layers and layers of additions.

Edit: Upon further analysis, I have changed "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained before me" to "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained within me" as it seems more appropriate. The overall meaning of Ur-John is about John as the host of the Spirit.

[Joseph D. L.]

Next, chapter two of Ur-John. It immediately goes completely off the rails, as you will see, because instead of going directly to chapter two of Gospel of John, we're going to chapter three.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to John by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” John said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” John answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” John answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

You will notice almost instantly that it is John speaking, not Jesus. This will follow because Ur-John is the Testimony of John. It is about him, not Jesus Christ, who only inhabits as a Spirit.

Nicodemus's statement of "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him" is a later insertion. Even in Gospel of John, Jesus had only performed one sign, yet Nicodemus mentions "these signs". What's more, Nicodemus, despite his initial enthusiasm and esteem for Jesus is instead inquisitive and impudent, questioning what is being said as his he doesn't understand. This indicates that this is Nicodemus's first time hearing of Jesus/John. The remainder of the passage seems to be talking about Nicodemus directly, which is a clue as to the overall scheme of the text.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave it his Word, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Word into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Word of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

This enigmatic passage, uttered by Jesus Christ in the canonical edition, is spoken of in past tense implying that it has already occurred. Yet systematically speaking it is something that is supposed to happen at the end of the Testimony. Another indication that the goal of Ur-John is not establishing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but about giving authority to John as his witness and teacher. Furthermore, the reoccurring phrase Sod of God is a redaction. The original is Logos.

After this John and his brothers went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John's brothers and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Word and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Word has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Word shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Even in the canonical John, it is odd that John is given these grandiose proclamations typically reserved for Jesus himself. This episode is also paralleled in Mark 9:38-41, John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Thus Ur-John is giving John the center role of the text. In Ur-John the man baptizing is Nicodemus.

John, if you haven't noticed, does not have disciples, but brothers. Whether or not these are meant to be actual brothers is unclear, though I would lean into them being actual brothers. The passage about the bride and bridegroom is a prophecy for the next chapter.

So this is chapter two of Ur-John:

Now there was a man named Nicodemus. This man came to John by night and John said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” John answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” John answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave it his Word, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Word into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Word of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

After this John and his brothers went into the Judean countryside. Now a discussion arose between some of John's brothers and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Word and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Word has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Word shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

[Benway]

I started doing this myself this week, so this is an interesting read. I rearranged the order even more than you have done, to the extent of having the Genesisesque opening, then the Samaritan woman at the well (minus the parts with the disciples). He spends two days in Sychar, then 'On the third day there was a wedding', at which he performs the first sign. It makes a certain amount of sense (to me anyway) to have the logos descend to Mt. Gerizim and ascend from Jerusalem. It also seems like something that may provoke a later editor to rearrange in favour of a Judean start.

[Joseph D. L.]

So chapter three of Ur-John is chapter two of Gospel of John...

Moving on...

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of John was there. John also was invited to the wedding with his brothers. When the wine ran out, the mother of John said to him, “They have no wine.” And John said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. John said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, John did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

As before, any location that is mentioned is highly suspect of being an interpolation. The overall meaning of the passage--the mention of three days, as well as the water transforming into wine--is a foreshadowing of John's ultimate fate, his death, his "hour". What the master of the feast states to the bridegroom, "'Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now,'”, indicates that John will not be resurrected. The resurrection is for someone else. The bridegroom.

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and John went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So The Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” John answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Ending where the chapter begins with the inclusion of three days but without resolve. John is not upset that the Jews have turned the house of God (not his own father) into a house of commerce. He is signaling that the time has come for its end. The comparison between Jon and the Temple is made, but the author breaking the fourth wall is a later addition.

Kinda a short chapter.

On the third day there was a wedding, and the mother of John was there. John also was invited to the wedding with his brothers. When the wine ran out, the mother of John said to him, “They have no wine.” And John said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. John said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, John did and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and John went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. So The Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”

[Joseph D. L.]

I started doing this myself this week, so this is an interesting read. I rearranged the order even more than you have done, to the extent of having the Genesisesque opening, then the Samaritan woman at the well (minus the parts with the disciples). He spends two days in Sychar, then 'On the third day there was a wedding', at which he performs the first sign. It makes a certain amount of sense (to me anyway) to have the logos descend to Mt. Gerizim and ascend from Jerusalem. It also seems like something that may provoke a later editor to rearrange in favour of a Judean start.

Chapter 4 of John is a head scratchier. It outright contradicts what it says in chapter 3, but then the editor tries to backpedal and says "Oh wait, I didn't mean Jesus, I meant one of his his disciples." Yeah, whatever Hegesippus.

There are whole chapters in John that seem entirely spurious. I'm going off the assumption that the ordering of John at the least is the same as Ur-John, but as you can see, I've already ran into a problem with that idea.

[Joseph D. L.]

Taking an intermission, I will briefly go over what the motives behind Ur-John, which was likely called Testimony of John, probably were.

The Word was with God

The text of Ur-John is playing of the Jewish and Rabbinical teachings at the time, wherein there is a second power in Heaven. This power is Word/Logos/Metatron. This power, however, does not descend to earth, nor assumes flesh. The opening is a targum of Genesis 1 and is a cosmological.

John's Bearing Witness

The overall motive of Ur-John is to establish John [not a baptist] as a witness to the true Paraclete that will come after him.

When John is first introduced it is made clear that he is a nobody of worth when the priests ask "Who are you?". He comes out of nowhere. It is John who is filled with the Spirit, and it is his role to pass it on to the Paraclete, the one who will truly lead Israel to salvation.

Dating the text of Ur-John

The nightly visit of Nicodemus to John, as well as what John describes to Nicodemus as if it applies to him alone, is a direct comparison to the eclipse of 118 ad, which occurred in the northern most part of the empire. The eclipse occurred in the vicinity of Virgo, the virgin, and it can be said that after the eclipse there was a rebirth of sorts. Also present was the constellation Ophiuchus, the snake handler, and above him, Cygnus, the Northern Cross. I'll also point out that the nightly visit of Nicodemus is intentional as during most total eclipses the sky is darkened enough that the stars can be seen. I've only seen one in my entire life and it is a rather eerie sight.

This gives a definitive terminus ante quem of September 3rd of 118 ad for the composition. As for the Terminus post quem, that maybe revealed later with further investigation, but until then I'm plugging it in at 125 ad to be safe. It could be later, but the farther away from the eclipse the more time there is for the meaning to get lost, and and the episode of Nicodemus is such a close description of it that it's doubtful that it was more than a few years.

The Future of John

John's role in Ur-John was not meant to be a complete biography of the man, as he served only one function. As it stands, his end will not be pleasant.

Was John Historical?

I can go either way right now. John may be an amalgamation of different men, even in this prototype. He was later taken to be historical and made into a baptist, but all of that was fudging by Hegesippus, who probably mistook John for Theudas, a rebel a prophet, who was beheaded.

Was Ur-John Marcionite?

This begs the question of, what do we consider "Marcionite?" What do we know, and what can we know, about Marcion or his later followers? It's best not to give an answer yet.

I'll continue this project and see what else is there.