The Gospel of John: The Witness of Sychar

Last updated on: February 12, 2026 at 10:18 am By Gabriel Blanchard

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 3:22-4:3, go here. The Witness of Sychar (John 4:4-42) Christ’s “trial” before the reader proceeds with further testimony. At this point, however, John has covered enough territory that we begin to get echoes of earlier parts of the narrative—in musical terms, we get variations on earlier motifs, featuring inversions and retrogrades. Its setting, however, is almost unique;... Read more

The Gospel of John: The Witness of the Baptist

Last updated on: February 6, 2026 at 12:46 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 2:13-22, go here. The Witness of the Baptist (John 3:22-4:3) Though turning from the religious establishment in Yrushalem to its millenarian fringe in the person of the Baptist, even so, we here continue the series of “statements from witnesses” that this part of John’s Gospel consists in. Intriguingly, we find another narrative curveball for the Christian reader... Read more

The Gospel of John: The First Nightfall

Last updated on: February 3, 2026 at 3:26 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 2:13-22, go here. The First Nightfall (John 2:23-3:21) Nicodemus Visiting Christ (1899), by Henry Ossawa Tanner. The structure of the narrative thus far has been as follows: a cosmic-level prologue (1:1-18), dealing with the identity of the divine Logos and his incarnation as a man; the seven days of the new creation he is initiating (1:19-2:12); and... Read more

The Gospel of John: The Sacred Heart

Last updated on: January 22, 2026 at 5:15 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 2:1-12, go here. The Gospel of John: The Sacred Heart (John 2:13-22) We have passed through the new creation narrative of the early chapters, and the author has also evoked the forging of God’s covenant with the Israelites at Sinai. This brings the Tabernacle to mind, and with it, the Temple, and this is the image that... Read more

The Gospel of John: The Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part IV

Last updated on: January 17, 2026 at 1:54 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 1:43-51, go here. The Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part IV (John 2:1-12) Nozze di Cana [Wedding at Cana] (c. 1300-1330), by Giotto di Bodone. Having passed through four days, we now add three more in one go. We thus reach what is both the seventh day, evoking the completion of the first creation, and the third,... Read more

The Gospel of John: Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part III

Last updated on: January 17, 2026 at 1:53 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 1:29-42, go here. The Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part III (John 1:43-51) Verse 43 brings us to the fourth day of the “new creation” sequence. Two more apostles, SS. Philip and (by most accounts) Bartholomew, are called, and the connection of Jesus’ ministry with the Galilee begins. John 1:43-51, RSV-CE The next daya Jesus decided to... Read more

The Gospel of John: The Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part II

Last updated on: January 8, 2026 at 1:48 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 1:19-28, go here. The Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part II (John 1:29-42) In v. 29, we pass from the first to the second day of the “new creation” inaugurated by the Logos. Appropriately, this is the day on which Christ’s baptism is recounted (indirectly, through the Baptist’s own report)—corresponding with the day of the original creation... Read more

The Gospel of John: The Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part I

Last updated on: January 17, 2026 at 1:50 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 1:14-18, go here. The Beginning of the New Cosmos, Part I (John 1:19-28) We now enter on the main body of the Gospel, from 1:19 to 20:31 inclusive. The Logos has been declared to be God himself, though at the same time distinct from God the Father: the Logos is the Creator of mankind, our light, our... Read more

The Gospel of John: The Prologue, Part II

Last updated on: February 1, 2026 at 5:54 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 1:1-13, go here. The Prologue, Part II (John 1:14-18) 16th-c. Russian ikon of the Nativity. The prologue now comes to a shocking climax, disclosing the means of the entry of the Logos into creation: namely, incarnation—a notion which Jews would have considered blasphemous, and which the Greeks who originated Logos-philosophy would have laughed... Read more

The Gospel of John: The Prologue, Part I

Last updated on: January 17, 2026 at 1:55 am By Gabriel Blanchard

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Housekeeping Much as I have done in the past, under the new translating-the-whole-New-Testament regime for the blog, I’ll offer a little bit of intro material up front (mostly just an on-ramp to the text itself). I’ll then offer two renderings of the passage in question: first, the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version (RSV-CE), which is the “default” translation used by the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter; and second, my own rendering. Following that will be textual notes,... Read more

How many apostles did Jesus have?