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at an anti-imperial reading in the Gospel of Matthew, emphasizes a similar concept about “that of historical context of the Gospel (to use conventional language),” namely, “the audience’s knowledge or experience that the Gospel text assumes,” or “authorial audience.” He sees “this authorial audience playing an active part in interpreting the text” (See Carter, Matthew and Empire, 3–6).

22. On the use of the Hebrew Bible (Graphe) in the Gospel of John, see Beutler, “Use of ‘Scripture’,” 147–62; Freed, Old Testament Quotations; Hanson, Prophetic Gospel; Brown, Introduction, 132–38. On the relationship with other backgrounds, see chapter 2 of this book.

23. Cassidy, John’s Gospel, 1–2.

24. Mainly, the Gospel of John presents Jesus as king using the prevailing Roman titles such as “Lord,” “Savior of the world,” and “Lord and God,” while Jewish titles such as “Son of Man,” “King of Israel (the Jews),” “Messiah,” definitely are used to identify Jesus as king. In addition, the expression, “friend of Caesar” in John 19:12, shows that the Gospel is related to the Roman key terms that appeal the kingship of the Johannine Jesus.

25. Deissmann, Light, 346.

26. Koester, “Savior,” 665–80.

27. Cassidy, John’s Gospel, 11.

28. See Brent, Imperial Cult; Koester, History, Culture, and Religion, 366–73; Carter, Matthew and Empire; Carter, Roman Empire; Novak, Christianity; Cassidy, Christians and Roman Rule; Aune, “Roman Emperors,” 233–35; Edwards, “Hellenism,” 312–17; Edwards, “Rome,” 710–15; Reasoner, “Emperor,” 321–26.

29. Danker, Benefactor; Danker, “Benefactor,” 58–60.

30. On the relationship between the kingship motif of the Johannine Jesus and the good man in the Gospel of John, see Kim, “Jesus as ‘Good Man’.”

31. Manning, Echoes of a Prophet; Johnson, “Shepherd, Sheep,” 751–54; Keener, “Shepherd, Flock,” 1090–03.

32. Beutler and Fortna, Shepherd Discourse of John 10.

33. Rensberger, Johannine Faith, 90.

34. Rensberger, Johannine Faith, 110.

35. Dube and Stanley, John and Postcolonialism.

36. This book shows “how the Johannine text was used to justify the invasion of others’ land, and how the same text can be read for decolonization and emancipation” (Sugirtharajah, “Postcolonial Biblical Interpretation,” 71).

37. Dube, “Reading for Decolonization,” 51–75.

38. Dube, “Savior of the World,” 118–35.

39. Dube, “Savior of the World,” 132.

40. Horsley, Jesus and Empire, 14.

41. The low-status poor, lacking power, honor, and resources, such as the man who has been sick for thirty-eight years (5:1–9) and the man born blind (9:1–8), a child (4:46–54), a woman and a Samaritan (ch. 4), low-status Galileans (ch. 6), and those who habitually ignore the law (7:49).

42. Carter, John, 172.

43. Carter, John, 53.

      part i

The Kingship of Jesus in the Gospel of John

      2. Background and Methodology

      In the preceding chapter, I argued that the Johannine community was in conflict with the synagogue as well as with Roman imperial power. Accordingly, it is quite probable that the Gospel of John was written for the consolidation of the community in faith, although it does not seem that this is the only purpose of its composition, as I will argue further in this chapter. Then, I raised a significant question: why are so many christological titles employed in the Johannine Gospel? In my argument, I contend that John adapted a variety of the titles that were used to indicate the Jewish kingly Messiah and the Roman emperors in order to portray Jesus as the real king worthy of the audience’s lifelong allegiance in their complex and multicultural world.

      In the present chapter, first, while regarding the Fourth Gospel as a product of a multicultural and hybridized society which accommodated multicultural features, I will argue that the Gospel was written for multiple purposes: it was written for multicultural readers in order to present Jesus as king; to make the readers believe in him whom they could follow for eternity; and to challenge them to live in the world according to the ruling ideology of the Johannine new world to overcome conflict and oppression. In order to do this, I need to begin by dealing with the purposes of the composition of this Gospel and to scrutinize the kingship motifs therin, because they are closely related to the identity of the Johannine Jesus.

      In order to discuss this matter, in the first section of this chapter, I will present three major views of the purpose of the Gospel of John, including an investigation of the Johannine community as multicultural readers. In the second section, I will survey the kingship motif against the Jewish background and the Graeco-Roman to corroborate my research. In the last section, I will deal with postcolonialism as a major methodology of this book.

      The Multiple Purposes of the Gospel of John

The Gospel of John may quite well have more than one purpose as well as a variety of intended recipients.44 The purposes of the Gospel have been described in various ways, and three major purposes, namely missionary, polemic, and parenetic,45 can be distinguished.

      A Missionary Document for Various Groups and Individuals

The first suggested purpose of the Gospel of John is that it has a missionary aim. In it, we can find evidence of concerns about world mission: for example, references to the sending and coming motif;46 the emergence of the Greeks who seek Jesus (12:20); the Samaritans identifying Jesus as the Savior of the World (4:42); Jesus’ mention of other sheep which are not of this fold (10:16); most of all, God’s love for the world (3:16–17).47

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