John's Creation (3)
A Model for Understanding the Gospel of John
Creating a Summary of John's Gospel
(Bible Study - April 2001)

We previously (Tidings, 3/01) created a summary of John’s Gospel using five keywords, (which were the most common concrete nouns in the Gospel) which we represented with a bar graph to give a summary of John’s Gospel (Article 2, also Figure 1: left). Our task is now to analyse that pattern. At first glance we notice that the patterns (keywords) tend to group together. But is this grouping significant? Normal conversation has identifiably segregated subject areas in which certain keywords are likely to aggregate as conversation proceeds from one subject to the next. Nevertheless we propose that the degree of grouping in the keywords in John is more than occurs by this effect, because even the separate stories containing a certain keyword are also grouped together. This implies that John, under the divine hand, has deliberately aggregated these keywords in a particular sequence. But what is the pattern?

John’s Creation
Consider the order of the opening words in the summary: light, water, bread. Consider also the gospel’s opening statement: "In the beginning…." It is clear where we have heard these words before: the creation. John has constructed the opening of his gospel to match the creation sequence, and in accordance with that structure light is the first element one encounters. We are going to extend that idea far further than just the opening verse however: and that extension forms our central hypothesis.

Central hypothesis
The material presented in John’s gospel is deliberately arranged to reflect, or celebrate, the creation sequence. John’s Gospel comprises six discrete sections, each one representing, in order, the spiritual counterpart of the respective creative day.

This defines the proposed pattern in the Gospel of John, which we deem "John’s Creation." It is a bold claim to stake, and a strange one, because at first thought there is no obvious profit gained from structuring a gospel this way. Much investigation remains to be done before we can accept the idea, and this is what the main body of this work will do. We begin by working through the six days of the creation sequence in Genesis, (reminding ourselves of well-known things and perhaps spotting some new elements), paying close attention to the principal component of each day, and comparing them with the keyword pattern in John’s Gospel. Here is a very brief first pass of that comparative study:

The Creation Sequence in Genesis

Day 1 is solely concerned with light (Gen. 1:3-4).

Day 2 is centred on water (Gen. 1:6-7). Note that water in general is not created on Day 2, according to the text. The important feature of Day 2 is that the waters above the divide are drawn out from the waters beneath, which were already there. So it is only the waters "above" that are new in this day. Secondly, there is a fundamental difference between the two types of water: the waters "above" are sweet, and can sustain human life; the waters "beneath" are salty, and cannot.

Day 3 concerns the revelation of the earth, and the creation of all vegetation (Gen. 1:9-12). Since man is (initially) vegetarian, it is important to realise that this day concerns the creation of all human food (Gen. 1:29).

Day 4 concerns the creation of the sun, moon and stars (Gen. 1:16). Notice that Day 4 populates the area created in Day 1. Notice also that the sun and moon are not explicitly referenced; rather they are described as "lights to rule." This is important: it means that the component of Day 1 (light) reappears, but is developed, refined, in a specific way. Thus the language deliberately brought to the reader’s attention has a twofold flavour: light, combined with rulership.

Day 5 couples with Day 2, as Day 4 did with Day 1. With the creation of fish and birds (Gen. 1:20-21), Day 5 populates the seas and skies that were established in Day 2. The first creature explicitly listed is the tanniyn (Heb.), translated as "great creatures of the sea," (NIV) or "great whales" (KJV): an important character, as we shall see.

Day 6 similarly couples with Day 3. With the creation of all land animals and man (Gen. 1:24-27), Day 6 populates the dry land that was revealed on Day 3. Man (adam) is the principal element of Day 6: this is emphasised by him being given dominion over all other things created on that day. Interestingly, we note that Adam is also given dominion over all the created elements of Day 5.

Day 7 is beyond the creation sequence; nevertheless for completeness we include it. God rests (Gen. 2:2-3). Note that there is a reason why God rests: all the work has been completed, and all is "very good." This is the final portion of the creation sequence: harmony between the Creator and his creation, flawless natural beauty empowered and enlivened by the presence of the Almighty walking amidst it in the cool of the day. A heavenly rest on earth.

Wheels within wheels
We now regard the bigger picture of creation, and note two important things.

First: it is apparent that there are two cycles present within the six creative days: Days 1-3 establish a cycle that Days 4-6 repeat and enhance. Days 1-3 respectively establish Heaven, Sea and Earth, and Days 4-6 respectively populate them.

Second: the fact that creation took place in these six discrete sections is in itself a fascinating (and much overlooked) observation. Consider: since the power of the Creator is not bound by a limit, it is obvious that the whole creation could have been created instantaneously, should God have willed. Therefore, the fact Creation exhibits six sections is clearly a deliberate structure imposed by God, constituting a pattern from which (presumably) we are supposed to learn something. So we ask ourselves a searching question: Have we ever encountered an answer as to why this deliberate structure is imprinted in the creation by God? To date, no recorded answers are known! Yet we presume that with appropriately careful Bible study, and prayer, an answer might be revealed to us. This will form a central thought throughout our study.

Assessing the model
Now we turn to the heart of this study for a first look, comparing the Genesis creation sequence with the keyword sequence we found in John.

Day 1: Interestingly the sole component, "light," also happens to be one of the five keywords from John’s Gospel. Thus we can paint Day 1 of the Genesis creation with a block of solid white, (using the same scheme as with John’s Gospel keywords) by reason of its being wholly characterised by light (Figure 1).

Day 2: Again, the word "water" was another of the words that arose in the summary of John! Thus we can use the pattern we chose to represent water to paint Day 2.

Day 3: Another fascinating coincidence (seemingly) between the creation sequence and John. The principal component of Day 3 was food, and one of the keywords of John’s Gospel was "bread," the metaphor for all food!§   In our graphical summary of the creation sequence therefore, we can paint Day 3 with the "bread" pattern we used before with John’s Gospel.

We have now completed a representation of the first cycle of the Genesis creation using three of the five keywords that we found in our summary of the Gospel of John. This is very surprising (and equally exciting!), because there is no particular reason why this should have matched at all.

Day 4: As before, with the second cycle, a level of complexity is added. Day 4 is concerned with the assigning the light the authority of rulership: the power of judgement. This is interesting, because this single day picks up two of the words in John’s summary: light and judge(ment). Once again we find – to our ever-mounting surprise – that the fourth day of creation can also be ideally represented using words from the group of just five keywords that summarise the Gospel of John, only this time using two patterns to describe the day: both solid white (light) and grey (judgment).

Day 5: Here things become difficult. Unlike Days 4 and 6, Day 5 has no ruler of itself. The ruler of Day 6 also has rightful dominion over the creation of Day 5: (Gen. 1:26). However we notice one character in Day 5: tanniyn – the great sea creature (Gen. 1:21). This is very important because tanniyn is also translated as "serpent" (e.g. Ex. 7:9-10) – and we know that the serpent is an extremely significant scriptural character! We approach this translation cautiously, however, because the serpent of Eden (presumably a land beast: Gen. 3:14) is referred to with a different Hebrew word: nachash (Gen. 3:1). Despite this, associating tanniyn and nachash is justifiable, since both words are used to describe both land and sea creatures!^¥

Their related nature is fully established by this prophetic parallelism:

"In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent [nachash], Leviathan the coiling serpent [nachash]; he will slay the monster of the sea [tanniyn]" (Isa. 27:1).

We are now in a position to assert a very powerful thing: the "sea monster" of Day 5 is related to the serpent, the tempter of Eden! Having made that association, certain other associations necessarily follow. The serpent in Eden relates directly to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. (Christ’s death, secured by the serpent, also leaves an empty throne: a signature characteristic of the natural Day 5, where no ruler is identified among those things created.) Thus we continue our graphical representation of the days of creation in John’s gospel using the pattern of the keyword "cross" (crossed lines) to represent the creature (tanniyn) of Day 5.

Day 6: the man Adam is created to exercise authority over all other creatures. This does not match any of our keywords from John’s Gospel, thus we merely note that Adam is created on this day (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Principle result of this work: A comparison between the keyword summary of the
Gospel of John (left see Tidings, 3/01) and the creation sequence in Genesis 1 (right).

Comparison
Having considered the creative days in the light of the Gospel of John, we discover a truly remarkable thing: the keywords in John are physically the key elements of the creative days! Not only that, but the order in which we meet the words in the Gospel of John is the same as the order of creation! Compare for yourself the match between Creation and John’s Gospel shown in Figure 1, to determine whether our central hypothesis seems valid. If so, this suggests dividing the Gospel of John as follows:

Thus our study proceeds as follows: First we look through the six proposed sections (Days) of the Gospel of John to find whether this pattern is validated by the text. The interest in doing this does not lie solely in attempting to justify our hypothesis, however, rather the consideration of scripture in the light of a new model allows new avenues of mental exploration. A well-known story considered at a new angle will often yield new treasures, new gems to be mined from the infinite mind of the Maker, whether in the broadest concept or in the smallest detail upon which to reflect or marvel. Second we shall consider the absence of the seventh Day, leading us to pose the most important question of all: If the postulated hypothesis is correct: why does the pattern exist at all in John’s Gospel? What understanding do we gain from it and how does that enhance our lives in Christ? This final section addresses the pattern in overall conceptual format to ensure that we have not "missed the wood for the trees."

John Pople

Notes:
§Where Jesus says "Man shall not live by bread alone ... " (Matthew 4:10) he is not referring to bread as one available foodstuff but as representative of them all. Likewise, the word "bread" remains the common metaphor for all food to this day.

¥Notes: tanniyn as a land creature (Jeremiah 9:11); tanniyn as a sea creature (Psalm 74:12-13); nachash as a land creature (Proverbs 30:18-19); nachash as a sea creature (Amos 9:3).

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