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11

The Spirit and Living Water in John’s Gospel

Volker Rabens

John’s Gospel provides a unique and nuanced portrayal of the Spirit in the

context of Jesus’ ministry. In comparison with the Synoptic Gospels, John is

unique because in addition to several sayings about the Spirit (πνεῦμα) that are not

recorded in the other gospels, the evangelist introduces the Spirit as the Paraclete

(ὁ παράκλητος) in the context of Jesus’ farewell speeches. This is one of the key

features of the nuanced and richly textured theology of the Spirit of the Fourth

Gospel. It is intertwined with other themes of John’s pneumatology, such as the

redemptive-historical qualifications on the gift and the narration of the actual

giving of the Spirit (7:37–39; 19:30; 20:22). We will start our investigation of John’s

pneumatology by looking at the central passages mentioning the Spirit. We will

then draw some themes together and focus on one of the issues that can count as

“unfinished agenda” in research on Johannine pneumatology.

After the prologue, John’s Gospel introduces John the Baptist as a lead-up to

Jesus (1:23). He makes two programmatic statements about Jesus and his ministry:

one regards the soteriological character of Jesus as the Lamb of God (1:29), and

the other relates Jesus to the Spirit (1:32–33). Significantly, John describes Jesus

as both receiver and giver of the Spirit. He sees the Spirit descend and remain on

Jesus. This identifies Jesus as the Messiah (Isa. 11:2) and contrasts him with the

previous prophets on whom the Spirit only rested in a limited way (thus, e.g., Lev.

Rab. 15:2).

Moreover, Jesus is not only Spirit-endowed himself, but he also imparts the

Spirit to others. This is indicated in John’s characterization of Jesus’ ministry as

that of baptizing with the Spirit. However, it will come more clearly to the fore

later in the Gospel, culminating in 20:22. In 1:31–33 βαπτίζειν (baptizein), like its

Aramaic equivalent (טבל, which the Baptist probably had used, meaning “to dip,

bath, wash [by immersing]”), would naturally evoke the concept of cleansing/

purification from defilement: the use of water in Judaism referring to cleansing

is widespread (e.g., Exod. 29:4; 30:18–21; Lev. 8:6; 14:5–9; Num. 8:7; Zech. 13:1;

in connection with the Spirit: Ezek. 36:25; 1QS 3:4–9; 4:21), occasionally also

employing βαπτίζειν to denote this activity (LXX 2 Kings 5:14; Jth. 12:7–9; Sir.

34:25). Jesus’ baptizing with the Spirit thus primarily refers to his soteriological

in: Johnson T.K. Lim (ed.), Holy Spirit: Unfinished Agenda (Singapore: Amour Publishing, 2014)

HOLY SPIRIT: UNFINISHED AGENDA

58

ministry of cleansing Israel and is thus intimately linked to the first part of John’s

programmatic statement (1:29).1

John’s Christological point about the Spirit remaining on Jesus is reiterated

and deepened in 3:34 and 7:37–39. Jesus says in 3:34, “For he whom God has sent

utters the words of God, for it is not by measure that he gives the Spirit” (RSV). If

one reads the last pronoun “he” as a reference to God, as many modern interpreters

do,2 God is experienced as the giver of the Spirit—to and through Jesus (cf. 14:26;

15:26). Jesus’ words are Spirit and life (6:63), and the disciples are cleansed by

them (15:3). John 7:37–39 describes this vivifying experience of being imbued

by the Spirit in even stronger intensity. In the context of the ceremony of water

drawing and libation at the festival of the tabernacles (which was understood as

a promise of the rivers of salvation to pour out from the temple: Isa. 12:3; Ezek.

47:1–12; Zech. 14:8), Jesus invites the thirsty to drink from him instead: “If anyone

thirsts, let him come to me and drink, if he believes in me. As the scripture has

said, ‘Streams of living water will flow from his belly.’” Both the exact citation

as well as the point of reference of “his belly” (κοιλίας αὐτοῦ) are uncertain. With

regard to the former, it seems that John is combining the tradition of the texts

read at the festival of the tabernacles mentioned above with the exodus tradition

which he had already employed in the previous chapter (the manna of Exod. 16,

cf. Ps. 78:24, taken up in John 6), namely Exodus 17 and Psalm 78 where water is

miraculously flowing from a mysterious rock (cf. the Christological interpretation

of the rock in 1 Cor. 10:4).

If this reconstruction is correct, it is likely that Jesus portrays himself as the

source of living water in John 7:38. The translation provided above deliberately

leaves open whether it is Jesus’ or the believer’s belly from which living waters

flow. However, in addition to the scriptural tradition employed by the Johannine

Jesus, the fact that the focus of the narrative of John 7 up to this point has been

on Jesus and his identity also speaks for Jesus to be the one from whose belly the

living water flows.3 This interpretation is not contradicted by Jesus’ prediction in

4:14 that the water that he gives to the believer “will become in him a spring of

water welling up to eternal life.” In 4:10 and in 7:37–38 Jesus describes himself

as offering living water and quenching thirst respectively. It is no surprise that

the living water flowing from Jesus will keep on moving within and out from the

believer.

1 See the discussion in C. Bennema, “Spirit-Baptism in the Fourth Gospel: A Messianic Reading of John 1, 33,” Bib 84 (2003), 35–60.

2 So, e.g., G. M. Burge, “The Gospel of John,” in A Biblical Theology of the Holy Spirit, ed. T. J. Burke and K. Warrington (London: SPCK, 2014), 106, building on πάντα (“all things”) in 3:35 to include the Spirit. On the alternative reading, “he” would refer to Jesus and make him the giver of the Spirit without measure.

3 Cf. A. T. Lincoln, The Gospel according to Saint John (BNTC 4; London: Continuum/Hendrickson, 2005), 256.

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In 7:39 the living water is explicitly identified as the Spirit. Jesus makes

clear that the Spirit can be received by believers only once Jesus is “glorified”

(i.e., exalted through cross, resurrection, and ascension [12:23–24; 17:5]). This

means that the cleansing work of the Spirit is totally bound up with Jesus (who

baptizes with the Spirit) until he imparts the Spirit to his disciples in 20:22 (having

previously symbolically released the S/spirit in 19:30). However, even then, right

after the resurrection, the Spirit does not yet unfold his character as Paraclete. This

is evident from the fact that the disciples do not display the Paraclete activities

in their lives in the remainder of the Fourth Gospel. Moreover, Jesus prophesies

that he will only be in the position to send the Paraclete after his return to the

Father (15:26; 16:7), that is, after the ascension which is outside John’s narrative

framework. As the integration of 20:22 with the events described in Acts as well as

the character of the Paraclete4 are discussed in two other articles in this volume we

will not pay further attention to it here.

We have already seen that water symbolism features in the context of the

Spirit in the Fourth Gospel. A final reference to the Spirit fits into this pattern

too: John 3:5–8. Here Jesus explains to Nicodemus that the necessary birth

“from above” (ἄνωθεν) (3:3, not “again,” cf. 3:31) is by “water and Spirit.” Water

and Spirit function as a hendiadys, signifying the cleansing and life-giving work

of the Spirit at a person’s coming to faith and receiving eternal life (cf. 3:15–16).

The two terms are thus equivalent, with water symbolizing the cleansing and

reviving effect of the Spirit that was already vividly described in the Jewish

traditions identified above (e.g. Ezek. 36:25–27: “I will sprinkle clean water

upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all

your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will

put within you … I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my

statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances”; cf. Jub. 1:23–25, where the

effect is described as “sonship”). The Johannine Jesus hence does not lecture

Nicodemus about Christian baptism (although later readers may associate this)

which the Pharisee could scarcely be expected to know. The emphasis is not on

an initiatory rite (water is dropped from the conversation) but on the Spirit who

comes from above so that people are “born of the Spirit” (3:8).

Two of the key activities of the Spirit in John’s Gospel (apart from the

Paraclete characteristics) are thus symbolized by two primary characteristics of

water: cleansing and reviving. However, in contrast to some recent scholarly

contentions, John’s water imagery is not used in the context of Stoic or medical5

4 One of John’s definitions of the Paraclete is “Spirit of truth” (14:16–17; 15:26). Here is a parallel to one further mention of πνεῦμα in the Fourth Gospel: in 4:23–24 Jesus prophesies to the Samarian woman that the time is approaching when those worshipping God will do so in Spirit and truth.

5 Thus, e.g., Annette Weissenrieder in the forthcoming volume by Jörg Frey and John R. Levison, eds., The Holy Spirit, Inspiration, and the Cultures of Antiquity: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Ekstasis 5; Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2014).

HOLY SPIRIT: UNFINISHED AGENDA

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discourses that would suggest that John conveys a concept of the Spirit as a

material substance. This issue can count as “unfinished agenda” in research on

Johannine pneumatology.

Reading the New Testament against a Stoic background has become popular

in recent times.6 For example, Buch-Hansen has provided an extensive analysis of

the pneumatology of John’s Gospel from a Stoic perspective. According to Buch-

Hansen, πνεῦμα is the “physical vehicle” that leads people to the Father and the

Son. Through the infusion with πνεῦμα the disciples become born ἄνωθεν.7 In line

with Stoic physics, this infusion can be comprehended as a “blending of bodies.”8

She reasons that “the new commandment of love becomes the universal law: the

request to ‘follow Jesus’ is simultaneously a request to follow Nature … or to live

‘in accordance with nature’ … which, as we know, are the Stoic maxims of true

living.”9

I have interacted with Buch-Hansen’s thesis in greater detail elsewhere.10

However, we should briefly note here that there is no evidence in John that the

author shares the Stoic interest in the ontology of the Spirit. We do not find

any discussion about the nature of πνεῦμα as we can read in Stoic literature. The

character as well as the language regarding the nature of the Spirit in John differ

significantly from Stoic philosophy. This is partly due to the fact that John’s Gospel

is of a different genre. It is essentially narrative. However, if John had intended

to let his readers know that he shares the assumptions of Stoic pneumatology,

he could have easily made this a point in one of the extended dialogues in the

Gospel—for instance, in the farewell discourses.

There John speaks of the Spirit as the ἄλλος παράκλητος, “another advocate”

(14:16), whom Jesus is going to send to the disciples. However, the Paraclete is

anything but the Stoic πνεῦμα-substance that permeates and moves everything. The

word ἄλλος here translates as “another of the same kind,” which means that the

Spirit-Paraclete is modeled on Jesus.11 Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will

give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth … I am

coming to you” (14:16–18). The Paraclete thus is Jesus’ personal presence. If one wants

to give a definition of πνεῦμα in John, one can hence speak of a personal concept of

6 See, e.g., T. Rasimus et al., eds., Stoicism in Early Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010).

7 G. Buch-Hansen, “It is the Spirit that Gives Life”: A Stoic Understanding of Pneuma in John’s Gospel (BZNW 173; Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2010), 331, 215, 288, 401, 417, etc.

8 Buch-Hansen, Spirit, 418.

9 Ibid., 427; cf. 443, 456–57.

10 Volker Rabens, “Johannine Perspectives on Ethical Enabling in the Context of Stoic and Philonic Ethics,” in Rethinking the Ethics of John: “Implicit Ethics” in the Johannine Writings, ed. J. van der Watt and R. Zimmermann (WUNT I/291; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 114–39.

11 Cf. M. Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts: Then and Now (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999), 79–81.

THE SPIRIT AND LIVING WATER IN JOHN’S GOSPEL

61

the Spirit. Apart from that, the statement that the world cannot receive the Spirit-

Paraclete (14:17) indicates an exclusiveness that collides with Stoic inclusivism (cf.

7:39: “as yet there was no Spirit”). In Stoic pantheism, πνεῦμα is all-permeating.

We can hence conclude that two key characteristics of the work of the Spirit

in the Fourth Gospel converge in John’s recurring water imagery: the Spirit

cleanses and gives life. While it is possible that John saw more parallels between

water and the Spirit (potentially including a common physical substance),

it is only these two aspects of water which are explicitly drawn upon in the

narrative of the Gospel and in the scriptural traditions that are alluded to. It is

hence speculative to move beyond these aspects in order to establish a physical

concept of the Spirit in John.12 Rather, the Spirit is bound up with and modeled

on Jesus, the true giver of “living water.”

12 On the method of identifying and interpreting metaphorical language like “the Spirit is poured out,” see the detailed analysis in Volker Rabens, The Holy Spirit and Ethics in Paul: Transformation and Empowering for Religious-Ethical Life (WUNT II/283; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010), 43–54.

v

Acknowledgements xi

Contributors xiii

Editor’s Preface xix

Introduction by Anthony C. Thiselton xxiii

Part 1: Hermeneutics and the Holy Spirit

1. The Intersection of Biblical Testimony and Experience: 3

Toward the Conceptualization of the Role of the

Holy Spirit in the Interpretation of 1 Kings 17:17–24

Kevin L. Spawn

2. A Kingdom Pneumatic Hermeneutics 8

Beth M. Stovell

3. A Lukan Model of Pneumatic Hermeneutics 12

Roger Stronstad

4. Reforming Pneumatic Hermeneutics 18

Kevin J. Vanhoozer

Part 2: Bible and the Holy Spirit

5. Presence and Promise: 27

A Biblical Theology of the Holy Spirit

Brenda B. Colijn

6. God’s Spirit in the Old Testament 32

David G. Firth

7. Holy Spirit in the Minor Prophets 36

Anna Sieges Beal

8. Holy Spirit and the Major Prophets 41

Paul L. Redditt

9. The Holy Spirit in the New Testament 46

Stanley E. Porter

10. The Holy Spirit in the Gospels 52

John R. Levison

11. The Spirit and Living Water in John’s Gospel 57

Volker Rabens

12. The Holy Spirit in Luke/Acts 62

Keith H. Reeves

Contents

vi

13. The Holy Spirit in Paul 67

Jerry L. Sumney

14. The Holy Spirit in I John 71

Paul Trebilco

15. The ‘Seal’ of the Spirit: 75

The Holy Spirit in the Book of Revelation

Simon P. Woodman

Part 3: Pneumatological Issues

16. Disputing Old Testament Indwelling 81

Andrew S. Malone

17. To Stop the Wind from Blowing: 86

Stifling the Spirit of Prophecy in the Old Testament

Samuel A. Meier

18. The Theological Organization of the Fourth Gospel 91

and the Role of the Paraclete Sayings

Gerald L. Borchert

19. One or Two Pentecosts? 97

The Giving of the Holy Spirit in John 20 and Acts 2

Cornelis Bennema

20. The Holy Spirit and the Early Church in the Book of Acts: 102

The Global Mission of the Messianic Community

Kenneth J. Archer

21. Prophetic Pneumatology in Luke-Acts and 110

Plutarch’s Divination as One Part of the Relevant

Context of New Testament Pneumatology

Heidrun Gunkel

22. Just as He Determines: Spirit Baptism in the New Testament 115

Darin H. Land

23. The Holy Spirit and Resurrection 120

Nathan Hitchcock

24. The Holy Spirit and the Doctrine of Trinity 126

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

25. Spiritual Discernment 130

William K. Kay

26. The Holy Spirit and Scriptural Canons 134

Lee Martin McDonald

27. Glossolalia 142

Hanna Stenström

vii

28. Beliefs and Practices Relating to Healing in Pentecostalism 147

Keith Warrington

29. Sins Against the Holy Spirit 152

Duane F. Watson

Part 4: Church and the Holy Spirit

30. Holy Spirit in the Medieval Period 159

Elizabeth A. Dreyer

31. The Multifaceted Role of the Holy Spirit in Church History 164

Violet James

32. Holy Spirit in the Patristic Literature 169

Margaret A. Schatkin

33. The Holy Spirit and Church Growth 175

Elmer Towns

Part 5: Christian Living and the Holy Spirit

34. The Spirit of Spiritual Formation 183

Howard Baker

35. The Holy Spirit and Worship 187

Robert Fastiggi

36. The Holy Spirit and Prayer: 191

Love Among Us, Beside Us, and In Us

MaryKate Morse

Part 6: Christian Witness and the Holy Spirit

37. The Spirit and Our Preaching: 197

Why We Are Desperate for the Spirit’s Illumination

Greg Heisler

38. Pneumatic Preaching 203

Johnson T. K. Lim

39. Bodies as Temples of the Spirit: 208

African American Preaching Traditions and

Experience of the Holy Spirit

Luke A. Powery

40. The Holy Spirit and Missions 213

Desmond S. C. Soh

viii

Part 7: Ministries and the Holy Spirit

41. The Holy Spirit and Pastoral Ministry 221

William P. Atkinson

42. The Holy Spirit and Mentoring Women 226

Diane J. Chandler

43. The New Community in the Spirit: 231

Agape and Koinonia as the Foundations for

Women in Ministry and Leadership

Mara Lief Crabtree

44. The Holy Spirit and Music 238

Jane Schatkin Hettrick

45. Discipleship and the Holy Spirit 243

Ken Moser

46. The Holy Spirit and Empowered Servant Leadership 248

Michael Brian Thompson

47. The Holy Spirit and the Workplace 253

Paul S. Williams

Part 8: Preachers and the Holy Spirit

48. The Holy Spirit and the Preaching of Billy Graham 261

Richard Bewes

49. The Holy Spirit and the Preaching of George Whitefield 266

Paul Blackham

50. The Holy Spirit and the Preaching of Karl Barth 271

Eberhard Busch

51. The Passionate Preaching of John Chrysostom: 276

The Spirit and the Formation of Humanity in

His Homilies on Genesis

James Bushur

52. Proclaimed, Embodied, and Sung: 281

Bonhoeffer and the Holy Spirit

Lisa E. Dahill

53. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s Doctrine of the Holy Spirit 287

Michael Eaton

54. John Calvin, the Holy Spirit, and Preaching’s ‘Native Luster’ 294

David W. Hall

55. “The Pentecostal Wind and Fire”: 299

The Holy Spirit in the Preaching of C. H. Spurgeon

Peter J. Morden and Ruth J. Broomhall

ix

56. The Holy Spirit in the Preaching of John Wesley 305

Mark K. Olson

57. The Holy Spirit and Preaching in Martin Luther 310

Cheryl M. Peterson

58. Phoebe Palmer’s Pneumatology and Preaching 314

Susie C. Stanley

59. The Holy Spirit and the Preaching of Jonathan Edwards 318

Douglas A. Sweeney and David H. F. Ng

60. The Holy Spirit and the Preaching of John Stott: 323

A Personal Reflection

David Turner and John Wyatt

Part 9: Theologians and the Holy Spirit

61. Spiritus Veritatis: 331

A Glance at Balthasar’s Pneumatology in Theo-Logic

Roland Chia

62. The Holy Spirit in St. Gregory of Nyssa 337

Paolo Di Leo

63. Augustine on the Holy Spirit in Salvation History 341

Allan D. Fitzgerald

64. The Holy Spirit and Thomas Aquinas 347

Kenneth M. Loyer

Conclusion

65. Global Christianity and the Holy Spirit 350

Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo

Author Index 357

Scripture Index 369