The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

ENNO E. POPKES 309
with Jesus on a text-internal level now express their view on the person
and the work of Jesus. They see him as the “lamb which bears the sin of
the world” or “the Savior of the world.” Yet in 8:12 Jesus calls himself the
“light of the world.” This narrative structure emphasizes the universal
dimension of the work of Jesus. On the one hand the text uses different
categories in order to mark the universality of the salvation events. On
the other hand it increases the text-internal tension by first presenting
professions about Jesus that are then confirmed by his own words. And
this fundamental interest in universal salvation is a categorical difference
between the Johannine and Qumran writings. Although the lightdarkness
metaphors are among the most marked dualistic motifs of
Johannine theology, they are not an indication of a Johannine dualism. 65
Instead, the christological shape of the light metaphors aims at overcoming
such a dualism. 66
From the cited examples it is clear that the interpretation of the
Johannine writings has been greatly enriched by the findings of the
Qumran texts. Whether there were direct contacts between the two
groups responsible for these writings or not, the writings from Qumran
are some of the closest points of comparison for a religious-historical setting
of the Johannine writings. And in precisely those areas where the
Qumran and Johannine texts are closest in terms of motifs and language,
the difference in content and the fundamental theological orientation
become most apparent.
4.3. On the Religious-Historical Comparison Between the Texts
from Qumran and the Gospel of Thomas
A religious-historical comparison between the Qumran texts and the Gospel
of Thomas offers a picture completely different from the religious-historical
65. We can also see this in the detail the Fourth Gospel uses to describe the believers
as children of the light, but the text does not build up any antithesis between the
“children of the light” and the “children of the darkness,” etc., as in Luke 16:8; 1
Thess 5:5; Eph 5:8.
66. Thus Schwankl, Licht und Finsternis, 360; Hans Weder, “Die Asymmetrie des
Rettenden: Überlegungen zu Joh 3,14–21 im Rahmen johanneischer Theologie,” in
Einblicke ins Evangelium: Exegetische Beiträge zur neutestamentlichen Hermeneutik (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992), 435–65, esp. 454; Onuki, Gemeinde und Welt im
Johannesevangelium, 218; Roman Kühschelm, Verstockung, Gericht und Heil: Exegetische und
bibeltheologische Untersuchungen zum sogenannten “Dualismus” und “Determinismus” in Joh
12,35–50 (BBB 76; Frankfurt: Hain, 1990), 280; specifically on the dialectic of the
dualistic language and the traits of universal salvation of Johannine theology, cf.
Popkes, Die Theologie der Liebe Gottes.