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Greek Prep Index

Exegetical Considerations
Reformation Day /John 8:31-36
October 31, 2004

1. What is the narrative context of this passage?

a. How does that narrative context impact the reading of these verses?

2. What is the theological concept of the term hoi Ioudaioi in John?

a. How is that not a historical term but a theologically pejorative term in John’s story and polemic?

b. What is surprising about the tense of the attributive participial construction tous pepisteukotas Ioudaious in v. 31?

3. What is the use of the subjunctive meinete in v. 31?

a. Why will that exclude the very group that Jesus is addressing?

b. How does en to logo become a theological double entoundre when viewed in light of the narrative’s prologue?

4. How is freedom understood in John’s gospel?

a. How is the author applying that understanding to/in this text?

5. What is the Son’s mission in John’s gospel?

a. How is the author applying that to an understanding of this text?

6. In John, how is the truth a person not a doctrine?

a. How is the author applying that to an understanding of this text?

7. How might the anti-Judaic polemic undergirding this text impact a 21st reading of this text?

a. How might you preach on the gospel proclamation undergirding this text without passing on its anti-Judaic polemic?

8. How might this text which says nothing about justification by grace through faith relate to a Reformation Sunday message of justification by grace through faith?