Peter Frick, «Johannine Soteriology and Aristotelian Philosophy. A Hermeneutical Suggestion on Reading John 3,16 and 1 John 4,9», Vol. 88 (2007) 415-421
The aim of this short study is to propose a hermeneutical reading of Johannine soteriology based on John 3,16 and 1 John 4,9 in order to clarify in what sense Jesus was ‘the cause’ salvation. I will employ the Aristotelian categorization of the various causes as used by Philo in his explanation of the creation of the cosmos and apply his scheme to the Johannine texts. The result is (1) a specific definition of what constitutes the cause of salvation and (2) the important distinction between the means (understood as the four conjoint Aristotelian causes) and the mode (understood as faith) of salvation.
420 Peter Frick
verses. Both John 3,16 and 1 John 4,9 end with a subjunctive i{na-purpose
clause (i{na pa'" oJ pisteuvwn eij" aujto;n mh; ajpovlhtai ajll∆ e[ch/ zwh;n aijwvnion and
i{na zhvswmen di∆ aujtou' respectively). These two clauses are virtually
synonymous with regard to the purpose expressed by them, namely that the
person who believes in God’s salvific act (the means of salvation) has life,
specifically eternal life. The two statements pa'" oJ pisteuvwn ... e[ch/ zwh;n
aijwvnion (17) and i{na zhvswmen (18) are parallel, as even a cursory comparison
with John 11,25-26 suggests. In other words, the concept of ‘mode’ is the
manner in which salvation is appropriated by a person. The means of
salvation, as we saw, is God’s own initiative to make possible the salvation of
the sinner by an act of grace in Jesus the Christ. The reality and actuality of
salvation as ‘caused’ by God for every person is thus the objective deed and
reality of salvation offered by God. God’s deed of salvation is not, however,
merely an act of divine grace that automatically cancels a person’s sin. In
Johannine soteriology, God’s salvation in Jesus the Christ must be
appropriated or accepted or made efficacious as God’s salvific act in the mode
of faith. Faith in Jesus Christ is thus a person’s appropriation (19) and
participation in the salvation made possible by God in Christ.
We must still further clarify why ‘faith’ is a mode and not part of the
means of salvation? Why is faith not one of the causes of the means? How is
the mode of faith distinct form the four causes of the means of salvation? The
answer, in short, is that the four causes are unified and have their locus in
God’s being and gracious initiative whereas faith has its locus in a person and
not in God. In other words, the four causes that are conjointly the one means
of salvation have their origin and inner coherence in God, while faith is not as
such God’s initiative but a human response to that divine initiative. As a
human response to the means of salvation, faith is necessarily outside of God
and not a cause in the same manner as the causes that we identified as the
means of salvation.
*
**
In sum, then, in the two Johannine verses, John 3,16 and 1 John 4,9, we
have evidence that the question of what causes salvation, and more
specifically, in what sense we can speak of Jesus as being a cause of salvation,
hinges on the decisive distinction between the means and mode of salvation
and, in turn, on the further distinction of four causes within the means itself.
As mentioned before, I am not suggesting that the author of the Fourth Gospel
deliberately adopted Aristotelian philosophy or language to express his
understanding of soteriology. I am contending, however, that these verses can
be read in such a nuanced manner since the distinction between the means and
(17) Cf. also John 3,15.36; 5,24; 6,40.47; 20,31; 1 John 5,13.
(18) Cf. also John 6,51, 58; 11,25-26; Rev 1,18.
(19) It is noteworthy that of all 248 occurrences of the verb pisteuvw in the New
Testament, the Gospel of John has a proportionately high frequency (98 times). Conversely,
of the 243 New Testament occurrences of the noun pivsti" there is none is the gospel. For
the evangelist, the emphasis lies thus evidently on the act of believing rather then the
possession of faith.