Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 2:12 - 2:12

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Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 2:12 - 2:12


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_2:12

12After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.

Joh_2:12 "Capernaum" After Nazareth's unbelief (cf. Luk_4:16-30) this became Jesus' headquarters in Galilee (cf. Mat_4:13; Mar_1:21; Mar_2:1; Luk_4:23; Luk_4:31; Joh_2:12; Joh_4:46-47).

This is a unique glimpse into the ministry of Jesus toward His family, in light of this miracle at Cana.

CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS TO Joh_2:13-25

A. There has been much discussion among NT scholars as to how many times Jesus cleansed the Temple. John records the cleansing quite early in Jesus' ministry, while the Synoptic Gospels (Mat_21:12; Mar_11:15 and Luk_19:45) describe a cleansing during the last week of Jesus' life.

However, it is surely possible that John structures Jesus' actions for theological purposes (i.e., John asserts Jesus' full Deity from chapter 1). Each of the Gospel writers had the freedom under inspiration to select, adapt, arrange, and summarize Jesus' actions and teachings. I do not believe they had the freedom to put words in Jesus' mouth or make up events. It must be remembered that the Gospels are not modern biographies, but evangelistic tracts targeted at select readers. The Gospels are not chronological, nor do they record the very words of Jesus (rather summaries). This does not imply that they are inaccurate. Eastern literature was based on different cultural expectations than western literature. See Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How To Read the Bible For All Its Worth, pp. 127-148.

B. The cleansing of the Temple fits into John's overall theological purpose of Jesus' dealing with the Jewish nation first. This can be seen in his discussion with Nicodemus in chapter 3 (orthodox Judaism). However, in chapter 4 Jesus begins to deal with a wider group (even a heretical group of sectarian Judaism), starting with a Samaritan woman.