Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 8.3
What you will learn
- State why comparing Paul and John requires a method and not only an impression.
- Apply a step-by-step procedure for comparing two New Testament writers fairly.
- Use vocabulary and theme tables to find real parallels and real differences.
- Avoid common errors: flattening, over-harmonizing, mirror reading and reading later doctrine back into the text.
The big idea
Paul and John are the two largest theological voices in the New Testament, and they are often set against each other: Paul the preacher of justification by faith, John the mystic of light and love. Such labels are easy and often wrong. A fair comparison needs a method. The student chooses a clear question, reads each writer in his own setting and genre, tracks key words and themes, separates what each writer says from what later traditions have said about him, and then states agreements, differences and open questions without forcing a result.
Key terms
- Comparison
- The study of two things side by side to find their likenesses and differences. It differs from merging them or ranking them.
- Genre
- The kind of writing. Paul writes occasional letters, John writes a gospel in the form of a narrative with long discourses, plus short letters.
- Harmonizing
- Reading two texts so that they agree, sometimes by making one fit the other. It can clarify, but it can also hide real differences.
- Flattening
- Treating a writer’s thought as one thing and ignoring its development or its variety.
- Mirror reading
- Inferring the views of opponents from a writer’s replies to them. It is useful and risky, since it can read too much into a text.
- Concordance
- A tool that lists every occurrence of a word in a text, which allows a student to count and compare the use of terms.
- Reception
- The way later readers and churches have understood a writer. Paul and John have been received differently in the Western and Eastern churches.
Background
Scholars have long compared the two. In the nineteenth century, F. C. Baur set Paul against Peter and the Jewish Christians. Rudolf Bultmann found in John a development of Pauline ideas into a Gnostic-flavored theology, a view few now accept. Others, such as C. K. Barrett and Raymond Brown, have studied the Johannine writings alongside Paul to ask about links, which are less direct than once thought. There is no evidence that John used Paul’s letters, and the Gospel is generally dated at least two decades after Paul.
The comparison matters for several reasons. It sharpens a reader’s sense of each writer. It tests claims that the New Testament speaks with one voice or with many. It shows how the same events, the death and resurrection of Jesus, produced different expressions of faith. A method keeps the comparison from becoming either a contest or an artificial merger.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Choose a clear question and corpus
Begin with a specific question, such as: What does each writer say about the relation of faith and love? What does each say about the Spirit? About the world? About the end? A broad question like ‘Who is the better theologian?’ is not suitable. Then decide which texts to use. For Paul, the seven undisputed letters are the safest base, with notes where disputed letters are used. For John, use the Gospel and, where relevant, the letters, noting that the authorship of the letters is a separate question.
State in advance what is excluded and why. Mixing disputed and undisputed letters without notice, or using Revelation as if it were part of the Gospel, will blur results.
Step 2: Read each in context and genre
Read each text in its own setting before comparing it. Paul writes occasional letters addressed to particular problems, often in argument. John tells a story of Jesus and gives long discourses arranged by the author, with a purpose stated at the end (John 20:31). A letter of Paul may say little on a theme because the occasion did not require it, and silence does not mean disagreement. The Gospel presents Jesus speaking, and a student must ask how far the words belong to the author’s voice.
Notice the audience and the situation. Paul addresses mixed communities of Jews and Gentiles and argues about the law and the Spirit. John’s writing reflects a community dealing with separation from the synagogue and with internal splits. These differences in setting explain many differences in emphasis.
Step 3: Track vocabulary and themes
A table is a helpful tool. List the key words and note how often and in what contexts each writer uses them. For example, In the Gospel, John uses the verb to believe (pisteuo) about ninety-eight times but never the noun faith (pistis), while Paul uses the noun frequently. Paul uses ‘righteousness’ (dikaiosyne) and ‘justify’ in a major way, and John uses the former only a few times. John uses ‘love’ (agape) heavily. Both write of life, light and darkness, flesh and Spirit, and the world. Both speak of being in Christ or abiding in him.
Counting words is only a starting point. The same word can mean different things in different settings, and different words can express the same idea. After the table, ask how each writer uses the words. For instance, John’s ‘world’ can mean the creation God loves (John 3:16) and the realm opposed to God (John 15:18). Paul’s ‘flesh’ can mean the human body and the human nature under sin.
Step 4: State agreements, differences and open questions
Write three lists. Agreements are points on which both clearly speak in the same way. Differences are points on which they speak in different ways or on which one is silent. Open questions are points where the evidence does not allow a firm conclusion. Be careful not to move items from one list to another because of a wish for harmony or contrast.
Keep description and evaluation apart. First say what each writer says. Then, separately, say what follows for faith or for theology, naming the tradition from which the judgment is made. Finally, check the result against a scholar from a different tradition, to see whether a Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran or other reader would recognize the description as fair.
- Why is it important to choose a narrow question when comparing two writers?
- How does the difference between a letter and a gospel affect what can be compared?
- What are the risks of counting words without reading them in context?
- When is harmonizing helpful and when is it misleading?
- How might your own church’s tradition shape the way you expect Paul and John to differ?
- What would count as evidence that one of the two writers knew the other’s work?
Examples
A vocabulary table
A student compares the word group for ‘life’: Paul speaks of life in Christ and newness of life (Romans 6:4, 8:2), and John of eternal life and the bread of life (John 3:16, 6:35). The table shows both stress that life is a gift through Christ, and that Paul speaks more of the future resurrection while John emphasizes the present. The student records both.
Mirror reading in 1 John
1 John 4:2 insists that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. A reader might infer that opponents denied this. That inference is reasonable, but the letter does not give their names or arguments, so any detailed reconstruction of the opponents’ beliefs should be marked as tentative.
A tradition’s lens
A Lutheran reader may arrive at Paul expecting justification to be the center, while an Orthodox reader may arrive at John expecting the theme of divine life to be the center. Naming the lens helps a student see the text more clearly and ask whether the expectation fits.
Different perspectives
Catholic view
Catholic teaching holds that all Scripture, Pauline and Johannine alike, is inspired and speaks with a harmony of faith. Catholic scholars such as Raymond Brown and Joseph Fitzmyer have written about the distinct theologies of the books, within the Church’s confidence that they present the one apostolic faith.
Orthodox view
The Orthodox Church reads the New Testament as a unity within the tradition of the Fathers, many of whom, such as Chrysostom, commented on both Paul and John. It values the differences of emphasis as complementary, and finds in John special depth on the mystery of union with God.
Protestant view
Protestants hold the unity of Scripture, and many have also written on the diversity of the New Testament writers. The Reformers drew heavily on Paul, and Calvin wrote commentaries on both. Evangelical and mainline scholars alike have stressed the importance of studying each writer in his own right.
Scholarly view
Scholars agree that the New Testament shows a diversity of theological voices and also shared convictions about Jesus, the Spirit and the church. They debate how much to stress unity or diversity, and they caution against reading either writer as a mere echo of the other.
Why it matters
Comparison is a basic skill of reading and of argument. Learning it with two such important writers shows how to hold similarity and difference together. The method applies to any pair of texts, and builds habits of fairness and precision.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Paul and John teach contradictory religions.
Correction: They differ in style, vocabulary and emphasis, and share central convictions. Whether any differences amount to contradiction is a matter of careful argument, not assumption.
Misunderstanding: John simply developed Paul’s ideas.
Correction: There is no clear evidence of direct dependence. They may share a common Christian tradition, and scholars debate the links.
Misunderstanding: Silence on a topic shows disagreement.
Correction: Letters and gospels have different purposes. A writer may not mention a topic because the occasion did not call for it.
Misunderstanding: A good comparison must end with one writer being preferred.
Correction: A comparison aims to describe accurately. Preferences belong to a separate step and should be labeled as such.
Knowledge check
What are the main steps of the method?
Choose a clear question and a defined set of texts; read each writer in his own context and genre; track vocabulary and themes with tables, then study how the words are used; and write lists of agreements, differences and open questions, keeping description apart from evaluation.
Why is genre important?
Paul wrote occasional letters addressing particular problems, while John wrote a gospel with narrative and long discourses. Differences of form and purpose explain much of the difference in what each says, and silence on a topic may reflect the occasion, not disagreement.
What is one difference in vocabulary between Paul and John?
In the Gospel, John uses the verb to believe about ninety-eight times but never the noun faith, while Paul uses the noun faith often. Paul uses righteousness and justify as central terms, and John hardly uses them. Both use life, love and Spirit.
What is mirror reading, and what is its risk?
Inferring the views of opponents from a writer’s replies to them. It can give useful clues, as in 1 John 4:2, but the risk is reading too much into a text and building a detailed picture on slender evidence.
Why separate description from evaluation?
Because a fair account says first what each writer says, in terms that members of any tradition could accept. Judgments about which view is better or what follows for doctrine belong to a second step and should be marked as coming from a particular tradition.
Think it through
- What assumptions about Paul and John did you bring to this course?
- How could you test whether you are reading one writer through the other’s categories?
- What would be a fair question for comparing them on the topic of the Spirit?
- Why might a church tradition favor one writer over the other?
Independent assignment
Plan a comparison
In your own notebook, write 300 to 450 words. Choose one topic (for example, love, the world, the Spirit or the future). State a precise question, list the texts you will use from Paul and from John, and design a small table of five key words with space to record their uses. Then write two paragraphs on the risks you expect and how you will avoid them. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth Read the chapters on the letters and the gospels for guidance on genre and context.
- F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Read for a traditional account of the background of Paul’s letters and John’s Gospel.
- J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines Read the early chapters to see how later writers combined Pauline and Johannine themes.
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament Read selectively on how the church received both Paul’s letters and the Johannine writings as Scripture.
- John 20:31 The stated purpose of John’s Gospel.
- Romans 15:4 Paul on the purpose of what was written.
- 1 John 4:2 A test of confession.