The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Gospel of John I

[ 1 ] Anyone who takes a close look at modern intellectual life will find that many people are deeply conflicted. Instead of a unified worldview, they receive two in their earliest youth: one through religious education and the other through science, which from the outset gives rise to doubts about the correctness of religious traditions.

[ 2 ] One might think that Theosophy wants to add a new religious confession to the already existing old ones. But this is not the case. Theosophy is not a new religion, not a new sect, it is more than religion.

[ 3 ] The purpose of these lectures is to show, with the help of Theosophy, the significance of a religious document such as the Gospel of John. It is precisely in the consideration of this Gospel that the relationship of Theosophy to religious documents in general will become apparent. It serves to understand the religious currents that exist in the world. Those who know about Theosophy take Christianity as it is, as a fact that is of the utmost importance for the entire spiritual life of humanity. Only modern spiritual life is unable to understand the depth of Christianity. 'Theosophy is the instrument and means without which nothing can be achieved. If we use this instrument, we can penetrate deeply into the wisdom of the religious documents. One could compare theosophy with philology. Philology also allows us to study the Christian documents. Theosophy, however, introduces us to the spirit of these documents. Not only the one who understands the Greek language is the right interpreter of Euclidean geometry, but also the one who has knowledge of geometric facts.

[ 4 ] Theosophy is not meant to be a new religion for modern man, but the means by which Christianity in its true content is brought closer to him again. Christianity is the summit of all religions. All other religions point only to Christianity. Christianity is the religion of the future and will not be replaced by any other. The wellspring of truth that flows from it is inexhaustible. It is so strong that it will reveal more and more of its essence as humanity continues to develop. Theosophy should show us Christianity from a new perspective.

[ 5 ] Four different points of view can be taken regarding the religious texts: Firstly, the point of view of naive faith, whereby a person adheres only to the words that are given to him. Many cannot reconcile this point of view with their modern thinking, and they then take the second point of view: that of criticizing, doubting, and rejecting. This is the standpoint of clever, enlightened people. To them, religious truths are a viewpoint that has been overcome. Many of these enlightened people continue their research and find that there is, after all, a remarkable amount contained in these religious documents. They struggle through to the third point of view: that of the symbolists. These people interpret a lot or a little into the religious documents, depending on their mind and knowledge. Many former freethinkers in Germany have come to this point of view. Finally, the fourth point of view is made possible by theosophy. One learns to take the religious documents literally again. We find strange examples of this when we look at the Gospel of John.

[ 6 ] Among the four Gospels, the Gospel of John occupies a very special place. While the three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke give us a historical picture of Jesus of Nazareth, the gospel of John is regarded as an apotheosis, as a wonderful poem. It contains multiple contradictions to the statements of the other three gospels; but these contradictions are so obvious that it cannot be assumed that the ancient defenders of the gospel of John did not perceive them.

[ 7 ] At the present time, the Gospel of John is regarded as the least credible. The reason for this lies in the materialistic attitude of our age. In the 19th century, humanity has become materialistic in feeling and, as a consequence, also in thinking; for as man feels, so he judges. Materialism is not only the world view expressed in the books of Büchner, Moleschott and Vogt, but even those who, as interpreters of religious documents, want to take a certain spiritual point of view, do so in a completely materialistic way. As an example, one could cite the dispute between Karl Vogt and the Göttingen professor Wagner. This dispute was fought out in the Augsburger Zeitung and ended completely in favor of Karl Vogt. Wagner argued for the existence of the soul, but he did so in a completely materialistic way.

[8] Since our theologians also feel materialistic, the three gospels of the synoptics suit them better, because a materialistic interpretation is more likely to be accepted by them. Materialistic thinking resists the idea of a being that towers above all people. They are more inclined to see in Jesus of Nazareth only a noble human being, the “simple man” of Nazareth. In the Gospel of John, the point of view is quite inadmissible to see in Jesus only what lives in every other human being. The soul of Christ in the body of Jesus is something quite different. The Gospel of John shows us Christ not only as an outstanding human being, but as one who embraces the whole earth.

[ 9 ] If one translates the Gospel of John not according to the wording, but according to the spirit, the first fourteen verses read as follows:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through him, and without him nothing came into being that has come into being.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shone in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

He came for a witness, to bear witness about the Light, so that through him all might believe.

He was not the Light, but a witness of the Light.

For the true light that enlightens all men was coming into the world.

It was in the world, and the world was made through it, but the world did not recognize it.

It came to individual men, it came to the I-men; but the individual men, the I-men, did not receive it.

But those who accepted it were able to reveal themselves as children of God through it.

Those who trusted in his name did not come from blood, not from the will of the flesh and not from human will, but from God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have heard his teaching, the teaching of the only Son of the Father, full of devotion and truth.

[ 10 ] In John, truth is—ἀλήθεια aletheia - manas, devotion—Χάρις charis - buddhi and wisdom - σοφία sophia - atma.

[ 11 ] The first word is taken in an abstract sense by a modern person. One imagines the primal beginning as an abstract beginning. But in order to grasp the correct meaning of this word, one must visualize what was taught in the Christian secret school of Dionysius the Areopagite: Mineral, plant, animal and human form the developmental series of those entities that require a physical body; above them are entities that exist without one. These are the angels, archangels, the primeval beginnings or origins, the powers, authorities, dominions, thrones, cherubim and seraphim, and ever higher up.

[ 12 ] The Primordial Beginnings are therefore real entities. This name was given to those entities that were as far advanced in the beginning of our world development as humanity will be in the volcanic phase of its development. If we consider the first verse in the light of this view: “In the beginning was the Word Logos...”, we can visualize the facts by means of the following parable: Before a word is spoken, it lives in us as a thought. When the word is spoken, the surrounding air begins to vibrate. If we imagine these vibrations being solidified by some process, we would see the words falling to the ground as forms and figures. We would perceive the creative power of the word with our own eyes. If the word is already having a creative effect, then this will be even more the case in the future. Today's man possesses organs that will only reach their full potential in the future, and also organs that are already in a state of decline. The reproductive organs belong to the latter, and the heart and larynx belong to the former, both of which are only at the beginning of their development. The heart is at present an involuntary muscle, although it is striated like all voluntary muscles. This striation is already a pointer to the fact that the heart is in transition from an involuntary to a voluntary organ. The larynx is destined to become the reproductive organ of man in the distant future, however paradoxical that may sound. Just as man can already transform his thoughts into air vibrations through speech, he will one day be able to create his own image through the word.

[ 13 ] The Primordial Beginnings already possessed this creative power at the beginning of our present world development and can therefore rightly be seen as divine beings. At the beginning of the earth's development, a divine word was spoken, and this has become mineral, plant, animal and human.