The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Gospel of John I

[ 1 ] Anyone who observes modern intellectual life closely will find that there is a deep conflict within many people’s souls. From their earliest youth, instead of a unified worldview, they are presented with two: one through religious instruction and another through the natural sciences, which causes them to doubt the accuracy of religious traditions from the very beginning.

[ 2 ] One might think that Theosophy seeks to add a new religious creed to the existing ones. However, this is not the case. Theosophy is not a new religion, nor is it a new sect; it is more than a religion.

[ 3 ] The purpose of these lectures will be to use theosophy to demonstrate the significance of a religious text such as the Gospel of John. It is precisely in the study of this Gospel that the relationship between Theosophy and religious texts in general will become apparent. It serves to understand the religious currents existing in the world. Those who know Theosophy accept Christianity as it is, as a fact of the utmost importance for the entire spiritual life of humanity. It is only modern spiritual life that finds itself unable to grasp the depth of Christianity. Theosophy is the instrument and means without which nothing can be achieved. When we use this instrument, we can penetrate deeply into the wisdom of religious texts. One could compare Theosophy to philology. Philology, too, allows us to study the Christian texts. Theosophy, however, introduces us to the spirit of these texts. The true interpreter of Euclidean geometry is not the one who merely understands the Greek language, but the one who possesses knowledge of the geometric facts.

[ 4 ] Theosophy is not intended to be a new religion for modern man, but rather the means by which he may rediscover Christianity in its true essence. Christianity is the pinnacle of all religions. All other religions merely point to Christianity. Christianity is the religion of the future and will not be superseded by any other. The spring of truth that bubbles within it is inexhaustible. It is so powerful that, with the ongoing development of humanity, it will continually reveal new aspects of its nature. Theosophy is meant to show us Christianity from a new perspective.

[ 5 ] Four different positions can be taken regarding religious texts: First, the position of naive faith, in which a person simply adheres to the words that are given to them. Many cannot reconcile this stance with their modern way of thinking, and they then adopt the second stance: that of criticism, doubt, and rejection. This is the stance of intelligent, enlightened people. Religious truths are, for them, a thing of the past. Many of these enlightened people continue to investigate and find that there is, after all, a remarkable amount contained in these religious texts. They force themselves to adopt the third standpoint: that of the symbolist. These people interpret more or less into the religious texts, depending on their spirit and knowledge. Many former freethinkers in Germany have come to adopt this standpoint. Through theosophy, finally, the fourth standpoint becomes possible. One learns to take the religious texts literally again. We find remarkable examples of this in the study of 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 provide us with a historical portrait of Jesus of Nazareth, the Gospel of John is regarded as an apotheosis, as a magnificent poem. It contains numerous contradictions with the accounts of the other three Gospels; but these contradictions are so glaringly obvious that it cannot be assumed that the ancient defenders of the Gospel of John failed to notice them.

[ 7 ] At present, the Gospel of John is considered the least credible. The reason for this lies in the materialistic mindset of our age. In the 19th century, humanity became materialistic in its feelings and, as a consequence, in its thinking as well; for as a person feels, so he judges. Materialism is not merely the worldview expressed in the books of Büchner, Moleschott, and Vogt; even those who, as interpreters of religious texts, wish to adopt a certain spiritual standpoint, do so in a thoroughly materialistic manner. One could cite as an example the dispute between Karl Vogt and Professor Wagner of Göttingen. This dispute was fought out in its time in the “Augsburger Zeitung” and turned out entirely in Karl Vogt’s favor. In it, Wagner defended the existence of the soul, but did so in a completely materialistic manner.

[ 8 ] Because our theologians also think in materialistic terms, the three Synoptic Gospels suit them better, since a materialistic interpretation is more readily permissible in those Gospels. Materialistic thinking is averse to accepting a being who towers above all human beings. It appeals more to them to see in Jesus of Nazareth merely a noble human being, the “simple man” of Nazareth. In the Gospel of John, the perspective of seeing in Jesus only what also lives in every other human being is entirely untenable. The soul of Christ in the body of Jesus is something entirely different. The Gospel of John shows us Christ not only as a preeminent human being, but as one who encompasses the entire earth.

[ 9 ] If one translates the Gospel of John not according to the letter 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 with God in the beginning.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.

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 as a witness to testify about the light, so that through him everyone might believe.

He was not the light, but a witness to the light.

For the true light, which enlightens every person, was to come into the world.

It was in the world, and the world was made through it, yet the world did not know it.

It came to individual people, it came to the “I”-people; but the individual people, the “I”-people, did not receive it.

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

Those who believed in his name were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have heard his teaching, the teaching of the only Son of the Father, filled with devotion and truth.»

[ 10 ] In John, truth — ἀλήθεια aletheia — is Manas; devotion — Χάρις charis — is Buddhi; and wisdom — σοφία sophia — is Atma.

[ 11 ] Even the very first word is taken by modern people in an abstract sense. One imagines the primordial beginning as an abstract start. But to grasp the true meaning of this word, one must recall what was taught about it in the Christian esoteric school of Dionysius the Areopagite: Mineral, plant, animal, and human form the evolutionary series of those beings that require a physical body; above them stand beings that exist without one. These are the angels, archangels, the primordial beginnings, the powers, authorities, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim, and ever higher still.

[ 12 ] The Primordial Beings are thus real entities. This name was used to designate those entities that, at the beginning of our world’s development, had reached the stage that humanity will reach in its development during the volcanic phase. If we consider the first verse in the light of this view: “In the beginning was the Word Logos…,” we could visualize the situation through the following analogy: Before the word is spoken, it lives within us as a thought. When the word is spoken, the air surrounding us is set into vibration. If we imagine these vibrations frozen by some process, we would see the words fall to the ground as forms and shapes. We would perceive the creative power of the word with our own eyes. If the word is already creative now, this will be the case to an even greater extent in the future. Modern humans possess organs that will only attain their full significance in the future, as well as those that are already in a state of decline. The latter include the reproductive organs; the former include the heart and the larynx, both of which are only at the beginning of their development. The heart is currently an involuntary muscle, although it is striated like all voluntary muscles. This striation is already an indication that the heart is in the process of transitioning from an involuntary to a voluntary organ. The larynx is destined to become the human reproductive organ in the distant future, as paradoxical as that may sound. Just as humans can already translate their thoughts into sound waves through speech, they will one day be able to create their own likeness through the word.

[ 13 ] The Primordial Beings possessed this creative power from the very beginning of our current world’s development and can therefore rightly be regarded as divine beings. At the beginning of the Earth’s development, a divine word was spoken, and this became mineral, plant, animal, and human.