[pursue] the proper and correct role of the disciples in the world, especially with regard to their assigned mission in and to the world . . . the section makes it very clear that the disciples must carry out their assigned role in and to the world and that they must do so under the guidance and direction of Jesus himself.49
We can read, therefore, in this Gospel that “the foundation of the fellowship of the Johannine community in the divine commission to continue the witness of the Johannine Jesus kept it oriented toward the world.”50 In this sense, mission seems to be the primary task of the Johannine community.51
From this position, some scholars regard the Gospel as a missionary document for Diaspora Jews or Christian Jews.52 However, the Johannine Gospel cannot be categorized in such a narrow way. There seem to be various inner-groups in the Johannine Community, suggesting a multicultural readership.53 The Johannine community might well consist of those groups whose origins were not simply defined by ethnicity or location.54 To define the Johannine community, therefore, various aspects of its origin must be considered: a variety of classes, ethnicities, and genders and of religious, cultural, political and economic backgrounds, because the descriptions in the Gospel show the complex aspects of relationships or conflicts between the Johannine community and others. For example, many groups and individuals, with which Jesus meets in the Gospel, show a variety of relationships: Individual Jews (Jesus’ disciples and followers; particularly, women (e.g., Mary and Martha, a Samaritan woman, etc), the sick (e.g., the invalid for 38 years; the man born blind, etc), and high-ranking individuals (Nicodemus, the royal official, and Joseph of Arimathaea, etc) and Jewish groups (e.g., the Jews of Jerusalem, the disciples of John the Baptist, and the crowds, etc), and non-Jewish people (e.g., a Samaritan woman and the Samaritans,55 Greeks, Roman governor and soldiers), and so on.
The characters and groups, which seem to reflect the reality of the Johannine community,56 show complicated and complex inter-relationships in the Gospel. From these relationships we may infer that it is highly possible that, within this multiple and hybridized society, the Gospel of John was written for the Johannine community which consisted of readers who were from multicultural environments.57 Accordingly, as a missionary document, this Gospel had not only the Jews in view.58 Its target readership must be wider. It is safe to say that the Gospel was written for a community that consisted of Greek-speaking readers including Jewish and non-Jewish people, and that, to them, the christological titles were mixed into one another to reveal the identity of the Johannine Jesus more clearly.
Polemic/Apologetic Purpose of the Gospel
The second suggested purpose of the Johannine Gospel is as a polemic.59 As I mentioned in the previous chapter, the Gospel was written to justify the Johannine community in the setting of contention with the synagogue, and to strengthen the faith of readers who were suffering persecution and martyrdom under Roman rule. This implicit conflict, for example, is revealed by the comments of the high priest in John 11:49–53, and in the passion narrative where the complicated conflict is revealed sharply: the conflict between the Jewish leaders and Jesus, between Pilate and Jesus, and between Pilate and the Jewish leaders.60
Accordingly, if there is a polemic in the Gospel, it is not simply against the Jews. The Gospel of John might attempt to dialogue with a variety of groups, even though the major group was the Jews. Thus, the purpose of the composition of the Gospel can be categorized as apologetic.61 It is quite probable that John was partly “writing for a pagan audience with a philosophical and cultural interest in Eastern religion.”62 Fiorenza says,
Jews as well as Christians appealed to the Greco-Roman world and used the means and methods of Hellenistic religious propaganda. . . . The appropriation of such missionary propagandistic forms was necessary if Judaism as well as Christianity were to succeed in the face of competition from other religions, especially those of Oriental origin, as well as competition from the philosophical movements of the time.63
In this respect, Johannine Christianity was not exceptional. Cassidy also argues that John was conscious of Roman realities and provided support for Christians under Roman rule.64 It may be safe to say, therefore, that the Fourth Gospel has some apologetic characteristics. In short, the polemic (toward other Christians) and/or apologetic (toward unbelievers) purpose has its own basis in the Gospel. It is probable that the Gospel of John was written for the promotion and defense of Johannine Christianity.
Consolidation of the Johannine Community
The last suggested purpose of the Gospel, which is widely accepted, is parenetic, namely, the need to strengthen the faith of the Johannine community. This last one is related to the historical situation with which the Johannine community was faced. Although the historical situation of the Johannine Jesus in the text was related to Judaism in Palestine, that of the Johannine community was related to a multicultural society if we accept that the Gospel was written in Asia Minor, particularly in Ephesus. In other words, it is likely that the author and the readers of the Gospel belonged to the colonial environment regardless of whether it was composed in Palestine or in Asia Minor.65 Accordingly, it is acceptable that the text describes a complex and hybridized society. It is reasonable to infer from this that the readership of the text has experience of such a society whether in Palestine or in Asia Minor.
Supposing the Gospel to have a closed metaphorical system (sectarian), Meeks argues that individuals or groups outside of the Johannine community could not understand it.66 However, the Gospel of John seems not to have been unreadable and not understandable to the outsiders of the Johannine community.67 Beutler argues that the Gospel was written to deepen the faith of the Christians, as well as to encourage them to confess this faith openly in the face of conflict and trials and even death.68 In addition, McKnight’s comment on the Bible is helpful for my argument: “The Bible is read in the context of continuing communities of faith, and even readers who do not share the faith of those communities are influenced by that fact.”69 In McKnight’s explanation, the Gospel was not only read by the Johannine community (the first recipients of the Gospel). Rather, it is probable that the Gospel would be spread to readers inside and outside the Johannine community in order to be read at the same time (at least, partly because of the missionary and