Marie-Guillemine Benoist artist QS:P170,Q118810, Innocence between Vice and Virtue by Marie-Guillemine Benoist, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons
Ethics discussions tend to be about rules (deontology), the consequences of actions (consequentialism), or virtues and moral character (virtue ethics) (Hursthouse & Pettigrove, 2023). The Bible speaks into all these categories. A study of John’s writings reveals that he presented a clear, consistent message on what is ethical living for a Christian,[1] a virtue ethical approach. This blog post will describe John’s virtue ethics, found in the Gospel of John, his letters, and in Revelation and based upon the principles of imitating Jesus, staying loyal to His family, and empowerment by the Holy Spirit, all to hold onto the zóé (or life) promised to those who believed in Him (New International Version Bible, 2011, John 20:31).
What Writings in the Bible Constitute Johannine Literature?
One view identified the Gospel of John and the three Epistles as “Johannine literature,” but excluded Revelation, with its distinct theology, vocabulary, and outlook (Lieu & DeBoer, 2018). Another view included Revelation but noted its apocalyptic genre (Johnson, 2013), a stance first articulated in the second century (Beasley-Murray, 1994; Aune, 2000). This blog post will adopt the latter approach, that the Fourth Gospel, John’s letters, and Revelation make up the Johannine corpus, and, for ease of reference, will attribute “John” as the author of all five works.
Imitating Jesus
Greco-Roman antiquity provided the background to when John wrote. Classical thinkers such as Plato and Euripides wrote of the importance of imitating God, parents, and teachers (Bennema, 2020). The principle of imitation was prevalent during John’s time and explains a lot about Johannine ethics (Bennema, 2020).
In John’s writings, the leader to be emulated was Jesus Christ (John 1:35-39). In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus’s identity was highlighted for all to consider and follow, captured in the seven “I am” statements. He is the “bread of life,” “the light of the world,” “the gate for the sheep,” “the good shepherd,” “the resurrection and the life,” “the way and the truth and the life”, and “the true vine” (John 6:35, 8:12, 10:7, 10:11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1). Even as these statements were metaphorical and embedded in the gospel’s narrative flow (Hays, 1996), they made Jesus Christ the focus of the story. He was the substance of their cognitive belief (John 6:29), the One they were to follow (1 John 2:5-6), and the firstborn among the faithful, of those who would overcome (Rev 1:5, 3:21).
Hartog (2022) explored this virtue ethical approach of imitating Jesus’ life by analyzing the text. Hartog focused on the Greek word ὀφείλω, meaning “to owe, ought, be obliged” (p. 3), found in verses about washing one another’s feet (see image below), walking as He did, and laying down our lives for our brothers (John 13:14, 1 John 2:6, 3:16). He also cited the forty-four uses of the Greek word for “as” or “just as” in the Johannine writings to model how Jesus acted just as His Father would (John 5:30, 8:28, 14:31), or how believers should act just as Jesus Himself would (John 13:34, 17:11, 17:16; I John 3:3, 3:7). When someone imitated Christ, that person became part of God’s family, along with other believers, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father as well.
Unknown artist – Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples – WGA16276, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons
The principle of imitating Jesus was more indirectly expressed in Revelation, where Jesus was the model conqueror or overcomer (Hays, 1996). Facing potential compromise, complicity, and conflict with the Roman Empire (Callahan, 2009; deSilva, 1999), early Christians drew strength from John’s exhortations. Implicit in Revelation is the message to persevere in opposition with the prevailing powers, just as Jesus overcame, not through violence but through His righteous suffering and death (Hays, 1996). Wojciechowski (2019) recognized that the moral appeal made by Revelation to imitate Christ also found indirect expression in the lists of vices that faithful overcomers avoided (Rev 9:20-21, 21:7-8, 22:14-15).
Hartog (2022) claimed that following Jesus began with cognitive thinking about Him, extended into actions performed, and included imitating Jesus’s motivations as well. Embedded in the commandments to love as Jesus did is not only the imperative to care for others, but also to assert Jesus’s disposition and inclination as one’s own (Hartog, 2022). (Having the same desire as Jesus had is the most challenging aspect of following Him for me.) Claiming personally Jesus’s motivations grounded the believer in Christ’s family, strengthening the assertion that God was the believer’s Father as well (John 8:42, I John 2:15-17). Speaking of Revelation, deSilva (1999) claimed that nothing could be more noble than having the same motivation that Jesus had, to honor God, even if that led to death on a cross. Jesus was the exemplar to imitate—in thought, in action, and in desire—creating the basis for belonging to the new family founded by Him.
Maintaining Loyalty to His Family
Family was an important metaphor in John’s paradigm (Van der Merwe, 2006). Those who acted and desired as Jesus did could claim that they belonged to Him (I John 1:5-7). Bennema (2022) spoke of belonging to this divine family, which in turn shaped and reinforced believers’ moral identity and behavior. This blended family brought human beings and God together, connected by Christ (Bennema, 2022).
A comparison of the family that Jesus spoke about in the Fourth Gospel and in Revelation illustrated the ethical importance of maintaining the family’s identity. The Gospel of John was likely written when the community was experiencing conflict with the Jewish culture from which it had originated, in the late first century (Hays, 1996). John recorded Jesus speaking directly into this context: “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). This Scripture is sometimes taken to support a general anti-Semitism, when in fact Jesus was only disapproving of a specific group, the Jews who “had believed in him [emphasis added],” those who had begun to apostatize, seeking praise from men (Stibbe, 1994; John 12:42-43).
In John’s Gospel, the cost of loyalty to Jesus’ family was social displacement caused by being expelled from the synagogue (Stibbe, 1994). In Revelation, the cost of loyalty became the risk of social, economic, and physical persecution in the context of the reign of Domitian, the context for believers then (Hays, 1996). Antipas (see image below) paid the ultimate price for upholding his identity and remaining loyal to Jesus (Rev 2:13). DeSilva (1999) described this loyalty as upholding the family honor in the face of the temptation to compromise to the imperial social and economic system. Only Jesus was worthy, but certain Christian communities, like Sardis and Laodicea (Rev 3:1-6, 14-22). were challenged to uphold their commitment to honor Him properly (deSilva, 1999). Those who overcame would reign with Him (Rev 20:4-6), having kept their clothes clean (Lichtenwalter, 2019; Rev 7:14-15) and refused all vice (Rev 21:7-8).
Unknown author, St Antipas Icon Sinai 13th century, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons
Some have criticized John’s ethics for only being about Jesus’s followers loving one another (Sanders, 1975). Others have countered that, far from espousing no socially moral ethic, Revelation called Christ followers to reject any complicity with imperial Roman society, resisting the temptations to benefit socially and financially by engaging with it (Callahan, 2009; deSilva, 1999). Callahan (2009) highlighted God’s plea to “Come out of her, my people” (Rev 18:4), to eschew participation in the economic injustice of their time. So, just as the Gospel of John called believers to follow Jesus, even if it meant leaving the synagogue, John’s Revelation called them to flee from the material temptations of their day, a plea that was required because Christians were compromising their loyalty to Him, becoming too integrated in the social and economic life of the Roman regime (Callahan, 2009).
Relying on the Holy Spirit
John wrote not only of how believers would live ethically as individuals, but also of how together they would form an ethical community, ever remembering Jesus and reliant on God’s Holy Spirit. Bennema (2022) asserted that the Spirit enabled believers to reason morally (John 16:7-15), to imitate Jesus’s example, and to continue to emulate it in community (John 14:15-26). The Holy Spirit provided contextualized guidance to specific communities, illustrated in the messages to the seven churches (Rev 2-3). The Holy Spirit guided believers into all truth (John 16:13), helped them to discern between truth and falsehood (I John 4:1-6), and inspired John to envision the new Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:10). The Holy Spirit empowered believers on a lifelong journey of virtue, with the goal of staying connected to the zóé or life that animated Jesus (Bennema, 2022).
The Goal of Zóé
A virtue ethics credited to Aristotle made the pursuit of eudaimonia (happiness) the goal (Bennema, 2022). The goal identified in John’s writings that paralleled eudaimonia is zóé, referring to both physical and spiritual life (Bennema, 2022). Zóé is what John wanted those believing in Jesus to attain (John 20:31). This life was in Jesus in the beginning (John 1:4) and what He promised to His believers in full (10:10). Four of the “I am” statements refer to life (John 6:35, 8:12, 11:25, 14:6). Life is a focus in John’s first Epistle (1 John 1:1-2, 3:14-15, 5:11-13). In Revelation, the “tree of life” (Rev 2:7, 22:2, 22:14, 22:19), “book of life” (Rev 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 21:27) and “water of life” (Rev 21:6, 22:1, 22:17) occupy great significance.
Lichtenwalter (2019) described how the concluding vision of Revelation provided a moral vision that inverted the expulsion of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:22-24. Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden, where the tree of life was located (Gen 3:22), but the coming of the new creation marked the final reconciliation with this life (Lichtenwalter, 2019). John’s virtue ethics, based on imitating Jesus’s life, upholding His family’s honor, and relying on the Holy Spirit, culminated in a final moral vision where the zóé of Jesus is tapped into, protected, and restored. Lichtenwalter (2019) asserted that the Holy Spirit graciously invited all who longed for or held the proper moral orientation to avail themselves of this life (Rev 22:17).
Conclusion
The writings of John revealed a clear, consistent message on the kind of moral character we are to embody, a virtue ethics approach. John’s is the last of the four Gospels, and Revelation the last book in the New Testament, so, in a sense, John lays claim to the Bible’s concluding word. Tracing John’s message on zóé back to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden deepens our perspective on the moral vision of the Bible (Lichtenwalter, 2019), providing a closing theme to ponder, pursuing life as Jesus Himself fulfilled. If this has merit, then the ethical message of John’s writings demands that we embody this zóé in community, in perseverance, and in hope, gained by imitating Jesus, maintaining our identity and belonging in His family, and relying on the Holy Spirit along the way. Far from just advocating for a tribal loyalty, John called followers of Jesus to separate ourselves from unbelief and injustice, holding fast to a clear moral stance. His message spoke compellingly in his time, and speaks powerfully to us today.
Questions to Consider
- Recall one way in which imitating Jesus is hard for you. Discuss this in your small group.
- How is staying loyal to the family of Jesus challenging for you? In what context (work, school, personal family) are you tempted to forsake His family’s honor? Discuss in your group.
- Is your small group imitating Jesus’s desire or motivation? What area of life needs to be addressed?
- Who is someone you know who seems Spirit-filled and God-reliant? Seek that person out and find something that you can learn from and imitate.
- Do you agree the Gospel, the letters of John, and Revelation are from one author? Why or why not?
References
Aune, D. E. (2000). Revelation, Book of. In D. N. Freedman, A.C. Myers, & A. B. Beck (Eds.), Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (pp. 1124-27). Eerdmans.
Beasley-Murray, G. R. (1994). Revelation. In G. J. Wenham, J. A. Motyer, D. A. Carson, & R. T. France (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th Edition, pp. 1421-1455). Inter-Varsity Press.
Bennema, C. (2020). Imitation in Johannine Christianity. The Expository Times, 132(3), 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014524620946610
Bennema, C. (2022). A model of Johannine ethics. Studies in Christian Ethics, 35(3), 433–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/09539468221092712
Callahan, A. (2009). Babylon boycott: The book of Revelation. Interpretation, 63(1), 48–54, 4.
deSilva, D. A. (1999). Honor discourse and the rhetorical strategy of the Apocalypse of John. Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 21(71), 79–110. https://doi-org.elibrary.johnsonu.edu/10.1177/0142064X9902107104
Hartog, P. A. (2022). Johannine ethics: An exegetical-theological summary and a ‘desiderative’ extension of mimesis. Religions, 13(6), 503, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060503
Hays, R. B. (1996). The moral vision of the New Testament: Community, cross, new creation, contemporary introduction to New Testament ethics. HarperSanFrancisco.
Hursthouse, R. & Pettigrove, G. (2023). Virtue ethics. In E.N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 ed.). Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2023/entries/ethics-virtue
Johnson, L. T. (2013). The New Testament: A very short introduction. Oxford Academic.
Lichtenwalter, L. L. (2019). The tree of life and ethics: Moral vision in John’s Apocalypse. Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 30(1–2), 144–162.
Lieu, J. M. & DeBoer, M. C. (2018). Introduction. In J. M. Lieu & M.C. DeBoer (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Johannine studies (pp.1-4). Oxford University Press.
New International Version Bible. (2011). NIV Online. https://www.biblestudytools.com/niv/
Sanders, J. T. (1975). Ethics in the New Testament. Philadelphia.
Stibbe, M. W. G. (1994). John’s Gospel. Routledge.
Van der Merwe, D. G. (2006). “A matter of having fellowship”: Ethics in the Johannine Epistles. In J.G. Van der Watt & F.S. Malan (Eds)., Identity, ethics, and ethos in the New Testament (pp. 535–563).
Wojciechowski, M. (2019). Ethics in the Revelation of John. Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia,12(1), 25–41. https://doi-org.elibrary.johnsonu.edu/10.12775/bpth.2019.001
[1] This blog post draws from coursework done in an online doctoral program on leadership studies from Johnson University, Tennessee, USA. I am grateful to my professor and fellow cohort members for their guidance and support.