Christ as the One Who Completes the Act of Creation in the Gospel of John: From «ἤρξατο ὁ Θεὸς ποιῆσαι» (Gen. 2, 3) to «τετέλεσται» (Jn. 19, 30)

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to prove that one of the central themes of the Prologue — the theme of creation — is not only mentioned in the Gospel, but is one of the central ones in the narrative. The author begins with the thesis, which is widespread among modern researchers, that the main idea of the Prologue of the Gospel of John — the theme of creation — is not reflected in the rest of the narrative. The author consistently proves that in fact the theme of creation is a central axis in the theological consciousness of the Evangelist, where «The work of Christ» (John 17, 5) is the completion of the «Hexameron», i. e. of the act of the creation of the world by God (see John 19, 30). The article mentions some ideas of modern authors, where the theme of the six days of creation in the book of Genesis is reflected in the Gospel text. The image-symbol «The Gardener» (see John 20, 15) is the key that leads to discovery of John’s intention: The Evangelist operates with a system of images that consistently point to the theme of creation from the Book of Genesis. The following section of the article cites some ideas of the Holy Fathers (Irenaeus of Lyons, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom), who think that the evangelist’s intention is to present Christ as the Creator of the cosmos. This article argues that the text of the Septuagint represents the process of creation as incomplete, as only the initial stage (see Genesis 2, 3: «... ὧν ἤρξατο ὁ θεὸς ποιῆσαι»). In John’s theology the continuation of the Act of creation (the Hexameron) is passed on to Christ, who accomplishes this «work» of creation (see John 17, 5). In support of this discovery, the author presents some lexicological borrowings from the initial chapters of Genesis, namely the terms «works» (τὰ ἔργα), «accomplish» (τελέω) or «create» (ποιόω): these are taken on by the Evangelist are reapplied to the mission Christ. It sheds some light on the final word of Christ «τετέλεσται» in John 19, 30. It is seen as the proclamation that the act of Genesis (1–2 chapters) is finally completed. In conclusion, the article proves that the crown of creation and the object of Christ’s mission is not so much the material world but man-humanity, in its multi-hypostatic unity: the process of creation ends at Golgotha.