Semeion in the Gospel of
John
John 3:2
Excerpt
In the Gospel there is general reference to the σημεῖα of Jesus (2:23; 3:2; 6:2, 26; 9:16) and sometimes there is summary mention of their great number (11:47; 12:37; 20:30). But a few are specially emphasized. In general they are the kind of miracles expected with the dawn of the Messianic age, cf. the saying in Is. 35:5 (Mt. 11:5/Lk. 7:22). No matter how one computes the number of σημεῖα of Jesus which were particularly important for the Evangelist, those miracles which he records bear Messianic features and are thus in some sense Messianic epiphany-miracles. The miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee in Jn. 2:11, the second miracle at Cana (the healing of the son of the βασιλικός) in 4:54, the feeding of the multitude in 6:14 and the raising of Lazarus in 12:18 are all explicitly called σημεῖα. In relation to the σημεῖα mentioned in 9:16 the healing of the man born blind (9:1ff.) is to the fore, while the healing of the lame man on the Sabbath (5:1ff.) is adduced more as an example in…Kittel, Gerhard, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological dictionary of the New Testament 1964– : 245. Print.
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