Comments on: How Many Signs?

By: Arlene Sheldon

Arlene Sheldon — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:38:44 +0000

Hi Paul, Thank you for your comments. In my first post, I have shown how six generally undisputed "signs" each confirm a specific metaphorical "I am" statement. Since there are seven metaphorical "I am" statements, we have one left over. It is "I am the good shepherd." On my Good Shepherd web page, I explain why Jesus entering a room when the door is locked is actually a "sign" that confirms that Jesus is the good shepherd. This discovery completes the matching of seven "signs" with seven metaphorical "I am" statements. It does not take into account non-metaphorical "I am" statements, such as "I am one with the father," or "I am; don't be afraid." It also doesn't take into account a couple of "left over" potential "signs," which include walking on water and the catch of 153 fish. Matching these up is a separate excercise. Walking on water may be a "sign" for "I and the father are one." This is because in Job it says that "the Almighty" treads upon the waves of the sea. So when Jesus walked on water, he was doing what we would expect "the Almighty" to do, suggesting that he and "the Almighty" might even be the same person. The catch of 153 fish appears to confirm that Jesus is the source of "living water." This is explained on my new web page on the Living Water. When everything is properly matched up and analyzed, the result is a seven branch menorah structure, in which the seven "I am" metaphorical statements and their corresponding "signs" form the seven branches, and walking on water appears to be part of the base of the menorah, while the catch of 153 fish appears to light the flames on top of it. The menorah structure is shown and explained on my Menorah page. There is also more information about the story of the 153 fish which is not on my web site yet, which is that the way the seven disciples are identified and described forms a little menorah structure in addition to the menorah structure described on my menorah page. So, to address your original concern, I didn't say that walking on water wasn't miraculous, or that the catch of 153 fish wasn't miraculous, I simply couldn't get them to match a metaphorical "I am" statement.

By: Paul J. Duncan

Paul J. Duncan — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:38:02 +0000

Hi Arlene, I am impressed upon by your exposition of Johannine Theology within the context of John’s mulitple “signs”. It appears that you believe that there’s not enough evidence to purport a “seventh sign” in the gospel and that Jesus walking on water wsa just an act and not explicitly a miraculous sign.

I beg to differ on the ground that whether the act was done to someone or not Jesus was demonstrating that He has power over creation which includes water on water. Let’s remember the storm that was calmed in Mark 7. I would like to here you comment in John 21 when the disciples came ashore and Jesus fed them. The question is, where did he catch the fish to feed? May be this act could then be taken as the “seventh sign”. Thank you, God bless.

By: Arlene Sheldon

Arlene Sheldon — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:19:11 +0000

I, also, have “sought to get to the bottom of the matter” as to whether there is a seventh sign that should be included with the generally undisputed six, and discovered that the six undisputed signs have one most significant characteristic in common — each serves to confirm one of the seven metaphorical ‘I am’ statements of Jesus. Here is how this works:
(1) Turning water into wine – this is what a grape vine is supposed to do, and Jesus is the true vine.
(2) Healing of the official’s son – on his way, his servants confirmed the truth, that his son would live, because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
(3) Healing of the lame man – this happened near Jerusalem’s Sheep Gate, because Jesus is the door of the sheep.
(4) Feeding of the multitude – the miraculous provision of bread occurred because Jesus is the bread of life.
(5) Healing of the man born blind – the blind man was able to see the light because Jesus is the light of the world.
(6) Raising of Lazarus – this happened because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
Now there is only one of the seven metaphorical ‘I am’ statements of Jesus which is still lacking a confirming sign – it is ‘I am the good shepherd.’ Our task at this point is to find a sign that corresponds to ‘I am the good shepherd.’ Although it certainly is not immediately obvious, this turns out to be Jesus entering a room when the door is locked. This is explained on my web page on the Good Shepherd.
Arlene Sheldon

By: This Week In Blogs « Sets ‘n’ Service

This Week In Blogs « Sets ‘n’ Service — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:45:52 +0000

[...] Andreas Kostenberger answers the question How Many Signs? of Jesus where in John’s Gospel. [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:08:02 +0000

I noticed that while the NIV has “miraculous sign” as a translation for the Greek word for “sign” in John’s Gospel, the TNIV corrected it to just “sign”. Maybe the Bible translation committee’s are listening?!

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:00:55 +0000

Dr. Köstenberger,

You made a believer out of me at SEBTS. I present these criteria for identifying a Johannine sign in my Gospel of John classes. The reviews have been mixed. Most students get hung up on the miraculous angle, although John uses the phrase “signs and wonders” only once (4:48), and then in a negative light. Anyway, I enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work.