The unbroken bones of the lamb of God : sacrificial overtones in the fourth Gospel

Abstract

The intent of this study is to examine the theme of Jesus as the Lamb of God as presented in the Fourth Gospel. This will be done by examining closely the passages that present Jesus in the terms of the Lamb of God. Examining carefully these passage will try to see whether the Fourth Evangelist presents the death of Jesus as an atonement and sacrifice. This study will start by analyzing the Old Testament background of the theme of the lamb and try to compare it with the message which the Fourth Gospel is conveying by means of a narrative story. The beliefs and cults of the Jewish-Old Testament texts related to sacrificial and expiatory notions will be studied so as to be able to trace a parallel between them and their usage by the Fourth Evangelist. Another important aspect that will also be tackled is the notion of sin that the Fourth Evangelist puts forward, which is different from that of the Synoptics. This will help in understanding better the attribution that the Evangelist makes to Jesus that 'he takes away the sin of the world'. The passion narratives as presented by the Fourth Evangelist will also be studied; particularly the texts that are related to the theme of the lamb and those that present Jesus as the Paschal Lamb. The perspective will be widened by comparing the vocabulary of the lamb used by the Fourth Evangelist with that of Revelation which forms part of the Johannine literature. In pursuing this task, we hope to show that the theme of the lamb joins together the Johannine literature.