Spirit in the Writings of John

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Spring, 2008 by Jane S. Webster

Spirit in the Writings of John. By Trish Gates Brown. London, UK: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2003. Pp. viii 307. Paper, $59.95.

The relationship between Jesus and the Spirit is cloudy in the Fourth Gospel and the First Letter of John. Tricia Gates Brown clarifies this relationship in Spirit in the Writings of John by employing the social--scientific model of brokerage; in this way, she builds on the work of Malina and Rohrbaugh (1998) who use patron-client relations as a model for the interpretation of Johannine Christology.

In the Roman context, patron--client relations involved a simultaneous exchange of resources that were both reciprocal and mutually beneficial (25). A patron would seek clients in order to build a good reputation, to muster influence, and to receive honor (38), while a client would receive benefits of varying kinds from the patron. Because these voluntary relations usually extended over a long period of time, patrons and their clients developed strong moral and affective bonds (25-27). This relationship was often mediated by a broker, one who had "a foot in both worlds" and who represented the interests of both patron and client (96). Unlike an agent, however, a broker was an exclusive mediator between a patron and a client (194-95).

According to Brown, the brokerage model is particularly apt in understanding the relationship between God, Jesus, and the disciples (24). God acts in the role of patron, bestowing the benefits of eternal life and kinship. The disciples, in turn, demonstrate loyalty and faithfulness. Jesus, God's only son, who has a foot in both the earthly and heavenly realms, serves as the exclusive broker mediating this relationship.

Brown claims that this brokerage model also clarifies spirit sayings in the Fourth Gospel. In chapter three, she notes that the term "spirit" refers to the realm of God outside of the Farewell Discourses. For example, "spiritual birth"--made possible only through Jesus' brokerage--enables believers to pass from the earthly into the spiritual realm and to receive eternal life. Other possible brokers, such as Moses, Torah, Jacob, John the Baptist, and Nicodemus, are ineffective because Jesus alone has an "unlimited measure of spirit" (129). However, according to Brown, the use of this sense of "spirit" shifts in the Farewell Discourses (chapter four). Here, the Spirit (Paraclete) is personified and works to maintain the group and their ties to Jesus and the Father in the face of outside threats (204). Brown discusses the term parakletos at length, and challenges its traditional interpretation as a forensic term. She argues that the Paraclete is better understood as a broker, only one who is subordinate to Jesus. Although Brown sees that Johannine pneumatology functions somewhat differently within and outside of the Farewell Discourses, she sees no conflict in their basic function: the spirit legitimates and extends the function of Jesus as an exclusive broker mediating the patron--client relationship of the Father and the disciples.

It is perhaps here that Brown's case staggers somewhat. She argues that the Paraclete's function is to reassure the skittish disciples that Jesus is still an effective broker even when he is no longer with them (182). It thus "provides a way for Jesus to continue his work as broker among the disciples after he has returned to the Father" (70, 169). But if Jesus is an exclusive mediator between the patron (God) and the client (disciples), then the Paraclete becomes an additional mediator. The chain of mediation becomes longer, and the term "broker" loses some of its usefulness.

Brown's study regains some balance in her discussion of the Spirit in 1 John (chapter 5), and it is here that her argument is most valuable. When the Paraclete is understood in forensic terms only, she argues, there is a contradiction between the understanding of the Spirit in the Gospel and in the Epistle: the Gospel claims that the Spirit is the Paraclete; the Epistle claims that Jesus is the Paraclete (2:1). However, when the Paraclete is understood in the context of brokerage, the polemic of the letter is then seen to be directed against those who assert that the Spirit usurps Jesus' role as the ultimate and exclusive broker. To counter the secessionists, then, 1 John inextricably links the possession of the Spirit and the proper confession of Jesus as the Son of God, the exclusive and true broker (256-57). Brown resolves the conflict by redefining the term Paraclete as a broker.

Brown's argument makes sense of a number of difficult spirit sayings in the Gospel. One example is the seeming contradiction in John 6:63: "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless," a phrase immediately following Jesus' claim that believers must consume his flesh. When read through the lens of brokerage, however, the dichotomy of the spirit and flesh is seen to refer to brokers who come from the spiritual or earthly realm. From this perspective, the fleshly brokers are useless, but Jesus' spiritual brokerage gives life (146-49).