'You Say that I Am a King' (John 18.37)

Heath, Jane

doi:10.1177/0142064x11435039

'You Say that I Am a King' (John 18.37)

Heath, Jane

Authors

Dr Jane Heath j.m.f.heath@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

Nestle-Aland punctuate Jn 18.37 σὺ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμι. The present article argues for voicing the text rather with the pause one word later: σὺ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμι ἐγώ. This voicing resonates with the Johannine ἐγώ εἰμι sayings, which, together with the theme of Jesus’ kingship, form a significant part of how John conveys who Jesus is throughout the Gospel narrative. If Jn 18.37 is voiced as proposed here, then the effect is to yoke together two Christologically significant expressions on Jesus’ lips, but in a way that teases the reader semantically and contributes to the challenge of Pilate’s question, ‘What is truth?’

Citation

Heath, J. (2012). 'You Say that I Am a King' (John 18.37). Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 34(3), 232-253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142064x11435039

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Mar 1, 2012
Deposit Date	Mar 8, 2012
Publicly Available Date	Apr 24, 2014
Journal	Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Print ISSN	0142-064X
Electronic ISSN	1745-5294
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	34
Issue	3
Pages	232-253
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0142064x11435039
Keywords	Ego eimi, I am, Kingship, Punctuation, John, Truth, Christology.

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Copyright Statement
The final definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 34/3 2012 © SAGE Publications Ltd at the Journal for the Study of the New Testament page: http://jnt.sagepub.com/content/34/3/232 on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/