The Gospel of John, especially chapters 13–17, has an especially close relationship with the book of Deuteronomy, though, of course, a wider relationship with the entire Old Testament as well, just as the synoptic Gospels. The fact that Jesus chose twelve disciples indicated clearly from the beginning that his ministry was laying the foundation for a new Israel, the kingdom that John the baptizer and Jesus himself had announced as imminent. Deuteronomy 18:15 establishes the relationship between all four Gospels and Deuteronomy: “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.” Peter declared this was fulfilled in Jesus (Ac 3:22). This puts Jesus’ entire ministry in a “Mosaic framework” and calls for close comparisons to Deuteronomy in particular.
Why Deuteronomy in particular? Because the book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ final words to the people of Israel, a long sermon delivered to the people he loved as his own flock when he knew that he would soon die (Deut 31:14). Moses imitated Jacob who called his sons before him on his deathbed to bless them. Later, Joshua and David would both speak their deathbed sermons, though David’s charge to Solomon is more particular than the sermons of Moses and Joshua (Josh 23:1–28; 1 Ki 2:1–9).
In John 13–17, John records Jesus’ last words to the Twelve (though Judas was not there most of the time because he left shortly after the foot washing (13:27–30)). It is clear from the historical, literary, and theological contexts that Jesus had Moses and the book of Deuteronomy in mind as he spoke his last words to the Twelve (minus one for most of the time), for the Upper Room Discourse historically imitates Moses’ situation and includes numerous literary and theological links to Deuteronomy.
Just as Moses’ call for Israel to love and obey was a major theme in his last words, Jesus’ appeal for his disciples to love and obey was central to his final discourse.1 In Deuteronomy, Moses emphasized Yahweh’s love for Israel, and his entire sermon was his words of love for Israel (Deut 4:32–40; 7:6–8, 12–16; 10:14–21; 23:5; 33:2–3). In the same way, John introduced the Upper Room Discourse by framing all that Jesus said that night around love: “When Jesus knew that his hour had come that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (13:1).
Jesus’ love for the disciples became the new standard for their relationships (13:34). Love for the Father manifested in obedience will bear fruit in a close relationship of love and fellowship with both the Father and the Son (14:21, 23). As the Father loved Jesus, so Jesus loved his disciples (15:9). The disciples are taught a new form of prayer in Jesus’ name because they can be sure the Father himself loves them (16:27).
There is another parallel between the book of Deuteronomy and the Upper Room Discourse, one that may be surprising: warnings of apostasy and the promise of restoration. In Deuteronomy, warnings about apostasy are virtually omnipresent.2 Moreover, these are not just warnings. In the warnings, there are clear prophecies of apostasy. Israel will turn away from Yahweh her God and serve other gods, thereby bringing upon herself the curses of the covenant: “For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands” (31:29).
But there is also a promise of restoration: “Yahweh your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where Yahweh your God has scattered you” (30:1–10, esp. 3). The prophecy of apostasy and curse is not the end of the prophetic word. Those like Jeremiah who are faithful in a time of national apostasy are given a future hope, a certain hope based on the promise of Yahweh.
The parallel in the Gospel of John is developed in a striking manner. It is individualized and personalized in two men: Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter. John 13 specifically puts these two men together, alternating back and forth between them (Judas: 13:2, 11, 18, 21, 26–30; Peter: 13:6, 8–9, 23, 36–38) and predicting apostasy for each of them (Judas: 13:21; Peter: 13:38).
These two disciples of Jesus, one of whom is the leading disciple who represents the Twelve as a whole—members of the 12 who form the foundation for the new Israel—will both betray Christ and die. Judas dies literally and eternally, the ultimate expulsion from the land. Peter dies the death of apostasy, but Jesus’ intercessory prayer shows that apostasy will not be the end of Peter’s story as it was for Judas: “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (17:12). The synoptic Gospels show us Peter’s repentance (Matt 26:75; Mk 14:72; Lk 22:61–62), and Luke records Jesus’ implicit promise that Peter would repent and lead others to repentance as well: “And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren” (22:31–32).
Thus, Judas fulfilled the story of Israel’s apostasy and exile and Peter the story of Israel’s apostasy, exile, and return. All of these stories are recorded for us as a warning that apostasy is real. However we may understand the warnings in Hebrews 6, apostasy is not a theoretical matter. The Bible witnesses abundantly that even faithful men like Solomon and Peter may deny their Lord, a fact which we should take with solemn seriousness. But these stories are also recorded to show us the greatness of God’s mercy. Even a sin as great as denying Jesus in his hour of greatest need can be forgiven. Whatever sin we have committed, however great it may be, our sins are not greater than God’s grace in Christ. If we repent, he will receive us as he did Peter.
Ralph Smith is a pastor of Mitaka Evangelical Church.
- For example, see Deuteronomy 5:10; 6:1–9; 7:6–11; 10:12–11:1, 13–22; 13:3–4; 19:9; 30:16–20, and John 14:15, 21, 23–24; 15:1–11. ↩︎
- See among others Deuteronomy 1:26–45; 4:15–28; 6:12–16; 7:1–5; 8:11–17, 19–20; 9:13–14, 24; 11:16–17, 26–28; 12:29–31; 28:15–68; 29:23–28; 30:17–18; 31:16–18, 26–29; 32:5, 15–28. ↩︎