Ἡ κοιλία of the temple? Jn 7:38 revisited in the light of 1Kgs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15633/sts.3011Keywords:
Gospel of John, 1 Kings, Jn 7:37–39, Jerusalem temple, interior, womb, new birth, water, intertextual approachAbstract
For many years biblical scholars have been trying to answer the question of what “Scripture” is fulfilled in the Jesus’ words in Jn 7:38. Two dominant interpretative trends – christological and anthropological – are often juxtaposed as complementary. The aim of this article, based on the intertextual approach, is to show another point of reference – the description of the first temple in Jerusalem in 1Kgs 6–7, which contains an unknown architectural element rendered by the Hebrew word בֶ טֶןּּ , simi-lar in meaning to κοιλία from Jn 7:38 – as well as to analyze both the christological and anthropological aspects of showing the temple as a human body and the human body as a temple, with the particular emphasis on the symbolism of flowing water in the context of the (new) birth.
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