The Gospel of John and Its Relation to the Other Gospels. Lecture 7 of 14.
Rudolf Steiner, Kassel, June 30, 1909:
Yesterday's
discussion brought us to a comprehension of the real nature of the baptism by
John, the Forerunner of Christ Jesus, so that it will now be comparatively easy
to understand the difference between this baptism and what we may call the
baptism by Christ; and precisely by striving to fathom this difference will the
very essence of the Christ-Impulse and its influence in the world become clear
and distinct in our minds.
We must first of
all remind ourselves that the condition to which people were reduced by the
baptism in the Jordan was, after all, an abnormal one as compared with the
ordinary, everyday state of consciousness. We learned that the old initiation,
for instance, was based upon the withdrawal, in a certain respect, of the
etheric body, which normally is firmly joined to the physical body, and that
this enabled the astral body to imprint its experiences into the etheric body.
Such was the procedure in the old initiation, and an abnormal condition had to
supervene in the baptism by John as well. The disciple was submerged in water,
resulting in a certain separation of the etheric from the physical body; and
thus he could attain to a survey of his life and become aware of the connection
of this individual life with the regions of the divine-spiritual world. To make
it a little clearer, we can say that when the submersion was successful it
produced in the disciple the conviction: I have spirit within me; I am not just
a being in this physical-material body; and this spirit within me is one with
the spirit underlying all things. — And he knew in addition that the Spirit Whom
he thus confronted was the same that Moses had perceived in the fire of the
burning bush and in the lightning on Sinai as Jahve, as I am the I AM, as
ehjeh asher ehjeh. All this was revealed to him through the baptism by
John.
Now, in what way
did this sort of consciousness differ from that of an initiate of olden times?
The latter perceived, when in the abnormal state I described yesterday, those
divine-spiritual beings that had already been connected with the earth before
Zarathustra's Ahura Mazdao — the Jahve of Moses — had united with the earth. So
what men perceived by means of the ancient wisdom was the old spiritual world
out of which man was engendered, in which he still dwelt in the old Atlantean
age, and for which the people of ancient India longed: the old Gods. Unknown,
however, to the old initiate was the God Who had long remained remote from the
earth in order ultimately to appear with deeper effect — He Who throughout long
ages influenced the earth only from without and Who then approached it
gradually, so that Moses was able to perceive the approach. Not until men were
initiated in the Old Testament way did they discern aught of the unity of all
that is divine.
Let us consider
the frame of mind of an initiate who had not only experienced what the Persian
or the later Egyptian Mysteries offered, but who in addition had passed through
all that could result from Hebrew occult research. Let us suppose, for example,
that such an initiate had also received initiation on Mount Sinai of old,
possibly in an incarnation occurring during the ancient Hebrew evolution, or
even earlier. There he had been guided to cognition of the old divine world out
of which mankind had evolved. Equipped with this primordial wisdom and its
capacity for observing the primordial divine world, he came to the Hebrew
Mysteries. There he learned what could be put somewhat as follows: The Gods I
learned to know in former times were connected with the earth before the
Divinity Jahve-Christ came to unite with it; now I know that the first and
foremost Spirit among them, the Leading Spirit, is He Who approached the earth
only gradually.
Thus an initiate
of this sort learned of the identity of his own spiritual world and the world in
which the approaching Christ reigns. He did not need the immersion by John the
Baptist, but through this act he learned to know the connection between his own
individuality — what he was as a personality — and the great Father-Spirit of
the world. Only few, to be sure, could achieve this result; indeed, most of them
only needed to take the baptism as a symbol, as something that served, so to
speak, under the powerful influence of John's teaching, to consolidate their
faith in the existence of Jahve-God. But among them were some who in earlier
incarnations had developed so far that they were now able to learn to a certain
extent from personal observation. — For all that, however, it was an abnormal
state to which the human being was reduced by John's baptism.
John baptized
with water, with the result that the etheric body was disconnected for a short
time from the physical body. But John the Baptist claimed to be the Forerunner
of Him Who baptized with fire and with the Holy Spirit. The baptism with fire
and with the Holy Spirit came to our earth through Christ. Now, what is the
difference between John's baptism with water and Christ's baptism with fire and
with the Holy Spirit? That can be understood only by one who has learned the
nature of such understanding from its very roots, for even today we are still
dependent upon first causes for a comprehension of the Christ. This
comprehension will continue to increase, but as yet men can assimilate only just
the beginnings. — I ask your patience in following me along this path, begining
with the ABCs.
First, we must
recall that spiritual processes underlie really all physical processes — even
those that pertain to the human being. For people of our day this is hard to
believe, but in time the world will learn to recognize the fact; and only then
will a full understanding of the Christ be reached. Today even those who like to
talk about spirit do not seriously believe that everything taking place in man
in a physical way is ultimately controlled by spirit. They disbelieve it
unconsciously, if I may put it that way, even when they consider themselves
idealists. There is a certain American, for example, who systematically
assembles facts intended to prove that in abnormal states man attains the
ability to ascend to a spiritual world, and thereby he endeavors to establish a
certain basis for a variety of phenomena. This American, William James by name,
goes to work most exhaustively; but even the best of men are powerless to oppose
the influential spirit of the time. They claim not to be materialists, but they
are. The philosophy of William James has influenced a number of European
scholars; and for this reason we shall point out several grotesque statements of
his that will confirm what has just been said. He maintains, among other things,
that a man does not weep because he is sad, but is sad because he weeps. Well,
hitherto people have always believed that one must first be sad; that is, that a
psycho-spiritual process must occur which only then can penetrate the physical
principle of the human body. When the tears flow there must be present a psychic
process underlying the secretion of the tear fluid.
Even today, when
everything of a spiritual nature lies as though buried under a covering of
matter and awaits rediscovery by a spiritual conception of the world, there
remain processes within us which are a heritage of primeval times when the
spiritual workings were more powerful, and which can reveal most significantly
the manner in which spirit acts. There are two phenomena to which I like to draw
attention in this connection: the sensation of shame, and that of fear, or
fright. Let it be said in advance that it would be easy to enumerate all the
hypothetical attempts to explain these two kinds of experience; but they do not
concern us here, and in connection with any objection of that sort it would be a
grave mistake to imagine the spiritual scientist to be unacquainted with these
hypotheses. Of the sensation of shame it can be said that when a person is
ashamed it is as though he were trying to prevent his environment from seeing
something that is taking place in him. Inherent in the sensation of shame is a
feeling akin to a wish to conceal something. And what is the physical effect of
this psychic experience? It causes him to blush: the blood rushes to his face.
This means that under the influence of some psycho-spiritual event, such as a
sensation of shame, a transformation, a change, results in the blood
circulation. The blood is driven from within outward, toward the periphery. Its
course is altered as the result of a psycho-spiritual event — this is a physical
fact.
And when a
person is frightened his impulse is to protect himself from something he
considers threatening: he pales, the blood withdraws from the outer surface.
Here again is an external process called forth by a psycho-spiritual one, by
fear, fright. Recall here that the blood is the expression of the ego, then ask
yourself, What would a man want to do when he sees some peril approaching? He
would assemble his forces and consolidate them in the center of his being. The
ego, with the intention of making a stand, draws the blood back into the center
of its being.
There you have
physical processes resulting from psycho-spiritual processes; and similarly, the
flow of tears is a physical process brought about by soul and spirit. It is not
a case of some mysterious physical influences joining forces and squeezing out
the tears, and of the person then becoming sad when he feels the tears flow.
That is an example of the way a materialistic view turns the simplest things
upside-down. Were we to go into the matter of various ills — even physical ones
— which can affect human beings and which are connected with psycho-spiritual
processes, we could multiply such instances indefinitely. But what concerns us
at the moment is to understand that physical processes are effects of
psycho-spiritual processes; and that whenever this does not appear to be the
case we must realize that we have simply not yet recognized the underlying
psycho-spiritual principle. Present-day man is not at all inclined to recognize
this principle offhand. The modern scientist can observe the development of the
human being, beginning with the moment of conception, from the very first
embryonic stages in the mother's womb, then outside the maternal body; he sees
the outer physical form grow and expand. And on the basis of present-day
research he concludes that the genesis of a human being starts with the
development of the physical form as he sees it at conception: he is averse to
considering the fact that spiritual processes underlie the physical ones. He
does not believe that back of the physical human embryo there is something
spiritual, that this unites with the physical and then develops what derives
from a former incarnation.
One who lays
store by theory but ignores practical life might here object: Well, it may be
possible that some higher form of cognition can discern spirit underlying
matter, but we human beings simply cannot recognize it. — That is one attitude.
Others say: But we don't want to make the effort which we are told is necessary
for attaining to a knowledge of the divine-spiritual! What difference does it
make in the world whether we know that or not? — But it is a grave error, a dire
superstition, to imagine that in practical life such knowledge is of no
consequence. On the contrary, we shall proceed to show as clearly as possible
how very much depends upon it.
Suppose we have
a man who refuses to consider the idea that a psycho-spiritual principle
underlies all that is physical in the human being, who fails to understand, for
instance, that the enlargement of a physical liver is the expression of
something spiritual. Another man — stimulated by spiritual science, if you like
— readily accepts the possibility that by penetrating into the realm of spirit
one may arrive first at an inkling, then at faith, and finally at cognition and
vision of spirit. Thus we have two men, one of whom rejects spirit, being
satisfied with sense observation, while the other follows what we may call the
will to achieve cognition of spirit. The one who refuses spiritual enlightenment
will grow ever weaker, for he will be letting his spirit starve, wilt, and
perish for lack of adequate nourishment which such enlightenment alone can
provide. His spirit will lose strength — it cannot gain it; and everything that
functions apart from this spirit will gain the upper hand and overpower him. He
will become feeble in meeting all that takes place without his agency in his
physical and etheric bodies. But the other, he who has the will to cognition,
furnishes nourishment for his spirit which consequently gains strength and
mastery over all that occurs independently in his etheric and physical bodies. —
That is the most important point, and one which we shall presently be able to
apply to a prominent case of our own day.
We know that
upon entering the world the human being springs from two sources. His physical
body is inherited from his ancestors, from his father and mother and their
forbears. He inherits certain traits, good or bad, that are simply inherent in
the blood, in the line of descent. But in every case of this sort the forces a
child brings along from his previous incarnation unite with these inherited
qualities. Now, you know that today a great deal is talked about “hereditary
tendencies” whenever some disease or other makes its appearance. How this term
is abused nowadays — though it is quite justified within a narrow scope!
Whenever anything crops up that can be proved to have been an attribute of some
ancestor, hereditary tendencies are invoked; and because people know nothing of
active spiritual forces derived from the previous incarnation they endow these
inherited tendencies with overwhelming power. If they knew that a spiritual
factor accompanied us from our previous incarnation they would say, Well and
good: we believe absolutely in hereditary tendencies, but we know as well what
stems from the previous incarnation in the way of inner, central soul forces,
and that if sufficiently strengthened and invigorated these will gain the upper
hand over matter — that is, over hereditary tendencies. — And such a man,
capable of rising to the cognition of spirit, would continue: No matter how
powerfully the inherited tendencies affect me, I shall provide nourishment for
the spirit in me; for in this way I shall master them. — But anyone who does not
work upon his spiritual nature, upon that which is not inherited, will
positively fall a prey to inherited tendencies as a result of such lack of
faith; and in this way materialistic superstition will actually bring about a
steady increase in their power over us. We shall be engulfed in the quagmire of
hereditary tendencies unless we fortify our spirit and, by means of a strong
spirit, vanquish each time anew whatever is inherited.
In our time,
when the consequences of materialism are so formidable, you must naturally still
guard against overestimating the power of spirit. It would be a mistake to
object, If that were the case, all anthroposophists would be bursting with
health, for they believe in the spirit. Man's position on the earth is not only
that of an individual being: he is a part of the whole world; and spirit, like
all else, must grow in strength. But once spirit has become debilitated, as at
present, it will not at once affect even the most anthroposophical of men — no
matter how much nourishment he furnishes the spirit — to such an extent that he
can overcome what springs from material sources; yet all the more surely will
this tell in his next incarnation, as expressed in his health and strength. Men
will grow weaker and weaker unless they believe in the spirit, for otherwise
they deliver themselves over to their inherited tendencies. They themselves have
effected this weakening of their spirit, because everything here concerned
depends upon their attitude toward spirit.
Nor should one
imagine it an easy matter to correlate all the conditions here involved. I will
give you a grotesque instance of the extent to which a man who judges only by
externals may be in error. He might say: There was a man who had been an ardent
adherent of the anthroposophical Weltanschauung. Now it is precisely the
anthroposophists who maintain that anthroposophy invariably improves the health
and even prolongs life. A fine doctrine, that: the man dies at the age of
forty-three! — That much people know: the man died at forty-three — they
witnessed it. But what is it that they do not know? They do not know when he
would have died without anthroposophy. Maybe he would have only lived to be
forty: if a man's life span were forty years lacking anthroposophy, it might
well reach forty-three with its aid. When anthroposophy will have come to
permeate life in general its effects will not fail to become manifest. True, if
a man wants to see all its fruits in one life between birth and death he is
simply an egotist: he wants everything for his own selfish purposes. But if he
attains to anthroposophy for the benefit of mankind he will have it through all
his future incarnations.
Thus we see that
by influencing his spiritual being, by yielding himself to what really derives
from spirit, man can at least provide new strength for his spirit, can make it
strong and vigorous. That is what we must understand: it is possible to let
ourselves be influenced by spirit and thereby become ever more completely master
within ourselves.
Now let us seek
the means most efficacious for receiving the influence of spirit in our present
stage of evolution. We have already pointed out that spiritual science, by means
of spiritual research, nourishes our spirit. We might say, what man can thus
receive in the way of spiritual nourishment is as yet but little; but we also
understand now that it can keep growing and growing in our subsequent
incarnations. This, however, presupposes one condition; and in order to become
acquainted with it we will turn to the anthroposophical Weltanschauung
itself.
The
anthroposophical Weltanschauung teaches us the principles that constitute
man in respect of his being; it tells us of what remains invisible in a visible
man we confront; and it then shows us how, as regards the core of his being, he
passes on from one life to another, how all that he brings along from his last
life in the way of soul and spirit is organically introduced into the physical,
material elements inherited from his ancestors. Anthroposophy further discloses
the way in which mankind has developed on the earth and describes its life in
the Atlantean time, the preceding periods, and the post-Atlantean cultural
epochs. It tells us of the transformations undergone by the Earth itself:
of its earlier embodiment which we called the old Moon phase, of the
still earlier Sun phase, the Saturn phase, and so forth. In this
way the spiritual-scientific Weltanschauung releases us from our clinging
to the merely obvious — what our eyes see, our hands touch, and what our present
science investigates — and leads us out into the vast, comprehensive phenomena
of the world, but particularly into the supersensible realm. By doing this it
provides man with spiritual nourishment.
Those of you who
have accompanied us at all extensively into this anthroposophical
Weltanschauung know that during the past seven years we have elaborated
the evolution of man more in detail, described more fully the various
transformations of the Earth and the life of man in the different cultural
stages. It really is possible in our time to give descriptions as subtle and
detailed as those presented there; and if the opportunity arises we shall enter
more fully into such matters.
There we have a
tableau of supersensible facts that must be painted for the eye of the soul. But
there is a certain peculiarity connected with this tableau. Among other things,
we learned that our sun split off at a given time, together with the beings
destined there to pursue their immediate further development. Now, the leader of
these sun beings is the Christ; and as their leader He withdrew with the sun
when it separated from the earth. For a time He then sent His force down to
earth from the sun; but He kept gradually approaching the earth. In
Zarathustra's time He could still be seen only as Ahura Mazdao, but Moses
perceived Him in the outer elements; and when this Christ force finally
appeared on earth, it appeared in a human body, in Jesus of Nazareth.
That is why the
anthroposophical Weltanschauung sees the Christ Being as a sort of
central point in the whole panorama of reincarnation, of the being of man, of
our contemplation of the cosmos, and so forth and so on. And whoever studies
this anthroposophical Weltanschauung in its true sense will say to
himself: I can contemplate all that, but I can comprehend it only when the whole
immense picture focuses at the great central point, at the Christ. I have
pictured in different ways the doctrine of reincarnation, of the various human
races, of planetary evolution, and so forth; but the Being of Christ is here
painted from a single point of view, and this sheds light on all else. It is a
picture with a central figure to which everything else is related, and I can
fathom the significance and expression of the other figures only if I understand
the main figure.
That is the way
the anthroposophical Weltanschauung goes about it. We project a great
picture of the various phenomena of the spiritual world; but then we concentrate
upon the principal figure, upon the Christ, and only then do the details of the
picture become intelligible.
All those who
have taken part in our spiritual-scientific development will sense the
possibility of understanding it all in this way. Spiritual science itself will
become more perfect in the future, and our present comprehension of Christ will
be superseded by a far loftier one. The power of anthroposophy will thereby
continue to grow, but with it will also proceed the development of those who are
open to this power; and the mastery of their spirit over their material nature
will gain ever greater strength. Burdened as he is with an inherited body such
as this is today, a man can call forth only such processes as blushing, paling,
and phenomena like laughing and crying, but in time he will gain ever greater
power over them: out of his soul he will spiritualize his bodily functions and
thus take his place in the outer world as a mighty ruler of soul and spirit.
That will be the Christ power, the Christ-Impulse, acting through the agency of
mankind. And it is the impulse which even today, if sufficiently intensified,
can lead to the same results as did the ancient initiation.
The procedure of
the old initiation was as follows: The candidate first learned comprehensively
all that today we are taught by anthroposophy. That was the preparation for the
old initiation. Then the sum of his attainments was directed toward a definite
end which was achieved by having him lie in a grave for three and a half days,
as though dead. When his etheric body was withdrawn and, in his etheric body, he
moved about in the spiritual world, he became a witness to this spiritual world.
In order that in the sphere of his etheric forces he might behold the spiritual
world, thus achieving initiation, it was necessary at that time to withdraw the
etheric body. Formerly these forces were not available in the normal state of
waking consciousness: the neophyte had to be reduced to an abnormal condition.
But among the forces Christ brought to earth is also this force needed for
initiation; and today it is possible to become clairvoyant without the
withdrawal of the etheric body.
When a person is
sufficiently developed to receive so strong an impulse from the Christ, even
for a short time, as to affect the circulation of his blood — this Christ
influence expressing itself in a special form of circulation, an influence
penetrating even the physical principle — then he is in a position to be
initiated within the physical body: the Christ-Impulse has the power to bring
this about. Anyone who can become so profoundly absorbed in what occurred as a
result of the Event of Palestine and the Mystery of Golgotha as to live
completely in it and to see it objectively, see it so spiritually alive that it
acts as a force communicating itself even to his circulation, such a man
achieves through this experience the same result that was formerly brought about
by the withdrawal of the etheric body.
You see, then,
that through the Christ impulse something has come to earth which enables the
human being to influence the force that causes his blood to pulsate through his
body. What is here active is no abnormal event, no submersion in water, but
solely the mighty influence of the Christ-Individuality. No physical substance
is involved in this baptism — nothing but a spiritual influence: and the
ordinary, everyday consciousness undergoes no change. Through the spirit that
streams forth as the Christ impulse something flows into the body, something
that can otherwise be induced only by way of psycho-physiological development
through fire: an inner fire expressing itself in the circulation of the blood.
John still baptized by submersion, with the result that the etheric body
withdrew and the spiritual world was revealed. But if a man opens his soul to
the Christ impulse, this impulse acts in such a way that the experiences of the
astral body flow over into the etheric body, and clairvoyance results.
There you have
the explanation of the phrase “to baptize with the spirit and with fire”, and
those are the facts concerning the difference between the John baptism and the
Christ baptism. The Christ impulse made it possible for a new class of initiates
to come into being. Formerly there existed among mankind a mere handful who were
disciples of the great teachers and were inducted into the Mysteries. Their
etheric body was withdrawn to enable them to become witnesses to the spirit, and
then to step forth and proclaim, There is a spiritual world! We have seen it for
ourselves. Just as you see the plants and the stones, so we have seen the
spiritual world. — Those were the “eye witnesses”; and the neophytes who thus
emerged as initiates from the obscurity of the Mysteries proclaimed the gospel
of the spirit, though only out of a primeval wisdom.
But while the
old initiates guided people back to a wisdom out of which man had originally
come forth, Christ opened the way for initiates capable of arriving at a vision
of the spiritual world within the confines of the physical body and within the
everyday state of consciousness. These new initiates learned through the Christ
impulse the same fact that had revealed itself to the old ones, namely, that
there is a spiritual world; and then they, in their turn, could proclaim its
gospel. What was therefore needed to become an initiate and to proclaim the
gospel of the spiritual world in a new sense, in the Christ sense, was that the
force which was in the Christ should stream over as an impulse into the
disciple, who had then to disseminate it.
When did a
Christ initiate of this kind first arise? In all evolution the old must be
merged with the new, and thus even Christ had to transform the old initiation
into the new one gradually. He had to create a transition, so to speak; He had
to take into account certain procedures of the old initiation, but in such a way
that everything deriving from the old gods should be suffused by the Christ
Being.
Christ undertook
the initiation of that disciple who was to communicate to the world the Gospel
of the Christ in the most profound way. An initiation of this sort lies
concealed behind one of the narratives in the Gospel of St. John, behind the
story of Lazarus.
Much has been
written about this story of Lazarus — an incredible amount; but only those have
comprehended it who have known, either through esoteric schooling or from their
own contemplation, what it conceals. For the moment I shall only quote you one
characteristic utterance from this story. When Christ Jesus was told that
Lazarus lay sick, He replied:
This sickness
is not unto death, but that the God may be manifest in him.
His sickness is
for the purpose of manifesting the God in him. It was only due to a lack of
understanding that the word dóxa, given in the Greek text, was translated
with “for the glory of God”. Not for the glory of God was this ordained, but
that the God in him might emerge and become manifest. That is the true meaning
of this utterance: the divine that is in Christ is to flow over into the
individuality of Lazarus; the divine, the Christ Divinity, is to be revealed in
and through him.
Only by
understanding the resurrection of Lazarus in this sense does it become wholly
clear. Do not imagine for a moment, however, that in communicating
spiritual-scientific truths it is possible to speak so openly that everything
can be made obvious to all and sundry. What is concealed behind a
spiritual-scientific fact of that sort is communicated under many a veil of
reservation. That is inevitable; for anyone who would attain to an understanding
of such a mystery should first work his way through all difficulties appearing
in the way, in order to strengthen and invigorate his spirit. And precisely
because it is laborious to find his way through the maze of words will he arrive
at the underlying spirit.
Recall the
passage dealing with the "life" which was supposed to have left Lazarus and
which his sisters Martha and Mary longed to have back. Christ Jesus said unto
them: I am the resurrection, and the life. Life is to reappear in
Lazarus. You have but to take everything literally, especially in the Gospels,
and you will see what all comes to light. Do not speculate or interpret, but
take in its literal meaning the sentence “I am the resurrection. and the life”.
When Christ appears and raises Lazarus, what does He bring to bear? What is it
that passes over into Lazarus? It is the Christ impulse, the force flowing forth
from the Christ. What Christ gave Lazarus was the life. Indeed, Christ
had said “This sickness is not unto death, but that the God may be manifest in
him.” Just as all the old initiates lay as dead for three and a half days, and
then the God became manifest in them, so Lazarus lay in a deathlike state for
the same period; but Christ Jesus was well aware that with this act the old
initiations would come to an end. He knew that this ostensible death led to
something higher, to a higher life: that during this period Lazarus had beheld
the spiritual world; and because the leader of this spiritual world is the
Christ, Lazarus received into himself the Christ force, the vision of the
Christ. Christ pours his force into Lazarus, and Lazarus arises another man.[1]
There is one
particularly noteworthy word in the St. John Gospel: in the story of the Lazarus
mystery it is said that the Lord “loved” Lazarus; and the word is again applied
to the disciple “whom the Lord loved”. What does that mean? Only the akashic
record can tell us. Who is Lazarus after his resurrection? He is himself the
writer of the John Gospel, Lazarus, who had been initiated by Christ. Christ had
poured the message of His own being into the being of Lazarus in order that the
message of the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel of St. John, might resound through the
world as the delineation of the being of Christ. That is why no disciple John is
mentioned in this Gospel before the story of Lazarus. But you must read
carefully and not be misled by those curious theologians who have discovered
that at a certain spot in the Gospel of St. John — namely, in the thirty-fifth
verse of the first chapter — the name John is supposed to appear as an
indication of the presence of the disciple John. It says there:
Again the
next day after John stood, and two of his disciples. There is nothing in
this passage, nothing whatever, to suggest that the disciple who later is called
the one “whom the Lord loved” is meant here. That disciple does not appear in
the John Gospel before the resurrection of Lazarus. Why? Because he who remained
hidden behind “the disciple whom the Lord loved” was one whom the Lord had
already loved previously. He loved him so greatly because He had already
recognized him — invisibly, in his soul — as the disciple who was to be awakened
and carry the message of the Christ out into the world. That is why the
disciple, the apostle, “whom the Lord loved” appears on the scene only beginning
with the description of the resurrection of Lazarus. Only then had he become
what he was thenceforth. Now the individuality of Lazarus had been so completely
transformed that it became the individuality of John in the Christian sense.
Thus we see that in its loftiest meaning a baptism through the Christ impulse
itself had been performed upon Lazarus: Lazarus became an initiate in the new
sense of the word, while at the same time the old form, the old lethargy, had
been retained in a certain way and a transition thus created from the old to the
new initiation.
This will show
you the profundity with which the Gospels reflect spiritual truths that can be
brought to light through research, independently of any documents. The spiritual
scientist knows that he can find beforehand anything the Gospels contain,
without reference to documents. But when he finds again in the John Gospel what
he had previously discovered by spiritual means, this Gospel becomes for him a
document revealed by Christ Jesus' own initiate. That is why the Gospel of St.
John is so profound a work.
Nowadays it is
specially emphasized that the other Gospels differ in certain respects from that
of St. John. There must be a reason for this; but we shall find it only when we
penetrate to the core of the other Gospels as we have now done in the case of
St. John. And what we discover by so doing is that the difference could arise
only from the fact that the author of the John Gospel was initiated by Christ
Jesus Himself. Only because of this was it possible to delineate the Christ
impulse as John did. And we must examine in like manner the relation of the
other Gospel writers to Christ and discover to what extent they received the
baptism by fire and by the spirit. Then only will we find the inner connections
between the Gospel of St. John and the other Gospels, and so penetrate ever
deeper into the spirit of the New Testament.
Translator's Notes:
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