That He Might Be Revealed: Water Imagery and the Identity of Jesus in the Gospel of John

Water is a core symbol in the Gospel of John and is particularly prevalent in passages that involve the revelation of Jesus's identity. Using Richard Bauckham's category of a "Christology of Divine Identity," That He Might Be Revealed explores the way the Fourth Evangelist plays on the memory of the major water events of Israel's history and mythology in order to incorporate Jesus into the divine identity. In the water stories of the OT, the distinctive identity and abilities of Yahweh are at stake. Yahweh's victory in these events forever fuses his identity to water imagery so that control of the waters becomes one of the major markers that characterizes and distinguishes him in Jewish thought. The water imagery in John is the author's attempt to tap into this rich accumulation of images and memories to identify Jesus as God himself incarnate.