The Rudolf Steiner Archive

3. The Gospel of John as a Certificate of Initiation I

The First Twelve Chapters of the Gospel of John

[ 1 ] Contemporary theology makes a strict distinction between the first three Gospels and the Gospel of John. The first three are called the Synoptic Gospels. In contrast, the last is often portrayed as a didactic poem that has no historical value. The crucial point, however, is that in everything in the Gospels that refers to Christ, we are dealing with a profound symbol, and that this symbol is at the same time a historically significant fact. In reality, the first three Gospels differ from the Gospel of John in that they originate from disciples who were less deeply initiated, whereas the Gospel of John originates from the disciple who was most deeply initiated.

[ 2 ] The name “John” is not mentioned directly in the Gospel of John; instead, he is referred to as “the disciple whom the Lord loved.” This designation is a key term for the most deeply initiated. The fact that certain disciples were the most intimately initiated was indicated by saying that the Master loved them.

[ 3 ] The disciple who wrote the Gospel of John begins by describing his own experience. Chapters one through twelve recount experiences in the astral world, while chapter thirteen and the following chapters describe events on the Devachan plane. This is very significant and indicative of the matter at hand. John describes the experiences on the astral plane because he believes that what Christ Jesus accomplished here on Earth can only be understood when viewed in the light of the spiritual. What the Master did and said can only be comprehended by placing oneself in a higher state of consciousness. Through inner development, a person can come to truly see in the astral world. This is achieved through very specific types of meditation. One must shut oneself off from the outside world. Then one must allow eternal truths to arise within the soul. A new world then opens up all around one.

[ 4 ] What Christ Jesus did on Earth could only be properly assessed by transporting oneself into a higher world. What one had physically experienced with Jesus only became comprehensible when perceived on the astral plane. If one wished to experience what Christ Jesus had done, one had to use appropriate Christian meditation to place oneself in a state through which one could attain a spiritual understanding of Christ.

[ 5 ] John expresses this at the very beginning of his Gospel, in the prologue. It is a meditative prayer, from the beginning up to the phrase “the darkness did not comprehend the light.” When the soul experiences the meaning contained in these phrases, the powers necessary to understand the content of chapters one through twelve are awakened. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This ancient truth was vividly portrayed in all the ancient mysteries, especially those with Egyptian influences.

[ 6 ] Words resonate through the air; otherwise, we would not hear them. The forms of the words we utter exist in the air. If, while I am speaking, the air could suddenly be frozen, the waves vibrating in the air would fall to the ground as solid, rigid bodies. The Mystery Teacher made it clear to the student: Just as a human speaks and projects his inner being into the air, so too did the World Soul speak into a much finer substance—the Akashic substance—and this substance then became solid. Everything around us is the condensed Word of God. Thus, said the Mystery Teacher, the world all around us is a frozen Word of God, a frozen Logos. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” It was still within Him; it was itself a God. Then it filled space and solidified. This Logos is now contained everywhere. All around us we have the crystals of the Logos. But as life arises, the Logos, as it were, awakens from its slumber. In the human being, it becomes the light of knowledge. When we recognize this, God—who first descended into the world—meets us from within this world. One must immerse oneself completely in order to penetrate so deeply into the world that one becomes aware: The Logos lives in the world.

[ 7 ] What originally took place was the formation of the physical human being. The spiritual human being entered into these physical human beings. Then the light shone into the darkness. But at first, the darkness did not comprehend it. Then, as human beings continue to develop, they gain access to the content of astral vision. It then becomes clear to them who Jesus the Christ was and what his teaching meant: that the time had come to bring forth a “reversed Adam.” Human beings had descended into the body, and through this came birth and death. The light then penetrated the darkness.

[ 8 ] Now humanity was to be led back to the understanding that life triumphs over death. The forerunner, John the Baptist, appeared. John the Baptist proclaims that the Old, which is still entirely marked by what the divine powers once brought forth, will now be replaced by a new kingdom. Until now, the message was: “God will destroy you if you act against His law.”—But the new kingdom is that which a person can experience within themselves when they experience God. The concept of the Old Covenant is: We must submit to God’s commandment. The New Covenant says: Human beings should voluntarily follow the God within. This is love for the good. It is prophetically foretold; it must increase. Christ, the representative of the New, must increase; John, who is only his forerunner, must decrease.

[ 9 ] Two great moments converge here. This appears in John’s vision. Everything appears there in a figurative form. At the same time, however, the real John the Baptist also appears, his historical mission unfolding before John’s mind’s eye. The entire mission of Christianity now becomes clear to him. He describes this in the first chapter.

[ 10 ] Let us look back to ancient times, to those times that lie at least two thousand years before Christ. In those days, there were sages who had advanced so far that they were initiated into the mysteries. A key symbol in this context was the offering of water. The priest of wisdom used water as a symbol. It is a law that human beings cut themselves off from the higher spiritual world through the consumption of alcohol. If a person wishes to ascend into the spiritual worlds, they must not drink wine—not even sacrificial wine.

[ 11 ] The wedding at Cana characterizes the mission of Christianity. The ancient priestly sages possessed the most sublime spiritual teachings, which had been imparted from the deepest insight. But the ancient pagan culture lacked one thing: the conquest of the physical world. Tools were still extremely primitive; the entire external culture was primitive. People had not yet established a connection with what was to happen directly here on Earth. In order for human beings to learn to master the Earth, they had to be confined to the physical realm. They were to become strong and sanctify the lower human beings.

[ 12 ] This culture is prepared by great teachers who point out the significance of the physical plane. Egyptian art is great in its spiritual conception, but not in its manifestation on the physical plane. All of Greek art is a bringing down of humanity to the physical plane. Roman law is likewise something that brings humanity down to the physical plane. The Dionysian cult is connected to all of this. The representative of wine is even depicted as a god. The introduction of wine into human development is depicted in a sublime form in the story of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. In truth, the point is to show that water stands higher than wine. Because humanity was to be brought down to the physical plane, water was turned into wine.

[ 13 ] Today, all of our institutions have descended to the physical plane. If cultural development on the physical plane is not accompanied by moral culture, then physical achievements have a destructive effect. Through the development of morality, human beings will be able to generate powers entirely different from those currently available on the physical plane. Keely set his motor in motion through vibrations he generated within his own body. Such vibrations depend on a person’s moral nature. This is a first glimmer of dawn for what will emerge as the technology of the future. In the future, we will have machines that will only be set in motion by forces emanating from morally upright people. Immoral people will then be unable to set such machines in motion. Purely mechanical mechanisms must be transformed into moral mechanisms.

[ 14 ] The humanities-based worldview paves the way for this ascent. Christianity first had to lead people downward. Now Christianity must lead humanity back upward. The wine must once again be turned into water.

[ 15 ] John’s gaze went beyond physical reality. What the Lord had done—His mission—thus appeared to the disciple John in the image of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. This is how the first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John are to be understood. It does not say that Mary asked him, but rather the mother of Jesus. We are dealing here with a mystical mode of expression. In all mysticism, “mother” refers to that which must be fertilized when a person ascends to a higher level. Jesus was to raise the entire consciousness of humanity up to that point to a higher level. The entire consciousness of humanity calls upon him to take it one step further. That is why Jesus could say, “Woman, what concern is that to me?”—Jesus would not have said that to his mother.

[ 16 ] On the third day, there was a wedding. This means that John lay in the sleep of initiation for three days. It was then that he had the vision of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. During his three-day sleep, he experienced what was taking place in the spiritual world. On the third day, he experienced the vision of the wedding at Cana. All that follows consists of events he sees in the astral vision.

[ 17 ] The third chapter contains the conversation with Nicodemus. In the astral vision, the Lord Himself always appears to John. What is to happen to John is revealed to him in the conversation with Nicodemus. The Lord speaks clearly. At first, Nicodemus does not understand him. It is to become clear to John himself—it is explained to him in the vision—that this concerns the mortification of the lower human being and the revival of the higher human being. It gradually becomes clear to him who Jesus actually is; that in Jesus the primordial forces of the world—the Father of the world—are playing out. Hence, Christ’s discourses on the Father follow here. The power of the occult forces that Jesus possesses appears to John as an astral reflection of the actual events. Everything really happened, but John experiences it in an astral vision. In this way, John comes to know the deepest truths through the Lord Himself.

[ 18 ] In the fourth chapter, the encounter with the Samaritan woman takes place. The Lord says to her: “You have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” She is to be raised up to the higher Self. To do so, she had to pass through the lower bodies. These are the former husbands. Now she must be united with the higher Self—that is, the new husband. —In the story of the man born blind, it becomes clear that it is the man’s karma that causes him to be blind.

[ 19 ] Astral experiences are the first events described in the Gospel of John. Isn’t it natural, then, that John himself is not present, since he experiences everything through his visual consciousness? John does not appear in the first twelve chapters. He is not yet the disciple there, because he is experiencing all of this on the astral plane.

[ 20 ] Now he is sleeping the sleep of initiation. He is now to be raised to a higher degree. This happens as he carries his experiences from the three days over into the fourth day. The initiation lasts three and a half days. Then his own initiation appears to him—the raising of himself. This is the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus is the writer of the Gospel of John. Martha and Mary are the states of consciousness of his soul: the divine soul and the soul turned toward earthly life. The account of the miracle of Lazarus is the account of a higher initiation. The twelfth chapter prepares the way for the true recognition of the personality of Jesus. John himself says: “Now I know him who raised me from the dead.”

[ 21 ] Chapter 13 marks the beginning of John’s higher development. Every word of the Gospel of John becomes intelligible to us when we understand it as an experience of John’s. He now becomes conscious of his “I,” without any image-based consciousness. Now he consciously becomes the disciple whom the Lord loved.