The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] In our reflection yesterday, we reached the point where we were able to understand what the baptism of the Forerunner of Christ Jesus—the baptism of John—actually was. And today it will be relatively easy for us to grasp the difference between what might be called the baptism of Christ and the baptism of John. And the very nature of Christ’s influence on the world will become clear and distinct to us precisely because we can examine this nature of the baptism of Christ—the Christ impulse—in contrast to the baptism of John.

[ 2 ] Above all, we must point out that, fundamentally speaking, the state into which a person had to enter through the baptism of John was, after all, an abnormal one compared to the ordinary, everyday state of human consciousness. We have heard, for example, that the ancient initiation was based on the fact that the human etheric body—which is otherwise firmly connected to the physical body—was, in a certain sense, lifted out of the physical body, thereby enabling the astral body to imprint its experiences upon the etheric body. This applied to the ancient initiation. And an abnormal state also had to be induced through the baptism of John. The person was immersed in water. As a result, the etheric body was, in a certain sense, separated from the physical body, so that the person could gain a vision of their life and become aware of the connection between this individual life and the realms of the divine-spiritual world. To put it more clearly, we can say: The person who was successfully pulled out of the water again knew through this process: I have a spiritual aspect within me; I am not merely a being in this physical-material body. And this spiritual aspect within me is connected to the Spirit that lies behind all other things. - He also knew that this spiritual essence that appeared to him was the same as what Moses had perceived in the fire of the burning bush and in the lightning on Mount Sinai as Yahweh, as “I Am Who I Am,” as “ehjeh asher ehjeh.” He knew all this through the baptism of John.

[ 3 ] How did such a state of consciousness differ from that of an ancient initiate? An ancient initiate, when brought into that abnormal state I described to you yesterday, perceived the ancient divine-spiritual beings who were already connected to the Earth even before that which Zarathustra called “Ahura Mazda” and Moses called “Yahweh” became connected to the Earth. Thus the ancient spiritual world from which humanity emerged—in which it still dwelt during the ancient Atlantean era, and for which the ancient Indian people yearned—the ancient gods: humanity perceived them through primeval wisdom. But the God who had kept himself aloof from the Earth for a correspondingly long time in order to act all the more effectively—who for long ages influenced it only from the outside and slowly drew near to it, so that Moses was able to perceive this approach—this God was not yet known to the ancient initiate. Only those people who were initiated in the spirit of the Old Testament initiation perceived something of the unity of all that is divine.

[ 4 ] Let us consider the state of mind of an initiate—not of the Persian or later Egyptian mysteries, but of an initiate who had also experienced what could be absorbed through Hebrew esoteric studies. Let us suppose, for example, that such an initiate had also undergone initiation on ancient Sinai—say, in an incarnation during the early Hebrew period or even earlier. There he had been guided to an understanding of the ancient divine world from which humanity had evolved. Then, armed with this ancient wisdom and this gift of observation regarding the ancient divine world, he entered the Hebrew esoteric teachings. There he learned to say something like this: “What I came to know earlier were gods who were connected to the Earth before the deity Yahweh-Christ united with the Earth.” But now I know that the foremost spirit among them—the leading spirit—is the one who approached the Earth only gradually. Thus, such an initiate came to know the identity of his spiritual world with that spiritual world in which the approaching Christ reigns. The one who was immersed in water by John did not need to be an initiate; yet through this he came to understand the connection between his individuality—who he was as a personality—and the great Father Spirit of the world. However, only a few were able to achieve this. Most, after all, needed only to accept this baptism as a symbol, merely as that which served, so to speak, to convince them—in good faith and under the significant influence of John the Baptist’s teaching—of the existence of the God Yahweh. Among those who were baptized, however, there were some who, in earlier incarnations, had already matured enough to gain some knowledge through their own observation. It was, however, an abnormal state into which man was placed by the baptism of John.

[ 5 ] John baptized with water, and this had the effect of temporarily separating the etheric body from the physical body. But John the Baptist wanted to be the forerunner of the one “who baptizes with fire and with the Spirit.” Baptism with fire and with the Spirit came to our Earth through Christ. What, then, is the difference between John’s baptism with water and Christ’s baptism with fire and the Spirit? Only those who learn such understanding from the very first principles can grasp this. For when it comes to understanding Christ, we are truly still at the very beginning today. This understanding will grow ever greater, but today people can only make the very first beginnings their own. Please have the patience to begin the path of understanding Christ with me, starting from the very basics.

[ 6 ] First, it must be pointed out that spiritual processes truly underlie all physical processes, including all human physical processes. People today will find this quite difficult to believe. The world will gradually come to understand this, and only then will it attain a full understanding of Christ. Today, even those who wish to speak of the spirit do not seriously believe in the fact that everything that happens physically within a human being is ultimately directed by the spiritual. Unconsciously—if we may use that expression—they cannot believe it, even if they wish to be idealists.

[ 7 ] For example, there is an American who carefully collects evidence that, under abnormal conditions, human beings are able to rise into a spiritual world, and through this he seeks to establish a certain foundation for a wide variety of phenomena. This American, William James, approaches the subject with the greatest thoroughness. But even the best among us can do nothing against the powerful spirit of the times. They do not want to be materialists, yet they are. This philosophy of William James has also exerted an influence on some European scholars, and for this reason, attention should be drawn to some grotesque statements by William James that corroborate what has just been said. For example, he made the following statement: “A person does not cry because they are sad, but they are sad because they cry!” — Until now, people have always held the view that one must first be sad—that is, that a mental and emotional process must take place—and only then does this mental process manifest itself in the physical body. When a tear wells up, there must be an emotional process underlying the secretion of tear fluid.

[ 8 ] Even today, when virtually everything spiritual lies buried beneath the veil of the material world and is yet to be rediscovered by a spiritual worldview, even today we still have processes within us that are legacies of an ancient time when the spiritual was even more powerful—processes that can show us in a meaningful way how the spiritual works. I usually draw attention to two things in this regard: the sense of shame and the sense of fear and terror. Let it be noted in advance that it would be easy to list here for you all the hypothetical attempts to explain these two types of experience. But that is not our concern here; and if anyone were to object to this, let them not suppose that the spiritual researcher is not also familiar with these hypotheses.

[ 9 ] We can say the following about the feeling of shame: “When a person feels ashamed, it is as if they wanted to prevent those around them from seeing something that is happening within them; it is like wanting to hide what is going on inside them in that feeling of shame. And what physical effect does this psychological experience have on a person? It brings a blush to the face; the blood rushes to the face. So what happens under the influence of a psychological-spiritual event such as the feeling of shame? A transformation, a different circulation of the blood! The blood is driven from the inside toward the periphery, outward. The course of the blood—and this is a physical fact—is altered by a spiritual-psychic fact!

[ 10 ] When a person is startled, they seek to protect themselves against something they perceive as a threat: they turn pale, and the blood withdraws from the outer surface. Once again, we have an external process caused by a mental-emotional one—by fear and shock. Remember that the blood is the expression of the “I.” What, then, will a person want to do when they see something threatening approaching? They will gather their forces and strengthen themselves at the center of their being. The “I,” which seeks to gather itself, also draws the blood back to the center of its being.

[ 11 ] Here you have physical processes as the effect of psychological and spiritual ones. Thus, the welling up of tears is also a physical process brought about by psychological and spiritual factors. It is not the case that some hidden physical influences converge to force tears out, and that a person then becomes sad when they feel the tears flowing. This is how the materialistic view turns even the simplest things upside down. If we were to go into the various physical ailments that can afflict human beings and that are connected to spiritual-psychic processes, we could multiply such cases beyond measure. But for us today, the point is to understand: Physical processes are effects of spiritual-psychic processes. And whenever a physical process appears to us as if nothing spiritual or psychological lay behind it, we must always be clear that we have simply not yet recognized the spiritual and psychological aspect.

[ 12 ] People today are not at all inclined to immediately recognize the spiritual-soul aspect. Modern researchers observe how the human being develops from the very first moment of conception, from the very earliest embryonic stages, first in the womb and later outside the mother’s body. He observes the outer physical form of the human being as it grows. And because he observes this using the methods of modern research, he comes to the conclusion that the human being first comes into being with the development of the physical form, as he observes it at conception, and he is not at all inclined to consider that spiritual processes lie behind the physical ones. He does not believe that there is anything spiritual behind the physical human embryo, nor that this spiritual aspect unites with the physical and shapes what originates from a previous incarnation. Now, one might say—if one were to rely solely on theory rather than practical experience—that perhaps some higher form of knowledge might provide insight into the fact that the spiritual lies behind the physical. But we humans simply cannot perceive the spiritual behind the physical! — So say some. Others say: But we do not want to make the efforts required of us to arrive at this knowledge of the spiritual-divine. What difference does it make to the world whether we recognize this or not! — But it is a terrible belief, indeed a terrible superstition, to think that nothing in practical life depends on such insight. We now want to make it as clear as possible that a great deal in practical life does indeed depend on this insight.

[ 13 ] Let us consider a person who refuses to acknowledge that behind everything physical in a human being there is a soul-spiritual aspect, and who also fails to understand that, for example, an enlarged physical liver expresses a spiritual reality. Another person, willing to engage with this idea—thanks to my inspiration through spiritual science—acknowledges that by penetrating into the spiritual realm, one first arrives at a sense of it, then at a belief in it, and finally at a true understanding and observation of the spiritual. So we have two people before us: one rejects the spiritual; he is content with the sensory observation of things; the other embraces what might be called the will to know the spiritual. The person who is not willing to take spiritual knowledge into himself will grow weaker and weaker, for by failing to give his spirit the necessary nourishment—and that is, solely and exclusively, knowledge—he will allow his spirit to starve, wither, and perish. Then the spirit becomes weak and cannot grow strong, and that which is independent of this spirit gains the upper hand and overwhelms the person. The person becomes powerless in the face of what takes place in his physical and etheric bodies without his intervention. The other person, however, who has the will to knowledge, nourishes his spirit; his spirit grows strong, and the spirit gains dominion over what occurs independently of him in his etheric and physical bodies. That is the essential point. We can apply this immediately to a case that plays a major role in our time.

[ 14 ] We know that human beings enter the world from two directions. Their physical body is inherited from their ancestors—from their father and mother and their forebears. Thus, human beings inherit from their ancestors certain characteristics, both good and bad, that lie precisely in the bloodline. But every time certain characteristics appear in a child through such inheritance, these characteristics are combined with the forces that the child brings with it from its previous incarnations. Now you know that today, when this or that illness occurs in a person, there is much talk of “hereditary predispositions.” What nonsense is being perpetrated today with the term “hereditary predisposition,” which is entirely justified within certain narrow limits! People invoke hereditary predispositions wherever this or that occurs in a person and wherever it can be demonstrated that it consists of traits inherited from ancestors. And because people know nothing of the spiritual forces that come from a previous incarnation and are at work within a person, they believe that these inherited predispositions possess an overwhelming strength. If people knew that something spiritual comes from the previous incarnation, they would say to themselves: “All right, we certainly believe in inherited predispositions, but we also know what inner, central forces in the soul originate from a previous life. If one strengthens and fortifies them, they gain the upper hand over the material—that is, over the inherited predispositions.”—And such a person, who is capable of rising to an understanding of the spiritual, would go on to say: No matter how strongly the inherited predispositions may act, I want to nourish the spiritual within me! Through this, I will triumph over these inherited predispositions. — But whoever does not work on the spiritual—on that which is not inherited—will, precisely because of this unbelief, fall victim to the inherited predispositions.

[ 15 ] And so, indeed, through materialistic superstition, inherited predispositions will gain more and more power over human beings. People will become mired in their inherited predispositions if they do not strengthen their spirit and thereby continually overcome what is inherited through a strong spirit. Of course, in our time, when so much has already been brought about by materialism, they must not yet overestimate the powers of the spiritual. They must not say: If that were the case, then all anthroposophists would have to be perfectly healthy people, since they believe in the spirit. — Human beings, as they exist in the world, are not merely individual beings. Human beings are immersed in the whole world, and the spiritual must also grow in strength. But once the spiritual has become weak, even in the most deeply anthroposophical person—one who nourishes the spirit as much as possible—it will not immediately enable them to triumph over the forces arising from the material realm. But all the more surely will it find expression in health and strength in the next incarnation. People will become weaker and weaker if they do not believe in the spirit, for then they surrender themselves to their inherited predispositions. They have, after all, brought about the weakness of the spiritual themselves. It all depends, in fact, on how a person relates to the spiritual. Nor should one believe that the circumstances at play here can be easily overlooked.

[ 16 ] I want to illustrate in a grotesque way how people can be mistaken when they base their judgments solely on outward appearances. Someone might say: There was a person who was a devoted follower of the anthroposophical worldview. But the ‘anthroposophists’ themselves claim that health is always improved by the anthroposophical worldview, and that it even prolongs life. What a fine doctrine! The man died at the age of forty-three! — People know this much: that the man died at the age of forty-three; they saw that. But what do people not know? They do not know when the man would have died if he had not had anthroposophy! Perhaps without anthroposophy, the man would have lived only to the age of forty. If a person’s lifespan without anthroposophy extends only to the age of forty, it can still reach forty-three with anthroposophy. And as anthroposophy permeates life more and more, its effects will already become apparent during one’s lifetime. Admittedly, if a person wants to see the effects of everything in a single life between birth and “death,” then he is simply an egoist; he wants everything solely for his own selfish purposes. But if he acquires anthroposophy for the sake of humanity, then he also has it for all the other incarnations that will follow.

[ 17 ] Now we see that by allowing his spiritual being to be influenced—when he surrenders himself to what truly comes from the Spirit—a person can at least infuse his spirit with fresh strength, so that he can make the Spirit strong and vigorous. This is what we must understand: that there is a possibility of allowing ourselves to be influenced by the spiritual and thereby increasingly becoming masters of ourselves. And now let us seek the means in the world that is most effective in our present stage of development for allowing ourselves to be influenced by the spirit.

[ 18 ] We have already pointed out, in a certain sense, how spiritual science nourishes our spirit through the methods of spiritual research. We might say: What a person takes in as spiritual nourishment is still minimal, but we also see that it can continue to grow and grow in subsequent incarnations. But this is possible only under one condition, and to understand this, let us take a look at the anthroposophical worldview itself.

[ 19 ] The anthroposophical worldview teaches us what elements, in terms of their very nature, make up the human being. It teaches us what is invisibly present in a visible human being standing before us. It then shows us how the human being passes from one life to the next in the core of their being, and how everything we bring with us from our last life—in terms of soul and spirit—is integrated into the physical-material body we have inherited from our ancestors. Anthroposophy further shows us how humanity has developed on Earth, how it has passed through the Atlantean epoch, through the preceding periods, and through the post-Atlantean cultures. It also shows us that the Earth itself has undergone transformations, that the Earth underwent an earlier incarnation in what we have called the ancient lunar state, and another before that in the ancient solar state and the Saturn state. Thus, the spiritual-scientific worldview leads us from a focus on what is immediately closest to us—what our eyes see, what our hands grasp, what our current science investigates—out to the great, all-encompassing facts of the world and, above all, into the supersensible realm. It provides people with spiritual nourishment by leading them beyond the sensory realm. Those who have delved deeper with us into this anthroposophical worldview know that for seven years we have been describing in greater detail the development of the human being, and that we have depicted in greater detail the forms of transformation of the Earth and human life across the various cultural stages. We are already able to describe these matters with such subtlety down to the finest details. And when the opportunity arises, we will delve even more deeply into these matters. We have a tableau of supersensible facts to paint before our souls. But this tableau has one more peculiarity.

[ 20 ] We also showed that our Sun split off at a certain point in time, and that the beings who were to undergo their further development on this Sun ascended to it. The leader of these solar beings is, of course, the Christ, and he is the one who, as the leader of the solar beings, goes forth with the Sun when it separates from the Earth. At that time, he first sends his power down from the Sun to the Earth. But he comes closer and closer to the Earth. Zarathustra must still see him as Ahura Mazda. Moses already sees him in the outer elements. And when Christ appears on Earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, this Christ force manifests itself in a human body. Thus, within the anthroposophical worldview—encompassing the entire panorama of reincarnation, the nature of the human being, the contemplation of the cosmos, and so on—the Christ Being stands as a central point. And anyone who views this anthroposophical worldview in the proper sense will say to themselves: I can look at all of this, but I can only understand it when the entire picture points toward the great focal point, the Christ. I have depicted the doctrine of reincarnation, the doctrine of the human races, planetary evolution, and so on in various ways, but here I have depicted the Christ-being from a single vantage point, and through this, light is shed upon everything else. It is a picture that has a central figure, and everything else relates to it; and I understand the meaning and expression of the other figures only when I understand the central figure.

[ 21 ] This is how it is with the anthroposophical worldview: We sketch a broad picture of the various facts of the spiritual world; but then we look at the central figure, Christ, and only then do we all understand the details of the picture.

[ 22 ] Those who have accompanied our development in spiritual science will sense how everything can be understood through it. Spiritual science itself will become more perfect in the future, and today’s understanding of Christ will be superseded by an even higher understanding. As a result, the power of anthroposophy will grow ever greater; but through this, the human being who absorbs this power of anthroposophy will also develop, and the dominion of the spiritual over the material within him will become ever stronger. Because human beings have the physical body they have inherited today, they can currently only elicit such reactions as blushing, turning pale, and expressions such as laughter and tears. But later he will gain ever greater power over such phenomena, and the human being will spiritualize the functions of his body from within his soul, thus placing himself in the outer world as a powerful spiritual-soul ruler. That will then be the Christ force. That is the Christ impulse working through humanity. That is the impulse which, even today, if sufficiently strengthened, can lead to what the ancient initiation led to.

[ 23 ] The old initiation took place in the following manner. First, the individual learned in its entirety everything that we learn today in anthroposophy. That was the preparation for the ancient initiation. Then all of this was brought to a certain conclusion. This conclusion was brought about by the initiate resting in the grave for three and a half days, as if dead. When his etheric body was then lifted out and he wandered through the spiritual world in his etheric body, he became a witness to the spiritual world. It was necessary, during this period when a person was first to be initiated into the spiritual worlds, for the etheric body to be lifted out so that the person, within the powers of the etheric body, could perceive the spiritual world. These powers were not previously available in the normal waking state of consciousness; the person had to be brought into an abnormal state of consciousness. Christ also brought this power to Earth for the purpose of initiation, for today it is possible for a person to become clairvoyant without the etheric body stepping out of the physical body.

[ 24 ] When a human being attains the maturity to receive such a powerful impulse from Christ that this Christ impulse—even if only for a short time—can influence the circulation of their blood, so that this Christ influence is expressed in a special blood circulation, in an influence extending into the physical realm, then that human being is capable of being initiated within the physical body. The Christ impulse is capable of this. Anyone who can truly immerse themselves in the events that took place at that time through the events in Palestine and through the Mystery of Golgotha, so deeply that they live entirely within them and they become tangible to them—so that they see this spiritually alive before them, acting as a force that imparts itself to their blood circulation—such a person attains through this experience the very same thing that was formerly attained through the emergence of the etheric body.

[ 25 ] Thus you can see that, through the Christ impulse, something has come into the world that enables human beings to act upon what causes their blood to pulse within. It is not an abnormal event, nor immersion in water, but solely the powerful influence of the Christ Individuality that is at work here. One is not baptized with any physical substance, but with a spiritual influence, without the ordinary, everyday consciousness undergoing any change. Through the Spirit that has streamed forth as the Christ impulse, something flows into the body that can otherwise only be brought about through physical-physiological development: through fire—inner fire—which expresses itself in the blood circulation. John the Baptist still immersed people; then the etheric body emerged, and the human being could look into the spiritual world. But when a human being allows the Christ impulse to take effect, this Christ impulse works in such a way that the experiences of the astral body pour into the etheric body, and the human being becomes clairvoyant.

[ 26 ] Here you have explained the expression “baptism by the Spirit and by fire.” And here you have set before you the difference between the baptism of John and the baptism of Christ, as it corresponds to the facts. Thus, a class of new initiates was made possible through the Christ impulse. In the past, people had among them a few who were the disciples of the great teachers and were initiated into the mysteries. Their etheric bodies were drawn out so that they could become witnesses to the Spirit and step forward before the others to say: There is a spiritual world—we have seen it ourselves. Just as you see the plants and stones, so have we seen the spiritual world!—These were the “eyewitnesses.” Those who were thus able to emerge from the depths of the mysteries proclaimed the gospel of the Spirit, albeit from ancient wisdom. While they led people back to the wisdom from which humanity had emerged, Christ made it possible for initiates to perceive the spiritual world while remaining within the physical body and within everyday consciousness. Through this Christ impulse, they recognized the very same truth that had become clear to the ancient initiates: that there is a spiritual world. And they, in turn, were now able to proclaim the gospel of this spiritual world. Thus, in order to become an initiate and to proclaim the gospel of the spiritual world in the new, Christ-inspired sense, it was necessary for the power that was in Christ to overflow as an impulse to the other—the disciple—who was to become the proclaimer of this power. When did such a Christ-initiate first come into being?

[ 27 ] As development progresses, the old must always be combined with the new. Thus, Christ, too, had to gradually transition the old initiation into the new. He had to create a transition, so to speak. He still had to reckon with certain aspects of the old initiation, but in such a way that everything originating from the old gods was permeated by the Christ-essence. Christ performed an initiation on the one among his disciples who was then to communicate the Gospel of Christ to the world in the deepest possible way. Such an initiation is hidden behind a narrative in the Gospel of John, behind the story of Lazarus (Chapter 2).

[ 28 ] Much has been written about this story of Lazarus—an incredible amount. But it has always been understood only by those who, through esoteric schools and their own observations, have known what lies behind it. To begin with, I would like to quote just one characteristic passage from the story of Lazarus. When Jesus is told that Lazarus is ill, he replies: “This illness is not unto death, but so that God may be revealed in him!” The illness exists for the revelation of God in him. It is only due to a misunderstanding in the translation that the word δόξα (doxa), which appears in the Greek text, has been translated as “for the glory of God.” It is not done for the glory of God, but so that God may emerge perceptibly from concealment within him! That is the correct meaning of this word. That is to say, the divine that is in Christ is to flow over into the individuality of Lazarus; the divine—the Christ-divine—is to become visible in Lazarus, through Lazarus.

[ 29 ] Only when we understand the raising of Lazarus in this way does it become fully transparent. Do not think, however, that whenever spiritual-scientific facts are communicated, it is always possible to explain them in such a way that everything is immediately obvious to everyone. What lies behind such a spiritual-scientific fact is communicated through various forms of embellishment and veiling. It must be so. For whoever wishes to come to an understanding of such a mystery must first work his way through apparent difficulties so that his spirit may be strengthened and invigorated. And it is precisely through the effort of wading through the words that one reaches the spirit behind such a matter. Think of how, when “life” is spoken of—the life that is said to have departed from Lazarus and which the sisters Martha and Mary long to have back—Jesus Christ replies: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Life is to return to Lazarus! Take everything literally for once, especially in the Gospels! We will see what emerges when we take the Gospels literally in this way. Do not speculate at all, but take the sentence literally: “I am the resurrection and the life!” What does Christ bring when he appears and raises Lazarus from the dead? What passes into Lazarus? The Christ impulse, the power that flowed forth from Christ! Christ gave life to Lazarus, just as Christ also said: “This illness is not unto death, but so that God may be made visible in him.” Just as all the ancient initiates lay as if dead for three and a half days and then God became visible within them, so too did Lazarus lie in a death-like state for three and a half days. But Christ Jesus knew full well that this marked the end of the ancient initiations. He knew that this apparent death leads to something higher—to a higher life—and that Lazarus had therefore perceived the spiritual world during that time. And since Christ is the guide in this spiritual world, Lazarus absorbed the Christ-force within himself—the vision of Christ. — You can find more details on this in my book Christianity as a Mystical Fact, where a special chapter attempts to explain the miracle of Lazarus in the light of spiritual science. — Christ poured His power into Lazarus; Lazarus rises as a new being.

[ 30 ] One word is noteworthy in the Gospel of John. In the story of the raising of Lazarus, it is said that the Lord “loved” Lazarus. The word is also used in reference to the disciple “whom the Lord loved.” What does this mean? Only the Akashic Records reveal this to us. | Who is Lazarus after he has been raised from the dead? It is the writer of the Gospel of John himself—Lazarus, who was initiated by Christ. Christ poured the message of his own being into the being of Lazarus so that this message of the fourth Gospel—the Gospel of John—might then resound out into the world as a description of the nature of Christ. That is why the Gospel of John makes no mention of the disciple John prior to the story of Lazarus. But read carefully and do not be misled by those peculiar theologians who have claimed that at a certain point in the Gospel of John—namely, in verse 3:5 of the first chapter—the name John is said to appear as a reference to the disciple John. At this point it reads:

“The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples.”

[ 31 ] Nothing—absolutely nothing—at this point suggests that the one who is later called “the disciple whom the Lord loved” is the one referred to here. This disciple does not appear in the Gospel of John until the passage where Lazarus is raised from the dead. Why is that? Because the one hidden behind the disciple “whom the Lord loved” is the same one whom the Lord had already loved earlier. He loved him so dearly because, invisibly, in his soul, he had already recognized him as his disciple—the one who would be raised from the dead and carry the message of Christ out into the world. That is why the disciple, the apostle, “whom the Lord loved,” does not appear until the account of Lazarus’s raising. It was only then that he had become so. It was then that Lazarus’s individuality had been so transformed that it had become the John-individuality in the sense of Christianity. Thus we see, in the highest sense, a baptism performed upon Lazarus by the Christ impulse itself: Lazarus became an initiate in the new sense of the word, in that the old forms—the lethargy—were retained in a certain way, thereby creating a transition from the old to the new initiation.

[ 32 ] From this you can see how deeply the Gospels reflect the spiritual truths that can be explored independently of any written records. The spiritual researcher must know that he can discover everything contained in the Gospel beforehand, independently of any written record. But when he finds in the Gospel of John what he has previously explored spiritually, then this Gospel becomes for him a document given by one who was initiated by Christ Jesus himself. That is why the Gospel of John is such a profound text.

[ 33 ] Today, it is particularly emphasized that the other evangelists differ from John in certain respects. There must be a reason for this. However, we will only discover this reason when we delve into the very essence of the other Gospels, just as we have now done with the Gospel of John. And when we penetrate to the very core of the individual Gospels, we find that the difference could only have arisen because the writer of the Gospel of John was initiated by Christ Jesus himself. This made it possible to describe the Christ impulse in the way that the writer of the Gospel of John did. And in the same way, we must explore the relationship of the other Gospel writers to the Christ and see to what extent they received the baptism of fire and the baptism of the Spirit. Only then will we discover the inner connections between the Gospel of John and the other Gospels and thus penetrate ever deeper and deeper into the spirit of the New Testament.