Antiquity as authority: Jesus and the patriarchs in the Gospel of John by Van Dyk, SL

“…Three subsequent narratorial comparisons of Jesus with the patriarchs (John 1:1-51; 4:4-42; 8:31-59) establish his authority as one whose pre-existent divine origin surpasses the ancestral antiquity of Israel’s and Samaria’s ancestors, whose great deed of spiritual progeneration (John 1:12) surpasses the patriarchs’ progeneration of Israel, and whose revelation of God (John 1:18) surpasses their mediatorial roles.…”