Logos Bible Software Blog: Stylistic Variation or Intentional Shaping? A Look at Cha...

Page 1 of 4

February 15, 2008

Stylistic Variation or Intentional Shaping? A Look at Characterization in John

11

Today's guest post is from Dr. Steve Runge, a scholar-in-residence at Logos Bible Software, whose work focuses
on the discourse grammar of Hebrew and Greek.

Have you ever wondered about the changes in names, or the orders of names,
that you see in the New Testament? A common answer to these kinds of
questions has been that the changes represent stylistic variation by the
writers, and are not very significant. Depending on your view of inspiration, you
might not be satisfied with such an answer. I know that sometimes I vary the
names I use to refer to my kids, and there is meaning to be associated with the
changes. If they have been behaving badly while mom was out running
errands, I might say to her, Your children were . . . . You can fill in the rest. If
my wife heard these words, she would immediately know that I was not well-
pleased with them. Calling my kids your children in certain contexts has
predictable, repeatable effects.

If I were to ask my wife, Hows the most helpful and caring wife in the world
doing this morning, she will likely wonder if I am buttering her up for
something. Using these kinds of expressions to refer to my kids and my wife is
not the norm; they stand out in the context. They each serve to characterize the people they refer to in a specific
way.

About 11 years ago, this question of characterization got stuck in my craw, and it took a good bit of reading to
figure out what was going on. I found examples of it all over the Bible, but was not satisfied with the typical
answers I found. These kinds of questions ended up becoming the focus of my doctoral studies. John 11, the
chapter where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, provides a great chance to look at some of the devices that
the biblical writers used to carefully shape their words and message. The patterns they used are found not only in
Greek, but in Hebrew and many other languages as well. Understanding these devices will help us better
understand the point the writers are trying to make, and can really help you with your Bible study. So if you are
interested in learning more about this, keep reading! These concepts are part of a new resource we are working
on called the Lexham High Definition New Testament. Here is the ESV version of John 11:1-5 .

1Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It
was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. 4
But when Jesus heard it he said, This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of
God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus.

Three people are mentioned in v. 1 : Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. This is the first mention of Lazarus in Johns
gospel, so he needs to be introduced from scratch. His introduction in v. 1 could be translated something like,
'
There was this sick guy, Lazarus of Bethany . . . .'Mary is the most well-known character, which John reminds us
of in v. 2. Finally, Martha is introduced, and linked to Mary as her sister so that we know how she fits into the
story.

In v. 3, Mary and Martha are referred to collectively as the sisters. Lazarus is referred to as he whom you love.
Why not just call him Lazarus? One reason for making a change like this is to make the reader think about
Lazarus in a particular way, just like I did with my wife and kids above. In this case, the sisters are appealing to

mhtml:file://C:\D\SIL\Work\Translation\Biblical Languages\Greek\Runge, devices i... 19-Jun-2008

Logos Bible Software Blog: Stylistic Variation or Intentional Shaping? A Look at Cha... Page 2 of 4

Jesus not just to heal Lazarus. They are appealing to Jesus love for Lazarus as an encouragement for him to
come and heal their brother. Calling him he whom you love also lets us know that Jesus has a close relationship
with Lazarus, something that is important for understanding Jesus actions later in the story.

This strategy of switching from a proper name to a thematically-loaded expression is frequently used to
characterize participants in a particular way. It forces us to think about them in a way that we would not otherwise
have had in mind. Such changes are often motivated by wanting us to think about a particular person in a
particular way, based on its importance to the big idea of the passage. In the context of John 11, this thematic
characterization lets us know that when Jesus does not immediately heed the sisters request that he is not
blowing them off because he doesn'
t care about Lazarus. It also lets us know why he weeps in v. 35.

In verse 5, we learn that Jesus loves all of them, not just Lazarus. Take a look at how Lazarus, Mary and Martha
are now referred to in this verse. Do you see the changes from v. 1?

3
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

There are several of them. The order of the characters has changed, with Lazarus last and the sisters first. There
is also a change in Marys referring expression from a proper name Mary to the less-specific her sister. Do
these changes make any difference? Yes!

There are three basic reasons for switching from a proper name like this. One reason was already mentioned
above, (re)characterization. The change makes you think about the character in a particular way that is important
to the context. The second reason for changing from a proper name is to background one character with respect
to another. Most main characters are given a proper name, while less-important ones are assigned less-specific
expressions like his servant or one of the Pharisees. If both sisters had been referred to using proper names, it
would have placed Mary and Martha (and Lazarus too, for that matter) on an equal level of importance, perhaps
with the more important one occurring first in the list. In v. 5 we have both Lazarus and Martha assigned proper
names. Changing from Mary to her sister has the effect of pushing her into the background, figuratively
speaking. This raises a question. Which of the two named characters is more important, Martha or Lazarus? This
is where the third function of these name changes comes into play.

Use of her sister, either as a substitute for a proper name or as a supplement to a proper name (like Mary, her
sister), can indicate who the current '
center of attention'is. It is something like the writer putting a spotlight on the
character he wants us to focus on. Notice that Mary is linked to Martha as her sister. She also could have been
called Lazarus'sister, but this would have made us think that Lazarus is the center of attention, not Martha.

Why is she more important than Lazarus? After all, it is Lazarus who is raised from the dead, not Martha. Martha
is the center of attention because of the importance of her conversation with Jesus in vv. 20-30. This dialogue is
with Martha, not Mary, not Lazarus. John is foreshadowing this through the changes that he makes, and he uses
these kinds of devices consistently throughout his gospel. If he had called Mary by her proper name, there would
be no explicit signal about who the center of attention is. Calling her, Mary, her sister in v. 28 accomplishes the
same thing, reinforcing that attention is still focused on Martha.

When the chapter opened, Mary was the one that the village and Martha were connected to, since she was the
best-known character of the three. John needed to tell us how to connect these new characters to the story, and
he did it by connecting them to someone we already knew: Mary. However, once everyone is introduced, John
shifts gears in v. 5 to put Martha in the spotlight because of the importance of her dialogue with Jesus.

John has a point that he wants to make sure we understand, and he uses every means available to make sure
we get it. These kinds of changes are one of the many tools the biblical writers used, and they are comparable to
tools found in many other languages. The Lexham High Definition New Testament identifies the most practical of
these tools every place they occur in the New Testament. We have looked at how John used characterization in

mhtml:file://C:\D\SIL\Work\Translation\Biblical Languages\Greek\Runge, devices i... 19-Jun-2008

Logos Bible Software Blog: Stylistic Variation or Intentional Shaping? A Look at Cha... Page 3 of 4

John 11, but he is not the only writer to use this convention. Look at how Paul refers to the Father in Eph 1:3 :
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places. He is not trying to tell us which God and Father he is referring to with who has blessed us
He is characterizing God in a particular way based on its importance to what follows. He wants us to recall these
qualities and characteristics of God because of their importance to what he is about to tell us in the letter that
follows.

Now, the Greek New Testament is not the only place you find (re)characterization used to shift the center of
attention back and forth between the actors in a narrative. Most every language does this: The devices may differ
from language to language, but the basic task and its effects are the same. For some great examples of shifting
the center of attention onto different characters, take a look at Genesis 27. There are SEVEN re-characterizations
in ONE chapter. They all coincide with switches in the initiator of the action within the story. Below is a chart with
excerpts from the ESV text in one column and a description of what is going on in the other.

If you read the story, take a close look at v. 21. At the point that Isaac is not sure whether to believe Jacob or not,
there is no explicit indication of the center of attention. Once he decides to go along with Jacobs plan, Isaac is
referred to as Isaac his father in v. 22.

The same device is used in Gen 2-3 to indicate shifts in the center of attention. Take a look at how '
Eve'is
referred to. She starts as '
Adam' s wife'in 2:25, then shifts to '
the woman'as she interacts with the serpent in 3:2-
6. Then she gives the fruit to '
her husband'who eats it, which is consistent with Eve being the center of attention
(Adam was last referred to as the man in 2:25). Eve is the initiator and the center of attention for the first part of
Genesis 3, which is a shift from Genesis 2. The writer unambiguously communicates this shift through the
changes in referring expressions. When the two of them hide from the LORD God in 3:8, 'they'hear Him coming
and '
the man and his wife'hide themselves. Another switch! There is no need for saying '
the man and his wife'
since saying they would have been just as clear. But making this switch from the woman to his wife explicitly
signals the shift in center of attention from Eve to Adam just before the LORD God addresses Adam as the one
responsible for the Fall.

This are just of few examples of characterization, one of fifteen devices that is included in the soon-to-be-
prepubbed Lexham High Definition New Testament. If you found this post helpful, take a look at the post on
backgrounding of action or the making of the Lexham High Definition New Testament. Tune in next week to learn

mhtml:file://C:\D\SIL\Work\Translation\Biblical Languages\Greek\Runge, devices i... 19-Jun-2008

Logos Bible Software Blog: Stylistic Variation or Intentional Shaping? A Look at Cha... Page 4 of 4

about another practical device from this new resource that can help make a difference in your Bible study!

Update: Both products are now available for pre-order:

Lexham High Definition New Testament

Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament

mhtml:file://C:\D\SIL\Work\Translation\Biblical Languages\Greek\Runge, devices i... 19-Jun-2008