Placing Human Bondage at the Center of the Johannine Community

Brian Blount laid out a portrayal of a “Johannine community” that is profoundly influenced by a Christology of “active resistance.” A look at doulos passages in the Fourth Gospel reveals important features of the first-century slave experience. The teaching of John 15 (“I no longer call you slaves”) should be interpreted alongside Jesus’s taking the role of a slave as he washed the disciples’ feet (John 13), as a reminder to Christ-followers that this new, religious community ought to envision a world in which love for one another should have implications for those who are enslaved.