

























74 

6 

THE RELEVANCE OF EXPERIENTIAL 

KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS IN SEMINARY 

FORMATION IN THE LIGHT OF               

JOHN 14:1-14 
 

Vincent OJO, Ph.D 
Head, Department of Theology, 

Seminary of All Saints, Uhiele-Ekpoma 
ovbpres@yahoo.com 

 
Abstract 
The formation of the human person has always been a herculean labour 
as a result of the complex nature of human beings. The human specie 
has similarities with other animal species but some other features 
radically distinguish human beings from other living beings. 
Outstanding of these features is the power of reasoning and freewill. The 
human person can make decisions based on the level of reasoning and 
disposition. The formation of the human person can never be imposed as 
a result of the freewill. This means the human person can be impervious 
to formation passing through the person. John 14:1-14 presents a 
conversation between Jesus and his disciples about his imminent return 
to his father. In this pericope, Jesus takes up both Thomas and Philip 
over their shallow knowledge of him in spite of their closeness to him. 
Thomas did not know that Jesus is the way and Philip failed to see God 
in Jesus. Their familiarity with Jesus did not simply afford them this 
experiential knowledge. This paper opines that it is a possibility for 
seminarians to spend years in the seminary learning about Jesus without 
actually knowing him. Experiential knowledge of Jesus is different from 
academic knowledge. Academic knowledge is necessary in as much as it 
leads to the experiential knowledge. The danger, however, comes when 
the knowledge the seminarian has of Jesus during his seminary 
formation is limited to the academic knowledge. This can hamper his 
effectiveness as a priest in the 21st century. 
 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    75 

Keywords: Experiential knowledge, Jesus, Seminary Formation, John 
  
Introduction 
Seminary formation is the process young men aspiring to become 
Catholic priests pass through in order to become priests in the Catholic 
Church. Seminary formation affords the candidates for the priesthood to 
acquaint themselves with the essential doctrines of the Church which 
have their basis in the scriptures. Seminarians, in the course of their 
seminary training, are given formation in four crucial areas namely 
human, pastoral, spiritual and academic. They are to be well-grounded in 
these four areas so as to be effective ministers of both the word and 
sacraments after their ordination. These areas are integral to the wholistic 
formation of candidates for the priesthood. They are thus to immerse 
themselves in formation and not lag behind in any of these four areas. 
However, experiences have shown that it is possible to go through the 
entire seminary formation without necessarily allowing the formation to 
permeate one’s life. In other words, one may pass through the seminary 
without the seminary passing through the person. We may, therefore, 
have intelligent and hard- working priests who act only like 
functionaries. They know a lot about Jesus and can talk so much about 
him too. However, in all their dealings as priests, something still seems 
to be missing. They lack that inner touch that only someone with a 
personal knowledge of Jesus and an intimate relationship with him can 
have. This is what this write-up is all about- experiential knowledge of 
Jesus. The bone of contention is: how can the academic knowledge of 
Jesus be transformed into experiential knowledge? It is the stance of this 
writer that if the candidates for the priesthood are able to have the 
experiential knowledge of Jesus before leaving the seminary, they would 
be in a better position to “bring all to Christ and Christ to all”. 
 
Definition of Terms 
For an easy understanding of this work, some terms that are operational 
are clarified and their use explained. The words are experiential 
knowledge and seminary formation. 
 
Experiential Knowledge 
According to The New International Webster”s Comprehensive 
Dictionary of the English Language, experience is “knowledge derived 
from one’s own action, practice, perception, enjoyment, or suffering”1. 
This means that experience is something personal to the individual and 
must come from one’s perception of reality. Experiential too has been 
defined as “pertaining to or acquired by experience; empirical”2.  This 
also suggests that experiential emanates from experience. It is empirical 



76 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

and not abstract. Knowledge on the other hand is defined as “a result or 
product of knowing; information or understanding acquired through 
experience”.3 There is another aspect of knowledge which the Dictionary 
points out namely that it is “information; learning; specifically, the 
cumulative culture of the human race”.4 Knowledge, therefore, is the 
accumulation of all that is learnt either through learning or experience. 
Bearing the foregoing in mind, experiential knowledge as used in this 
work refers to that knowledge that is gotten from experience rather than 
one that is gotten from mere learning through academics. 
 
Seminary Formation 
Seminary formation refers to that process whereby young and interested 
men are trained towards becoming priests in the Catholic Church. They 
undergo some rigorous training in both philosophy and theology and 
thus become mature intellectually and otherwise to be able to proceed to 
the priesthood. Seminary formation spans some few years of aspirancy, 
spiritual year, philosophical studies, pastoral year and theological studies. 
It also involves the work of discernment on the part of the formators 
who together with the rector have the responsibility to recommend 
candidates to the bishops for ordination at the end of their training. 
Seminary formation, therefore, as used in this paper refers to the training 
of young men for the Catholic celibate priesthood. 
 
John 14:1-14: The conversation between Jesus and his disciples 
In this passage, Jesus engages hi disciples in a conversation during which 
he tells them that he is about to leave them and return to his father. He 
assures them that he would not abandon them but would go and prepare 
a place for them so that where he is going, they too would follow later. 
This is because they know the way to the place. It was at this point that 
the first scandal occurred. Thomas, one of the disciples listening to Jesus 
betrayed his ignorance about the way. He says: “Lord, we do not know 
where you are going. How can we know the way?” (v.5). At this culpable 
ignorance of Thomas, Jesus does not hide his disappointment. However, 
he seizes the opportunity to teach them that he is the way (ego eimi he 
hodos), the truth (kai he aletheia) and the life (kai he zoe) (v.6). He 
continues by saying “no one comes to the Father except through me”. 
This means that the knowledge of the Father is in the Son and that of the 
Son is in the Father. So, if the disciples truly know Jesus, they have 
known his Father as well (v.7). In the words of Teresa Okure, “A most 
consoling message for the disciples is that they know the way to where 
Jesus is going (v. 6). Jesus is the way to God: they need to walk along it 
and have no fear of stumbling. He is the truth:  they need to hold on to 
him and rely on him without fear of being failed by him. He is the life: 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    77 

they need to live it, live in him, and have no fear of death.”5 This 
knowledge is necessary for a continued relationship between Jesus and 
his disciples. Jesus reveals the identity of the Father to the disciples and 
through this revelation, they are able to sustain a relationship with 
Jesus. “The link between Jesus’ words and those of the Father who sent 
him”, says Pheme Perkins, “is grounded in the picture of Jesus as the 
agent of the Father (e,g. 3:34; 7:17-18; 8:28,47; 12:47-49)”6 

Jesus makes the knowledge of him and his father a joint one so 
that anyone who has the knowledge of one also has the knowledge of the 
other. There are two key words used in this passage to express this 
namely  and . These two verbs denote knowing with  
and  meaning “I know”.   means to perceive, gain 
knowledge of, know, learn, understand, judge, determine, decide, think 
and to resolve.7 It follows from this that   has a wider meaning 
than . These two words are key in this passage. The use of 
in the perfect here means knowledge already 
attained.8However, this knowledge is not perfect yet as it becomes 
obvious from the question Philip asked afterwards.  

In v. 8, Philip cuts in to the discourse of Jesus by asking Jesus to 
show them the Father so as to quench their doubt, ignorance and 
curiosity. Jesus is once again taken aback by this display of ignorance by 
Philip. What Philip is actually asking for here is not that clear. Is it like 
one of the great theophanies that Moses and Elijah enjoyed or the visions 
of the heavenly court enjoyed by the prophets? Hence, Brown concludes 
thus: “In the context of the evangelist’s own time, perhaps Philip is made 
the innocent spokesman of those heretical Christians who seek after or 
claim a mystical vision of God.”9 Jesus reprimands him and continues his 
teaching regarding the unity that exists between the Father and himself. 
This knowledge is open to only those who are close to Jesus. They are 
the ones expected to have a first-hand knowledge of who Jesus is and 
what he stands for. However, in spite of their close affinity to Jesus, the 
disciples, Thomas and Philip, could not fathom the real personality of 
their master. Thus, “the disciples are ignorant of truths that are 
fundamental for an understanding of who Jesus is, what he is doing, and 
where he is going.”10It must be noted that this reprimand was not meant 
for only Thomas and Philip but for all the disciples as it is evident in the 
use of the plurals in v. 7 ,   and  
and in v. 11 with the use of  and  . These plural verbs 
suggest that even though Thomas and Philip were the disciples who 
displayed publicly this ignorance about Jesus, the teaching that followed 
was not meant just for the two of them but for all the disciples.11 



78 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

This discourse regarding the relationship between Jesus and his 
Father continues till v. 14. Here, Jesus makes it abundantly clear to his 
disciples that he is God’s representation on earth. To have seen him is to 
have seen his Father too. Seeing and knowing Jesus is tantamount to 
seeing and knowing the Father. The fact that the disciples have not yet 
arrived at this level in their knowledge does not make them a failure but 
in the words of Moloney, “The disciples have not failed completely to 
know Jesus (as “the Jews” had done: viii 19); yet their questions indicate 
that they do not know him perfectly.”12 Jesus seizes this opportunity to 
enlighten and educate them on his real identity, where he comes from 
and where he is returning to. He also tells them that even if they do not 
believe on account of his words to them, his works are there as outward 
manifestations of his personality and his relationship with God the 
Father. “Real belief in the works”, according to Moloney, “involves the 
ability to understand their role as signs- the ability to see through them 
to what they reveal, namely, that they are the work both of the Father 
and of the Son who are one, and thus that the Father is in Jesus and Jesus 
is in the Father.”13 The discourse ends with the invitation to the disciples 
to ask for anything in the name of Jesus which he would grant (v. 14). 

The point at issue in this pericope is not so much the discourse 
of Jesus with his disciples as the interventions of the disciples to Jesus’ 
words. The betrayal of their shallow knowledge of him and his Father 
points to the fact that it is possible to know many things about someone 
without really knowing the person. This fact is made clearer by the 
immediate response of Jesus to the request of Philip (“Lord, show us the 
Father, and we shall be satisfied.” v. 8) namely, “Have I been with you all 
this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? (v. 9). This response 
must have been worsened because of the ignorance displayed earlier on 
by Thomas who did not know that Jesus was the way to the Father. It 
was as if the disciples of Jesus did not actually know the true identity of 
their master even though they were very close to him listening to his 
words and seeing his marvelous deeds. The truth of the matter is that if 
his disciples did not know him well enough, how would they be able to 
make him known to the people around them who were not close to him, 
that is, the pagan world? Nevertheless, the point must be made that this 
is not an indictment on the part of the two disciples, Thomas and Philip, 
as their requests were not ridiculous or outrageous. It only shows how 
imperfect they were in their understanding of the person and mission of 
Jesus on earth. 
 
Seminary Formation in perspective 
The task of the seminary is to train and form men who would be 
ordained as priests to minister to the needs of the church. To facilitate 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    79 

this task, priests are chosen and sent as formators to the seminary to 
accompany the candidates on their journey to the priesthood. Seminary 
formation is thus divided into different stages with studies in philosophy 
and theology. There are four major areas of seminary formation which 
are spiritual, pastoral, intellectual and human. These run through the 
different stages of seminary formation. The seminarians are expected to 
develop in the four areas of formation without leaving any one behind. 
To achieve this end, auto formation is highly encouraged but with the 
formators accompanying the seminarians to be able to reach the requisite 
maturity for ordination. The formators by their words and examples 
accompany them to respond positively to God’s call. 
 
Philosophical Studies 
As part of the prerequisites for ordination, seminarians are to undergo 
studies in philosophy to sharpen their power of reasoning and enable 
them to make mature decisions resulting from critical analysis. Through 
the study of ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary philosophical 
thoughts of philosophers, they arrive at a moment when they are 
disposed to receiving different thoughts and opinions with the aim of 
sifting out the truth. Philosophy enables the candidates to have an open 
mind towards the opinions of others and to approach issues with 
equanimity. With the aid of studies in logic, metaphysics and 
epistemology and other related disciplines, they learn to articulate their 
thoughts in a convincing way to win people over and are also 
circumspect regarding what they hear. The knowledge acquired in 
philosophy serves as a preparatory ground for theology which is “faith 
seeking understanding”. Also within the years in philosophy some 
theological courses are taken by the candidates to balance up their study 
in philosophy before they proceed on the pastoral year. 
 
Theological Studies 
On the return of the seminarians from their one year pastoral year, they 
begin their theological studies in earnest. In the course of the years in 
theology, they undergo studies in scriptures, dogma, canon law, liturgy 
and morality. It must be noted that the essence of these courses is to 
acquaint the candidates with the knowledge of Jesus Christ as revealed to 
us in the Old and New Testaments, in the Fathers of the Church and in 
the Teaching Office of the Church. With this requisite knowledge it is 
believed that the seminarians have reached an appreciable level of 
maturity to advance to ordination. The rector and the entire formation 
team do not come to this conclusion without first examining and 
assessing the candidates. This process is called evaluation. First, they are 
assessed on the basis of their academic performance which the various 



80 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

examinations they do reveal. Before the reception of any ministry, the 
candidates are also tested and evaluated to ascertain their readiness to 
advance towards the priesthood. In the final year of their priestly 
formation, candidates who have been judged worthy and suitable are 
recommended to their bishops for diaconate ordination. Those who are 
ordained serve as deacons for six months till the close of the session. 
They are then further recommended for priestly ordination after a 
thorough evaluation has been done by the rector and the formators. 
 
Lack of in-depth knowledge of Christ by the seminarian 
It has been observed by many people that there seems to be a great 
dichotomy between the seminary and the parish. The seminary is the 
house of formation for future priests while the parish is where the 
ordained minister functions. Due to the nature and function of the 
seminary, seminarians do all in their power to abide by the rules and 
regulations of the seminary. This, more often than not, is as a result of 
the saying that “if you keep the seminary rules, the seminary would keep 
you”. Therefore, seminarians often put on their best behaviour while in 
the seminary so as not to be expelled but to be recommended for 
ordination in due course. Sometimes, this attitude leads to a lot of 
pretence such that the true colour of seminarians does not come out 
until after ordination. The seminarians in this category pass through the 
seminary formation and even excel in the various aspects. To the 
formators these seminarians have met the requirements to be admitted to 
ordination into the Catholic priesthood. However and quite 
unfortunately, immediately after ordination, the newly ordained priest 
begins to act in a way that is incongruous with the training he has just 
received. He begins to behave in a way that is at variance with the 
examples of Jesus Christ whose herald he has now become according to 
the words of ordination. He feels and acts as being on top of the world 
with the whole world answerable to him forgetting Christ who says: 
“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 
9:33). 

One finds some situations in the parishes that make people to ask 
if a particular priest ever passed through a seminary. They do things in 
ways that show that they only passed through a seminary without the 
seminary passing through them. There seems to be a general belief that 
there is a contradiction between seminary life and parish life. This 
perhaps accounts for words like “Do you think I’m still a seminarian? Do 
you think we are still in the seminary? I am no longer a seminarian etc. 
Some believe that there is no consensus between the theory in the 
seminary and the practical in the parish. Therefore, for such priests, once 
the seminary formation is ended, so also is anything that has to do with 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    81 

it. As such, some practices in the seminary are the immediate victims of 
this kind of attitude like praying the Office of the Hours, doing adoration 
and benediction, praying the Rosary and so on. The pertinent question is 
this: why is there such a dichotomy between the life of the seminarian 
while in the seminary and the life of the priest after ordination? It is the 
opinion of this writer that the lack of an in-depth knowledge of Jesus is 
responsible for this dichotomy. 
 
The Relevance of Experiential Knowledge of Jesus for the 
seminarian in the 21st century 
Experience, they say, is the best teacher. The Dictionary defines 
experience as “Knowledge derived from one’s one action, practice, 
perception, enjoyment or suffering.”14  Experiential I also defined as 
“Pertaining to or acquired by experience.”15 Experiential knowledge, 
therefore, refers to the knowledge acquired through experience. It is 
quite different from mere theoretical knowledge which is a knowledge 
acquired through learning alone. With theoretical knowledge one learns 
with the head alone without necessarily involving the heart. This is why 
one can learn something and forget it thereafter. It is not the case with 
experiential knowledge. More often than not, whatever one learns 
through experience does not depart from the person. It rather becomes 
part and parcel of that person. 

In the episode of John 14:1-14 discussed earlier in this piece, 
Thomas and Philip were among the disciples of Jesus who have been 
with him for some time listening to him and learning from him. They 
seem to know so much about their master except his real identity as the 
visible image of God on earth. This accounts for their questions to Jesus 
while he was discussing with them. Thomas asked for the way Jesus was 
going while Philip asked to see the Father so as to be satisfied. The 
amazement of Jesus at these questions reflected in his response tells the 
whole story. As his close friends and companions, they were expected to 
have known him through and through having listened to him and seen 
all his marvelous deeds. However, their lack of this in-depth knowledge 
of him surprised him and he seized the opportunity to educate all the 
disciples on his real nature and personality. This does not in any way put 
these disciples in a bad light but only exposes their imperfection. They 
still had so much to learn from Jesus who even after his death and 
resurrection promised to send them the Holy Spirit who would lead 
them to the complete truth (John 16:13). 

The seminarian in the 21st century, in order to be true to his 
calling to be a priest after the heart of Jesus, must not only have the 
theoretical knowledge of Jesus but also the experiential knowledge. This 
will enable him to live out more concretely the values of the priesthood 



82 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

in a world that is hostile to the gospel. This experiential knowledge is 
relevant today because it helps the seminarian to see continuity between 
life in the seminary and life in the parish. The seminary training is to 
enable the seminarian when ordained to become a good and holy priest. 
He must not see the discipline he received in the seminary only as a 
means to become a priest but as a discipline for life. This is one of the 
benefits of experiential knowledge that the seminarian is able to see the 
seminary formation not just as a means to an end but a way of life that 
must be lived out in the priesthood. 

Another way that experiential knowledge can impart positively 
the life of the 21st century seminarian is that having embraced the life of 
Christ as his own, the things of this world are not his immediate priority 
after ordination but to do the will of God just as Jesus said in John 4:34, 
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his 
work”. This is quite different from what we observe today among newly 
ordained priests. Even before ordination, the preoccupation of the 
deacon preparing for ordination is on the material acquisition like the 
kind of car(s), latest gadgets in town, large sum of money in his bank 
account and a host of others. This is not to suggest by any means that 
these things are not necessary for the ministry. It is rather the inordinate 
desire for them at any cost that calls our preparedness for service to 
question. After all, the master, Jesus, when he was sending out his 
disciples on their mission said: “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The 
kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse 
the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without 
payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your 
journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or staff; for laborers deserve their 
food” (Matt. 10:7-10). Hardly can we find today disciples who are ready 
to plunge themselves into the ministry without first looking for comfort 
and conveniences. I once heard of a deacon preparing for his priestly 
ordination who came up with a list of things needed for the ordination 
and commencement of priestly service. The total cost of all the items on 
the list runs into several millions of naira. It is not a bad thing for the 
disciples to be comfortable in the course of their work but the truth of 
the matter is that comfort and conveniences should not be the conditio 
sine qua non for service or what the disciples would be pursuing. 
Otherwise, these things could act as encumbrances to the carrying out of 
our duties as priests. An experiential knowledge of Jesus who had 
nowhere to lay his head would help achieve this (Matt. 8:20). 
 
 
 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    83 

The Difference between mere Functionaries and real Pastors of 
souls 
There is a vast difference between functionaries and ministers of the 
gospel. Functionaries can be likened to hirelings who feel nothing for the 
sheep but only carrying out the task they are being paid for. These are 
the people Jesus refers to in John 10:11-13 when he says “I am the good 
shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired 
hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf 
coming and leaves the sheep and runs away- and the wolf snatches them 
and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does 
not care for the sheep”. It can be said then that any minister of the word 
and sacraments who pursues only his own interest and not that of the 
sheep entrusted to him is only a hireling. Such a person does not possess 
the experiential knowledge of Jesus. We find so many of such hirelings in 
the ministry today. They are not ready to dive into the deep for a catch of 
fish but are busy pursuing their own selfish interests and ambitions and 
whenever and wherever these are not satisfied, there is trouble and 
discontentment. Thus, they could be referred to as mere functionaries, 
performers and artistes. 

Real pastors, on the other hand, having experienced Jesus as one 
who has come to serve and not to be served, are always ready to go in 
search of souls to be won for Christ. They are prepared to be sent 
anywhere to minister to people as long as human beings are there. They 
do not pick and choose where they are going to work. Wherever their 
bishop or superior sends them, they are happy to go there. On resuming 
there, they do not put their own needs first. Rather, their preoccupation 
is to elevate the life of the people and make them better than they met 
them. They try to imitate the Good Shepherd himself who knows his 
sheep just as his sheep know him too (John 10:14). They identify with 
the people not only when things are going on well for them but also and 
more importantly in their moments of crisis and suffering. 
 
The Role of the Seminary and Diocese in imparting experiential 
knowledge to the Seminarians 
There is no gainsaying the fact that both the seminary and the diocese 
play important roles in the formation of seminarians. Theirs, therefore, is 
a collaborative ministry and to succeed in this, all hands must be on deck. 
The seminary. among all the other functions that it performs, must 
ensure that seminarians are given sufficient time and space to really 
discover themselves. While in the seminary, everything must not be 
subjected to a matter of horarium. If everything is about horarium the 
seminarians would always abide by it and participate in all the programs 
of the seminary even when they are not convinced or disposed towards 



84 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

it. However, if some of the programs in the seminary are presented as 
private which by no means indicates optional, they are better able to 
make up their minds on what to attend and for how long. Though this 
idea may seem to subject seminary formation to the whims and caprices 
of the seminarians, the intention behind it is to prevent the mechanical 
obedience to seminary programs. In this way seminarians would be 
better known and those having challenges can be better helped. 

The diocese of the seminarians has a role to play too in giving to 
them the experiential knowledge of Jesus. Seminarians go on pastoral 
work every year and they are sent to work in parishes. It must be ensured 
that they are well guided to carry out real pastoral works and not just 
some menial or domestic assignments in the parish or rectory. Besides, 
since examples are better than precepts, priests must always show them 
good examples for them to emulate. It is often counter- productive when 
they hear one thing from priests and yet observe another. Also, more 
often than not, people learn bad things faster than good ones. 
Seminarians must see priests do the right things so that they can learn 
them and be able to put them into practice when they eventually become 
priests themselves. 
 
Conclusion 
The encounter of Jesus with his disciples, Thomas and Philip, as 
enunciated in this work has opened up the discussion on the meaning of 
experiential knowledge as distinct from mere theoretical knowledge. 
These disciples as well as others have been with Jesus for a while and yet 
their knowledge of him has been somewhat shallow. They know him 
well in the flesh but their knowledge of him as a divine being is 
inadequate. They still had doubts regarding his divinity. That accounts 
for why these disciples questioned Jesus the way they did. F. Moloney’s 
words are apt here when he says “To know Jesus is to know the Father, 
and Philip is exasperatingly ignorant in asking Jesus to show the Father 
(v.9). The problem lies in the disciples’ lack of faith.”16 It is the opinion 
of this piece that the same thing happens to seminarians who only have 
theoretical knowledge of Jesus without advancing to the experiential 
knowledge. They know so much about Jesus but Jesus himself they do 
not know. This is a clarion call on all those responsible for the formation 
of future priests and the seminarians themselves to interiorize whatever 
theoretical knowledge they have about Jesus so as to make Jesus more 
real to the 21st century world. 
 
 
 
 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    85 

Endnote 
 
                                                      
1 The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English 

Language. Typhoon Media Corporation, 2010. P.447. 
2  Ibid 
3 Ibid 706 
4 Ibid 
5 Teresa Okure, “John” in The International Bible Dictionary. Bangalore: Theological 

Publications in India, 2004. P. 1562 
6 Pheme Perkins, “The Gospel According to John” in The New Jerome Biblical 

Commentary. Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1995. P. 974 
7 James Morwood, John Taylor (eds), Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary. New 

York: Oxford University Press, 2002. P. 70. 
8 Max Zerwick, Mary Grosvenor, A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New 

Testament. Roma: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1996. P. 330 
9 Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John X111-XX1. New York: 

Doubleday, 1970. P. 632 
10 Francis Moloney Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of John. Minnesota: The Liturgical 

Press, 1998. Pp 395-396 
11 Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John X111-XX1. New York: 

Doubleday, 1970. PP. 621-622 
12 Ibid p. 631 
13 Ibid 633 
14 The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English 

Language. P. 447 
15 Ibid. P. 447 
16 Francis Moloney, Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of John. P. 396 


