The Receiver’s Paradox: Agency and Essence in John 13:20

Abstract:The Gospel of John contains not only paradoxical thought but also formal paradoxes—short logical riddles of a kind put to rhetorical use by ancient speakers. One overlooked formal paradox is the aphorism in John 13:20. The evangelist models this paradox on a reversal of the logic of Heraclitus’s river paradox. While Heraclitus’s river paradox is a means to deliberate essence, Jesus’s “receiver’s paradox” is a means to deliberate agency. Jesus intends the paradox as a way to help the disciples reflect further on their concerns for mission. As a result, this interpretation alleviates concerns that the utterance is unrelated to the discourse.