‘Not Moses… But My Father’ (John 6:32): Mnemosynic Identification and YHWH–Christ Christology in John’s Rereading of Exodus

The Gospel of John’s engagement with the Book of Exodus has been interpreted primarily through Moses–Christ typology: Jesus as the new Moses who surpasses his predecessor. This study proposes a different reading. The governing principle of John’s Exodus hermeneutics is not Moses–Christ correspondence but YHWH–Christ identification: in each major Exodus correspondence, Jesus occupies the structural position Exodus assigns to YHWH, not Moses. The study proposes the term mnemosynic identification for this hermeneutical move, derived from μνημόσυνον (Exod 12:14 LXX), the word designating the Passover as Israel’s perpetual memorial. John does not cite Exodus as a prophetic text pointing forward to Jesus; within the community’s living re-enactment of Exodus, he discloses the identity of the divine protagonist at its centre. This identification is ontological, grounded in the pre-existence established by the Prologue, but its disclosure is sequential, enacted across the ministry and reaching its fulfilment in the glorification. Correspondences are established by three criteria: narrative position, role distribution, and lexical precision. They run from the Prologue to the resurrection commission, encompassing the Passover framework, wilderness episodes, and Sinai covenant. Throughout, Moses appears as mediator and witness but never as the figure whose position Jesus assumes. That position belongs to God.