Filling the World with Endless Books

The Apostle John closes his gospel with these words:

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25)

I'm increasingly persuaded that this is a conscious allusion to the conclusion of Ecclesiastes:

My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. (Ecclesiastes 12:12) 

This gains support from parallels in the contexts of the two verses: compare "Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge" (Eccl 12:9) to "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did" (Jn 21:25), and "This is the disciple . . . who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true" (Jn 21:24) to "The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth" (Eccl 12:10). And perhaps even "The words of the wise . . . are given by one Shepherd." (Eccl 12:11) with Jesus' threefold re-commissioning of Peter: "Feed my lambs", "Tend my sheep", "Feed my sheep" (Jn 21:15, 16, 17). Unfortunately, I don't have any commentaries on Ecclesiastes in my personal library, and the one I have on John's Gospel (Calvin), doesn't note the allusion. This online commentary mentions it, but doesn't interpret the statement in light of its allusion.

What does the allusion mean? It seems to be a contrast; whereas in Ecclesiastes the endless books are a weariness of the flesh to beware of, the potential endless books that could be written of Jesus' deeds are a source of wonder. Speaking of which, I wonder if the gospel doesn't end this way as a subtle indication that Jesus' followers are, in a sense, those who continue to fill out the endless books with our deeds done in his name. As Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14, emphasis mine)

 Lots we could explore there about the mystical union of Jesus with his people, and how He is the one at work in us to do His works, and even to fill the whole world with them. There seems to be some suggestion of this in Paul's teaching that believers themselves are a letter from Christ addressed to the whole world (2 Cor 3:2-3), a poem (Gk. poiema) written by God to artfully express His goodness to the world (Eph 2:10).

I think that might be an even more profound truth than what I originally intended to write, that in Christ, the study of books is transformed from an exercise in futility into a life-giving pursuit. I say this because study is not the only thing Ecclesiastes speaks of as a "weariness": "All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it..." (Eccl 1:8, emphasis mine). Whatever interpretive approach one takes to the book, it is clear that its perspective on some things is incomplete, that some of its ideas are transformed through the gospel of Jesus. For example, the contrast between "work hard because you'll die someday and not be able to work anymore" (Eccl 9:10) and "work hard because Christ has triumphed over death and you'll be raised too" (1 Cor 15:50-58).

In any case, here's a quote from Martin Luther on the subject:

"There never yet have been, nor are there now, too many good books." -Preface to W. Link's Annotations on the Pentateuch 

This contradicts Ecclesiastes 12:12 rather bluntly, but is spoken by a man who truly found new life in Christ through study of the good book. Here's another reflection, based on the text from John 21 quoted above, from historian Mark Noll:

Noll at Study

What is true for the life and work of Christ in general is also true for the life of the mind. If the meaning of what Jesus did and is exceeds the capacity of all the books that could be written, so too the meaning of what Jesus did and is, with respect only to the intellectual life, exceeds the capacity of all the books that could ever be written. Christian believers who realize that it is impossible ever to fathom the depths of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Jesus Christ nonetheless know that the proper place to begin serious intellectual labor is the same place where we begin all other serious human enterprises. That place is the heart of our religion, which is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. (Introduction to Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, Erdmans, 2011, xii, emphasis mine)

I was thrilled to find a thinker as well-respected as Noll saying almost the same thing I was, even if he didn't base it on the allusion I propose. I am intrigued though by the second sentence; why does he make that conclusion about the intellectual life? I'm off to more reading, and hopefully I'll report back with a good answer.