The Gospel of John
Authorship, Date and Place
John 21:20-24 tells us that the author of the Fourth Gospel was the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” This disciple was with Jesus from the beginning and he was an eye-witness of the things that He said and did. He was a close associate of Peter and had been near to the Lord at the Last Supper (13:23); at the cross (19:26-27); and possibly at the Lord’s trial (18:15-16). Traditionally, this disciple was the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee, who is not named in the Gospel. He vividly describes events where only the disciples were present (Chapters 13-17). The earliest quotation from the Gospel (1:1) is found in the writings of Theophilus of Antioch (c.180AD), who writes: “And hence the holy writings teach us, and all the Spirit bearing men, one of whom, John, says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.’”
Tradition places John writing the Gospel in Ephesus. Gentile readers are intimated by the way that the customs of the Jews are explained (4:9; 19:31). Dating the Gospel has proved difficult, with suggestions from 40 to 100 AD. The oldest piece of the New Testament ever found (P52) was a fragment of John 18, and has been dated at around 120 AD. It is a copy of the original and was found in Egypt. Today, it is in the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England.
Special Features of John
The purpose of the Gospel is stated in 20:30-31. If Matthew is a teaching manual and Luke a historical document, then John is an evangelistic tract. Evangelism is a key feature of John. Jesus is sent from the Father to teach people about God through strategic miraculous signs, and by having private conversations with them. B.F. Wescott divided the Gospel into four sections:
(a) The Prologue (1:1-18)
(b) The Revelation of the Word to the World (1:19-12:50)
(c) The Revelation of the Word to His own (13-20)
(d) The Epilogue (21)
Unlike the Synoptic Gospels, John’s Gospel starts in eternity. “In the beginning…” is a direct allusion to the first line of the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) or LXX. A number of keywords and themes feature throughout. Among them are life, light, love, glory, witness, truth, believe, world, and darkness. Most of these can be found in the Prologue itself.
The Gospel narrative is arranged around seven signs (Greek semeia) each of which point to Jesus as the Christ, and reveals something of His glory (2:11). These seven signs are:
1. The changing of water into wine (2:1-11)
2. The healing of the nobleman’s son (4:46-54)
3. The healing of the invalid (5:1-9)
4. The feeding of the five thousand (6:1-14)
5. Walking on the water (6:16-21)
6. The healing of the blind man (9:1-12)
7. The raising of Lazarus (11:1-44)
There are also seven “I am” sayings of Jesus in the Gospel and the context of whatever Jesus is teaching about Himself is often associated with a particular miraculous sign. These are:
1. I am the Bread of Life (6:35)
2. I am the Light of the World (8:12; 9:5)
3. I am the Door (10:7-9)
4. I am the Good Shepherd (10:11)
5. I am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
6. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (14:6)
7. I am the True Vine (15:1)
Exclusive Details in John
Most of John’s material is exclusive. He focuses on the Judean ministry of Jesus, with Jerusalem being central to many of the events. John’s Gospel reveals that the ministry of Jesus lasted for just over three years. Five of the seven miracles in John are not found anywhere else. The expression “born again” appears only in John 3:3,7 (although see 1 Peter 1:23). Other exclusive material includes the wedding at Cana (2:1-11); the raising of Lazarus (11:1-44); the doubt of Thomas (20:25) and the declaration “It is finished!” (19:30). In fact, it is more interesting to note the events that John does not include. There is no Transfiguration; no desert temptation; no exorcisms; no Last Supper; no parables; and no birth narrative. In John, Jesus teaches about Himself and the Father, rather than teaching about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus Christ in John
The Word. Greek philosophers had concluded that a holy God could not have any dealings with evil and wicked mankind. They conceived of the logos – an intermediary between God and man. The Jewish Rabbis also had the logos; the Law or Torah, which was also God’s communicating device and had made the universe (Genesis 1). Neither the Greeks nor the Jews believed that the logos was personal. John states that the logos became flesh (human) in 1:1,14; a concept which was unthinkable to the Greeks and unexpected to the Jewish rabbis.
God. The first verse of John makes it clear that Jesus Christ is God. Jesus says that He is one with the Father (10:30 and 14:9) and claims to pre-date Abraham (8:58). The Gospel concludes with Thomas’ confession of high Christology (20:28). As in Luke, the designation Lord is important in as much as it alludes to Exodus 3:14-15. Jesus is referred to as Kurios throughout John; see 6:23; 11:2; 13:13. John 12:37-41 is an important set of Old Testament references.
Man. A contemporary Gnostic heresy, called docetism, had emerged in John’s day that Jesus could not possibly have been a real human; he merely looked human. One primary reason for the writing of John was to combat these Gnostic ideas that were infiltrating the churches. See 1 John 4:1-3 and 2 John 7. So in the Gospel, there are a number of times when the narrative pauses to give the hearer a glimpse of Christ’s undisputed humanity. He is flesh (1:14); weary and thirsty (4:6-7); weeps (11:35); is troubled (12:27); suffers (19:28); blood and water flows from His side (19:34); and later eats a meal (21:9-13). He is a real man, not a phantom.
Jesus is also the “Messiah” in John some seventeen times (see 1:41). He is “the King of Israel” (1:49); “the Lamb of God” (1:36); “the Son of Man” (1:51); the baptiser with the Spirit (1:32-33); “the Saviour of the world” (4:42) and Isaiah’s promised Servant of Yahweh (chapter 13).
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