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JOHN, GOSPEL OF

The fourth book in the NT. It tells how the Word of God became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, who revealed God’s glory and love through his words and actions. He was crucified for the sin of the world and raised that people might receive everlasting life through faith in him.

Contents

The Gospel presents the story of Jesus in two parts: Jesus’ public ministry (chs. 1-12) and his Passion and Resurrection (chs. 13-21). Part 1 opens with a poetic prologue that relates how the Word entered the world and was rejected by many but welcomed by others who became God’s children (1:1-18). In the narrative, John the Baptist directs people to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who gathers a circle of disciples. Jesus’ teachings and healings evoke favorable responses from Samaritan villages, a royal official, a man born blind, Martha and Mary. Others misunderstand or become hostile when Jesus heals on the sabbath (ch. 5), feeds 5000 at Passover (ch. 6), announces at the Festival of Booths that he is the source of living water and the light of the world (7:1–10:20), and declares that “I and the Father are one” during the Feast of Dedication (10:22-39). Crowds wave palm branches when Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time, but they fail to understand his allusions to his coming death, and Jesus concludes his public ministry by hiding from them (12:36).

Part 2 begins with the Last Supper when Jesus assumes the posture of a slave and washes his disciples’ feet. This act displays his love for them and models the kind of service envisioned by the new commandment, to “love one another as I have loved you” (13:34). In a lengthy farewell discourse, Jesus promises to send the Spirit or “Advocate” (Gk. paráklētos). The Spirit will be Jesus’ abiding presence with people after his return to the Father, disclosing the meaning of Jesus’ ministry to later generations (14:16, 26). Through dramatic irony, the account of Jesus’ arrest and interrogation manifests Jesus’ innocence and the culpability of his accusers. On the day of Preparation for Passover, Jesus is crucified as the Lamb of God, and his final words “it is accomplished” affirm that his death carries out God’s saving work. On Easter, the risen Jesus appears to the disciples and gives them the Spirit as he promised. One week later Thomas’ confession that Jesus is Lord and God brings the story to a climax. The great catch of fish in ch. 21 anticipates the spread of Christian mission.

Authorship and Composition

The Fourth Gospel does not disclose the name of its author. According to 21:24 the book preserves the testimony of “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” By the late 2nd century this disciple was identified with John the son of Zebedee, since he sometimes accompanies Peter as John does in the other Gospels. Modern scholars, however, find it unlikely that the identity of a well-known figure like John would have been kept hidden. Moreover, according to the other Gospels John followed Jesus throughout his ministry, but in the Fourth Gospel the Beloved Disciple is explicitly mentioned for the first time only at the Last Supper (13:23). Some have suggested that the Beloved Disciple is the unnamed figure who encountered Jesus near the Jordan (1:35-40) and was known in the high priest’s household (18:15-16), but these connections might suggest that the Beloved Disciple was actually a Judean rather than a Galilean like John. Others propose that he was Lazarus, whom Jesus loved (11:3, 5). Many rightly acknowledge that the Beloved Disciple’s identity remains unknown.

The Gospel was probably composed over a period of time in two or more editions. An early version probably ended with 20:30-31, which says that “Jesus did many other signs . . . which are not written in this book.” The final chapter, which has a similar ending (21:25), was apparently added in a later, expanded edition. In an early version, Jesus’ command “Rise, let us be on our way” (14:31) probably signaled the end of the Last Supper and Jesus’ movement to the garden where he was arrested (18:1). The material in chs. 15-17 was probably included later. The entire Gospel is written with the same style and outlook, and the same person may have produced both the earlier and later versions. The comment that “we know” that the Beloved Disciple’s testimony is true (21:24), however, suggests that others may have put the text in final form.

Date

The Gospel was probably completed by ca. a.d. 90. A date before the end of the 1st century is likely since the discovery of a fragment of text (𝔓52) shows that the Gospel was being copied in Egypt by 125-150. A date after the temple’s destruction in 70 is also likely. Earlier there were various Jewish groups in Palestine — Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Herodians — but after 70 the Pharisees became dominant and other groups faded. The way the Evangelist alternately refers to “the Pharisees” and “the Jews” suggests that he wrote when other groups were no longer a factor. References to formal procedures for putting Christians out of the synagogue (9:22) and the contrasts between Jesus’ followers and the Jews (e.g., v. 28) are made in ways that suggest that Christians were no longer considered a Jewish sect but were a distinct group, which was true later in the century. The author’s knowledge of the deaths of Peter and the Beloved Disciple (21:19, 23) also points to composition in the final decades of the century.

Readers

John’s Gospel was composed in and for an early Christian community. The many subtle allusions, wordplays, and difficult passages have led some to conclude that the earliest readers belonged to an introverted sectarian group that used language virtually unintelligible to outsiders. Others find that portraying Jesus as the light of the world, the source of living water, and the good shepherd, and explaining the meaning of words like “messiah” and “rabbi” (1:38-41) make the story accessible to a wide range of readers. Together, these perceptions indicate that the Gospel was completed with a spectrum of readers in view, perhaps because of developments within Johannine Christianity itself. The earliest members of the community were almost certainly Jewish Christians, but the Gospel suggests that the circle later included Samaritans (4:39-42) and Greeks (12:20), and the Christians mentioned in the Johannine Epistles bore Greek names and lived in various communities. The Gospel is accessible at a basic level to less-informed readers yet sophisticated enough to engage better-informed readers.

Relationship to Other NT Books

Synoptic Gospels

In all four Gospels Jesus’ public ministry begins with John the Baptist and includes the gathering of disciples, performing miracles, expelling merchants from the temple, and teaching publicly. All relate that after a meal with his disciples, Jesus was arrested and tried before the Jewish authorities and Pilate, that he died by crucifixion and rose on the third day. John is different in that he recounts many actions (e.g., turning water into wine, healing at Bethesda and Siloam, raising Lazarus, washing feet) and encounters (e.g., Nicodemus, Samaritan woman, Thomas) that are not mentioned in the other Gospels. Instead of parables about the kingdom, John includes long discourses punctuated by sayings like “I am the bread of life” and “I am the light of the world.” In John’s Gospel Jesus makes several trips to Jerusalem during his ministry rather than just one, and the timing of key events is distinctive: the temple cleansing occurs at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry rather than the end, and the Crucifixion takes place on the afternoon before rather than on the day after the Passover meal. Interpreters long thought that the Fourth Evangelist was familiar with the Synoptics and wrote his Gospel to supplement the others. Many scholars now argue that John did not know any of the other Gospels. It seems clear that the Fourth Evangelist wrote largely independently of the others, but whether he knew one or more of the Synoptics remains disputed.

Johannine Epistles

The Gospel and Letters of John are related like links in a chain. The Gospel and 1 John open with references to “the beginning,” use imagery of light and darkness, and refer to the “new commandment” to love one another. 1-2 John insist that true believers confess that Jesus came in the flesh. 2-3 John were written by an “elder” who dealt with issues of whom to welcome into the communities. Many scholars think that the Letters were written later than the Gospel, since the basic conflict in the Gospel is between Christians and non-Christians while the Letters deal with conflicts that arose within the Christian community itself, seemingly at a later period. Some propose that John’s Gospel was put into final form by the author of 1 John, but others suggest that these writings came from a circle of Christians who shared a common outlook.

Revelation

An early Church tradition said that the Fourth Gospel and Revelation were composed by the apostle John. This assumed that the Beloved Disciple (John 21:24) and John of Patmos (Rev. 1:9) were the same person. Both the Gospel and Revelation refer to Jesus as the Word and the Lamb, and utilize some similar symbolic language, but Revelation is written in an idiosyncratic Greek that differs markedly from the style of the Gospel. Revelation gives the author’s name but does not suggest that he was an apostle or had seen the earthly Jesus, while the Gospel conceals the author’s name but insists that he was an eyewitness. Revelation emphasizes the future consummation of God’s saving work while the Gospel stresses the present dimension of salvation. These and other differences indicate that the two books had different authors.

Theological Emphasis

Understanding the Gospel’s theological emphases requires attention to what is assumed and what is argued. Jesus’ humanity is assumed throughout the Gospel; friends and foes alike recognize that he is a human being. Disputes center on whether Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God (5:18; 7:40-42; 10:33), so that the Evangelist must argue for the messianic and divine aspects of Jesus’ identity. Encounters with Jesus disclose three principal dimensions of his character. First, those who meet Jesus rightly identify him in human terms as a man, a teacher, and a Jew (1:38; 4:9; 9:11). Second, they speak of him as prophet and Messiah (1:41; 4:19, 29; 9:17, 22). Third, there are indications of his divine or cosmic significance (1:51; 4:42; 9:38). Symbolic language helps to convey that Jesus is at once human, messianic, and divine, since images like light (8:12) and a good shepherd (10:11) were suitable for human leaders, the Messiah, and God. Later, some affirmed Jesus’ divinity while denying his humanity (1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7), and this view eventually became common among Gnostics. The Fourth Gospel, however, insists that Jesus’ identity encompasses all three dimensions (20:30-31).

Human beings, according to John’s Gospel, belong to a world that was created by God but has become hostile toward its Creator. Sin is a broken relationship with God — unbelief — and the actions that proceed from it. By giving up his Son to be crucified, God shows his love for the world that has rebelled against him (3:16). Christ’s death is the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world (1:29) because through it God overcomes sin by evoking faith. Faith brings people into life in relationship with God that begins in the present and continues beyond physical death into eternity. The Gospel affirms that there will be a future resurrection (5:28-29; 6:40; 11:25) while insisting that eternal life is also a present reality, because through faith in Christ people enter into relationship with the eternal God (5:24; 11:26; 12:44-45). Those who receive the love that God manifested in Christ are to love one another in the same way (13:34). The death of Christ establishes the source and pattern for Christian life.

Bibliography. J. Ashton, Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Oxford, 1991); R. E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, 2 vols. AB 29-29A (Garden City, 1966-1970); R. A. Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel (Philadelphia, 1983); C. R. Koester, Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel (Minneapolis, 1995); R. Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St. John, 3 vols. (New York, 1968-1982); D. M. Smith, The Theology of the Gospel of John (Cambridge, 1995).

Craig R. Koester

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JOHN, GOSPEL OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)