Oct 28 2020 - Introduction to the Gospel of John

Who wrote this Gospel?

In the early church there is almost universal attribution of the Fourth Gospel to the apostle John: "Certainly from the end of the second century on, there is virtual agreement in the church as to the authority, canonicity and authorship of the Gospel of John" (Don Carson). Many contemporary scholars question this attribution, but Carson, after a detailed examination of the arguments, concludes that the author, who is referred to in the gospel as 'the beloved disciple,' is indeed John the son of Zebedee. He thinks that John was in Ephesus when he wrote his Gospel in about 80 AD.

Characteristics and Theology

John's Gospel focuses almost entirely on Jesus' ministry in Judea in contrast with the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke), which focus on his ministry in Galilee. These perspectives are complementary rather than contradictory. Indeed, John's narrative sheds light on puzzling features of the Synoptic narratives such as Jesus being able to borrow a donkey for his entry into Jerusalem. Such features would be more easily understood if Jesus had visited Jerusalem on previous occasions.

John is concerned to demonstrate who Jesus is, to explain the salvation that he has come to give and to demonstrate that Jesus is the fulfilment of the entire sweep of the Old Testament, "He is the new temple, the one of whom Moses wrote, the true bread from heaven, the true Son, the genuine vine, the tabernacle, the serpent in the wilderness, the Passover" (Carson). Jesus has brought in the eschaton, the age of fulfilment; the Spirit has been given and eternal life is now available to all who trust in him.

Why was it written?

The purpose of the Fourth Gospel is stated by the author in 20:30-31. Carson argues that the purpose of the work is evangelistic; it is intended particularly for Jews and Jewish proselytes to convince them that the Messiah they long for has come and is Jesus. Carson writes, "Part of his goal, then, in writing an evangelistic book for Jews and proselytes, is to make the notion of a crucified Messiah coherent. The intrinsic offence of the cross he cannot remove. What he can do, what he feels he must do, is to show that the cross was there from the beginning of Jesus' ministry (Jesus is early announced as the Lamb of God, 1:29), and that the cross is at one and the same time nothing less than God's own plan, the evidence of the people's rejection of their Messiah, the means of returning Jesus to the Father's presence, the heart of God's inscrutable purposes to bring cleansing (Jn 13) and life to his people, the dawning of the promised eschatological age, God's astonishing plan to bring glory to himself by being glorified in his Messiah."

Both Don Carson and George Beasley-Murray suggest that John's gospel may have been organised from material preached by the Evangelist. Beasley-Murray concludes, "No doubt the synoptic Gospels reflect a like process, but the Fourth Gospel is supremely the preacher's gospel – every episode in the book shouts out to be preached – and it is so because it is the product of a highly effective preacher's proclamation of Christ in the Gospel." 

Peter Misselbrook