At the center of the cosmos is the Logos—the Word. The Word is God—as John describes—and the Word is Christ. Thus, John connects Christ to Eternity and to Divinity at the very outset—thematically representing Christ as the spiritual thread that weaves through all of life, all that is good in the eyes of God. God is the Light and the Life, and Christ is this same God. John erects a spiritualized framework that elevates the reader to the level of God and lets the reader see the world from God’s perspective, in a sense. This desire to show all who God is relates to the “I AM” sayings found in John. The “I AM” sayings are unique to John’s Gospel and build on the thematic conception of God as Yahweh, “I AM Who AM.” Indeed, this expression “I AM” was very important to the Jews and was not even supposed to be uttered, because it was the sacred name of God given to Moses. When Christ self-identified as “I AM” to the Pharisees, they were outraged and considered Him a blasphemer—but in truth as John shows Christ was simply asserting His Divinity as the Logos. As Towns (2002) notes, Christ was distinguishing between Himself and the Pharisees, telling apart “His reality and genuineness from that which is false” (p. 150). Christ tells those around Him alternatively, “I am the true vine” (Jn 15:1) and offers numerous other ways to think about Who He Is: the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14:6), the Bread of Life (Jn 6:35), the Light of the World (Jn 8:12), the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11).
Thus, John uses Christ’s own allegorical conceptions of His Divine Self to communicate the Man as Logos as God. This connects to John’s overall framework for the Gospel, which is established in what serves as the Gospel’s cosmic prologue, wherein Christ is described as the Logos, the Lamb of God, and the Son of God. This prologue is then followed by an examination of the many signs that Christ gives to prove His Divinity—from the miracles (such as the wedding feast at Cana, wherein the sacrament of matrimony is situated) to the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
John’s Gospel also tells the story of the conversion of Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and one of the Sanhedrin, who comes to Christ during the night to discuss in more detail the meaning of Christ’s teachings (Jn 3:1-21). John devotes much time to telling Nicodemus, showing how he urged the Jews to be fair and allow Christ to present his case (Jn 7:50). John even shows how Nicodemus is there to help in burial of Christ…
" For the more scholarly mind, however, such an interpretation might be less than entirely valid. What most critics appear to agree on when examining these principles is the fact that there must be some sort of literary interdependence among the Synoptic Gospels. The verbal agreement among the Gospels is one very strong indicator of such interdependence. Wallace regards both the independence theory and the Spirit Inspired hypothesis, generally held by laypeople,
John and the Synoptic Gospels Comparison of John and the Synoptic Gospels All Biblical text presents its own set of challenges in understanding and relating to modern day incidences. When examining the Bible, it is interesting to still see major differences that can complicate a modern interpretation of the Bible and Jesus' message. The major differences between the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John show obvious differences that further complicate our
Gnostics believed that they belonged to the "true church" of an elect few who were worthy; the orthodox Christians would not be saved because they were blind to the truth. Part E -- Content - if we then combine the historical outline of the "reason" for John's writings with the overall message, we can conclude that there are at least five major paradigms present that are important in a contextual
There are seven letters by Paul and it is accepted that they were written by Paul, but no one knows clearly who wrote the rest. A critical enquiry into all this started only in the 18th century as there was no critical study of the matter. The accepted authorship of Paul is regarding the Epistles to Romans, First to Corinthians, Second to Corinthians, to Philippians, to Galatians, to Thessalonians
As Spong has closed his career as a formal minister, retiring from the bishop position in 2000 have has become even more controversial than ever before: Spong believes in a transcending reality at "the very heart of life" that presses toward life and wholeness. He describes God as the "Ground of Being" and "universal presence" that undergirds all life and is present in all that is. He regards heaven as
Much literary criticism assumes that the gospels are not necessarily historical or else it plays down theological or religious context. However, these assumptions are not inherent in the method; a well-crafted piece of historical writing also promotes certain ideological concerns in an artistic and aesthetically pleasing (Bloomberg)." Now that we have garnered a greater understanding of the climate of Israel at the time of Jesus Christ and the criticisms that