John's gospel: authorship, purpose, and theological significance

Jesus Christ and the Book Of John

John's Purpose

John the Man

John and His Gospel

The Validity of John

The book of John is quite unique from the other books in the Bible. It is the most theologically difficult, highly literary, poetic and symbolic book. It does not follow the same order as the other books, nor does it address concepts that are obtained in the other books. For example, stories of Jesus' life, childbirth, temptations are not included in John's work. John's main focus is on Jesus' mission. There are three "letters" that were written in the New Testament but consist of one. One could assume by the commonalities of the three letters, they were all written by John. All three were written for the purpose of organizational threats to the Christian Communities that many

Christians follow and believe today even though the Book of John is believed to be written and the end of the first Century.

In some scholarly fields John's message would not be worthy of hearing (A.M

Hunter, The Gospel According to John 1971, "For these and other reasons, scarcely a reputable scholar in this country nowadays is prepared to affirm that the Fourth Gospel was written by John the Apostle"). Liberal scholarly tend to view that this book was not written by John, but by some anonymous Christian in the second Century who never laid eyes on Jesus. The Evangelical scholars believe John is the source of this work but he may have had help with his writings.

I believe the Book of John was actually written by John. John began with Jesus and died at Jesus' feet in Revelations. It was John's responsibility to teach non-

Christians.

John's Purpose: There have been many discussions by scholars as to what John's purpose was in writing his book. Many believe John's Gospel was written to believers, to better inform their faith, and perhaps to head off certain doctrinal errors already appearing in churches.

Others believe John's Gospel is written for unbelievers, its purpose is purely evangelistic. (Bob Diffenbaugh; That You Might Believe: A Study of the Gospel of John).

John's book however, describes great turning points in history by relating to the person and work of Jesus. The greatest turning could be said to be the death and resurrection of Jesus. John has it shown it in a way to be one of the smaller turning points, which led to the rejection of Jesus in Israel. (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John 1971. "The Gospel according to John is the most amazing book that was ever written. 'Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' This may well be the attitude of anyone who steps upon the threshold of the study of this book; for if its testimony is true, the faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God has received glorious confirmation").

I would also agree with Philip Wesley Comfort, I

I am the Way: A Spiritual Journey Through the Gospel of John, who states "John was a poet; his Gospel, an elaborate poem. Its simplicity is deceptive. John specialized in double meaning, allusion, allegory, irony, and symbolism. His well-crafted work, like a symphony, advances new themes, drifts into others, then returns with similar sounds yet fresh and alluring.

A difficult to step back and comprehend the greater movement of this work.

But I am convinced that this book takes the reader on a designed journey led by Jesus himself and narrated by John.... And I am persuaded that this work was motivated by a writer who had been on a spiritual journey with Jesus all of his life, and was encouraging others to join him." John was, in my opinion written for believers and non-believers. It is to be used as a turning point in our lives.

John: The Man The first introduction of John can be found in John 1:35-40.

John the Baptist looks at Jesus and states "Look the Lamb of God!" Two of John the Baptist's disciples leave him and go with Jesus. Another instance is Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee, after approaching Peter and Andrew whom he wants to follow him;

he comes to James and John who are mending fishing nets. Jesus calls to them and they immediately follow him. Jesus called them for a short amount of time. It is believed that John was one of the first to follow Jesus as a disciple. If this were so, he would have been with Jesus from the beginning. For example, John was chosen by Jesus to be numbered with the twelve disciple, John was one of the inner three disciples, John was present at the transformation of Jesus with Peter and James, Jesus sent John and Peter to prepare the Last Supper. John was very close with Jesus these examples follow all the way through to the last book, Revelations. John was drawn to Jesus. Jesus was in fact a leader in love. John knew Jesus loved him for no apparent reason and this feeling of love overwhelmed him. The love that Jesus had for John is what led John to be with Jesus and to be devoted to Him. John was even arrested for teaching Jesus' word by Sadducees and was ordered to stop his teachings. John refused stating he must obey God rather than man. The bond between Jesus and John was so strong it caused jealousy with another disciple, Peter, who later betrayed Jesus.

Spirit the last 24 hours of Jesus' life belief and unbelief

John makes a great contribution by the use of "signs" which attest to the Lord's divinity and his claims to be Israel's Messiah. These signs are Turning water into wine in Cana (2:1-11)

Healing an official's son in Capernaum (4:46-54)

Healing an invalid at the Pool of Bethesda (or Bethsaida) in Jerusalem (5:1-18)

Feeding the 5,000 near the Sea of Galilee (6:5-14)

Walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21)

Healing a blind man in Jerusalem (9:1-7)

Raising dead Lazarus in Bethany (11:1-45)

There are also Seven Witnesses of John according to Bob Diffenbaugh:

John the Baptist

This is the Chosen One [literally, "Son"] of God"

Nathaniel

You are the Son of God"

You are the Holy One of God!"

Martha

You are the Christ, the Son of God"

Thomas

My Lord and my God!"

John "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God"

Jesus "I am the Son of God"

Finally, there are the seven "I am's" of John

I am the bread of life" (6:35)

I am the light of the world" (8:12)

I am the door for the sheep" (10:7; cf. v. 9)

I am the good shepherd" (10:11, 14)

I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25)

I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6)

I am the true vine" (15:1; cf. v. 5)

It was John's responsibility to teach Christians that they can have eternal life.

There was an order of the way that John taught:

In Chapter One, Versus 1-4 John saw the proofs that Jesus was the son of God; then there was the teaching of the proof which he saw. Thirdly there was the personal aspect of his teachings, that Jesus is the Christ. The fourth is the promise of eternal life for Christians. After these points were made, John teaches Christians that by following God they can have eternal life. From this Chapter John teaches that having

Christian life is more than a profession; it is adopting a way of life.

Chapter Two Christians learn that all sin can be forgiven. If they are sincere and diligent and must be characterized by love not hate. Verses 12-17 outlines three test of goodwill with God: keeping the commandments, exemplifying Christ and loving everyone, separating Christians from worldly standards of living. Example, according to John the world lives according to lust, greed, and pride. According to John, the opportunity to living such high standards is only temporary since Christians will have eternal rewards for their good deeds.

Chapter Three discusses the benefits as well as challenges and responsibilities

The challenges are about the world not comprehending the reasons for "godly" conduct. Even when people following John are teaching and not understand why Christ does the things he does not to give up hope. John has described responsibilities for Christians: Walk in the light, confess sins, continue in truth and not to solely love the world. John teaches about love in this chapter as well. Love seeks to save. Love identifies and responds to a spiritual need. John stresses that being a Christian is not based on what they do but also who they have become. God is love no matter what so people should love.

Chapter four focuses on warnings of false teachers. False teachers are all around and only by following God's word would Christians not be led astray. An example would be if a teacher does not believe that Jesus was of the flesh then he is a false teacher. Or if a teacher discusses worldliness he is not a man of God.

In Chapter five love, faith and obedience are all woven together. John teaches by having a loving obedient faith one can overcome the world. Faith is not just facts, not divine truths, it is having unwavering convictions about the nature of Jesus. By keeping their faith they will bear fruit of love. John teaches to have confidence in their faith and an example of that is given by having prayer to be able to keep their confidence. Assurance will come with prayer. John concludes with three statements: We know Christians combat sin; We know believers are contrasted with the world; and We know Christ's mission and identity are certain.

The Argument Of John has offered believers and non-believers something everyone wants: eternal life, peace, and love. Basically follow God, his word and be good person and all shall be yours. It has become very hard for people to believe this it seems too simple. In my conclusion I will be discussing the validity of John and his word. What makes John's word true and factual? It has been a constant argument among scholars.

The validity of John's word had come into question because it is unlike any other book. It does not follow the same order or reproduce the same stories as in other books of the bible. It is about reflection and stands out as a different tradition. In an analysis of John, one of the arguments is that it is difficult to accept it as being written by one person. John 21 seems to have been added after the completion of John. The writing styles are different; it has a Greek style to it as opposed to the traditional Hebrew style. The most common proofs are the author was a Jew; the Author was an eyewitness of what he wrote, the Author was an Apostle and the Apostle was John (Daniel B. Wallace PhD

The Gospel of John: Introduction,

Argument, Outline). There are however other pieces of evidence: the author uses a historical presence more than any other gospel writer, it is very vivid, the natural reading of the text suggests an eyewitness wrote it, the uniqueness of it is accepted by churches it is argued that it was written by someone in authority and John had this authority.

There are other contradictions for the theory of the author. "Some of the wondrous deeds of Jesus have been worked into highly effective dramatic scenes

John 9); there has been a careful attempt to have these followed by discourses that explain them (John 5; 6); and the sayings of Jesus have been oven into long discourses of a quasi-poetic form resembling the speeches of personified Wisdom in the Old Testament." United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (John)

There are many details about Jesus not found in the other books. One example is Jesus engaged in a baptizing ministry before he changed to one of preaching.

Because of editing the events that John described were not always in order. The accuracy however is a strong argument that the testimony had been made by an eyewitness and this witness was John, Jesus' beloved one. However, modern scholars find that the evidence does not prove this.

In all of the studies, analysis, and arguments of John many will say this book was actually written by John. The reasoning being that the book had to be written by an authority figure, and an apostle, and could only be written by someone who actually witnessed it.