The Gospel According to John

The Gospel of John This is the gospel that identifies Jesus as the Word of God Date: 80-110 Traditional attribution: To John, son of Zebedee, One of the twelve Author detectable from content: One who regards himself in the tradition of the disciple who Jesus loved.

The Purpose of the Gospel It was written for the readers, who did not experience Jesus as the author of the gospel and his community did. Future generations The purpose of the gospel is to make the readers believe and find life in Jesus. Jesus is God in the flesh who reveals the hidden loving God. Jesus is God’s self gift who will bring salvation. All the readers need to do is open up their hearts to this spiritual reading and they will believe. Jesus is crucial because he is the key to get to God. He leads to God and those who see Jesus see God because Jesus and God are one

John’s Christology Christology is the branch of theology that studies the meaning of the person of Jesus Christ That is, trying to understand who he is The church has many understandings of Jesus Christ. How do we know? Look at how Jesus is depicted, over time, by different cultures and in different roles…

The Word The author of this gospel is interested in the theology not the history or the story of Jesus. He stresses Jesus’ identity (unveils Jesus’ true identity) as the revealer God (the word) He is the word of God that has existed forever This very Word of God is God himself This concept of the Word is a concept that appealed to both Jewish and Gentile audience. In the OT, the Word of God referred to creation and God’s revelation The Greek word for the Word is Logos Logos was the spiritual principle or soul that held the world together It also means knowledge, reason, wisdom

Another theme: The “I Am” sayings The multiple times that Jesus uses the word “I am,” is a striking characteristic for many. In the Synoptics, Jesus refers to himself using the phrase “I Am” only two times in both Mark and Luke and only 5 times in Matthew. Contrast to John, where Jesus uses the phrase a total of 46 times.

The purpose of the use of the “I am” is to “’identify Jesus as a historical theophany of the eternal being of God and thus to assert his full deity.’” They demonstrate that Jesus’ purpose is to reveal the Father and the way to him. They also prove Jesus to be God. The “I am” sayings present Jesus as God. In the Jewish scripture, God’s name is I AM

“I Ams” to outsiders It is natural that the Jewish people rejected Jesus’ claims of being One with God If a person claimed oneness with God, they were seen as making it up, full of deceit and pride. They were dangerous to Judaism God kicked Adam and Eve out of Eden to remind them that they were creatures, not equal to God Jesus’ claims were replacing over 1000 of Jewish tradition – this cannot be taken lightly and to Rome Only the Emperor could claim Godliness and he did not take kindly to those making the same claim

The “I ams” seen by Jesus’ followers But there were those who saw Jesus’ claims differently They trusted their experience of him He was humble in every other way He healed people “just because” He fed people miraculously Thus, because they trusted Jesus, they saw his words as true. Jesus, for them, was as a Divine Revelation occurring through an ordinary man, making him an extraordinary man

JOHN AND THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS Peculiarities of John: A Jesus conscious of having preexisted with God before he came into the world The significant absence of the kingdom motif Long discourses and dialogues rather than parables No diabolic possessions A very restricted number of miracles

Similarities to the Synoptics Beginning narrative of the ministry of Jbap and in the concluding narrative of the passion and empty tomb