How does John portray Jesus in his Gospel?

Question

Wiki User · Answer

John's gospel is quite different from the synoptics in its setting, in its chronology and in its content. The introduction even commences in a unique way "In the beginning..".

John wanted to bring the good new of a Jewish Messiah to a world that was

heavily influenced by Greek philosophy.

Around 9 out of 10 verses are new and unique to John. He aimed his message at the people who didn't understand anything Jewish. He changed the Jewish wording of Messiah to The Christ and the Jewish word Rabbi to teacher, more easily understood by non-Jews, however in a broader sense he wrote to give the Christians a fuller understanding of the life of Jesus and His ministry.

John is also a gospel of the Logos (The Word). John frequently uses this word "Logos" as in John 1:1 " The Eternal Son of God" and John 1:14,18 "The God who became flesh". He introduces John the Baptist referring to Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This unique introduction opens the way to capture the Jews' attention.

John outlines 5 "signs" which are unique to his gospel, one of which is Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding.

Several verses also unique to John are the "I AM" sayings in John 8:58 - (this is a statement the Jews would understand.) and John 14:6 "I AM the way, the truth and life".

Also unique to John is verse 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life...".

More unique verses by John tell the reader "who Jesus Christ is" - John 10:24-33- He is the Son of God. In John 8:40-43 He is the Son of David and John 12:32-34 states He is the Son of man.

John provides a wealth of information that provides the reader with new insights into the life of Jesus and His works that is not given elsewhere.

Wiki User · Answer

A:  Whereas the synoptic gospels portray Jesus as the Son of God, John's Gospel is the only one that portrays him as truly divine. John 1:1 introduces the idea that Jesus was with God and was God. When the Jewish authorities came asking for Jesus, he answered 'I am', using the absolute form of ego eimi , which is the Greek translation in the Septuagint for Yahweh, based on a possible meaning of the tetragrammaton (YHWH). The reaction of the authorities demonstrates John's intent: Jesus asked, 'Whom seek ye?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' He said to them, 'I AM'  [the KJV makes this 'I AM he ', with 'he' in italics to show that it is not a literal translation; other Bibles, more correctly, do not]. When he said to them, 'I AM', they turned away and fell to the ground.  Provided that he was speaking in fluent Greek, the language of the Gospel, Jesus was claiming to be God by saying 'I am' in the absolute form, and the Jews clearly understood his intent.

Wiki User · Answer

A:  The very reason the second-century Church Fathers decided that the last New Testament  gospel was probably written by the apostle John is that John is never mentioned in the Gospel. They decided that this was out of modesty and that John was really the 'disciple whom Jesus loved, mentioned several times in the Gospel in the context of rivalling the apostle Peter. However, modern New Testament scholars say that the Gospel could not have been written by the apostle John and must therefore remain anonymous, although for convenience the name of John's Gospel is retained. As the author was not really John, there is no good reason to believe the beloved disciple was also John - we do not know who he was. The consequence of this is that we learn nothing about John from the authorship of the Gospel nor from the events surrounding the beloved disciple. The Gospel of John provides no information about the apostle John.

Wiki User · Answer

A:  The Gospel According to St John differs to such an extent from the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark  and Luke ) that Origen felt obliged to defend ithe Gospel, saying, "Although he does not always tell the truth literally, he always tells it spiritually" (Origen, Commentary on John ). The synoptic gospels regarded Jesus as the Son of God, but not pre-existing and divine. John  is quite clear, from verse 1, that Jesus was with God in the beginning. Matthew  and Luke , in the two different nativity accounts, say that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, whereas John  appears to say that he was not. In the synoptics, Jesus overturns the moneychanger's tables at the end of his ministry, as a prelude to his arrest, but John places this event at the beginning of his ministry. To explain the above differences and many others that can be found between John  and the synoptic gospels, it needs to be understood that all the New Testament gospels were originally anonymous and were only attributed to the apostles whose names they now bear later in the second century. Biblical scholars say there is no good reason to accept those attributions, and that the author of John  could not have been an eyewitness to the events he described. It is now recognised that John's Gospel is loosely based on Luke's Gospel and, to a lesser extent, Mark's Gospel. Luke  was in turn derived from Mark  and the hypothetical 'Q' document. Another Answer  : Though there are many who would 'interpret' John's Gospel in various ways, the simple answer to your question is best given in the Scripture from the Gospel of John: John 20:31  New King James Version (NKJV) 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Unlike the three other Gospels, John clearly and succinctly states its purpose - how an individual can find eternal life  . A close read of this Gospel will reveal several verses of clues to the authorship of the work. Upon weighing each it is reasonable to conclude that this book was written by the Apostle John. This was the consensus of the early Christians such as Polycarp (AD 60-155), who was a follower of John.

Wiki User · Answer

More than anything, Mark's Gospel is special because it was the first New Testament gospel to be written and was the principal source of information about the life and mission of Jesus, for the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and indirectly for John's Gospel. Everything we know, or believe we know, about the life and mission of Jesus come originally from Mark's Gospel.

The four New Testament gospels were originally anonymous and were only attributed to the apostles whose names they now bear, later in the second century. However, modern scholars say that there is no good reason for those attributions and that none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed. When read in parallel in the original Greek language, it becomes quite apparent that there is a literary dependency among the New Testament gospels. Scholars have demonstrated that this dependency results from the authors of Matthew and Luke copying much of their material from Mark, as well as the author of John basing his Gospel more loosely on Luke, but with some material taken direct from Mark.

The Gospel of Mark is also special because, although written in a rough, almost ungrammatical style, Mark's Gospel was actually the work of a literary genius, well versed in the most advanced techniques of Greek rhetoric. The author used an advanced form of intercalation, that John Dominic Crossan (The Birth of Christianity) termed 'Markan intercalation', as a secondary literary device to achieve emphasis and develop hidden narratives with a theological purpose. This gospel, in its entirety, is also based around a parallel structure and contains several smaller chiastic structures that can be identified. In the framwework parallel structure, each major event forms a pair with another event, in such a way as to add emphasis or develop themes that would not otherwise be apparent. as the following brief summary shows:
A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Wiki User · Answer

John and his brother James were fishermen, making them much like several of the other disciples, including Peter and his brother Andrew. John shared with James and Peter the privilege of being close friends of Jesus, even going with Jesus to witness the Transfiguration. He was long thought to be the 'disciple whom Jesus loved', frequently mentioned in John's Gospel, to the extent that this was the basis for the second-century Church Fathers' belief that he might have written the fourth gospel. If John was indeed the 'disciple whom Jesus loved', he apparently had a special relationship with Jesus, but scholars say he was not the author of the gospel that now bears his name.

John and James, known as the 'sons of thunder' (Mark 3:17), were the disciples who asked Jesus that they might sit on his left hand and his right hand in heaven, a strange request for which Jesus rebuked them. The parallel structure of the earliest New Testament gospel, that of Mark, actually associates James and John in this episode with the storm in a previous event, setting up a comparison of Jesus with the greatest pagan storm god, Zeus, as can be seen as pair K in the following table:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)