What was the focus of John's Gospel?

Answer 1

The focus of the Gospel of John is stated in the verse below:

John 20:30-31 (King James Version)30And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

This indicates his intention to help bring people to saving faith in Jesus Christ in order for people to have eternal life through Christ. It is worthwhile to ask why he took so long into the work to state this. Quite simply, the focus is on Jesus Christ and who He is and so the statement of the author's intent was of lesser importance than getting on with the business of his focus.

John record 8 miracles of Jesus and these are all 'signs' which point to His divinity. around these signs, John includes discourses or discussions which show Jesus interacting with people and discussing the meaning of the sign in relation to who He is.

The 'I Am' sayings of John also form a distinctive feature, again directed to his focus:

John 6:35 (King James Version)35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 8:12 (King James Version)12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 10:11 (King James Version)11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. John 11:25 (King James Version)25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: John 14:6 (King James Version)6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

To the end of bringing people to his focus John uses a lot of repetition of key words and relates them to faith in Jesus Christ. The following are some of John's key words and their frequency:

Life - 44 times

Light - 23 times

Truth - 26 times

Love - 22 times

Believe and derivatives - 68 times

Received - 15 times

Come- 87 times

Word - 22 times singular and 19 times plural

Know - 69 times

See - 23 times

World - 79 times

Father -123 times

Son - 62 times

One - 60 times

The use of such simple terminology brings with it also great profundity as the depth of meaning is focused on Jesus Christ, the eternal word, who is one with the Father and who wants to save all people from the world. Perhaps the best known verse of the entire Bible coming from this Gospel and pointing to the focus of faith:

John 3:16 (King James Version)

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Answer 2

John does not present a simple recording of events as the synoptic Gospels do. John is arranged around a theme which results in differences to the other Gospels. John provides a theological explanation of Christ's life which complements the synoptics. While the other Gospels present Jesus' teachings in short parables and stories, John discusses the much longer theological explanations behind these events. He also concentrates on the ministry of Christ in Judea, while the synoptics focus on the ministry in Galilee.

Answer 3

Undoubtedly, the Gospel of John focusses on the divinity of Jesus. Mark portrayed Jesus as a human adpoted by God at his baptism, and both Matthew and Luke portray him as the Son of God from his conception by the Holy Spirit. John portrays Jesus as divine and pre-existing from before creation.

Answer 4

John's Gospel is written in a different style to those of the other Gospel writers. He focuses on the incarnation of Christ and His role as the Son of God. It is theological in nature, and not only a record of the events in Christ's life. It supplements the Synoptic Gospels accounts and harmonises with them. While the other Gospels focus on the Galilean ministry, John gives more detail on the Judean ministry.

Answer 5

There are several things that are unique to John's Gospel. For this reason, the other New Testament gospels, which share much in common, are referred to as the synoptic gospels, in distinction to John's Gospel.

Certainly, John differs a great deal from the synoptic gospels in the description of the mission of Jesus. Scholars say that the synoptic account could have been accomplished in one year, but John's account requires three years. There are passages that have been moved in time to a different part of the story, to suit John's presentation.

John is the only New Testament gospel to clearly refer to Jesus as divine and pre-existing. John is the only gospel that portrays Thomas as doubting. John contains the famous sequence in which Jesus asks Peter whether he loves him unconditionally (agape), but Peter can only offer brotherly love (philia).

The synoptic gospels say that Jesus was crucified early on the morning following the Jewish Passover feast. Only John's gospel has Jesus sent to be crucified at 12:00 o'clock on the day of preparation prior to the Passover feast (John 19:14).

Answer 6

There are four New Testament gospels and all were originally anonymous, in spite of second-century attributions to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic ('seen with the same eye') gospels because, when laid side by side and read synoptically in the original Greek language, it becomes obvious that there is a literary dependency among them. Scholars have establsihed that Mark's Gospel was the original one, and that Matthew and Luke were copied from Mark. As a consequence, the three gospels are not only similar in content, but are written in the same order and often use the same words in the Greek language.

No such easy comparison exists in the case of John's Gospel, and until the twentieth century, scholars generally believe that John was written independently of Mark. Most New Testament scholars now agree that John was loosely based on Luke, with some material taken direct from Mark. Further removed, from Mark, it differs more from the original than do the other gospels. The author felt free to change the chronological order of events and the focus of the gospel and to add new themes not present in the other gospels.

Answer 7

Because John's Gospel is a step further removed from Mark's Gospel, on which Matthew and Luke were more directly based, it differs a great deal more from that original. It is somewhat more mystical in tone, and is the only New Testament gospel that portrays Jesus as fully divine and pre-existing.

Answer 8

My favorite book on John's Gospel is The Fourth Gospelby Bishop John Shelby Spong