How is the John's Gospel different from the synoptic Gospels?

Answer 1

A:Whenever Matthew and Luke follow Mark, they do so reasonably closely, often in the same words in the original Greek language. Matthew and Luke also contain sayings material copied from the hypothetical 'Q' document, with both gospels generally following Q reasonably closely. Thus, we have three 'synoptic' ('seen with the same eye') gospels that clearly have a literary dependency and therefore tend to tell the same story, other than when either Matthew or Lukeintroduces new material not found in Mark or Q.

John differs considerably from the other three New Testament gospels, both because it is further removed from Mark and because its author felt more at liberty to depart from his source documents. This gospel was loosely based on, or 'inspired by', Luke's Gospel, but there are some passages that have been identified as coming direct from Mark.

The author of John often changed the chronology of events. Whereas the synoptic gospels have the 'cleansing of the Temple' at the very end of the mission of Jesus and as the trigger for his arrest, John places it at the very beginning of the mission of Jesus. Whereas the synoptic gospels have Jesus and the disciples celebrate the Passover feast on the evening before the crucifixion, John has Jesus crucified on the day before the Passover feast in order to portray him as the lamb to be sacrificed. Whereas the synoptic gospels have Jesus placed on the cross at 9 am, John has this take place at 12 noon. Some time before the crucifixion, Luke introduces a story of Jesus telling the disciples to cast their nets on the other side and they caught abundant fish, but John has this story at the very end after the resurrection.

John also changes stories in the other gospels, although it does not usually directly contradict them. Whereas Lukeintroduces a parable about Lazarus dying and going to hell, where the rich man begs him to return and warn his rich friends of the consequences of their actions, John changes this so that Jesus really does raise Lazarus from the dead. In both gospels, the sisters Martha and Mary are friends of Jesus; in Luke they are poor villagers, in John they are rich townspeople and sisters of Lazarus. In Luke, the risen Jesus appears to all 11 disciples at a meal on the evening of his resurrection then leads them out towards Bethany where he is taken up into heaven. In John, Jesus appears to only 10 disciples on the evening of his resurrection, then to all 11 disciples eight days later.

Most importantly, John is the only gospel that portrays Jesus as divine and pre-existing, now a fundamental principle of Christian faith.

Answer 2

Yes. In the first of the synoptic gospels, Mark, Jesus was a mortal with supernatural powers, adopted by God as his Son, at the time of his baptism. In Matthew and Luke, Jesus was the Son of God, from his virgin birth, but not divine. In John's Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as God (for example John 1:1), and Jesus repeatedly claimed to be God, although this is generally lost in the translation from Greek to English.

Particularly in Mark, Jesus seems to have wanted to remain anonymous, often commanding those he healed to tell no one about him. In John, Jesus proclaimed who he was. Whereas the one event that would definitely bring Jesus to the attention of the chielf priests, the cleansing of the Temple, occurred just before his arrest, John has it occur at the beginning of the gospel, where it would ensure that the religious authorities were well aware of him throughout his mission.

In the synoptics, there are hints of Jesus as the Lamb of God at his trial and crucifixion, but this is emphasised in John.