Why is John's gospel more theological?

Answer 1

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John did not seek to present a chronological order of the events of Christ's life as the other Gospel writers did. John focuses on the discourses of Jesus and their meanings, and provides interpretations of the person and work of Jesus. Themes are discussed and expounded. All of this serves to complement the synoptic Gospels and is why the Gospel is more theological in nature. Mark's Gospel portrays Jesus as fully human, adopted by God as his son at the time of his baptism. Matthew and Luke go further, portraying Jesus as the Son of God from his conception by the Holy Spirit. It is only in John's Gospel that we are told that Jesus was pre-existing and fully divine.

The author of John's Gospel clearly did not consider the story of the passion of Jesus as sufficiently theological, although he kept some of the most important passages. He saw Jesus as symbolising the Paschal lamb of the Jewish Passover and sought to portray this in his account of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The synoptic gospels had Jesus and the disciples celebrate the Passover feast on the day before his crucifixion, which took place at 9:00 o'clock the next morning. For theological reasons, John moves the crucifixion to the day before the Passove feast and has him sent to be crucified at the sixth hour (12 noon) so that his crucifixion took place in the afternoon, when the Jews prepared the Paschal lamb for the seder feast (John 19:14). Because this gospel commences the crucifixion so improbably late if the bodies had to be taken down before sunset, the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves to hasten their deaths, but only speared Jesus because he was already dead. The Paschal lamb must have no bone broken.

In keeping with the nature of Jesus, Mark says that Jesus' last words were, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," although this was really a saying taken from the psalms. Matthew, whose author was probably aware of the origin of those words, kept Jesus' last words as, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," but Luke changes them to be more suited to one who is the obedient Son of God, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Once again, John is more theological, allowing that Jesus had planned this moment long before he came to earth, with his last words, "It is finished."

Answer 2

John's Gospel is perhaps not more theological, but it is more spiritual. It is the only New Testament gospel to describe Jesus as divine and pre-existing. It is also John's Gospel that contains Jesus' greatest miracle - the resurrection of Lazarus.