What does gospel of john says?

Answer 1

All the themes of John's Gospel relate to the one purpose of the whole work as stated in:

John 20:31 (King James Version) 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.

In one sense there is only one theme, namely Jesus Christ, and that this one central theme is looked at from different perspectives which relate to the stated purpose of encouraging belief. From this standpoint, there are three major themes of John which would fit under one overall title thus: The Revelation of Jesus Christ as God the eternal Word: 1. In His pre-existence and accreditation by John The Baptist - Prologue

2. In His works (signs) and words. Chapters 2-13, presented in various ways

3. In His death and resurrection. Chapters 14 onwards

Every event, no matter how minor, is related to John's one central purpose of encouraging belief in Jesus as the Christ. This is the point of the story, for example in relation to the visit to the empty tomb. Peter went into the tomb while less bold John waited outside and then went in, saw & believed as a result of Peter's testimony (we also don't know that Peter himself did not believe - presumably John did not wish to make a judgment about Peter's personal faith). Similarly, the incident with Thomas was there to encourage faith in those who 'have not seen'.

Both John and the other Gospels make it clear that the wonderful reality of the resurrection was slow to dawn on the disciples. The reality of the resurrection was too unbelievable to be sustained, too impossible to change frightened fishermen into bold preachers, unless it really happened.

Minor incidents, no matter how trivial, are all woven into these three themes, although they themselves do not constitute a theme as such in their own right.

John is also not unique in stressing Jesus divinity and pre-existence. Although John's Gospel is certainly unique in the way it orders the material and in the content and detail itself, it shares the major themes with the other authors, who merely express these themes in a different manner.

Each of the miracles are in John, signs of who Jesus is. Many of them are unique to John, such as the Wedding at Cana, the Raising of Lazarus and the Healing of the man born blind in chapter 9.

John also has a lot of discourse, or discussion around the miracles, much of which relates directly to Jesus' personal identity as God.

Answer 2

The Gospel of John is one of the four books in the New Testament that describes the life of Jesus. It focuses on the divinity of Jesus, highlighting his miracles and teachings that reveal his identity as the Son of God. The Gospel of John is also known for its philosophical and profound theological content.

Answer 3

There are three themes unique to John's Gospel and not found in the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).

Divinity and pre-existence of Jesus

Some believe the Synoptic gospel authors did not fully equate Jesus with God. According to Mark, Jesus had some extraordinary powers and God called him his son, but Mark did not show him to be one with God. For example: (Mark 6:5) And he (Jesus)could there do no mighty work. (Mark 10:18) Why call me good. There is none good but God. John's Gospel, from the very first verse, says that Jesus was with God in the beginning, and equates him to God. Among the gospels, this is unique to John's Gospel.

Comparison of the 'disciple whom Jesus loved' with Peter

Some believe that although John accepted Peter as leader, he frequently has the 'disciple whom Jesus loved' surpass Peter, as if wishing to undermine Peter. The 'disciple whom Jesus loved' is anonymous throughout the Gospel, but tradition holds that it was the disciple John. Some examples where the 'disciple whom Jesus loved' seems to surpass Peter, being either more favoured, more trustworthy, faster or more perceptive:

• This disciple reclined next to Jesus at the last supper. Peter did not ask Jesus who would betray him, but encouraged this disciple to do so.
• Even after Peter betrayed Jesus and fled, this disciple remained with his mother at the cross. Jesus entrusted him with the care of his mother.
• He and Peter ran to the grave, but this disciple arrived first, looked in and saw the linen clothing lying there but did not go in until after Peter, when he "saw and believed." It does not say whether Peter believed.
• When the risen Jesus appeared by Sea of Tiberius, this disciple was the first to recognise him, saying to Peter, "It is the Lord".

Even the title the author used, the 'disciple whom Jesus loved', implies greater favour or affection than that given to Peter. It may be that the author of John's Gospel was keen to eliminate any risk of the early Christians worshipping Peter, rather than just Jesus. Even by keeping the special disciple deliberately anonymous, he could have been avoiding the risk of creating a cult around that disciple.

On the other hand, Jesus symbolically took away from Simon Peter the name 'Peter' that he had previously given him, when he asked whether Peter loved him, each time theatrically calling Peter "Simon, son of Jonah". The Greek language has different words for different types of love, including agape(unconditional love) and philia (brotherly love). In John's Gospel, Jesus implied that the other disciples gave him unconditional love when he asked Peter, "Do you love (agape) me more than these (the other disciples)?" Each time, Peter answered that he loved Jesus, but each time he was only able to offer brotherly love (philia).

Critical portrait of Thomas

Elaine Pagels sees a principal objective to refute the beliefs of the Thomas Christians. Only John presents a challenging portrait of the disciple he calls "Thomas, the one called Didymus". Although Thomas is presented as bravely loyal in John 11:16, when he says "Let us also go, that we may die with him, of all the disciples, Thomas also seemed to show doubt at different times. And, in John's Gospel, Thomas was not present at Jesus' first appearance to the group of all the other disciples, when they received the Holy Spirit from the risen Jesus. So, once again, John could be seen as opposing a cult around one of the disciples.

Answer 4

The Good Shepherd 10:1-21

The True Vine 15:1-8 ...

Answer 5

It says John the baptist baptized Jesus, about Judas, the trial and crucification, it also says the most famous verse in John chapter 3 verse 16.

Answer 6

Luke. Luke has 28 parables, Matthew has 23, Mark only 9 and John has none!

Answer 7

The truth is there is no parables in the gospel of John but instead he has long phrases with lessons