The Gospel of John: Summary and Key Concepts

The Gospel of John

The Gospel of John was the last of the four gospels to be written.
It was written by an anonymous writer using Koine Greek.
In this gospel, Jesus makes extraordinary declarations about himself.
- He refers to himself as "the bread of life," "the light of the world," and the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
- He also claims, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

These declarations are unique to the Gospel of John.
The Johannine Prologue introduces the concept of an exalted Jesus.
Key passage from the Johannine Prologue:
> "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him not even one thing came into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory."
Logos, meaning "the Word," is a crucial concept.

The Johannine Prologue reveals that the intermediary between God and humankind has appeared in human form.
When the Word became flesh, his name was Jesus Christ, a divine being revealing the truth about God.
Jesus declares, "I and the Father are one."

The Gospel of John uniquely presents Jesus as equal to God.
Jesus claims that to see him is to see the Father, to hear him is to hear the Father, and to reject him is to reject the Father.
Many stories, including the miracles of turning water into wine and raising Lazarus from the dead, are exclusive to John.

Lazarus of Bethany was ill.
His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent a message to Jesus.
Jesus responded that the illness was for God's glory, so that the Son of God might be glorified through it.
Despite loving Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, Jesus stayed two days longer where he was.

When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.
Martha met Jesus and expressed her belief that Lazarus would not have died if Jesus had been there.
Jesus told her that her brother would rise again.
Martha thought he meant the resurrection on the last day.
Jesus clarified, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die."

John does not seem to have used the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) as sources.
His sources came from different periods in the Christian community's history.
The Synoptic Gospels portray Jesus as divine but do not suggest that he existed in eternity past or was equal to God.
The notion of Jesus' divinity may have evolved over time as Christians reflected on his identity.

The Johannine community originated as a group of Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah but continued to maintain their Jewish identity and worship in their synagogue.
These converts tried to proselytize other members of their synagogue.
Eventually, a significant disruption occurred, and the Jewish Christians were excluded from the synagogue.

First-century Jews largely rejected the idea that Jesus was the Messiah.
They expected the Messiah to be a figure of grandeur and power, either a heavenly being or a great warrior.
Jesus, an itinerant preacher executed for treason, did not fit this expectation.
The expulsion of Jesus' followers from the synagogue significantly shaped the early Christian community's understanding of Jesus.

After the exclusion, the Johannine community's focus shifted.
Jesus was seen as more than the lamb of God and the Messiah.
He was considered unique in knowing about God and bringing God's truth to his people.
Jesus was believed to have come from God, existing with God from the beginning as God's Word.
He was God's equal, existing from eternity past, who became human to communicate God's truth.
Seeing him was seeing the Father; hearing him was hearing the Father; rejecting him was rejecting the Father.

The Gospel of John offers a unique perspective on eternal life.
Eternal life is not a future event but a present reality.
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life."
Eternal life is here and now for those who believe in Jesus, not just at the end of time.

The story of Lazarus illustrates that a person’s standing before God is determined by their relationship with Jesus.
When Jesus tells Martha that her brother will rise again, she assumes he means the resurrection at the end of time.
Jesus corrects her, referring to possibilities in the present.
"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
The Gospel of John presents an appeal to believe in Jesus for eternal life in the present, rather than an apocalyptic appeal for repentance.

The Johannine epistles in the New Testament are easier to read than the Gospels.
2 John and 3 John are short, typical letters.
1 John is more like a persuasive essay, possibly sent with a separate cover letter.

Most scholars believe that the author of the Johannine epistles was not the same as the author of the Gospel of John.
The author of the epistles lived in the Johannine community later and knew the Gospel's teachings.
The epistles share distinctive themes and wording with the Fourth Gospel.
The Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John likely derive from the same community with characteristic religious understandings.

The author of 1 John indicates that a faction has split off from the community.
The author calls those who left "liars."
They have "denied that Jesus is the Christ" and refused to confess that "Jesus has come in the flesh."
The secessionists believed that Jesus, being God, could not have experienced the limitations of the flesh.
They thought that Jesus only appeared to be human.
The author of 1 John objects to the idea that Jesus’ life, including his death on the cross, was merely a show.

1 John is a treatise to those who have not joined the secessionists, persuading them to remain faithful.
2 John is a personal letter to the church offering similar advice.

3 John is a private letter to Gaius, who is in conflict with Diotrephes, another leader in the congregation.
The conflict concerns whether the author of 3 John should be received as an authority.
Diotrephes may have supported the secessionists or simply resented the author of 3 John imposing his opinions on the church that meets in Diotrephes’ home.

Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. Second Edition. New York and Oxford, 2000.