This remarkable, profound portion is not merely a preface or an introduction. So, if we give diligent attention to entertainment, sports, music, or the news, how much more should we give careful attention “when a man is speaking from heaven, and utters a voice plainer than thunder?” (John Chrysostom) B. “Its stories are so simple that even a child will love them, but its statements are so profound that no philosopher can fathom them.” (Erdman)ī. Because of its paradoxical combination of both simplicity and depth, John has been called “a pool in which a child may wade and an elephant may swim.”Ī.
The oldest surviving fragment of the New Testament is a portion of John 18, found in Egypt and dating well before A.D. The Gospel of John has even helped scholarly skeptics to believe. A key verse for understanding the Gospel of John is found at the end of the book: But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31).Ī. John is a Gospel written for a specific purpose: that we might believe. Four of these witnesses speak in the first chapter alone. John shows us who Jesus is by giving the testimony witnesses who testify about the identity of Jesus.These seven I AM statements were not included in the first three gospels. John shows us who Jesus is by giving us Jesus’ own words about Himself, expressed in seven dramatic I AM statements.Six of these miracles are not mentioned in the first three gospels. John shows us who Jesus is by highlighting seven signs (miracles) of Jesus.The first three Gospels focus more on what Jesus taught and did John focused more on who Jesus is. The word synoptic means “see-together” and the first three Gospels present the life of Jesus in pretty much the same format.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the three synoptic gospels. John wrote that the story of Jesus is so big that it can never be completed (John 21:25). However, it is wrong to think that the Gospel of John completes the story of Jesus. John shows Jesus came from heaven, demonstrating that Jesus is God.Į.Luke shows Jesus came from Adam, demonstrating that Jesus is the Perfect Man (Luke 3:23-38).Mark shows Jesus came from Nazareth, demonstrating that Jesus is a Servant (Mark 1:9).Matthew shows Jesus came from Abraham through David, and demonstrates that He is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament (Matthew 1:1-17).Each of the Gospels emphasizes a different origin of Jesus. John centers his Gospel on what Jesus said and did in Jerusalem.ĭ. The first three Gospels center on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. There are significant events in the ministry of Jesus that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include yet John leaves out, including:Ĭ.
This is one reason why John’s account of the life of Jesus is in many ways different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke.ī. The Gospel of John was probably the last of the four written, and written in view of what the previous three had already said. 185-254) understood that there are not really four gospels, but there is one four-fold gospel.Ī. Christian writers as early as Origen (A.D. The Gospel of John is the fourth section of what some call the four-fold gospel, with four voices giving different perspectives on the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
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