Author
Like the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Fourth Gospel (as John’s Gospel is often called) does not explicitly assert its author’s name. As far as we can prove, the title “According to John” (still used in certain translations like the KJV) was attached to it as soon as the four Gospels began to circulate together as “the fourfold Gospel.” In part, no doubt, this was to distinguish it from the rest of the collection, but it may have served as the title from the beginning.
The most straightforward reading of the evidence for authorship is still the traditional one: it is highly probable that John the son of Zebedee, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (see note on 13:23), wrote the Fourth Gospel (cf. 21:24 and note). This makes no difference whatsoever to the book’s authority (after all, Luke’s Gospel does not claim to be by an eyewitness), but it does affect how we think about the book’s background and purpose.
Place
The Fourth Gospel does not specify where John wrote it. Four places are commonly proposed: Alexandria, Antioch, Palestine, and Ephesus. The traditional view is that John wrote it in Ephesus, and no other location has the support of the church fathers. If John wrote it while residing in Ephesus, then perhaps he prepared it for readers in this general part of the empire while still hoping for the widest possible circulation.
Date
Almost any date between about AD 55 and 95 is possible. None of the arguments for a more precise date is entirely convincing. But if we must suggest a date for when John wrote the Fourth Gospel, we may very tentatively advance AD 80–85. One of many reasons for this is to allow some time between the writing of John’s Gospel and the writing of his three letters, which were probably written in the early 90s and which combat an incipient form of Gnosticism and respond in part to a Gnostic misunderstanding of the Fourth Gospel (see Introduction to 1-3 John: Gnosticism).
Purpose and Addressees
The proper place to begin is with John’s own purpose statement (20:30–31). John presents specific “signs” (20:30)—significant displays of power that point beyond themselves to the deeper realities that we can perceive with eyes of faith. John includes the eight “signs,” numbering only the first two (see “The Eight Signs of John’s Gospel”).
Many scholars hold that this Gospel was written to encourage churches connected with John, churches that were feeling the stress of progressive alienation from Jewish synagogues. This is certainly possible. But while John clearly wrote 1 John to encourage Christians (1 John 5:13), the purpose for his Gospel seems to be evangelistic. This impression is confirmed by the solid evidence that the first purpose clause in John 20:31 can be rendered “that you may believe that the Messiah, the Son of God, is Jesus.” Thus, the fundamental question the Fourth Gospel addresses is not “Who is Jesus?” but “Who is the Messiah, the Son of God?” In its context, the latter is a question of identity, not of kind: that is, the question “Who is the Messiah?” should not here be taken to mean “What kind of Messiah are you talking about?” but “So you claim to know who the Messiah is. Prove it, then: Who is he?”
The Christians of John’s day would not have asked that kind of question because they already knew the answer. The most likely people to ask that sort of question would have been Jews and Jewish proselytes who knew what “the Messiah” meant, had some sort of Messianic expectation, and were perhaps in dialogue with Christians and wanted to know more.
In short, not only is John’s Gospel evangelistic in its purpose but aims in particular to evangelize Jews outside of the Holy Land as well as Jewish proselytes.
Comparison With the Synoptic Gospels
Differences
1. John omits many of Jesus’ words and works that are characteristic of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke): narrative parables, exorcisms, the account of the transfiguration, the record of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and many of Jesus’ more concise sayings.
2. John omits or barely mentions themes central to the Synoptic Gospels, especially the theme of the kingdom of God.
3. John includes a substantial amount of material not mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels. This includes nearly all the material in John 1–5, Jesus’ frequent visits to Jerusalem and the events that take place there, the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus’ explicit identification with God (1:1, 18; 20:28), and Jesus’ series of “I am” statements (e.g., 6:35; 8:12; 10:7, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). John also includes extended dialogues and discourses not found elsewhere in the Gospels.
4. Doubtless some of this can be accounted for by the different geographic focus: John focuses on Jesus’ ministry in the south (Judea and Samaria), while the Synoptic Gospels focus on Jesus’ ministry in the north (Galilee). But one cannot legitimately reduce all distinctions to questions of geography.
Similarities
It appears likely that John read Mark, Luke, and possibly even Matthew, but we cannot prove that John directly borrowed from the Synoptic Gospels (in the sense that Matthew and Luke likely borrowed from Mark).
1. Parallel incidents include the Spirit’s anointing of Jesus as John the Baptist testified (1:32), the contrast between John the Baptist’s baptism with water and the Messiah’s anticipated baptism with the Spirit (1:33), feeding the 5,000 (6:1–15), and Jesus’ walking on water (6:16–21).
2. Many sayings are at least partially parallel (e.g., 4:35, 44; 5:29; 10:14–15; 12:39–40).
3. More significant yet are the subtle parallels: both John and the Synoptic Gospels describe a Jesus given to colorful metaphors and proverbs, many drawn from the world of nature (e.g., 4:37; 5:19–20a; 8:35; 9:4; 10:1–18; 11:9–10; 12:24; 15:1–16; 16:21). All four Gospels depict Jesus with a unique sense of sonship to his heavenly Father; all of them note the distinctive authority Jesus displays in his teaching; all of them show Jesus referring to himself as the Son of Man, a title used neither by nor toward anyone else (John 12:34 is not a real exception).
4. Even more impressive are the many places where John and the Synoptic Gospels represent an interlocking tradition, i.e., where they mutually reinforce or explain each other without necessarily borrowing from each other.
John explains several events from the Synoptic Gospels. For example, the charge that Jesus had threatened to destroy the temple (Mark 14:58; 15:29) finds its only adequate explanation in John 2:19. Mark gives no reason as to why the Jewish authorities should bother bringing Jesus to Pilate; John provides the reason (18:31–32). Only John explains why Peter can be placed within the high priest’s courtyard (18:15–18; cf. Mark 14:54, 66–72).
Conversely, numerous features in John are explained by details reported only in the Synoptic Gospels. For instance, in chs. 18–19 the trial plunges so quickly into the Roman court that it is difficult to see just what judicial action the Jews have taken, if any, to precipitate this trial; the Synoptic Gospels provide the answer (see “Jesus’ Trials”).
Characteristics and Themes
John has written a subtle book that he expects people to read more than once; new insights then come to light on subsequent readings. John’s thought is so wonderfully integrated that attempts to compartmentalize it by itemizing its components are destined in some measure to misrepresent it. Nevertheless, among John’s more important contributions are the following:
1. Enriching perspective. By telling the same story from another angle, John adds a stereoscopic depth to the picture of Jesus that we might not gain from the Synoptic Gospels alone.
2. Son of God. Fundamental to all else that is said of him, Jesus is peculiarly the Son of God, or simply the Son. He is functionally submissive to the Father and does and says only those things the Father gives him to do and say, but he does everything that the Father does (5:19–30). Jesus discloses nothing more and nothing less than the words and deeds of God. See “Sonship.”
3. Cross. Despite the heavy emphasis on Jesus as the one who reveals his Father, salvation does not come merely by revelation (as in Gnosticism; see Introduction to 1-3 John: Gnosticism). All the movement of the plot is toward the cross and resurrection. The cross is not merely a revelatory moment. It is the victory of the Lamb of God (1:29, 36); the life that is given for the world (6:25–58); the death of the shepherd for his sheep (10:11–18); the sacrifice of one man for his nation (11:50–52); and the triumph of the obedient Son, who by his death, resurrection, and ascension gives us life, peace, joy, and the Spirit (chs. 14–16).
4. Tension between “already” and “not yet.” All the major NT writings display the tension that (1) God’s promised “last days” have already arrived in Jesus’ ministry, death, resurrection, and exaltation, and (2) the fullness of hope is not yet here but still to come. Different authors display this tension in different ways, and John’s distinctive emphasis is bound up with his use of the “present and future” theme (e.g., 2:4; 7:6): Believers have already “crossed over from death to life” (5:24). The hour “is coming and has now come” (4:23; 5:25). Jesus has given his peace, but in this world we will have trouble (16:33). In the wake of Jesus’ exaltation and his gift of the Spirit, we can possess eternal life right now, but this is never at the expense of all future hope (5:28–30).
5. Holy Spirit. By giving the Spirit, Jesus introduces what is characteristic under the new covenant (3:5–8; 7:37–39). Jesus gives the Spirit, the Advocate, in consequence of his death and exaltation (chs. 14–16). The elements of what came to be called the doctrine of the Trinity find their clearest articulation in John’s Gospel.
6. Use of the Old Testament. Although John does not cite the OT as frequently as Matthew does, his use of the OT is characterized by an extraordinary number of allusions and above all by his insistence that Jesus, in certain respects, replaces or fulfills revered figures and institutions from the old covenant (e.g., tabernacle, temple, serpent, Passover, vine, Moses). Six passages say that Scripture or some OT writer speaks or writes of Christ, though John does not cite specific passages (1:45; 2:22; 3:10–15; 5:39, 45–46; 20:9).
7. Misunderstandings. People frequently misunderstand Jesus (see notes on 2:19–22; 4:11–12, 31–33; 5:46; 6:28; 7:35–36; 8:19, 21–22, 33, 52–53, 57; 10:6; 11:11–14; 12:16; 13:6–10; 14:5; 16:17–19, 29–30; 18:11), and John skillfully employs irony concerning this (see notes on 5:12, 46; 6:42; 7:3–4, 27, 35, 41, 47–48, 49; 8:21–22, 41, 53, 54; 10:33; 13:38; 18:28, 35; 19:3, 22, 31). No Gospel better preserves the ways in which Jesus’ contemporaries (including his own disciples) misunderstood him until after his exaltation. This is significant for reflecting on the relation between the old and new covenants. See “Covenant.”
8. People of God. John devotes much attention to the concept of belonging to the people of God. Although there is nothing on church order per se, there is much on the election, life, origin, nature, witness, suffering, fruit-bearing, prayer, love, and unity of God’s people.
9. Vocabulary. John, in certain respects and on relatively restricted topics, provides greater depth than do the Synoptic Gospels. This is a major reason that John uses a smaller vocabulary than that found in the Synoptic Gospels; John uses certain words and expressions repeatedly (e.g., believe, love, world, send, Father) to reflect important themes.
10. God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. John repeatedly explores the complexities that bind together election, faith, and the function of signs. If faith bursts forth in consequence of what is revealed in the signs, then signs legitimately serve as a basis for faith (e.g., 10:38). Yet in contrast, Jesus rebukes people for depending on signs (4:48). In the last analysis, faith turns on sovereign election by the Son (15:16) and on being part of the Father’s gift to the Son (6:37–44). This truth is at the heart of a book that is persistently evangelistic.
Outline
I. Prologue: The Word Became Flesh (1:1–18)
II. Jesus’ Self-Disclosure in Word and Deed (1:19—10:42)
A. Prelude to Jesus’ Public Ministry (1:19–51)
1. John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah (1:19–28)
2. John Testifies About Jesus (1:29–34)
3. John’s Disciples Follow Jesus (1:35–42)
4. Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael (1:43–51)
B. Early Ministry: Signs, Works, and Words (2:1—4:54)
1. Jesus Changes Water Into Wine (2:1–12)
2. Jesus Clears the Temple Courts (2:13–25)
3. Jesus Teaches Nicodemus (3:1–21)
4. John Testifies Again About Jesus (3:22–36)
5. Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman (4:1–26)
6. The Disciples Rejoin Jesus (4:27–38)
7. Many Samaritans Believe (4:39–42)
8. Jesus Heals an Official’s Son (4:43–54)
C. Rising Opposition: More Signs, Works, and Words (5:1—8:11)
1. The Healing at the Pool (5:1–15)
2. The Authority of the Son (5:16–30)
3. Testimonies About Jesus (5:31–47)
4. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (6:1–15)
5. Jesus Walks on the Water (6:16–24)
6. Jesus the Bread of Life (6:25–59)
7. Many Disciples Desert Jesus (6:60–71)
8. Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles (7:1–13)
9. Jesus Teaches at the Festival (7:14–24)
10. Division Over Who Jesus Is (7:25–44)
11. Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders (7:45–52)
12. The Woman Caught in Adultery (7:53—8:11)
D. Radical Confrontation: Climactic Signs, Works, and Words (8:12—10:42)
1. Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony (8:12–20)
2. Dispute Over Who Jesus Is (8:21–30)
3. Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are (8:31–47)
4. Jesus’ Claims About Himself (8:48–59)
5. Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind (9:1–12)
6. The Pharisees Investigate the Healing (9:13–34)
7. Spiritual Blindness (9:35–41)
8. The Good Shepherd and His Sheep (10:1–21)
9. Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims (10:22–42)
III. Transition: Life and Death, King and Suffering Servant (11:1—12:50)
A. The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus (11:1–44)
1. The Death of Lazarus (11:1–16)
2. Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus (11:17–37)
3. Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead (11:38–44)
B. The Judicial Decision to Kill Jesus (11:45–54)
C. Triumph and Impending Death (11:55—12:36)
1. The Setting: The Passover of the Jews (11:55–57)
2. Jesus Anointed at Bethany (12:1–11)
3. Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King (12:12–19)
4. Jesus Predicts His Death (12:20–36)
D. Theology of Unbelief (12:37–50)
IV. Jesus’ Self-Disclosure in His Cross and Exaltation (13:1—20:31)
A. The Last Supper (13:1–30)
1. Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet (13:1–17)
2. Jesus Predicts His Betrayal (13:18–30)
B. The Farewell Discourse (13:31—16:33)
1. Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial (13:31–38)
2. Jesus Comforts His Disciples (14:1–4)
3. Jesus the Way to the Father (14:5–14)
4. Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit (14:15–31)
5. The Vine and the Branches (15:1–17)
6. The World Hates the Disciples (15:18–25)
7. The Work of the Holy Spirit (15:26—16:15)
8. The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy (16:16–33)
C. The Prayer of Jesus (17:1–26)
1. Jesus Prays to Be Glorified (17:1–5)
2. Jesus Prays for His Disciples (17:6–19)
3. Jesus Prays for All Believers (17:20–26)
D. The Trial and Passion of Jesus (18:1—19:42)
1. Jesus Arrested (18:1–14)
2. Peter’s First Denial (18:15–18)
3. The High Priest Questions Jesus (18:19–24)
4. Peter’s Second and Third Denials (18:25–27)
5. Jesus Before Pilate (18:28–40)
6. Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified (19:1–16a)
7. The Crucifixion of Jesus (19:16b–27)
8. The Death of Jesus (19:28–37)
9. The Burial of Jesus (19:38–42)
E. The Resurrection of Jesus (20:1–31)
1. The Empty Tomb (20:1–10)
2. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene (20:11–18)
3. Jesus Appears to His Disciples (20:19–23)
4. Jesus Appears to Thomas (20:24–29)
5. The Purpose of John’s Gospel (20:30–31)
V. Epilogue (21:1–25)
A. Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish (21:1–14)
B. Jesus Reinstates Peter (21:15–25)
