The Gospel Of John Essay

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Written primarily for Gentile believers and seekers of roughly 50-85AD (Zondervan NIV Study Bible, p.1756), the purpose of The Gospel of John is clearly stated by its author (presumed to be the apostle John) - “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).

John’s Gospel differs from the Synoptics in form and perspective - but not, of course, in the basic storyline. He is born as prophesied, to much fanfare. John opens with echoing back to Genesis- “In the beginning…” and goes bigger with the point of Jesus being the fulfillment of prophecy. In John- He is God’s Word. He 's always been with God and always will be. He is the Light that will
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He grows a ministry, gathers disciples (John 1:35-51) and performs miracles that draw crowds and the ire of the Jewish elders. Matthew, Mark and Luke recorded many miracles in their Gospels.
But John chose to record only 7 miracles (John 2:1-11,4:43-54,5:1-15,6:1-14,6:16-21,9:1-12,11:1-44,21:1-14) - Changing water into wine , Healing an official’s son, Healing the crippled man at the pool, Feeding the 5,000,Walking on water, Healing the man born blind,and Raising Lazarus from the dead . Some of these miracles, such as the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44), are found only in this Gospel. The author refers to them as ‘signs’- using this term to emphasize that His miracles are a sign of His Divinity.

This Gospel is commonly regarded as anti-semitic (p.192, Jesus and the Gospels, Blomberg) for the author’s treatment of the Jewish elders. John’s version relies heavily on literary tradition and the symbolism of Light versus Dark, Good versus Evil. He is constantly in conflict with them (John 2:14-16, 5:16-47, 6:41-59, 7:15-21, 8:31-42, 9:40-10:18, 10:23-39). “The Jews” are clearly cast as a collective character- as Christ’s counterpart in an epic power
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If it is any kind of a power struggle with The Jews- it is only for the storytelling. God is God and will not be denied. God is God and calls His children Home.

Christ’s Divine nature means a very different homecoming for Him. He predicts His own death (John 12:20-36), resurrection (John 2:18-19), and (unique to John) promises the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-30, 15:26-16:15). His disciples are slow to understand Him (John 2:22, 6:60-71,13:7,19) , and let Him down in His darkest hours (18:15-18,25-27). He is betrayed and arrested (18:1-11), humiliated, crucified and dies a most miserable human death (John 19:1-42).

He is not in the tomb when Mary Magdalene goes to attend to His body (John 20:1). Peter and John are also astonished to find it empty (John 20:2-10). Resurrected (John 20:1-29)- He makes a few encore appearances in order to drive His point home (20:11-18,20:19-25,20:26-31,21:1-25).

What is His point? According to The Gospel of John? What is the capstone of The Gospels? “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John

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