Gospel Of John Audience Analysis

Audience To determine the audience of the Gospel of John, it is easier to determine what the purpose of John was first. The author of John is blunt about what the purpose of writing his gospel was, and John 20:31 most clearly states that “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” This verse can further be supported by John 8:24 and John 3:16, all of which collectively describe the idea that Jesus would die for everyone’s sins, and thus those who believe would have eternal life with God. From this, it can be inferred that the author of John was written to anyone who did not know Jesus or wanted to know who he was/is. I believe that the opening verse of John also contributes to the thought that the Gospel of John was written for a more general audience. The first verse starts with “In the beginning was the Word” and goes on to through verse 5, that ultimately illustrates how Jesus is the life that is the …show more content…
As the approach to depicting who Jesus was, in the same way, the reaction from reading the text might be different in the same way. In Mark, Jesus is consistently described as helping others, and living his life to satisfy his purpose. This might lead to a more aggressive approach in following Jesus. By aggressive, I mean that instead of just believing that Jesus is the Son of God, his followers would also live out the life that God has planned and acting more like Jesus did. This is just subtle difference in thought, but it can be considered due to the immense difference in the description of Jesus. In John, Jesus is not as much of an influence on helping others as he is described as a superior being versus Mark, where he tries to hide being a superior being while doing good deeds. It gives the reader an attainable