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John |
 The Gospel of John us the fourth gospel in the canon of the New
Testament, traditionally ascribed to John the Evangelist. Like the three
synoptic gospels, it contains an account of some of the actions and sayings of
Jesus of Nazareth, but differs from them in ethos and theological emphases. The
Gospel may have been written with an evangelistic purpose, primarily for
Greek-speaking Jews who were not believers or to strengthen the faith of
Christians. A second purpose was to counter criticisms or unorthodox beliefs of
Jews, John the Baptist's followers, and those who believed Jesus was only spirit
and not flesh.
As a gospel, John is a story about the life of Jesus. The Gospel can be divided
into four parts: the Prologue, the Book of Signs, the Passion narrative, and the
Epilogue. The Prologue[John 1:1-18] is a hymn identifying Jesus as the Logos and
as God. The Book of Signs [John 1:19-12:50] recounts Jesus' public ministry, and
includes the signs worked by Jesus and some of his teachings. The Passion
narrative[John 13-20] recounts the Last Supper (focusing on Jesus' farewell
discourse), Jesus' arrest and crucifixion, his burial, and resurrection. The
Epilogue[John 21] records a resurrection appearance of Jesus to the disciples in
Galilee.
Of the four gospels, John presents the highest Christology, describing Jesus as
the Logos who was in the Arche (a Greek term for "the beginning" or "the
ultimate source of all things"), teaching at length about his identity as
savior, and declaring him to be God.
Compared to the Synoptic Gospels, John focuses on Jesus' mission to bring the
Logos ("Word", "Wisdom", "Reason" or "Rationality") to his disciples. Only in
John does Jesus talk at length about himself, including a substantial amount of
material Jesus shared with the disciples only. Here Jesus' public ministry
consists largely of miracles not found in the Synoptics, including raising
Lazarus from the dead. In John, Jesus, not his message, has become the object of
veneration. Certain elements of the synoptics (such as parables, exorcisms, and
possibly the Second Coming) are not found in John.
Since "the higher criticism" of the 19th century, critical scholars have
questioned the gospel of John as a reliable source of information about the
historical Jesus.
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