The Gospel of John
The Gospel of John (literally,
According to John; Greek, Κατά Ιωαννην, Kata Iōannēn) is
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, but differs from
them in ethos and theological emphases. The Gospel
appears to have been written with an evangelistic
purpose, primarily for Greek-speaking Jews who were not
believers: "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"(John 20:30-31). 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.
Of the four gospels, John presents the highest
Christology, describing him as the Logos who is the
Arche (a Greek term for "existed from 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. Certain elements of the synoptics (such
as parables)
are not found in John.
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