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Gospel of John
The Gospel of John is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus) and seven "I am" discourses culminating in Thomas's proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God". The penultimate chapter's concluding verse set out its purpose, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."
John was written between AD 90–100. The gospel is anonymous, although it identifies a "disciple whom Jesus loved" as the source of its traditions and perhaps author. 20th century scholarship interpreted the gospel within the paradigm of a "Johannine community", but this has been increasingly challenged in the 21st century, and there is currently considerable debate over the gospel's historical context. As it is closely related in style and content to the Johannine epistles, most scholars treat the four books, along with the Book of Revelation, as a single corpus of Johannine literature, albeit not by the same author.
The majority of scholars see four sections in the Gospel of John: a prologue (1:1–18); an account of the ministry, often called the "Book of Signs" (1:19–12:50); the account of Jesus's final night with his disciples and the passion and resurrection (13:1–20:31); and a conclusion (20:30–31), as well as an epilogue (Chapter 21). John displays a literary unity throughout its text, and the current scholarly tendency is to approach the work as a coherent whole. The gospel is notable for its high Christology.
The Gospel of John is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle. Many modern scholars continue to affirm the traditional attribution, first found in Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202 AD), but the gospel is internally anonymous, and most either reject or hold this hypothesis tentatively. John 21:22 references a disciple whom Jesus loved and John 21:24–25 says: "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true". Most scholars believe the verses claim the beloved disciple was the author of the gospel, but others argue the author is claiming to be someone else recording the disciple's testimony. There is a consensus among Johannine scholars that the beloved disciple was a real historical person, but there is no consensus on who the beloved disciple was. The scholarly consensus dates the writing of the gospel between AD 90–100. The Gospel was likely composed in Ephesus, as both second century Christians and the majority of modern scholars say.
Recent scholarship has tended to turn against positing hypothetical sources for John. While a few scholars support old ideas about debated sources like the "signs source" and the "sayings source", or develop new theories, it is widely considered that John incorporated synoptic traditions into his own composition instead. The author seems to have known some version of Mark and Luke, as John shares with them some vocabulary and clusters of incidents arranged in the same order, but key terms from those gospels are absent or nearly so, implying that if the author did know them they felt free to write independently. The Hebrew scriptures were an important source, with 14 direct quotations (versus 27 in Mark, 54 in Matthew, 24 in Luke), and their influence is vastly increased when allusions and echoes are included, but the majority of John's direct quotations do not agree exactly with any known version of the Jewish scriptures. While the author might claim to be an eyewitness in John 21, most scholars view it as a later addition by either the author of chapters 1-20 or by another redactor, though a growing minority view it as part of the earliest text. The author may also claim to be a witness in 19:35. Most scholars agree the Gospels are not direct eyewitness accounts, though this may partly be the result of dubious assumptions based on form criticism. Tom Thatcher argues that while the beloved disciple did not write the current form of the gospel, this does not entail reconstructions that put the author multiple stages or generations away from the disciple. Instead, he argues that the Fourth Evangelist was a companion of the beloved disciple who was either an amanuensis or used an earlier source attributed to the disciple shortly after his death. René Kieffer notes the possibility that there may have been a first and then a second edition.
For much of the 20th century, scholars interpreted the Gospel of John within the paradigm of a hypothetical "Johannine community", meaning that it was held to have sprung from a late-1st-century Christian community excommunicated from the Jewish synagogue (probably meaning the Jewish community) on account of its belief in Jesus as the promised messiah. This interpretation, which saw the community as essentially sectarian and outside the mainstream of early Christianity, has been increasingly challenged in the first decades of the 21st century, and there is currently considerable debate over the gospel's social, religious and historical context.
The majority of scholars see four sections in the Gospel of John: a prologue (1:1–18); an account of the ministry, often called the "Book of Signs" (1:19–12:50); the account of Jesus's final night with his disciples and the passion and resurrection, sometimes called the Book of Glory or Book of Exaltation (13:1–20:31); and a conclusion (20:30–31); to these is added an epilogue that most scholars believe was appended later by either the author of chapters 1-20 or by somebody else (Chapter 21). Disagreement does exist; a growing number, including Bauckham, argue that John 21 was part of the original work. John displays a profound coherence and unity throughout, and the view of the gospel as a communal product of multiple editions is today in retreat, as literary critics approach the work as a unitary text.
The structure is highly schematic: there are seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus), and seven "I am" sayings and discourses, culminating in Thomas's proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God" (the same title, dominus et deus, claimed by the Emperor Domitian, an indication of the date of composition).
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Gospel of John
The Gospel of John is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus) and seven "I am" discourses culminating in Thomas's proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God". The penultimate chapter's concluding verse set out its purpose, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."
John was written between AD 90–100. The gospel is anonymous, although it identifies a "disciple whom Jesus loved" as the source of its traditions and perhaps author. 20th century scholarship interpreted the gospel within the paradigm of a "Johannine community", but this has been increasingly challenged in the 21st century, and there is currently considerable debate over the gospel's historical context. As it is closely related in style and content to the Johannine epistles, most scholars treat the four books, along with the Book of Revelation, as a single corpus of Johannine literature, albeit not by the same author.
The majority of scholars see four sections in the Gospel of John: a prologue (1:1–18); an account of the ministry, often called the "Book of Signs" (1:19–12:50); the account of Jesus's final night with his disciples and the passion and resurrection (13:1–20:31); and a conclusion (20:30–31), as well as an epilogue (Chapter 21). John displays a literary unity throughout its text, and the current scholarly tendency is to approach the work as a coherent whole. The gospel is notable for its high Christology.
The Gospel of John is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle. Many modern scholars continue to affirm the traditional attribution, first found in Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202 AD), but the gospel is internally anonymous, and most either reject or hold this hypothesis tentatively. John 21:22 references a disciple whom Jesus loved and John 21:24–25 says: "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true". Most scholars believe the verses claim the beloved disciple was the author of the gospel, but others argue the author is claiming to be someone else recording the disciple's testimony. There is a consensus among Johannine scholars that the beloved disciple was a real historical person, but there is no consensus on who the beloved disciple was. The scholarly consensus dates the writing of the gospel between AD 90–100. The Gospel was likely composed in Ephesus, as both second century Christians and the majority of modern scholars say.
Recent scholarship has tended to turn against positing hypothetical sources for John. While a few scholars support old ideas about debated sources like the "signs source" and the "sayings source", or develop new theories, it is widely considered that John incorporated synoptic traditions into his own composition instead. The author seems to have known some version of Mark and Luke, as John shares with them some vocabulary and clusters of incidents arranged in the same order, but key terms from those gospels are absent or nearly so, implying that if the author did know them they felt free to write independently. The Hebrew scriptures were an important source, with 14 direct quotations (versus 27 in Mark, 54 in Matthew, 24 in Luke), and their influence is vastly increased when allusions and echoes are included, but the majority of John's direct quotations do not agree exactly with any known version of the Jewish scriptures. While the author might claim to be an eyewitness in John 21, most scholars view it as a later addition by either the author of chapters 1-20 or by another redactor, though a growing minority view it as part of the earliest text. The author may also claim to be a witness in 19:35. Most scholars agree the Gospels are not direct eyewitness accounts, though this may partly be the result of dubious assumptions based on form criticism. Tom Thatcher argues that while the beloved disciple did not write the current form of the gospel, this does not entail reconstructions that put the author multiple stages or generations away from the disciple. Instead, he argues that the Fourth Evangelist was a companion of the beloved disciple who was either an amanuensis or used an earlier source attributed to the disciple shortly after his death. René Kieffer notes the possibility that there may have been a first and then a second edition.
For much of the 20th century, scholars interpreted the Gospel of John within the paradigm of a hypothetical "Johannine community", meaning that it was held to have sprung from a late-1st-century Christian community excommunicated from the Jewish synagogue (probably meaning the Jewish community) on account of its belief in Jesus as the promised messiah. This interpretation, which saw the community as essentially sectarian and outside the mainstream of early Christianity, has been increasingly challenged in the first decades of the 21st century, and there is currently considerable debate over the gospel's social, religious and historical context.
The majority of scholars see four sections in the Gospel of John: a prologue (1:1–18); an account of the ministry, often called the "Book of Signs" (1:19–12:50); the account of Jesus's final night with his disciples and the passion and resurrection, sometimes called the Book of Glory or Book of Exaltation (13:1–20:31); and a conclusion (20:30–31); to these is added an epilogue that most scholars believe was appended later by either the author of chapters 1-20 or by somebody else (Chapter 21). Disagreement does exist; a growing number, including Bauckham, argue that John 21 was part of the original work. John displays a profound coherence and unity throughout, and the view of the gospel as a communal product of multiple editions is today in retreat, as literary critics approach the work as a unitary text.
The structure is highly schematic: there are seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus), and seven "I am" sayings and discourses, culminating in Thomas's proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God" (the same title, dominus et deus, claimed by the Emperor Domitian, an indication of the date of composition).