An Analysis of the Story of the Adulterous Woman
Look which of you that never sin wrought,
But is of life cleaner than she,
Cast at her stones and spare her not,
Clean out of sin if that ye be.
(N-Town: Woman Taken In Adultery: Medieval Drama; Bevington, David; Houghton Mifflin, 1975)
Who among us has never sinned? And, in our place as fellow victims of our own all too human nature, have we any right to pass judgement on those who do the same as we do, if with less discretion? If so, this begs the question of whether morality lies in following the social mores or if it is all in hiding from the public eye how often you don’t follow them. It seems that Jesus, or at least John’s version1 of Jesus and, later, the
…show more content…
This would place the original writing of the gospel at no later than 100 A.D., and very likely somewhere around 80 A.D. John’s writings, then, are the reminiscences of an elderly man looking back on his time with the Messiah; the views presented in the gospel are more likely to be what he felt and could believe in at the time of the writing, not at the time of his discipleship. This gives John’s gospel a more mature ambiance than those of the Synoptic writers, who were younger men, and more inclined to write clear-cut, propaganda packed texts.
Unlike the Synoptic writers, John avoids descriptions of the origins and early childhood of Jesus, which none of the gospel writers would have known much about, except through less accurate tales than the ones upon which the rest of the writings are based. John also includes a significant amount of material not found in the
Synoptics. In addition to the Adulterous Woman, all the other material in John 2-4, which covers Jesus' early Galilean ministry, is not found in the Synoptics. Prior visits of Jesus to Jerusalem before the Passion Week are mentioned only in John. Nor do Matthew, Mark or Luke mention the resurrection of Lazarus found in John
11. John presents his material in the form of extended dialogues or discourses rather than the pithy sayings found often in the Synoptics; this holds a certain appeal to the scholarly mind, which
Should one fully read the opening four Gospels of the New Testament, he or she can find many similar patterns of literature and themes affording much attention to detail and study. This is what someone such as Merriam Webster would define as the ?Synoptic Gospels?. So, what are and how can we explain the differences and similarities among synoptic authors Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the gospel, John? Which Book was written first? To what extent did the Evangelists depend on oral tradition, written sources, or each other? The phenomenon and mystery of these similar but unique Synoptic Gospels has for centuries challenged some of the best minds of academia and the church, stirring up much scholarly
Johannine literature has a number of underlying themes and uses its many symbols to express to the believer how one is able to obtain the Truth and gain sight in order to experience God. One theme which uses symbols with the expressed goal of bringing people closer to God is discipleship. Disciple is found through the totality of John’s writing and incorporates symbols, biblical figures, and divine instruction in order to bring people into relationship with God. The Gospel of John, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation make present the theme of discipleship in their own specific and distinct ways. Discipleship in the Gospel of John is elaborately described and acknowledges that one is only a disciple by divine initiative. The Epistles
The Gospel of John, the last of the four gospels in the Bible, is a radical departure from the simple style of the synoptic gospels. It is the only one that does not use parables as a way of showing how Jesus taught, and is the only account of several events, including the raising of Lazarus and Jesus turning water into wine. While essentially the gospel is written anonymously, many scholars believe that it was written by the apostle John sometime between the years 85 and 95 CE in Ephesus. The basic story is that of a testimonial of one of the Apostles and his version of Jesus' ministry. It begins by telling of the divine origins of the birth of Jesus, then goes on to prove that He is the Son of
The two Gospels that I 've decided to compare are Luke and John. Luke is considered a Synoptic Gospel and presents the human side of Jesus. Luke takes us through the longer version of his birth and his childhood and focuses on the humanity of Jesus. There was a debate in this story whether or not Jesus was human and raised many question to potential followers. Many said that Jesus was just a spirit but by reading Luke, there was great detail of his humanity. Luke directed this book directly to Gentiles and focused more on the teachings and miracles that Jesus created rather than the law. Stated in the text, Luke’s Gospel also depicts more clearly the way in which the proclamation of the kingdom of God and the accompanying mighty works of Jesus brought the benefits of salvation to marginalized people. Luke also highlights the concern of Jesus for the materially poor, and the duty of his followers to be free from love of possession and to give generously to those in need. John was considered a different story in the Bible and in the Gospel. It was the last story of the Gospels and does not repeat any of the other stories from Matthew, Mark, or Luke. John had the opportunity to see the gospel and its affect it had and based that off the
The juxtaposition of any two writings is a formidable task. The content of each, even if they seem alike, is a small part in determining similarities and differences. One must also look at the styles, authors, themes, supposed audiences and authorial intent. This front becomes even more difficult while exegeting and deciphering ancient texts because of how far removed the writings are from modern understanding and scholarship. It is also further complicated when one lacks the factual knowledge of which piece was written first and/or if both texts were using a third source at the time of their creation. These difficulties find their apex at the study of Christian history and all of its subsequent writings. In particular, the gospels according to Thomas and Luke, while they have similarities and at times identical phraseology are vastly different when one considers their theological understandings, themes, format and style.
The new testament contains four (4) accounts of the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as presented by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The 3 accounts are similar, while Johns bible presents Jesus in a unique way. These differences exist because Matthew and Luke got their information from Mark and John got his information from another source, maybe John did not have access to the other gospels or he chose not to use them. No one really knows the source of John’s gospel and we don’t know for sure who wrote the gospels. Scholars refer to the authors as Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, this may not even be their real names. The Gospel were not first hand accounts except for Mark. John did not seem to have known the existence of the other
Part one introduces the most perplexing of the Johannine riddles. After an outline of the Gospel of John, Anderson presents the threefold riddles: theological, historical, and literary. Anderson considers familiarity with the points of contention a requisite for engaging, addressing, and interpreting them. Chapter one exposes the central features of the Fourth Gospel; which effectively reveals the dissimilarities between John and the Synoptic Gospels. Chapter two uncovers the theological riddles of the Fourth Gospel, both “incidental” and “highly significant.” For the twelve theological riddles presented in chapter 2, Anderson conveys the work of Johannine scholarship as well as presents his own incisive exegesis. Anderson does likewise in his presentation of the historical and literary riddles in chapters 3 and 4. The first part successfully establishes the
The “variety of literary genres is paralleled by the diversity of its authors’ thoughts (Harris 2014). Each of the writers of the New Testament believe wholeheartedly in the significance of Jesus and his time on Earth. However, at times they each have a unique and different take on his life and teachings. The “fifth gospel” according to Thomas, paints Jesus as a figure that tries to lead his disciples down a path of enlightenment towards God’s kingdom.
Who wrote the Gospel of John was John the Evangelist. The Gospel of John was written between
During this segment of the bible Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a loyal disciple and one who stays with him till the end. This fragment is positioned amongst the Resurrection of Jesus (John 20: 1 – 10) and when Jesus Appears to the Disciples (John 20: 19 – 23). The placement of this segment of the bible presents Johns perspective of the theme of Discipleship and the traditions of Jesus’ Ministry. There has been much discussion on who authored the Gospel of John because there isn’t any “specific references to the identity of the author in the gospel itself.” “There is [however] a very strong tradition, supported by early evidence from patristic sources, that the author was the apostle John.” () During the time when the Gospel was written which was approximately “90 to 100 AD” () in Ephesus, Greece the intended audience was “all the Christians of the World” () in their time and in our time. The literary genre of the Gospel of John is poetic Narrative, where it is “expressing the poet’s personal and inner feelings on love, God and life. In the Bible, poetry is always arranged in stanzas.”
The fact that critical Scholars question if John who wrote the fourth Gospel was John the son of Zebedee. Although the early church fathers believed that the original disciple John was in fact the same John who wrote the Gospel and that view still remains today (pg,109). One of the saints known by the name Irenaeus, who was an early Church Father and apologist, was one of many that supported the fact that John the disciple was the writer of the Gospel. The second insight was that John ensured that we looked more closely at Jesus’ human nature. John wrote about Him more as human, such examples are like, “After this He went down to
The Gospel of John tells of Christ’s ministry in a behind the scenes fashion, as being a follower of Christ. It tells of the miracles Jesus performs and the meaning to his miracles as God’s presence is with him, as well as, the glorification of Jesus, his crucifixion, and towards the end, his resurrection. Appearing to his disciples, telling them of the news of the Kingdom of God. “As The Father sent me, I send you.” (John 20:21) Why would John write this version so differently from the others?
Johannine literature truly portrays Jesus as God, with the theme of His deity interwoven throughout numerous passages. In this respect, John’s style differs from the other four gospels, as Bickel & Jantz (1998) point out that the other three had been written prior to John’s gospel, therefore, “he wasn’t interested in just retelling the events” (p. 222). Since Jesus is the focal point of Scripture, a scholar of the New Testament with uncertainty concerning Jesus’ oneness with God will fail to perceive the crux of Christianity. Therefore, in spite of its importance, John does not focus on Jesus’ entrance into the
The Gospel of John differs in many key areas to the Synoptics,and I will address some differing lines of thought.
The gospel of John does not have the birth story of Jesus as it is documented in the Synoptic gospels instead refers Christ as eternal word which became flesh. Gospel of John lacks records of Jesus’ Baptism by John the Baptist but instead records his baptism activities hence contradicting role of John the Baptist in Jesus’ Baptism. Another difference of gospel of John from the synoptic gospels is that there is no indication of temptation of Jesus by Satan but records that Jesus could not be tempted because of his unity with the Father. John indicates that Jesus taught without parables something contradicts synoptic gospels. There is no accounts of apocalypse in the gospel of John but instead indicates that Jesus completed his messianic role (Harris, 2014).