Fourth Gospel Reflection

While numerous scholars say that John is the Gospel to the world (and Matthew to the Jews, Mark to the Romans, and Luke to the Greeks), a Jewish scholar such as Israel Abrahams might very well believe that the Gospel of John is the most Jewish Gospel of the four by the way it reflects Jewish traditions and symbolisms. According to David Wenham[i], there is more attention given to Jesus as the Messiah in the Gospel of John than in any of other Gospels. In John, from chapter one onwards people are directly talking about Jesus as Messiah, and then there is intense public debate about whether Jesus is Messiah or not in John 7:25-31, 41-44[ii], which indicates that John is quite mindful of Jewish issues.

Every human being has a worldview whether they are aware of it or not. Although the notion of a worldview might appear basic in nature, the word itself simply meaning how one views the world around them, worldviews are much more complex and far reaching. A worldviews development occurs over the course of a lifetime, shaped by the complex and unique experiences of an individual and the sum of family traditions, religious beliefs and cultural histories. It is an all-encompassing interpretation of reality that plays a central and defining role in our attitudes and concepts about life. While worldviews are formed based on the answers to fundamental questions about human existence, they simultaneously shape

The third section dissects the formation of the New Testament with more historical context and views of other writings defined as Gnostic writing. Bruce explains the spoken words of the apostles carried as much authority as their written words and gives an in depth explanation how the Gospels and Pauline writings were viewed by the Church Fathers. The rest of the section demonstrates the Church Fathers and their views of what was to be considered scripture and the councils that affirmed the inspired scripture.

“The Church has always and everywhere maintained, and continues to maintain, the apostolic origin of the four Gospels. The apostles preached, as Christ had charged them to do, and then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they and others of the apostolic age handed on to us in writing the same message they had preached, the

The post presents a clearly defined explanation of Jewish traditions and culture in the Book of John. Correctly stated, the use of the term “the Word” plainly displays an entity that is more than just mortal. Jewish scripture accurately predicts a messiah that was eternal. John’s explanation of “the Word” plainly lays out the fact that He was existent from all eternity. (TOWNES X). Furthermore, in John’s Gospel care is taken to provide chronological timeline by identifying Jewish holidays. Especially unique is John’s mention of the Feast of Tabernacles. Customs such as the wedding at Cana and the agrarian references to sheepherding assume the reader would be familiar with a particular way of life. Continuing, the notice of John’s

Hebrews 1:2-3 says, “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (NIV). In an article in The Christian Crier, author Jack Wellman gives a great description of Jesus.

The word 'gospel' means good news. There are four gospel accounts in the New Testament:

The final eight epistles of the New Testament canon exert an influence out of proportion to their length. They complement the thirteen Pauline Epistles by offering varying perspectives on the richness of Christian truth. Each of the five authors – James, Peter, John, Jude, and the author of Hebrews – made a distinctive contribution from his own point of view. Like the four harmonizing approaches to the life of Christ portrayed in the Gospels, these writers provide a sweeping portrait of the Christian life as a whole and how it should be lived out. Although Paul’s epistles are excellent, the New Testament revelation after Acts would be severely limited by one apostle’s perspective had the writing of these five men been neglected. The

The purpose of this table is to provide a fairly complete list of the widely suggested parallels. Since a number of these parallels are still so weak, reflecting only some conceptual similarity or a single shared word, one may legitimately question whether they can offer any decisive evidence for clarifying the type of relationship between James and the supposed parallel synoptic traditions. Of the twenty-four parallels list only eight have strong parallels. It was only with the development of scholarship dealing with the source criticism of the gospels generally, and more specifically with the formulation of the Q hypothesis that a literary relationship between James and the hypothetical source of the double tradition material began to emerge.

The Gospel Of John 1. Who was John, and why was he qualified to write a book in the Bible? 1. John was a disciple of Jesus and wrote the Book of John (Strauss, 2011, 9083). He was qualified to write a book in the Bible because he held an “eyewitness testimony” of Jesus’ life and ministry and states so in his gospel (Strauss, 2011, 9083). John “provides many incidental details one would expect only from an eyewitness (2: 6; 5: 5; 18: 10, 15 – 16; 21: 11), is familiar with predestruction Jerusalem (5: 3; 9: 7; 10: 23; 18: 28; cf. 4: 5 – 6), and knows the traditions and customs of Palestinian Judaism (2: 6, 23; 6: 4; 7: 2, 37 – 39; 10: 22; 19: 14, 31)”

John H. Walton’s Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible is broken up into fourteen chapters. Those fourteen chapters are each part of one of five sections. This book also contains over twenty historical images. Before the introduction, the author gives readers a full appendix of all images used in this published work. The author then gives his acknowledgements followed by a list of abbreviations.

Many scholars and philosophers find themselves troubled when trying to make sense of the Synoptic Gospels found in The Holy Bible. These include The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. When looking at them side by side readers will see that they have many differences and similarities. This has resulted in what is called The Synoptic Problem; that is, how do we account for these similarities and differences? Scholars have come up with an applicable solution called the four source solution Theory.

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

Additionally, John indicates most of Jesus works in Galilee and Jerusalem while synoptic gospels place it in Galilee and Judea. Jesus’ teachings in the four gospels were mainly in parables and there is account of Jesus speaking with any figure. In contrast gospel of John accounts that Jesus used philosophical speeches in his teachings and interacted with figures like Nicodemus. Another event that distance gospel of

Each of the four Gospels contains points in ecclesiology. In the Great Commission, Jesus’ last instruction to the Apostles is to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching people (Matthew 28:19-20). For Jesus’ mission to continue and for his Church to grow, discipleship is necessary. Discipleship is a prominent theme in all four Gospels, for purposes of this essay, only the Gospels of John and Luke-Acts will be analyzed. The similarities regarding discipleship in these Gospels include images of the net and fishing, and the sheep/shepherd/sheepfold. The differences include the preparing of the Twelve to carry on Jesus' ministry in Luke, and service to the community and passing of authority in John's Gospel.