God The Son, The Incarnation And Attributes Of God

At this time, I would like a moment to explain why the Johannine literature is important to a student of the New Testament. First I would like to make note that the Johannine literature consists of John’s gospel, the epistles of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and Revelation. Together they tell scholars some important facts about early second century

John presents a very different Jesus compared to the synoptic gospels. It is clear that for John Jesus has many complex elements to his personality and without all of these the picture is not complete. The above quote by Käsemann suggests that in the gospel of John Jesus’ divinity is definite and his presence is felt on the entire world through his words and actions. This allows for the human Jesus but implies the divine Jesus is imperative.

N.T. Wright releases “How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels” with the affirmation that the church has come to emphasis almost exclusively on Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection. Although, the gospels devote the majority of their time on Jesus’ life. Jesus’s life, death, resurrection and rise did not hint the end of the old Israel story, but redirected it further to a worldwide effort of adaptation. Wright addresses several New Testament documented interpreters who present the gospels as simply “the prognosis of early Christian faith, reflecting the disputes and predicaments of the early church,” something Wright calls a “half-truth”. Wright argues that notwithstanding the gospels countless differences, none of

God become man, one of the profound mysteries of the Gospel and the Christian faith, is evidenced and affirmed throughout Scripture, yet it all too often is neglected in modern Christian thought and practice. In the work, The Incarnation of God, John Clark and Marcus Johnson do just the opposite. They bring the truth from scripture to robustly discuss a theology of the incarnation of God. Throughout their discussion, it becomes evident that the book strives to address the centrality of the incarnation, to the whole of the Christian faith, finding it’s support both in scripture and also the historic understandings of the catholic Church.

As creatures created by God and who share in His life, we all have “inestimable value” (JP II 2). By virtue of the fact that He sent His Son to die for us on the cross in order to bridge what was broken in the Garden, God shows how much He really loves humanity. The Incarnation is proof positive how important human life is in the eyes of the Trinity. Jesus Christ could have taken on any form, yet as Philippians 2:7 teaches us, He took the form of a human servant and died a human death on the cross in order to provide salvation for humankind. Because of this relationship, all humans are valuable and share a divine dignity with one another and with God.

The Historical Jesus: Five Views edited by J.K Beilby and P.R Eddy is a most interesting book to say the least. This is a great book to be introduced into the world of the historical Jesus. Along with the editors we have five contributors hence the name “Five Views”. This includes Robert M. Price, J.D Crossan, Luke Timothy Johnson, D.G Dunn and Darrel L. Bock. Each contributor presents their own views of the historical Jesus presented in the gospels and what they believe.

The book posits that it is possible that the book of 1 John be a response to the First Century heresy of Gnosticism, which is defined by our text as “[taking] a dualistic view of the cosmos, typically insisting that only the spirit was pure and good and that the physical world, the creation of an inferior god, was inherently corrupt. Imprisoned in physical bodies, humans could escape the world of decaying matter only through precious knowledge” (Harris, 2012: 422). As a branch of Gnosticism, members of the Johannine church took the notion of Docetism as truth, which “held that Jesus did not suffer physically and dies, but simply returned to heaven, his spiritual home” (Harris, 2012: 423). When John uses the words “in the flesh” in chapter four,

John uses Jesus’ miraculous miracles as hypothetical signs directing people toward Jesus, the son of man, the messiah. This gospels audience of John’s gospel was directed toward the people of the Christology community (Harris

Another unexpected and major topic that John does not discuss are the parables stories told by Jesus, which are such an invaluable part of the Synoptic Gospels. In the other three Gospels, either Jesus would tell amazing stories or in brief, concise, lucid memorable sentences. Unlike the Synoptic Gospels, in the Gospel of John, Jesus’ speeches are often long dialogues with his opponents

Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus continued to get himself into trouble with Jewish leaders and authorities, bringing heavy persecution upon himself. The root of these misunderstandings was his self-proclaimed connection to God, a level of divinity that the religious leaders could not comprehend. Throughout this paper, the deity or divinity of Jesus (during his short tenure on earth) will be demonstrated, through proof that Jesus certainly did claim to be God, both indirectly and directly throughout the Gospel of John, and deal with the direct sayings and teachings of Jesus, as recorded by His apostle John.

John’s gospel reveals the evangelic founding and nurturing of the church, the epistles reveals the shaping of the church, and the apocalyptic eternal future of the church. John’s account records Jesus as the Son of God, gives extension coverage on Jesus’ ministry in the south, around Judea, the long spiritual truths of Jesus’ disclosures. John gives special attention to Jesus’ death and

The Johannine documents are unique within New Testament literature. In their way, they reflect on the life and teaching of Jesus, using typically Johannine concepts, expressions vocabulary, and style. These documents were embedded into the ancient contexts from which they originated, gently touching the world that surrounded them. "John expounds these themes by skillfully alternating narratives and discourses so that the words of Jesus bring out the inner meaning of his works" (Gundry, R., 2012, p. 289).

Prologues are found prior to certain texts, traditionally foreshadowing key ideas or themes that will be highlighted in the procession of the literature. It is as though they are metaphorical teases that permit the rest of the text to elaborate upon its themes. One of the most significant prologues in biblical history can be found among the New Testament in the Book of John. This book, in particular, differs from the other synoptic gospels due to the themes listed in the prologue, as well as in Jesus’s relationship with specific characters and testimonies of witness. Jesus’s interaction with Mary of Bethany in Chapter 11 illuminates the themes of life, witness, and belief that were first identified in the prologue of John. Jesus’s encounter with Mary also illustrates the concepts of weeping and resurrection as references first illustrated within the Old Testament.

"The Johannine teaching includes the following passages: John 1:1, 18, where some manuscripts read 'the only begotten God,' and that unusual reading may be regarded as grounds for accepting its authenticity; 20:28,

Throughout the course of this class we’ve taken in and learned a great deal about the Gospel of John. It’s crazy to see how much you can learn in such a short period of time but when the authors of both of our required text load them down with such rich insight, it’s hard not take anything away from this class. What I want to focus and reflect on in this paper are a few things; the way Jesus is presented in John 1-9, which components of John’s presentation of Jesus surprises me or challenges me, and what component of John’s presentation of Jesus do you believe is the most relevant to the present needs of your local congregation? When the paper is concluded I hope the reader has a better understanding of John so that without even reading