As briefly stated in the previous section of this paper, John was writing to both Jewish and Gentile Christians, post the First Jewish-Roman war. The era of his writing and the audience to which he was writing greatly affected what he was communicating with this passage of Scripture. The logos in the 90’s CE would have been understood by Greeks through a Platonic and Stoic worldview as a mediatory means between the divine and human realms or as the “reason”, the force by which the universe was structured. Philo, a first-century philosopher combined this understanding of the logos with the Jewish conception of “wisdom personified.” Before the writings of John’s Gospel, the Jewish writings personified Wisdom as a divine mediator of God’s person and intent (see Proverbs 8:27; 29-30; 35-36). One can see how language like this shapes and forms the understanding of Jesus that John wanted to convey to his audience. The Hellenistic audience, influenced by Plato would see Jesus as the mediating agent between heaven and earth, which was confirmed by Jesus in John 1:51, while Jewish readers would understand the Word of God through an Old Testament worldview as God in action, specifically in creation, revelation and deliverance. Craig Keener talks of John’s usage of logos in this way,
The logos understanding in the New Testament has influence from the way Heraclitus used it. With all these translations and interpretations of the word, it conveys a theological meaning in John 1:1, 14, as well as Revelations 19:13. In these scriptural texts, logos is traditionally translated as “Word.”
Luke the Evangelist is quoted saying, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” My door opened specifically at the age of five. When I was young, I was consistently at the doctor’s office or the hospital or the ER. The medical history is colorful and still progressing. However, the sicknesses I endured have assisted in shaping my personality and outlook as well as given insight on my future plans.
I was first introduced to Jesus Christ through several Korean missionaries from America, who came to my orphanage in Russia one day. A bright green church, which is my favorite color to this day, was implanted right behind my orphanage and the people of the church went around inviting and encouraging people to join them on Sunday mornings. We were told there would be donuts and other food. Of course that would lure any orphan right off the bat. I among other children, joined the church on Sunday mornings. Maybe it was simply the donuts, but I felt accepted right away. Although I was very fond of the things we were told and taught, they appeared to be only stories to me. The stories did not become an entity or reached my heart until after I got adopted into a Christian family three years later.
James Austin It appears that Jesus's baptism had no purpose at all. Jesus was sinless and pure. John the Baptist was surprised to see Jesus come to him. John the Baptist knew he was a sinner, and asked Jesus to baptize him because someone like himself was not worthy to baptize Jesus. "I need to be baptized by you and you come to me?" (Matthew 3:14) Jesus replied that it was to be done because “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).
John the Baptist is considered an important figure in Christianity for numerous reasons. Before the baptizing of Jesus or even his own birth, the nomadic preacher is foreshadowed throughout the bible. His essence is not automatically recalled at first glance. Yet, through reading and context you can see the correlation of how the New Testament fulfills the old and how the Old Testament foreshadows the new. Taking that in consideration here are some passages that prove this point.
The four Gospels all tell the same story, but they differ in the small details and the way in which the story is told. The “Gospel Authors” spent much of their time with Jesus and I’m sure the events they witnessed were truly remarkable. These Apostles did have flashbulb memories, which are memories of exciting or shocking events that can be clearly remembered, but they also had much more going on. To remember the events that happened and record them for Scripture, the authors had to encode, store, and retrieve these memories. Encoding would be when the Apostles are first experiencing the event. Their brains are taking in information and processing them in unique ways. They then stored these memories in order to retrieve them later. Finally,
Introduction The theme of John in writing his Gospel is the manifestation of Christ’s glory. To accomplish his purpose the apostle selects some of those things in the life and work of Christ that exhibit most clearly his true character and mission (Vaughn, 1965). John explicitly said in his purpose statement (John 20:30-31) that the aim of his Gospel is to present Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament Scriptures and the unique Son of God. John’s primary means of revealing Jesus as the divine Messiah is the seven sign-miracles and their attendant contexts of teaching, all of which are recorded in the first twelve chapters (Kim, 2010).
The Gospel of John proclaims: “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him at the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood true drink” (Jn 6:54-55). The words of Apostle John give us the ultimate assurance of the many blessings that the Cross of Christ has won for us in which, there overflows numerous blessings which come to us whenever we participate in Eucharistic sacrifice, because to receive the Eucharist during Mass, is to receive Christ Himself who has offered himself for us, who promised his disciples eternal life and intimate union with him. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, our Christian life has foundation in the Eucharistic banquet and we need daily nourishment from it in our pilgrimage journey until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum.
Two of the most controversial facets of the historical Jesus’ ministry are the concepts of his roles as an apocalyptic prophet as well as an exorcist. These two aspects are controversial due to their complex and extreme nature. The assertion that the historical Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet has been highly contested amongst a variety of scholars such as E.P Sanders, Albert Schweitzer, Bart Ehrman and many others. Jesus’ apocalyptic proclamations consisted of the declaration of the arrival of the Kingdom of God, which will spark the cosmic battle between good and evil. In addition, Jesus’ role as an exorcist was a significant aspect of his work. During his ministry over 2000 years ago, Jesus performed exorcisms to heal an individual who has
The Gospel of John which is also my favorite gospel is written for the gentile Christians who during this time are faced with heavy opposition and persecution for Judaizers, Gnostics, false prophets, other heretics that sought to discredit Jesus as the Messiah. John goes right to the heart of the issue and declares Jesus to be the Son of God and who is in fact God. It has been noted that the Gospel of John is in a class of its own and is meant for every man, woman, and child of every ethnicity.
There are many significant differences between gospel of John compared to the the synoptic gospels. The way Jesus was portrayed in John is the main distinction. There are stories that only appear in John that do not appear in the other gospels. These stories give an idea of Jesus as the “special” one. Four of the seven signs in the gospels were only mentioned in John. Jesus is portrayed as the “Holy One of God” compared to the other gospels. There are many details that can be drawn from the events that are only recorded in the gospel of John. The gospel of John shows what miracles that have been left out, the response that Jesus made to Peter’s confession, how Jesus was viewed, and the order of which John was written in comparison to the other
A church is considered as a sacred place for various religions. It symbolizes a foundation of people beliefs. When one enters inside it, he or she should observe the proper decorum that are set. Respect is given to the preachers or speakers by listening to them very carefully. Songs are
Analysis of the Gospel of John 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
Gospel of John This essay will show contrasts in views on the Gospel of John regarding authorship,dates, and the relationship between John's Gospel and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Some comparison of thought, concerning composition and life setting, will also be presented.