Study of John - Week 1

I. About the Book

a. Who wrote it?

i. John was written by “The disciple whom Jesus loved”. It was either John the disciple or another John (the Elder). The Ryrie Study Bible says that John was a Palestinian Jew who was an eyewitness of the events of Jesus’ life based on: 1. His knowledge of Jewish customs (7:37-39; 18:28); 2. His knowledge of the land of Palestine (1:44, 46; 5:2); 3. The fact that he also includes details of an eyewitness (2:6; 13:26; 21:8, 11).

b. When was it written?

i. 60-70 AD. These dates have been determined by various facts, including the other Gospels, the Book of Acts and the date of the death of Paul, among other things. Christ died in the years 30-33 AD, so this book was well within the lifetime of the actual eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life (27-40 years). Much of the eyewitness accounts would have been hard to falsify with so many people (including hostile eyewitnesses) still alive that would have seen them and been able to refute any bogus claims.

ii. The Daily Study Bible – The Gospel of John by William Barclay says that compared to the other Gospels, John is most the work of the Holy Spirit. This is because it was the last written. I believe that the fact that John was not written the morning after Jesus appeared to the disciples and ascended into heaven is a fortunate thing for us. The reason is that there were most likely many things that John saw and heard that he did not understand the second they happened. God has a way of taking us along a journey in our spiritual walk and revealing things along the way, not all at the same time. John had worked through a great deal of issues by the time he wrote his book and was still learning. There were many things that the Holy Spirit had revealed to John by the time he wrote the book. Jesus said in John 16:12-13 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is to come.”

c. How reliable is the book based on historical evidence?

i. In The Case for Christ, Craig L. Blomberg says that compared to any other ancient historical writings, the Gospels were written so closely to the actual events that the gap in time is insignificant.

What this means is that there was not time for new legend to develop and make its way into the writings. For example, the earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written more than 400 years after his death and are considered to be generally reliable. There has since been legendary material written later that is not historically reliable. So, within the first 500 years or so the story remained intact, but the legendary material was added in the centuries after this time period. With John being writing so close to the actual events, it is not accepted in scholarly circles that John contains any legendary or inflated material.

Archeological Note: The John Rylands Papyrus was discovered in 1920 in Egypt and is the oldest existing manuscript of the New Testament (fragment of Book of John) and is actual evidence of the Book of John in the first half of the 2nd Century, which supports a date of authorship of John is the latter part of the 1st Century.


d. How does John compare to the other Gospels?

i. The Daily Study Bible – The Gospel of John by William Barclay says that it was also written with the intent of being a gospel to the Gentiles. This is very important in that the others were chiefly interested in conveying a message to other Jews. Jesus was of Jewish decent and spent his whole life in the area surrounding Judea. The Jews already understood the concept of a messiah and framed their view of Jesus and the gospel of Jesus with their understanding of the history of their people. The Greeks did not have this understanding of Jewish culture and history or where Jesus came from and John intended to write his gospel with this in mind. Christianity had reached Rome by 60 AD. The author decided to write a gospel that did not take non-Jews through Jewish ideas in order to present Jesus to them. In other words, this is Jesus for everyone, not just for the Jews.

ii. John has some more theological info than the other gospels. It is also highly spiritual. There are several stories relayed in John that are not in the other Gospels: The miracle of turning water into wine at Cana (2:1-11); Nicodemus coming to Jesus (3:1-15); the woman of Samaria (4); the raising of Lazarus (11); the way Jesus washed His disciples feet (13:1-17); Jesus’ teaching of the Holy Spirit in chapters 14-17. Only in John does Thomas speak, only John speaks of the crown of thorns, and there are many other examples. The HCSB states that 90% of the material in John is unique.

iii. The New Defender’s Study Bible states that all of the original apolstles (including Paul) had been martyred by the time that John wrote the Book of John (except for John). The HCSB Study Bible states that

e. The Archeological Study Bible states that the Book of John has three main themes:
i. Jesus is God
ii. Jesus is the Messiah
iii. Choose Belief or Unbelief

Reading for Week 2: John 1:1-18