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The Gospel of John also known as The Book of John or simply John is the fourth book of the New Testament, and the forty-third book of the Bible. It is written by the Apostle John as one of the four gospels and gives historical accounts of Jesus Christ's actions and miracles on Earth from his perspective.
The Gospel of John does not document several accounts, that all three other gospels includes, and documents events only found in that Gospel. For example, John is one of the two gospels that does not include any account of Jesus's birth or nativity, the other being the Gospel of Mark. John's Gospel has a focus more on the divinity of Jesus Christ and His status as being both man and God. John begins his Gospel by documenting the existence and involvement of Jesus during The Creation and by introducing John the Baptist and his ministry.
Authorship
Purpose
The purpose of the Gospel of John's writing was to document some of Jesus miracles, to validate to the readers that Jesus was the Christ. John makes it clear that not every miracle Jesus performed is recorded, but the selected miracles were written so the readers would believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal life. [1] In fact, John even remarks that if everything Jesus did was recorded, the "world would not have space" for all of the books that would need to be written[2].
Author
John is written with a more specific focus and mentioning of the author, the apostle John. John often refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and in the book identifies himself with him[3]. The first usage of this self-mentioning phrase was when Jesus revealed to his disciple that he would be betrayed by one of the apostles. During this the literary work mentions that the "disciple whom Jesus loved" was reclining next to him[4]. This account then goes on to describe of how that disciple leans on Jesus's chest and ask who the traitor would be[5].
Another reference to "the one Jesus loved" is when Jesus was experiencing crucifixion, he gave the duty of caring for his mother to him[6]. This self-reference is used again when Mary Magdalene discovering Jesus was not in his tomb, went to the loved disciple and Simon Peter[7]. This account goes on to detail that when the two disciples ran for the tomb, the loved one outran Peter[8] and went in and inspected the tomb first[9]. Later when Jesus reappears to his disciples it is this loved disciple John that first exclaims that it is the LORD visiting them[10]. John also follows along when Jesus and Peter have a conversation[11] about the status of John after Christ would leave[12].This phrase was used not in pride or self-promotion of the author or that disciple, but rather in humility and choosing to remain anonymous only mentioning the relationship with Jesus.
John also declares his eyewitnessing of multiple of the accounts[13], testifying the knowledge of the truth. Based on the explicit identification of the author as this disciple[3] and the amount of times in which John's actions are mentioned in more detail than others, this affirms John's authorship of this Gospel. There is not any explicit mention in the work being authored by John.
Genre
As the other four gospels John is a historical account. Compared to the other three gospels, John is less concerned about a synopsis of Jesus's life and actions, but rather His miracles and teaching that demonstrate His divinity. Not all of the miracles of Jesus are documented, because of the large amount[14](several of these are written in other Gospels some are not recorded in the Bible at all).
No other literary genre is included in the Book of John other than the infrequent and indirect quoting of Old Testament prophecies, poetry, and laws (laws were usually referenced in dialogue). Compared to most biblical historical accounts, John's gospel includes heavy amounts of dialogue.The dialogue in itself contains many quotes exchanged between various people. This Gospel also does not include any large portions of Jesus's sermons or prolonged writings of dialogue. The dialogue gives the teachings of Jesus and shows the curiosity of the Disciples, and the refutations of the Jewish leadership such as the Pharisees. Accompanying the dialogue is varied length of pure historical documentation.
Themes
Equality of Son and Father
Testimony for Jesus
Miracles
Verses