The
Gospel of John (literally,
According to John;
Greek, ?at? ???????,
Kata Ioannen) is the fourth
gospel in the
canon of the
New Testament, traditionally ascribed to
John the Evangelist. Like the three
synoptic gospels, it contains an account of some of the actions and sayings of
Jesus of Nazareth, but differs from them in
ethos and theological emphases. The Gospel appears to have been written with an evangelistic purpose, primarily for Greek-speaking Jews who were not believers
[1] "these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the
Messiah, the
Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name"(
John 2030-31). A second purpose was to counter criticisms or unorthodox beliefs of Jews,
John the Baptist's followers, and those who believed Jesus was only spirit and not flesh.
[2]Of the four gospels, John presents the highest Christology, describing him as the Logos who is the Arche (a Greek term for "existed from the beginning" or "the ultimate source of all things"), teaching at length about his identity as savior, and possibly declaring him to be God.[3]
Compared to the Synoptic Gospels, John focuses on Jesus' mission to bring the Logos ("Word", "Wisdom", "Reason" or "Rationality") to his disciples. Only in John does Jesus talk at length about himself, including a substantial amount of material Jesus shared with the disciples only. In John, Jesus, not his message, has become the object of veneration.[2] Certain elements of the synoptics (such as parables, exorcisms, and possibly the Second Coming) are not found in John.
Since "the higher criticism" of the 19th century, historians have questioned the gospel of John as a reliable source of information about the historical Jesus.[4][5][6] Most scholars regard the work as anonymous,[7][8][9] and date it to 90–100.
