What Does I Am The Door Mean In The Book Of John

The Gospel of John’s perspective depicts Jesus proclaiming “‘Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me’” (John 12:44-45). In this passage Jesus proclaims that belief in him also involves belief in the one who sent him, God. Jesus also says that anyone who sees him can

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.

In the book by Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, the author argues the very existence of Jesus Christ in the New Testament is portrayed within the Old Testament. Wright writes, “the deeper you go into understanding the Old Testament, the closer you will come to the heart of Jesus” (ix). Wright explains many Christians love Jesus, but do not know much about the Scriptures that He read. This is the author’s intention of the book, bringing the readers to a deep understanding of the Old Testament and gaining a greater understanding of Jesus. The purpose of this review is to summarize and critique Wright’s work along with presenting the strengths and weaknesses of the book.

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,

John as we know today was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. He was also the brother of James, who was also an apostle. John was the son of Zeebee and of Salome. His father was a fisherman while living in Bethsaida in Galilee on the border of the lake Gennesareth. John's mother was one of many women who gave to the maintenance of Jesus Christ. John's parents were very good people, they loved God and his son. It is said that john and his brother James were fishing when Jesus came and chose them. They were soon known as the fishers of men. The John of whom I am talking about is John the Evangelist.

The book of John was written by the Apostle John who is identified as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Scholars believe that the book was written sometime between 90 to 110 A.D. The gospel of John begins unlike the other synoptic gospel’s by starting with the story of John the baptist, Jesus’ cousin, it includes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and then even includes events after. This book is different from others because of its layout of the stories of Jesus and how John tells them to his audience. In the book of John Jesus talks about his divine role by mentioning the “I am” statements, declarations of identity but also symbols of significance.

Moreover, John highlighted Jesus Deity by including Christ’s seven “I am statements.” Jesus claimed, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); “I am the light of the world” (John: 8:12);” I am the door”, (John 10:7,9); “I am the good Shepherd” (John 10:11, 14); “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25); I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6); I am the vine (John 15:1). Furthermore, John declared that Jesus was in the beginning and the creator of all

An overarching purpose of the four gospels was to give Christians an account of Christ and the everlasting life that has been offered through him. In giving readers a picture of Christ, the gospels are presenting a model to emulate in order to receive everlasting life. The power behind the synoptics would not stand without John and his ability to make a case for following Christ. The book of John is included within the four gospels because it is a record of Jesus’ teaching and life. While the book of John is similar to the other gospels in regards to it’s contents, the book is not included into the synoptic category.

Johannine literature truly portrays Jesus as God, with the theme of His deity interwoven throughout numerous passages. In this respect, John’s style differs from the other four gospels, as Bickel & Jantz (1998) point out that the other three had been written prior to John’s gospel, therefore, “he wasn’t interested in just retelling the events” (p. 222). Since Jesus is the focal point of Scripture, a scholar of the New Testament with uncertainty concerning Jesus’ oneness with God will fail to perceive the crux of Christianity. Therefore, in spite of its importance, John does not focus on Jesus’ entrance into the

The Gospel of John differs in many key areas to the Synoptics,and I will address some differing lines of thought.

The Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John are quite different. They are chronologically dissimilar and follow a different order (Harris, 2015). The apostle John did not include the different miracles or exorcisms Jesus performed in his ministry, but they were written in the Synoptic Gospels. John describes Jesus as being the Word of God incarnate, or in flesh form, and therefore imparts knowledge that is not given in the other gospels. While Mark describes Jesus' crucifixion as a humiliating event, John explains it is the manner in which the Saviour of Man returns to heaven and therefore is a glorious occasion. John also states that although Jesus ascends into heaven, he informs readers that Jesus is always with them in the form of the

This statement to “walk in the Light” would seem to suggest that it is not something that we can be as it would probably be written “be the light.” John recognizes that one cannot be the light so he is exhorting the readers to walk in the light which is the sphere in which God resides (Walvoord and Zuck 885). To do this action would be to no longer merely “say” but to do. Walking in the Light is what will restore and keep fellowship with God as Darkness has no place in Him.

“The gospel gives away more to as who Jesus was as person and telling of his teachings in the ministry. John takes us behind Jesus’s ministry, where we get a glimpse of what it means to believe in Jesus as flesh of the eternal and living God, as the source of light and life, and for a believer to be a ‘Son of God.” (Sparknotes

The gospel of John does not have the birth story of Jesus as it is documented in the Synoptic gospels instead refers Christ as eternal word which became flesh. Gospel of John lacks records of Jesus’ Baptism by John the Baptist but instead records his baptism activities hence contradicting role of John the Baptist in Jesus’ Baptism. Another difference of gospel of John from the synoptic gospels is that there is no indication of temptation of Jesus by Satan but records that Jesus could not be tempted because of his unity with the Father. John indicates that Jesus taught without parables something contradicts synoptic gospels. There is no accounts of apocalypse in the gospel of John but instead indicates that Jesus completed his messianic role (Harris, 2014).

In John 1:3-4, the beloved disciple points us toward four basic facts about Jesus Christ. First, is that He is the very creator of the universe. “3All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3 KJV). Second the creation of man is the pinnacle of His creation. “4In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4 KJV). Lastly, John discloses that it is only through Jesus Christ that man can gain eternal life, and only through Him is there light in the world.