AUTHORSHIP
The author of the Epistle of 1st John is not named in the letter, but church tradition has been strong in affirming John the Apostle, “that disciple whom Jesus loved” from (Jn. 21:7), as the author. The author declares himself as one who “we have seen with our eyes…and our hands have handled” (1:1) declaring him an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus. John’s authorship was not brought into question until the twentieth century. The epistles of 2nd and 3rd John add to the controversy as they are attributed to a person called “The elder” who’s identity is also unknown (see v.1 in 2nd and 3rd John). The discussion of authorship asks two basic questions in the case of the Johannine corpus, first, were the books all written by the same author and second who was that author.
Comprehensive studies of both the style and content of the three epistles shows “striking similarities” indicative of single authorship. Even the casual reader of the Gospel of John and his First Epistle will be impressed by the similarity of words and phrases in the two books. John’s authorship of The Revelation has also been debated despite the four claims by John to be the author within the text its self (see 1:1, 4, 9, 22:8). According to Walvoord, attributing the authorship to John the Apostle depends on the validity of his being exiled to the island of Patmos, for which historical evidence is good.
The lack of evidence against Johannine authorship does not stop sceptics from
The final eight epistles of the New Testament canon exert an influence out of proportion to their length. They complement the thirteen Pauline Epistles by offering varying perspectives on the richness of Christian truth. Each of the five authors – James, Peter, John, Jude, and the author of Hebrews – made a distinctive contribution from his own point of view. Like the four harmonizing approaches to the life of Christ portrayed in the Gospels, these writers provide a sweeping portrait of the Christian life as a whole and how it should be lived out. Although Paul’s epistles are excellent, the New Testament revelation after Acts would be severely limited by one apostle’s perspective had the writing of these five men been neglected. The
Revelations is a very misunderstood book. Its genre is an Apocalypse, a Prophecy, and an Epistle. John is the author and he wrote it in approximately 85-95 A.D. He wrote it while in prison on the Island of Patmos. To understand the book of Revelations we must first understand that John is describing the beginning of the end of the world as we know it.
The genius of the Apostle John resides in his ability to penetrate to the theological
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
The Gospel Of John 1. Who was John, and why was he qualified to write a book in the Bible? 1. John was a disciple of Jesus and wrote the Book of John (Strauss, 2011, 9083). He was qualified to write a book in the Bible because he held an “eyewitness testimony” of Jesus’ life and ministry and states so in his gospel (Strauss, 2011, 9083). John “provides many incidental details one would expect only from an eyewitness (2: 6; 5: 5; 18: 10, 15 – 16; 21: 11), is familiar with predestruction Jerusalem (5: 3; 9: 7; 10: 23; 18: 28; cf. 4: 5 – 6), and knows the traditions and customs of Palestinian Judaism (2: 6, 23; 6: 4; 7: 2, 37 – 39; 10: 22; 19: 14, 31)”
The Gospel of John is amazing and unique in its own way. There's a lot of different controversies that arises to the surface because of the differences between John and the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke). There are differences in stories, themes, writing styles, and so on. It's like hearing 4 different people tell the same story. You will always get something different; different answers, details, etc.
"It appears, that of all the apostle John was especially favoured with our Lord's regard and confidence, so as to be called the
Johannine literature has a number of underlying themes and uses its many symbols to express to the believer how one is able to obtain the Truth and gain sight in order to experience God. One theme which uses symbols with the expressed goal of bringing people closer to God is discipleship. Disciple is found through the totality of John’s writing and incorporates symbols, biblical figures, and divine instruction in order to bring people into relationship with God. The Gospel of John, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation make present the theme of discipleship in their own specific and distinct ways. Discipleship in the Gospel of John is elaborately described and acknowledges that one is only a disciple by divine initiative. The Epistles
Did John write the gospel bearing his name? In the gospel of John it never provides the
In comparison to many of the initially accepted books of the Biblical canon, John’s book of Revelation was written decades later, around 96 CE, and was forced to address the failure of the kingdom’s arrival. Many earlier Biblical books argued that God’s kingdom was imminent and would arrive swiftly, but the passing of time may have led to a gradual decrease in this sense of urgency and, by extension of this, religious faith in Jesus and his teachings. In response to this, John’s contemporaries faced him with a unique challenge to renew their eschatological beliefs and answer the mystery behind the delayed coming of the kingdom of God. Within the book of Revelation, John encourages his readers to strengthen their belief in the urgency behind
The most known books of the New Testament are the Gospels. These four books are written by four different people, yet they all align with the same content. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John present the good news as eyewitnesses. Although the canon was not yet formed, the agreement by the four men on the actual occurrence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus aligned to the others. The Gospel had been known in the churches. Alexander Souter states, The Gospel was something well known in the churches, a document or body of documents, to which it was sufficient to appeal without further specification.” The letters written by Paul in the New
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
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.
The fact that critical Scholars question if John who wrote the fourth Gospel was John the son of Zebedee. Although the early church fathers believed that the original disciple John was in fact the same John who wrote the Gospel and that view still remains today (pg,109). One of the saints known by the name Irenaeus, who was an early Church Father and apologist, was one of many that supported the fact that John the disciple was the writer of the Gospel. The second insight was that John ensured that we looked more closely at Jesus’ human nature. John wrote about Him more as human, such examples are like, “After this He went down to
The Gospel of John stands out as one who has been appointed by God who testifies about the life and ministry of Jesus. The study of John allows one to see the Jesus as our entry way for salvation. The authorship of John allows one to understand Jesus by an actual and reliable witness to the origins of Jesus ministry, death and resurrection. This extraordinary piece of work is also reflected by the early church fathers. The attempt of this paper will assert that the evidence for authorship of John is more convincing that discrediting.