While numerous scholars say that John is the Gospel to the world (and Matthew to the Jews, Mark to the Romans, and Luke to the Greeks), a Jewish scholar such as Israel Abrahams might very well believe that the Gospel of John is the most Jewish Gospel of the four by the way it reflects Jewish traditions and symbolisms. According to David Wenham[i], there is more attention given to Jesus as the Messiah in the Gospel of John than in any of other Gospels. In John, from chapter one onwards people are directly talking about Jesus as Messiah, and then there is intense public debate about whether Jesus is Messiah or not in John 7:25-31, 41-44[ii], which indicates that John is quite mindful of Jewish issues.
Wenham also asserts that there is a
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Chattanooga: Scofield Ministries. 2002
[iv] Calvin, John. Calvin’s Commentaries: John, Vol. XVII. Grand Rapids: Baker Books. 2005
[v] Edershiem, Alfred. Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database: Biblesoft, Inc.
The post presents a clearly defined explanation of Jewish traditions and culture in the Book of John. Correctly stated, the use of the term “the Word” plainly displays an entity that is more than just mortal. Jewish scripture accurately predicts a messiah that was eternal. John’s explanation of “the Word” plainly lays out the fact that He was existent from all eternity. (TOWNES X). Furthermore, in John’s Gospel care is taken to provide chronological timeline by identifying Jewish holidays. Especially unique is John’s mention of the Feast of Tabernacles. Customs such as the wedding at Cana and the agrarian references to sheepherding assume the reader would be familiar with a particular way of life. Continuing, the notice of John’s
The two Gospels that I 've decided to compare are Luke and John. Luke is considered a Synoptic Gospel and presents the human side of Jesus. Luke takes us through the longer version of his birth and his childhood and focuses on the humanity of Jesus. There was a debate in this story whether or not Jesus was human and raised many question to potential followers. Many said that Jesus was just a spirit but by reading Luke, there was great detail of his humanity. Luke directed this book directly to Gentiles and focused more on the teachings and miracles that Jesus created rather than the law. Stated in the text, Luke’s Gospel also depicts more clearly the way in which the proclamation of the kingdom of God and the accompanying mighty works of Jesus brought the benefits of salvation to marginalized people. Luke also highlights the concern of Jesus for the materially poor, and the duty of his followers to be free from love of possession and to give generously to those in need. John was considered a different story in the Bible and in the Gospel. It was the last story of the Gospels and does not repeat any of the other stories from Matthew, Mark, or Luke. John had the opportunity to see the gospel and its affect it had and based that off the
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.
He is known as the tax collector who turned disciple who writes to Jewish believers to emphasize the legitimacy of Jesus as the long awaited Jewish Messiah. According to Hindson and Elmer Matthew provides some of Jesus most prominent sermons, parables, and miracles, plus a record of important messages. He provides an eyewitness account of such significant events as the transfiguration, the triumph entry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. He explains the character and nature of the ministry of John the Baptist as the last of the prophets. Matthew originally crafted the Gospel for a group of Christians who were already familiar with the Old Testament. Both church tradition (external evidence) and the contents of the Gospel itself (internal evidence) suggest that this Gospel was originally written for Jewish Christians who were given the responsibility to share its message with the world (Hindson and Elmer pg. 350). Matthew also gives special attention to the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders. He exposes the religious blindness of his fellow countrymen, and he demonstrates Jesus superior understanding of the person of God, the intent of the law, and the proper application of biblical
Instead, the Jews seem to be more prominence with Matthew trying to portray Messiah since they consider Matthew the most Jewish out of the other four Gospels. Matthew started to unveil the genealogy of Jesus, and started with Abraham and started to trace the father and son relationships, it started with Isaac and it ended with the husband of Mary who Jesus was born and he is called Christ. Matthew portrays as the “New Moses” for the Israel people.
"The Gospel of John contains some of the most hostile anti-Jewish statement in the Christian scriptures. So sharp is the contrast in that gospel between Jesus’ exhortations to his followers to love one another and the hostile references to the Jews…John is ‘a gospel of Christian love and Jew hatred.’" (Charlesworth)
The foundation of the Christian faith is cradled within truth of the virgin birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As diverse as the world-wide Christian culture is, the truth in the birth and life of Jesus stands without border and language limitations. Just as each individual life story can be adapted to be relevant for a variety of audiences, the birth story of the Messiah was also. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are an example of the well-rounded and diverse narration of the birth story of Jesus—Matthew’s narration spoke to the history of the Jewish people and Luke presented to the citizen of Rome.
It is also interesting to note that even though John makes it very clear that the author is Jewish, the Gospel is written primarily for a Greek audience. Because of his knowledge of the Old Testament, which he continually quotes, his understanding of Jewish ritual and culture and he knew and understood the prophesy of the coming Messiah, there is no doubt that either John was Jewish himself or he studied Judaism very well. However, the lack of concern for proving the prophecies set down in the Book of Isaiah supports evidence that this was not a testimony to a Jewish audience. Throughout the gospel, Jesus is shown as being both fully God and fully human, a concept that is more synonymous with Greek culture. Also, the very beginning of John states that Jesus was with God
It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.
With the changing of tides shortly after Jesus’ ascension, the death of the all the disciples but John and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, a new way of sharing the Gospel was needed. The reason for this new means of communicating the Gospel was because no one was left who had actually walked with Jesus. Therefore, John the disciple throws a “rummage sale” in writing his account of Jesus; which was so much different than the other three Gospel writers. His purpose was for people to know what it means to follow Jesus without him being physically present as he was for the twelve. Specifically, John focuses on the personal conversations of Jesus and others (Peterson 2); so much so that 90% of John’s book is unique, contains no parables
The life of Jesus Christ as told from The New Jerusalem Bible is filled with miracles and unexplainable happenings. This paper will be divided into three parts; the first will discuss we will see the various views from John, Mark, Luke and Matthew. Then the nature of the gospel where I will answer questions like were the writers eye witnesses, and how they used these written sources. We will also see what a Q source is, the similarities between Matthew and Luke and how the Old Testament stories were used to interpret Jesus. The second portion of this paper entails Jesus’s birth, the miracles he created and his resurrection. We will learn about the things Jesus did like cures and spirits and see how these were
The gospel of Luke and John are gospels about Jesus and John the Baptist. They have several differences and similarities. The Gospel of Luke describes the conception and birth of John the Baptist and Jesus while the gospel of Luke describes their life after birth. Summaries, variances, and connections of these two gospels are discussed below.
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 new testament contains four (4) accounts of the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as presented by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The 3 accounts are similar, while Johns bible presents Jesus in a unique way. These differences exist because Matthew and Luke got their information from Mark and John got his information from another source, maybe John did not have access to the other gospels or he chose not to use them. No one really knows the source of John’s gospel and we don’t know for sure who wrote the gospels. Scholars refer to the authors as Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, this may not even be their real names. The Gospel were not first hand accounts except for Mark. John did not seem to have known the existence of the other
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).